Australia Says Sorry

As a perfect trine formed between the transiting Moon in Taurus and transiting Saturn in Virgo, both trining Saturn in the chart for Australian Federation, the prime-minister of Australia issued an official apology to the stolen generations of indigenous Australians for the hardship, brutality and suffering that they were subjected to at the hands of racist white men between the 1860s and the early 1970s. Saturn in the Federation Chart is significator of the executive, or prime-minister, and with Saturn now in Virgo, how fitting it is for the current incumbent to be a strongly Virgoan type, with Sun, Mercury, Mars and Pluto in the sign. Indeed, with Pluto in the second degree of Virgo, in many ways he ushers in a new generation of leadership in this country, perhaps more prepared to admit fault and make correction.

Transiting Neptune is squaring the Federation Chart’s Moon in Taurus, perhaps symbolic of the sense of shame and guilt on behalf of the majority, or even the emotional expressions of relief and disbelief on behalf of the indigenous people that this time has finally come. Yet still there linger stubborn suspicions that it is all merely an empty gesture, a hyped-up symbolic statement with little subtantial promise of reform behind it. One can’t help but think that there is a deeply buried sense of guilt among the majority over the actions of white Australians towards the indigenous population, but that this emotion is so profoundly unacceptable that it is denied with the most stubborn and resolute determination to remain ignorant of the truth. This is perhaps a manifestation of the negative side of the Moon in Taurus; so long as I’m comfortable and secure, I see no reason to change my outlook or my values.

Uranus is also squaring the Federation Chart’s Uranus-Pluto opposition, currently closer to the Pluto end; this configuration also ushered in the new government and is generally suggestive of a desire for radical change and open examination of deeply buried but controversial collective traumas.

Interestingly, the 1788 settlement chart seems strangely mute to significant transits or progressions at this time. Perhaps this indicates that today’s events are taking Australia out of the era of colonisation and into the future of reconciliation and acknowledgement of past racist policies and arrogant imperial attitudes.

Finally, the coming lunar eclipse in the second degree of Virgo (on 21 February 2008) is exactly square the Federation Chart’s nodal axis, and lands exactly on Kevin Rudd’s natal Pluto. What this suggests is that our current prime minister took a step forward in our nation’s path of growth, and did so with the strength and conviction of an individual who profoundly understands the power of humility.

Pluto enters Capricorn

At 3:34 PM, AEDT on 26 January 2008, Pluto moved out of Sagittarius and into Capricorn. It was last in Capricorn in the years 1762-1778, and last changed signs (from Scorpio to Sagittarius) in 1995.

I have cast a chart for the ingress moment, at Melbourne, but with natural angles. Notable patterns in this chart are:
(1) Jupiter-Saturn trine in earth
(2) Mercury-Neptune conjunction, trine Mars in air
(3) Stellium of Sun, Chiron, Neptune, Mercury (and North Node) in Aquarius
(4) Moon-Uranus opposition

Before trying to see what this may mean, let us first review previous ingress charts for Pluto and compare them to the events that took place in their aftermath.

Pluto’s ingress into Virgo took place at 4:23 PM AEST on October 20, 1956. Symbolizing the entire sixties generation, this chart shows a grand cross in fixed signs involving a Moon-Neptune opposition and a Chiron-Uranus opposition. Mars is opposite Venus, and Saturn is exactly square Pluto. This is suggestive of the ecological activism, esoteric mysticism and perhaps the strong desire for escape that fuelled the psychedelic movement throughout the decade. The Mars-Venus opposition evokes a potent sexual tension throughout the period, and the square of Saturn to Pluto (especially with Saturn in Sagittarius) may represent the struggle for human rights and law reform.

