The Last Goodbye

Here lies Pluto in Capricorn, 2008 - 2024.

“Think that you are everywhere at once, on land, at sea, in heaven; think that you are not yet begotten, that you are in the womb, that you are young, that you are old, that you have died, that you are in the world beyond the grave; grasp in your thought all of this at once, all times and places, all substances and qualities and magnitudes together; then you can apprehend God…as above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul…”

Hermes Trismegistus. Corpus Hermeticum

Hello and, a last goodbye. Yes it’s strange title for my very first Substack, but we are about to finally exit a bonafide astrological era for the ages and this seemed the perfect moment to launch this new project of mine; chatting all things astrology, esoterica, and well, life, the universe and everything.

Astrology has been having a moment and my appreciation of it has certainly evolved since the days of whiling away hours reading the latest Susan Miller pronouncement eager to learn what this month had in store. Or even what last month had in store! (Sorry that’s a Susan Miller in-joke, for those who are familiar with the occasionally tardy Grande Dame of monthly predictions.)

For many years Susan was kind enough to let me know whether I was in with a chance of a lottery win or an unexpected tax bill and specified exactly which dates Mercury was in retrograde so I could book some time off work and stay home underneath the duvet.

For those of us with mystical leanings and a desire for advance notice of job offers, handsome strangers, and incoming cataclysms, reading a well-written monthly ‘scope can add a bit of a thrill to your day.

Then 2020 happened, and many of us were forced down a wormhole of self-discovery. We leaned on and learned about the esoteric arts, hoping to understand just what the heck was going on.

Astrology is perhaps the most commonly practiced of these arts but perhaps widely misunderstood and undervalued.

“Our psyche is set up in accord with the structure of the universe, and what happens in the macrocosm likewise happens in the infinitesimal and most subjective reaches of the psyche”

 C.G. Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections

It turns out that this 5000 year-old (probably older) discipline,  isn’t merely the study of how celestial bodies impact our personality, but gives us deep insight into our collective psyche and world events. All thanks to several thousand years of forensic pattern recognition by boffins with advanced knowledge of astronomy, maths, history, and philosophy, those who watched the skies and keenly observed their fellow man.

“Pattern has been projected onto history by the human mind … pattern, the myth or the story ultimately resides in the human subject, not the historical object. The object can never be perceived without being selectively shaped by an interpretive framework … shaped and constructed by forces beyond itself, and beyond the awareness of the interpreting subject.”

Richard Tarnas. Cosmos and Psyche

A body as close as the moon (which relates to motherhood and our emotional state) gets up close and personal in our everyday lives, influencing everything from reproduction to violent crime. But if we cast our gaze further into the outer reaches of the solar system, we find the distant ‘trans-personal’ planets moving more slowly.

Because of that distance and glacial pace, they are said to exact their influence on the wider collective over generations. And their movement in and out of signs is a big deal because it happens so infrequently.

So this week is precisely that kind of big dealio, because on the 1st of September Pluto enrolls back into Capricorn for the final term of a sixteen-year transit.

But what does that mean? And who is Pluto? And what does he have in store for this gripping season finale?

“All social rules and relations between individuals are eroded by a cash economy, avarice drags Pluto himself out of the bowels of the earth.”   

Karl Marx. Taurus Sun and Moon. Aquarius Rising.

If we accept the thesis that celestial bodies represent archetypal themes illustrating the full gamut of our human experience (and let’s just say, for the sake of making it through this article, that we do!) Then we can run with the idea that as a planet moves through a particular constellation or strikes up a geometrical relationship with a part of a chart, it will add a certain flavour to our day, month, or century.

Whereas fellow outer planet Uranus is said to represent the individual and Neptune the collective, Pluto; that cold, dark rock some rather unkindly dispute is a planet at all, is concerned with Power, (yes I gave it a capital ‘P’) with an added soupçon of Sex, Darkness and Death thrown in for good measure.

Well, like its namesake deity, he is concerned with what lies beneath. God of the Underworld (or artist formerly known as Hades) kidnapped Persephone and overcome with grief her mother Demeter blights the land so that nothing can grow until her daughter is returned.  Feeling remorse over having indirectly caused the first winter. Pluto agrees to return Persephone to the world above, only after serving up some pomegranate seeds which for some reason means she is forever bound to return to him for several months of the year. Like a sneaky contractual clause for a Timeshare-in-Hell, if you will.

