Midlife Transits

“Fear is afoot everywhere, and polarization prevails. Faith in institutions – corporations, government, the media – is down. Americans are angry, and they long ago grew accustomed to expecting the resolution of problems in very short order, even if reality rarely works that way.”
–From an AP story on the oil spill, dated May 30, 2010

BP Oil Spill, Part 2: In which we learn that yelling at someone to do something does not actually get something done.

The BP oil leak catastrophe started under the astrological influence of Pisces and Virgo. On May 27, Uranus moved into Aries and astrological phase 2 began. By June 6, Jupiter had also moved into Aries for a conjunction with Uranus. This shift was good in the sense that getting Uranus and Jupiter out of the sign ruling oil coincided with BP finally being able to contain some of the leak. On the other hand, Jupiter hadn’t stopped making the size of the leak bigger, at least officially. As of this writing, the official estimates of the leak size have ballooned enormously, taking an incomprehensible disaster and making it an enormously incomprehensible disaster.

The other thing the Aries energy has done is present a stark case for the ineffectiveness of yelling. Although the leak technically began under Pisces influence, Aries anger was butting up against this situation from the beginning. Aries is a cardinal sign, and cardinal signs feel entitled, maybe even obligated, to tell other people what to do. Pluto in Capricorn has cardinal energy too.

So the cardinal energy trotted into action when it got wind of this disaster, following its primal orders, and promptly learned what the clash of cardinal energy accomplishes. Nothing.

The President of the United States got angry and supposedly told BP to just ‘plug the damn hole.’ It turned out that when the purportedly most powerful man in the world yells at a corporation to do something, that doesn’t mean it gets done.

That little burst of presidential temper was only the beginning of the yelling, though. The public has yelled at BP. The public has yelled at the government. The government has yelled at the government. BP has yelled at journalists to get out. The government has yelled at journalists to get out. Journalists have channeled the yelling of others into various media outlets to feed it back to BP and the government. Commentators have called this a war. Ordinary people have yelled about the situation to no one in particular. Individuals gather on Facebook to yell or post videos of themselves on YouTube to yell. Congresspeople have yelled at whoever they can think of to yell at and will be hauling in more BP people to yell at momentarily.

Everybody’s the boss and no one’s in charge. Literally. There are swarms of government agencies and BP divisions and local government representatives swirling around the affected areas and all of them, apparently, have the power to block action, to pull the boss card. And no one’s in charge.

Getting things done takes cooperation. This is what Aries and Capricorn energies forget, in their mania for taking charge of things they can’t control.Too many bosses spoil anything.

Meanwhile, Jupiter in Aries energy brings out multitudes of enterprising individuals who want to be helpful. That’s the good part of Aries. It takes the initiative. It wants to help. Uranus in Aries brings forth all kinds of people with innovative and creative technical solutions to offer, some of them probably Uranian crazy, but all of them clamoring for attention. And yet these people get nowhere but on a fast train to Frustrationville as overwhelming corporate and government power try clamp the Plutonian lid on all that uncontrolled energy.

The astrological themes jostle against each other like symbols playing bumper cars. Pluto: power,  control, secrecy, wealth, conspiracies, resources, the underworld, cynicism. Capricorn: corporations, government, fear, delays, bureaucracy, reality, problems, bossiness, stonewalling. Aries: anger, initiative, drive, bossiness, energy, impulsiveness, hurry, impatience, individuals. Uranus: speed, technology, disruption, innovation, mass media, creativity, shortcuts, revolution, protests, the people en masse. Jupiter: generosity, expansion, optimism, catalyst. Squares: frustration, obstacles, problems, polarization, action.

It’s as if the universe threw a bunch of competing energies in a pot and gave them no one way to do anything but boil over.

That’s in the public arena, but I see this all around me in the lives of ordinary people. The impulse to tell other people what they ought to be doing is strong. The remembrance that telling other people what to do does not make them do it is not as strong. Frustration ensues. It seems clear what ought to be done, but no one else is playing along nicely. In our own lives, it can get easy to be at loggerheads and therefore in a logjam. The good news in all this is that it sometimes takes a logjam to get a person to become ready and willing to deal with underlying problems.