The Libra ingress took place at 4:30 PM AEST on October 5, 1971. This chart is interesting because of the extraordinarily airy emphasis. Libra itself contains a stellium of Pluto, Mercury, Sun, Uranus and Venus. The close Sun-Uranus conjunction in Libra trines Mars in Aquarius, and Saturn in Gemini. The Aries Moon opposes Venus, and the Jupiter-Netune conjunction in early Sagittarius sextiles Pluto. I see this as a sort of turning point or re-balancing of the power between opposing sides of conflict. A fundamental will to restore fairness in all dealings between groups. The seventies was a period notable for the rise of feminism and gay rights, as well as the advent of the most notable work of philosophy in the area of justice since the utilitarian writings of Mill: John Rawls’ Justice as Fairness. The swashbuckling escapades of space-age science-fiction as portrayed by the Star Wars series brought the real-world binary division of the Cold War into archetypal resonance with the imagery of two great powers battling for supremacy in the cosmos. Despite the Libran penchant for peace, the Aquarian Mars trine Uranus, together with the Sun-Uranus conjunction, correlated with militancy amongst those who felt unfairly dealt with, whether they were nationalists in Northern Ireland, trade unionists in Britain or ideological radicals in South-East Asia and the Middle East. The oil crises of 1973 and 1979 reinforced the reality of the way power could see-saw between different interests depending on their willingness to achieve a diplomatic compromise.

Pluto entered Scorpio at 8:41 AM AEDT on 6 November 1983. This chart also has a stellium, this time in Scorpio (Pluto, Saturn, Sun, Mercury and Moon). Jupiter conjoins Uranus in Sagittarius, and a Mars-Venus conjunction in late Virgo squares Neptune. The heavy Scorpio stellium at a new Moon was perhaps a warning of a new era in matters of sexual and financial exchange, one tinged with themes of responsibility and death of old ways. AIDS and the transformation of attitudes to sexual behaviour that it brought in its wake, although first described in 1981, did not become a widespread epidemiological concern until around 1984. A harder-edged, less forgiving approach to financial management in the business and corporate worlds became noticeable as market liberalisation and privatisation of state assets swept through western capiltalist economies, spearheaded by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. A new level of development and popular availability of microcomputers took off in the early 1980s and was perhaps correlated with the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, preset at this ingress. The ideological struggle of the previous decades finally resolved itself in the death-throes of the communist states in Europe and the triumphant merging of the two alienated halves of the continent, as if in a chain of events in an unstoppable biological reflex. By the time Pluto left Scorpio and entered Sagittarius in 1995, the political landscape was utterly transformed.

Entering Sagittarius at 9:52 PM AEDT on 17 January 1995, Pluto was in conjunction with Jupiter and Venus, and square Mars and Saturn. The Sun was conjunct Uranus and Neptune and opposite the Moon. Two major developments took place in the common understanding of power and the collective will during the Pluto in Sagittarius era. Firstly, there was sense that moral hypocrisy had reached new levels. Western political leaders developed a sense of incorrigible arrogance and infallible righteousness that persisted in the face of widespread popular knowledge of evidence that contradicted their claims. Starting with the shenanigans surrounding the Clinton impeachment in the US, and continuing through the manifestly undemocratic 2000 US Presidential election, the inadequately invesitigated 9/11 events and the subsequent manufacture of lies and deceptions leading up to the invasion of Iraq, which still continues to this day, it was the sheer breathtaking scale of the audacity of judicial and political corruption that was suggestive of the workings of Pluto in Sagittarius. I associate this development with the T-square involving Mars, Saturn and Jupiter-Pluto.

The second major development was the dawning understanding of the power of global networks, whether instantiated through the internet, the common atmospheric perturbations of climate change, or the giant casino of global capital exchange and speculation. I associate this aspect with the Sun-Uranus-Neptune conjunction in late Capricorn. The difficulty with such pan-global structures, or, moreover, their essential characteristic, is that they are decentralised, and therefore lack leadership or management hierarchies. And it is precisely this idea that acts as a perfect segue into the Pluto in Capricorn era.

