Pluto Square the Nodes

Light the fire within you to light the world with your fire.

Structures such as religion, government, and the patriarchy make up the fabric of our society. They hold the power to determine social norms, acceptable behaviors and beliefs, and to con regular people into thinking they can rise to the top. These structures are all up for debate and destruction with Pluto in Capricorn and since entering the sign in 2008, Pluto has been doing the most to try and crumble them. Pluto will move on to the sign of Aquarius for a 20 year stay starting in November 2024 and I suspect that the time in between now and then will prove to be especially turbulent. If you aren’t already, it’s time to start reimagining what new societal structures could look like. Ones that offer a fair, respectful, and honorable way of life to all humans, animals, and the Earth. I believe that we have a chance to make these necessary changes, but it will require a lot of work by all of us collectively.

Here’s where the nodes come in. The nodes point us toward a collective attitude or mood that is based on the archetype of the sign that the North Node is occupying. The South Node will point to behaviors or attitudes that won’t serve us in the present moment if we completely rely on them. We need to find a way to balance the two opposite signs and find a way forward with integration. With the North Node moving into Aries, our focus will be on ourselves. How can we become more of ourselves through the deconditioning process? What can we unlearn in order to come into better alignment with ourselves and more aligned with our purpose? With the South Node in Libra, there’s a high chance that at least one of the relationships in your life is unbalanced. That could be with a colleague, a partner, a child, a parent, or even your company, church, or the society you live in. Where have you been politely acquiescing your power or preferences in favor of what someone else wants?  Where have you over compromised?

Later this month, the planet Pluto will square the nodes 3 times in one week. This particular astrological transit only happens about once every nine years. This is a rare occurrence in terms of frequency of transits. That gives you one clue as to how massive the impact can be. The fact that the nodes will have just moved into the signs of Aries and Libra, signaling this change in the collective attitude or focus, and immediately are squared by Pluto tells me that there will be some dramatic events that unfold to signal this change. When we look at the ways the planets or points (like the nodes) interact with each other, we look at the nature of their mathematical relationship to one another. In this case, Pluto will be making an aspect called a square. The nature of square aspects are to challenge, create obstacles, or disharmony. While they typically aren’t pleasant, squares bring the gift of growth and the opportunity to make changes by understanding what isn’t working for us.

We also want to consider the planet Pluto and what it represents. Pluto was named for Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. Pluto represents our subconscious and our repressed psychological material. It also speaks to our unprocessed wounds, those things that make us irrationally defensive or afraid, and generally all of the things about ourselves that we want to avoid or repress but cannot avoid. In Capricorn, Pluto has unveiled the shadow side of the structures that I mentioned above. There’s been massive political divisions and extremism throughout the country, scandals in religious institutions, an unfathomable increase in gun violence in public schools, two banking and financial crises, uncovering of corruption in policing, destruction of land belonging to Native people, and the give and take of rights to gay and trans folks and women. All of this is out there in the world, but the people in power aren’t in agreement of how to help people or make changes to reverse the damage done in any of these situations.

You may be thinking that you’d be better off hiding out at home over the next couple of weeks to avoid this challenging energy. Before you try to escape it (you can’t btw), let’s look at some positive implications of Pluto transits. When you are willing to face your own “dark” side, you can become more aware of the things in life that will trigger, upset, or enrage you. When you dig deeper into those feelings, you can discover the root of these reactions in yourself. Every single person has their own woundedness and a dark side that they don’t want others to see. However, when you have the courage to face this side of yourself and the audacity to change, you will come to realize that you are strong enough to face anything. You can move forward in life knowing that you’ve been to hell… and you made it back alive. Once you heal that part of your heart that was wounded, light shines through you and you are able to help others face this darkness in themselves. What happens if you don’t face it? Perhaps you decide to embody the rage and the wound and inflict your pain on others. There’s a saying, “hurt people hurt people” and that’s what comes to mind. Pluto isn’t forcing anyone to leave the underworld once they are there. But if you choose not to heal in order to leave the underworld, you’ll be living a life of misery and pain. In the case of the collective, this is what the people in power are doing. They are allowing others to live in pain and suffering because they don’t see their own darkness. If they do see it, they don’t recognize the harm that it inflicts on others. They are allowed to get away with this violence because in many cases, there are very wealthy people who profit from people being repressed.

Going back to the North Node in Aries, we will have people being drawn towards pursuing the goals, ideas, and ways of life that are important to them. This is giving people a chance to be selfish and they will be motivated to remove the obstacles from their life that are holding them back. The square from Pluto will provide opportunities for people to make these changes, but they have to make the conscious choice to make a change. The South Node in Libra will also be challenged by the square from Pluto. This energy can expose the ways in which you feel you “should” act or “should” feel. If you find yourself wanting to act in a certain way but feeling like you “should” do something else, this is insight into your conditioning by society. This insight will be surprising to some people because they might not have connected the dots between why they act a certain why and how they are restricted by their conditioning. There will be deep conflicts between wanting to be liked and doing what is best for you.

I want to encourage you to tap into your drive to be your best self and to push back on societal rules or expectations that limit your potential or repress others. Don’t just be selfish for yourself, use that anger and energy to clear hurdles for others too. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, even if you are worried about falling out of alignment with people in your life. You will attract other like minded people and have more fulfilling relationships when you let others know the real you. When you face a complex situation involving other people, try to step back and consider it through the lens of these elements. Don’t give in to pressure to act or relate in a certain way, be assertive about your needs, and remember that there is no relationship out there more important than the one that you have with yourself. When you act from your own inner knowing and alignment, your world will shift and change in response. You’ll inspire others to do the same in their lives. And slowly but surely, this is how we can change the structures in our world in a way that benefits everybody collectively. This will be the journey of Pluto in Aquarius.

Important Dates:

July 13, 2023: The nodes move into Aries & Libra

July 23, 25, 28, 2023: Pluto squares the nodes

*The last time that Pluto squared the nodes was January 20, 2015. At this time, the North Node was in Libra and the South Node was in Aries (the reverse of the situation this time around). Can you think back to that time in your life and see if you can make any connections to the events unfolding now? I know that I can!