Pluto in Aquarius: Part II

Pluto changed signs on Thursday, March 23, from Capricorn tto Aquarius. Pluto will retrograde back into Capricorn on June 11, so we are not done with the Capricorn territory of conservatism, hierarchy, tradition and formal social structures, i.e., big business, big government.

Just as Pluto in Capricorn looked at the shadow side of conservative leadership, exposing racist, misogynistic, homophobic views, we will also see the shadow side of liberal democracy when Pluto is in Aquarius. Pluto is a reformer. Exposure can lead us to see problems and take steps to fix them!

We are in uncharted territory. No one living has experienced Pluto in any signs before Cancer in the 1930’s. Pluto moves so slowly it to characterizes an entire generation of individuals - Cancer was the Great Depression and WWII, Leo was the rock and roll Baby Boomers, etc.

In understanding what is likely to happen with Pluto in Aquarius, we can pull in lessons from the recent past, as well as a look back at historical events. Pluto was not discovered until 1930, but it was always somewhere in event charts, even if we did not know it at the time. This post will look back at the 20th century, but I’ll cover more history in my next post.

Let’s start with the very recent past. Pluto is by nature all about power. Pluto has an unerring nose for corruption, even if such knowledge has been repressed and unconscious. Pluto is the cosmic garbage man. He senses our shadow, however deeply buried, uncovers our secrets and ruthlessly trashes anything that no longer serves us. Negatively, Pluto can manifest as an “I’m only looking out for number one“ point of view.

At the time of Pluto’s discovery in the 30’s, it occupied the sign Cancer. The financial hardship of the Great Depression revealed the lack of structure supporting American workers and their families. It resulted in the establishment of a new social safety net because the need for it was so desperate. Laws allowing unions to organize, elimination of child labor, and more were the result. Herbert Hoover, who was President at the onset of the Depression, wanted to leave things alone, and let the free market burn the Depression out. The idea that government could act to help people fell to President Franklin Roosevelt.

Every action has a reaction. Fascism and an America first philosophy arose, much as it has during the Pluto in Capricorn era (Capricorn is the sign opposite Cancer on the zodiac wheel). Newspapers in the US in the 1930’s even floated the idea that we needed a dictator to get us out of our financial dilemma. Reminds me of Trump’s bloody and chaotic view of America which, he said, only he could fix. I speak from an American perspective, but fascism and purity of race were the foundation of the conflict between Axis and Allied powers in WWII. There are parallels between the time Pluto was in Cancer and the Pluto in Capricorn era. And it has fallen to President Biden to champion the idea that government could actually be used to help the middle class.