“Pluto's orbit is so elongated that it crosses the orbit of another planet…there's something especially transgressive about that!”

Neil de Grasse Tyson. Astrology Nerd (jk)

So Pluto’s a bad guy, right? Not so fast! Millennia before Christopher Nolan gave the superhero a dark side, the ancient Greeks also upgraded their ultimate bogeyman.

Plato noted how the character of Pluto was a hybrid of Hades, Underworld Kingpin, (unlikeable) and Plouton, God of Wealth (way more fun.) The two were blended by the Greeks and kept that way by the Romans to make ‘Him Downstairs’ a less foreboding character. And although his story begins with an abuse of power, he at least feels bad about it and partially relents. In some versions of the myth, notably in Ovid’s Roman hot-take, Persephone ends up quite liking the old rascal and taking on her part-time role as Queen of the Underworld gladly. So perhaps Pluto grew on her eventually.

Persephone’s annual pilgrimage from the world of the living to the dead and her seasonal release back to the land of the living signals the energetic shift of the seasons. It also evokes an eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, the most profound transformation any of us will experience.

Pluto could also be said to have a gritty but essential job that no one else wanted. While brothers Neptune splashes in the ocean and Uranus hangs out in the starry sky, Pluto is a key worker, wading through shit, stoically keeping a lid on everything we choose to discard or bury deep out of sight. Death and dirt are an inevitable part of the human experience, and someone’s got to take care of business.

This dualistic nature of planetary influence gathered pace with the advent of Depth Psychology in the Twentieth Century and many Jungian practitioners still use astrology as a diagnostic tool. They might spin an unappetising Pluto transit as an opportunity for self-development. Pluto’s influence on our chart invites us to dig deep and mine the depths thereby revealing the treasure.

So, the takeaway is that after the unpleasantness, trauma and unrelenting misery comes growth. Hurrah! The well-worn maxim of the Pluto transit is, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ and despite the variations of our natal chart we will all experience this super rewarding episode at various points in our life. So don’t worry, you won’t get left out!

In a nutshell, what Pluto brings to the party (apart from pomegranate canapes) is Death, Rebirth, and Transformation (more capitals!) And what he touches is changed forever. Got it?

But is this really the case?

Let’s do an experiment starting close to home, and take a look at YOUR birth chart.

If you’re new to astrology and don’t have it already visit a website like astro.com and type in your details to get a free birth chart. When it gives you the option to select the chart ‘system’ my advice would be to use ‘Whole Sign House’ system although don’t worry too much about that for now. You will need an accurate time of birth to do this effectively.

Then find the part of the chart or slice of the pie which is mostly Capricorn. The Capricorn symbol or ‘glyph’ looks like this.

This is the best one I could find, sorry. (It might also look like an ‘6’ with a horizontal line at the top.)

Sections of the wheel are referred to as houses, there are twelve in total, and the number of your Capricorn house will determine which area of your life Pluto has been busy excavating.

Here’s a handy guide to what each house means.

For me, it’s mainly affected my 4th house of home, family, and Mother.

And sure enough, since 2008 I became a mother, then became a single mother, bought and sold property, lived in 4 different homes and my own mother died after a long illness. So my relationship with my mother, my own role in life, and my home life has been under constant evolution.

So far, so accurate. Try it with your own chart, see if it resonates, and let me know in the comments!

But enough about us small folks, let’s look at the wider world.

Pluto journeying through a constellation reflects the issues and themes of that particular sign. And Capricorn symbolises the archetype of ‘The Boss’. It deals with power structures, authority, government, and finance.

A Brief History of Pluto in Capricorn

Prior to 2008, the most recent transit was 1762 – 1778 which saw the early days of the Industrial Revolution, the American War of Independence, and establishment of a republic - and led us into the admittedly more Aquarian French Revolution. In general, people were questioning the orthodoxy, and demanding governance that represented and answered to them. A transformational epoch for sure.

Fast forward to 2008; in the aftermath of a sub-prime mortgage financial crash we saw the bankers bailout, quantitative easing, and the birth of the leaderless ‘Occupy’ movement heralded a new plot line depicting the struggle of the 99% vs the 1%. We collectively realised that our metaphorical faces are well and truly under the boot of an oligarchy so far above us in the flimsy pyramid of capitalism, they’re literally trying to get off planet before it all collapses under the weight of their excess.

