Monday, February 04, 2008

Eras of Pluto, Tropical & Sidereal (Part 2)

Continuing Saturday's theme - a very brief survey of Pluto's eras using sidereal positions compared with tropical, as assessed by Adrian Ross Duncan HERE (extracts in italics, my contributions in blue.) Last week I reached tropical Virgo/sidereal Leo, and continue starting with tropical Libra and sidereal Virgo.

TROPICAL
"For those to whom marriage was sacred, Pluto had a very special surprise when in transited Libra from 1971 to 1983/4. Aesthetics and femininity were transformed, as bras were burned, and equal rights insisted on. Roles were reversed as men renounced masculinity, and women demonstrated that they could manage very well without the opposite sex. Men loved men, and women loved women – leaving the Pluto in Libra children to ponder about love and relationships... and to create the single culture of today. This was the era of MAD – mutually assured destruction – the nuclear balance of power between the Soviet Union and USA . "

SIDEREAL
Sidereally Pluto was in Virgo for much of the same period as above, actual sidereal period was nearer to 1969 - 1980. The overall feel of that era certainly included the beginnings of equality for women and gays in Europe and the USA. Britain had its first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Virgo is represented traditionally by a female figure, so symbolically there is a correspondence here, in the slowly moving transformation relating to gender equality and perception. There was an energy crisis, too, requiring restrictions and rationing, and in Britain strikes cost millions of working days. In the USA Richard Nixon rose and fell ignominiously, perhaps causing a transformation in the way Americans were to view their leaders in future years - more critically, with less passivity. The aftermath of the Vietnam war left many injured, mentally and physically. These instances equate more to transformation in Virgo's realms of economy, critical reaction and health concerns than to Libran diplomacy, and emphasis on relationships, in my view. And the beginnings of environmental awareness arose in this era - in 1970 the first Earth Day was celebrated - in keeping with Virgo, an Earth sign.


TROPICAL
"After so much sexual experimentation, Pluto in Scorpio from 1983 to 1995 brought the spectre of AIDS. Now even the most natural act in the world could result in death. Back in its home sign, Pluto focussed paranoia on sex itself, and this led to a drastic change in sexual habits, not least in a new openness amongst governments regarding sexual health. Condoms were everywhere. Economically this was the time of the yuppie, of junk bonds and how to get rich by screwing others – happy times for Reaganites and Thatcherites. Banks crashed, then merged to create huge financial entities."

SIDEREAL
Roughly the same era (give or take a few years at each end) is covered by sidereal Libra.
Fall of the Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in China, a gradual transition into the computer age, the Reagan era in the USA. These could all connect to Libra rather than Scorpio, in my view. Libra, an Air sign, symbolised by the scales, representing balance, a striving for justice, love of peace. Libra is an Air sign, with mental focus, aiding transition into an increasingly computerised era. Pluto in Libra could be seen to relate to all of these.


TROPICAL
"Pluto in Sagittarius from 1995 to 2008 has of course evoked the spectre of international terror and religious fundamentalism. As a mutable sign Sagittarius creates polarity, and today we have the idea of a war of civilizations. The root cause of terror is probably injustice, which Pluto in Sagittarius seeks to redress by its own methods, but the terror of Muslim extremists is also about fighting the Great Satan of America, and the sexual flagrancy and material indulgence of the West... a last-ditch attempt to save an outdated worldview."

SIDEREAL
Not exactly the same period - actually around 1993 to 2006, Pluto lay in sidereal Scorpio. The over-riding aspect of this period, from where we stand at present - not very far away - was terrorism, as mentioned in the tropical assessment, terrorism and the Iraq war/occupation. For me terrorism equates more to the passion and fixedness of Scorpio, ruled by Mars and Pluto, than the extremes and expansiveness of Sagittarius, ruled by benign Jupiter. Let's not forget that Pluto is very much at home in Scorpio. It's possible to view this from both perspectives, and actually, I think we are much too close at present to see the picture clearly.
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Making this exercise doubly interesting, we now watch the future unfold with tropical astrologers considering that Pluto is moving into Capricorn right around now. Sidereally Pluto moved into Sagittarius many months ago, at the end of 2006. The next ten years could provide an answer to this zodiac conundrum more clearly than any previous era has been able to do.

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