For it is during the next 16 years that the reality of the pan-global networks and communities and interdependencies will no longer be doubted; not only will it be the everyday reality for everyone on the planet, it will require leadership and reponsibility to maintain it and to ensure its ongoing viability. There will ensue a transformation of what it means to be in an executive position. To lead will no longer be synonymous with capitalistic, exploitative and wasteful enterprise, for this notion of leadership dies with the deep acceptance of limits to our existence. Rather, leadership will be more associated with the development of a sense of responsibility to contribute to the public good, but in a manner that is flexible to change, that is willing to forge new paths, to try alternative courses of action. Pragmatic adoption of what works and what is sustainable will be the order of the day. Older hierarchical structures depending solely on values of deference and respect of authority for authority’s sake will not survive, because they have become too crystallised to respond to the rapidity of the changes affecting our globalised systems. Ultimately a new sense of personal autonomy and citizenship will emerge, one which may strip away the power of nationalism and tribalism, but promote the power of individual achievement, duty and reward.

I think the emphasis in both Capricorn and Aquarius bears out these themes. The Jupiter-Saturn trine in earth is suggestive of future growth and prosperity being brought about by means of restriction or shrinkage, perhaps shortage. The Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Aquarius is redolent of the new faith in collective problem-solving, but also perhaps the fraud and deception that may emerge in such global efforts as carbon-trading and emissions reduction. Trine Mars, this Mercury may also symbolize a quantum leap in speed and complexity of communications, taking connectivity in the collective to a new level.
With Venus conjunct Pluto, and Jupiter not far off, all in Capricorn, perhaps the most immediate and obvious issue for everyone in the next few years is the diminishing pool of wealth and resources available for the members of our species to survive. Throughout the next 16 years, it is the duties that we individually shoulder towards our overpopulated and fouled environmental matrix, and the actions we take to discharge these, that will determine how we deal with the shifts of collective will during this time.

Mars in National Horoscopes and Recent World Unrest

That the god of war holds dominion over civil unrest and national forces of strife should be fairly obvious. What is not so easy to acknowledge is that such breakdowns of civilised social intercourse are in many ways necessary in the greater scheme of things. I tend to the view that there is a natural need for conflict and competition within us and within all of nature, just as there is a need for stability and peace.


Within the past few months, especially centering around the Capricorn Solstice (see chart), there has been an emphasis on disputes, disagreements and outright violence in a variety of internationally prominent settings. This has been associated with the prominent opposition between a retrograde, fallen Mars in Cancer and the Sun-Pluto-Jupiter-Mercury stellium sitting astride the Sagittarius/Capricorn cusp.

Probably the most reported and likely the most crucial event that correlated with this picture was the summit of world environmental ministers which took place in Bali, charged with developing a framework for a new climate agreement for the world. We can see in this event, which took place from 3 December to 15 December 2007, and which actually over-ran into an unplanned extra day because of difficulties coming to a compromise, the last-minute pressure of international diplomacy in the face of vast looming disaster, symbolised by the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in the very last degrees of Sagittarius, soon to move into Capricorn, the sign of worldly reality and limitations. Mars opposing represented the recalcitrance and resentful negativity shown by a variety of national interests who seemed to be unwilling to pursue any meaningful joint and flexible agreements about emissions. I think the sensitivity of the 0º Capricorn/Cancer axis to major internationally significant events is again highlighted here.

On 27 December 2007, Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, and twice former prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated during a political rally in Rawalpindi. She had recently returned to the strife-riven country from exile, and was intending to contest the planned general elections planned for February 2008. Pakistan (see chart) has had a stormy history since its foundation on 14 August 1947 at 9:30 am IST, in Karachi (this was when the British viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, addressed the constitutional assembly to declare independence from the British). Its foundation chart has a fallen Mars at 0º Cancer on the MC, conjunct Uranus – which is hardly suggestive of stability, especially considered together with the Venus/Saturn/Pluto triple conjunction in Leo in the eleventh house, the house of political assembly.

Bhutto’s assassination threw a fragile process of return to civilian democratic rule into chaos again, only months after the military junta headed by Pervez Musharraf had been finally persuaded to transfer powers back to a democratically elected parliament. The country has been torn apart by a powerful resurgence of fundamentalist Islamic militias in opposition to more moderate pro-Western forces, echoing the greater regional conflict which has spread throughout many countries in South-West Asia over the past decade and longer.

When Bhutto was assassinated, there was a partile transiting Mars-Jupiter opposition in the second degree of Cancer/Capricorn. This was clearly hitting off Pakistan’s natal Mars. Transiting Pluto was also closely opposing Mars, and will continue to do so throughout 2008. Incidentally, transiting Neptune was in partile opposition to Pakistan’s natal Sun, perhaps reflective of the chaos and confusion surrounding the country’s leadership.

The third international crisis recently in the news was in Kenya, where presidential elections were thrown into turmoil with allegations of electoral fraud and violence between supporters of the re-elected Mwai Kibaki and the main opposition candidate, Raila Odinga. The violence emerged along well-established tribal faultlines which have undermined Kenya’s unity since before its emergence as an independent nation on 12 December 1963 (see chart). In this chart, Mars is exalted in Capricorn in the fourth house. Between the end of December 2007 and January 2008, transiting Jupiter has been conjoining natal Mars while transiting Saturn has been stationing on the Ascendant. It looks like Kenya will be undergoing some major transformative convulsions in its government and national identity through 2008 as the Saturn-Uranus opposition sets off the natal Uranus-Pluto conjunction in the first house and squares the Sun in the house of the people.

Australian Federal Election - November 24 has been called

Well the Australian Federal Election has finally been called, after what many have considered to be a long-running false election campaign over the past few months. Although I have been looking at the charts for possible election dates since earlier this year, I had thought the chart for a November 10 election looked very strong for Rudd. But now that the date is confirmed for November 24, we can finally examine the correct chart. I have learned from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) website that all federal elections start at 8 am, Canberra time (which will be AEDT). Casting the chart for Canberra, the national capital, we find 4º Capricorn rising, with its ruler, Saturn, at nearly 8º of Virgo in the ninth house. What is this event about? It is about the serious business of cleaning things up in our country, particularly our sense of morality as a people. Restoring accountability in matters of justice. Not backing out of our duty to stand and defend our rights to speak the truth.

In the blue corner, we have Mercury, the trickster. In the red corner we have Jupiter, the greater benefic.

While Mercury can be secretive, controlling and manipulative when in Scorpio, it can also be strongly persuasive and certainly unwilling to admit defeat. But in this chart, Mercury’s master, Mars, is badly (but prominently) placed retrograde in the sign of its fall; hence Mercury is not terribly happy either in how it expresses its Martian qualities. Mars is in the house of foreign affairs – a symbol of solar Cancerian Bush, the guy who has only had to say jump and Howard has asked how high? Mars ruling the houses of risk-taking and gambles, and prison camps?

Mercury is very close to perfecting a square to Neptune, and has recently been opposed by the Moon. And the Moon is a very strong one – it is in its exaltation in Taurus, and has only 11º or so to go before it reaches Full. The Moon is always symbolic of the people, the great unwashed masses, the vast sea of collective need. In Taurus, the people are strong, know what they desire, and are determined to have it. They have their minds made up. And they are about to demonstrate their power decisively.

Look at Neptune. There’s always something missing about Neptune. It gives things an aura, an atmosphere, a hint of something about to be but not quite certain. The sense of ‘things appear slightly unreal, things aren’t quite right in some undefinable way.’ Mercury is heading straight into square with Neptune, so Howard will struggle with his image, his ‘on the nose’ and ‘past sell-by date’ persona.

The Moon, however, has already perfected the square and is now moving on. The people have been deceived enough and are leaving it behind them.

At the very least, I think this t-square pattern suggests that Howard has quite seriously disillusioned the people, they are not willing to believe him any more.

Incidentally, the people are on Venus’ turf: a strong yet pleasant insistence on fairness and temperance.

OK, what about Rudd?

Jupiter is ensconced in its very own daylight domicile, beholden to nobody. Except, of course, the power that he is on the verge of entering. Its only aspect is the conjunction with Pluto. It is in the Sun’s triplicity (leadership), and Saturn’s term and face (authority).

