Pluto: Evolution and Transformation for Our Own Good
Hello reader! Every Thursday, I post the notes from this week’s episode of Maria Luz’s Conscious Curiosities podcast. I am releasing them a little early this week just for readers. Enjoy the holiday in the U.S. tomorrow if it applies to you!
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As you know, I have a standard agenda for my podcast episodes on the planets. I describe the mythology, the astronomy, then delve into the archetype through its astrological associations, then briefly describe how it may look through the signs and/or houses of the zodiac. Well, Pluto would not let me do that. And there is no use resisting (for reasons I will get into later). So this week’s episode (thanks, Pluto) will cover the following:
What makes the Pluto archetype different: it represents our soul. And that is only the beginning.
How I came to evolutionary astrology.
Abbreviated mythology and astronomy of Pluto.
Pluto through the 12 zodiac houses (get out your birth chart!).
Pluto gets at the heart of astrology for me. It’s how we come closest to describing and understanding how individuals are connected to the collective of beings in the natural world and to the universe across time, space, and dimension. Astrologer Jeffrey Wolf Green writes:
If each person understands what his or her own evolutionary requirements are, and operates in such a way as to actualize those requirements, then the collective evolutionary necessities will be developed in a non cataclysmic way.
(Pluto Volume I: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul, p. xxi)
This implies that evolution WILL inevitably occur through our individual actions, and it is possible to occur smoothly if each individual understands the requirements and then follows through with aligned action. However, we humans don’t spend a huge amount of energy trying to understand the meaning of life and we frequently do not act with the highest intentions. So, it becomes a question of how apparently sudden and disruptive the means that inevitable evolution will be achieved.
Because we can’t stop it. It only appears sudden, but is actually a cumulative and a convergence of a multitude of forces that result in what looks like a sudden metamorphosis to those standing around to witness it in the moment. He gives the examples of an earthquake and the Watergate Hotel situation which led to Richard Nixon’s forced resignation as cataclysmic evolutionary events. Obviously, looking at each more closely, one can see the components which had to be in place.
[Hold on, who is this Jeffrey Wolf Green? He is an astrologer who received the Pluto paradigm on evolutionary astrology in a dream in 1977. He then wrote the book I quoted from, developed and taught the method, and wrote other books on the subject. I am a student of the school, working on my certification.]
However, if the soul allows progressive growth over great amounts of time, this can yield a gentler evolutionary experience. In theory (of course one cannot know for certain), our souls seek this through repeated incarnations and work with other souls and beings.
So, we just go with the evolutionary flow? What of boredom vs. challenge? You may say, “My life has been full of challenges, so why haven’t I felt like I have grown to where I want to be, or worse, sometimes I feel I am being punished and I don’t know why?” Possibly, it’s about having the right challenges, not the convenient ones. We can make life really challenging, but in a very superficial way, or at least in a way that holds little or no meaning to us as an individual. Simply by reaching for the wrong challenges, life becomes more so. There is a sweet spot, some may call if flow state, where one feels extremely at ease (time almost disappears) doing something complicated and/or extremely difficult. Maybe that is when we have accumulated the evolutionary experiences and are using our gifts appropriately.
Punishment seems to be more of a man-made judgment on life’s occurrences. We are really good at labeling things because it helps us make sense of the world. But Pluto is also about mystery, deep mysteries, and perhaps there is no room for punishment here. If you don’t feel you did anything to deserve it, then don’t keep looking for the reason. Instead, look for the lesson. That is what will drive your evolution, and thereby the collective’s.
In fact, “I am being punished” can become an excuse, or a way of living that actually prevents evolutionary growth for oneself and therefore the collective. This is not to say people do not have really horrible things happen to them. It is more a matter of whether or not you cling to the story of it and stop efforts to evolve there.
With that “basic” (not nearly the right word) introduction, Pluto’s foot is off my neck a bit and I can back up. I promise, I will eventually get to how to begin to interpret your Pluto placement, but first I have to explain myself. My evolutionary astrology origin story, which is Plutonian in that it is mysterious, it is deep, it is painful at times. Most of all, and very on brand, it is a story of transformation.
Of course, I cannot possibly tell the entire story or we would be here for days and you would resort to eating pomegranate seeds out of desperation, just like Pluto’s captive, Persephone. I think of it like an album, the soundtrack to my life.
Track 1: Star being takes new shape.
Track 2: These rules are confusing as hell.
Track 3: Not actually getting the hang of it, she fakes real good.
Track 4: DAMN THIS HURTS! She discovers a liquid that eases the pain enough to keep following the rules (for the most part).
Track 5: Egads! This liquid and the fake life hurt more than the real life.
Track 6: The Tower card. Her fake life falls (or she falls from it).
Track 7: From the dirt, her magical senses sprout back to life.
Track 8: Now a butterfly, but with some tire tracks on her wings
Some of my Jeffrey Wolf Green school mentors have said that people don’t choose to study this lineage of astrology. Instead, it calls the soul. It must have done so, somewhere between Tracks 6 and 7, because I cannot consciously remember how I came to the Pluto paradigm and evolutionary astrology. When I describe how I came to astrology, I say that it was more a remembering than a learning. Even though I was still very much in my corporate, left brain mindset, I couldn’t deny it. It was a soul knowing.
And while it is obviously too much to analyze my life and where free will vs. my soul’s plan fit in, I will say that I don’t think our soul plan is like a project plan or a checklist. That wouldn’t allow for the beautiful and the terrible, sometimes wrapped up in the same package, that we experience as humans.
Mythology
You may have caught that I slipped in a bit of Pluto’s mythology already. Pluto and Hades are different names for the same god, the god of the Underworld, brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, and Juno. There are slightly different interpretations of the myths, but he seems to have abducted his niece, Persephone, who he desired and tried to court, and made her his wife and Queen of the Underworld. He and Demeter each wanted to essentially possess Persephone, so Zeus intervened and made a deal for her to reside half time with each.
Astronomy
Pluto the planet has its own story of transformation, as it was called a planet for 75 years but was then reclassified to a dwarf planet when other similar sized objects also beyond Neptune were discovered.
It was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and was named by an 11 year old girl Venetia Burney, in Oxford, England, whose grandfather had connections (he was the retired Librarian of the Bodleian at Oxford) to astronomers and was able to pass along Venetia’s idea.
NASA’s spacecraft New Horizons explored Pluto and its moons in 2015, finding it to be complex, with mountains, valleys, plains, craters, and apparently even glaciers.
Pluto through the Houses
As Pluto is a generational planet, individuals born within about a 20 year time period will share the sign. We are currently in an interesting time as Pluto has been waffling back and forth a bit between its last gasps in Capricorn and ingress into Aquarius. So, we will have some babies born around the same timeframe which could be in either sign. The other thing to watch will be that the baby boomer generation, most of whom have Pluto in Leo, will experience their Pluto opposition as it opposes from Aquarius. I am anticipating some meltdowns. As you can imagine, Pluto in Leos can be used to being able to express themselves and having people pay attention.
There is a very thorough and detailed method used in the JWG School of EA, and we learn it in order to have an in depth, clear as possible consultation with clients who are seeking to understand what their soul desires and how this life may integrate that lesson. I want to say it is the opposite of magazine horoscopes, but even that doesn’t do it justice. It is in another realm, really. I am working on my certification, which is really interesting as we work through several varied charts and accompanying bios. The bios are important, of course, because it is not like astrology is a 3-D printer using the birth chart to produce a reliable model of the person. The person’s life circumstances play a hugely significant role.
For the purposes of this podcast, to get you started, I will riff off of Steven Forrest’s The Book of Water: Healing, Regeneration, and Recovery, to walk through Pluto entering each house, so you may look at your chart to see where late Capricorn/early Aquarius lay. That is where you will most likely feel the energy described (of course, taking into consideration your chart as a whole).
I wrote these so that you can also use this to contemplate how Pluto has played out in your life thus far, by applying the description to your natal placement of Pluto by house.
1st House: The aim is to become an individual who is honest, direct, and authentic. Think the opposite of a people pleaser. Of course, don’t be mean. Be as kind as possible with the truth, as we need others to engage with in order to learn soul lessons.
2nd House: The aim is to maintain that authenticity while gathering and maintaining the resources needed. Beware of hoarding or leveraging these resources over others.
3rd House: The aim is to hone innately powerful skills of perception and use them to evolve. It is not fun to get stuck in word dramas or ruminative thoughts, so don’t.
4th House: The aim is to deeply understand my roots: my family of origin and ancestors. I need to sort out cycles and determine which foundations are meant to be built upon.
5th House: The aim is to live in a state of self expression and creativity with purpose and meaning, as opposed to getting lost in the possibility of meaningless fun as a way of existence.
6th House: The aim is to be of service in a way that leverages my innate discernment for the highest good. If I am getting this right, my days will feel in flow and my health will thrive. If I don’t, I will feel drudgery and ill health as themes of my day to day experience.
7th House: The aim is to be present and authentic in personal relationships. I remember there is always a give and take, and there is a real individual and not just a projection on the other side. Until I learn that, I will repeat unfulfilling (possibly even destructive) relationships.
8th House: The aim is to keep in mind how brief life is, yet how it can contribute to my soul’s and the collective evolution. I need to understand my why and others in order to find meaning and live fully. There is risk of getting stuck in my own and others’ dramas, including secrets and cover ups which cause destruction.
9th House: The aim is to explore the big questions around belief and philosophy in order to glean the natural wisdom in the world. The more I travel, physically or through learning, the more I will understand and be able to help others with their own explorations. I need to avoid falling into to the trap that my own beliefs are always best.
10th House: The aim is to fulfill the leadership role that seems to be held just for me. I have matured into this position and appreciate the responsibility and power involved. I have to be aware of my personal integrity so as not to become a chess piece in the status quo’s master plan.
11th House: The aim is to ask myself about the groups I identify with and what the end game is with them, because that is my fate. Instead of being in groups for superficial or unexamined reasons, I need to be intentional about where I decide I belong if I truly care about evolving to my highest and best self.
12th House: The aim is to understand that psychological work is tied in with spiritual work because there is no separation of my divine part from my human. Wounds must be unhidden in order to be released, and my own power to forgive is key to divine healing. The risk of not going there is that I feel cut off from the transcendent, alone in the physical plane, possibly self-pitying defeat stories are stuck on repeat.
You are now empowered to be consciously curious about Pluto!