Saturday, April 21, 2018

Saturday & Sundry Thoughts on PLUTO in TRANSIT

I shall blame this post on the fact that transiting Pluto is currently sitting smack dab on my natal Mercury in Capricorn. I knew, from previous experience when transiting Pluto sat on my natal Venus in Sagittarius some 15 or so years ago, that I'd be experiencing something out of the ordinary, and transformative. Back then I was, eventually, catapulted from the UK to the USA - how transformative was that!?

As passing readers might recall from recent posts, yes, something out of the ordinary has happened - again with Pluto again conjunct a personal planet. A diagnosis of breast cancer. Thankfully the discovery was early, via mammogram, and dealt with by a quick surgery procedure (lumpectomy). There had been no spread to lymph nodes and margins. That experience was plenty scary and, to a point, transformative too! These words from astrologer Jan Spiller's brief piece on Pluto hits home:

The goal of PLUTO : to experience total self-mastery and fearlessness in any situation. This can only happen when you accept the process of passing through your personal terror for the sake of Right Action.

From a piece at Kepler College website:
In modern parlance it is common for people to look at important changes – relationship or marital status, professional change or moving, even starting a yoga class on Tuesday nights, as “transformative.” However, these changes seem more part of normal life and normal adult development and they usually occur within other defined structures; they are therefore more like “first order change” – there is alteration but the organism or individual, maintains its continuity. This is not the kind of change to consider when we describe astrology’s Pluto.

The word “transformation” is defined as a change in form, shape, or appearance. Its Greek equivalent is “metamorphosis” and, we know from Ovid’s famous poem of the same name, metamorphosis not always an improvement. Positive transformation is rare in our lives.

Most transformations or metamorphoses are kindled from life-shattering events: Near Death Experiences, visitations from angels or aliens, warfare, imprisonment or becoming a victim of a violent crime, natural disasters, grave economic collapse, life-threatening illness or disability, or when one loses loved ones and home, like when the tidal wave and nuclear disaster happened in Japan or when Hurricane Katrina hit..... Here we encounter life’s essential fragility, sometimes the impinging presence of evil, including that which is within us. These are involuntary changes that are more like “fate”.

From an excellent piece Doing Pluto by astrologer Eric Francis, of Planet Waves
Mythology and astronomy cast Pluto as the lord of Hell, but astrology tells another story. No astrologer, it is safe to say, underestimates Pluto or takes him for granted, or none does so for long. Largely thanks to the work of Jeffrey Green and his spiritual mentor, Yogananda, we recognize Pluto as the evolutionary engine in the astrological chart. While society may twist and crumble, and while emperors may rise in power, on the inner level, Pluto is the ultimate influence we cannot deny. Anyone who has consciously gone through a Pluto transit have seen and this at work: Pluto is the uncompromising force for change, the catalyst for growth, and the slowly moving point of no return. Once Pluto has been through our lives, and it does not happen often, nothing is quite the same.

Scrolling down further:

Unforgettable Fires

When Pluto makes contact with degrees where it or other planets were when we were born, we get a phase of direct experience, called a transit. It is simple to pick these times out of the ephemeris and the most hardened skeptic would agree that something was up. At such times, we have always reached a limit.

The limitation Pluto imposes has less to do with adhering to outer structure, expectations, or following a programmed sense of inner responsibility (like Saturn), but rather imposing the necessity to follow one's evolutionary path. This is to say, under Pluto's guidance, we are compelled to respond to the necessities of our soul's journey. To do this, we are presented with circumstances that teach us we indeed have a soul, and that it actually has a mission. However you may feel, these ideas turn out to be beyond the grasp of most people, who simply wonder why they are in pain and don't get what we now call the lesson. For this reason, we can get a sense of why the world so often feels like it is devoid of soul energy, of the expression of meaningful inner truth. And we can see why so many people require incredibly painful experiences in order to grow or wake up.

Speaking of waking up, Pluto deals with the subject of sex on the hormonal, orgasmic and control-based levels, the ones we usually prefer to ignore, or to ignore the power of. These issues will come up as real-life circumstances; we get to choose how we handle them.

There's plenty of advice around the net on "surviving Pluto transits". While these are well-meaning, and no doubt can prove helpful to some readers, I avoided them. The first time I even considered searching for pieces on the topic was in preparing this post. I was aware of the Pluto transit to a personal planet of mine, that was all I needed to know. I find other peoples' experiences and other astrologers' ideas on coping to be less helpful than just doing what comes naturally to me, myself and I - hoping that'll be enough!

I am not going to obsess about the remaining time Pluto will be around my chart, nor will I think too far ahead to the time Pluto will visit natal Sun. It's quite likely, anyway, that by then, there will have been the call: "Come in Twilight - your time is up!"



Astrology is a fascinating and useful tool, but at times like this it feels more comfortable, to me, to put my chart on the top shelf, out of my direct line of daily vision.

4 comments:

A Casual Reader said...

In the course of my life, I've had Pluto transit conjunct my Sun, Venus, AC, Saturn, Neptune, Moon and Mars. The only one I remember clearly and painfully was the Moon transit, which lasted about 2 years in the early 80's.

I was born with Pluto conjunct Mercury, so I'm comfortable with it - and I love being alone and doing research. I don't need other people to have fun.

The Moon, though, was tough. Even now, decades later, I still feel queasy when I recall that time, which I wouldn't wish on anyone. It was like when you're ill and you keep needing to vomit. If you're lucky, someone is there to pat your back and encourage you to "get it all out", but it keeps coming up, over and over - but emotionally.

Wisewebwoman said...

I am feeling many changes internally right now. All good. I think.

Even though this planet, which I give a fair degree of thought to, seems to be in turmoil, with no end in sight.

XO
WWW

Twilight said...

A Casual Reader ~ Oh my! You really have had close acquaintance with Pluto in transit, ACR! Your experience shows that all Pluto transits are not equal! You are probably right about "feeling comfortable" with it due to having Pluto conjunct Mercury natally. Pluto visits in transit were more on your own wavelength, - mostly.

Natally I have Pluto in 1st house, at 0 degrees of Leo, but not close to a planet, and not close enough to Cancer ascendant to be meaningful. Most Pluto transits hadn't touched any personal planets of mine, until it reached Sagittarius (natal Venus), and that happened along with, or soon after other outer planet visits, extending the agony! But all came out good in the end. For you too, I hope, after the transit of Moon.

Yesterday I took a look at my natal chart relocated to my current home in the USA. The house positions swung around, putting Pluto in 6th house instead of 1st. 6th house = health. But transiting Pluto in Capricorn had moved over to 12th house instead of 7th as it was natally, and when Pluto visited Venus. Hmmmm! Vee-ery int..eresting!

Twilight said...

Wisewebwoman ~ I once looked at your chart, years ago, and have managed to locate it among my archived images, WWW. Your only tangle with Pluto transits so far would have been in the mid to late 1960s when Pluto conjoined first your Mercury, then your Venus, both in Virgo.

No visits after that, and by the time it reaches your Moon Pisces in 2045 we'll both be long gone!

Any memories of challenging times during mid to late 1960s, WWW?