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Pluto - a unique path through the heavens.
Bernadette Brady
M.A.
Pluto has entered into the tropical zodiac sign of
Capricorn and as the world stock markets shock many
astrologers simply nodded their heads in understanding recognizing
that this was just the beginning of global money
issues rather than an isolated incident. However, although much can
be and will be said concerning Pluto in Capricorn, I would prefer in
this issue of the newsletter to explore the unique pathway that
Pluto takes as it it travels in its 248 year orbit through the
zodiac.
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Pluto's orbital path is tilted at
an angle of over 170 to the ecliptic thus, although
invisible to the naked eye, Pluto travels through areas of the
sky that no other planet can reach. Furthermore, with a planet's
path through the stars not being affected by precession (because
we are not concerned with its relationship to the seasons on earth),
we can consider that a planet's pathway through the stars will
be a unique feature of that planet's sky narrative.
Additionally provided that its does not change its actual
orbital elements, it
will be consistent throughout history. |
Pluto's cycle
through the stars.
If we start the cycle as shown in Figure 1, you will notice
that Pluto moves through the top of the constellation Orion and
actually sits on the tip of the club. This last occurred in the year
1914 and as Pluto moved onto the weapon of the great
heavenly warrior king, World War I erupted. Pluto will, of
course, be on Orion's club every 248 years, so it is interesting to
note that in the previous occurrence in 1666 that it was the year of
the Great Fire of London 2 - 6 September, 1666.
Pluto then moves towards the
ecliptic and crosses it (moving south to north) and as it crosses over this point of the two hemispheres, it also passes between
the feet of Castor and Pollux, effectively splitting the two twins.
It is "coincidences" like this that remind me that the sky, for
astrologers, is an enchanted place, for the central issue of the
mythology of these twins is that of polarity. Thus to have Pluto, with all
its symbolism of polarity in modern astrology, cross from one
hemisphere to the other and, at the same time to be "splitting" the heavenly twins
is a strong pictorial representation of the nature of this
constellation and this planet. Now the last time Pluto split the twins and crossed
hemispheres was in 1930, the time of the Wall St Crash and
resulting world Depression.
From 1951 to the late 1960s
Pluto was traveling through the stars of Leo and entered this
constellation through the head of the lion, stressing, I believe,
the heady arrogance of the West as it fought against communism and
strove for global capitalism in this period. However as Pluto
"rolled" down the back of Leo, in 1962/3 it reached the
star Zosma. This star is the point where the lion's back was broken
by Hercules and as such is associated with the theme of perpetrator
/victim. It is a star of suffering, of minority causes and of being
"crushed" by a heavy hand. In this period of the early 1960s, as the
US was establishing a military base in South Vietnam upgrading the
conflict of the Vietnam war there were also race riots in
Birmingham, Alabama. The authorities heavily crushed the
African-Americans at that time and this lead to the eventual arrest
of Martin Luther King. From these two issues - the race riots and
the upgrading of the Vietnam conflict, lead to the emergence of the
Peace Movement of the 1960s as well as the human rights movement
respectively. Thus as Pluto "rolled" down the back of the Lion
and over Zosma the floodgates of human rights and of the peace
movement opened.
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Figure 1 - Pluto's movement
(yellow line) from 1914 to 1975. |
From the 1970s to the end of the 1990s (Figure 2)
Pluto slowly moved down the northern edge of Virgo and we
witnessed the rise of feminism in this period. In 1974/5 Pluto brushed
by the right hand of Virgo and the star Vindemiatrix, a star
associated with the harvest for its rising with the sun in the
Roman era used to mark the time in the year for reaping grapes. In modern star work it is
thus linked to the theme of gathering, collecting and focusing on a
resource. As Pluto moved near this star in 1974-5 there was an
oil crises with the oil producing
nations of the world boosting their price of oil. This contributed
to a time of world-wide inflation causing the price of
basic food to soar. Here, with Pluto in this position of the
harvester, we were beginning to become aware of the finite
nature of the world’s resources.
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Figure 2 - Pluto's movement (yellow line) from 1975 to
2027.
