Tuesday, November 14, 2017

SATURN-PLUTO in CAPRICORN: 1518 and 2020


I wrote about the next big alignment, the 2020 Saturn-Pluto conjunction, a few weeks ago, and I feel inclined to go at it again, but from a different angle. The conjunction will be in Capricorn in early 2020, and I suggested it would reflect an era of big business, when the multinationals would gradually become the biggest political force in the world, more powerful than national governments.

And maybe there’s another possibility, if you consider this: the last time there was a Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn was in January 1518, 2 months after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg and began the Protestant Revolution.

But firstly, the natures of Pluto and Saturn.

Pluto is death. He is also power. His meanings are quite raw. He is sex. He is taboos. And he is not under our control. We can propitiate him by recognising him, and by yielding to his demands – and they may be to give up everything we have, in the interests of something that is truer about who we are. Pluto doesn’t care if things are comfortable in mere human terms. He is Necessity, that deep impulse in life to slough off the old and to renew itself. It is a process that can take years. It just seems to drag on and on sometimes. And it may not be that we are holding back, it’s that the new isn’t ready to be born, we are in the chrysalis phase.

But when we are ready, it is definitely a new power to live that surges up: something that was always there, but not yet ready to be lived.

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And if you watch your Pluto transits, or recall them, and enter your experience with that lens, you’ll start to understand astrology on your pulses, it’s real knowledge on which you can build. Learning the signs and houses etc is necessary, but it is seeing it work deeply for yourself, that is the real initiation into this esoteric knowledge. And all esoteric means is seeing how things really work, seeing through the illusion of our all-consuming sense experience to the dreaming behind it.

And these transits can occur on a collective, as well as a personal, level.

And then there is Saturn. Saturn is the worldly taskmaster. We often find him difficult when we are young, because he’s a planet of age: patience, discipline, practicality, responsibility, finding your place in the world. These aren’t necessarily easy things when we’re young, and they’re certainly not cool. And that’s why Saturn can seem difficult. But when we’re older, we’re often onside with all that stuff, and Saturn becomes our friend, a planet of abundance: but earned.

So Saturn gives form and shape to things: you put him next to the energy of an outer planet, and things happen. Outer planets, which are not visible to the naked eye (hence their late discovery), aren’t a part of our conscious endowment. They come from somewhere else. They certainly stir the pot. But it can be a difficult process translating that, integrating that into who we are. Put Saturn into the mix, Saturn who lives in the liminal zone between the inner and outer planets – one foot in this world, one foot in the other – and bang, you have Uranus, or Neptune, or Pluto transmitting their vast energies onto this plane.

Bet you hadn’t thought of Saturn as having a foot in the other world? He seems to be so much a planet of this world, in fact he often seems to deny the other world, that is his shadow. “You are what you earn”, rules Saturn.

Saturn needs to be turned into the protector, instead of the denier, of the inner world. That is the task of the US, with her Sun in square to Saturn, her Protestant Saturn that gives no-one a moment’s rest.

But just think about it astronomically. Not only is Saturn’s form-loving nature perfectly designed to be a bridge between the outer and inner planets. But one side of him inevitably faces towards us, the inner planets. And the other side faces fate, destiny, the outer planets. The demands of Saturn, at his best, aren’t just the rules of the world. They are tinged with our destiny, those things we need to do.

So when we put Saturn and an outer planet together, there is an immediate channel for those outer planet energies, you’re not waiting for years for the outer events. At the end of 1989, Saturn conjoined Uranus-Neptune, and the Berlin Wall came down.  In 2001, Saturn opposed Pluto, and we had 9/11. And in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his theses to the church door.

SATURN OPPOSITE PLUTO
Pluto energies either empower, or overturn, the entrenched status quo. Pluto is about new life, a new paradigm. It isn’t necessarily something we attach value to, particularly on the collective level. I think the outer planets show that there ISN’T a collective evolution going on. How would one judge that anyway? Was the world post 9/11 ‘better’ than what came before? This may be the case on a personal level too. We always have the choice to resist the deeper truth that Pluto wants us to live by. America, for example, could have seen 9/11 as its chickens coming home to roost, as Obama’s erstwhile mentor the Rev Wright later put it. That would have been a collective insight. But she chose, by and large, not to see this obvious truth (and this includes Obama):  her response instead was to lash out at Afghanistan.