But in the Twelfth House? OK, it’s a bit far from the Ascendant, and it’s in a different sign from the Ascendant anyway. So I don’t think it’s possible to get out of it that way. No, there’s just no other way to say it, folks: Rudd is in prison. But so is the Sun in this chart, the identity of the people, who they follow, the leadership of the nation. Almost like it is with Rudd that their sympathies lie.

Notice wi-fi iPhone iPod myspace facebook world-of-warcraft Uranus in Pisces, sitting directly on the IC (the people). And Uranus stations direct around 9pm on the night of the election! Do you reckon the people might be getting a bit restless? Perhaps in the mood for a change. A change that is yet more surprising for the media through which it is being propagated – no longer at the beck and call of journo hacks, people are sharing their own views directly with vast numbers of others on blogs, and telling each other the truth about how they really feel about things. This is such a beautiful symbol of popular revolutionary feeling.

Now the other interesting thing we can do, is compare this chart to that for Australia, i.e. the 1-Jan-1901 1325 Sydney chart. Let’s see where the chips fall, so to speak. And look at that! Rudd’s significator in the Election chart, Jupiter, is just under 2º away from conjoining Australia’s Jupiter. With Pluto sitting right on Australia’s Mercury (which is Howard’s significator in the Election Chart).

And the Moon in the election chart, is exactly conjunct Australia’s Moon. The people are deciding on their representation, what better synastric aspect describes Election Day in Australia?

These are strong suggestions of radicality in these charts.

Like so many have been doing in the last few months, I call it for Rudd.

The Jupiter-Uranus Square

A comment from Agent 12 about what's happening in Burma right now got me thinking about the current Jupiter-Uranus square. This has already reached exactitude twice, on January 23 and May 11, and the final pass will occur on October 10. As Agent 12 observes, in the chart for Burma (January 4, 1948, 4:20 am 6+E, Rangoon, Burma [16º47'N, 96º10'E]), Jupiter, which rules the chart, is placed conjunct the Ascendant in the first house, at 15º46' Sagittarius. Because the MC/IC axis is at 14º54' Virgo/Pisces, Jupiter closely squares the meridian. The degree of the final pass of the Jupiter-Uranus square will be 15º35' Sagittarius/Pisces, with transiting Jupiter on Burma's Jupiter, and transiting Uranus on Burma's IC.

Now Jupiter I feel shows the general sense of morality within the nation, the prevailing sense of justice, the sense of right and wrong, of just intervention by the gods, so to speak. I think Jupiter has a lot to do with politics, for this reason, and it is not accidental in this regard that it finds its exaltation in the sign of the Moon. Squaring Uranus, there is tremendous restlessness, a strong desire for change, a spirit of justified revolution. But it is revolution with a real sense of righteousness, of battling against the forces of evil, of bankrupt ideology. I think, given the fact that it is the closing square, there is also a feeling of 'last chance' about this time - a sense of having to kill something off, something that seems to be dead and needs burial.

So the alignment is fitting Burma's chart like a key in a lock, Uranus transiting the 4th cusp of the people, Jupiter transiting Jupiter, representative of the country's image, the monks and religious beliefs of the nation, and also the people (ruling the 1st and 4th cusps).

But it also made me think of current events in Australia too. In Australia's chart (1 January 1901, 1:25pm, Sydney), natal Uranus is at 14º19' Sagittarius, so it is being conjoined by transiting Jupiter and squared by transiting Uranus. In Australia's chart, Jupiter is ruler of the 9th (intelligentsia, media, judiciary & moral sense) and the 11th (parliament and political networks). Hence the almost unbearable tension at present in the run-up to the Federal Election. There is certainly, judging by the rock-solid polls all year, a strong feeling that there will be a change of government, but given Mr Howard's delay in calling the election, this seems to be causing considerable restlessness and impatience.

I will post a more detailed article on the transits to Australia's chart in November 2007 (when the election is likely to occur), in the next day or two.