Over the past sixteen years there have been many page-turning chapters focusing on themes of power and control, some bold moves to centralise legislative power and even currency. Simulataneously, the position of the dollar as the global reserve currency looks increasingly precarious, something unthinkable a decade ago.

Our disillusionment with government of whatever political flavour has never been more obvious. Pluto in Capricorn is throwing a deeply unflattering light on those whom renowned astrologer Steven Forrest called the ‘Dark Fathers’. Whether you agree with Forrest’s characterisation of who these are, the term works perfectly to evoke the authority figures reinforcing the boundaries of your very own personal matrix, be it the Patriarchy or the Deep State.

Hanging out in the Underworld means Pluto also loves to expose corruption and fifth and Capricorn angles Pluto’s unforgiving lens onto those who govern us. Behold the lengthy list of politicians, captains of industry, and Hollywood stars who went to THAT island on THAT plane. Play ‘Needle in the Haystack’ searching for a current lawmaker who doesn’t take a penny of corporate or lobbyist money.

Pluto in Capricorn demands we ask ourselves just who are these depraved shills we elect to call the shots? And bonus Pluto points for the follow-up question, who are these entities (Plutocrats?!) that we didn’t elect yet call the shots regardless.

We’ve also seen a total transformation of other institutions formerly held in high esteem. The legacy media, entertainment, and fashion industry have seen better days. They hurtle towards obsolescence, hastened by the evolution of the internet and social media and chased further by grimy scandals and seeming contempt for their audience.

After all, who needs a record label or studio? Now anyone can be a megastar, creating content from their bedroom, the mundanities of what’s in their make-up bag attracting more views than the latest Disney disaster.  

An increasing percentage of people get their news from citizen journalists and even Pulitzer prize-winning writers are no longer welcome by corporate-owned news titles, instead finding a home on platforms like this. Thank goodness for Substack!

Post-Watergate, the denizens of traditional journalism appear to serve as little more than stenographers for the establishment and security state and the small, brave bunch still holding the powerful to account face at best underemployment and ridicule, at worst, prison. Democracy Dies in Darkness, cautions the Washington Post. Perhaps so. But it must be hard to catch a glimpse of democracy when you’re deep down in the pockets of an oligarch.

Interestingly, Pluto in Capricorn has a particular significance for the United States while it traverses the same degrees of the sign it occupied at its inception. Nations have a ‘birth’ chart too.  And although people don’t live long enough to experience the karmic payback of a Pluto ‘Return’ (it takes 248 years to move through the zodiac) countries certainly have that pleasure!

So many happy Pluto Returns to the USA. Is there anything significant going on there between now and November? US Readers please do let us know how it’s going.

So, we came in with a financial crisis - what can we expect to close out this torrid tale? How will our world be transformed by our favourite cold and distant stalking horseman of the apocalypse? Will he prance out of Capricorn and into Aquarius with a bang or a soft whinny? And will he bolt the stable door behind him?

Some questions. And some hypothesised answers (presumptious IKR?!)

Q. Will we see more chaos as capitalism unravels? (A. Highly likely.)

Q. Decentralised vs centralised government and currency, globalism vs. localism - what’s it to be? (A. Not sure yet.)

Q. Will 2025 see us bartering with eggs, collecting Dogecoin, or hedging with gold? (A. Gold would be the Plutonic choice.)  

Q. Might we see coups and dictators or authoritarian Big Brother legislation? (A. We’re already there, lol.)

OR … Q. do we finally realise our worth, collectively rise up, organise, head to the goddamn barricades, and create new, community-based leadership structures? (A. Ok, might have to wait for Pluto in Aquarius for that one – but hold that thought!)

In short, change is inevitable and necessary in this cyclical universe. It is scary but not without reward, as the Universe starts and completes its eternal cycles so must we. And meaningful change rarely happens without a bit of drama, right? Destroying the old and creating the new are two parts of the same whole. This is what Final Boss Pluto is here to tell us. We need to cross the foreboding waters of the River Styx into the Underworld to transform and complete the cycle.

Remember, no mud, no lotus! This must be our mantra as we continue along our heroic and pothole-ridden path toward the evolution of humanity. So grab a pair of muck boots and off we go!

Finally, best of luck with your own Pluto story. I sincerely hope he rewards you with a nice shiny coin for all your troubles. You’re worth it and you’ve earned it! Spend it both wisely and like it’s going out of fashion because Pluto in cash-free Aquarius is almost upon us.