I believe we are living in an extremely interesting and critical time. Many challenges are before us and I would like to share my thoughts on what changes are needed from an astrological viewpoint.
The planets in our solar system follow a specific orbit and are cyclic. We can only predict the future by studying the past. The "planet" that I want to discuss first is Pluto. Astronomers recently demoted Pluto so it is officially no longer a planet! Regardless of that fact, I still refer to Pluto as a planet and continue to read its influences as I always have. When our beloved USA was founded, Pluto was "transiting" the constellation of Capricorn. On January 26th, 2008, Pluto once again returned to travel through the constellation of Capricorn for the first time since the birth of our nation. Pluto moved back into the constellation Sagittarius on June 14th, 2008, but will re-enter Capricorn on November 27th, 2008 and stay in that constellation until March 24, 2023. During the 15 years Pluto travels through Capricorn, many challenges and changes will occur. We can only speculate what the results will be. The future is in our hands.
When our forefathers wrote The Declaration of Independence, a whole new society was born. The birth of our nation did not come without pain and suffering. Sacrifices were made and risks were taken...the stakes were high. Well, we are back to that point again. The choices we make will determine what kind of "new society" we will build. Ideally speaking, we should build upon the great foundation set for us 232 years ago. The one thing we all know, our government needs a major overhaul! Pluto signifies "death" then "birth" We can look all around us and see examples of the "death" approaching. It is obvious, our health care system is broken, many of our factories have shut down with jobs going overseas. The housing industry is in a fast downward spiral, with record foreclosures. Not only are food prices skyrocketing, along with the price of gasoline's unprecedented rise and now fall, but the results of these rising prices are so far reaching and too numerous for me to list or even be aware of. We have polluted our earth and put the health of our planet in severe jeopardy. We have so much "fence mending" to do over our foreign policy. The faith and trust in our leaders in Washington was as bad if not worse than it ever has been. The dollar is at a low in the world market. We have violence here at home and abroad, because of the inability on the part of some to accept all people as our brothers and sisters. These people do not realize we are really all connected. The one thing to remember, Pluto only "kills" that which has outlived its time. We can relate this time in our Nation (and also our World) as the Fall or Autumn when many plants lose their leaves and appear to die, only to be born again in the Spring. The Fall and Winter months can seem very bleak in many parts of the world. Many plants do die and do not come back in the Spring. I believe this is the process that is upon us for mankind to face. We all have to transform and transcend. Some will choose not to make this transformation or for one reason or another can not. One thing we need to be aware of, all that is wrong will be exposed and see the light of day. Therefore, at last we will have to acknowledge the flaws in our ways and mend them before it is too late. We will no longer be able to ignore and sweep under the rug the fact that the whole structure of our society is crumbling. Once again if we refer back to astrology, Capricorn is the sign that rules structure, rules, tradition, authority, government, the old, the familiar. Pluto will destroy in order to rebuild. We can only speculate what this means and how we will handle this to determine the outcome. One thing is for sure, we cannot continue on the course we have been on as it will only lead to more destruction.
Now that we have elected Barack Obama as our new President, we are beginning to see the direction our country is trying to go. As with Pluto's transits through the previous signs of the zodiac, the problems were exposed, but the solutions have not yet entirely been apparent.
In the 1960's Pluto was traveling through the constellation of Virgo. Virgo rules health, work and service. The one thing that stands out in my mind was the rise in the use of drugs. Also, the "pill" was made available. Since the 1960's, more studies have taken place and more progress has been made concerning the need for positive nutrition and exercise. Along with the positive, we have also experienced the rise in the misuse of drugs. From the early 1960's we accelerated the development of technology to where it is today. With the modern technology, the way we do our work has drastically changed, and expanded. I would speculate that it is a better world for the most part, but some would say technology has replaced humans for many jobs, transforming our society and maybe not so much for the positive. We are still trying to resolve the misuse of drugs and the flaws in our society concerning jobs (outsourced to foreign countries) and the services available today are quite outstanding, again through technology.
In the early 1970's Pluto entered the constellation of Libra. Libra rules relationships, mainly marriage. We can all see how the "institution" of marriage has been transformed. Most people do not stay in "bad" marriages anymore. Divorce became more acceptable throughout the 70's and "living together" became more common. Blended families were a rarity before the 1970's, but now are commonplace. We are still trying to find new ways of relating plus we no longer have rigid roles for the sexes to follow. Interracial couples are more acceptable as are homosexual couples. With Pluto in the sign of Libra, the flaws in our relationships became apparent. New ways of relating is still a work in progress.
In late 1983 Pluto entered the sign of Scorpio. We suddenly became aware of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Scorpio rules sex, power, life and death, taxes, insurance among other things. We had to realize the consequences of drugs (Virgo), open relationships (Libra) and death from sex (Scorpio). During the 1980's it became apparent we needed to revamp Social Security (taxes & Insurance) plus we had our first test tube baby. We still do not have a cure for AIDS, our social security still is not "fixed" nor has our health insurance been made affordable for all.
In the mid-1990's Pluto entered the constellation of Sagittarius. Sagittarius rules, religion, politics, foreign countries, education, among other things. Religion became intertwined with politics. We became aware of "death" because of religion (9/11) and also death in the schools with all the shootings. Pluto has been in Sagittarius until its first entry into Capricorn on January 25, 2008 until June 13, 2008. Pluto re-entered Sagittarius until November 26, 2008 when it again enters the sign of Capricorn. Pluto will stay in the sign of Capricorn until March 24, 2023.
You can see through traveling back for the last 40 plus years what has transpired with the transits of Pluto through the signs. We will not be so surprised when we see corporations, government, rules and structure changing drastically during the next several years. We have already been given a glimpse of what is in store for our country. The light will be shown on all the flaws in our government, society, corporations, rules, regulations, authority of every nature. Not only will Pluto affect the United States of America, but every nation throughout the world. We are most certainly living through a time of transformation of society. We must hang on to the fact that only that which needs to be destroyed will fall by the wayside. Out of the old defective, we will build something new and it must be for the betterment of all in order to survive.
With our recent election, the majority of the American people voted for Hope over Fear. This in itself indicates we have evolved as a people and we really do have HOPE for working our way through Pluto in Capricorn.
This is the first of many articles that I plan to write...If you have subjects you would like to have me write about, contact me at Jbeauchaine@qwestoffice.net