So because the collective tends to be unconscious in its responses, the events around Saturn-Pluto can just be a swing in the opposite direction. The last conjunction at the end of 1982, in Libra, could also be seen in these terms. It was the beginning of laissez faire economics, the empowerment of (relatively) rule-free capitalism. Essentially that was just a reaction to the rules around finance that had been brought in as a result of the Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. Libra, losing our hard-earned balance. And of course the result of that was the Great Recession.

But it doesn’t have to be all bad! And maybe the good stuff doesn’t always get seen. Saturn-Pluto in Capricorn can be an empowerment of the rigid structures and hierarchies. But it can also be a revolution against them. This was what Martin Luther did to the Catholic Church. His actions contained a very powerful seed, which is often the way with Pluto.

If we look at the Saturn Pluto conjunctions of 1518 and 2020, they both have the Sun at 21/22 Capricorn. This suggests a connection between the 2 conjunctions, and that the successful opposition to entrenched establishment - in that case the multinational church - could, in 2020, see the beginning of a successful movement against multinational companies whose only interest, like the church at the time, is themselves. Below are the charts for the 2 conjunctions.

So I think the coming conjunction is likely to be both an empowerment of big business – there is no obvious way of controlling it as it gets bigger – but also protest against it.

There is a choice we can all make about what dream we live by. The big business dream is one of them, and seems to be getting stronger. But Saturn-Pluto also gives the chance to create other dreams, and make them practical (this is a very practical conjunction, with both Saturn and Capricorn present.)

19 comments:

Chrissy Philp said...

Thanks Barry. Very interesting,

LotusLady9 said...

Thanks Barry as always. Your posts are always so thought provoking and informative!

Iris said...

Thanks Barry. I am overwhelmed by the fact that these planets will be in my 7th house. Difficult to think straight. Give us a wave as I may pass your window one way or the other!

Anonymous said...

Now that I see the exact degrees in your article, I am sure there will be a personal impact, as it conjuncts my 12th house, and natal Saturn, and natal Jupiter...Yikes!

Unknown said...

great writing Barry.... been tracking the approach thru eclipses and such.... curious the venus' of these charts are @ 28-29 Aquarius ... our recent Aug 21st Total Eclipse North America.... venus value curencies..... Hmmmmm thnx !

Jeanette said...

Was it a typo or do you really think 9/11 happened in 2011 and not 2001?

Anonymous said...

I would see that confusion of Barry mistaking 2011 for 2001 as a spiritual proof that he is engaging with Pluto/Saturn.
Such astrological conjunctions presage collective redefinitions regarding how human Time is both interpreted and experienced.
The Puritan Revolution harbinged the birth of our modern industrial society’s strictly linear clockwork Time and its concomitant profiteer’s use of a clock based puritan work ethic which was the enslaving foundation of our elitist multinational money system.

Our sense of how Time works has already been changed this last century by quantum physics and how we experience it personally by the global development of geographical and time boundary collapsing mass and social media.

Perhaps the seeds of a new revolution by the many against the few global corporate corrupt will begin with a complete cultural paradigm shift regarding how we choose to perceive and expend our personal Time.

Unknown said...

yes ! for some years now I have been in the sense of suspension .. it started on a ferry crossing into Copenhagen from the northern landscapes of germany... something happened to my perception of basically everything ... since I live on my own creations , the suspension has been encouraged ... as a slow birth ... priour perception of space was also basically deleted... though the present employ of those around me in said perceptions are viewable by me... I have really not went off my nutter... just ... yes --- I know your words... all this has been occurring with the Pluto over my Capricorn stellium .. and then the Neptune transit over my Progressed Sun... this now for 3 or 4 years... btw... the USA is having transiting Neptune traveling with itz Progressed Sun also.... operative as well as perception expanssion... interesting times

Anonymous said...

FYI you have a type error...9/11 happened in 2001 not 2011 and Bush was president. Very interesting article, thanks for writing.

Sonrisa East said...

I have been looking at this coming conjunction for a while now and going back to past ones, reading about the time around them. Thoughtful and insightful article. To your, and our, Highest & Best...

Anonymous said...

A very interesting article - thank-you. This conjunction will happen exactly on my descendant... lots to think about!

AstroAng said...

The conjunction is bang on my Sun 6th H. Do or die. At 63 I'm happy with either outcome.

Aaldaar said...



