*This article was originally published by the Predictions Almanac 2023 – Universal Media, Australia
March – June 2023 introduces us to a twenty-year Pluto in Aquarius cycle that will become a mainstay from early 2025. Thus, Pluto’s arrival in the sign of the Water Bearer will continue to cement and transform the zeitgeist into the new elemental era of Air, which itself lasts for around 200 years.
As the most distant body astrologers use, Pluto’s time in a sign lasts anywhere from approximately 11 – 32 years. Unlike the Sun and the Moon and the 5 traditional planets that can be seen with the naked eye, Pluto requires technology in order for it to be seen. Its distance, lengthy sojourn in a sign and its association with death, rebirth and transformation, as well as the trauma, taboos and hidden themes can deeply influence the generation of those born into it as well as those who live through it. As an example, you might cast your mind back to 1995 – 2007 when being a digital nomad was a lifestyle goal. The period of Pluto in Scorpio, 1983 – 1995, where the AIDS pandemic transformed sexuality. 1971 – 1983, Pluto in Libra transformed marriage and divorce became increasingly common. Enter 2008 and the arrival of Pluto in Capricorn, it’s most recent reinvention. Since then, we’ve experienced the GFC and it resulting in a changed economic landscape, the rise of the technocracy and increasing global governance – and surveillance – has permeated the collective experience.
Pluto is associated with shifts in societal definitions especially around issues of power. As Pluto dips in and out of Capricorn and Aquarius in 2023, Pluto will begin the process of consolidation and changing of Capricorn – related structures, systems, hierarchies, oligarchies – all of whom have thrived since 2008 and even more so in the past three years due to the Covid19 pandemic. Unlike Capricorn, Aquarius being a fixed air sign is much more dogmatic and ideological. It relates to the sign of Winter, of reason and logic and under rulership of Saturn, Aquarius describes those who are dejected or do not fit the Capricorn mould.
Pluto in Aquarius is likely to see reinvented systems where the many are prioritised over the few, just as it did when Pluto was last in Aquarius two centuries ago. While this may appear ideal in theory, Pluto’s profile speaks to control, power and wealth. Pluto will beg the question, “who’s in charge of these “new” idealistic systems / resources / wealth?” “who decides what is best for the many under this reimagined future.”
Pluto’s last passage through Aquarius, 1777 – 1798, bridged the period between the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Age. This twenty-year period saw a changing of the guard as the USA won its independence against the British monarch during Pluto’s final year in Capricorn. Thus, resulting in the USA carving out its path as a dominant global power and England colonising Australia after it lost the Revolutionary War. New economies emerged as the American Congress passed its first financial budget, established its first bank and adopted the decimal currency system, and to this day (May 2022) the US Dollar has been the reserve currency for the past sixty years.
While history doesn’t repeat, it certainly does rhyme. This period also saw Russia overcome the Ottomans and Russia extend its influence into Crimea for the first time. Astrologers have long- touted the British monarch will end with the succession of Prince William which, no doubt, will happen within the next twenty years, concluding what started 200 years ago with England and the USA severing ties. While the US etched its place as a freedom – loving “superpower” during the last Pluto in Aquarius cycle, it is currently showing signs of losing that grip. The rugged individualism ethos and pulling oneself up by the bootstraps are a signature of the baby boomer Pluto in Leo period that is astrologically opposed to Aquarius – a humane sign at its core. Governments of the western world, including Australia, are outsourcing national sovereignty, identity and interests to the technocratic and global elites – a new kind of monarch or empire.
The late 18th Century also saw the rapid rise in global industrialisation away from agrarian societies, which demanded the creation of machinery to automate high – toll human tasks. The next Pluto in Aquarius instalment is poised to bring a new developments in the relationship between technology and food, as well as who holds the power and wealth of producing, selling and distributing it.
At the time of writing this, (May 2022) Australia has ushered in a new government and saw a surge of women elected in record numbers. Similarly, Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, otherwise known as Catherine the Great, was the last reigning empress of Russia while Pluto was last in Aquarius. Inspired by ideas from the Enlightenment era, Russia experienced a renaissance of science and culture, where thriving new cities, theatres and universities saw many Europeans immigrate to Russia. Under her reign, she established Europe’s first public educational institution for girls. If history does, in fact, rhyme, we may be lucky enough to see some form of cultural age of enlightenment Down Under.
As the last tour of Pluto in Aquarius saw the migration from farms to factories, this tour will see us gradually shift more and more from factories (or the office) into the digital age, from fuel cars to electric and to technologies we cannot even begin to fathom.
As Pluto spends the next two years operating both inside and outside of Saturn’s rings, themes of centralisation versus decentralisation of power will become intensified to the extreme. Pluto transits are not known for their inspiring or comforting nature. The only way out is the way through with Pluto and just as the slaves and serfs of the past reclaimed their freedom from the ruling class, the dejected and oppressed of today will need to do the same. So as the Sun begins to set on the “elite” of today, we will see excessive grabs for power and control which will be done digitally, which is evidenced by the World Economic Form. What we can expect over the next two years was personified by a stunning meme I found on social media “it’s like the Fall of Rome, but with WIFI.”
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