So, Pluto Moves into Aquarius Next Week
Some tidbits to get you thinking about this shift
If you follow astrology, you know that Pluto will depart the sign of Capricorn, where it has been since January 2008, on November 19th, entering the sign of Aquarius, where it will be until March 2043. In order to understand what this means for us personally and as a collective, I offer this refresher on the archetype and energy of Aquarius. (To learn more about Pluto, read this post and check out the references at the end of this post.)
For our purposes today, keep in mind the following basics regarding Pluto:
Pluto placements by sign are generational, because everyone born within the approximately 12 to 30 years that Pluto spends in a sign share their Pluto sign (although the house placement will differ). Note that the varying time spent in each sign is based upon Pluto’s eccentric orbit around the Sun.
In mythology, Pluto (aka Hades) was God of the Underworld. He was also part of a drama with Persephone, who through some shady actions on Pluto’s part, became Goddess of the Underworld. Persephone’s mother Demeter (aka Ceres), was Goddess of the Harvest, and was so distraught over losing her daughter that she appealed to her brother Zeus/Jupiter to divide Persephone’s time between the Underworld and Earth, resulting in the seasons as annual cycles of dormancy (when Persephone was below) and growth (when Persephone was above).
Pluto’s energy correlates with intensity, extremes, power, transformation, betrayal, things being hidden, attachment, detachment, death, birth, deconstruction, expulsion. In the Jeffrey Wolf Green lineage of evolutionary astrology I practice, Pluto represents the soul’s desires, and as such, will lead to evolution of our soul if we work with the energy or cease to resist it. (It’s more complicated than that, of course, but such is Pluto!)
We would then synthesize all things Pluto with the archetype of Aquarius in order to understand the energy we are moving into as a collective. For you to personally apply this energy, you would look at the area where Aquarius resides in your birth chart, paying attention also to the cross (the opposition and square aspects) it makes with the areas covered by Leo, Taurus, and Scorpio. As a very broad guideline, these are the areas of your chart, the houses representing areas of your life, where you will feel Pluto doing Pluto things in an Aquarian manner. Just ask anyone with significant placements in Capricorn, Cancer, Libra, and Aries, who have been experiencing Pluto doing his Capricorn thing since 2008.
As always, I must state that the birth chart as a whole matters, and as you learn more astrology, you will pick up the nuances of your chart and how and when you may feel Pluto in Aquarius more personally.
In some ways, as much as Pluto is about extremes, so is Aquarius, the difference being Aquarius is extreme in a cold manner, whereas Pluto burns hot. Its glyph looks like water, yet it is an Air sign (the glyph is actually that of a young man pouring water from a jug). It is associated with rebellion, yet it is also associated with groups. How then do we get our heads around the extremes within this single energy?
I will break down the essentials in brief. But first, some quotes (the italics are his) from Steven Forrest’s The Book of Air: The Art of Paying Attention:
He distills Aquarius into “The process of figuring out who we really are as distinct from what we have been trained to believe we are.”
He also draws from astrologer Dane Rudhyar, and writes, “Rudhyar goes directly to the heart of the Aquarian paradox, which is the essential symbiosis between a culture and those who would overthrow it.”
He further states that “Aquarian individuation can only occur in the context of social expectations, constraints, rules, and threats of coercion”. I find this described even in the ancient mythology.
Mythology
In the myth, there was a young prince named Ganymede, who was captured by Zeus (disguised as an Eagle), who made him into a servant and lover, and a sort of bartender to the gods. One day, Ganymede rebels and pours out all of the special drinks, with all of the water falling to Earth, causing massive floods. Zeus felt bad about how he treated Ganymede, and in repentance immortalized him as the constellation Aquarius.
Astrological Associations
Aquarius is the fixed air sign, representing when winter is its most concentrated, between Capricorn and Pisces seasons.
It is ruled by Saturn in Hellenistic astrology, and its modern ruler is Uranus.
It is associated with the 11th house, which is about the groups you associate or aspire to associate with, areas of innovation, and your future. It is associated with social ideals, humanitarianism, world citizenship, impersonal love.
