Pluto Direct / Sun in Libra

Libra

by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1907)

.

In case you haven’t heard, Pluto is about to go direct at 10 Capricorn. The date will be September 23rd, the time will be barely past midnight (UT/+0) and all of this precedes the Sun’s Libra equinox by barely two hours (the Sun enters Libra at 2:30 in the morning, UT/+0 time).

And if we think about just that much, one obvious metaphysical metaphor seem rather clear: our Sun-in-Libra ‘life relationships’ and/or ‘relationship to life’ (be that passive or action-oriented) are taking a [Pluto] transformative [station] turn through which, or in the wake of which we will face things which are possibly very new to us...or which we will have to face ‘anew’...or which we will deal with directly (or need to deal with directly) from a perspective which takes more than just ourselves (or our Self) into account.

In entering Libra, the Sun is moving into the zodiac’s public zone - the six signs (Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces) which are less about learning about our Self and more about learning what that self can, should or needs to do in life, their world or the world. Being that the worldly signs are in polarity to the zodiac’s personal (‘about me’) signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo) there’s always some ‘bleed’ from one hemisphere to the other just as it’s natural for us all to have moments of thinking about some public or  worldly situation in terms of a focus on our Self (i.e., ‘what does this mean to me?’).

But that’s natally. All our natal traits are what they are and we will slide back and forth along our own polarity lines as we will, depending on how they’re laid out. Transits however, work a little differently. The Sun in Libra or Venus transiting Virgo (as it is at the moment)...transiting planets hold their nature more purely, more innately on an ‘in the moment’ conceptual level than natal planets do. So though your natal Libra Sun or your natal Virgo Venus may regularly reflect polarities in your day-to-day life, the transiting Libra Sun indicates a four-week period where we either are balanced, we bring things into balance or where through some typically Libran force, procedure or operation we are brought into balance by some response (or lack thereof) from others, that being a reflection of what we’ve ‘put out there’ for them to react to.

All of which sounds very timely, yes.

Then there’s the Pluto side of this equation. In going direct at 10 Capricorn, Pluto is still conjunct ‘fixed star’ (nebula) Facies - a point of multi-pronged difficulties and challenges - while also conjunct Vega, a star which in being situated at 14 Capricorn since 1907 has long stood for the sort of grace in speech or personal presentation which most of us recognize as ‘charisma’ or the ability to be charismatic.

And what it the single knee-jerk keyword for Pluto? That’s right: transformation.

So whatever Pluto encounters, it changes. Whatever the status quo, Pluto comes along and turns the tables, changes the direction, transforms the circumstance. We therefore shouldn’t be surprised that as Pluto has come into a five-degree orb of conjunction with Vega (which started back in late December 2012) many a thought, quality, effort and/or person we had thought was so wonderful, so cool, so worth our faith, loyalty and support - how at this point we feel disappointed. Or rejected. Or even repulsed.

It’s at moments (and periods) like this when we find out who human beings are - at least currently. But currently is what we have to deal with, yes.

Pluto’s station effects will of course, have started up prior to the Sun’s entering Libra. Using either a two or three-day station ‘allowance’ we would expect the entire roster of Plutonic qualities... from the toxic to the purifying, from the life-giving to the death-dealing, from the hands-off guiding with wisdom notion to the ‘don’t even think outside the box’ control orientations to begin evidencing in earnest at least by the 21st, if not a day even earlier that that.

The ‘rule’ with stations goes as follows: the closer to the actual time of station, the stronger the effect will be with events occurring prior to the time of station pointing to things which are yet to happen and things after the station referring to matters which have already occurred.

And with Pluto, that could be saying a lot. Pluto effects are not known for being polite or gentle, though they can be, with the difference being whether we are (or have been) in control of our Self and whatever our underlying fears and insecurities may be. As desire is at some level a ‘fear’ of going without, as rejection is a fear of feeling invalidated by others who in life’s grand scheme of things may or may not mean anything to anything (apart from our ego), so Pluto manifests in some area of our life as a form of ‘proof’ as to how stable we are or aren’t - most of all with our Self.

