Pluto has been in Capricorn since Jan 2008, it’s ingress into the sign was marked later that year by the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers and the subsequent international banking crisis that followed. Since that time there has been scandal after scandal within our world institutions, which in turn has been building momentum toward the reformation of our systems. The seven 1st quarter square aspects of Uranus with Pluto in recent years has added sizeable energy to this. Arguably as technological development has gone exponential, meaning that the developments within just one year now equal what used to take ten years, our existing systems that help us make sense of the world, are no longer able to keep up with the accelerated evolution that technology is causing. For example the way that we take in information is changing. In the old system, what Jordan Greenhall refers to as the Blue Church (a metaphor for the pro-liberal western system that emerged since the 1950s), information about how we should orientate to reality was largely broadcast i.e. a single approved person, often qualified in some way, disseminating information to a mass of passive listeners. This has happened in our education systems: a teacher speaks while many students listen, and exams reward those that can repeat the information successfully. On a broader level the news reader broadcasting specific approved information to the masses via television. The emergence of the Internet (an Aquarian imbued system) is now radically changing the way we think and communicate, where we are no longer restricted to just one person at a time speaking while all others listen. In the same way, we have been electing those within the community with certain capacities to be our leaders - we have looked to a few elected people to deal with the big problems while we dealt with normal life. Yet we have come to a position now where the world problems are so complex that our elected specialists themselves do not have the capacities to deal with problems effectively anymore. It seems to me that our survival depends on us finding a new way to make sense of the world, which will require tremendous structural change within culture. Pluto itself is nearing an end of a cycle of evolution that reflects on a large scale; it is coming to the end of Capricorn in 2023 and must travel through just two more signs before this cycle is complete when Pluto is in Pisces and enters Aires in 2066. That might sound like a long way away, but in terms of global development this is a short time frame. Pluto in Capricorn has reflected the ongoing process of cultural reform, the energies revealing where things have been going wrong; we’ve began to notice our ruling elite Plutocrats running things from behind the scenes and of course they have been unwilling to let go of their power advantage. Pluto in Aquarius from 2023 will no doubt usher in a time of liberation from and transformation of our cultural paradigm, we are already seeing the seeds of change in the form of developments such as blockchain encryption enabling the creation of crypto currencies like Bitcoin, and the emergence of the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ (IDW) which is bringing the collaborative discussion of real problems into the collective sphere. In this sense the work undertaken within humanity during the Pluto in Capricorn time 2008-2023 will influence how smooth or challenging a time we will have when Pluto enters Aquarius. Within this grander process of development, Saturn the archetype of structure and thus related to how our world functions, and at a more personal level how our own life style is built i.e. our job, relationships, creative projects etc, is itself coming to a cycle end in relation to Pluto representing evolution itself. Nothing can remain static, it is natural law that change is one of life’s constants. In terms of structure, this means that all the systems we create have a life span, and at some point must either reform sufficiently or eventually transform. Currently Saturn is just 12˚ away from a conjunction with Pluto, and will unite with Pluto in Jan 2020. What this means is that some of the world structures as well as our personal ones will be in a death/rebirth process: the structure of our reality may well be crumbling before our eyes. How each of us deals with this is of course up to us, but the rule of thumb is that the more we cling to old obsolete ways of being the rougher the ride will be. Nature is always evolving, and this includes not just matter in space-time but also our inner psychological dynamics. Structures become obsolete when they have served their evolutionary purpose in our lives at which point they begin to hinder growth and spiritual progress. So take a look at the pattern of your own life and ask yourself what structures are up for change? A way to understand this is to ask yourself in what areas you feel bored, stuck, limited, or stagnated? We are always informed by our feeling nature about what feels alive and relevant from what does not, yet we naturally tend to hold on to things, even if they are meaningless or painful to remain secure. Perhaps the stagnation is most felt in your job, or a relationship that feels tired, or an attitude that no longer yields the best results. Maybe your time in the place you are living is coming to an end and you need to move on. During this Saturn Pluto phase we can all expect to complete lessons of growth and be ready for something new to begin in the way we deal with space-time reality. On a global level we shouldn’t be surprised to see long held structures failing…for example the recent mass migrations into Europe will quicken the death of the old structures of European identity for better or for worse. Within this crisis of change there will always be an opportunity to grow or resist growth; everyone involved must participate and choose which way they want to relate to these now inexorable changes. Do we choose to transcend apparent differences or do we choose polarisation and conflict? Will we choose to let the best of western philosophical thought wither within a failing multi-cultural paradigm or will we renew our interest in western culture and it’s accomplishments and develop them further? Englands decision to leave the EU will become a reality before 2020; another example of an old structure falling away.
The Jupiter/Pluto Cycle
To add to the death/renewal of structures, Jupiter the archetype of beliefs is also approaching a cycle completion with Pluto by 2020. So we can expect the nature of our beliefs to be affected as well. In astrology Jupiter rules Sagittarius, a sign that precedes Capricorn. The hint here is that the foundation of what we believe always has fundamental influence over our reality, which in turn deeply affects culture. I am experiencing this as a mild and somewhat reluctant revelation, whereby I begin to realise that what I have taken to believe may not be as relevant for me as it once was. There is a loosening of the absolute, and that’s giving room for me to question what I believe without it feeling like heresy. Again if we work to make our inner processes more conscious then we contribute to an easier flow with change, but if we resist the evolutionary impulse represented by Pluto, then it can be that we manifest more radical and cataclysmic change as we struggle to catch up with reality. The celestial patterns don’t rule over us and dictate to us our fate, rather they show us the way the river of life flows and it is up to us in part to choose how we relate to the natural way unfolding. If you find yourself manifesting unexpected and troubling life events remember that asking the question “why is this happening for me?” will put you into a more empowered position than if you stay with the default reactive question “why is this happening to me?” It is always much harder to have a positive influence on life events if we position ourselves as victim.