Hello Jessica,

I have a question about Pluto/Jupiter to MC transit. In fact, it’s a T-square with Mars:

Asc-24 Scorpio
MC-27 Virgo
Mars -28 Gemini, ruler of 5th house (I don’t have a boyfriend) and almost exactly conjuncts 8th house cusp-26 Gemini.

I am a recent college graduate and straggling with a job search. It seems like a dry spell, whatever I do – nothing brings any results. It would be OK if I were rich but I am not and slowly but surely facing a financial disaster. So, what do you think, will I hit the bottom (shelter and so on) or will I survive?

If you need to look at my chart:
13 October 1975, 11:26 AM
Leningrad, Russia

Thanks in advance for any insights,
Scorpious Libra

Dear Scorpious,

You wrote this question a few weeks ago, so I’m hoping in the interim (the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius square your MC and Mars) something opened up for you – perhaps not your dream job, but a new insight, a way of easing the stress. And this whole dynamic is stressful, I feel you. If squares create action, t-squares create action from a prolonged build up of inner tension. Imagine having one natally! Remember that song by Queen, Under Pressure? It’s on your play list.

Yes, so let’s talk about the Mars-Pluto-MC. Your hands are tied, so what do you do when your hands are tied? Take it in on another level. The situation is bleak and hopeless because you don’t understand the purpose of this cycle just yet. Life is seasoning you by “forcing” you to face your worst fears, some financial, and others too – like your fear over not being allowed to assume what you see as your true place, your purpose in the world. Open to the process, consider the signs are pointing to a completely different path, perhaps something outside your field of study. The Mars-Pluto trap is trying too hard, driving into a brick wall for the umpteenth time when the sign reads “brick wall.” If your approach is not working, it’s not working. Read the signs, Libra, and you’ll show true grace under pressure.

I have some personal experience with the Mars-Pluto opposition, which I have natally. When I first moved to San Francisco I thought I was going to work in the art field, something I’d studied and prepared for. But not one museum even returned my calls, all doors closed, and in short, to make it I had to take a job in another field, a painful decision. It all came together serendipitously – years later. That’s just how Pluto works.

Remember, financial disaster is not imminent: you are infinitely resourceful. Remind yourself of this frequently. Write it on your bathroom mirror. Pluto in the 2nd will read you a litany of fears, reciting bag lady, bag lady, bag lady over and over again until you’re so terrified of being homeless you finally let your fears…go.

Soon like a boiling kettle your stuck-ness is going to blow into some form of action – you take on your own behalf – if only because you’re so fed up with the rejection letters and unreturned phone calls, you say, “d*** the torpedoes!” and just do what you gotta do to survive.

You have a lucky Jupiter-Sun opposition in your natal chart which tells me your that you’ve experienced lucky breaks in the past and you will again. With Mars ruling that 5th house, count on your innate creativity and willingness to totally change (8th house) to fuel new and interesting turns. But the message for you now (and the coming year) is: change your direction. February 2008 brings new possibilities and hope as Jupiter squares your MC ruler, Mercury and your Sun (throughout the year) helping you angle some key players into your life.

Don’t give up! 2008 is a year you’ll look back on later in life awed at how it all turned out.