Pluto, planet of transformation, entered the astrological sign of Capricorn in 2008 and will stay there until 2024. This transit is predicted by astrologers to have a life-changing effect on all of us. In Greek mythology Pluto was the ruler of the underworld and in astrology the planet governs sex, death and rebirth. With this in mind what can we expect from the next few years?
Astrology is said to be the oldest science and has been studied for thousands of years. It is not hard to imagine the peoples of ancient civilisations gazing at the stars night after night, using simple instruments or the naked eye to map the islands of light that made up the distant continents of their night time world. Just as sailors would later map the seas and continents of the earth. From those heavenly lands came the stories that would form the mythologies and the archetypes which have to greater or lesser degree influenced our ancestors and ourselves. Figures such as the centaur, the sea-goat and the water bearer which carry with them centuries of folklore.
However, when people think about astrology they usually just think about their own sign, such as whether they are a Sagittarius, a Capricorn or an Aquarius. But the Sun represents only one facet of the personality and of course we all have many sides to our natures. Being a Taurus means that the Sun was passing through the sign of Taurus at the time the person was born. If you imagine the sky divided into twelve segments, there is one for each sign, each of which represents 30 degrees of a circle. It takes roughly 30 days for the sun to transit each of the twelve signs, from Aries through to Pisces. But as well as the sun and the moon, which are classified as planets in astrology, there are nine others. They are ordered according to their proximity to the Sun: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Their proximity to the Sun also determines how long each one apparently takes to transit all twelve signs. The Moon takes a month, Mercury 88 days, Venus 225 days, Mars 1.9 years, Jupiter 11.9 years, Saturn 29.5 years, Uranus 84 years and Neptune 165 years. Pluto is the furthest away from the sun and appears to take 248 years to travel through all twelve signs. If you want to see a visual explanation of the planets as they pass through the twelve astrological signs, watch the following excellent video by Jon Stevens found on You Tube.
Jon Stevens does not show Pluto, being the most distant planet in our solar system, but you can just see Saturn with its rings moving slowly at the outer edge of the 3-D model. Pluto, as explained earlier, moves much more slowly, taking anywhere between 12 and 31 years to transit the thirty degrees of each sign. Consequently, it takes hundreds of years for Pluto to travel 360 degrees back to the same sign, known in astrology as a return. The last time Pluto was in the sign of Capricorn was between 1762 and 1778, the period during which the American Revolution took place. This period saw the colonial peoples of the New World rebel against the oppressive taxes and regulations of the British who were tightening their control on the territories. Out of this and the resulting War of Independence was born the United States of America. So in what way might we experience the influence of this transit this time around?
Pluto, despite being the outermost planet is in no way weak in its influence, in fact quite the contrary. Pluto is enormously powerful. Its power is intense, penetrating and uncovers all that is hidden and secret. It exposes all that is fake, fraudulent, unethical and unsustainable. It ruthlessly sweeps away the unworkable, the useless and the obsolete. It rips off the mask of illusion and artifice and leaves the wearer naked and vulnerable before the world. But its motive is not cruelty, although it might seem that way. Pluto seeks the truth; the real and the authentic. It demands honesty and integrity and will not tolerate cheating, lies or deceit. In its wake individuals, structures and systems are left transformed and, in many cases, experience a kind of rebirth. With Pluto there is nowhere to hide.
Tearing the veil away and exposing what is underneath is only one way in which Pluto exerts its force. Associated with death, Pluto is the destroyer and brings about endings. On a personal level this could mean the end of a relationship, a career, a way of life. On a planetary level it could mean the end of cultures or whole civilisations. When something no longer serves us the energy of Pluto will bring about its demise to allow something new to take its place.
Pluto brings about profound change in whichever area of life it touches. Its journey through Capricorn will mean that those areas governed by the sign will be affected. This means all structures since Capricorn rules the framework underpinning any system. For example, in the human body Capricorn governs the skeleton which provides the structure upon which the rest of the body depends. So it follows that Capricorn rules the systems upon which we depend such as governments, banking and the money system, institutions, corporations and big business in general. Religious institutions are also affected, as are architecture, buildings and construction and other established frameworks.
We can see the effect of Pluto in Capricorn in the revelations of whistleblowers such as Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and Edward Snowden. The unethical practices of governments have been exposed to the world so sensationally, allowing those responsible little escape from the resulting damage to public image and diplomatic relations. The reaction has been the attempt to create new laws as in the case of SOPA and CISPA and the revival of old ones, such as the Espionage Act 1917, used to prosecute Bradley Manning. Undoubtedly the internet has made the publication and distribution of these leaks possible in a way that would never have been before its invention.