I have just learned of this conjunction and was struck by how dark and powerful it is. At first I thought, the word that encapsulates this energy is the word 'serious'. But today I think there is an even more serious word for it - death. Saturn, the great limiter, conjunct Pluto - death and sex and power and the unconscious - in Capricorn the taskmaster and disciplinarian and father figure of the Zodiac. I am curious if other astrologers see death in the picture. The Protestant Reformation certainly led to a lot of war - Civil War in England for one thing. And the Pilgrims leaving Europe to start America with the Revolutionary War for another.

Unknown said...

Alidair.. definitely death can be part of this conjunction... quite a fe of my clients, from all age groups just happen to have this on their Sun or their Merc or Venus Or Nodal Axis... deathe is also deep transformation, when one consciously partners with Pluto and Saturn, there are many benefits for transformation as well deep integrity to take place... I see this conjuction as a very full on revitalization process... Pluto and Saturn are very big players in my chart... since Pluto was on my Sun about 7 years ago and then onto opposing my Uranus and then conjuncting my Venus and my Mercury and then my Ceres , now the inconjunct to my Natal Moon Midheaven Pluto stellium, I must say, the core is being upgraded as well as deeply deleting any and all limiting thoughts or their subsequent behaviours formed.. I am a Scorpio rising, with Capricorn Sun... this is the most amazing acceleration of my entire embodiment... I have spent the complete time in the desert landscape, quite alone and inward... amazing renewal is in progress... so ---------

Gabriel said...

In my opinion,this Saturn conj Pluto is about a change in a New World Order, an earthquake in the power structure in politics and economics,a shift of power from one group of elites to another one. This combined with Uranus in Taurus is gonna be hugely destabilizing to the financial markets,commodity prices and country boundaries(war).
This power structure is be caused by the Blockchain Technology,either through the use of Cryptocurrencies(Uranus in Taurus!!) also as the blockchain which is about tokenizing every aspect of our life and making it digital. The Old World Order of the intermingling between Banks,Politicians and Royalties is gonna die quickly,it's gonna be about decentralized economies(more exactly Global Individualistic Economies, thus the Aquarian values in the material world of finance and economy),country boundaries could change massively from now till 2025(or even disappear,no control on the money supply because of cryptocurrencies,thus no way to collect taxes and support a central government).
I don't believe in your theory of corporations of getting huger,on the contrary it's gonna be all about a new way of doing business, a globally connected world where reigns the true notion of free markets(not the current capitalistic one controlled by central banks),where any kind of person regardless of nationality,sex,age has equal rights and possibilities of raising funds to sustain his project. It's about working and marketing yourself, not anymore of having a 9-5 job for a big corporation.
By the way, the last Saturn conj Pluto in Capricorn was in 1518,which was the start of the colonization of the Americas, that's when the old age of feudalism died off and we started having a new way of doing business which was about colonialism(setup by corporations,merchants and royalties),exploration and exploitation.
Amazing times indeed are ahead,for the good of humanity as a whole. But in every transition there will be chaos and will cost lives and misery to the great majority of the population.

Dreamweaver said...

I looked up the 1518 conjunction, Barry, and found it to be at 4 degrees Capricorn. Significantly, Mars was conjunct the south node. I don't like to think that this conjunction coming up in January will empower business. I think the climate crisis precludes that eventuality. We cannot afford unrestricted commerce with its devastating impact on our environment. Hopefully we will wake up in time.

Unknown said...

I really like Gabriel's comments. In combination with Uranus in Taurus, I would expect earth changes. Climate change is not a crisis - it is a constant. New ways of doing business will likely develop as saturn proceeds through Aquarius. I like your suggestion that saturn is the doorway to destiny. Like, it's there (outer planets) but not engaged before mastery of discipline and responsibility. PLuto the wrecking ball makes way for a new paradigm.

Jane said...

This time Jupiter will also be in Capricorn which could tend towards a more positive outcome for the Saturn-Pluto conjunction.

There is a growing unease at the moment regarding huge corporations such as Amazon and Facebook with governments seeking to dilute their power or demand accountability. This could be the unconscious fear associated with this conjunction.

Dunyazade said...

So it's April 30th 2020...

And you know what's going on :/
(Corona time, baby....!)

Gabriel's comment seems to be the most accurate.

Stay safe!

Who would thought something so tiny (virus) would paralise the whole world...?!