Letting Go and the Art of Fearless Abundance (Pluto Retrograde April 25th to October 4th, 2020)

Whatever you feel you cannot live without is precisely the thing you cannot live with.

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This is because those things to which we become attached to the point of obsession or compulsion are the things that literally siphon the very life force out of us.  They are the things, substances, people, situations, and relationships that we willingly give our power to day in and day out, maybe even for entire lifetimes.  

These are the kind of things Pluto rules over in our lives.  Pluto is the outermost planet and takes about 280 years to transit the entire twelve signs of the zodiac - that is roughly twenty years per sign.  This makes Pluto more of a generational influence than a personal one.  In the birth chart, Pluto shows by house placement what area of the individual's life this intense and transformational force of nature will be felt in.  

Pluto is the Roman version of the Greek god Hades, ruler of the underworld.

Hades is known best for being the catalyst for Persephone's transformation from kore (a young maiden) to Queen of the Underworld - possibly the most powerful goddess of all.  Pluto's transformation first will expose what is not serving - only after this stripping and exposing is complete will one access the deeply buried treasure that Pluto gives us access to - our personal power. 

​Pluto rules over the cycle of destruction and creation, death and rebirth.  When we have had every false security, crutch, and comfort ripped from our clutching hands or crumble before our eyes, and our ego has run out of plays, we are left stripped bare with no option but to face the truth - the truth of ourselves.  We are forced to face our shadow selves as well as our fear of death - especially our ego's fear of death.  Because Pluto leaves us no choice but to step into the fire and burn.  Just like the phoenix, we must burn in the flames in order to be reborn from our own ashes.  Once that journey begins, the only way out is through.  But that is the magic of Pluto - once step forth into the flames, we are set free.  Once we have faced death, once we have journeyed to the underworld - to our own shadow lands to face our own demons - we access our power and are reborn to a new consciousness.  

Pluto rules the deep psyche and subconscious, and those types of things that trigger us very deeply, such as power, money, and sex - also addictions and secrets. Pluto is the power that gets locked away when we are disempowered in life by trauma - especially abuse.  But Pluto also represents the journey that allows us to reclaim that power - actually a power exponentially greater than if we had never had to recover it. 

Think of Persephone; if she had only been a powerful goddess as the daughter of Demeter, she would not be nearly as potent as she is as the kore who is abducted by Hades, who has no choice but to accept the reality of her situation - that no one is able to "save" her - and so steps up into this role as queen of the underworld, and ultimately becomes a guide to souls as they transition into her realm, lost and frightened, as she once did.

When Pluto is at work in our lives it usually manifests as something or someone to which we feel inexplicably, and compulsively, drawn.  It is like a gravitational pull that keeps drawing us further and further down the path.  By the time we truly understand the reality of our situation, it is too late.  The only way out is through.  We must step into the fire, and step into our full power.  And even then, there is no homecoming celebration, no party, no parade.  You are more like the hero or heroin that has been gone for so long that your home town no longer exists.  No one really understands the type of journey you have been on unless they have experienced this for themselves.  

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Pluto transformation is not glamorous - it requires that the old dies in order for the new to be reborn.  There is no victory lap.  You just wipe the soot off of your face and stagger into the sunlight. 

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Pluto helps us to reclaim our inherent personal power that we have somehow lost touch with - it helps us to destroy that which would destroy us.

Pluto takes on a journey to face our shadows - a journey during which the old must fall away first - we must first surrender to the process of destruction/elimination before we can begin the process of creation.  We must free up the energy to then use to create the new.  We must make space for it to come in. 

This process can be grueling and terrifying if we are unwilling to let go of what is coming to an end in our lives.  Does the phoenix know when it surrenders to the flames that it will be reborn from its own ashes?  If it does, does that make stepping into the flames and allowing oneself to be consumed by them any less terrifying? 

Pluto frees us from the chains of bondage to all manners of things in this world - beliefs, thoughts, addictions, dependencies....  Pluto is a force of nature that transforms us in unbelievably profound ways. 

​Pluto was discovered in 1930 at the same time as the atomic bomb, as depth psychology was gaining popularity.  Pluto can be felt at times in our lives as that inexplicable gravitational pull to another person or situation, that is so strong and so irresistible, yet in the end it ends up bringing you to face your shadow - if you known, you would have absolutely never gone near it.  It can be struggles so intense that you are bewildered to find yourself in one of those situations where everyone has their finger on the trigger of the nuclear bomb and its only a question of who is willing to pull it first, or who is willing to back away from it altogether (and be willing to completely and totally walk away or live under the other person's trigger finger as a constant threat).  

During a Pluto transit to a significant point in our natal charts, just the duration can make them difficult, as well as the nature of them - they bring lasting and profound transformation through the process of destruction and creation - death and rebirth.  But a big part of their potency (and difficulty) is that Pluto transits help us completely wipe out karmic residue in whatever area of our lives the transit is focused on.   So if we see the significant placements in our natal charts as showing concentrations of psychic energy - as the results (karma) of past thoughts, desires, and actions, then we can see how a Pluto transit helps to clear this away, helping us to reclaim our personal power and regain our inherent sovereignty.  

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Pluto Retrograde April 25th to October 4th, 2020

On April 25th, 2020, Pluto stationed retrograde at 24 degrees Capricorn.  It will backtrack to 22 degrees, where it will station direct again on October 4th. 

Pluto's slow moving nature combined with its slowing down in preparation to station retrograde has resulted in it sitting on the 24th degree of Capricorn since February 20th.  In mid-December it actually entered the retrograde territory, beginning the pre-shadow. 

On January 12th, Saturn and Pluto came together at 23 degrees Capricorn for the first time in about 35 years - Pluto will be moving back over that point in the zodiac during this retrograde, which is noteworthy. 

Also Jupiter and Pluto will be dancing over that point over a series of three conjunctions - the first of which was April 5th, both in forward motion, at 24 degrees Capricorn - the same time as there was a global mass meditation and a recorded spike in the Schumann Resonance (the Earth's electromagnetic frequency) - a second one with both planets in retrograde motion on June 30th again at 24 degrees Capricorn, and then a third and final conjunction at 22 degrees, with both planets having stationed direct.  This is a bit like the energetic healing technique where one visualizes a wound before it happens and then as if it is already healed, jumping back and forth over the event.  After the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of January 12th, 23 degrees Capricorn is a bit of a hot spot. 

Jupiter, along with Venus, is one of the two benefics, or planets that bring blessings.  Pluto is transformation.  Jupiter and Pluto coming together over this area of the zodiac has the potential to work like a healing balm over that point that might feel a little sensitive right now after Saturn and Pluto coming together there.  

On a personal level Pluto's retrograde will be most acute if it is transiting a significant point of one's natal chart, and when this is the case, it highlights our relationship to power, and many times by bringing up situations that involve control, manipulation, and fear.  Pluto will show us where we need to let go.  

Meet any fears or shadows Pluto might toss into our faces with Jupiter's boundless faith, optimism, generosity, and abundance - from a solid sense of our own truths and beliefs, we can courageously and willingly step into the fires of the phoenix so that we might rise from those ashes, born anew.

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