Welcoming Spring & Pluto in Aquarius: Healing the Collective Wound

Happy Spring Equinox! Persephone makes her way back from the Underworld and the land of Tartaros, where she has reigned as Pluto's (Hades') queen for 1/3 of the year. Led by her mother Demeter and the wise goddess Hecate, Persephone comes back to the land of the living, bringing with her the gifts of rebirth, revivification, the blossoming of life, and the return of light and warmth. We are invited to step out into the sunshine, to plant the seeds that we've been nurturing through the darkness and the quiet of winter, seeing them grow and bloom with the aide of the powers that be and those that come from deep within.

We're also seeing a HUGE movement in the Cosmos this week: Pluto, the planet of our greatest fears and deepest wounds, as well as our capacity to transform and alchemize these into beautiful expressions of ourselves and our lives, moves into the sign of Aquarius for the first time since 1798. And that's not all -- because of his slow movement through the Cosmos, as well as his uniquely-shaped ecliptic, Pluto will be in the Sign of the Rebel and the Genius for 20 years, when he finally leaves Aquarius for good in January 2044. To be technical about dates for those of you who want them, they are as follows:: Pluto will be in Aquarius from March 23, 2023-June 10, 2023, January 21, 2024-September 1, 2024, and November 20, 2024-March 8, 2043. He'll be in and out of the latter degrees of Aquarius again in 2043 and will move to Pisces for another 22 years.

So, what does all of this technical jargon mean?! The answer to that question is that there are a lot of different possibilities, per usual, when a planet moves into a certain sign. And technically speaking, if we have natal planets conjuncting, opposing, or squaring the planet in question, we'll be feeling this the most. If we have natal planets trining or sextiling the moving planet, we'll feel it too, though perhaps not as intensely as the first category.

It's important to remember with Evolutionary Astrology that every planet, sign, and house all operate on a spectrum of consciousness, with one side of the spectrum inviting us to healthy possibilities and expressions, and the other end inviting us to dysfunctional, toxic, and shadow expressions of the energy. In other words, it's up to each of us as to how we choose to work with the energies of the planets, signs, and houses. I like to tell my clients that we can make a transit into a masterpiece or into a complete gong show; the choice is always ours, and though the transit may be a challenging one, it will generally always provide us an opportunity to access more freedom in our hearts, in ourselves, and in our lives. The trick is knowing how to work with each energy and all that's coming to light.

Pluto, or Hades in the Greek tradition, is about power (in oneself) and empowerment, soul-reclamation, what has been repressed for karmic or epigenetic lifetimes or both, and our ability as humans to go into the darkness of the subconscious mind in order to reclaim parts of ourselves that have been "locked up," inaccessible from the current version of who we are. One of the ways I like to consider this is through the lens of psychology. If there is a part of ourselves that has been traumatized, be it a big trauma or a smaller one, and we didn't have the tools to deal with that trauma at the time, in order to stay intact, the ego will repress the trauma, hiding it in a deep part of our psyches until we're ready to look at it fully and deal with it healthily. Oftentimes we completely forget about the event until a planet begins to move over natal Pluto or the South Node of the Moon (karmic/epigenetic past patterns that are up for healing in this lifetime) or any other planets connected to epigenetic and karmic past patterns. When this happens, we're given the opportunity to go down into Pluto's realm of the subconscious, cultivating more tools to access the part of ourselves that was stuck and unable to connect with the current, more integrated part of who we are.

This process includes practices like somatic therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), shamanic tools like ceremony with ayahuasca or psilocybin, and Compassionate Inquiry. Oftentimes when we move into a place within ourselves where the trauma lies, we go into deep trigger. And this trigger is actually a beautiful opportunity to know more about why we respond in a certain way, and how we can free ourselves from the pain and/or suffering that comes along with this trigger, reclaiming our capacity to be healed, whole, integrated individuals. Rather than feeling like we're disempowered victims in the scenario, working with Pluto healthily invites us to recover the part of ourselves that is and was a victim, and to transform this aspect of ourselves into healthy energy that can be integrated into the whole of who we are and used for the betterment of our lives and those around us. For when Pluto is worked with skillfully, we have more energy to put toward a mission or vision in our lives that is so meaningful we can't believe we didn't see it before. Yet it wasn't time, and we didn't have the energy to do so until this wound is reclaimed and turned into wholeness.

Yet when Pluto is worked with poorly, or not at all, we remain victims, blaming and projecting our wounds onto our lives in ways that keep the trigger alive. A beautiful opportunity for deep healing and integration is lost, and this pattern is moved out into the collective in negative ways that keep a toxic story playing out over and over again. In essence, we choose to play the role of the victim, becoming identified with this as part of ourselves rather than working with the energy to heal.

Now for Aquarius, the Truth-Teller, the Exile, the one born before their time. This energy is one of revolution, change, innovation, radical shifting, and freedom from paradigms that are outdated and no longer work. Aquarius is always about authenticity and marching to the rhythm of one's drum. It is about moving away from "doing what everyone else is doing" just because they are, and instead, learning to listen to our own Internal Guidance Systems (IGS) to do what is right by our own heart of hearts. Aquarius is here to see with upeksha, or a panoramic vantage point that allows for objectivity and viewing things in a way that they perhaps haven't been viewed before, inviting the radical change it's known for into the collective.

I find it interesting that Aquarius also has a deep connection to the collective in traditional astrology, yet if it becomes too identified with its group or tribe, its growth is stifled, and it's unable to move in the world authentically. And authenticity is actually what Aquarius is about evolutionarily; it's what Aquarius is here to cultivate. I call it the sign of Fleetwood Mac, for Aquarius truly needs to go its own way, regardless of what everyone else is doing. It is here to learn how to "individuate," a Jungian term that implies learning to move from one's deep inner self rather than just doing what everyone else is doing because they're doing it and that's what's expected. As my teacher Steven Forrest recognizes, this sign carries with it the feeling of, "if I do what's right for myself, I hurt those around me." But the sign of the Truth-Sayer must follow its own truth in the world regardless of what those closest to it have to think or say about it. This is the only way it can live its freedom in the world. For the shadow of this would lead the water-bearer to become an automaton, dissociating from its emotional experience and simply going through the motions of life without feeling a sense of real connection to them. Essentially, its shadow is becoming a zombie in its own life, unable to feel any real inspiration from any of it.

The possibilities are hopefully a bit more clear with this massive cosmic movement this week! If the collective chooses to do its healing in innovative and radical ways that call upon the genius within both individually and together, and there are many of these, we move forward with a greater sense of living our truth in the world, freeing ourselves from karmic and epigenetic bondage, and feeling unrestrained by the wounds of the past, having transformed them. If the collective chooses to remain stuck in the trauma of the past without seeking or finding the tools available to heal, we will have more victims shouting out how wounded they are, blaming and projecting their hurts into the reality we share, ping-ponging them onto everyone else rather than choosing to walk the hard but emancipating path of truth. We are here to walk this path individually and together, to support each other's growth and transformation. The choice is always ours. May we choose what ultimately liberates, heals, and reveals the truth of who we've always been, individually and together.

The Force is always with you! May you know it deeply within.