Today, for the first time in 15 years, Pluto leaves Capricorn. The annual retrogrades will see it dance across the threshold several times before settling for good in Aquarius in 2024.
This is a big transit. Not a personal one but immense for humanity at large. Pluto, for its diminutive size and public dismissal, is like a magnifying glass: it expands the fine print and illuminates under a concentrated beam.
It sets aflame.
In New Age discourse, Pluto is often called "transformative" which is not untrue, but its metamorphic powers are derived from extreme pressure and heat.
In many ways Pluto is like a generational Mars: it finds the weak spots in our consciousness and lays seige, often ambushing us with the consequences of so many years of action.
In Aquarius we can anticipate several things:
Technology will have its reckoning.
This could mean major outages and system failures, asking us to reevaluate our dependence on technology in every facet of our lives. It could mean the toppling of Big Tech monopolies, especially as Pluto moves in and out of institutionally-oriented Capricorn.
We may have seen a preview in the failure of the Silicon Valley Bank which held funds for several major tech companies. The US sanctioning of China-owned TikTok also embodies this line between Saturnian domains, old power against the new. Whatever happens, it's unlikely that either institution or technology will win. Both will undergo Plutonian Transformation.
We can also anticipate fractures in collective awareness.
Saturn's time in Aquarius brought a renewed surge in collectivism. It always does. Its stay in the early 90s culminated with the many human rights campaigns of the early 90s and the UN vote to enforce international human rights laws in 1993. Advocacy was en vogue, ushering in a new wave of consciousness marketing that is now so deeply embroiled in society we barely notice it. And we doubled down during Saturn's most recent stay. Righteous Rage is once again the fashion, a trend which may only grow stronger as we wade deeper into the potentially pious waters of Pisces.
But again, Pluto finds the cracks. We can expect to see the consequences of this collectivism bubble up, exposing the divides in our perceived unity. The last time Pluto visited Aquarius it heralded an Age of very literal Revolutions, beginning with the American Revolution and spreading like wildfire throughout the world, growing ever more brutal. We'd like to think we're more enlightened now than those who enacted the Reign of Terror. I mean, we have iPhones now. But there's more than one way to wage a war and I'd argue that the media warfare of recent decades is as brutal as any we've ever seen. It's our generation's weapon of mass destruction, and it can and will be used to divide and conquer.
Pluto in Aquarius will likely reveal just how devastating this perceived collectivism is for very real class and cultural divides. We'll see just how meaningless these advocacy campaigns really are—a guilt trip for the 99% amounting to nothing but another form of class war.
And just maybe we'll finally slay that bourgeoise hydra and see some real change.
This is not a personal transit. Its effects are much broader than one human life can encompass. But that doesn't mean we won't feel it: each individual life is obviously affected by the events of the world. What happens over the next 15 years will change who we are fundamentally as a culture and that will shape the person you become within it.
But I do believe in personal accountability. And one thing I'd like to caution against is Cloud Consciousness.
In this age of digital abundance it's easy to believe we have access to everything of consequence. Every experience has been lived, catalogued, and uploaded. We can understand someone's circumstances intimately with a quick TikTok search or YouTube binge. There's an Instagram infographic for everything, an Expert on every platform with all the answers.
Empathy cannot be canned.
In 1977 cultural critic Susan Sontag warned that the popularity of photography would cause an influx of false understanding. We think we see reality. We project ourselves into other people's experience as it's presented in snapshots and video. The truth is all we really see is an image, highly curated, often fabricated.
Sontag died in 2004. Facebook has only just launched to its initial college crowd and Instagram was still six years away. In a world before social media and the stormcloud of images about to rain upon humanity, we were already concerned with the proliferation of images and its effects on human consciousness.
Experience is lived, not downloaded. And my personal suspicion is that Pluto in Aquarius will be happy to show us the effects of offshoring life.
Remember:
If you slow down the tape, the subliminal messaging becomes evident.
Live authentically.
We have a lot left to see here. Pluto crosses the threshold of Aquarius several times before it really roots down. But in my experience we tend to see the most extreme energies in the beginning and the end.
So don't touch that dial. The Revolution may not be televised, but it probably will trend on Twitter.
One thing is for sure—it’s going to be a ride.