When people did not have telescopes, the farthest planet visible was Saturn (Uranus for those with sharp eyes). That was the end of the universe. Until Pluto was discovered…
Jupiter’s influence on 2020
The Roman version of the Greek God Zeus, Jupiter is the divine lawgiver; he rules responsibility and expansion, especially through helping of humanity. The Great Conjunction of Light between Jupiter & Saturn that occurred on the Solstice December 2020 was the doorway to the age of Aquarius. It also began a new 10-year Jupiter Cycle. 2020 showed us the deep divide in our country. It seems like not much has changed since Jim Crow, Laws of Miscegenation, or Racist hate crimes (lynching by way of a knee on the neck for 8:46 minutes.) Many people showing the world just how racist, sexist, and misogynist they are, and others who continue their complacency rather than confront their own ignorance. 2020 stretched us. It was an incredible year of reflection.
Saturn’s influence on 2021
2021 we were also working with Saturn and the themes of personal freedom, cooperation, and balance. He asks us to focus, to pay attention; what is our work in the world and how do we serve? This will continue until 2035. Saturn is taking down the structure’s we’ve had for the past 29 years. This planet of karma rules limitations and fear. He is viewed as a malefic – a grim reaper - since he brings drought, plagues, pestilence, depression, repression, and oppression.
Saturn along with Jupiter have been shaking up all our power structures and have us structurally collapsing – physically & spiritually. We are questioning our large institutions and the founding principles that were created when the USA was born in 1776. Interestingly enough, America was built by immigrants seeking a better life who had to “build the nation” from the wilderness up. According to David Blight’s The Civil War and Reconstruction, “the nearly 4 million slaves were worth some $3.5 billion, making them the largest single financial asset in the entire US economy. And today, 15% of the US population is foreign-born and 12% have at least one immigrant parent. Immigrants are a huge asset to the US economy. America has made trillions off the backs of immigrants.
Freemason & astrologer Ben Franklin told Ebeneezer Sibley what America’s birth chart was when they signed the Declaration of Independence. The USA has a Libra Saturn in its natal chart which says do unto others as you would like them to do unto you. Not great if you’re doing bad stuff. The karmic aspects are being illuminated. The light is being shined on what is out of integrity and since Pluto is a planet of justice, the USA will be faced with a reckoning.
Serious issues are being brought to the surface. Things can no longer be swept under the carpet (i.e. #BLM, #MeToo, etc.). Whatever intention was set back on 7/4/1776 is going to be revisited. Look for the patterns of the past. When we see our patterns, we can change them. These last couple of years are about reconnecting with our ancestors and healing many lifetimes of pain and trauma. It’s deep, deep work.
Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
Pluto’s influence on 2022
Whenever Saturn & Pluto get together there is an epidemic or war energy. Molly Hall says, “Pluto's dark and punishing face is that of a tough, but loving teacher, leading you toward a more authentic experience of yourself.” It asks us to explore and examine our “dark” side. To expose any shadows. What needs to be transformed?
Molly continues, “During its long journey through a constellation, the essence of that sign becomes a kind of wrecking ball, reviver or revealer.” This means Pluto averages 21 years in each zodiac sign (varying from 12-31 years), which affects a whole generation rather than just the individual. It takes approximately 248 years for Pluto to make a full cycle around the astrology wheel. Therefore, humans don’t get to experience a Pluto return, nations and countries do. Therefore, Pluto IS our history and the USA is returning to its origin story.
The Pluto Return of the USA 2022-2024
As a country, we’re entering a Pluto return. That means Pluto is returning to the exact same point in the skies that it was on July 4th, 1776. It is the first ever Pluto return for the USA.
Philip Young, PhD says July 4, 1776 - the date for the birth of the United States - “is one of the most widely known, even worldwide. The location for the signing of the Declaration of Independence was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And the most commonly accepted time of birth was determined by English astrologer Ebenezer Sibley at 5:17 pm.” Just like people have their own birth chart, so do countries. Even though the Native Americans lived on this land before us, the chart reflects the birth of the laws and beliefs laid down in the Declaration of Independence. This is America’s natal chart.
As the furthest planet from the Sun, Pluto has an orbit of ~ 248 years. No one lives to see a Pluto return personally because it takes 3 human lifetimes to come about. But we are about to witness it as a country.
