The themes related to last week’s events unfolding under the intensity of Pluto in Capricorn stationing direct will continue this week. For the U.S. especially, the raw and emotional probing into a personal account of sexual assault at the Supreme Court nomination hearings has triggered passionate discussion about sex and power, subjects under Pluto’s domain. Continuing the Plutonic theme this week, Mercury in Libra squares Pluto on October 2 and Venus in Scorpio, the sign Pluto rules, slows to an amplifying standstill and stations retrograde on October 5. The New Moon in Libra on October 8 is archetypally linked to Venus as ruler Libra and secondarily to Pluto via Venus being in Scorpio. Furthermore, at the moment of their conjunction, the Moon and Sun are also in a fairly tight square to Pluto that perfects in the following days infusing its issues of sex and power, as well as intimacy and ultimately transformation into the new lunar cycle.
Mercury, the planet of perception and communication, in Libra, the sign of relationships and values will focus us on what is happening within all areas where we relate to others, especially with respect to financial issues and core values. Pluto in the sign of Capricorn, which rules the structures of society, is archetypally is focused on integrity and taking full responsibility for our part in any situation – not to excuse another’s behavior but to use any situation as an internal learning experience from which we can grow. The square is a challenging aspect and under the current conditions may open us even more to talk about subjects that were once taboo or hidden from plain sight. Crisis hot lines were ringing in record numbers after the testimony, as more and more people are willing to talk about their own devastating personal experiences. This week, we are sure to hear passionate discussions about the use and abuse of power in government as well as in our personal relationships.
Jim Sher wrote about the Venus retrograde cycle in a recent article wherein he discusses Venus in relation to the principles of attraction and repulsion. But deeper than that, he writes, Venus represents the processes by which we discover our deepest values, our priorities and what is most important to us. In Libra, Venus is concerned with beauty, harmony and balance in relating, yet it does not naturally know how to create that. First it must meet its challenge to find “ease” in relating with others. Once we become open to the process of truly wanting to understand other and endeavor to take others into consideration for all matters, then the challenge to find ease evolves into something quite natural as self and other become as one. With Venus in Scorpio as it stations retrograde, we will be motivated to pivot into a review of what it means to be in relationship with another and take a deep look at the values operating, perhaps unconsciously, in our most intimate relationships. Answering to Pluto’s powerful invocations, this review could be uncomfortably probing. We may even go into the most profound issues of life and love. Honestly looking at the landscape of our lives will open us to questions about our most important needs and desires so we can discover what is truly important.
The lunar cycle commencing in Libra shortly after Venus turns retrograde underscores how vital it is to discover our true values rather than going through life in denial or in autopilot mode. The message of this lunar cycle is to discover the importance of knowing ourselves. In this process we may discover how we are connected by love and come to understand that when we are in a state of love we are in a state of total relatedness that accepts self and other as we are in this moment. We may have a long way to go as a society to move from the chaos of last week to this level of order, harmony and beauty in our relationships, but each small step we take in that direction as individuals can ultimately lead to collective transformation.
Of the countless cycles currently in play, a much longer one that stands out at this coalescing zeitgeist moment is the Pluto cycle operating in the chart formed at the moment the U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed. We are coming up on the “Pluto return” phase of the cycle affecting the nation wherein transiting Pluto will return to the same position it held at that time. The last few years in the last phase of this 246 year-cycle is correlating to a painful review of the very foundation of our government in order that we may shed our dysfunctional past. What needs to transform will not go quietly and last week’s hearings could even presage the ruthless legal battles that may shortly ensue under the ‘MeToo’ movement. In archetypal Pluto terms, a death and rebirth must happen. That is what transformation is all about.
Here’s the data for the major aspects this week (Pacific Time, rounded to the nearest whole degree unless otherwise noted).
October 2 – Mercury square Pluto at 5:01 p.m.
October 5 – Venus station retrograde at 12:05 p.m.
October 8 – Moon conjunct Sun (New Moon) at 16°Libra at 8:47 p.m.
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