Much has been written this year and last about the move of Pluto from the sign of Capricorn, where it has been since 2008, into the sign of Aquarius, where it will remain until 2043.
The outer planets - Uranus, Neptune, Pluto - move slowly through the signs of the zodiac compared with the inner planets, with the result that their influence is felt over a longer time frame and the potential for much greater impact. It is a gradual process and we’re not always aware of what is happening until after the fact.
I have no intention of adding to the discussion of the wider social implications of both Pluto’s time in Capricorn nor its future movement through Aquarius. For those interested in this wider context, there is plenty of material available elsewhere - and it is also useful to reflect on the last time Pluto moved into Aquarius, which was 1777/1778, with the sixteen years from 1762 being Pluto’s last period in Capricorn.
What I do have an interest in, though, is how these patterns reflect changes in our individual lives. And one of the benefits of maturity is that I have the luxury of reflecting on a sixteen year cycle and being able to see a broader context, rather than it being the sum total of my experience of being an adult - which it would be were I to be writing this in my mid-thirties.
Pluto is associated with the shadow, areas we have repressed, willingly or unwillingly, and our ability to transform those. It is also associated with the use and abuse of power, and with death and endings. Capricorn is an earth sign and is related to themes such as structures, stability, systems, tradition, responsibility and authority. When Pluto moves through Capricorn we can expect unresolved issues relating to authority, structures and systems to emerge; we can expect to be dealing with challenges to how we build and maintain stable structures; how we create, support and hold power in authority; and we can also expect there to be a letting go (death) of some of those that are no longer fit for purpose, with the associated need to deal with any resistance to that.
While this can sound negative, none of the planets nor signs can be seen as objectively ‘bad’ or ‘good’. Pluto has the gift of bringing to the surface what needs to be seen, acknowledged and addressed. It represents the energy that enables us to do the deep dive required for our transformation. Capricorn has the gift of being able to build enduring and supportive structures and systems - which are necessary to healthy societies, communities, families and relationships. It also represents the industriousness and sense of responsibility required for that task.
How these play out in an individual’s life depends very much on how comfortable the person is with Pluto’s energy (which can be indicated by where and how it sits in the birth chart) as well as the area of life under the influence of Capricorn (as indicated by the House on whose cusp/s Capricorn sits).
For me personally, Pluto has been working its way since 2008 firstly through the area of my birth chart associated with daily work and routine (6th House) and more latterly into the area concerned with my relationship to others and longterm relationships.
For the first few years of Pluto’s ingress into Capricorn, the result was that I was very much focussed on the challenges of being in a permanent and full-time job when it came to wanting to create a new path. It was a period that brought me into direct contact with the shadow side of the systems we become part of when we take on a permanent and pensionable job - inflexibility and lack of personal freedom but the temptation to sacrifice those for the sake of stability and security. The system in which I had willingly participated had provided me with financial security, but the previous period of Pluto moving through the questing sign of Sagittarius had set in motion a hunger for a new way of living, and I was having to deal with the consequences of that.
The final resolution in 2012 was arrived at clumsily, as I stumbled in semi-darkness through trial and error trying to figure out what worked for me and what worked for those who were dependent on my support. Looking back now I can see that what I was doing was trying to establish structures and systems of my own - ones that were more in keeping with my core values. I needed supportive structures that would enable me to devote time and energy to a new developing career. I needed healthy systems that would give me more time to spend with my young children. There was a need for structure and systems (Capricorn) but I needed to embrace my own authority (also Capricorn) and deal with the issues that were preventing me from doing so (Pluto).
As Pluto moved towards the 7th House and the challenges relating to work and daily routine had been largely addressed, issues of longterm relationship loomed larger. I wasn’t a lone parent. I had a partner who bore equal responsibility for whatever systems and structures needed to be in place to support the happiness and wellbeing of our small family as well as to support the relationship that could nurture it. More shadow work was needed and many deep questions needed to be asked.
How does personal freedom and choice live alongside the structure and stability required of a longterm relationship that has responsibility for children and a home?
What shadows emerge from our personal beliefs and history when we need to put some of our personal ‘freedoms’ aside to create stable systems? Do these systems support us, with the sacrifice of some freedom ultimately enabling greater freedoms? Or do they hobble us?
How are our attempts to create healthy and enduring structures sabotaged by unresolved shadows?
How do two people involved in a longterm ‘structure’ - whether intimate or business - deal with the power struggles, and the need to acknowledge and deal with difficult issues?
These were deeply personal questions for me, but they are also the same questions that we deal with as a collective.
I mentioned the ‘gifts’ that both Pluto and Capricorn have. To reap the benefit of these ‘gifts’ requires a willingness on our part to deal with the challenges that surface. In the arena of longterm relationships, if a couple is willing to respond to what are shared issues - regardless of whether they originally appear to stem from one or other party in the relationship - there is the potential for healthy endings, smooth transitions, and new growth.
The same is true at the collective level - the first step in learning from the past is a shared commitment to deal with what has come up and to do the hard graft of learning new skills and developing more supportive systems and structures to maintain us into the future.
The alternative - for individuals, couples, and the collective - is either a clinging to entrenched positions (Capricorn) or a jumping forward into the new (Aquarius) without reaping the rewards of experience.
As Pluto moves into Aquarius fully from today, 19th November 2024, we have an opportunity both individually and collectively to look at what has been happening since 2008 and to acknowledge our experiences. It is a liminal space of transition, and there is a door still open to the past that allows us to bring with us what we think will sustain us - before the door closes and we move more firmly into the realms of Aquarius.
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