Positioned at the outer edge of the Solar System, Pluto hadn’t been discovered yet when America was founded. In 1930, Pluto was discovered to be the 9th planet from the sun; however, it got re-classified as a dwarf planet in August 2006, but Astrologers still consider it a powerful force.
Pluto’s orbit is so eccentric that at times it comes nearer to us than Neptune as some years it is only able to progress one degree of arc each year, while in other years it can travel as much as 2 1/2 degrees.
Being so distant and in the shadow, Pluto is the most intense planet in astrology for its small size. The strong effects are being felt now as transitioning Pluto nears its beginning alignment in America’s birth chart this month. A birth chart is an astrological snapshot of where the planets are in the zodiac at the moment of birth.
According to astrologer Rick Levine (and others agree), our Pluto Return isn't actually Feb 2022. Because it’s so slow its return is from 2022-2024. And due to the retrograde, there will be 3 passes or conjunctions - 2/22/2022, 7/11/2022 and 12/28/2022 - so that’s a lot of Pluto this year!!!!
Venus (partnerships & heartstrings) is done with her retrograde as February begins but astrologer Adam Sommer reminded me that “she will move forward and have yet another encounter with Pluto and Mars as the ‘end of the world’ party commences with the Pluto Return for the USA. It should be interesting.”
Neptune is also returning to America’s place of birth. Neptune, ruler of the ocean, brings up panic, confusion, losses, endings, floods, hurricanes, Tsunamis, germs, and bacteria. The last time we had Pluto & Neptune in this position was 1857-1859 when we had a civil war (split of ideals) and the panic of 1857 where the NY banks closed for months. This same energy is repeating this month – February 2022.
Pluto (Lord of the underworld, death, power, and control) has been taking us on an obsessive journey within to understand. It’s time to dig deeper. It’s not been easy these last couple of years because we must transit through the underworld with its destructive patterns, repetitive ancestral patterns, and old traumas. We are reaching the end of a significant cycle where things are being torn apart to bring healing and transformation. Jupiter (what we have been taught & how we want to relate) and Saturn (your work in the world & how we have structured our life) demand we decide if this is the time for those things to change. Once these old structures are finished, how do we tear them down and break free of them?
At the end of last year, so many of my clients felt the urge to purge, to release what was no longer useful, and clear their homes and bodies of negative energy. They wanted to declutter the physical, emotional, and energetic areas of their life. According to stargazer, “As the planet of digging under the surface, it wants you to get rid of all destructive mechanisms you acquired throughout your life.” It can be brutal when it comes to the art of letting go. We are letting go of what is no longer needed, what no longer serves our highest good. What did you let go of?
Pluto is named after the Roman God of the Underworld (Hades). Pluto governs all things hidden under the surface; its destructive energy provokes change and transforms what is no longer useful. It rules all major transitions including near-death experiences.
Pluto is also considered the great revealer. Tanaaz, author at Forever Conscious says, “It has the knack of exposing hidden truths, dark secrets, and the shadowy stuff. It brings the dark, hidden, and taboo up to the surface in order for it to be dealt with and faced.” It rules all that is “below the surface.” Pluto is the truth teller, the whistleblower. We’re seeing the darkness for a reason. Things that were once hidden are coming out of the shadows; it’s the dark night before rebirth.
“Unless you learn to face your own shadows, you will continue to see them in others, because the world outside of you is only a reflection of the world inside you.” ~ Carl Jung
As I mentioned in December’s musings, the ego holds on to its defenses and Pluto tries to get you to surrender. Facing your ego can reveal your greatest fear of being destroyed. But with death, there is rebirth. There's a Sufi saying, "Die many times before you die." Yes, there is life after ego-death. The Pluto Return window 2022-2024 will be like the phoenix rising from the ashes, emerging from the flames. But because it moves so slowly, it could take until 2028 for the final effects to be felt.
Pluto knows that life is impermanent, and that change is the only thing that is guaranteed. Its message is “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”. Pluto is also a portal for death, allowing people who are done to leave the planet. And we saw a lot (Jupiter) of death (Pluto) in 2020 & 2021. I mentioned in January’s musings that I had an opportunity to exit the planet this past September.