There are many other areas in which this uncovering of truths long kept hidden can be seen. One, that has the power to save lives and transform the whole paradigm of the treatment of terminal illness, is gaining momentum. This is the emergence into the public awareness the knowledge that cancer need not be life-threatening but can in fact be treated easily through natural means. There are many cures coming to light most of which are based on nutrition but one that is surprising and undoubtedly controversial is the use of cannabis. Although it has been known for some time that cannabis has shown promise in the healing of cancers, the will to bring it to the people has not been there, mainly because in our profit-driven world there is no money to be made from a plant that cannot be patented. Instead the plant was demonised as a dangerous drug in a campaign of disinformation and made illegal in most countries despite being one of safest medicines known to man. But now it appears that the cat is out of the bag and the numbers of people growing their own medicine is increasing every day and, legal or not, once enough people know that cannabis cures cancer it is extremely unlikely that the authorities, despite the tightening up of laws on possession, will be able to stop its use.The medical system that has operated with complete authority for decades is undoubtedly losing some of that influence as people take back the responsibility for their own health. Due to the rise in allergies, digestive conditions and autism and the ineffectiveness of conventional drug treatments, people are looking for their own solutions. They are also questioning why these conditions are on the rise. In the United States, autism has risen from 1 in 10,000 diagnoses in 1980 to 1 in 50 in 2013. There is a lot of controversy around the causes for this increase with a growing number of people blaming the vaccine program, in particular the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. Many patients diagnosed with the condition also have serious bowel conditions which has raised questions regarding its effect on the underdeveloped immune systems and gut flora of the young children receiving the vaccines.
All over the world corruption in all its forms is being exposed. The expenses scandal in the UK revealed MPs using taxpayers money for their own purchases and to supplement their incomes. In Spain, the current government have been accused of receiving money from a slush fund administered by former treasurer, José Luis Bárcenas. In France, budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac has resigned over allegations of tax fraud and in Italy, where corruption is not unusual, it has nevertheless intensified in recent years with the scandals surrounding its Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Scandals are not confined to Europe of course. For example, in the US former democrat Jesse Jackson Jr has been imprisoned for 30 months for campaign fraud. Public awareness of the corruption of the political process in the US has grown. Corporate funding of political campaigns and the personal gain this affords the politicians themselves results in a government that is working not for the people but for rich vested interests. One could argue that bribery and corruption have been a worldwide problem since forever, but what has changed is the public perception and, according to the organisation Transparency International that gathers data on this issue, populations confidence in their respective governments is at an all time low.
The money system has been under the spotlight since the global financial crisis. Many people have seen how the very people who caused the crisis were the only ones who benefited from it. The Occupy movement came about in response to the blatant injustice of the huge economic bailouts received by the "too big to fail" banks contrasting with the loss of jobs, earnings and subsequent foreclosures on their homes suffered by those less privileged in society. This has caused people to question the financial system and to ask whether it really does serve the majority - the 99% - or just the elites at the top of the pyramid. Such questioning has invariably led people to the truth that our money is actually printed by private individuals who then sell it to our governments who must tax us so that it can then be paid back to these individuals with interest, effectively forcing us all into debt before we've even spent one penny.
Meanwhile, the global corporatocracy made up of the elite interests mainly from the west has been fighting back through increased surveillance, anti-terrorism laws, laws to limit public protests and civil liberties, laws to give themselves increased executive powers, laws to gain control of the internet, laws to control the media (US Shield law), laws to gain control of seeds (EU) and hence the food supply, laws to tax the production of solar energy (Spain) and laws to protect vested interests such as the 'Monsanto Rider' (US) that granted the company immunity from prosecution in the event of their products causing injury to the public. Another more secretive way in which they are exerting their influence to gain tighter controls is through the Trans Pacific Partnership, a treaty that is being negotiated behind closed doors between 9 countries including the United States, Australia, Chile, Malaysia and New Zealand. According to Wikileaks, who have just released a draft copy of the intellectual property rights chapter of the agreement, these nations represent more that 40% of the world's GDP. This agreement has serious implications for us in the areas of medical costs, internet freedoms, the environment and sovereignty among others.
Those in power try to limit what information reaches the public consciousness by controlling what stories are given airtime in the media. But as people are becoming more distrustful of their governments, so they are also becoming dissatisfied with mainstream sources of news and are turning to the alternative media in the form of newspapers, blogs and TV channels on the internet of which there are more and more each day. This uncovering of the truth about what are governments are doing is Pluto in Capricorn in action and these revelations will continue to happen until Pluto leaves the sign in 2024. Those in power will seek to contain any leaks through strict laws and tight controls but ultimately they will not succeed because there is a higher power controlling events and until its work is done there will be more revelations to come.
Links:
http://www.transparency.org/gcb2013/report
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2012/results/
http://www.usnews.com/news/newsgram/articles/2013/07/10/majority-of-americans-say-corruption-has-increased
http://wikileaks.org/tpp/ (también en español)
http://www.exposethetpp.org/
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.tv/watchnow
http://phoenixtears.ca/