Metaphysically speaking, the markers are pretty simple here: stability brings about the acceptance of life as having moments of joy as well as moments of grief, areas of light which are not just offset by realms of sorrow but which are complimented and enhanced by our breadth of experience.

The sort of stability Pluto asks us to have is not external, but internal. From that flows all else as we are each one of us causal effects in a cause/effect world.

As the Sun comes into Libra this quality of ‘being able to produce, hone or change our own results’ becomes very direct...and at the same time, very theoretical in a way which can become argumentative and dogmatic. Though those who tend to wear rose colored glasses don’t like it much, Libra is not just about the pretty - it’s about how to use our power to generate reactions, whatever they may be, to learn how to be our Self more effectively. This is why Libra isn’t necessarily about ‘lovers’ but about pairs matched by interest whether that interest ‘matches up’ through similarity or opposition (this being why the Libra keyword list includes ‘partners’ as well as ‘open enemies’).

However...that ‘lovers’ thing? That being the emotional side of pairing (peacefully or otherwise), that is Scorpionic by nature. And Pluto is the outcome ruler of Scorpio, so to have Pluto going direct as the Sun is entering (and activating) all those Libra precepts does suggest this station period as one when romantic lovers may either come together or erupt, depending on underlying (Taurus/security) issues.

And yes other relationships will be affected too. Things may be just fine, or they may become very ‘un-lover-ly’ over this period or in the wake of it because of something which arises (or happens)now. We are moving through a very complicated (Facies/Pluto) time which in great measure is breaking us down, which is in perfect keeping with the 0 Scorpio solar eclipse set to happen next month (on October 23rd, UT/+0). In fact, we could quite sensibly say that this station - with all its ‘Facies’ complications and its realistic if unpleasant flecks of something we [Vega] thought good which has suddenly been revealed as something other.

(Maybe something very ‘other.’) 

Despite all our reactions...(which are likely to be many, varied, and often sufficiently intense to make us uncomfortable with the fervency of our own feelings)...none of this is precisely about breaking us down so we can be defeated - but rather so we can see ourselves as a person with preferences and vulnerabilities which amount to as many pluses and minuses as anyone else has (with our auto-comparing being part of all which comes courtesy of Sun in Libra.)

As for 10 Capricorn, that’s sort of the wild card in this equation. After all, it’s Pluto’s turn to direct at 10 Capricorn which is linking (and therefore mixing) its own ‘did you get carried away with your Self-driven issues (you know, all that Taurus security stuff)?’

Then we add in the Sabian for this degree (‘A large group of pheasant on a private estate’), a quality Dane Rudhyar typified simply as ‘aristocracy,’ echoing Marc Edmund Jones who spoke of this image as ‘the refinement and propagation of aristocratic values by means of which man participates in the evolution of life towards ever more perfect forms of existence.’

Either way, there is an essence of wanting things to be a certain way expressed in this symbol which ties in rather seamlessly with the rather standard Taurus/Scorpio conflict we tend to run into in life (in which situation/s Pluto would be a primary outcome symbol), though it’s probably also worth noting that in the strictly Capricorn/achievement/goal sense strives to achieve without any note on what happens if you actually get there.

This being Pluto’s station, though ordinarily any idea that what you thought was so wonderful might not be so wonderful in reality (as opposed to in your mind) ...though that might sound far fetched, it isn’t. After all, Pluto’s orbit is influenced by Neptune, which symbolically is the ‘tricky’ quality, that ‘turning of the tables’ quality we find when we traipse mindlessly into Pluto’s realm. So there’s that to consider - along with the fact that being that this is Pluto we’re talking about. And since Pluto is named for the god of death, hidden things and all forms of temptingly ‘buried’ treasure...and because the astrological Pluto is all that to the hilt and even more...

...let’s just say that there are several things one doesn’t want to do in any Pluto situation (never mind a Pluto station). The first would be to act out of spite. Then there’s ignoring potential problems and dangers - which doesn’t mean you have to focus on them either, being as obsession (or to put it more nicely, over-focusing) in and will forever be our premier Pluto problem.