For the last 2 years, we’ve endured loss, hardship, injustice, and tremendous grief. Yoga nidra, deep yogic sleep, can help connect us with our heart center and unite with our true nature. Meditation teacher, Tracee Stanley, reveals “Yoga nidra invites us to remain awake and aware while we experience different states of Consciousness and the transitions between them.” Please listen to my meditation called Shamanic Yoga Nidra under Visualizations; it’s a class favorite!
We knew it was going to be a difficult period and it’s not over. Pluto’s not done with opening the world’s eyes to the truth of systemic problems worldwide. The next couple of years will continue to be eye-opening. We’re going to have plenty of opportunities to transform throughout 2022. But that means dismantling the old and outdated Belief Systems (BS).
According to Esoteric Meanings, “Pluto is there in the background until it’s effects become obvious, and then it often causes traumatic change.” Its energy is slow-moving and “takes many years for it to weave its magic.”
At the end of 2024, Pluto will enter Aquarius for 20 years until January 19, 2044. This heralds a spiritual revolution, radical change, renaissance, and a new identity for the USA. Social demands for reform will be strong. We can expect a Plutonic-level change in our homes, finances, and US economy. Jupiter & Neptune also tie into periods of inflation as well. Dr. Young continues, “We already know that every major economy in the world is in debt… and Pluto’s transit attempts to clean up any messes created in the last 248 years of US growth and development.” Pluto is the planet of SERIOUS transformation and Aquarius is the sign of progress. We can also expect profound changes in technology and science, much of it will be “alien” to us. Oh and…the Aliens are Coming, the Aliens are Coming! Who am I kidding, they’re already here.
We are already seeing the impacts of this transit which is best described as earthquake energy. Pluto will provoke upheaval and regeneration. Stargazer says, “Pluto represents the highest you can ascend and the lowest you can descend.”
Pluto began its transit from Sagittarius (1995 to 2008) into Capricorn, the sign of established traditions, structures of society & hierarchies of power (govt, big business, education, and religious institutions). When Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008, we saw the largest recession since the Great Depression. So, we’ve been building towards the actual return. Since then, things are definitely ramping up the closer we get to transiting Pluto hitting 7/4/1776’s natal Pluto. Like Divine Harmony said on Astrology Hub’s Pluto Panel, “I feel like we’ll feel Pluto in Capricorn for many years still.” Pluto wants to uncover hidden truths and Capricorn wants us to take responsibility. The last time Pluto was in Capricorn was 1762-1778, the time of the American Revolution and the birth of our nation.
Pluto in Capricorn is the continual decay of systems & revealing of the underworld on a global scale. Most people think of the apocalypse as the end of the world. However, it comes from the Greek word for “revelation,” so it is also a prophetic disclosure, an event of great importance. The Peruvian shamans call it the Pachakhuti, "world reversal."
Pluto also governs power, including struggles between people and countries for domination, and of course, personal power. This negative expression of Pluto includes hunger for power, cruelty, and control issues. Is it a coincidence that Pluto was discovered during a period of racial prejudice, economic depression, and rising fascism (i.e. nationalism of Germany during Hitler’s reign)? Divine Harmony says, “This is a divine reckoning to face where we have not lived up to our own ideals, where our relationship with power has become toxic, and to allow what has been repressed and oppressed to come to light…” I touched on this in the Feb 2021 and the Jan 2022 musings.
Astrology of War
Saturn & Pluto are planets of war, and they know how to crack the structure of your life. Serious issues are being brought to the surface that have been swept under the rug for much too long. If the astrology of war interests you, check out this study which tracks the cycles of Jupiter, Saturn & Uranus to 61 wars (summary on pg 5).
Pluto has somehow always been involved in war. The astrology of World War II shows the Plutonian influence everywhere. Even secret pipelines were laid under the English Channel during the war to provide oil to the Allied forces. Do you know what that mission was called? Operation Pluto!
On the other hand, Pluto’s positive transformations were seen when the Revolutionists liberated themselves from an oppressive regime, in the Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s, and the environmental movement of 2019. Are you seeing the patterns yet?
It's hard to tell the difference between the radical and the revolutionary.”
~ Christopher Renstrom
Astrologer Mitchell Scott Lewis reveals, “There are power shifts occurring all over the world. China is once again rattling its sword on the doorstep of Taiwan. Russia is amassing troops on the border of Ukraine. The political battle in America is heating up to a potential not seen since 1861. And the Supreme Court is on the verge of tossing out precedent and its political balance in exchange for partisan decisions. All of this is part of the Pluto Return.”
