There are many layers of interpretation regarding Pluto’s passage through Capricorn, but for the purposes of this particular post, right now I want to discuss one key concept of this placement…that is the idea of something deteriorating over time. It’s not as if a situation, a relationship, etc. immediately falls apart if/when touched by Pluto in Capricorn; rather it takes its time unraveling. Think: a controlled collapse, or a brick-by-brick demolition. Pluto in Capricorn’s passage through a specific house of our chart or contact to a planet or personal point in our nativity signifies that something is very likely undergoing a process of being gradually – perhaps even carefully and deliberately – deconstructed.
Because nothing touched by Pluto’s hand can ever stay the same, it is highly unlikely that Humpty Dumpty will ever be put back together again in exactly the same way. However, there is also an equally good chance that whatever it is may yet live on in another, more solid or mature form after that Limit Break has been reached and the non-functional status quo subsequently flushed down the tubes. There is usually a razing involved with Pluto transits, but while this planet traverses Capricorn this will take its time in happening and we will see it coming (read: have ample warning) quite possibly YEARS before whatever it is actually dies – we’ll hear that freight train coming looooong before it actually hits. It’s not as fatalistic as it sounds, I assure you – the process of destruction can actually be quite constructive with Pluto in Capricorn….more on that later.
LOL, if you change up the lyrics a bit, this song is actually totally apropos for Mercury square Pluto, which is exact as I post.
Pluto has been calling me quite a bit lately, actually – I’ve had many Platinum Plutonians emerging from the woodwork and getting in touch in recent months. Most recently, it was a Scorpio girlfriend from 20 years ago texting me from out of the clear blue sky. Now I am a Plutonian as well, and usually when contact between myself and another dies off, I tend to just leave it wherever it lies and am not prone to reconnecting with people once the line has gone silent for whatever reason. But she has always been an exception to this general rule and I have thought of her fondly over the years – we were separated when she moved halfway across the country and lost touch during the tumultuous upheaval that was my youth…somewhere during my many changes of residence, I had lost her contact info. We were mutually jazzed to reconnect with one another and spent some time chatting on the phone and catching up – she is actually living in (of all places!) Sin City – I can’t think of a more hilariously apt locale for Scorpio!
I’ve also re-established contact with a Moon-Pluto woman whom I’ve always seen as sort of a surrogate mother figure. Tragically, she lost her home in a fire earlier this year…she had no idea she was a Moon conjunct Pluto gal, and yet for some reason has been inexplicably (well, unless you know astrology, LOL) drawn to Phoenix symbols to adorn her home, which is in the process of being rebuilt from the ashes as we speak (better than ever)! Truly, the stories she has about this are freakishly cool – I will save them for another time as this makes a very interesting astro-post all on its own.
There have been at least a half dozen instances of Plutonians connecting or re-connecting with me since this Pluto transit of mine kicked in. I do love & appreciate the higher-flying versions of this breed and have said for eons there is always room for another at my table. I don’t voluntarily orbit in the company of the Lo-Fi variants, though, and have theorized it might be because I scare them off…a bright light in a room will tend to send all the cockroaches scuttling for cover, LOL!
I do love and appreciate good Plutonians, though….they are a rarer breed by nature because Pluto energy can so easily corrupt, but there is none better than a Hi-Fi Plutonian ally. It would seem life appears to be sending them my way in droves and when you’re right in the midst of a major Pluto transit, lemme tell ya, there is no one else you would want supporting you! It’s a bit of funny role reversal for me as I have spent decades of my life always being the go-to (Plutonian) person for others during times of crisis and loss; the proverbial Ferryman across the river Styx shepherding lost souls through major transition. Now I am on the receiving end.
Perhaps since I spent so many years as an agent in his service, Pluto felt some small recompense was due and decided to bust out the Bat Signal on my behalf; psychically or subliminally communicating with his minions and giving them the impetus get in touch with me en masse. Regardless if this was the case or not, they have all proved to be invaluable resources for which I am very grateful. On a personal growth level, one other thing I can say is these contacts have all allowed me to strip away a protective shell of guardedness so people can communicate with and meet me at deeper, more authentic level, and I truly do treasure this. So if your BatPhone starts ringing off the hook, definitely don’t be afraid to pick it up and see if it’s Pluto calling….
Let’s have a little fun as a retrograding Venus in Leo contacts Pluto, shall we? For your entertainment, the definition of a Plutonic term from my own personal lexicon –
Necromance (n.):
1) A Lo-Fi expression of Venus/Pluto energy that results in a love affair with (metaphorical) Dead Things, including but not limited to:
A) romantic liaisons that have long past their expiration dates but that are permitted to linger on in some half-dead state due to an unwillingness to let go, stick a fork in it, and call it “done”.
OR
B) relationships that have long ago ended but that have, for some ungodly reason, been resurrected when they should have just been allowed to Rest In Peace.
Indulging a necromance can lead to necrophilia; a.k.a. the (possibly renewed) consummation of a sexual relationship with an Undead Party when one would be much better off …Read More…
This is a perfect little clip for the impending squares between Saturn in Sagittarius & Neptune in Pisces, the first hit of which will be happening in late November 2015. Do watch, because it will give you a pretty good feel for the contrast we have going on with these two astrological energies.
Note the clock (Saturn) sternly tolling in the middle of the segment, LOL…
So what have we learned from Cinderella and how does this apply to the astrology of the Saturn/Neptune squares of 2015 – 2016? I think the first theme of these squares center around the notion of staying strong in your belief and protecting your faith in your dreams, even when this is being challenged. With Saturn, a delay or obstacle shouldn’t be misconstrued as a denial – difficulty is NOT an indicator to throw our hands in the air and just give up! In reality, while I would indeed add a proviso onto the premise that if we just “keep on believing, a dream that [we] wish will come true” and state that we’re also going to need a hefty tub of Elbow Grease (work) to make it happen, the core takeaway is to protect our vision; whether it be personal OR vocational. And incidentally it IS worth noting how I did mention elsewhere that I do see this square as a potential indicator of professional disillusionment and a subsequent quest for meaningful vocation; particularly for two groups of people – those born circa ’86 who are just now experiencing their first Saturn Return & the ’72 – early ‘76 vintage who have Neptune in the early-mid degrees of Sagittarius and are contending with a simultaneous Neptune Square. Though we are all dealing with this to a greater or lesser extent over the next year+ depending upon which planets or points in our individual charts are being impacted, these specific age brackets are especially sensitized as a whole.
But I digress…my point is a challenge in manifesting our dream should be thought of as a philosophical test to hammer out how we might perhaps be seeing things the wrong way; where our well-intentioned implementation or execution of that vision is for some reason askew and thus cannot yield the results we wish to achieve if we were to leave it as-is. We may need a better, more supportive framework to protect that dream and make sure it will stand the test of time rather than allow it to be gradually eroded away via negligence like a sandcastle completely bereft of a seawall left standing at the water’s edge when the tide is coming in. When we seem to hit a wall, we must utilize a certain degree of intuitive wisdom to sense how to keep things fluid and able to adapt to shifting conditions while also recognizing the necessity of having a safe and sturdy container (a form) to hold that dream so it doesn’t wind up slowly seeping out and disappearing into the ground beneath our feet.
For this reason, I am equating the energy of Saturn in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces with the concept of imagineering abetter system – the difficulties we encounter may just be a prompting from The Universe that we need to go about things another way if we’re looking to turn that dream into a reality; perhaps by adjusting our plan, methodology, etc. for optimum functionality. During these squares we simultaneously have to learn how to flow/float while keeping ourselves tied off to a beneficial anchoring structure/framework of some kind…an interesting proposition for sure! It’s a bit like cave diving – even the most skilled divers know it’s easy to lose your way underwater if you don’t have a literal guideline to follow. Vision can be totally obscured by silt, the current can shift and carry you away….the point is drifting is not advised! So whether we are attempting to manifest a vision that is personal or professional during this square (which will run more or less continuously from late 2015 – late 2016), it is certainly good to keep this in mind.
With this test – as is usually the case with anything Saturn-related – if we don’t throw in the towel and give up when we encounter hardship, our persistence is usually rewarded 9 times out of 10. I say “usually” because if there IS a firm and repeated spiritual “no” involved w/ Saturn in Sagittarius, we can absolutely be sure it is for our own good – maybe Divinity has something better in mind that we just can’t see with our narrow focus. Maybe that dream we so badly want to come true is actually too confining for us…perhaps our imagination had certain limits we weren’t aware of and so we couldn’t dream what else might be possible due to certain contextual limitations. We could be blind, for example, to how the realization of that fantasy could actually somewhere down the line potentially restrict opportunities or stunt growth.
The point is, we may lack the capacity to understand the spiritual reason or lesson at the time, but I assure you that it ISthere! I believe in the wisdom of The Universe and trust it fully, and I don’t think as mere mortals we can ever possibly pretend to know what the Divine Design is, exactly, because this would take all of the magic out of life. So if we work hard to realize a dream during the squares between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces, making many sacrifices only to have it not to come true, we must at least stay strong in the belief that The Universe knows what it’s doing. Sometimes the “no” is because life has something better in store for us at a later date; something beyond the bounds of our current level of understanding that will become clear to us possibly years later. The blessing about having Saturn involved with Neptune is that our life lessons tend to be delivered with an infinite amount of mercy and compassion, even if there is a delay in the realization of this fact ❤
Ever since this Pluto transit kicked in, I have experienced some pretty wild encounters on the Vulture Medicine front. One of the most memorable was the time I came upon a flock of about 20-25 ominously large Turkey Vultures perched upon the lower boughs of a decaying old sugar maple one evening during a run. They were probably only about 30 feet away from me and didn’t even startle as I passed…it was surreal and made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up in a combination of awe and also a vague sense of foreboding – I knew that life wasn’t likely to be the same after an encounter like that, as that’s some Big Medicine!
Vultures are an earthly manifestation of Plutonic energy, you see, and may appear to us at times when an old way of life is passing as harbingers of this transition. They are carrion feeders, so there is an element of learning how to spiritually sustain ourselves from the decay that surrounds us. Fortunately (LOL, that’s my gallows humor, folks!) I am well-versed in the practice of finding gold in the shadow…
“Welcome to your Saturn Transit, Mr. Stewart – this is your captain speaking. Your flight time will be approximately 2 years and the weather at your destination is looking clear and cool.”
Image credit: JDH Rosewater
In cased you missed it, on Thursday night Sagittarius Sun Jon Stewart had his last hurrah as fake news anchor of The Daily Show. Jon is having just a wee bit (that’s a joke, BTW) of a Saturn transit – or more correctly, series of Saturn transits – for the foreseeable future, perhaps being spurred on by the Cosmic Taskmaster to move onto something more “legit” (also tongue-in-cheek). Jon has his Sun, Moon, & Mercury in Sadge, which means Saturn will steamroll all of them by the time it leaves this sign in late 2017. Further, during this same time The Ringed One squares his Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter, & Chiron – that’s a boatload of Saturn energy to have happening in such a comparatively short window!
Saturn transits are decidedly Not Fun(ny)…we tend to become more serious under this planet’s auspices and are apt to experience internal or external pressure (usually via a sense that time is ticking) to figure out what it is we REALLY want to achieve in life. Saturn imbues us with ambition, pragmatism, and a healthy dose of wisdom via trials and experience. And where we stumble, we come to know our limitations. We grind onward, however, knowing with inner certainty that hard work always pays off in the end and that nothing worth having is ever easy.
So how has Jon’s Saturn transit – which started last year – manifested thus far? Well, it began when he decided that he had apparently reached the pinnacle of his late-night television career, as there were certainly no mountains for him to climb and this had been the case for quite some time. Sure he was riding high, but his progress had more or less plateaued due to hitting the ceiling and there wasn’t any room for him to grow – an anathema to Sagittarius. Saturn was a mere two degrees from his Sun when the announcement of his August departure came – Saturn transits can tend to have a very limiting, confining feel to them which would certainly be enough to make any Sadge restless; let alone one that might not have been feeling sufficiently challenged from a creative & professional standpoint! Sagittarius is not a particularly simpatico placement for this planet overall since this is a sign that’s all about EXPANSION, and the (conscious or unconscious) sense of having to deal with this kind of astrological internment can be quite claustrophobia-inducing to our Centaur friends. “The walls are closing in – quick, make for the exit!!” Anyone who has ever observed a Sadge contemplate the prospect of marriage can surely attest to the veracity of that little statement, LOL! 😉
But what really struck me as a fairly literal manifestation of all that Saturn energy he’s been/‘bouta be rockin’? WTF, The Boss (aka Saturn in his Bruce Springsteen guise) serenaded him offstage on his last night with the show?!? With “Born To Run” – are you kidding me?!