Cycles of Pluto

I was reading about the subprime mortgage meltdown in the USA the other day; it sort of segued into a general read-up about the Federal Reserve and the whole notion of a private corporation charging the entire population for the privilege of using their banknotes. Apparently the notion of a private group of men who benefit from the financing of whole nation-states was seen for the con that it is as far back as the days of the American Revolution. Even Lincoln in the 1860s could see the threat of a private financial oligarchy, and was responsible for introducing 'greenbacks' as currency issued and backed by the government alone.

However by 1913, the balance of political power in Washington DC was such that enough politicians could be bought off to enable the passing of the Federal Reserve Act, and the establishment of a private corporation that loans money to the US Government, the Federal Reserve. In case you didn't know, the 'Federal' in Federal Reserve is purely an epithet - it is not part of the federal government, it is a purely private corporate entity that bestows to loan the people of the USA their everyday currency, at a price. If you look up the Federal Reserve in a phone book, it will not be listed under federal agencies, because it isn't one - it is entirely private. Why, you ask? Why can't the government just use its own power (as entirely derived from the people that it represents) to issue currency? The answer is that, unfortunately, we are not ruled by our elected governments (if, in fact, you can even call them elected at all); we are ruled by stupid, blind, avaricious men who have no insight into their ignorance. These men abrogate the power that can never healthily be utilised by a single person, they worship this power and sell their entire lives, their very soul, to the feeling of control over others. They never undertand the basic truth that power can never be possessed, like it is a commodity; power transcends our very individuality, it is a greater force in which we share, a power which we tune into from time to time to propel us through times when something inside us dies. As a result they, mostly unknowingly, inflict great hardships on their fellow human beings, for really no ultimate meaningful gain at all.

All this language is very Plutonic. And only next year, Pluto in the chart of the Federal Reserve, reaches its opposition to its natal place. The harvest is being reaped; the results are shown as clearly as they can be; the ultimate culmination of this energy is fully illuminated for all to see. People are seriously talking about a collapse of the dollar, a sudden crisis of confidence in the entire system of wealth creation, a feeling of having to start again with a different appreciation for reality (the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction at the Sagittarius/Capricorn cusp this austral summer is representative of this).

I always feel Pluto when I enter a situation where I am involuntarily moved to feel an emotion - it's like I'm taken on a rollercoaster ride of feelings, always frightened that I will be discovered for the weak, needy, gutless little thing that I am inside. Like I've had my clothes torn off me against my will. That's Pluto.

But why is it so intense? I think it is to do with the sheer immensity of the cycle which it sweeps in time; 248 years is a looooooong time - many times a human lifespan, and so not necessarily sympathetic to individual human concerns, like trying to stay alive, for example.



To illustrate the mundane application of Pluto's cycle, I have explored its complete transit of a chart using the example of the Act of Union of England & Wales with Scotland, in 1707. Now this is when the island of Great Britain became one legal and coronial entity, and hence I think is of immense significance to what we now refer to as the UK. Although Ireland joined with Great Britain in the Act of Union in 1801, to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, most of it seceded again 121 years later and became an independent republic, an act that Scotland has not experienced to date. For this reason, I regard this chart as a very good one to use for the present-day entity of the UK.

All cycles can be understood in terms of a simple metaphor, that of the four seasons of temperate climes. In order to understand this metaphor, it is useful to visualise the start of the year being at the vernal equinox, i.e. at the time when the Sun is crossing the celestial equator towards the hemisphere in which we happen to live. In the Northern hemisphere this is the Aries equinox, and in the Southern hemisphere it is the Libra equinox.

At the vernal equinox, or at least during the season of spring at which time the vernal equinox occurs, new life emerges through the surface of the earth as plants which have been quiescent throughout the winter begin to stir into life. This is analogous to the ‘seed moment’ of a cycle, i.e. the start of the cycle. When the cycle we are studying consists of two planets’ relationship with each other, this part of the cycle corresponds to the conjunction or ‘New Moon’ phase. In the context of an individual horoscope, this corresponds to the position of the planet at birth.