Pluto’s sloooow transit means power struggles and major changes in our country’s structure will continue for years, even decades. We have an opportunity to decide how we want our country to look. Its role is to help you look at things you don’t normally look at - the big picture. Pluto opens the door for new opportunities.
In the year 2012, a 25,800-year Galactic cycle ended and we entered a new karmic path for the collective. A Galactic cycle is when our galactic center aligns with the sunrise of a solstice or equinox. The completion of a cosmological age that the Mayan called the Pleiadean cycle. Our ancestors lived through 5 epochs or 5 suns, each one lasting approximately 5,200 years. Now we enter the 6th sun, that of the magical moon and feminine energy coming back into balance.
25,800 years ago, it was called the Lunar Era because the moon was of great importance. The Mother and the Goddess were worshipped throughout the world. According to Anne Baring, “People saw the cosmos as a mother from whose womb all forms of life emerged in an endless cycle of birth, death and regeneration. The cycles of the moon were seen as the basic template for this repeating cycle: the birth of the crescent moon, its growing to fullness, its waning and then the 3 days of darkness before the birth of the new crescent. Life and death were not oppositional but two phases of a single process.”
Anthropologists believed indigenous cultures celebrated the sun (inti) but what they really celebrated was the light. They didn’t know the sun was 100M times the size of the earth, they thought it was a hole in the sky and it was the light (ti) pouring through.
“Nothing that needs to hide in the dark has any real authentic power of its own.”
~ Alberto Villoldo
The shamanic view is the dark has no power. There is nothing in the cosmos that is not part of God/Goddess, not part of the Divine. The Judeo-Christian concept is that God is in Heaven and therefore, if Heaven is above, then Hell must be the other direction. The indigenous didn’t understand this because below us is the rich, abundant Mother Earth, the source of all life.
In the 2022 Year at a Glance, astrologer Maeanne Welti says, “This is the year we check the corners, dig out the deepest roots, take stock of all we’ve learned about ourselves, and let our sense of meaning, reality and purpose be forever changed, not just temporarily challenged.”
In the darkness of food-challenge, greed-challenge, violence-challenge, climate-challenge, truth-challenge, there is magic. We are entering a new era, coming into the light, where the Moon Goddess takes her rightful place right alongside her masculine counterpart, the Sun God, amongst the starry cosmos.
We are being illuminated by an eternal radiant light. Baring concurs saying, “We are literally bathed in a sea of light, invisible to us yet permeating every cell of our being. We are not only connected with each other through the astonishing reach of the Internet but through the infinitesimal particles of sub-atomic matter.”
We’re seeing a rise of the truth seekers who shine a light on the darkness. They bring the light and expose the dark for who they are. Evil exists only in the hearts of humans. Their power is your fear.
Stevie Wonder said that because he’s blind, he cannot see the color of your skin. But he can see your soul, your light. More people need to be color blind! We all share the same experience of being human, despite the differing opinions. Let’s not dissolve in a national Civil War while we are all in a Global spiritual war. The heavens are teaching us. What can we learn from them?
It's important to mentally and physically prepare for this marathon. I can offer a couple of tools and techniques to do daily:
· Nature – ½ hr walk outside; go barefoot, feet on the ground; hug a tree; delight in the elements; get to know your local farm stand.
· Nurture – ½ hr to nourish and nurture yourself; eat right and exercise; yoga, breathwork and meditation are proven ways to reduce mental stress and anxiety.
· Unplug – ½ hr digital detox; buzzing phones & push notifications can stress our nervous system; turn it off and enjoy the quiet.
We also need to prepare ourselves spiritually and that starts with fearlessness. Next, we create sacred space around our homes and around our luminescent energy field (LEF) by calling in our helping spirts and using transfiguration. Then we clean up our LEF by cutting cords so that any lower energies cannot feed on you (like mosquitos do). Another way to strengthen your LEF and your immune system is working with the Merkaba. This “vehicle for transformation” is also a favorite meditation in my yoga classes, it is also under visualizations on my website. I can show you how to do all this and MORE in my Tools for Transformation classes which are in-person as well as live streamed & recorded! The next class begins 2/17/22.
I'd like to close with a prayer or blessing from one of my teachers, Elizabeth Harper, for your healing and the healing of the collective: