Pluto in the Palace of Forever

The great Pluto-Saturn conjunction was exact on Jan 12, 2020, but its effects are felt for months before and after this moment; this allows much time to contemplate these archetypes and their possible interactions from multiple perspectives.

Pluto (Hades) is associated with Death and transformation; he corresponds to Shiva in the Hindu creation myth. Here, Brahma is the Creator (or energies of creation), Vishnu is the Preserver (or energies of preservation) and Shiva is the Destroyer; destruction of the old/obsolete is necessary to make room for new creation. Old structures must be dismantled, dissolved, dis-integrated (fragment out of their original wholeness) into infinitesimal particles or basic units of neutral energy - which, in turn, re-assemble in new permutations (the beginnings of new structures, new creation). If the structure of a building, an institution, a belief system or an ego disintegrate.....that old building or old ego has “died”, creating space and contributing energies for the emergence of something new.

The Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva energies correspond to fixed signs in astrology:

Brahma (creative force) - Leo

Vishnu (preservation) - Taurus

Shiva (death force) - Scorpio

I ask where Aquarius (the 4th fixed sign) might fit. Astrologers associate Aquarius with innovation - seeing new possibilities and permutations that have not yet emerged. So, I speculate that Aquarius intervenes between Death and re-Creation. If we’ve dismantled the old because it’s obsolete (no longer serves our needs), then we don’t want to create a clone of what was recently destroyed; we don’t want the next cycle to be a repetition of the prior one. So, when structures have decomposed into their most fundamental components, we need a force that ensures that they will not self-aggregate into something similar to the old. That force must “stir the pot”, redistribute the particles, encourage the fundamentals to combine in permutations never experienced before; then, the new (Brahma) creation will seem totally new, unexpected, even shocking.....what humans call “an innovation, a break through”.

Scientifically, we can see Shiva in the black hole (which sucks in and de-composes old energies) and Brahma in the white hole (which births re-composed forms from recycled old energies). Physicist Nassim Haramein calls this a “Black/white Whole”, postulating that both black and white holes operate simultaneously at the center of a galaxy, with destruction and creation interacting cooperatively as part of a cycle, similar to in the Hindu myth.  In this black/white Whole, there may be a force of re-structuring and re-combining, reflected in the fixed sign Aquarius.

That’s Pluto....Destroyer of Worlds, clearing the land (sometimes thru “scorched earth” methods) so that we can build the new. Now, on to Saturn:

Saturn is Structure: 

This may be the structure we’ve worked hard to create and, in pride, work hard to preserve; thus Saturn also is linked to historical preservation, honoring ancestral wisdom (a repeatedly validated structure of knowledge and belief). “Structure” can refer to something tangible or intangible, collective or personal. Thus, we have architecture (structure of a tangible building), bones (the structure/armature/framework around which the body is built) and the semi-tangible structure of social institutions.  

Or, we can talk about the (intangible, more abstract) structure of a belief system, of consciousness or of the ego. Here we can imagine the belief system or ego as a complex, 3D (height, width, depth) structure where numerous ideas, observations, memories etc... interconnect in an ever more complex webwork to eventually form a geometry; this initially fluid geometry eventually hardens into a crystallized structure. It can no longer change shape easily; it’s impervious to influence from new ideas/observations (which might create new interconnections with pre-existing points, and thus change the overall geometry), but its solidity is continuously reinforced by the energies (ideas, memories etc) already included in it, integral to its assembly and current integrity. This structure seems impervious, will not self-transform on its own. Transformation must come thru external forces - the hammer that smashes it into shards, the extreme volcanic heat that melts it into an unrecognizable shape. 

We humans often identify with our beliefs, incorporate them into our sense of identity or ego, into our mundane sense of “I Am”; likewise, any challenge to our belief structures (whether by an individual or thru cosmically orchestrated collective events) feels like a threat to our existence, and we react defensively. As Jupiter (belief systems) moves into conjunction with Saturn and Pluto in mid-January, we may feel a Plutonic disintegration of old beliefs; if we identified with those beliefs (making them part of our ego structure), then we may feel personally threatened, in fear of personal annihilation. Facing fear and death of the self, we feel uncomfortable; if the fear’s too strong to successfully deny or repress, we “let off emotional steam” by projecting onto others. We may (thru the lens of our projections) see worldwide annihilation, a Mad Max post-apocalyptic dystopia as our only future; external annihilation is a mirror of actual or feared ego annihilation. Worse, thru defensive aggressiveness or paralyzed hopelessness, we may create an external reality that matches our inner fears.

