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Pluto in Aquarius

The cycles of Pluto take 248 years to complete, spending roughly 12-31 years in each Zodiac Sign, thus when Pluto changes Signs, it is of note. As it moves so slowly, this distant God of the Underworld, as its mythological archetype is known, we will only experience a handful of Pluto transits in our lifetimes- and when they make contact with one of our personal placements, it makes itself known!

Generationally, it marks an era. Read on to find out what we may collectively expect from Pluto in Aquarius for the next 2 decades:

Significations of a Pluto Transit

Pluto, the latest “Planet” discovered (a couple of years before the first Nuclear bomb fittingly- nuclear fission is called plutonium), astronomically “demoted” to a dwarf Planet, it is said to represent a generation, its slow orbit sweeping collectively, drastically changing things imperceptible over time.

We will never personally experience a Pluto return (unless we can one day live to 250), but countries, businesses, and events can! Throughout 2022 and 2023, the United States will be experiencing its first Pluto return, a time of reckoning with its foundations and the past it was built upon. Pluto transits brings things up from the chthonic depths to be healed and transmuted, they are often raw and intense but can come with great power and regeneration.

Similar themes are echoed if you have ever experience a hard Pluto transit to one of your personal placements or sensitive angles (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, AC/DC, MC/IC), namely the conjunction, opposition, or square. While they are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, they certainly make themselves known.

I have experienced a Pluto conjunction/opposition to my Ascendant/Descendant axis, a conjunction to my Venus, square to my Midheaven/IC, and am currently experiencing a square to Mars. I will eventually finish the series with a conjunction to my Moon and simultaneous square to my Sun and Mercury in a few years’ time, it seems I am one of the lucky chosen few to experience every single kind of personal Pluto transit you can have! It also crossed my entire Rising Sign/1st House which was also no joke.

If you are experiencing a tenderising Pluto transit and would like to discuss it with someone who has been there, I would be honoured to walk you through a Year Ahead Reading.

The Planet Pluto

Mythologically the Roman God Pluto, the Greek God Hades, is ruler of the Underworld. Similarly, Pluto in our Birth Charts is said to govern deep fears, triggers, trauma, hidden power, intergenerational wounding, survival mechanisms, and intensity. As it is so slow moving, this is felt more acutely if it is contacting a sensitive placement, as well as the nature of the relationship. If we have a Mercury-Pluto trine for example, we may have great depth of thought and ability to speak with imposing presence. A Pluto-Midheaven conjunction can come with great power and authority in our career and in the world at large, and we may also need to be mindful of control and obsession here.

If harshly aspected, Pluto can speak to the darker themes of life, transgression, taboo, and domination. It may point to possessiveness, power dynamics, and a sheer desire that stops at nothing. Pluto is like an earthquake, there’s no bargaining with it. As the inimitable Jessica Lanyadoo says- Pluto is the undertow of the ocean, a slow, deep current that pulls you into the depths persistently and without space for negotiation. There’s no rummaging through the rubble for survivors in the Mariana trench.

Pluto deals with the shadows as well as the projections. People with Pluto in the 1st House, for example, may have an intense persona (depending of course on the nature of the other elements in their Chart), but they may also have to deal with projections of triggers from others. A Plutonian person may have to contend with ruffling feathers and getting comfortable in owning their immense presence, knowing what is theirs to deal with and what is somebody else’s.

When we experience a Pluto transit, the keyword is surrender. Pluto governs cycles of life, death, and rebirth. According to Chris Brennan, Astrologer Alan White always said that Pluto has the capacity to make big things seem small and small things seem big (hello atomic bomb).

In the Tarot, Pluto is correlated to the Judgement card, a symbol of reckoning at the end of our days. Judgement also comes with discernment and a retrospective look in hindsight with perspective. As the Jupiter-Saturn conjunct in Aquarius in December 2020 signalled the start of their 200-year Age of Air meetups, Pluto is the final outer Planet to traverse this ethereal rebel, the disruptor. Whereas in Earth we are dealing with themes of capital and ownership, structure and solidity, the land- in Air we are dealing with ideas, sharing, renting, communication, connection.

