Dec

10

Filed Under Astrology In Daily Life, Pluto the Transformer

Julia Stiles in Persephone

My mighty Pluto-Mars-Sun T-square of the past several years nearly over (Pluto is now within orb of crossing my nodal axis), I still have questions. The main ones, Huh? What just happened? Did I miss something? Shouldn’t I have something to show for this? And, What have I learned here? You’d think that with the help of astrology, I’d be clearer, but as I’ve learned, trying to meaningfully interpret one’s own Pluto transit is like reading hieroglyphics -before the Rosetta Stone. We are most often, with Pluto, in the dark.

Today Mercury turns retrograde (thru 12/30) at 6 degrees of Capricorn, joining Pluto, giving us cause for pause and investigative reflection. This morning I was reflecting on my Third House North Node (7 degrees Capricorn and change), realizing that ‘in the dark’ is more existential condition than passing transit. Looking for signs of intelligent life -meaning, purpose, big picture understanding- has fueled my love for astrology, and it turns out my Ninth House South Node (conjunct my Cancer Sun) is a bit attached to the quest, which is ultimately, To Know. As I’m learning the (uphill) evolutionary value in having more questions than answers to those questions (North Node in the Third), being ever more ‘in the dark’ during my Pluto time has forced me to look to the cold hard everyday truths staring me in the face, about myself, and my reality, and to compare notes rather than have them ready-made on hand. Case in point, throughout this Pluto transit I’ve found myself saying, “I don’t know” more times than I can count (yes, humbly saying that to clients while not falling flat on my face; they give me insight). In this spirit, comparing ‘cookbook’ notes to the meager amount I’ve learned (so far) from Pluto, I offer them here to you.

1. Eliminate and let go of anything no longer true for you. This popular Pluto phrase has been like a Zen Koan bobbing around in my brain, and the more I try to apply it, the less traction I get. The ultimate Pluto loss being death and disaster, honestly, I was afraid of this. Who isn’t? This is when knowing a little astrology can be dangerous, if you allow it to feed your fears. Our home was in need of major reconstruction during this time, and at points came close to burning, or falling down. It didn’t. The letting go, elimination and shedding, is more often internal – which often makes it 10x more difficult – because we all have a hard time seeing our self, clearly.

It was Freud who said that our consciousness is only the tip of the iceberg. So the 95% that is underneath and hidden is Pluto. With my natal Pluto in the Twelfth House, and Pluto having transited my Ninth House Sun, I find myself forcibly less and less attached to knowing who I am, to what holds desire and life-force for me. Who will I be two years from now? Am I an astrologer? A counselor? An artist? This has become my new Zen Koan. And Pluto’s not talking. Like waiting to see who the last man standing will be – this could take awhile.

2. “Don’t expect to understand what is happening/has happened to you.” On the heels of the former, this especially helpful insight came from my mentor, Paul Bogle who explained that he, and many others who have experienced major Pluto transits, often cannot digest what has happened to them until many, many years later. Sometimes 20 years later! Why? Something about our little pea sized consciousness being unable to fathom the life-changing effects of the outermost planet… Changes happening during this time are either so outwardly dramatic or inwardly pivotal, that it takes years for the psyche to integrate what’s happened. As the transit backs away like a dog who found someone else to bark at, we are left sitting there, energetic intensity noticeably abated, wondering WTF?

3. “Pluto is inherently separative and isolating. An individual is apt to feel himself to be set apart. The normal rules and expectancies of the world just do not work anymore.” Ah, a dark night of the soul interpretation from late Astrologer James Eshelman. A psychological feeling, for moi. Even if one is elevated to a position of power or set apart in a worldly power way, according to Eshelman, they have a Lone Wolf quality to them. I oddly identify. Lonely at the top? My first book was published and I discovered there is no top (there’s always higher to go) – it is lonely though. And many ‘normal’ expectancies of my world have changed. On a basic level, being-wise, I have always felt more aligned to the ethereal world of belief, imagination, creativity and faith, probably reflecting the lack of any earth signs in my birth chart. But now, I’m experiencing this strangest thing: being grounded. Heavy. Dense. Reliably solid. Gravity. Argh!