We want the familiar (thus comfortable) palace to endure forever, but even the most stubborn steel eventually disintegrates into rust and shards, or falls prostrate during a seismic shift. We build and preserve Saturnian structures, but Saturnian Time prevails; the venerated “wise old one” ages more, and dies.

Now we go to....

Saturn is Time:

This is Father Time, with white beard and cane, who relentlessly pushes forward the hands on a cosmic clock. This is also wisdom and the earned authority that comes only after years of absorbing knowledge and the lessons of life experience; this is initiation leading to graduation, maturation leading to maturity, ultimately the aging into old age (where wisdom stands at the brink of death).  

In Greek, Saturn’s name is Cronos, reflected in such words as chronology or anachronism. Cronos (Saturn) is Lord of Linear Time, which the Greeks contrasted with another form of time called “kairos”. Kairos refers to mythic time, cyclic time, time with a consciousness and aliveness, the one moment that seems to last forever and hold the universe (despite only lasting a second), the eternal now and simultaneous time that connects all; in the realm of Kairos, there is no death and no birth, as birth and death continuously co-mingle. Kairos tunes into feelings and meaning, is paradoxically both subjective and universal, holds eternity in an instant....

By contrast, Cronos is clock-time, precisely measured, with minutes parading forward in lock-step linear perfection. Cronos time or linear time, like our notion of space, creates SEPARATION between things. To be born to Cronos is to be born into a world governed by separation – from each other and from Source; it’s a world where reductionistic measurement trumps heart-centered “feeling into everything”.  In linear time, death is at the end of a passage that connects to nothing else; it is the “dead end”. 

Linear Time, by definition, is a structure. Minute is stacked on minute sequentially, like brick atop brick, from beginning to end. The blueprint comes with strict rules for how linear time is structured.  The line, built of discrete moments (like bricks) is straight and continuous, from a specified origin point to a termination point; maturation (progress along the line) and death (the end point) are part of linear time. Saturnian time is a grim reaper and dooms Saturnian structures to death.

When Pluto (resurrection thru death) meets Saturn (death thru the process of linear time), two aspects of death meet each other. And we ask - Is Pluto disintegrating and transforming our old concepts of time, bringing death to Linear “clock” Time (as the only way we understand Time) in order to birth an understanding of Time from new perspectives? Perhaps to initiate us into Kairos Time? 

We hear of old timelines dissolving or fusing with emergent new timelines; we hear of people “experiencing” events from the deep past or future while meditating and simultaneously in a body resting in present time. Such experiences transcend ordinary time; will they become more accessible and frequent, as Pluto erodes the rigid architecture of Linear Time?

Happy Birthday, New Mexico

I find the astrology of a region or country interesting. 

Sometimes, there are problems. Due to conquest, losing or acquiring land or change in the form of government, a region may  be forced into, or willingly assume, a new identity - and thus, a new national “birthday”. For example, czarist Russia had one birthday, the USSR had a different birthday, and the region’s “birthday” changed again when the Soviets lost power. The latest in a series of regional “birthdays” doesn’t show everything about the area: The modern society grows out of and incorporates older traditions and lifestyles; it is an amalgamation or fusion of many prior identities from previous regional incarnations.

In addition, a nation or state may not be homogeneous; there are subcultures, sometimes diverse and radically different from stereotypes of “what that area is like”. For example, we usually say that the “birthday” of a USA state was the day that it officially/legally became a state. So, for example, Pennsylvania has a birthday of December 12, 1787. However, the culture and feel of Philadelphia (historic, multi-cultural, urban with renown educational and artistic institutions) differs radically from that of the Amish communities (rural, isolationist, self sufficient, devout) near Lancaster, and both differ from towns west of the Poconos. When we think of a state, we may think of its largest or best known city, or of its capitol, but this gives an incomplete vision of the complexities of the region’s make-up.

I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This state birthday cake appeared in a Santa Fe Facebook page today.

So, I looked at the state chart. I used a “solar” (sun on Ascendent) chart, as the exact time of acceptance into statehood is uncertain (although most likely during “standard working hours”). Thus, some information is missing (We don’t know the Ascendent and can’t place planets in specific houses); however, we can still look at sign placements and aspects. The moon’s placement may be off by a few degrees. Here’s the chart for New Mexico: 

We see a Capricorn sun (trine Saturn in Taurus and opposing Neptune); how is this reflected in the “beingness” of New Mexico? The 2 most obvious and enduring Capricorn traits are the higher altitude/geology and the strong ancestral consciousness of a large indigenous population.