Ninety degrees further around the cycle, we encounter the opening square aspect. This is analogous to the summer solstice, the point of full flowering, the time when the purpose of the original seed is displayed for all to see. This is a time of commitment to purpose, in spite of changed circumstances. It is a time of fluorishing of life in all its colour and vigour, the peak of natural vivacity, the lush and fragrant warmth of midsummer promise. This corresponds to the first quarter phase in the lunar cycle and the first square of a planet to its natal position in a given horoscope.

Another ninety degrees further around, we come to the 180º point from where we started, analogous to the autumnal equinox. This is where the plant bears fruit, where it disseminates its essence, where its seed is dispersed, where it releases its very identity into the collective matrix. This is the opposition point: things cannot develop any further in a positive, outgoing, growing direction; rather, they must start to decline, to shrivel, to concentrate, to conserve and to prepare for hardships ahead. This corresponds to the Full Moon phase of the lunar cycle and to the opposition point of a planet to its natal place.

Finally, after a further ninety degrees, we arrive at the 270º point, or the closing square aspect. At this stage we have reached the depths of winter, the fallow, resting and preparatory stage of the life cycle. It is at this time that harshness of environment and the absence of life take centre stage. This corresponds to the last quarter of the lunar cycle and the closing square of a planet to its natal place.

As the depths of winter recede, we find ourselves back at the vernal point, where a new cycle of life begins again.

It is possible to examine the myriad other aspects which relate different stages in the cycle to the starting point, in between the four stages mentioned above, e.g. the sextile and trine aspects (60º and 120º respectively), or the quintile aspect (72º). However, for the purposes of this exploration of outer-planet cycles it may be simpler to restrict ourselves to the conjunction, opposition and the opening and closing squares.

Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the Sun. Unlike the rest of the major planets, Pluto has an orbit which is significantly at an angle to the plane of the solar system, and is more elliptical than the other planets’ orbits. This means that it tends to pass along some parts of the ecliptic faster than other parts. For example, it took around 10 years to pass through Scorpio (between 1984 and 1995), but around 32 years to pass through Taurus (in the nineteenth century).

The effect of this is that, depending on when one was born, the opening square, opposition and closing square of Pluto to its natal position may occur at an earlier or later age.

For example, an individual born on 1 January 1910, with Pluto at 25º Gemini will experience the transit of Pluto squaring its natal position (25º Virgo) in 1968-69, or almost at the age of 60. Contrast this with an individual born on 1 January 1960, with Pluto at 6º Virgo, who will experience the same transit (Pluto at 6º Sagittarius) in 1998, which is only at the age of 38.

This is a very significant observation, as it points to the possibility of more clearly distinguishing between psychological issues which occur at certain stages in the lifespan being related to astrological cycles, and those which seem to be universal life patterns. Further, it suggests that individuals of different generations may find that the archetypal experiences signified by these aspects mark their generations out in a certain way.

Back to Pluto’s meaning. Pluto represents the awareness of the universal forces of destruction and renewal which are at the very core of the fundamental mysteries of life: birth, biological determinism, genetic inheritance, reproduction, sexuality, death, collective power and social control. Perhaps a good metaphor for the Plutonian archetypal experience is that of puberty: one is forcibly pulled through a metamorphosis of body and mind, enduring changes which are both intensely compelling yet frighteningly uncontrollable, to emerge as the butterfly from the chrysalis – transformed and ready for adult life. Being an outer planet, this archetypal energy is impossible to fully harness or encompass within a single human mind or spirit – it moves through us at certain times and we must let it pass rather than fight it or attempt to possess it. When Pluto is strongly configured with other planets, events and appearances become tinged with crisis, with the emotional intensity of survival and animal instinct, and we become more conscious of how we respond to the flows of power in the social matrix.

