“It’s a story of love, of hatred, and of the dreams that live in the shadow of the wind.”

― Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Pluto enters Aquarius

As we hover on the brink of immense global shifts, humanity finds itself in times of unprecedented change, an era of information overload where time-honoured methods of gaining reliable information are sliding into disrepute.

Many are confused; everywhere we look, we find radically different opinions or answers and often, extremist views which embody the polarisation in society. As censorship proliferates to promote political narratives, as a race, we must develop our own personal methods of guidance like never before.

The zeitgeist of the dawning of a new age has been emerging through the collective since the Uranus Pluto conjunction in the mid 1960s and is synonymous with that era. Freedom, independence, humanitarian concerns and rebellion against the establishment have been symbols of the so-called Promised Land that is The Age of Aquarius for as long as I have been on the planet.

The last time we experienced Pluto travelling through Aquarius, we had the French Revolution and the American War of Independence. Previous to that, in England, King Henry took the power of the Catholic Church for himself and established the Church of England. All these events were associated with the transfer of wealth, the removal of top-down power structures and the growing importance of the voice of the common people.

A reminiscence of prophecies

Throughout the early 20^th Century, writers such as Aldous Huxley, Yevgeny Zamyatin, and George Orwell, among others, published novels set in a dystopian future, a future spanning the period in which we now live.

As they wrote, Europe and much of Asia were being decimated by war; monarchies were collapsing beneath the weight of revolution and rebellion as Pluto traversed the luminal signs of Cancer and Leo, signs which represent the sanctity of the family, the importance of motherland or fatherland and the power of the monarchy.

Many of these novels expressed a future where the importance of the individual stood for little, and the collective was all, eerily prophesying current themes which have been emerging as Pluto traverses the opposite side of the zodiac, the saturnine signs of Capricorn and Aquarius.  

The mythology of Aquarius

The mythology of Aquarius is symbolised by a figure pouring water on the land and dates back at least as far as ancient Babylon, quite possibly further. Linked closely to themes of purification and cleansing, the appearance of the constellation of Aquarius signalled the arrival of the rains in the ancient world; the opportunity to clear away accumulated sins and promote fertility, as well as a warning to avoid the inevitable floods and the danger of drowning.

The Sun is at its weakest in the sign of Aquarius, being close to earth, low in the sky in the northern hemisphere, and in the sign opposite its natural home, Leo. In the ancient Egyptian funerary text, The Book of Gates, which describes the passage of the Sun through the hours of darkness it spends beneath the earth, the administering of cool refreshment can also be linked to the symbolism of Aquarius, as the Sun is prepared for new life through the cleansing of all that has gone before.  

The Sun is in it’s detriment in the sign of Aquarius, and as a representation of the self, it is natural that the subjugation of the ego is central to the expression of this sign. The needs of the individual must often be put aside for others, a theme which has been coming to the fore in a huge way for last few years as we have been asked to make sacrifices for the vulnerable, the less able, for the planet and even for large organisations.

The interests of humanity as a whole

Under the auspices of humanitarian concerns, collective needs and universal harmony, it seems likely to me that Pluto’s voyage through Aquarius will mean that individual human interests could well become increasingly sidelined, marketed as the only way forward for humanity as a whole.

Despite the widespread association of Aquarius with freedom, progressive thought, unattached love and rebellion, it is still ruled by Saturn, and concerned with limitations. Unlike earthy Capricorn however, Aquarius is an air sign, so the limitations and structure of this sign belong to the intangible realm of communication and the mind.

The Leo Aquarius polarity

Many of the changes we have seen lately in the world around us seem to be of this nature; the drive for connectivity to the hive mind of the internet, the push towards order, restriction, cleansing and purification all contain the signatures of Aquarius being promoted for the good of all.

Despite this very laudable Aquarian sentiment, there is a shadow aspect, in this case, rooted in the desire for riches, position and power found in the opposite sign of Leo; the polarisation of wealth towards fewer and fewer individuals.

As I have meditated on the possible interpretations for the coming era of Pluto in Aquarius, I have been faced with many visions, but I believe that the symbolism of the Leo Aquarius polarity holds within it the key to the pattern. We live in the era of the plutocrat, in a world governed from behind the scenes by individuals who wield political power because of their vast wealth, perfectly encapsulating the symbolism of Leo (personal power, rulership, wealth). These individuals, many of whom spent their formative years as Pluto traversed Leo, seek to retain control through appealing to our humanity and fostering an ethos of social detachment, sanitation, purification and the demoting of individual needs.

It is no coincidence that the term social distancing rose to such prominence over the last few years, as the fear of infection persuaded us to severely reduce our interaction with our friends, families, and the social supports that give meaning to our lives. On a deep level, humanity is aware of the zeitgeist of purification and cleansing arising in the collective and we are afraid. Similar themes abounded when Pluto was reaching towards the sign of Leo in the 1930’s and 1940’s, a time when themes of ethnic cleansing and eugenics were promoted, often for ‘health’ reasons or for the ‘good of all’. The people of those generations are still in control, long lived, powerful and tenacious, but now old and nearing their end.   

The cleansing power of knowledge

For me, the symbol for Aquarius the water pourer, also relates strongly to the pouring forth of personal understanding or spiritual knowledge, the cleansing power of individual consciousness for the benefit of the whole. Regardless of individual status or belief, I see it as a responsibility which belongs to each and every one of us. For the previous two thousand years, humanity has generally been happy to leave the important matter of faith to organised religions, a way of life that may be passing into history.

In our search for a renewed sense of connection, many of us find ourselves digitally connected to every part of the globe, open to opinions about global issues so strong that taking a position on them, threatens to tear us apart from our neighbours, our families, and our communities.

Feeling powerless

As we weep for the plight of others and feel helpless in the face of complicated matters we can do nothing about, we become more and more disconnected from our own inner sense of peace and truth; it is no surprise we feel powerless in the face of the changes occurring on a global level.

It is time for something new to fill the void that has been left by our collective disillusionment and loss.

Humanity is in the midst of an intense period, a process in which we must all participate; many of us are at a loss to know what we, as lone individuals on this planet of billions, can do in the face of such enormous need. We may find ourselves in dark and difficult places, unable to manage our lives or even our sanity; in today’s world the struggle is real, never has it been more important for us to connect to the voice within. As our leaders fail, it is time for us to lead ourselves and as the landscape of our world changes and the familiar landmarks disappear, we are increasingly unsure of which way to turn.

Finding guidance within

As the divisions that have held us in place for centuries dissolve and the known boundaries become blurred, it seems that now more than ever we must look within; it is now that we need guidance; in this emerging world of Artificial Intelligence, developing our Intuitive Awareness will be key. 

In light of this, I have come to understand that our collective strength must lie purely in the power of our individuality, that we can do no more for the troubles of the world than to follow our heart’s wisdom.

Each of us, in our own way, serves best, when we fulfil our own calling, when we connect to the quiet voice within. This is the idealism of Aquarius, to maintain our individuality for the good of the group, meaning that the strength of the whole is only as good as the strength of each individual part.

In an era of weak kings, the common people must lead themselves, never has the need been greater for us to connect to the wisdom we hold in our own hearts.

---