Although not as famous for its mountains as Colorado, New Mexico has several 13K foot high mountains and ski resorts, and the southern end of the Rockies extends into northern central New Mexico; Santa Fe, at an altitude of 7000 feet, is the highest state capitol in the US. “Climbing the mountain” is Capricorn. In addition, New Mexico features many bare rock formations that showcase the Capricornian “skeleton” of the local earth structure. In these pictures, you can see the bones of the earth, jutting forth in mesmerizing geological formations.

Jemez red rock

City of Rocks

A significant part of the population identifies as Native American, dedicated to preserving ancient tribal wisdom and ancestral arts; there are several national/state parks/monuments preserving the architectural remains of indigenous people who lived here 1000 yrs ago (ex., Chaco Canyon). Historical preservation and deep connection to ancestral wisdom - both Capricorn.

Cliff dwellings at Bandelier

Chaco Canyon

Interestingly, with Neptune in Cancer (square nodes), New Mexico is called “the land of enchantment”. (“My land” could point to either Taurus or Cancer). On the negative side, Neptune in Cancer could indicate the dissolution of many families due to national policies - for example, indigenous children being forced to attend Indian boarding schools at a young age, deliberately severed from their families (supposedly, to “help them assimilate” into the dominant American culture).

Roadside Distractions in Land of Enchantment

We see a strong Sagittarius signature (Mercury, Jupiter, Venus are in Sagittarius, with latter 2 squaring Chiron): This line-up resonates with the history of ethic/religious friction, plus wounding of the indigenous people by invading Spanish and later by general US policies. The population consists of 4 main ethnic groups: 1) Indigenous - whom colonizers tried to kill off, who then were forced to accept Catholicism by the occupying Spaniards, then were shunted to reservations per US policy (breaking up families, disrupting cultural practices and leading to the loss of some ancestral ways/knowledge); 2) Spanish, who arrived here centuries before statehood; this group has adopted “typical American culture”/language, but maintains a fierce connection to and pride in its ancestral heritage. 3) Other (non-Spanish Caucasians, African Americans, Asian Americans, etc....who migrated here for all sorts of reasons) and 4) more recent immigrants from Mexico/Central America who may struggle with language (some minimally fluent in English), with finances (often in minimum wage jobs, especially if recently arrived), and with prejudice from civilians and law enforcement (exacerbated with Trump in office) even if they are official US citizens. So, undercurrents of cross-cultural tension and resentment continue, plus severe woundings related to ethnicity.

Local pottery

With Saturn in Taurus: Environmental consciousness is more innately part of the local mindset than in some states.....the understanding that one needs to be a responsible steward (Saturn) of the land and its resources (Taurus). With Saturn pointing to restriction/limitation, there’s a high poverty rate in the state (limitations of Taurean money), but many of the poor live in rural (Taurus) areas with a deep spiritual connection to nature.

Rural home

Uranus (associated with science and innovation) squares the nodal axis, making it important in the state’s evolution. Los Alamos, a major center for scientific (primarily military) research  is in New Mexico. Swathes of sparsely populated land in southern New Mexico were used for testing nuclear weapons in the 1940s/1950s. Uranus squares the nodes, opposes Neptune, trines Mars and is quincunx Pluto.  Mars-Uranus points to the development of technology for military use. The Los Alamos lab (and associated small city, where many lab workers live) is atop a high mesa (8000 feet altitude), surrounded by many miles of unpopulated forest/mountains in all directions - literally, a Uranian creation in the middle of Neptunian wildness. Pluto is trine Chiron and quincunx Uranus: During the 1940s and 50s, the government counted extremely sparsely populated areas as “unpopulated”; nuclear testing resulted in higher cancer and birth defect rates in some areas of New Mexico.....wounding (chiron) thru Pluto-nium and science applied without due concern for individual well being.

Also related to Uranus: New Mexico is the setting for much UFO lore. The Uranus-Neptune connection would call attention to cosmic energies (Neptune), especially those involving advanced ET civilizations/craft (Uranus). In addition to the famous Roswell crash, a popular conspiracy theory hints at underground ET military bases in Dulce, New Mexico (Uranus-Mars, spiced with Neptunian imagination.

 Aesthetics: With Mars in Taurus, local cuisine is hot and spicy (chili being a major ingredient). Venus is also in fire (Sagittarius) conjunct Jupiter: Although Los Alamos architecture is “American drab”, Santa Fe (state capitol) is known as the “city different”, largely due to its colorful, historical architecture that expresses the coexistence of indigenous and old-Spanish cultures. Most buildings are gold/orange faux adobe, with brightly colored doors and shutters; unlike in much of the USA (where people seem afraid of color, and settle on white/light grey or brown buildings), the architectural color palette in Santa Fe (and some other NM cities) is an invigorating (fire) feast for the eyes.

Streets in Santa Fe, with vibrant, historic, true-to-culture aesthetic.