Pluto ‘asks’ that we think things through and choose based on a balanced, calm and even-handed basis. Though what everyone may want may be different, the attention and intention counts with Pluto (as it does with Scorpio) - for everyone to get an equal amount of what they want (be the commodities different) satisfies Pluto’s need for willingness to change (i.e., our position, our mind, our stance, etc.)... as well as satisfying Neptune’s requirement for lack of ego.

Beyond that, with Pluto there are always layers - most of all the fact that Pluto applies to both that which happens in the present and whatever may be a result of choices/actions/situations of the past.

And it’s all smothered in a plethora of current things primal, testing and often enough testy brought to us courtesy of October’s incoming 0 Scorpio solar eclipse..an eclipse the mere position of which (0 Scorpio) says everything we could possibly need to know (and not like hearing) about how what is being ‘broken down’ now as we’re moving into the eclipse is Libran.

In other words, they’re about who we are seen as, what we do and why we do it (and how others feel about it) as well as why or how others respond to us - good or bad, whether at home, at work, as you’re walking down the street humming or anything else. And since both Pluto and the Black Moon always reference some ‘connection’ or something which connects us to someone or something else, this ‘I/thou’ (you/me, cause/effect, action/reaction) Libra quality is likely to be magnified.

And that would be both in the world around us and within. Pluto in direct motion speaks to moments, events and situations which arise unbidden despite our efforts to control ‘them’ (or some thought that we’re ‘in control’ of our own life) causes us to ‘face’ the fact there is no ‘single solution’ to anything over time because time shifts...and thus things change...and so our solutions (even our coping mechanisms or basic preferences) not only could change, but should [Pluto] ‘transform.’

And it’s often a moment like a station when such transformations - be they physical, emotional, spiritual, mental or otherwise - occur.

If Pluto (in particular) is in some sort of tight aspect to your natal chart things will happen now... in fact, they’re probably already in the works. (You know about it even if you don’t want to think or talk about it.) That our resistance to change (particularly Capricorn/structural change) is understandable is all well and good, but some things now must change and will change - our only choice would seem to be where we want to end up with... in the long run... with ourselves.

Make that our Self, which is the final ‘trickiness’ Pluto, whatever else it brings. While there’s little doubt that where Pluto is concerned, passion and desire though common are likely to be exactly what drives us - that’s also what can...and often will... lead us astray in the moment or on some whole. Why that would be goes back to Pluto as a symbol - or more specifically, to the description of god Pluto (also known as Hades) as that which ultimately changes our life by representing death.

And that’s what Pluto does. As Pluto ‘transforms,’ something fades, something dies away or becomes no longer apropos or useful. But to the Plutonic point, where Pluto focuses is something which for whatever reason is...and remains intriguing. Because it holds some allure (conscious or instinctive) for us, letting go is hard. Yet if we continue to pursue our course unabated, then we meet up with the other side of the astrological Pluto - that of ‘waste’ or ‘wasted effort’...an ultimate ‘killing off’ of time and energy which may succeed in the short run but beyond that inevitably falls apart as soon as our obsessive Plutonic drives are no more.

And eventually they do come to be ‘no more’ in every case - after all, we’re still mortal and we die.

But in the meantime, Pluto transits can be wholly constructive. They can be a positive, particularly as ‘read’ through looking at where your Pluto is natally and where Pluto is at the moment - which at the moment of station is 10 Capricorn.

Just remember: Pluto is about transformation. Wherever Pluto sits in our chart, that’s the area or ‘department’ of life where we will (probably rather obsessively) pursue what we think of as our ‘destiny.’

And yet... if you really think about Pluto, considering the astrological machinery, that would say that said ‘destiny’ is nothing more or less than an engine driven by our desire not to deal with our vulnerabilities.

...Which may be a good thing, considering. After all, our greatest personal gains are made through confrontations with vulnerabilities, not strengths.

It just takes something we can’t control to take us there...which is where the astrology of Pluto comes in.
.
.
.