On November 17, 05:17 PM —
On November 19, 3:30 PM EST, Pluto leaves Capricorn and makes his final ingress into Aquarius, where he is going to travel until 2044. Pluto’s shift of sign marks a time of collective awakening, revolutionizing our reality in a way that is hard to precisely pin down, due to the unpredictable nature of Aquarius.
This shift is going to impact all of us massively. Still, it is especially significant for individuals born with planets or angles in Fixed signs, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. Those more personally impacted by Pluto’s ingress and transit through Aquarius are about to undergo a deep internal transformation that will ripple in other areas of their lives. They will be asked to face their shadow and challenged to release patterns and attachments that no longer serve them.
Pluto: Evolution and Rebirth through Alchemy of the Dark
Pluto is the force of evolution, the catalyst of the deepest transformations and alchemical processes. The modern ruler of Scorpio was discovered at the same time as the atomic bomb was developed and this synchronicity says a lot about the nature of this planet. Named after the mythological God of the Underworld, Pluto guides us on a journey through darkness and challenges us to make the unconscious conscious through sincere and consistent commitment to getting to the bottom of everything and facing the truth, no matter how ugly.
In Astrology, Pluto has to do with wounds connected with feelings of powerlessness, betrayal, and loss, and with everything we repress and hide because we feel ashamed of, afraid of, or disgusted by it. Pluto rules our compulsions, obsessions, fears, and manipulation tendencies. This planet has to do with those unconscious patterns we continuously play out without realizing it and the indirect ways we try to get our security needs met. In Evolutionary Astrology, this planet is associated with our Soul’s desires and evolutionary intentions and is seen as the higher octave of Mars, connected with our conscious and egoic desires. Pluto rules over death and rebirth cycles and our empowerment journey through this and other lifetimes.
Transits of Pluto mark generational cycles and collective dynamics. Pluto’s orbit is irregular and this planet needs 248 years to travel through the whole Zodiac. The Lord of the Underworld spends more time in some signs than in others. When Pluto leaves a sign to enter a new one it is a huge event, one we won’t experience again in our lifetime.
Pluto is going to travel through Aquarius for roughly 20 years. Between March and September 2043, Pluto enters Pisces for the first time. Pluto then comes back into Aquarius until January 2044, when he makes his final ingress into Pisces.
The Aquarius archetype: Deconditioning and Liberation from the Past
Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the zodiac, a Fixed, Yang, and Air archetype. Traditionally ruled by Saturn and ruled by Uranus in modern Astrology, Aquarius is a complex and somehow paradoxical sign, associated with a wide range of themes. These include group and community dynamics, friendships, collective movements, humanitarian causes, and people coming together to actualize a shared vision.
Aquarius is also connected to technology, science, progress, and innovative discoveries, which include the internet, social media, electricity, the quantum field, AI, as well as intergalactic travel. Objectivity and detachment are qualities that strongly resonate with Aquarius, which gravitates toward a bird’s eye view and seeks to access a higher perspective of patterns and dynamics, without any personal biases.
In the Zodiac, Aquarius follows Capricorn, the sign connected, among other themes, to the process of conditioning, traditional hierarchies and institutions, and the energetics of authority. The Capricorn archetype has to do with how we are programmed to conform and adapt to social, cultural, and familial rules, norms, and structures to the point of internalizing them. After this stage, for progress to take place, there must be some kind of rebellion and liberation from the past, which happens through the Aquarius archetype. Aquarius energy is all about breaking free from both external and internal limitations and reclaiming our uniqueness and individuality.
Pluto from Capricorn to Aquarius: Collective Awakening
Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008, dramatically transforming our global social, financial, and political structures while ruthlessly exposing unhealthy power dynamics and the corruption, decay, and darkest secrets of authorities, governments, and traditional institutions. In the past weeks and months, and especially while Pluto has been traveling on the 29º of Capricorn, this process accelerated and became more extreme, obvious, and destructive.
While Pluto has been dancing between Capricorn and Aquarius, we felt the future knocking at our door while the weight of the past became harder and harder to sustain. As Pluto makes his final ingress into Aquarius, our personal and collective reality is going to transform at a much faster pace. Humanity’s evolution is significantly accelerating as Pluto moves from an Earth to an Air sign: this will be particularly evident in a few months when Uranus, the planetary ruler of Aquarius, moves from Taurus to Gemini, another Air sign.
