On April 27, 4:01 PM ET, Pluto stations retrograde at 27° of the sign of Capricorn, just a few hours after the Full Super Moon in Scorpio. Pluto is in retrograde motion for approximately five to six months each year. In 2021, Pluto will be retrograde until October 6, inviting us on a journey within, encouraging us to reclaim our power and confront our fears.
Planetary Retrogrades: Redefinition, Reassessment, and Questioning
Retrogrades consist of the apparent backward motion of a planet: they represent an optical illusion from our perspective on Earth. Astronomically, Pluto is not actually changing the direction it is moving towards.
From an Astrological viewpoint, retrograde cycles are a moment to review, reassess, redefine, and rediscover how we express the energy of the celestial body involved. Retrograde planets promote reflection: they invite an internalization of our focus and our attention, encouraging us to turn within. For this reason, many believe that retrograde planets accelerate the speed of our growth process and individuation journey.
When a planet is retrograde, it promotes questioning and inquiry: it represents a time to gain a new understanding of what happened while the planet was direct and to pull back before moving forward again. Retrogrades inspire us to reject the status quo, as they light up our desire to find out for ourselves, to discover our own way to solve problems rather than conforming to how things have always been done.
Pluto: Evolution, Shadow Work, Pain, and Metamorphosis
Pluto was discovered in 1930, while the atomic bomb was being developed and nuclear energy widely studied, raising concerns about the right and ethical use of this incredible amount of power, previously inaccessible.
In Astrology, Pluto is considered to be the force of evolution. The modern ruler of Scorpio takes its name from the mythological God of the Underworld and catalyzes the deepest collective and individual metamorphosis. Pluto has been associated with our Soul’s evolutionary intentions, with power and powerlessness, with our deepest wounds, our unprocessed pain, and all our unconscious material. Pluto is about self-excavation and shadow work, it is about reclaiming all that we are, the good, the bad, and even the ugly. Pluto forces us to go through challenges to remind us of our capacity to transmute pain into power and strength.
This retrograde cycle will show us where we have been giving our power away. During the upcoming months, Pluto will force us to turn inwards and confront what needs to be transformed, both inwardly and outwardly, to be able to make tangible changes when it will station direct in October.
Pluto in Capricorn: Radical Restructuring
Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008 and will enter Aquarius only in 2023.
Capricorn is about form, limits, boundaries, time, and space. Capricorn corresponds to the structure of society, to external authorities, to socio-economic systems, and to the rules of the game we are playing. Similarly, the sign of the Mountain Goat correlates with the structure of our consciousness, with our maturation process, with our relationship with our inner authority and our capacity to take responsibility for ourselves.
All these areas have been deeply challenged by Pluto. We have all been experiencing radical and tangible changes on different levels, and we have been asked to make different choices, empower ourselves, and reach a deeper level of maturity. This long-term transit has the purpose of completely restructuring our society and, consequently, each of us as individuals: Pluto will do so destroying the systems and patterns that have crystallized and lost meaning.
Pluto stations Retrograde in Capricorn: Discovering our True Desires
The journey of Pluto through Capricorn is creating space for us to build new foundations and setting the stage for radical and long-lasting change. Its yearly retrograde cycle encourages us to redefine our boundaries, limitations, and responsibilities, to reconnect with our power and with a deeper sense of strength, rooted in the awareness of our purpose.
Pluto stationing retrograde in Capricorn calls for the redefinition of our inner and outer reality and invites us to transform the way we interface with time and space. Individually, we are asked to reassess our use of time, break free from old patterns of behaviors, and release crystallized habits that prevent us from trusting our inner authority and taking responsibility for ourselves on all levels. On a collective level, we may see changes in social rules and regulations: limitations, boundaries, and restrictions may be reassessed and re-evaluated by governments and authorities.
Pluto stations Retrograde: Challenging our Conditioning & Confronting our Fears
Until Pluto stations direct in October, we are encouraged to confront ourselves, dive deep into our unconscious, make peace with our fears and challenge them. This retrograde cycle will inspire us to reassess our priorities, our limits, our boundaries, and our rules. Pluto encourages us to reflect upon our energetic investments and upon the motivations, intentions, and desires behind what we do.
This transit gives us the permission to look at the parts of ourselves that we rejected and disowned because they were not considered socially acceptable or appropriate. Capricorn represents the nature of our conditioning. Pluto stationing retrograde in the sign may offer us important psychological insights that may help us break free from unnatural ways of thinking and living that are preventing us from tapping into our fullest potential and actualizing ourselves.
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