Talking About Pluto

Pluto the planet symbolizes many things. Here is a sampling of evocative descriptions of Pluto.

 

Donna Cunningham’s book, Healing Pluto Problems, starts “The topics we will discuss—guilt, resentment, child abuse, and death—are difficult to confront.” Cunningham calls Pluto’s house placement “the fail for spite house.” Meaning that to win, the person will deliberately lose.

 

One of the most powerful stories about Pluto is his abduction of Persephone, depicted above.  Persephone is the innocent maiden, daughter of Ceres, who Pluto fixated upon and kidnapped.  However the story is about more than sexual obsession.  It is also a story about becoming an adult and taking up the role of an adult, which Persephone does when she becomes Pluto's consort and Queen of the Underworld.
Pluto is a transpersonal planet, like Neptune and Uranus; as such Pluto represents forces beyond our control—the economy, wars, famines, racism, and so forth. Things we are not individually responsible for, but become a victim of.

 

 

 

Pluto is a water planet, like the Moon and Neptune, ruling emotions, which again are beyond our control. Pluto is the emotions associated with violence and sex.

Pluto usually is what we disown of ourselves, but until we acknowledge our ownership we are not healed of the Pluto problem.

 

Pluto’s natal position is always worthy of study. Pluto’s transits bring irrevocable changes to us—the beginning and end of various life phases, including childbearing, deaths, marriages, jobs and careers, living in one nation or state…

By secondary progression, Pluto essentially does not move. Instead you need to look to see which planets and personal points move to aspect Pluto!

Pluto symbolizes the following:

 

• Abuse
• Basements (actual & in dreams)
• Big Business
• Billionaires
• Biological parents
• Catastrophes
• Chaos
• Cleansing
• Colon, rectum and their ailments
• Completion
• Compulsive Behaviors
• Concealment
• Contamination
• Corruption
• Death
• Degenerative diseases
• Destruction
• Dictators
• Divorce
• DNA
• Dominance
• Fanaticism
• Financial mergers
• Financial Power
• Funerals
• Genetic diseases
• Genetics
• Inheritances
• Invisibility
• Lethal force
• Lethal weapons
• Murder
• Obsessions
• Our past
• Our secrets
• Poisoning (also ruled by Neptune)
• Political Power
• Power struggles
• Prosecution
• Psychological depth & complexity
• Punishment
• Rape
• Rebirth
• Recycling
• Renewal
• Renovations
• Restitution
• Revenge
• Ruthlessness
• Secret agencies and agents
• Secrets kept from us
• Sex
• Sexual extremes
• Starting over from the ashes
• Surgery
• Terminal disease
• Toxicity
• Tyranny
• Unacknowledged psychological issues
• Urban Renewal
• Vampires
• Venereal diseases (STDs)
• Violent crime
• Waste products
• Weapons of mass destruction
• Werewolves

How can we deal with Pluto?  When we enter a Plutonian time of our life we will end up giving up something, and hopefully gaining new maturity as a result.  Joan Negus in her book Astro-Alchemy suggests that we consciously begin deleting things from our life.  Clean closets.  Declutter.  Organize and discard.  Prune.  Take out the garbage.  Handle any issues of waste disposal and sewage related to your home, job or city.  Pluto is also surgery.  This is a time we can deal with problems that require surgery, instead of waiting for the emergency surgical fix. 

Pluto's lessons are always profound.  Plutonic people are those who acknowledge their depths and do the hard and necessary work to make peace with themselves. 

I wish you well in your encounters with Pluto.

Lalia

 

Terra Nova

On Monday, September 26, 2011, at 8 PM EDT, we saw the two-hour premiere of Terra Nova. The Science Fiction series, filmed in Australia, has been billed as the best new offering of the Fall 2011 TV season. It is about pioneers going back in time 85 million years to an alternate earth where they can colonize and do things right so to avoid the ecological disaster they have fled in modern Earth’s 22 century.



I should give fair warning that I am a dinosaur fan, so I’m prejudiced in favor of any dinosaur movie… I eagerly watched the first episode. I enjoyed it. So I looked at the charts associated with the series and expected that there would be a pronounced Aries theme, as Aries is the sign of pioneering and Uranus (the planet of science and technology, television!) is in Aries. But I was surprised. Here is what I found.

The chart for the series itself, based upon its premiere data above, has a Midheaven of 19° Capricorn, Pallas in Capricorn in the 10th house, and a 9th house Pluto in Capricorn as the most elevated planet. Jupiter in Taurus conjuncts the Ascendant and trines Pluto, which indicates the earth theme, “New Earth,” the expectations for popularity, and the high costs of production—two to three times the production costs for alternate television shows.



The series’s concept originator and executive producer is Kelly Marcel, born in London on 10 January 1974 with no time given. She has a quadruple Capricorn conjunction of Juno (19), Sun (19), Mercury (20) and Ceres (23). Not to be overlooked is a wide conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the Science Fiction loving sign Aquarius. Upon seeing her chart I realized that in addition to the theme of pioneering, or Uranus in Aries, we had the theme of history, the Capricorn planets, including Pluto in Capricorn which will mean deep history, DNA history, the history of life.

The premiere of Terra Nova reminded me of two Science Fiction novels of historic importance. First to come to mind was Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer. It is about a time traveler who vacations in non-human populated eras. Laumer, born 09 June 1925 at 3:30 am in Syracuse New York, has a ninth house Jupiter-Moon conjunction at 21 and 22 degrees Capricorn, again repeating the theme of history and ancient times. In Laumer’s case, he has three planets in Cancer opposing the Capricorn planets: Venus, Pluto and Mars. Together, Cancer and Capricorn are the signs associated with family and history. The Moon-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn in the 9th house is an indication of popularity and success in writing about times past!

Although time travel was not one of his major themes, survival was of crucial importance to science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. His juvenile novel, Tunnels in the Sky, has several elements in common with Terra Nova: the mechanism for transfer of people, the cutting off of contact, and the need to survive in an alien environment. Heinlein was born 07 July 1907 in Butler, Missouri, with no time given. I’m using a noon time for this discussion. Heinlein has a Uranus-Mars conjunction at 10 and 13 Capricorn in the fourth house, with a loaded tenth house which has Neptune, Sun, Jupiter, North Node and Ceres in Cancer—Jupiter at 20°!—and Mercury in Leo. Heinlein was the undisputed star of the popularization of Science Fiction as a genre.

What will be the future of Terra Nova? I am troubled by several things in the chart. First, most TV premieres have planets in the fifth house of entertainment. This one has no planets in the fifth house, but instead five planets, an asteroid and the Vertex in the sixth house of work and labor disputes. Further, we have an exact Mars-Pluto quincunx, suggesting problems with accidents, fights or violence. I wonder if this promising series will be around for long enough to make its mark on history.

Lalia Wilson

June 2011 Skies Can Be Good News

A friend sent me a link to Richard Nolle’s website, specifically his forecast for the current period. http://www.astropro.com/forecast/predict/2011-06.html


Before giving my version of how to interpret the skies of June, I need to say that Richard Nolle is one of the most highly respected astrologers in the USA today. I respect him. But, as you’ll see below, I also differ with his interpretations from time to time.

Nolle’s account of the June/July eclipse pattern sounds like a catastrophe. We have a Solar Eclipse on June 1st at 11° Gemini, a Lunar Eclipse on June 15th at 24° Sagittarius, and a Solar Eclipse on July 1st at 9° Cancer. Now, does this sound ominous or what? But, let’s hear the other side.

Eclipses change energy patterns. This year, and next, we have some heavy duty energy changing going on. People who are locked in to a specific way of looking at and operating in the world will be forced to adjust or else. What does “or else” mean? It can mean forced relocation or death. So, yes, that is difficult. Before you envision Nazi troops moving people, think again. People in Tuscaloosa Alabama and Joplin Missouri are being forced to move because of storm damage. People in Louisiana who were in the path of the Morganza Spillway were forced to move. You could change jobs and be forced to move. But moving is not necessarily bad. In fact, ultimately you can benefit from improved housing, friendships and job opportunities because of a move.

Since eclipses change energy patterns, this is good news to people who want the patterns to change. Those eclipses specifically change patterns in the houses of your horoscope they activate. This is as much an opportunity as it is a burden! How would you like to improve matters in the houses that are activated by these eclipses? You won’t get as much of an opportunity for the next 10-19 years, until eclipses move to this section of the zodiac again. (In about 10 years the Lunar Nodes will switch places, so these houses will be activated by the opposite Node eclipses. It takes 19 years for the same Node to return to its current position.)

Among Nolle’s predictions are financial bad news. The same answer as above applies. We are changing patterns. If you are locked into a pattern which is being eliminated, you are having a hard financial period. But not everyone is! This is another good news situation where there are opportunities out there for people who are some combination of lucky and innovative. A new economy is being created.

Finally, let’s look at love and sex. We had a Venus-Mars conjunction on May 23rd, which sets the tone for sexual relationships for the next almost 2 years. (When Venus and Mars meet in Aries in 2013.) Nolle highlights the foibles of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and could have added the NY Congressman Anthony Weiner’s indiscretion if it had happened before Nolle published. So, yes, a Venus-Mars conjunction does rev up the sex lives of everyone. For a few disturbed individuals, this can get them in trouble. (I leave it to you to determine whether Weiner himself sent the photo, or someone else did.) But, what about most people? This lovely Venus-Mars conjunction is strongly sensual. It is a chance for almost everyone to explore their sexuality and to become more sensual beings. This is good for most people, not bad. One person I know is engaged in a class to explore his sensuality. He has assignments to listen to favorite music and cook favorite foods. We can all benefit from honoring Venus and Mars!

It is my hope that all my readers and their friends will make the most of life’s opportunities and thrive in today’s world. May it be so!

Lalia