(Edited Jan 2024)
In March 2023, Pluto entered Aquarius and retrograded back into Capricorn in June 2023. In January 2024, Pluto made its way back into Aquarius on the 21st, where it will stay until March 2043.
Pluto
Pluto is the planet of sex, power, secrets, tyranny, control, transition, death, and riches. Despite astronomers demoting Pluto to a dwarf planet status, Pluto always signifies significant changes when it hits key points in your chart. Always expect transformation or endings of sorts.
On a global scale, Pluto ushers in changes when it enters a new sign. The effects related to the new sign Pluto enters can begin to be felt when Pluto is a few degrees from the new sign. The energy of that new sign continues for the duration of Pluto’s stay in the sign. Whether those changes empower aspects of the sign or destroy the aspects depends on the other planetary alignments.
Pluto in Libra
Libra is the sign of balance, as it is represented by the scales. It is also the sign associated with relationships and is ruled by Venus. Venus is the planet associated with women since they both share the same sigil. Venus also rules one’s values.
Pluto entered the sign of Libra in October of 1971. With regard to relationships, let us consider the Divorce Rate. The Divorce Rate corresponds to the number of persons who divorced in a given year divided by the size of the married population. The US Census[1] shows that in 1970, the divorce rate rose to 15/1000 and 22.5/1000 by 1980 as compared to 9.2/1000 in 1960. It is stabilising now in 2024 at around 13.5. Equivalent data for Canada isn’t available until 1991, but it typically trends at 6 less than the US levels[2].
The other significant change was the rise of women’s equality after the 1960s. The Women’s Liberation Movement took hold in the 1970s. It wasn’t until 1974 that women could get credit cards in their own name in North America. Women’s Lib, as it was known, also spread to Europe and Asia during the 1970s. In July 1984, after Pluto retrograded back into Libra for a few months, Lichtenstein was the last European country to grant women the right to vote.
Pluto in Scorpio
Pluto moved into Scorpio in November 1983, back to Libra in May 1984, and went fully into Scorpio at the end of August 1984. Scorpio is a sign associated with death and transformation. It also rules underworld matters, domination and control, and taboo matters such as sex and drugs.
With Pluto, in the sign of Scorpio, we saw the AIDS epidemic come onto the world stage. It was spread by sex through the gay community, resulting in it being called the gay disease, and through hypodermic drug use. These three things were all very Plutonian concepts. Drug use is a taboo subject, as was being gay at that time.
Also, at this time, the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse allegations started to come to light. A New Orleans Catholic priest was charged with 11 counts of child molestation[3]. This was the tip of the iceberg to allow other victims to come out and have their voices heard.
The secretive Soviet Union started to crumble at this time when annexed nations started to fight for their independence. The first of such was Lithuania[4], quickly followed by Latvia, Estonia, and Georgia.
The USA’s Iran-Contra affair, which led to the arrest of Oliver North, was beginning to show the underbelly of government affairs. People were no longer taking the government’s word.
Pluto in Sagittarius
In February 1995, Pluto moved into Sagittarius until May 1995, as it retrograded back into Scorpio and firmly planted itself in Sagittarius by mid-November 1995. Sagittarius signifies foreign lands, internationalism, philosophy, law, and religion.
On 1 January 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was formed just before Pluto’s entry into Sagittarius when Pluto was at 29°36’ of Scorpio. Its mandate dealing with nations and laws, as stated on its website, is:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
The world became smaller with the growth of the internet during this period, where instant communication could occur with overseas recipients. This period also saw the beginning of e-commerce.
With Sagittarius being the sign of religion, we saw an increase in fundamentalism with the rise of Al-Qaeda and later ISIL, culminating in the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. Also, the fundamentalist Christian sects saw increasing boldness with the likes of the Westboro Baptist Church, a group of loonies who protest gay victims of crime and harass the parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook school attack.