4.The effects of Pluto are not always visible to the outside world. Pluto is the master of invisiblity. When I have shared my existential sense of alienation, loneliness, and an odd identity crisis with a chosen few, I’m at first greeted with, What? Life is so great for you! This internal isolation reinforces the alienation so it helps to have a journal, art form, a psychotherapist or a loving partner with a lot of Eighth House planets who can handle it (thanks, sweetie)- “It” being, you, who are working on bringing some portion of 95% of the iceberg, to light.

5. You feel like you are dying or lose loved ones. Death and the insignificance of our mortal life is a silent presence for the most part, but during a Pluto transit -it’s not so silent. My grandmother died this year (not unexpected) but the feelings of grief, loss and dying, linger. Alternatively if you’re engaged in the Plutonian process whereby parts of your self are actively dying, it’s probably more disturbing if you’re not familiar with what the Christian Mystics call the dark night of the soul, what psychiatrists call mental illness (which often isn’t a pathology, but reclaiming lost/wounded parts of self) and what Roman Polanski calls good theater.

6. Get comfortable with Nothingness. Darkness, nothingness, oblivion. The goals I’ve made for this period, well…they just didn’t pan out. Along the lines of things need to get empty before they fill again, I sense this may change later as I’ve noticed, for clients & friends, that things finally do come together in the aftermath of emptying out with Pluto. So I’ve decided it’s better to surrender to nothingness and no expectations than to think I’m going to sprout wings, and magically transform into a phoenix bird. Which brings me to…

7. Pluto transforms (through crisis). Transformation is an attractive dangling carrot of a word for the descent into the realm of the hell planet we call Pluto. Like a Pluto marketing gimmick, the idea that one will ascend to new heights/depths of magical power is a distraction. This overused new-agey word distracted me from putting one foot in front of the other, keep on track, to not dream about quitting my day job, and staying present to meeting reality as it is-despite the overwhelming impulse to burst into flames and cause yep, crisis. You can hasten your experience to the transformed part by doing up crisis and drama, but you don’t need anymore of that do you? Pluto’s got that angle covered.

8. Don’t try and control circumstances and people. Don’t project your power onto others. Control is an issue with Pluto -too much or not enough of it. Trying to control circumstances is, of course, futile and during this time Pluto is bent on reminding you of that, which can cause backlog of psychological futility and various permutations of powerlessness (anger, fury, re-wounding). In my experience, raising a bit of hell now and again with Pluto, isn’t such a bad thing -it gets the poisons and furies out. When your contractor basically moves into your home office, when you feel like you’re about to explode into bits of drywall, go scream into the wind or in a locked bathroom. Talk to your partner or your ‘person of offense’, honestly. It’s unhealthy to hold it in.

But remember, your Pluto transit is not their fault…

9. Heal your wounds. Face your Shadow. I do wonder if I’ve faced enough of my Shadow, healed enough of my wounds…again wondering whether I did this transit right (see #2). So I recently took a workshop on Shadow, examined my projections, and once again realized that taking responsibility for your Stuff as My Stuff is not only never-ending, but one of the biggest blocks to connection/intimacy. In a nutshell: when you absolutely adore someone (and their behavior), or deplore them, when they are pushing your buttons -those are your buttons (!) and you are projecting your self-same Shadow onto them. So taking responsibility for my projections is something I consistently attempt (and my book, A Love Alchemist’s Notebook, offers ways of recognizing the Shadow pieces of your soul you farm out to others, and integrating). Still. When I hear from clients who have done noticeably deep healing work, I wonder if I didn’t milk this time period for all it’s healing power? To reassure myself, I remind myself that I didn’t kill anyone, and that I have no real regrets, because one’s psyche is being pushed to its outermost limits due to reasons named in 1-10, one can walk away from a Pluto transit with a real case of remorse/regret. So I take comfort in not killing anyone, or hurting myself. It’s the little things, right?

