The Charts for Neptune, Pluto and Chiron: Are they trying to tell us something?

First of all, a correction to my last piece. It seems that the coup that brought Gaddafi to power in Libya should be dated 1st Sept 1969, not 3rd Sept, as the worthy Book of World Horoscopes states. Fortunately, it makes little difference to my analysis, as it is only the Moon that shifts position, and it means that the May New Moon, rather than the April New Moon, is now the most significant one for the people (the Moon) of Libya.

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Technically, it means that instead of the MC of the April New Moon conjoining the Libyan natal Moon, we have the New Moon itself in May conjoining the Libyan natal Moon-Saturn. This is stronger, but it means the people will have to wait a bit longer to be in charge.

What I really wanted to do was to ramble a bit about the outer planets, so here goes. The outer planets have charts just like we do, for they were discovered at particular recorded moments. Of course, they existed before that (depending on your philosophical position – right now I’m in a mood to say they didn’t exist before that!) So the charts are as much about humanity’s relationship with these planets as they are about the planets themselves. And surely the Signs and Houses that Neptune and Pluto were in when they were discovered are of significance. It means that these planets have a particular meaning for us, as well as the more general meaning that Pluto has as Lord of the Underworld, and that Neptune, as god of the sea, also has.

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When Pluto was discovered in 1930, he was in Cancer and in the 12th House. We should also consider the Sun, because that is the body around which Pluto revolves. The Sun was in Aquarius, in Pluto’s House, the 8th. So we have messages here about the earth herself (Cancer), destruction (Pluto), this being hidden (8th/12th), as well as it being an issue for the collective in the widest sense (12th House). The Sun in Aquarius brings in Science and its darker side (8th House.)

The Plutonian Sun at 29 Aquarius is opposite Neptune in Virgo, as well as conjunct the Neptune of the Neptune chart, which is at 26 Aquarius. Neptune tells us what we find fascinating and glamorous and entrancing, and in these 2 cases it is in Aquarius as the scientific vision for the future, and in Virgo as the technology that follows in its wake.

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Neptune in the Neptune chart is conjunct Saturn and in the 10th house. It was discovered in 1846 as Science and the technology it resulted in was really getting into its stride. There is a huge amount of scientific ambition around Saturn in Aquarius in the 10th, and Neptune suggests both the imaginative engagement and the entrancement involved.
Pluto in the Neptune Chart is opposite the North Node, and Venus in technological Virgo disposits the Sun in Libra, which seeks balance.

So there are a number of important crossovers and repeated themes in these charts to do with the earth, its destruction, and entrancement with science and technology.

In addition, and this is quite remarkable, the 2 planets most associated with the natural world are the Moon and Ceres. The Moons of both charts conjoin (in Pluto's sign) and the Ceres of the 2 charts conjoin. If that isn't a pointer, I don't know what is! Pluto was discovered at the Lunar and Ceres Returns of the Neptune chart.

The basic 2 astrological signatures here, though, are Pluto in Cancer and Neptune in Aquarius, which can be seen as fascination with science followed by the destruction of nature (Neptune was discovered first.)

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If we take a composite of the 2 charts, we find Uranus (Science) in the ambitious 10th House in square to Cancer (the earth herself) on the Ascendant. Chiron conjoins the North Node, as it does in the chart of Pluto and in the chart for the first controlled nuclear reaction. This aspect warns of a damage that cannot be undone, an approach that is inherently out of balance. Chiron is also opposite scientifically ambitious Saturn in Aquarius. Ceres conjoins Pluto and the Moon (ruler of Cancer) is in Pluto’s sign, and inconjunct Uranus – again bringing together the themes of the earth, destruction and science.

In the last year or two, Neptune has for the first time reached the position in which it was discovered. And in about 5 years Pluto will for the first time reach a point of opposition to its natal position. So there is a reckoning happening; the environmental issue and its relation to our scientific genius is coming to a head.

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Chiron, an asteroid associated with both healing and wounding, was discovered on 1 Nov 1977, and was in the 4th House (Cancer's House) in Taurus (an earth-loving sign). As with Neptune, Pluto was Nodal, and also on the Midheaven, in the sign of Libra, of balance. Ceres and Sun-Uranus were in Pluto's sign, and the Moon was in its own sign of Cancer, square to Pluto and the Node. So again we have the themes of science, the earth and its destruction. Nodal Pluto on the MC square to the Cancerian Moon seems to me to point to an urgency in the situation.

At the same time, this chart seems to point to a resolution, a healing. Chiron is opposite an exalted Uranus (Science) in Scorpio, which with the Sun is in trine to the Moon and exalted Jupiter in Cancer. Sun-Uranus trine Moon-Jupiter suggests a basic harmony, a harmony between nature (the Moon) and Science (Uranus), but only after Science has undergone the dismemberment and transformation that Scorpio requires. Science tends to be heady, it can easily ignore the values of the natural world. Scorpio stands for the necessary re-balancing, but not in a 'nice' way. It is about getting real. Scorpio can be savage in its transformation and takes no prisoners. It suggests that there can indeed be a healing, a re-balancing, but only after we have thoroughly undone ourselves. So the Chiron chart is urgent yet optimistic, it says things can be sorted quite easily - but we have to enter the darkness first.

That said, I don't think that we have to view 'the darkness' as some extra horrid thing that we haven't encountered yet. We are already in it, if you look at the amount of natural destruction, and the consequences of that, that have happened already. And as I said earlier, we have just had the first Neptune Return and are about to have the first Pluto opposition. After that comes the first Chiron Return. So we are probably already in that Scorpionic crucible.