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From Virgo, Pluto then proceeded to move into the stars of
Ophiuchus, the healer.
Ophiuchus was known to the Greeks as Serpentarius
the Healer, who was also the god Asclepius son of Apollo. He
learnt the healing arts from Chiron and is usually depicted as
holding a stick on which a serpent is coiled, a symbol now
used for western medicine. The serpent was seen as
a healing agent because it represented prudence, rejuvenation,
wisdom and rebirth. Asclepius was said to have the blood of
Medusa in his veins. The blood that flowed on her left side
created fatal poison, while the blood that flowed on the right
was beneficial, so these stars hold the power of both destruction
(through the poison of Medusa's blood) or healing. Pluto
has been traveling through these stars since 1993. It began its
journey by passing underneath the western snake (1993), and then
crossed over both the knees of Ophiuchus from 1999 to 2003. Many things have happened in the world in this time but the rise
of the environmental movements, Green Peace, and the idea of the
protection and healing of the planet, the strengthening of the Gaia
movement is a key expression of this passage of Pluto.
Additionally, there is an increasing rejection by people of the
unconditional use of drugs and
the total dependence on science as a universal problem solver
which, I
think, is another expression of Pluto through this sign.
AT
this time Pluto is leaving the constellation Ophiuchus and is moving
towards the warrior constellation, Sagittarius. It will touch
Sagittarius by entering into the head of the Archer and in
2018/19 it will cross over the ecliptic moving into southern
celestial latitude. The last occurrence of this was in the late
1760s and early 1770s which saw a struggle over matters to do
with taxation (financial matters were also the focus of its
crossing the ecliptic in the 1930s) The British were taxing the American colonies, an action which lead to the
American War of Independence (1775 – 83). This is
suggestive of difficult times ahead from 2018 to the mid 2020s. It will not be
until late 2020s and early 2030 before Pluto will actually enter
the stars of Capricorn and the last occurrence of this
was the period of establishment of the USA after its formation
in 1776. If we look back to an even earlier cycle then
Pluto moved through the stars of
Capricorn was in the period of the 1530s which saw Henry VIII of
England break away from Rome and declare himself head of the
Church of England. Pluto amongst the stars of Capricorn does seems to
have a pattern of the establishment of new world orders.
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Figure
3 - Pluto's movement (yellow line) from 2030 to
2137. |
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Figure 3 is the rest of Pluto's pathway though the sky. After
the establishment of new world orders around 2030 Pluto then
moves into the flow of the stream of water from the urn of
Aquarius and then pushes forward into
the stars of Cetus the sea monster. Considered to be a
"hateful monster" by Aratus in the 4th century BCE, this beast
is symbolic of the great sea of the human collective and
implies that a
theme or issue will "erupt" into consciousness, changing the
entire outlook of the world's people. Indeed Pluto actually moves
through the entire length of Cetus, entering its tail area and
leaving the constellation just below its mouth. It therefore
spends over 40 years in the constellation Cetus.
Pluto's previous
journey in this part of the sky was from the years 1823 to 1867.
In this period there were large shifts in the
human collective concerning the rights of others. World
governments passed anti-slavery laws and the idea of owning
another human being, which had been a acceptable practice for
thousands of years, suddenly became abhorrent. Also in this
period gold was discovered in the New World (both in America
and Australia) which represented a potential shift of wealth from the
ruling classes to the working classes. This meant that now anyone could have
money, even if you were born into the "wrong" class.
The period before that was the period 1575
to 1620s - a time which saw the discovery of the New World, as
well as the influence of both Galileo and Kepler. By the end
of this passage through Cetus it was known that the Earth orbited around the
sun, and that Plato's and Aristotle's world views were no longer
scientifically valid.
So as Pluto moves through Cetus from 2073 through to 2137 what will be
the realizations that we have? Without a doubt Pluto
through Cetus will herald emerging human
awareness and great insights which will alter our veiw of our
world and humanity in a historical fashion.
