Pluto Retrograde April 9 to mid September 2011

In my younger less married days I used to love doing the Cleo and Cosmo sex quizzes on the train to work. Learned some interesting things from them too… but obviously that is not for here..I would make sure that I counted the score in my head so no one reading over my shoulder could see my answers and therefore know what I really thought about doing _______, or whether I really would be likely to________ or indeed had done_______ where? Really? There?

Recently I have been having some fun with a series of Outer Planet point scoring quizzes that Donna Cunningham has been running on her Skywriter website. Just like the Cleo & Cosmo sex quizzes I have learned a lot, but this time the things I have learned have been about myself and are therefore possibly more useful in everyday life- or so I would hope.

Obviously I am so much more mature now  too, so am going to publish my results for all to see-  the results are possibly not as interesting (to some) as the sex quiz stuff, but some things are best left to the imagination.

First up was How Plutonian are you? Being so Piscean, I always knew that I was pretty influenced by Neptune, but the Pluto result blew me away. Using her system (check it out here), my Pluto score was a massive 56 points. Anything over 25pts is seen as being very Plutonian, with association with all the good and bad sides of Pluto and Scorpio  (see Donna’s article for more explanation- Donna is the expert on all things Pluto): power, control, trust, holding on to things & feelings, revenge, obsession, healing, transformation. Looking honestly at myself, I do have to say it is all true- the good & the bad. With most of my Piscean planets in opposition to Pluto & with Pluto sitting right on my Descendant, the struggle with trust & power & control- particularly in relationships has been constant battle.

Anyways, Pluto is currently stationary and about to turn retrograde through until mid September. As with all retrograde planets, the retrograde motion makes Pluto act, well, more Plutonian and Plutonian people even more susceptible to Pluto .

As with all retrogrades, the energy is directed inward rather than externally. In Plutos’ case, it acts sort of like a planetary detox where the crap (for want of a better term) in our lives is eliminated (a very Pluto word). This can be emotions we have been holding onto, attitudes or values which should have changed or evolved, vendettas we should have let go of, revenge fantasies we are just waiting for the right moment to act upon (ooops, that’s me!), secrets that you have been keeping under wraps.

For those of you who are strongly influenced by Pluto (see below) or currently experiencing major Pluto transits (especially anyone with the Sun, Moon or ascendant at or around 4-8 Cancer, Capricorn, Libra or Aries), this will be a big thing. Now is the time to get rid of those photos (you know the ones at the back of your drawer of X with Y), or, alternatively do some internal Pluto work on yourself- a physical detox, heavy meditation- anything that is regenerative and gets you back in touch with the innermost core of you. Pluto retrogrades often bring sudden expansion or loss of power, manipulation, obsession and power struggles are the order of the day.

As with all retrograde cycles, the critical points are at 7 Capricorn 30’ where he is stationing retrograde and 4 Capricorn 53’ where he will station to turn direct. These are points of pretty huge transformation and metamorphosis if they happen to fall on a sensitive point in your natal chart. Personally speaking, my north node falls at 7 Taurus 44’, so this is one retrograde period I will be taking notice of.

Whatever happens there is no escaping the effect…Pluto is like that…but trust me, hanging onto those photos, revenge fantasies and whatever will not help. Let em’ go…if you can…