Here’s the other wacked thing about this: Though Jon has long dismissed the idea of entering the political arena, he IS born under the sign of The Politician and in some ways this would seem like a fairly natural transition for him – a sort of “next level” advancement, if you will. And if Saturn loves one thing in Sadge, it’s literal or metaphorical grad school. This would not be an altogether unprecedented move, either – hell, Al Franken managed to successfully make this same journey from comedian to government official in recent times. So what’s the deal, Jonny Boy – are you being a cheeky monkey there with your choice of song by just fooling around and jerking the chains of those who clamor for you to make a run, do you really just love “Born To Run” that much to where you would pick it to mark the end of an era in your life, or is this actually not-so-subtle wink that a job in public office may indeed be in your future? Sadge has always had a wicked sense of humor, after all……
Despite the candid disdain he has expressed for politicians, this is a man who is clearly passionate about politics or else he wouldn’t have spent 16 years of his life calling “Bullshit!” on them. I will tell you one thing – if *any* Sadge were to even remotely toy with the idea of running for office, this would certainly be the kind of transit they might be likely to do it under. Jon has waaaay more than just the Saturn activity going on in his chart, too – he’s already most of the way through a series of disillusioning Neptune hits to many of those same planets and he’s gearing up for “Big Time” Jupiter boost via its soon to be approaching square to his Sun and opposition to his own natal Jupiter. So here we have a Jupiter-ruled Sagittarian about to be doubly augmented by transiting Jupiter, which could certainly be enough to crank up the decibel level on his own political ideologies. It will be interesting to see exactly what Jon decides to do with all of this energy….regardless of the direction he takes, I certainly wish him Buona Fortuna in all of his endeavors – Onwards and Upwards; onto Bigger and Better, Sadgie-Ho!
Mourning Dove – image credit naturespicsonline.com
It all began with the doves a few weeks ago just as Venus prepared to station retrograde. I’d go out for an early morning run and find them constantly in my path, their wings whistling in the air as I accidentally disrupted their leisurely saunterings along my scenic post-sunrise route. I’ve always had an affinity for doves being a native of Venus – these birds are beloved by her and according to myth are even said to draw her chariot. As a child, I somehow figured out how to cup my hands a certain way and blow between my thumbs to imitate their call….whenever I hear their plaintive cries, I often greet them with a returned call or two in reply.
Then they started appearing at my bird feeder from out nowhere. True, they had previously been sporadically infrequent visitors, but now they began arriving with daily consistency even going so far as to fly atop my small suction-cup window feeder and stare in at me through the glass…..repeatedly. They were far too large to eat from its trough and so had been mostly relying on the spillage from the smaller birds for sustenance. Charmed by their antics, I decided to make a daily practice of putting out an Offering of seed specifically for them on my stone patio and watched with delight as they returned again and again, bringing several of their friends with them to share in the feast. It was during a particularly hot and dry stretch of weather that I looked at them one day and had the epiphany they would also like some water, so I rummaged through my cupboards for a large and shallow tupperware lid that I could turn upside down and fill in order to provide them with some refreshment. They flew off to the nearby tulip tree as I exited the house with this impromptu birdbath in hand and watched me intently as I began filling it with the garden hose. I finished, closed off the tap, and turned to address them – “This is for you,” I stated, and returned inside to observe. It took them just a few moments to come over and drink gratefully from the lid, so I’ve continued to keep it there and filled until I’m able to source a proper birdbath for them – they sure do seem to appreciate this, as do the other small critters (chipmunks, finches, et al) that come to visit me!