Thus as you ponder Pluto entering into the
tropical zodiac sign of Capricorn, I suggest you also pause for a
while and consider the wide and unique path that Pluto carves
through the heavens every 248 years. It is the only planet
that "wonders" from tight family of the Zodiac.
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Sources:
All images are composite images made using the sky maps and constellation
images of Starlight.
Chart consultation using Visual Astrology
Fit the action to the word and the word to the action.
Hamlet, Act 3, Sc ii
by Darrelyn
Gunzburg
The translated texts with which we have been working in
Visual Astrology describe a world which may sound quite alien to our
modern ears: the world of the court of the King, the Crown Prince, Ishtar
and Nergal, Sin the moon god, and so on. Of what relevance can such
terminology have for clients saturated in the modern world of computers,
economics, mortgages, mobile phones, and YouTube. Yet how different is our
world really? Watch any play by Shakespeare and ask yourself why you
respond to its emotional through line. It’s not only that he can write. He
taps into an emotional reality that has changed little in five hundred
years. Go back further in time. Watch ‘Lysistrata’
by Aristophanes written in 411 BCE and we still respond to
situations that are as emotionally relevant today as they were then. It is
this emotional web that energises the translated Mesopotamian tablets
which we quote in the Visual Astrology Newsletter. See for example this
letter from the priest Nergal-etir warning his king about a radiating
Venus in the constellation Orion:
If the stars of Orion keep gaining radiance: an
important person will become too mighty and commit evil. [my bold] -
Venus stands in front of Orion [1].
This question of the relevance of the wording of these
translated tablets, and the world they thus describe, was indelibly
presented to me late last year through an email I received from a
long-term client. This is the same client whose
Mercury in Sagittarius in the 1st house, square Pluto in
the 11th house
I delineated in the
April 2005 issue of the
Visual Astrology newsletter.
My client described her current situation as follows:
For the past 18 months or so my work with the women in
central Australia had been going really, really well. The women and I were
developing an early childhood service on one of the most remote desert
communities, based on traditional Anangu (Aboriginal) teachings and
practices. In early August 07 I was invited to consider translating our
work into a PhD (very exciting)...although, almost immediately after being
offered that opportunity, my superiors at work (one of them is new)
stopped our project and to justify their decisions they are making
false allegations [my bold] about me ... What is the best action for
me to take?...Is it like a bad "storm" where the best thing for me to do
is bunker down and wait for it to pass?...or do I need to take more
assertive action?
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My client’s predictive work showed transiting Saturn
square Mercury beginning in late September 2007 and completing in June
2008 as one of the major transits for this period. Since the
expression of the transit already contained several ways of
communicating - the Aboriginal teachings and practices, my client’s
PhD and the false allegations – I was most interested in both her
Saturn and her Mercury in the sky map.
Before I looked at the sky map, however, I saw that her
natal Saturn is in Capricorn, in rulership. My client is the project
officer taking responsibility for an on behalf of these women. I read
this as my client standing on steady ground.
My client’s predictive work showed transiting Saturn
square Mercury beginning in late September 2007 and completing in June
2008 as one of the major transits for this period. Since the
expression of the transit already contained several ways of
communicating - the Aboriginal teachings and practices, my client’s
PhD and the false allegations – I was most interested in both her
Saturn and her Mercury in the sky map. |
I also saw that my client’s Mercury is in Sagittarius, in
detriment. Could this be where the difficulty lay, since Mercury in
Sagittarius struggles in working with the mainstream and has to take the
non-established way of doing things? However, my client is already
successfully doing this by working in an alternative arena within her
governmental department. But how would the Mesopotamians have viewed this
Mercury?
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In my client’s chart Mercury is a bright morning star
(rising before the Sun). The Mesopotamians called him the scribe or
the writer, The Messenger who carried information between hemispheres
but he was only ever seen fleetingly so he could also be a
rumour-monger or a thief. As a morning star in my client’s chart, he
would have been seen as a bright flash before being swept up in the
fiery boat of the Sun. |
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Mercury, rising before the Sun in the
jaws of the Scorpion |
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Since the Sun in a chart was also The King, the
Mesopotamians might have said that “the King must be aware that there is a
false prophet in the court”.
