Astrological Musings — Pluto in Aquarius, Pluto in the signs and what do we mean by an age?
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As many of you know I have been speaking and writing about Pluto’s passage through Capricorn since 2008 as the “end of age”. Naturally, we might assume that the next passage of Pluto through Aquarius, which technically has begun here in 2023, would mark the beginning of a “New Age”. But that raises a number of questions, the first question being what do we mean, or what do I mean by an “age”, or the end of an age, let alone “a new age”?
Many observers of history have categorized periods in history, in various areas and regions in the world as being of a certain type or order, and they characterized what some call “the tides of history”, the rise and fall of civilizations and cultures over years, centuries and even millennia. Some eras or ages are rather long, others much shorter. And you probably would not be surprised to see that many if not most of these ripples in time can be understood as being marked, informed, and shaped by the various cycles of the planets around the Sun, as well as by their intersecting cycles with one another. After all, our Earth is part of this larger system, the solar system, whose planetary cycles can be seen much like a giant forge of energy-forms whose circulations and perambulations and rotations form what I call the “dance of the planets”, and it is this which creates the energy-patterns we experience as “time”.
Jupiter/Saturn Mutation
For example, one of the most well-known cycles in Mundane Astrology is the repeated conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in a certain element, (Fire, Earth, Air and Water), that demarcate or indicate the type of historical period that cultures and civilizations are moving through. We have just finished a 200-year cycle in the element of Earth at the end of 2020, and we began a 200-year age of Air with Jupiter and Saturn meeting in Aquarius. The complete cycle for the Jupiter/Saturn alignments in the four elements is about 800 years long.
Another means for periodizing history comes from the passages of the outer planets through the Signs individually, and also by the various Synodic cycles that Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto form with one another. A Synodic cycle is the period of one planet’s conjunction with another and those conjunctions can be viewed as being like a “new Moon” or a seeding of that’s planetary pair’s influence.
Pluto’s passage through the Signs takes about 245 years and Neptune about 164 years and Uranus about 84 years. The longest Synodic Cycle is that of Pluto with Neptune, which is approximately 492 years, then comes Neptune with Uranus of around 171 years and finally Pluto with Uranus of around 127 years.
Outer Planets Synodic Cycles
With regard to those combined synodic cycles, the most recent Pluto/Neptune cycle began in 1891–92, and the previous seeding was in 1398–99. I consider this influence to be the reciprocal relationship of Divine Will and Divine Love, and for us forms the dynamic interplay of how we manage the mystery of union or of alchemy, as we learn to join together without losing our individual selves in one another.
The last Neptune/Uranus cycle began in 1993, and the previous seeding was in 1821. This planetary pair concerns the reciprocal relationship between “Freer Minds” or independence and unconditional love or community, it holds the ever-unfolding dynamic tension between our various “kinds” of being and belonging to a community as one of many, while also trying to live and being true to oneself as a “one of a kind”.
Finally, the last Pluto/Uranus cycle began in 1965–66, and the previous seeding was in 1850–51. This planetary pair concerns the reciprocal relationship between the Will and Freedom, or Sacred Space and Freer Minds; it is the ever-unfolding dynamic tension of striving to being freer without causing harm to another or others in their sacred space.
What this means is that in just the last 100 years or so we have had each of the three major planetary pairs begin new cycles, and perhaps that may be another reason as to why we are moving through such a dynamic and tumultuous period of change.
So, in a way we could say that 1891 was the beginning of an age, as was 1965, and also 1993. Indeed, there are realms within realms, circles within circles and for us to try and sort through and understand these multiple influences and energy-forms is quite challenging. But for our purposes today, let’s consider the cycle of Pluto through the signs and see what messages it might have for us.
Pluto through the Signs
The passage of Pluto through the Zodiac takes about 245 years, and I believe it marks one of the more significant shapers for the series of phases in our spiritual development as we travel through the halls of history. Pluto is critical, as it holds for us, or is the Avatar for us in our solar system, for the essential power that is Alchemy, which is the heart of the spiritual process that drives Creation. The beating heart of Creation is forged by combinations of the many ones who in their entirety form the Life and Body of the One. Spirit moves into innumerable forms of manifestation, which proceeds as a series of creative combinations of transformations, which we experience and understand as Birth, Death, and then Rebirth into new forms. As I like to say, the whole of Creation is the story of Spirit dancing through Matter-Forms, which are the temporary forms of materializations which by their very nature are mortal or bound by time.
If we take the “beginning” of the journey for Pluto through the signs, that is starting with Aries, then we should understand that the passage from Aries to Taurus, from Taurus to Gemini and so on, should be viewed as the “story of Pluto” in the signs, with the nature and meaning of each sign being transformed by the agency of Alchemy that is Pluto. That would mean that a New Age of Pluto would begin in Aries and would end in Pisces. In each of those passages in a sign, we would expect to find the archetypal-transformational role of Pluto to take the experiences of that realm to the highest of highs, and equally to the lowest of lows, for us to experience in that sign the alchemical truth of Birth, Death, and Rebirth if you will. So, why did I designate the passage of Pluto in Capricorn as the “end of an age”?
My designation or delineation comes from what Capricorn holds or represents, which is the Institutional Hierarchy, whether that be of family, community culture or civilization. In Capricorn we witness or reach the apex and/or collapse of the development for that Pluto cycle, the fulfillment of whatever energy-form we are examining, (which in our case is the broader human story of culture and civilization). What would come after, where we are now in 2023 until 2044, is our challenge to reimagine the world we want to preserve or create now (Aquarius), and then in the last Sign of Pisces, the final challenge would to be restore our faith and face down our fears. Given our current cycle of Pluto, the next new “age of Pluto” will not truly begin until 2068 when Pluto enters Aries again.
With that in mind, let us see what the current cycle of Pluto through the signs has been. We should arrange this both in date order, but we may also find it useful to consider the four seasonal sections of these passages, Aries to Gemini, Cancer to Virgo, Libra to Sagittarius and Capricorn to Pisces to be insightful as well.
The first three signs, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, form the beginning of the emergence of any age.
Pluto in Aries
The beginning of the last passage of Pluto in Aries was 1823 to 1853, which most certainly corresponds to the emergence of a new form of world identity, with the seeding of the modern political and industrial age and the beginning of a world-wide globalization of the political economy, as Pluto in Aries heralded that a new type of order was taking shape in the world. It witnessed what historians call the first “industrial revolution”, including the spread of the means of connecting and travelling that exceeded anything before that time ever in human history, the railroad.
Pluto in Taurus
The passage of Pluto through Taurus was from 1853 to 1884 and corresponded with the transformation of the values of the emerging world order of that time, the rise of factories and major industrial production was the substantial manifestation that would lead to the carbon-based world order that we have now. In the USA, this struggle over our values came to a climax with the Civil War, over the very question of the slavery, with the emancipation of the slaves, and then their virtual re-enslavement with the counter-reformation as the struggle for equality and justice in Reconstruction failed, which led to the rise of sharecropping and Jim Crow in the south.
Pluto in Gemini
Pluto’s passage through Gemini was 1884 to 1914 and this corresponded with the transformation through a surge of inventiveness and new technologies that formed the spread of the information networks of the global order, with lines of communication that connected and encompassed for the very first time the entire world. In the USA, inventions such as the telegraph, telephone, the spread of electrification, and the automobile and airplane revolutionized the world.
The second three signs, Cancer, Leo, and Virgo, form the second quaternity, and represent the struggle with the foundations and the viability of what began in the first quarter.
Pluto in Cancer
Pluto moved through Cancer from 1914 to 1939, and the foundations of the world and human security were disrupted by World War One, the world-wide Great Depression and the beginning of the Second World War. The very nature of security which Cancer rules, of one’s land and territorial integrity, was torn asunder as peoples and nations lost their lives and their homes on a world-wide scale.
Pluto in Leo
Pluto passed through Leo from 1939 to 1957, and this passage witnessed the epic struggles of world centers of leadership and power (ruled by Leo) vying for world dominion in World War II and into the Cold War. The epic confrontations of competing systems of belief led to the development for the very first time in human history of a terrifying reality, the weapons of war humans had invented formed and still present an existential threat to life itself, in that we could destroy our world with our craftiness and technology, because our intelligence had surpassed our wisdom.
Pluto in Virgo
Pluto moved through Virgo from 1957 to 1972, as the world became transformed by the development of new technologies and methods of production, which transformed the economy through scientific discoveries and revolutionary applications in medicine, food production, and the nature of work and living were transformed. Diseases were conquered but new sources of human suffering were forged by the disruptions of natural systems by the proliferation of chemicals and other human-made poisons into the world.
The third sector of signs, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius forms the third quarter of the Astrological calendar, and it is in this second half of the Pluto cycle where we can see that Pluto’s Alchemical force transformed the larger structures of human life.
Pluto in Libra
Pluto moved through Libra from 1972 to 1984, and the transformations of the society and culture of the previous signs led to an eruption of changes in the quality and the nature of the various forms of relationships in society, for sexual relationships, for racial and cultural divisions so that the more constrained definitions of social norms were broken leading to liberations for many and yet equally the rise of counter-movements seeking to return to traditional ways of defining hierarchy and power.
Pluto in Scorpio
Pluto moved through (its own sign) of Scorpio from 1984 to 1995, heralding transformations of the world order as the essential division of East and West was broken down by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of China to the world economy, which created the potential for what some called the “end of history” and the so-called triumph of the liberal political economic order. What really emerged in this so-called “peace dividend”, led to the breaking up of many of the former alliances of the world in the continuing struggle between modernity and older cultures and customs.
Pluto in Sagittarius
Pluto passed through Sagittarius from 1995 to 2008, and the realms of belief, truth, science, and religion were transformed and disrupted by advances in science, in computers, the spread of the internet and other measures that connected everything and everyone, but equally gave rise to a host of what we know as millennial movements, to fundamentalist and authoritarian systems seeking to base their cultures and governments as counterpoints to the liberal world order that had been established in the American and French Revolutions, and their later triumph over communism. Instead, the rush into the brave new worlds led to cathartic eruptions of a longing for a simpler order based for some upon what we know as “blood and soil”, as a return to traditional beliefs and practices, and equally to the misguided attempts to promote “democracy” by imposing freedom through destruction.
Finally, Pluto entered the last quarter of the Zodiac, and the seed that was planted in the early 1800’s would bear its final fruits. Here we have experienced the triumph or failure of over 200 years of history and the painful realities and crises of the present day.
Pluto in Capricorn
Pluto moved through Capricorn from 2008 to 2023, (and actually will dip in and out of Capricorn all this year), and it brought this cycle of Pluto to its moment of reckoning, with the testing of the institutional orders of the world, with either the proper or improper wielding of Authority, with the viability or ineffectiveness of Systems (which Capricorn rules) revealed for all to see. As these institutions of the world were shook, reformed, or broke apart, as the orders of society from the family to the community, in realms sectarian and secular held or crumbled around the world, to many it seemed as if they were indeed at the end of age, and that the promise of a better future for humanity was lost.
Pluto in Aquarius
And now we have Pluto moving into Aquarius from 2023 to 2044, and so we are facing the challenge of the death and rebirth of our hopes and dreams for the future, which are forged and fulfilled by one another, in the experiences of our fellowships, our communities, and our social identities. What can we learn from the previous passage of Pluto in Aquarius, which was from 1778 to 1798?
That earlier passage in Aquarius encompassed the period of our Revolutionary War and its aftermath, with our ancestors’ failed attempts to form a loose Confederation of States, and to finally settle upon our present Constitution of a Federal government. In order to protect the rights of any one individual and the well-being of the many, we formed a compact of “checks and balances” to make possible the dreams of many, while also protecting each individual. But our forebears were as we are, imperfect. And there have been many periods in our history since then when we have advanced and also retreated on the central promise of the dream of self-fulfillment. This was also the period which saw the French Revolution (1789–99), the publication of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Haitian Revolution, and the rise of Napoleon.
What Pluto is bringing now from 2023 to 2044, is the necessity to reform/reformulate/transform our ideals and principles of community, to understand that the struggle for a new society from 1778 to 1798 came out of the collapse of the old monarchial systems and mercantile economies, and that a new order was rising, with new groupings of peoples filled with a different vision of themselves and the world they wished to make. Their hopes and dreams were different than their ancestors, and they were forced by circumstances or made the better choice to face the need to move away from beaten paths and be path makers.
We, like our ancestors did 250 years ago, have to face the world that we have made, the dreams we dreamt, the actions we took, which have led to our current crises and challenges. The pursuit of our old ways, of our old dreams and goals, by the same means and for the same reasons, that path not only makes no sense, but it is also not even possible. We have to move away from the absolutist and egotistical approach to this world and towards one another, where the right do what one wants is untethered to the essential truth of Spirit, that first and foremost we must be responsible, we must take care of one another, and that we can only live on this beautiful Earth if we do so in a sustainable and loving manner, or we will fail ourselves and our children.
We have to be bold, as Pluto demands that we renew and transform the dreams we have for ourselves, for our children, and for one another.