Read more details in our Year Ahead Astrology Forecast!

two-wander-2023-astro-forecast — learn more here

The Zodiac Sign Aquarius

Aquarius is the 11th Sign of the Zodiac, ruled by stern Saturn. As Fixed Air, it has mental determination, vision, and prowess. It can also be known to be rigid in its ideals. Surprising for what is considered the most progressive and alternative Sign of the Zodiac. So how does this come to be? Aquarius season is the antithesis of peak summer, the Sun, ruler of Leo, is in detriment in Aquarius, ruled by Saturn- the outermost limit, the wall and boundary. Cold and distant, furthest from the Sun. In the heart of Winter, ingeniousness is essential to life.

While the Sign preceding it, Capricorn, is also ruled by Saturn, here when it moves into Aquarius we have the spirit of forward momentum built on the past. Saturn can look to the future by building on the wisdom of what is tried and tested in Aquarius. It is the Planet of time after, that includes both “backwards” and “forwards” (although whether it is actually linear in such a way could be strongly disputed). This is where Aquarius comes in- the one that is not afraid to march to the beat of its own drum and find a unique and revolutionary way of doing things.

Aquarius is a collective Sign because it is only collectively that we can go furthest. In the dead of winter, you’re not getting very far alone. Ruled by Saturn, it brings maturity and foresight, someone has to plan and prepare to collect the firewood! Saturn also has triplicity rulership in Air Signs, and so it is arguably more at home in its diurnal Sign Aquarius than in Earth Sign Capricorn.

Each set of polarities has a lesson to teach us in the axis. The Leo-Aquarius axis teaches us of the need of the individual and the collective. Of doing things for yourself and others, of leading with the heart and with the mind. Archetypal Aquarius is famously known for rationalising its emotions, preferring to detach from them instead rather than feeling them (as an Aquarius Moon, I can personally attest to this). There is a joke that Aquarius loves humanity but hates humans.

Aquarius seeks a like-minded community, but only if it is authentic and real, otherwise it would prefer to be alone. It is not afraid to go its own way. Ultimately, Aquarius lives by its terms and values freedom and independence above all else. Sometimes, Aquarius can feel not quite of this world, an alien or misunderstood, never totally fitting in. In this, it is the weird and wonderful oddball.

Saturn is also making a significant shift in March 2023! Read more in our Saturn (Return) in Pisces post.

Pluto in Aquarius

So, what does Pluto in Aquarius signify? What does it mean when the Planet of deep transformation enters the Sign of the collective and technology?

Pluto enters Aquarius on March 23rd 2023, but first let’s take a retrospective look. Pluto entered Capricorn, mundanely the Sign of corporations, governments, hierarchy, rules, order, and structure, in 2008- a fateful year for the worldwide economy as we entered the greatest recession seen in 80 years. The financial crisis sent shockwaves through the world for decades to come and historical institutions crumbled, a period we may still be reckoning with in many ways as we seem to be finishing its transit here with the highest inflation rates in almost 40 years.

It will dip back into Capricorn for a couple of final revision and integration periods from June 2023 - January 2024 and again from September - November 2024, before entering Aquarius for good until 2044. The last time it was in Aquarius was during the French Revolution (while Uranus was in Gemini, where it will be heading in 2025)...

For connecting to the Aquarius area of your Chart and the season as we transit through it, get the Aquarius Workbook. For more personalised guidance, get the Aquarius Forecast!

Ultimately, I think Pluto in Aquarius is going to bring a profound revolution in technology, AI (the likes of which we have already started to see) and concepts of what it means to be human. If we begin organ harvesting or cloning, for example, how do we define what a soul is and who earns sovereign rights? What about artificial wombs separate of a body? The ways in which we relate to one another and reality in general are likely to see seismic shifts, especially with Saturn, the Planet of reality, entering Pisces, the Sign of fantasy, for the next 3 years. How do you tell what’s real and what’s not? Famously many scientists already believe there’s a 50% chance we’re in a simulation.

Pluto in Aquarius can also bring huge jumps forward in concepts and ideas, the capacity for technology to better life for humanity, and our communities in general. Within this, as the Sign often attributed to social media, this also includes in our ways of communicating and connecting to one another.

Overall, once Pluto is done with its transit through Aquarius, I think the world may look vastly different to how it does now (more so than other 20-years periods)!

So that’s an overview of Pluto in Aquarius, I hope it’s insightful for you! Let me know in the comments section below if you have anything else to add or any other questions. For personalised Astrology readings, book in a 1:1 Year Ahead session with me!

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