pluto: lord of death, wealth and transformation

I’m retired, which has given me a lot of free time plus a lot of personal interest in what’s going on with the crisis in the US financial markets. there is a lot of good stuff out there, both in terms of the astrology and the financial analysis. a lot of people are anxious, and anxiously watching what will happen next; tomorrow, next week. I thought a bit of a look at the astrology out in the future (6 months – 1 year from now) along with a little review about old man Pluto, who seems to be the catalyst for a lot of this destruction, might be useful in understanding what’s happening now.

you have probably read a lot about Pluto moving into Capricorn later this year, and maybe have even read some of the blogs about how its recent station direct in the last degrees of Sagittarius has triggered the current turmoil. but why??? what is pluto’s role in the freaking stock market, for heaven’s sake??

Pluto represents hidden wealth -- all those underground resources and natural riches (although most astrologers have Neptune as the ruler of oil – go figure). Pluto also rules those incredibly powerful processes of transformation that can create wonderful results, but would you really want to go through them? (think diamonds!). as many have already said, “hang on” because the ride is just beginning.

Pluto in Capricorn is going to transform our social institutions. period. by that, I include markets, governments, energy, education, health care, justice, families. Seriously. because Capricorn IS serious. time to grow up, time to throw out the crap, the frivolous, whatever no longer works. Time to get serious. and because it is Pluto, in Capricorn, whose opposing sign is Cancer, it is going to make us feel very, very unstable for a while… everything will feel like it is at risk, everything will seem to be changing, blowing up in our faces, violently ending. witness the current financial crises. Sucks, no?

so where’s the good news? it is happening to make us MORE SECURE, STRONGER, to restore our moral authority and institutional validity. so much has broken, gone sour, deteriorated, been exhausted, over the last few decades. time to shake things up, break things up, raze the city so we can build the new city. yet, at the same time that Pluto is exploding the crap and bulldozing the rubble, the new, radical, green, or faith-based programs/actions/groups/ideas that are percolating throughout everyone’s communities will be getting stronger and stronger. necessary changes for the better that have been decades in the coming will actually arrive… seriously. (some you’ll like, some you’ll hate… just like now).

saturn turns retrograde Dec. 31. to me, this indicates that the president is going to have a very difficult first few months dealing with the sick institutions and policies left by the previous administration. however, by May Saturn has gone direct, Jupiter and Neptune are conjunct in Aquarius, and some of the new humanistic, inclusionary ideas and policies will be articulated and manifested. (see above).

in March 09, Venus goes retrograde in aries, and by April will square Pluto in the early degrees of Cap. could this be a time of deep reflection on how fair and just our fiscal policies are? why do private companies get to keep their profits, but if they fail hugely enough, the public has to bail them out?? where is the balance between growth and sustainability?

getting from now to then will require taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships. it means being conscious of your resource use; everything from your money to your carbon footprint. moderation and diligence are the watchwords for your everyday life. and if a crisis does occur, the questions you may have to ask yourself are “can I do without this? do I still need this in my life? how could I do this differently?” Pluto can suck, but he really, really sucks if you resist. so I am envisioning the future optimistically, and although I can’t exactly welcome Pluto’s transits, as a scorpio with her sun square Pluto, I’m getting better at dealing with them.