Pluto: the Darkness & the Light
Where your fear is, there is your task. – Carl Jung
In Tropical/Western astrology, Pluto is often referred to as the shadow planet. Where Pluto is placed in our natal charts – where it was in the cosmos when we were born – and where it transits in our lifetime – reveals where our shadow, our deepest fears, lie. But it’s also where we can heal and transform the most if we’re willing to plunge to the depths of our psyche and face those fears.
Pluto is one of the so-called “generational planets” because its transit through each sign of the zodiac can last decades. So it’s likely that you and your peers share the same Pluto sign – though the house/area of your life it's in will differ.
Pluto transits shake the structures of our lives to see whether the foundations we’ve built upon are secure, and if they’re not, those structures can come tumbling down. It may feel like a crisis at the time, but it’s helping you to address the cracks that were there deep down in the foundation all along so that you can build back better this time.
Pluto recently moved into AQUARIUS after a long stay in CAPRICORN that began in 2008. In CAPRICORN, which rules authority, government, and systems of power – we collectively saw the cracks in the foundations of long-standing structures revealed – from the Financial Crisis that kicked it off to the ballooning distribution of wealth toward the 1%.
The Financial Crisis came about when the unregulated shadow banking system, which includes mortgage lenders, failed after years of lending to borrowers who could not repay their loans. We became more aware than ever during this transit of the ways in which unfettered capitalism has widened the gap between the haves and have-nots.
In AQUARIUS, which rules the people, humanity and progress, Pluto will cause the old structures to collapse and shift that power back to the people. You see, Pluto isn’t all destruction – it’s also the great power that surfaces after the cracks have been exposed to the light and the faulty structures have collapsed. It’s the remodel; it’s the rebirth. It’s the light that emerges after the darkness.
Aside from a brief step back into CAPRICORN later this year – Pluto will stay in AQUARIUS for the next 20 years! It will be out with the old and in with the new. But with that new, we will likely have to face a new set of shadows: the shadow side of progress in science and technology, like the rise of A.I. and how it will transform society. But don’t fear, this will also be a time for the people to reclaim their power, collectively, and shape the future how they want it to be.
Personally, this is a time to reclaim your own power by facing what has been holding you back in the area of life that Pluto is transiting. Wherever Aquarius sits in your birth chart is where you may find profound healing and transformation in your life over the next couple of decades.