STARFIRE

May 2007

May 2007 - When Pluto moves into Capricorn.
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A NEW ANGLE ON PLUTO

It may be a dwarf in some eyes, but Pluto is the dominant planet in our skies for the rest of 2007 and the early months of 2008. A metaphor about 2-year-olds being tiny but overwhelming spins through my mind as I think about Pluto moving from Sagittarius into Capricorn in January 2008.

There are a few things we need to keep in mind when we think about Pluto:

• Pluto was discovered in 1930. We’re still experiencing its first conscious or known cycle through the zodiac.
  
  
• Most tarot students list Pluto as the planet associated with the Last Judgment card. Before Pluto’s discovery, the Last Judgment was associated with Primal Fire. The finality of fire still underlies our interpretations of Pluto.
  
  
• Pluto was in Cancer at the time of its discovery, and Hitler’s rise to power and “final solution” were its legacy. The atomic bomb came with Pluto in Leo. More recently, AIDS was the “gift” of Pluto in Scorpio and religious fundamentalism and wars the Sagittarius issue.

Sagittarius, essentially, is about communication on deeply felt or intensely specialized issues,about law and philosophy (philo-sophia, love of learning). Sagittarian wisdom includes the analysis of beliefs and exchanges of ideas in the pursuit of wisdom. Its tarot card, Temperance, emphasizes the blending of different elements.

Pluto’s all or nothing attitude is ill-suited to the passionate, but insightful sharing of Sagittarius. What we get from Pluto is jihad–the willingness to kill and be killed as a dramatization of belief in place of real communication. We get leaders who fight first and talk only when they’re assured of agreement.

Fundamentalism isn’t limited to religion. We talk about a “religious fervor” for other issues, pointing to Pluto-like commitment that has its own beliefs, attitudes and practices just as religion does. Environmental terrorism has more in common with jihad than with science.

In its final degree, from December 28, 2007, to January 26, 2008, Pluto will give us an intense summary and review of the lessons we’ve learned about fundamentalism and polarization. It’s easy to see Iraq as an issue this transit will intensify, but the environment, international trade relations, abortion, global warming and other issues where emotion frequently dominates over reason and discussion will come to the fore as the election campaign heats up.

Pluto does tend to bring irrevocable changes, and Pluto in Sagittarius has brought irrevocable change as solutions that seemed reasonable to one or more people for solving other problems. (No, I’m not going to mention Iraq and “shock and awe” here or even point out whose minds thought that was a solution. You’re all way ahead of me on that one.) I will suggest that the terrorist attacks on 9/11 had a philosophical impact that changed our thinking as a nation, and perhaps as a world, with a finality that is typical of Pluto in Sagittarius.

So what would the positive expression of Pluto in the final degrees of Sagittarius look like?

An irrevocable commitment to discussion, speculation, debate, even conjecture. A commitment to respect all viewpoints at least long enough to understand them before rejecting them. We could start with a recognition that there are multiple viewpoints; Christian denominations support the right to abortion as strongly as other Christian denominations oppose abortion. But Pluto is so universal it may blur even those distinctions and focus on massive individual input. (Sounds a little like real democracy in action, doesn’t it?)

Blogs, plogs, MySpace, YouTube...they’re the electronic equivalent of a town hall meeting. Anyone who grew up in a small town can tell you it’s virtually impossible not to know what everyone things about the new building in town or the mayor’s marriage. I remember sitting in my date’s car when I was a senior in high school. He’d gone to the pool hall under the movie theater to buy us cigarettes; Mother would have skinned me alive if I’d gone to the pool hall with him. So there I was...alone, vulnerable, fair game for my grandmother’s friends who just happened to be sitting in the park watching the moviegoers come out of the show. And were willing to tell me what Grandmother would have said if she’d seen me going to the movies on a Sunday. Thank goodness I’d gone to church first or they’d still be talking.

One thing that does seem certain is massive individual opinion during this first year of the longest political campaign since the train replaced horses and buggies for getting around the territory. Politicians will be scrutinized in ways that defy spin and management–though spin may also travel through the same channels. Just because it’s a blog doesn’t mean it’s true and honest and wouldn’t harbor a man who’d cut down cherry trees and lie about it. And just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s important.

But out of all the fundamentalist rhetoric and the bombings and posturings without negotiation or diplomacy–

Out of all that, we have a Pluto in Sagittarius legacy of international communication open to virtually every family on the planet (if only through internet cafes and word-of-mouth with someone who does have internet access).

Pluto in Capricorn will bring its own extremes. I can’t think about them now. I have to go blog.

Mary O’Gara, Ph.D.