March Madness
Speaking of Pluto…let’s explore a little of what’s happening in the world right now concerning COVID-19 via Astrology. But first things first…
Prayers, love and gratitude to all the health care providers, all the essential business employees and all the comforters who are holding it together for the rest of us at this time, know that you are being held by many. We do believe in Earth Angels. Thank you.
There was quite a lot of talk leading up to the beginning of this year, January 12, 2020, to be exact. The 12th was the day of the much talked about Saturn/Pluto conjunction; it was officially here. Many astrologers were certain this meant something BIG, but those worth their salt would not, or could not, venture a prediction. However, most could, and did, say that something BIG would be happening, something that would shake the very foundation of institutions around the world; something that would grab global attention. This “something” would result in profound changes and things would not go back to the way they were before. This configuration signals the “end of an era”, “the destruction of what was” or an “end of innocence”. Such is the nature of evolution, despite it feeling like devolution or simple destruction.
After all, looking over the history of Saturn/Pluto configurations in the past we find both the First and Second World War beginning with almost exact hard aspect alignments between the two (Saturn/Pluto conjunctions). And the most recent event in modern memory is September 11, 2001, the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States (Saturn/Pluto opposition). All of these events were definitely BIG, changed the trajectory of humanity for better or worse, and felt like the ending of naïve innocence.
Reviewing what we know about Saturn, the Lord of Karma, and Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld, it isn’t hard to speculate how there may be a certain “comeuppance” that might get played out in a seemingly dark and punitive way when these two planets configure. Both planetary energies vibrate with a heavy seriousness that cannot be ignored. With the current Covid-19 outbreak we can easily see how this dark, massive BIG thing has shaken the very foundation of our collective reality worldwide. This virus seems to be the unleashing of World War III, only it is an invisible enemy and every country is being invaded, none are safe. There is no denying that we are all in this together; the problem is no longer “over there” wherever “there” happens to be at any given moment. We are all HERE in this, HERE and NOW.
A friend of mine recently said that God/Goddess/Universe/Mother Nature (pick your deity) was tired of being ignored and so issued a “time out” for all of humanity so we could collectively reflect and get our proverbial s*** together! A good statement via taskmaster Saturn (learn your lesson or else) and transformational, mass destroyer Pluto (you will change or else). But let’s consider another often forgotten reality, free will and choice. Let us remember, the planets do not do things to us, but rather offer their energies for us, for our Soul’s growth. So how do we manage ourselves in this time? What do we reflect upon while sitting in our Cosmic time out corner?
How we choose to react in times of crisis is truly a definition of our character, Pluto and Saturn ask for authenticity and require us to step into our true nature in order to meet their challenge to develop meaningful character, character with gravitas and depth. These energies do not suffer fools lightly and rarely mess around! So, the wise and respectful thing to do is listen to what their dictates demand and accommodate, willingly and with deference to those things that are beyond our control, controlling that which we can and surrendering the rest.
The idea of selfishness and selflessness come up at times like these. What is the proper course of action? It seems as if young people are not taking the virus seriously enough for elderly folk who are at greatest risk and conversely it seems as if elderly folk have been oblivious to the world which they are bequeathing to their young people. Neither group seems to be able to see the other’s point of view clearly and each of their valid discourses seem to fall on deaf ears. But what if we looked beyond either/or, black/white, right/wrong and “you’re either with us or against us” thinking? What if we took this opportunity to reflect on the rigidity with which we are trying to reign in years of too much expansion and moved to strike a healthy balance versus riding the pendulum from one extreme to the other? The extremism which leads us into the tails of the bell curve are not healthy for any of us; how can we get off this pendulous ride?
Consider for a moment the concept of AND/BOTH, finding value in all opinions, all ideas, all ways of being. The idea of humanity evolving ultimately embraces living in peaceful co-existence despite our differences, in a spirit of mutual respect and collaboration, the proverbial Age of Aquarius. Once done with this Universally given time out what will be our behavior moving forward?
So many are asking, "When will we get back to normal?" The sobering answer is NEVER. We do not get “back to normal” after life altering courses in time. A more effective question is when we emerge on the other side of this, what do we want to create in place of what used to exist?
As this conjunction is happening in the sign of Capricorn, we can look to what Capricorn represents and how it is asking to be served. Capricorn represents solid structures, institutions, wealth, success, achievements, conservation of material resources and government. It helps us discover our fears and teaches us where we are squandering our energies. It teaches us how we can conserve and respect what is valuable and worth conserving. It asks us to be accountable and responsible for what we put into the world. It is also worth mentioning here that the United States is experiencing a Pluto return, exact February 20, 2022. So buckle up in the States.
Does the Universe have our attention now? And, what should we be focused on learning?
I used to work in Oncology and cancer patients would often say that they couldn’t wait until their chemotherapy was done and they could get back to their old life. Inevitably we had a tough conversation about the fact that once they and their family’s life had been touched by cancer they would never go back to their old life; they would always be survivors moving forward, always remembering and possibly wondering if they would have to fight for their life again; they would be forever touched by this event in their life and they had to come to terms that moving forward they would never not have had cancer, it was their new reality.
We need to understand this is true of us too now. How will we emerge from this “time out”, what lessons will we have learned? What will be our new reality? What structures will be gone that we thought would endure? And what type of world do we want to build a new?
There is always room for improvement and Capricorn eventually perseveres in the end. Maybe we will emerge from this moment in time aware of just how precious our planet is, just how much we have put profit over planet and with deepest apologies vow to do better moving forward; then, honor that commitment. Maybe we will remember just how important our relationships are and remember to hug/kiss our loved ones more regularly? Maybe heal those lingering family wounds? Capricorn, the great architect of the Cosmos, is instrumental in bringing heaven down to earth.
How best to co-create with the Divine? That is definitely worth thinking about in our “time out” corner.
Here are two very good and detailed astrological takes on this topic: