Pluto and aspects – aka the line mess
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Happy zodiacal New Year! It sounds strange because nobody refers to it this way. They call it the Equinox. Spring or Fall depending where you are in the world. Also known as Aries season.
The ram is the symbol for Aries. It might remind you of the goat that symbolizes Capricorn, but I’m not sure it should. When I think of that go-getter spirit I think of rams, you know ‘cuz they ram with their horns.
They may be ready to fight, but they’re also ready to nap. Most of the pictures I saw of these animals showed them lying down. No mountain climbing for them. Not like their distant goat cousins. They also don’t tend to escape their pens like goats do.
Aries is one of those signs that starts a season, also known as a cardinal sign. As the first sign, it’s the baby of the zodiac, closely associated with new beginnings, curiosity, and impulsiveness. We think of the ram as a confrontational animal that’s always charging other rams.
Rams are sheep. Feisty as they may be, it’s interesting to note their absolute domestication. Not trying to drag Aries. Just want to note that not everything is as it appears on the surface. Not to complicate matters but the symbol for the next sign in the zodiac, Taurus, is yet another horned creature, the bull. You ready for the quiz on horned creatures in the zodiac?
This Aries season we’re seeing the first of four retrogrades so I thought it would be a good time to talk about retrogrades with the added context that we’ve learned about in previous posts. Remember this table?
These planets are ordered fastest to slowest. The yellow part marks current or upcoming retrogrades. Mercury is an inner planet, faster than the outer ones. In this table, you can see Mercury runs circles around the other planets and appears retrograde more often.
The outer planets take their time, lingering in signs and aspects longer than Mercury would. Remember that regardless of the speed of the planet, apparent retrograde motion is cyclical. Each of these planets goes retrograde every few weeks, months, or years depending on their speed.
Ok, Siobhan, but what does all that mean?
I’ll talk a bit about these retrogrades with a caveat. You. Make. All. The. Meaning. In. Your. Life. If it serves you to make a retrograde ritual custom for each planet and do it every time, gototown. If it does not serve you make the ritual, worry about the dates, read the post, whatever, donotgototown. That simple.
I’ll give the rundown in a few statements. Let’s make this like one of those games on the back of a cereal box. You remember those?
Here are the houses for reference:
In the statements below, insert the house that matches where this sign is in your chart. Or don’t, either way, you’ll get the point. Which is that in astrology we layer information about the planets, signs, and houses to make meaning of the relationships between the three.
You might be wondering how you’d know which house these retrogrades are happening in? Remember the astroclimate? The chart at the beginning of each of your ‘Scopes? That’s where you’d find that info. Or on your natal chart if you check out the outer rim.
Jupiter Retrograde (Rx) in Scorpio
You have an opportunity to reevaluate, revisit, or internally explore (Rx) expansion, higher learning, beliefs, or greed (Jupiter) in an intense and transformative way (Scorpio), especially when it comes to your ______ (insert house).
Saturn Retrograde (Rx) in Capricorn
You have an opportunity to reevaluate, revisit, or internally explore (Rx) authority or control (Saturn) in a disciplined, authoritative way (Capricorn), especially when it comes to your ______ (insert house).
Pluto Retrograde (Rx) in Capricorn
You have an opportunity to reevaluate, revisit, or internally explore (Rx) transformation or destruction (Pluto) in a disciplined and authoritative way (Saturn), especially when it comes to your ______ (insert house).
This might seem super important to look at but think of it this way, this is only part of what’s going on in the sky right now. In March there are two full moons. Every month there are upwards of 30 aspects happening.
I haven’t talked much about aspects, but they’re the “line mess” I referred to in an earlier post in this series, the angles formed between planets, signs, and houses.
For example, in April, Jupiter will sextile Pluto. This aspect is one of many general ones created relative to time and space but not to any one time or location of birth. This aspect is a helpful one, well they’ve all got potential to be helpful, but some feel more helpful than others. This one involves two of the retrograde planets.
Think of the Retrograde period of these two planets as part-time work. Maybe they usually have straightforward 9 – 5s, but they take a break to do contract work during their respective retrograde periods. Even though they do entirely different jobs as planets, they find the time, on April 14th specifically, to meet up for lunch.
What do they talk about at this cosmic meetup?
They talk about your ability to go to your own personal underworld and come out the other end. They talk about your role at work, your sense of control in your life. They talk about what you’re willing to do to grow. They conspire to make you brave, big, better and blessed. They wager whether you will get the memo.
This isn’t their first meeting either. This same aspect occurred January 14th/15th (what was happening for you at that time?) and will again on September 12th. It can be tempting to get caught in the mechanism of every day, the smaller aspects, common sources of worry. Especially with the extra emotional charge from a second full moon in March.
Use this retrograde energy to reinvigorate and reevaluate your life.
What are you willing to brave or destroy? What spoils await you in your underworld?
And now for an “Aries” theme song.