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 major 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. Flavours of that new sign are continued during the duration of Pluto’s stay in the sign. Whether those changes empower aspects of that sign or destroys aspects of it 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, the planet associated with women. Pluto entered the sign of Libra in October of 1971. US Census shows that in 1970 the divorce rate rose to 15/1000 and 22.5/1000 in 1980 compared to 9.2/1000 in 1960.
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 the fall of 1983, back to Libra, and went fully into Scorpio a year later. 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. Also, at this time, the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse allegations started to come to light.
The Soviet Union started to crumble, and scandals such as the Iran-Contra affair were beginning to show the underbelly of government affairs.
Pluto in Sagittarius
In February 1995, Pluto moved into Sagittarius until May as it retrograded back into Scorpio and firmly planted itself in Sagittarius by mid-November. Sagittarius signifies foreign lands (internationalism), philosophy, and religion.
On 1 January 1995, the World Trade Organization was formed just before Pluto’s entry into Sagittarius when it was at 29°36’ of Scorpio. 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, 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. No wonder we had the banking crisis when Pluto entered Capricorn from January 2008 to June 2008 and fully in 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.
Here we see corporate mergers/acquisitions trends as 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 makes its entry in March of 2023. Aquarius is the sign of brotherhood, revolutions, uniqueness, and technology.
The last time Pluto was in Aquarius, the American revolution was going on, leading to a new nation that revolutionised the world. We will start to see more rebellions like what is currently happening in regimes like China and Iran. 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.
Technology will also be prominent as some of the 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. We could start to see some Orwellian themes as people buy into tech that listens to us. China has implemented facial recognition in everyday life and tracks its citizens. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is becoming more powerful.
The hypersonic missile is being developed. These are missiles that travel at 6200 km/h. Robots are becoming more Terminator-like. And who knows what else is being worked on now? We could see development in medical technology and potential cures for diseases.
We don’t know what the future holds, but with astrology, at least we have history and a sense of where we are going.
For other insight on Pluto, try the Saturn/Pluto Cycle <Click Here>