At the opening square of Pluto to its natal place, the very essence of the Plutonian archetype comes out in full bloom – the individual displays the positive, creative and socially transformative potential that lies at the interface of the person and the society in which he or she is a part. This is the stage when the person realises and acknowledges the fact that society enacts its collective crises through individual people who make individual decisions about how they use their power to transform their environment. This stage of the Pluto cycle is the stage of recognising the nature of Pluto, of seeing it for the force that it is, of understanding the pervasiveness of the power to transform at every level of our lives. Once witnessed on this very personal level, it can be wisely understood and this wisdom used for good, or it can be misapprehended and used for purposes of destruction.

On a more immediate, personal level, this stage of the Pluto cycle corresponds to the dawning awareness that political realities, i.e. matters related to how power is shared amongst people, are personal realities, all the time, everywhere. Every decision made, no matter how seemingly frivolous, is gravid with potential ramifications on the lives of others, on the environmental matrix, on the future, and on our very evolution on both personal and collective levels. To come to terms with this reality is automatically to align oneself with only one of two opposite philosophical and ethical perspectives: to accept one’s place in the greater scheme of things and dedicate one’s life to helping humanity to evolve; or to assume that one’s own survival is of paramount importance, and any and all considerations relating to the rest of the species or indeed the rest of the universe, are entirely irrelevant. There is no in-between with Pluto, and at the time of the opening square situations tend to arise that will present us with this dilemma.

At the opposition, which can only be reached at a minimum of around 90 years of age, but can be as much as 190 years, the harvest of what was built and cultivated in the previous years is reaped. The true extent of the implications of what was started at birth becomes apparent. In the typical human lifespan, such events may not be readily apparent, but they be observed more easily in charts for mundane events, such as the inauguration of nation-states or coronations of royalty.

Looking at the transit of Pluto opposite natal Pluto for the chart of the United Kingdom of Great Britain in May 1707 referred to above (Union of England and Scotland, 12 May 1707 at 12:00 PM GMT (1 May 1707 OS), London, UK), occurred in the years 1780-1798, during which revolutions against royalty occurred in France and also in the newly-formed United States of America. In this example one could argue that the seed of consolidation of power in one monarch (in the radical chart, Pluto is in Leo) will inevitably result in the fruit of revolution from the people in opposition to this. It is precisely such titanic forces of immense power and collective will that take so long to mobilise and to disperse, that are symbolised by the long slow cycles of Pluto.

The closing square of Pluto’s transit to itself corresponds to the time when the impact of the destructive qualities of the Pluto archetype and the harshest circumstances of its reality become centrally apparent. There may be a renewed effort to re-vivify the ideals of the seed moment, to try to return to the glories of the past, despite an underlying deep recognition that this particular entity, idea or paradigm is dying, is decaying as all things naturally must do. Looking again at the UK 1707 chart, we can see that the last-quarter square of Pluto to itself took place in the period from 1866-1883. This was the period when the era of Pax Britannica came to an end; the long period dating back to the end of the Napoleonic Wars, during which Britain claimed unrivalled world power and prestige as an industrial powerhouse and naval force, came to an end with potent unification movements in Italy and Germany, and the end of the Franco-Prussian War. The effect of these events was that Britain’s role as sole superpower came to an end, and the age of the New Imperialism began, when European and American powers carved up the globe between them. Hence, we can see that while the political and royal entity started way back in 1707 was still very much alive and powerful - and indeed under Victoria its power was formidable – it was entering a period of crisis, a period of trying to hold onto what it felt was its natural dispensation, even though it was really the beginning of the end of that dispensation.

By the time of Pluto’s return to its natal position at 20º Leo, in the early 1950s, Britain was a different country altogether, its position as pre-eminent power ceded to the USA (and perhaps the USSR at the time) and its political culture markedly more socialist and less sympathetic to monarchical executive privilege.

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The Cosmic Intelligence Agency (C*I*A) is a network of individuals living around the world who share a vision of the world soul, or Anima Mundi. Agents of the C*I*A are committed to raising consciousness of universal forces at play in our everyday world, forces which can be observed in the ceaseless cyclic movements of the cosmos. The logo for the C*I*A is shown above. Please visit the central C*I*A website by clicking on the link to the right, and feel free to get in touch and get involved in advancing the cosmic perspective!