9 (again). Prepare to ask, What the hell just happened?

10. Two areas Pluto consistently makes an appearance: your relationships and your health. In myth, Pluto comes above ground for two reasons: once to heal a wound inflicted on him by Hercules, and another to abduct the lovely maiden Persephone. Illness and intimate relationship crises are plutonic initiations, catalysts for ‘seeing’ parts of our natures that we’re in the dark about (jealousy, fear of abandonment, fear of betrayal, ignoring the natural laws of the body etc.). Ultimately, as we work with any crisis that appears in our bodies, and our relationships, we will become more whole for it. So. Out of protection for the innocent, I cannot disclose much about this in MY LIFE, but suffice it to say, intimacy always brings the Shadows out, doesn’t it?Again, I didn’t damage anyone or myself (beyond repair), and due in no large part to holding my intimacy and health complexities as an expression of my need for wholeness & integration. In other words, I understand that my health and relationship issues are not a reflection of the deficiencies of my body, or of the Other.

Discuss. What kernel of experiential wisdom do you have to share about Pluto transits?

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Comments

5 Responses to “Ten Tips For Surviving A Pluto Transit”

Ivana on January 10th, 2011 6:13 am

You have written an accurate and very helping article about Pluto transits and I wish to thank you for it.
I have been, and I still am, going through many of these transits at the same time to the most sensitive and personal spots and I’ve never seen anything like it before.

It seems I am a Plutonic person natally. Pluto is the planet with most aspects in my chart and to-the minute square with my Sun and Asc. So, I kind of feel him all my life.

But the transits have started to shake me to the core: Pluto conjunct Dsc, opposite Sun, Asc, Mercury and Saturn and square natal Pluto.

What you say is so true what ever shape it takes in our personal stories. It helps me to read about it and to see that at least in this I am not on my own.

Greetings,
Ivana
Vicki O on January 22nd, 2011 12:46 pm

Dear Jessica,

Thank you for these awe inspiring Plutonian navigation tips. They feel like beaconing light waves shooting forth from a gold miner’s hardhat as she grapples to find her way out of a deep dark dank cave.

Your wisdom helps me navigate the many Plutonian transits up for me now. Holding out hope that I can survive and eventually will find the gold I seek without killing or maming everyone in sight.

You remind me of Confusious’ famous words that true wisdom is in knowing the extent of our ignorance – yess Jess! I really don’t know a thing!

Your insights remind me to flow with the powerful darkness, trusting that somehow I am not alone and there is a way out – a life giving light shining brightly on a long awaited Spring day!

Your fellow 12th house Plutonian soror mystica.

Vicki O
Michele on February 1st, 2011 7:31 pm

WOW! That was incredible… Can’t tell you how much your pluto pointer’s ARE ME! Had my chart read a while ago (when “it” first hit my Saturn (7th) and the reader told me, “well, your Pluto hit your Saturn!” I said, NO S*#t! and I meant it! I knew what happened and I also didn’t know what was going to and is still happening to me to this day. I will keep you under my favorites, I love your site and Thank YOU!
Jessica on February 2nd, 2011 9:48 am

Thank you (all) for sending me your feedback. It is a harrowing journey into the underworld and so I tried to muster some kind of guide gathered from firsthand experience, and frankly, it was/still is difficult to process consciously. It’s one of those planets that doesn’t like to be seen! I’m thinking of writing a follow-up, more tips, because of your wonderful responses. Till then, in solidarity, from down under. xo, Jessica
Danijela on May 11th, 2011 4:20 am

Hi Jessica

What a great article. Pluto is currently conj my Asc – exact couple of days ago… Need I say more…

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