Pluto’s Transit through Capricorn: 2008 – 2024
Astrology is something very different than the assumptions made by science and organized religion. Astrology, in its known beginnings as far back as 4000 BCE, was a mixture of science and religion or astronomy and astrology. It was the lynchpin of deciphering future possibilities by basing the future on the past happenings and cycles of the heavens. As far as we can tell, astrology was originally used as a measurement of time. There is evidence that people 27,000 years ago kept time by the phases of the moon.
Besides time keeping, the enlightened cultures of the past viewed the stars and planets as actors and actresses in a grand morality and mystery play that reflected to humanity knowledge of the past, the present and the potential future. The key word is potential future. Hasn’t it been said that forgetting the problems and mistakes of the past only allows them to be repeated in the future?
Whatever your belief, a clue to the present and the future may be seen in studying past patterns of history. Add to this their connection to astrology and we have a greater visionary view of the future.
We entered a unique period in 2008, which will last until 2024. The full extent of the changes and transformation of the structures of culture and society during this passage of time will not be revealed until 2025. A glimpse into this present period of time may be revealed by a similar past period in the history of the world during the 1500’s and 1700’s when Pluto traveled through the sign of Capricorn.
At the present time we are at the halfway mark of Pluto’s current transit through Capricorn – 2008 – 2024
As a collective race what is true for the individual is also true for the earth and humanity. Between 2008 and 2024 Pluto is transiting through the sign of Capricorn. In other words, from our vantage point on earth, the planet (or is it sub-planet) Pluto is moving across the constellation of Capricorn—the mountain/sea goat. Pluto is the king of evolution in that it transforms and regenerates—the planetary archetype of death and resurrection. In other words, Pluto takes what is not working, radically changes it or destroys it if necessary, and then restores it into something much better—death and re-birth on a grand scale.
As an earth sign, Capricorn deals with the infrastructures of life such as government. It is a business oriented materialistic sign dealing with the necessities of life and survival. Capricorn would definitely be identified as capitalistic. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, known by many as Father Time, the planet of structure, limitation and authority figures—currently this would be primarily patriarchal authoritarianism.
Pluto’s transit through Capricorn will be interesting but quite frightening for conservative status-quo people. Pluto is like a stern home designer that enters your home (Capricorn) to re-design what is not working and ends up destroying all of your furniture and fixtures so that they may be replaced with new ones that work properly. In fact the whole house may be ripped down, including the foundation, and then re-built.
If this is an analogy of Pluto in Capricorn, what can we then expect to happen to the present economic, social and religious structures and paradigms?
Keep in mind the key words for Pluto are power, transformation, intensity, evolution, debt (think Greece for just one country) and revolution. And it is the planet of radical transformation, death and rebirth.
As politicians and corporate execs (is there a difference?) continue to defend the systems that are clearly killing us, their credibility erodes. Pluto in Capricorn (2008-2024) signifies the transformation of worldly power, and the death of industrial civilization — and, ideally, the rebirth into a sustainable culture. Instead of looking to the “powers that be” to fix the vast problems humanity has created, it’s time for each one of us to take responsibility, step up and get to work.
Pluto governs power itself, including struggles between people and countries for domination, and of course, personal power.
Pluto’s Past Transits in Capricorn:
Pluto in Capricorn: January 1762 until the spring of 1777
- In 1765, James Watt invented the steam engine that powered the Industrial Revolution
- The Stamp Act passed by Parliament in March of 1765, the first direct tax on the colonies. Founding Father Patrick Henry led the fight against the Stamp Act in 1765 – “Give Me Liberty or Give me Death.” The chains of debt and “taxation without representation” were heavy.
- The Revolutionary War in America started officially in 1775
Other Wars:
- 1763 1766 Pontiac’s War
- 1765 1767 Burmese–Siamese War
- 1768 1768 Louisiana Rebellion of 1768
- 1768 1774 Russo-Turkish War
- 1776 1777 Spanish–Portuguese War
Pluto in Capricorn: 1515 until the end of 1532
- The dawn of the Protestant Reformation (1517) in Western Europe
- In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set sail to circumnavigate the world for the first time, thus paving the way for the forthcoming colonial era. Meanwhile, Hernán Cortés, with Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conquered Cuba and settled there until 1518 when Velázquez appointed him to lead an expedition to Mexico. With a force of 700 men, Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico and founded the settlement of Veracruz. He burned his ships behind him, thereby committing his entire force to survival through conquest. Cortés then moved to Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), the capital of the powerful Aztec Indians. After some bitter struggles, Cortés captured Tenochtitlan in 1521 and terminated the Aztec empire. Notably, the first African slaves arrived in the present-day United States as part of the San Miguel de Guadalupe colony, founded by Spanish explorer Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón in 1526.[i]
- In 1520–66, Suleiman the Magnificent developed the power of the Ottoman Empire to its greatest extent, spanning Asia Minor to North Africa. He captured Belgrade, subjugated Hungary after the battle of Mohacs (1526), and besieged Vienna (1529).[ii]
- 1529 – 1532 – Inca Civil War
- 1532 begins Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
Next we will explore Uranus in Aries.
[i] Maurice Lavenant, Pluto in Capricorn 2008 – 2023, An Astrological Study, https://mauricelavenant.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/plutoincapricorn20082023.pdf
[ii] Ibid.