Pluto and the Language of Astrology

I’ve read a few comments lately from people anticipating their Pluto transit or discussing transits they’ve had. Some speak positively of the growth and change opportunities that come with the transit and others speak of the transit more fearfully. What most of them have in common, though, is that they speak about what Pluto has caused, what Pluto is bringing.

I have to say that I don’t think Pluto actually does anything to us. After all, it’s just a small, cold, dwarf planet with a scary name, in the far reaches of our solar system. Right? How can its incredibly slow movements possibly cause psychological stress or momentous change in our personal lives? That just doesn’t make any logical sense. Frankly it’s a ridiculous notion.

But still, Pluto transits tend to bring Plutonic themes into our lives, themes which carry their own signature, a certain vibration. As we experience and share what occurs during these transits, our collective astrological knowledge builds up. This takes us away from the physical rock in the sky and into the realms of the symbolic. On this level, astrology works. So, while that might seem a contradiction of my statement above that Pluto (along with all the other planets) doesn’t actually make anything happen to us, it’s actually not. I believe that people commenting about what Pluto is doing to them are not imagining things. Their Pluto transit is undoubtedly affecting them, it’s just that it’s not physical Pluto, it’s symbolic Pluto, ‘astrological’ Pluto. Of course, astrological Pluto is energetically linked to the movements of physical Pluto, but it’s not the same thing.

So instead of saying Pluto is doing this or that (which implies physical Pluto), it might be better so say that Pluto transits reflect times in our lives when our experiences resonate with the symbolic and mythic meanings that astrology has ascribed to Pluto. This is a longwinded way of expressing it of course. It’s hard to find the words to put it more simply. In the end, it’s usually easier to simply say that Pluto is doing this to me, even though, if we understand astrology, we don’t really mean it that literally.

As for why astrological Pluto affects us, I don’t know.  Astrology is not, and shouldn’t, be logical. We can accurately predict where the planets will be located on any given date, but we can’t predict exactly how the astrological, symbolic themes of the planets will be reflected here on earth in our lives. Astrology is still such a mystery to us, but I believe that symbols have power and that that power becomes more tangible, more alive and more meaningful as we interact with it.

Hades picture from http://taekwondonj.deviantart.com/art/Hades-55351038?offset=10

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