The Look and Feel of Aquarius
Before I knew astrology well, Aquarius frustrated the hell out of me. Or, perhaps more accurately, my brother, a quintessential Aquarian, frustrated the hell out of me. Don’t worry, he will never read this, astrology not being his idea! In part, Aquarius frustrated me because it sits opposite the zodiac wheel to my Leo Sun, and unless we have placements in this part of our chart, we may find the energy opposing our Sun to be hard to feel into. I was also hyper invested in conforming, which is antithetical to Aquarius.
AND, there is a kernel of truth about Aquarius in my statement that my brother is partial to his own ideas, to the point of scoffing at those which do not originate from his mind - unless and until he makes them his own somehow.
Aquarians take great pleasure in finding things that others have not. In order to do this, they must be acutely aware of what the mainstream is comprised of. Then they reinvent all kinds of things, from technology, to music styles, to fashion, to ways of measuring or reporting things. They also enjoy having groups of people around them who appreciate the novelties they have found in the mundane everyday ways and objects. They enjoy the concept which brings people together over the actual people.
Consider some Aquarius Sun sign people. First, we have Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb and the phonograph. He obviously had to deeply understand the limitations of physics and materials. Then we have two examples from aviation. Charles Lindbergh innovated by flying the first transatlantic flight. Chuck Yeager was the first pilot to exceed the speed of sound in an aircraft. In order to break through these ceilings, they had to understand the laws of physics and the mechanics of an airplane extremely well.
Call it eclectic, eccentric, or oddball, Aquarian energy brings it. However, without others to appreciate it, or worse, if others persecute them for it, things get crunchy. Remember, this is an Air sign, therefore it will think itself out of discomfort. It is also a fixed sign, and can get stuck once it has attached to its own idea. This is where others with Aquarian energy can help. The collective, when diverse, can keep feeding new ideas into the system. It doesn’t have to be an either or situation when this energy is flowing properly.
However, when the discomfort of separation from the main group becomes too severe, or the consequences of non-conformity become harmful, then Aquarius may consciously flip into status quo mode (after all, it knows it so well) and just go along to get along with the group. Alternatively, very self-sufficient Aquarian energy will not be bothered if they do not fit in, in fact, they may even revel in it, finding a certain cache in being the eccentric uncle figure. Ironically, they can get stuck in a state of inconsistency or unpredictability.
If you are interested in history (I posit that all astrologers become historians at some point), The Astrology Podcast has an excellent episode on Pluto in Aquarius throughout history. It is about 4 hours long, so bring your endurance. Hats off to Chris Brennan and his guest Nick Dagan Best for all of the work that must have gone into that episode.
I hope this empowers you to be consciously curious about Pluto in Aquarius!
References:
Pluto
The Astrology Podcast YouTube episode on Pluto in Aquarius through history
Ceres
Astrological Houses
Steven Forrest's Book of Air: https://www.forrestastrology.com/products/book-of-air
Famous People: https://famouspeople.astro-seek.com/advanced-astrology-search-celebrity-charts
Okay, I am REELING...
I pulled out my handy dandy natal chart as I read along, scribbling marginal notes, sitting back and taking some deep breaths, letting some of the mind-expanding insights wash over me. Boom! For the first time in my life as a Capricorn Sun/Taurus Moon earthy, Earthy, EARTHY person who is just so stubborn and quirky makes sense of my Aquarius ASC. Yes! It is where I have been heading, in my own headstrong way, since birth. I always just chalked it up to my willful, stubborn-as-an-old-goat nature, which is true. But reading about your brother---a lightbulb lit up.
Now I am looking at my natal Sun in Capricorn conjoined both Mercury in Cap in the 11th and Jupiter in Cap slipped just over into the 12th. Saturn is in Cap in the 12th, too. Then the explosion of Aquarius on the Ascent. No wonder I am not even remotely a typical Capricorn, scaling the corporate heights and going for every societal trophy. And now...welcome, Pluto; what are you bringing to the party?
I think, Maria, it is time for me to visit your website and consider what I can learn from you about...what? A progressed chart? Transits? There is a lot happening in my life right now, even though on the surface I look like any other mild-mannered old lady. My first novel is perched on the cusp of publication (SELF-published, of course!😂), a connected community is happening on Substack that simply delights me to no end, and our (now international multi-cultural) family has expanded in the past year in completely unexpected ways as I became a grandmother twice over in a single month when ALL of our four children had said they were not going to have children. It has been glorious, if a bit stunning.
Thank you sooooo much!💖
Bookmarked!