The subversive activist group Anonymous[5] was formed during this period. Anonymous is a digital hacker group that attacks organisations like the Westboro Baptist Church, the Ku Klux Klan, the Church of Scientology, and governments by hacking their websites.
Pluto in Capricorn
Capricorn represents the status quo, order, and restrictions. It rules businesses, business transactions, governments, and credit. It is no wonder we had the banking crisis when Pluto entered Capricorn from January 2008 to June 2008 and wholly entered from December 2008.
The banks in the USA suffered during this period because of the lax lending standards, causing the Lehman Brothers Bank to go bankrupt. What is very Plutonic is bank executives took hefty payments while staff were let go. The automotive industry also collapsed, requiring bailouts from the government and some taking loans. Corporate greed is on the increase as corporations become more powerful.
Cryptocurrency made its debut with BitCoin in January 2009. This is money controlled by computer transactions, and is popular with hackers, criminals, and countries like Iran to avoid US sanctions[6].
Here, we see corporate mergers/acquisitions[7] trends in which corporations make themselves more powerful. With Sagittarius, we had a spike due to globalisation, and with Capricorn, we have restructuring and posturing.
info from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_mergers_and_acquisitions#cite_note-301
Pluto in Aquarius
This brings us to the sign of Aquarius, into which Pluto made its entry in March of 2023. In June 2023, it retrograded back into Capricorn until the end January 2024. Aquarius is the sign of brotherhood, revolution, and uniqueness and rules technology.
The last time Pluto was in Aquarius, the French Revolution was going on as well as the American Revolution, leading to a new nation that revolutionised the world. The big issue is what will happen in the USA as they are going through a Pluto return. A Pluto return is where Pluto comes back to the same place where it was when the nation was born. Many countries and empires lost influence or just dissolved after their Pluto return. Since the USA was born of rebellion, its downfall may come from a rebellion.
Technology will also be prominent as some inventions from the last time Pluto was in Aquarius include submarines, the hot air balloon, the toilet, the turbine engine, the guillotine, and several cotton spinning machines. Technology has been evolving at an incredible pace.
Military technology is growing. From soldier-worn technology to hypersonic missiles are being developed. These are missiles that travel at 6200 km/h. Drones with vision capabilities carrying weapons can now be deployed against enemy soldiers. Robots are becoming more Terminator-like. And who knows what else is being worked on now?
We could start to see some Orwellian themes as people buy into technology that listens to us. China has implemented facial recognition in everyday life and tracks its citizens. Most of the UK is watched by closed-circuit television (CCTV).
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is becoming more powerful. ChatGPT was introduced on 30 November 2022, but by March 2023, when Pluto entered Aquarius for the first time, ChatGPT was connected to the internet[8]. Now, we are seeing the manipulation of images. In January 2024, AI images of pop star Tyler Swift appearing nude are now on display on X (formerly Twitter). Now, images or videos can be generated to create a false narrative for propaganda reasons.
However, we could see further advancements in medical technology and potential cures for diseases. Wearable medical devices and watches that monitor your heart rate, blood pressure, and insulin levels are more readily accessible.
We don’t know what the future holds, but with astrology and history, we can have a sense of where we are going.
[1] https://ifstudies.org/blog/new-census-data-key-takeaways-on-divorce-marriage-and-fertility-in-the-us
[2] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3910005101&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=1970&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2020&referencePeriods=19700101%2C20200101
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/20/us/sex-charges-against-priest-embroil-louisiana-parents.html
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/world/1990/mar/12/eu.politics
[5] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anonymous-hacking-group
[6] https://money.usnews.com/investing/articles/the-history-of-bitcoin#:~:text=Bitcoin%20was%20the%20first%20cryptocurrency,identity%20has%20never%20been%20verified
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_mergers_and_acquisitions
[8] https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/23/openai-connects-chatgpt-to-the-internet/
For other insight on Pluto, try the Saturn/Pluto Cycle <Click Here>