The coolest part, though, was getting very literal spiritual validation of their gratitude. On another morning run after all of this, I slowed my pace in order to gaze at a freshly hayed field, the aroma filling my nostrils with heady, verdant delight as I inhaled deeply. My gaze went down to my feet when less than a foot and a half before me laid….a lone dove feather! It was about four inches in length and perfectly formed, the tell tale shade of grey making it distinctly identifiable. I smiled and brought it home with me, convinced it must surely be a symbolic token of their affection. If there had been any doubt about this, just days later while watering my vegetables I came across another dove feather that was almost exactly the same in size, color, and appearance – it had once again been found right in front of my feet when I looked down, as if it had just been placed there. I will be tickled with joy should I find a third!
Now it dawned on me that I have been extremely and unusually fortunate during this particular Venus retrograde cycle – the pentacles have been flowing in, my veggie garden has been gifting me constantly with beautiful, delicious, and nutritious produce, and I even re-established a relationship with a Scorpio girlfriend from 20 years ago whom I had lost contact with during the chaotic years of my youth after she moved halfway across the country. The funny thing was I had been thinking about her intermittently over the last year or so, as my younger sister had actually moved out to the same state my Scorp GF had relocated to. But it took Venus retrograde to facilitate an actual reconnection – this is what can happen when you have 3 different levels of transiting Venus/Uranus activity hitting your chart all at the same time, LOL! With Venus backtracking, it would only be fitting that an old friend would suddenly pop out of the clear blue sky…! Needless to say, all of these blessings have caused me to feel as if I must have somehow gotten myself in Venus’ good graces through tending to her beloved doves – I feel especially grateful because I know just how temperamental this planet can sometime be when in its retrograde state, and have certainly heard more than enough tales of woe from others who have been having a much rougher go of it than I.
I think it’s important to consider the power symbolic acts of kindness, gratitude, and devotion have to induce a positive energetic resonance in our lives – especially when we see ourselves headed into a possibly iffy transit period. It’s like bringing our A-game to the match. Mind you, I had no ulterior motives whatsoever in doing what I did and certainly wasn’t looking to ingratiate myself to Venus per se; I just did what came natural to me in taking care of the critters that seemed to be reaching out to me for some TLC. If we become more mindful of the little, everyday ways we can put good vibes out into The Universe with a kind word or deed, there is a good chance they will be returned to us many times over ❤
LOL, I was chatting with my yoga teacher last night when she related a funny little story to me. One of her other jobs is to run wilderness hiking tours at a prestigious local inn..she had this husband and wife couple wanting to do a scenic hike, and the amusing thing was the husband *insisted* on leading this excursion despite her being there. She smiled to herself and decided it was No Big Deal…she’d just let him do his thing and see what happened. Needless to say, she had a good internal chuckle as he then proceeded to get them very lost despite having the aid of a map, LOL. She wasn’t lost, of course – she knew these woods like the back of her hand. But he grew increasingly distressed as it became glaringly apparent to all that they were nowhere near the supposed landmarks he was looking for, insisting “But the map SAYS…!” – umm, newsflash, dude: It helps if you hold the map the right way! 😛
LOL, nobody loves to be flattered quite like The King….except for maybe a Queenly Venus in Leo amped up by a conjunction to Jupiter! 😛 😀
But with Venus retrograde, on a more serious note mere plastic praises are not enough and a litmus-test square to Saturn does suggest making sure it’s REAL and not just a bunch of ingratiating BS! Also? Don’t be the girl depicted in the cartoon above! That same square to Saturn may indicate there’s some psychological work required, perhaps because self-worth might be lacking. And it *is* possible to overcompensate for a sense of inadequacy via an excessive focus on the approbation of others. So funk dat noise – keep in mind how last month’s newsletter mentioned that it is more important we learn how to self-validate with Venus Rx!
There are many layers of interpretation regarding Pluto’s passage through Capricorn, but for the purposes of this particular post, right now I want to discuss one key concept of this placement…that is the idea of something deteriorating over time. It’s not as if a situation, a relationship, etc. immediately falls apart if/when touched by Pluto in Capricorn; rather it takes its time unraveling. Think: a controlled collapse, or a brick-by-brick demolition. Pluto in Capricorn’s passage through a specific house of our chart or contact to a planet or personal point in our nativity signifies that something is very likely undergoing a process of being gradually – perhaps even carefully and deliberately – deconstructed.
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