The bad news is that almost no one likes a logjam. It’s not fun to have planets challenge Pluto and point out to us that what we think we ought to have under control–isn’t necessarily something that we actually can control. It’s a wake-up call that other people have their own agendas, and their agendas count too. Aries is a sign that likes to think it’s right about everything. When Aries planets are under assault, we learn that thinking we are right is not exactly the same thing as actually being right.

As July gets going, Jupiter in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn will officially square off. By the 3rd week of July, Saturn will officially enter Libra and start playing the cooperation card. It’s scheduled to get mighty ticked at all the people who won’t sit down, shut up, and listen for a second. It will try to put the brakes on spontaneous anger as it opposes Uranus in Aries and then in August briefly squares Pluto. Saturn will have his work cut out for him, and there’s little to no chance he’ll be able to calm everyone down. But perhaps it’s important he try.

By late August, the dispute energy will slowly start to recede. Perhaps it’s a coincidence that all along the prediction has been that the oil leak won’t really be plugged until August. In the meantime, we’re all going to have to remember to breathe. Personally and collectively, we’ve been through stuff before. We’ll get through this. It may take us awhile to sort through what we learn, but we will get through it.

And in the end, we’ll all hopefully come out a little wiser.

A lot of people know that there’s an outer planet cardinal T-square coming up this summer. What that means is that Pluto will be in early degrees of Capricorn, Uranus in early Aries, and Saturn in early Libra. These energies clash with each other, creating a lot of stress. What not as many people know is that the stress from clashes between outer planets often manifests when there’s a considerable distance between the outer planets, often around 8-10 degrees from a square or opposition.

Right now, Pluto and Uranus are about 10 degrees from a square. Uranus is in late Pisces and Pluto is in early Capricorn, creating in effect what is a wide out of sign square. Saturn and Pluto are much closer to squaring each other, less than a degree apart.

Today, a man in Austin, Texas apparently deliberately flew a small plane into an office building that housed IRS workers. This link shows what was in his mind just before he did that.

You can see how his mind was banging around multiple points of conflict and couldn’t seem to find a resolution. Here are some of the planetary themes in his rant:

Laws and justice:  Saturn in Libra.

Government and taxation: Pluto in Capricorn.

Freedom: Uranus.

Greedy, powerful corporations: Pluto in Capricorn.

Healthcare, the drug companies, unions, and the American medical system: Uranus in Pisces with a little of bit Saturn in Virgo energy thrown in.

Accusations of totalitarianism: Pluto in Capricorn.

The corruption of big religious entities: Pluto in Sagittarius and Uranus in Pisces.

Grudges from the past: Pluto.

The system is based on lies: Saturn and Pluto.

The futility of trying to be independent: Uranus in Aries vs. Pluto in Capricorn.

Engineering: Uranus.

Anger over work and career issues: Pluto in Capricorn.

Time to revolt: Uranus in Aries.

Violence as an answer: Uranus in Aries.

Note that with an out of sign square, two signs are represented for each planet. In other words, if Uranus is at 24 degrees Pisces and Capricorn is at 4 degrees Capricorn, the square behaves as if it is both Uranus in Pisces and Pluto in Sagittarius, and Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn.

Note also that the man refers to patriotism, a concept associated with the remaining cardinal sign Cancer. Cancer is the release point of the cardinal T-square, the point at which a person can find some relief from the ’storm’ of planets in his head. In this case, the concept of patriotism didn’t offer any relief. In fact, it only seemed to make things worse.

Obviously, most people are not going to do something as terrible as fly a plane into a government building as the pressure of the outer planets mounts. But people are going to be under pressure, and some vulnerable people will feel that there is a storm in their heads. It will feel to some people like there is no way out.

It is important to remember that these squares do not last forever. It is not a good idea to reinterpret your entire past in the light of current bitter or despairing feelings.

Yes, there will be problems in our collective and in our personal lives. We do need to address them. And we can’t do that if we let the storms override our basic sanity.

A lot of people have asked me lately: which is more important for your horoscope, the house a transiting planet like Saturn in Libra falls in your solar chart (the one based on your sun sign) or in your natal chart (based on your rising sign).

My answer is that the energy of the planet will usually be felt in both houses. I well remember my first Saturn return in which outer planets were clustered like bees around a hive in my natal 10th house, which happened to be my solar 12th house.

All kinds of weird things were happening with my career, but I was just as caught up in diving into the depths of my subconscious at that time–and the two areas of life were linked. Now, depending on your circumstances one area may be more important than another, but things will generally make the most sense if you look at both.

Let’s use Pluto in Capricorn as an example:

Pluto’s in the 1st house for Capricorns and it will enter the first house for those with Capricorn rising. Pluto in the 1st house signals a profound personal transformation, often occasioned by some sort of scary event or events that clear out of prior attitudes. It can lead to a very visible change in how you present yourself. It does not change your basic personality, but it does strip away a lot of old ways of functioning that were interfering with a meaningful life. For Capricorns this transformation will often take place when Pluto passes over the sun. For those with Capricorn rising, it is usually triggered by Pluto passing over the Ascendant.

Pluto’s in the 2nd house for Sagittarians. It will also enter the second house for most people with Sagittarius rising, although this varies based on the natal chart itself. Sagittarians have already been through the personal transformation stemming from Pluto in their sign. Now they are transforming values, possessions, and sources of income. Sometimes large purchases are made, like a first house. Careers may be changed or the amount of money made from the existing career may change drastically. This will often occur in connection with other transits, but sometimes it occurs gradually over a number of years.

Pluto’s in the 3rd house for Scorpios and will enter the third house at some point for those with Scorpio rising (usually, check your own chart). This transit can produce all sorts of different effects, from a change in how you communicate (e.g., you take up or drop writing, public speaking, or media work), your educational status, your ideas, your environment, or your relationships with neighbors and relatives like siblings and cousins. This could happen during a transit of a natal planet like Mercury, gradually, or in response to some inner urging that plays out during the time Pluto is in this sign.

Pluto’s in the 4th house for Libras and those with Libra rising (depending on your personal chart). This can change family relationships, where you live, your sense of your own history, and even your career (if Pluto opposes your Midheaven). Some people do extensive home remodeling, downsize as children leave the home, or even lose a home and the associated memorabilia due to a disaster. Other people think seriously about end-of-life issues, as the 4th house rules this area of life also. For other people, the effects are quite subtle, resulting in a gradual change of perspective on family or even the unearthing of buried family secrets or an intense interest in genealogy.

Pluto’s in the 5th house for Virgos and those with Virgo rising (check your own chart for when it enters). The effects of Pluto in the 5th vary widely. Some people enter into a powerful love affair that does not result in marriage. Other people find their relationships with their children transformed. Some will have their first children now or will have another child after having thought they wouldn’t. Others enter into a prolonged period of creative power. Others take up intense forms of recreation, such as sky-diving or very active sports. Others engage in gambling or speculation in the stock market. The exact nature of the changes depend on the circumstances of your own life.

Pluto’s in the 6th house for Leos and at some point for most people with Leo rising. The two main areas of the 6th house are work and health. But the 6th house can also relate to daily routines. Compulsive exercise is not uncommon. A drastic change in employment resulting in an entirely different daily routine (e.g., from truck driver to lawyer or vice versa) could happen. Some people get almost obsessively organized. Others volunteer (6th house also relates to volunteering) to help with extreme circumstances, such as disaster relief or for people in hospice care. The entire attitude toward work and/or health may change.

Pluto’s in the 7th house for Cancer people and Cancer rising (check your own chart for when Pluto enters your 7th house). Intense committed relationships can occur. Divorce and marriage are not uncommon. Power struggles with business partners or outright rivals can occur. When Pluto passes over the Descendant, some people become much more public and less private. Others become involved in lawsuits. It may be difficult to let go of a relationship or there may be a total break with someone who was once important to you. The transit in general represents transformation in relationship.

Pluto’s in the 8th house for Gemini and Gemini rising. Pluto in the 8th is good for things like psychotherapy, as the 8th house deals with the past and with healing. It can change your entire attitude toward sexuality. For some it means things like a life-changing inheritance or other significant financial change. For others, it represents divorce, or profound changes in the marital finances, joint ventures or similar matters. Many will contemplate the meaning and/or reality of death when Pluto transits this house. Others will shed themselves of things they don’t need, even body weight. I’ve seen some undergo weight loss surgery while Pluto was in this house. Others rid themselves entirely of debt. As the 8th house of regeneration, Pluto can work rather deep changes here, in his natural home. Some will feel a distinct before and after feeling as a result of Pluto’s transit through this house.

Pluto’s in the 9th house for Taurus and Taurus rising. In this house, one can find a philosophy of life, religion, or other system that allows one to find meaning in life. Pluto can gradually shove old beliefs to the side and bring in new ones that work better in the long run. Attitudes toward travel or higher education may change substantially and some will get advanced degrees during this transit. One’s definition of adventure may change. Others will move to foreign countries during this transit, permanently or temporarily.

Pluto’s in the 10th for Aries and Aries rising (at some point, check your own chart). This is the most visible spot for Pluto and it seems to correlate most strongly with changes in reputation (good or bad, scandals fall in this house) and with a transformation of career. There is often some sort of a sensation of reaching a peak during this transit, a peak in one’s ambitions, fame, striving in the material world. For others, there are power struggles that come with this transit, or clashes with authority figures. Others become an authority themselves. Some people become quite powerful under this transit. A fair number of people start their own businesses during transits to this house.

Pluto’s in the 11th house for Pisces and Pisces rising. This house deals with friendships and groups, so your involvement with both of these may undergo substantial changes during the transit. This house also deals with the feeling of belonging. It is possible during this transit to find a sense of belonging one never had before. Others become more involved in social issues, humanitarian causes, mass media, or  idealistic endeavors. This is also the house of step-children and income from business, so some will see changes in this area. Finally, one’s goals and hopes for the future may get a lot of focus and undergo a transformation.

Pluto’s in the 12th house for Aquarius and Aquarius rising. Pluto here can plumb the depths of your psychological functioning, attempting to scrub away things that hold you back. Attitudes toward isolation, withdrawal, and retreat may change. Hospitals and prisons fall under this house, so some have literal involvement with these kinds of institutions. All kinds of therapy can lead to transformations while Pluto is in this house.

With floods and earthquakes and tsunamis, there’s a lot more to worry about in the world lately than the lives of talk show hosts and movie directors. But just the same, these lives do get media coverage and people do get interested in them. These lives also give us a chance to take a look at how transits can affect people, sometimes in dramatic fashion.

David Letterman’s transit of note is Pluto square Mars. Hopefully, you will not be blackmailed if you go through this transit (not everyone does), but it’s usually quite the challenge, to put it mildly. The astrological symbolism of Letterman’s situation is fairly straightforward. (Click here to see Letterman’s chart on astro.com. )

Letterman has his Mars in Aries in the 12th house. Mars is a symbol of, among other things, a person’s sex drive or sex life. The 12th house is a symbol of secrets or things you keep private and hidden from view. It is also an area vulnerable to hidden enemies. Pluto in Capricorn is greatly concerned with reputation. Pluto tends to destroy (or at least try to) when squaring by transit. Pluto can also be a symbol for crime and criminals.

Hence, a fairly easy astrological equation: A hidden enemy uses criminal means to try to destroy Letterman’s reputation by revealing the secrets of his sex life.

This Pluto square Mars transit attacked publicly starting right before Pluto went direct and it is near its end. Seems unlikely but it’s possible this matter will largely fade away within a few weeks or so.

Polanski’s situation is more ambiguous. (Click here to see Polanski’s chart.) He’s got Neptune in opposition to his sun these days, which is ambiguous enough to begin with. This is not a happy transit, but it doesn’t usually put you in jail. Meanwhile, Neptune is also trine his Mars in Libra, which is a happy transit.

Uranus in Pisces is making a yod (sometimes called the eye of God) with those same sun and Mars placements, which only makes things more complicated. Even more ominously, Polanski is undergoing a transit in which Uranus in Pisces opposes his natal Jupiter and Venus. Uranus, the planet of surprise, apparently pounced in an attack on his freedom (Jupiter). Given that the crime was more than 30 years ago, you’d think at least one planet could have pounced earlier than this, but apparently not.

Meanwhile, Saturn had moved into his 12th house at the time of the arrest and was squashing his Venus. Saturn in the 12th house doesn’t throw most people into jail, but then most people haven’t plead guilty to unlawful intercourse with a minor and then fled the country. If you have plead guilty to a crime, Saturn in the 12th house of confinement will do its best to put you away.

On the other hand, Uranus is also going to be making a trine with his moon and his Pluto in Cancer. (They’re conjunct by the way, one astrological indication of the death of his wife at the hands of the Manson family.) Uranus will be stationing in December, so perhaps more surprises are afoot. The whole thing is rather messy from astrological standpoint, but it’s probably not going to get any less public, given that his Pluto and moon are so elevated in his chart.

Of course, the irony is that he landed in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award. I suppose no one thought that his ‘achievements’ included the sex charge.

They converged on Washington awhile back. A whole bunch of people, exact number unknown, protesting Obama and various other things, some of which may not seem like they go together. On the YouTube video I watched, targets of wrath appeared to include gays, taxes, government spending, change of any sort, immorality, all politicians, health care, Cash for Clunkers, socialism, and various unspecified threats to the US Constitution, the future, and liberty in general.

Since nothing has actually happened to these marchers, so far as I can tell, that actually interferes with their liberty and since the Constitution has not been changed–it would be easy for a non-participant or a non-sympathizer to wonder what the heck they’re talking about. Especially since some of it doesn’t seem to make sense.

What they’re talking about is Pluto in Capricorn.

The protesters may seem to be all over the place in terms of identifying the exact nature of the threat, but they can feel it, and they can sense its vibe. And they’re right.

Pluto in Capricorn is scary. It does have a tendency to increase government power. And it doesn’t much care for liberty. Pluto in Cap is more of a control freak, and the protesters are rebelling already. Pluto’s barely gotten started in this sign, but he’s already stirred up all sorts of stiff resistance.

By November, Pluto will be duking it out with Saturn, and that’s rarely fun. Later he’ll be clashing with Uranus and that’s perhaps even less fun. Maybe the clashes will be scarier than Pluto by himself would be. But the clashes, difficult as they may be, also act to put something of a brake on what would otherwise be perhaps even worse in the long run, a world in which nobody (or no planet) ever challenged Pluto.

That doesn’t happen, though, because reliable old Saturn keeps chugging around the sky, periodically squaring and  opposing powerful Pluto, tipping off clashes that very few have any reason to like, but that periodically remind us that no power is limitless.

Here’s a link to an article in Wired that reflects on the changing nature of the Internet experience for individual users: The Internet is People. It reflects a phenomenon that I’ve written about elsewhere. Pluto in Capricorn is going to help make the world a gigantic small  town where everyone knows your business and your behavior is affected accordingly (in good and bad ways, inevitably).

The Internet essentially became the World Wide Web in 1995 or 1996, under the influence of Uranus in Aquarius. Freedom loving, idealistic Aquarius was thrilled with the technology to connect people around the globe, because that’s the kind of stuff it likes.

Neptune in Aquarius got involved toward the end of the 1990’s, and in its typically delusional Neptunian way got way overly idealistic, not to mention stupid, and precipitated the dot.com bubble and crash of 99.

Uranus moved on to Pisces, but Neptune hung around in Aquarius tinkering with social networking sites until it hit the mother lode this year. MySpace was impressive, but the white-hot expansion of Twitter and Facebook is a reflection of the inflationary expansionism of Neptune combined with Jupiter (and even Chiron) in Aquarius this year. The fact that these sites are used to quickly spread news about current events is not a coincidence.

Aquarius likes to empower people. It likes people to use Facebook and text messaging and what have you to get a US president elected, to protest a seemingly unfair election in Iran, to do do-goody social things and to fight back against unwarranted power.

This was all fine and dandy while Pluto was in Sagittarius. Sagittarius can be quite idealistic too, albeit occasionally self-righteous, and the Aquarian and Sagittarius mix was a happy combo. Happy for the signs, I mean, not necessarily for everyone else. After all, Al Qaeda used the Internet (Aquarius) to plot its deadly (Pluto) acts of religious extremism (Sagittarius).

Things are changing though. The Internet is getting less anonymous. Pluto in Capricorn sees the rise of what’s called ‘reputation marketing.’ Capricorn in general is obsessed with reputation and having Pluto in the sign only makes the obsession grow stronger.  Capricorn loves to know your business because knowing your business is an extremely effective method of social control. Capricorn loves social control and conformity.The necessity of guarding one’s reputation becomes a more iron-clad inhibitor of spontaneous action than any legislative act could be.

Who would have thought the once anarchic and wacky Aquarian Internet would evolve into something sneaking toward making everyone the same? Who would have thought that posting embarrasssing Sagittarian photos of yourself being uninhibited on Facebook would have consequences in the Capricornian age?

But the truth is, in a couple of years, there will not be any major planets in Aquarius. Neptune will be in Pisces, conspiring with Pluto in a whole different way. The Internet will be different, not just in its killer apps, but in what it means to society.

Saw a bit on 60 Minutes today about Americans and their tanking 401Ks. It occurred to me that Pluto in Capricorn (bad economy) has taken a vicious whack at the Uranus in Cancer placements of those born from around 1949 through 1956 (approximately, there’s some play in the dates). Specifically Pluto has gone and started opposing a natal placement that an entire 7 year chunk of people has.

Of course, Pluto in Sagittarius took aim at the Uranus in Gemini folks before, but he did it in a Sagittarius/Gemini way. The Capricorn/Cancer way is to gnaw away at the thing Cancer loves the most–security. And Pluto’s doing his gnawing in a Capricornian way–by forcing these people to work past the time they had hoped for a secure retirement.

No wonder Pluto gets a bad reputation sometimes.

This too will pass though. It won’t pass soon enough for most of us, but it will pass. Most of the generation will come through the crisis intact. Doesn’t seem fair though. Feel free to post your opinion as to who to blame for Pluto’s current vicious antics.

And in celebration, early-bird horoscopes for May have been posted. Yes, you can ask questions and make comments.

By the way, in many of the sun sign horoscopes I mention a triple conjunction of Jupiter, Neptune, and Chiron in the sign of Aquarius. It occurs toward the end of May. I mention it because I’m all excited about it.

Whether it’s worth getting all excited about remains to be seen. Still, semi-newshound that I am I have seen flurries of activity relating to this conjunction all over the place.

These flurries of activity mostly relate to experty-type experts on various economic matters getting cautiously optimistic about the economy. In my astrological brain, they are getting cautiously optimistic because a Jupiter/Neptune conjunction just wants people to get optimistic and have hope again. Jupiter, by the way, deals with the economic matters.

So in my reading, the recent stock market upticks and whatnot are signs that Jupiter/Neptune is kicking in.

The downside is that Neptune is a notorious liar. It promises hope and then does its darndest to eventually deliver disappointment. That’s why cautious experty-type experts are keeping  a mindful eye on Pluto in Capricorn. When they keep their mindful eye on Capricorn they say things like “it’s still a long road to recovery.” Because that’s Pluto in Cap’s opinion, and Pluto is usually right.

So…I think Neptune and Jupiter are going to try to do their darndest to give us all a necessary break from gloom and doom. They’ll let us enjoy the summer, before Saturn in Libra squares off with Pluto in the fall and puts us in a bad mood with world affairs again. Sort of like that; there is some play in the dates.

Neptune’s already at the degree he will station at–26 degrees. Jupiter will hover around this degree, so will Chiron. Uranus will hover at the same degree in Pisces. If you have planets at 26 degrees figure that they will be energized, hopeful, surprised, and confused. So will the rest of us probably.