Mid-shift

When I last talked about Pluto's return to Capricorn, I called it "get back in your box," meaning that, after a taste of sweet, sweet freedom (for some, anyway) we went back into the energy we've been working with since 2008, which people probably interpret various ways: morally dehumanizing, a deep sense of foreboding, knowing with no uncertainty that the people in charge don't care about you, etc. Remember, Pluto in Capricorn basically kicked itself off with that recession (in 2008) where we realized, oh wait, the banks don't know what they're doing. Pluto in Sagittarius (1995-2008) was extremes in optimism, amongst other things, as Sagittarius is a fire sign, so growth, growth, and more growth, then Pluto went into Capricorn, which contracts things. Or pulverizes them. Capricorn by itself (independent of Pluto) asks "yeah, but do your big ideas actually work?" as does anything transitioning from the 9th house to the 10th house in your chart. It's all the same concept. So optimism—>that sinking feeling—>where are we now?

Present day: Pluto went back into Capricorn from Aquarius last month (meaning backwards into Capricorn), and the Supreme Court did what it did. My sincere question: do they expect to be revered in the future? It used to be this untouchable part of the government and I don't think that's going to last much longer. But the Pluto in Capricorn energy pulverized more stuff, because that's what it does.

After Capricorn pulverization comes the Aquarian innovation. Capricorn tests whether things work or not and Aquarius tends to create big, new ideas, then it tests them. Then it throws some ideas out and gets different big, new ideas. (Pluto in Aquarius kicked off with big developments in AI, as we all know.) This is exciting, but I'm also Aquarian, so, bias. (I think other signs might find relentless innovating exhausting, since other people find me exhausting.) Another big facet of Aquarius: big independence. I don't think you'll find bigger lovers of the phrase "don't tell me what to do" than Aquarians, though Scorpios/Plutonians are a close second. But what happens when EVERYONE is yelling "don't tell me what to do!!"? What happens when everyone has a new, big idea? And what happens when we realize the limitations and dangers of the technology that we enjoy using every day? (Also Aquarius.) On the flip side, Aquarius is about egalitarian society and brotherhood. I'm not prepared to draw conclusions yet on what form this will take with Pluto; I'd rather watch and wait.

Capricorn is a conservative sign, literally and politically. Pluto is not subtle. We've seen some extreme conservative shit, have we not? The Cancer-Capricorn polarity is also prone to racism, because both signs are about comfort zones in different ways. (Different signs can be racist with various motivations and you can't look at a chart and decide whether or not the person is racist with no other data. Never do it.)

Aquarius is either libertarian or liberal, depending on what the topic is. Again: Pluto is not subtle. So, will we see people swinging too far in the other direction? Probably! Even though it seems unlikely at present.

But what I'm seeing in real life is people leaving religion in droves, women realizing that marriage is a racket because of how unbalanced it can become, and people thinking about moving in with people they are neither married to nor related to in order to preserve a quality of life. We'll see more of a strange combination of independence and the gathering of people to be more egalitarian. It's just the question of what form it will take.

The thing about Pluto is that the more of its transits you live through, the longer memory you have for what it can do. Pluto in Libra broke marriage as a concept. Pluto in Scorpio made sex = possible death. Pluto in Sagittarius was a lot of religious yelling. Pluto in Capricorn has been oppressive in so many ways. When Pluto changes signs, there’s big shifts afoot. And we’re mid-shift.

Pluto returns to Aquarius in January.