Pluto in Aquarius wants to liberate us from the shackles of our conditioning, from the burden of society’s expectations, from the weight of tradition. However, we will be required to expand our current energetic, emotional, and nervous system capacity to adapt to this shift and sustain the speed of change. During the upcoming year, there will be a surge of independent and self-sufficient systems, communities, and organizations based on horizontal and decentralized structures rather than vertical and centralized hierarchies. People will be drawn to organize themselves and come together to actualize a shared purpose, taking responsibility for creating the reality they aspire to live.
Pluto’s transit through Aquarius will instigate drastic transformations in the structure of society and bring dramatic changes in our relationship with ourselves, with one another, with governments, and with technology. During this time, we will witness incredible, life-altering technological and scientific discoveries that will revolutionize our reality and the boundaries of what we thought to be possible. However, ignoring the risks, potential dangers, and ethical implications of new technologies can have a very destructive impact.
Shadows of Aquarius: Ostracization, Alienation, Elitism, and Dissociation
Pluto tends to exacerbate and magnify the shadows and unconscious expressions of the sign where he transits. While Pluto is in Aquarius, we can expect to see a surge in elitism and social division as well as in the tendency to ostracize, demonize, or “cancel” people who have different views, who adhere to an ideology or a worldview that diverges from ours. We are already experiencing growing polarization and separation based on political beliefs fueled by social media: during Pluto in Aquarius transit, we will keep experiencing it, likely exacerbated by the impact of fake information generated with new technologies such as AI.
Paradoxically, an unconscious or shadow expression of the Aquarius archetype is conformity for the sake of belonging. Sometimes, in rebelling against old programming, we unknowingly end up conforming to a new set of rules that similarly require us to disown and suppress parts of ourselves to fit in. We may put ourselves in a box and disconnect from our essential selves in order to feel part of a community. On the contrary, we may create an identity centered around being an outsider and not fitting in anywhere, and as a result manifest a reality that reflects just that, perpetuating the sense of alienation also strongly associated with Aquarius.
Additionally, Aquarius is connected with sudden shocks, surprises, and unexpected changes that force growth by disrupting our stability and the structures we have been relying upon. For this reason, Aquarius is connected to trauma, the process of dissociation, and the fragmentation of the psyche that happens when we have overwhelming experiences we can’t resolve or integrate.
The dissociation from our physical and emotional body is a shadow of the Aquarius archetype that will be magnified while Pluto travels through the sign. More people will develop an addiction to social media, phones, virtual reality, and technology, and completely disconnect from their hearts, their physicality, their emotions, and Nature. More people will be in relationships that don’t involve an emotional or physical component but only take place on an intellectual level.
The Importance of Leo energy during Pluto’s transit through Aquarius
Leo is the opposite sign of Aquarius and represents an energy we are encouraged to gravitate toward to balance the intense activation of Aquarius. In Evolutionary Astrology, the importance of what is referred to as Pluto’s polarity point is especially emphasized.
Leo as the polarity of Aquarius underlines the importance of staying connected or recovering our connection with our essential self, with our True Self, with our inner child’s joy, and with our hearts. Leo reminds us of the power of play and of the importance of being fully present, fully in the here and now. Ruled by the Sun, the center of our Solar System, Leo teaches us to stay centered in ourselves and in our truth, be who we are without the need for belonging, accept being misunderstood, and be a group of one if necessary, but without creating an identity or a story out of it.
During Pluto’s transit through Aquarius, connecting with the Sun, with our hearts, with our passions, with our creativity, with our warmth, and with our joy will help us counterbalance the increasing dominance of the mind, rationality, and detachment. Developing a conscious relationship with the energy of Leo and the Sun will help us create inner coherence and integrate the different parts of our psyche into a cohesive whole, with our True Self in the center.
As Pluto begins its journey in Aquarius, a unique new journey is beginning for you too. We’ve crafted a very special free Pluto in Aquarius workbook gift to help you explore the incredible changes and transformations that are taking place in your life. Enjoy ❤
