When we consider Pluto, our minds tend to go to the darkest places. It’s not unwarranted; after all, Pluto shows us our deepest wounds, the places we’ve been disempowered.

Yet in astrologically giving Pluto/Hades all the limelight, we’ve overlooked the Goddess (again). Persephone’s story is about innocence lost.
In the divorce, death, abandonment, betrayal, illness- the Plutonian event- we too lose our innocence. Of course it doesn’t leave us, it never does. Every effort we make to heal (and the healing modalities that work) is about getting back to that place of purity and innocence within our self.

Psychologists have long noted that children blame their selves for “bad things happening”. Adults can, too. Even if we’re enlightened to see the meaning behind a loss, often a smidgen of self-blame lingers. As we wrestle with loss we go back to that first time our innocence was lost, to the child who thinks her parents shortcomings were hers or his, who blames her self for the divorce, loss of a loved one. Maybe it was my fault…

That we must have been at fault (otherwise why would we be reeling, hurting, keening in this way?) is a relic of Goddess shaming — and eerily similar to the way rape victims are shamed as somehow causing the attack. The growing feminine soul, in her infinite kindness, looks for a way to justify something so heinous. So she blames herself.

In Divine reality, we are all eternally faultless, blameless. We have feelings about life- sometimes it feels really bad and painful, but instead of blaming your self, or others, the Feminine would have you honor those feelings wholly, don’t deny them or make your self wrong for feeling them.  Just allow, accept, move the energy, as long as it takes, until you return to peace. A child blames herself and denies herself the opportunity to feel and heal. A culture that fears emotions blames the victim, teaching you to do that to you. But this is the mature Goddess perspective: Unless we hold a mal-intent to injure another, we are forever innocent. We get to feel our feelings. No one, ever, is to blame. 

I was subconsciously pondering all this while driving when a song came on the radio. “No One Is to Blame” by Howard Jones. Minutes later, I saw a deer sitting in the middle of a parking lot on a busy street, curled around herself, grooming. My heart lurched. It was a vision of innocence and spoke to my feelings of vulnerability living in this strange concrete world of loud cars, people, energy. The animal symbolism of deer is gentle sensitivity. I could befriend the deer, instantly hold her with compassion— could I do this for myself?

Animals put us in touch with our innocence. My pup, Magnus, does this every day. I look at him and feel my own innocence, touch into my own Divinity. I was reflecting on this when an email arrived from Soulsign astrology. It spoke about an event with JP Sears, emotional coach and creator of those wonderfully wicked Ultra Spiritual YouTube videos. When one of the audience members asked him how to get over the death of a pet, this was his reply: My wish for you is that you never heal completely from your broken heart. Our pets open us like very little else can, especially when they pass on. I believe our animals may represent an innocence we believe to be lacking or lost in ourselves that we project onto them. Their time with us is a blessing that reaches its peak when they leave. They leave us when they feel we may be ready to own that part of ourselves once again. The grief of their passing opens our hearts and it is only through an open heart that we can find our way back to what we thought was lost.

Isn’t that just beautiful?

Our innocence is never lost, only waiting to be reclaimed.

The Goddess loves to restore our innocence through nature, animals, children, joy. Animals help! So can playing with a niece or nephew, sitting in your flower garden (and your Divinity), or doing something you loved as a child, like roller skating or horse riding. Do things that make you feel good – because that’s the part waiting to be reclaimed.

Here’s another strategy: sit in your innocence, and insist, like a Goddess, that it’s your right to be as good, kind and pure as you are. No person or event can take that away. This is stepping into the healing power of the Divine Feminine. Embody this, allow Goddess energy settle into your pelvis and travel through your body. Although it can initially feel empowering to the Ego to do this in a fierce, feminine warrior “I slay” kind of way, ultimately you want to go beyond that. The goal is to practice feeling unified with the Goddess until your experience of Divinity is no longer a reflexive Ego defense against pain (or anyone) but integrated deeply into your gentle core Shakti — when “I am innocent” “I am kind” “I am good” “I am love” hums peaceful and true in every cell of your being.

During any Pluto transit, if old stuff and baggage tends to get churned up, as it may, think about ways you can touch into your innocence, again. You may still need to clear other old energy, but this time when stuff comes up, step into the Goddess energy: I am innocent. I am kind. I hold only good intentions. I am loving. I can never do anything wrong.