Further,
at the moment my client was born
Mercury was visually
firmly lodged in the jaws of Scorpius (see
April 2005 VAN for
discussion of this), suggesting that my client is unafraid of challenge.
We can gain further information by looking at the parans
that sit underneath my client’s Mercury.
When my client was young she had the following fixed stars
connected with her Mercury:
Mercury with Antares:
Mental obsession with a subject or a person
Antares is the Royal Star in the constellation The Scorpion. As a Royal
Star it assures my client success for her Mercury as long as she does not
become obsessive. However, natally my client has Mercury square Pluto,
tailor-made for her to become involved in a departmental paper war,
continual discussion with her unsupportive superiors at work, and
generally getting into a jammed state through continual processing. The
correct action for my client was to wait and to not get involved with
debate or accusatory action or pushing for more information than she needs
to have, as if she does, she loses everything (the nemesis of the Royal
Star, Antares). Her best action now was to create a still centre inside
her and avoid becoming obsessed.
Mercury
with
Sadalmelek:
An agile and nimble person whose ideas appeal to others
Sadalmelek is one of a pair of stars linked
with the constellation the Water Bearer, both of which bring luck. In this
case it is a flood of good events or news that comes through my client’s
Mercury. Indeed it is my client who floods the Anangu women with
“life-giving water” as their project officer and brings their position to
life.
In her culminating years my client had a further fixed star
in paran with her Mercury:
Mercury
with
Scheat:
The
innovator, gifted with ideas, words or rhythm; far-sighted
Scheat is the
star that forms part of the square of intellect of the constellation
Pegasus. Liked with my client’s Mercury, it offers her distance,
perspective, and objectivity and acts like a safety net for her natal
Mercury square Pluto, stopping it from becoming obsessed. This paring of
Mercury with Scheat suggests that my client must watch the current events
as If she was a member of an audience watching a play at the theatre and
allow the actions of the rumour mongers to become obvious before she could
engage with both her governmental and her university work once more.
From all of the above, it is clear that although the rumour
mongers appeared to be winning, as long as long as my client maintained
her perspective and avoided being drawn into a war of words, either paper
or debate, they were no challenge to her. However, if she engaged in
debate, with Mercury in the face of the Scorpio and in paran with Antares
(in the constellation The Scorpion, a double message), she would lose
everything.
I shared
these ideas with my client using these terms. She wrote back:
The analogy of the rumour monger coming into the Court of
the King is incredible in its accuracy. I see, in this case, the Court of
the King is the mainstream organisations of the University and the
Government working alongside the Senior Anangu women in genuine respect
and partnership of knowledges. They belong together in the Court of the
King. That is what is right.
What is amazing is the lengths that the person/s
obstructing the work have gone to this time. …I believe the work is feared
by some people because it challenges the very core of their beliefs about
the world…
In early February 2008 my client updated me on what was
happening:
Things started moving soon after Australia Day (26th
January). The 'rumour mongers' in the court of the King are starting to
become exposed and their positions are unravelling as their actions are
brought into the light......There is still some way to go though as they
continue to have some support in high places (but) I am holding to your
advice, maintaining my integrity and moving forward slowly from my centre
with as much grace and dignity as I can gather from day to day.
In summary…
To a certain degree whilst we may appear to live in an
“advanced” civilisation, the inner workings of human beings have not
altered since the days when the Mesopotamian priests used their styluses
to engrave cuneiform onto
clay tablets. My client found this “ancient” imagery of what was happening
for her galvanizing in its descriptive accuracy. It gave her a different
perspective from which to view the situation and although she may not have
realized it consciously, it connected her across the centuries with the
very nature of what it is to be human, still trying to understand itself
in modern times. For my client the story is still unfolding but she took
heart at this mirroring of the politics of the Court. She could use the
same advice as was given then to forge a stance and thus endeavour to gain
her outcomes.
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1. 1.
Hunger, Herman. (1992). Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings.
Helsinki, Finland: Helsinki University Press. pg.143
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