Saturday, January 26, 2008, 1.00 pm

It’s another warm day – well, it is January in Sydney. The air has that washed-out vintage photo hazy, prickly overlay that comes with humidity and the buzz of cicadas provides a soundtrack.

I’m sitting on a wooden bench on the grounds of a college at Sydney University. I’m at my first FAA (Federation of Australian Astrologers) conference on our lunch break. With me are three other fledgling astrologers – all of us still learning (something we’re still doing). The subject of our conversation is Pluto, who is scheduled to move into Capricorn in just half an hour or so. Will we feel it? Will the world change? What does it mean?

Almost seventeen years later, Pluto is about to leave Capricorn behind for the last time until … well, another 250 years… give or take.

Did we feel an energy shift that day? I didn’t, but there were plenty of people who said they did…

Pluto in Aquarius through history…

Pluto takes almost 250 years to complete a full circuit of the zodiac, spending around 20 years (sometimes more, sometimes less) in each sign. As slow-moving as it is, Pluto brings transformational change—generational change—and shifts in power on a global scale.

Pluto in Capricorn (from the early 1760s) was about power (and land) grabs. Captain Cook claimed Australia and New Zealand for Britain, and Britain and France grappled over land in North America, Europe, and India. Britain’s attempts to tax its colonies in America and assert its colonial power led to revolution there, too. The US Civil War also took place at this time.

In Britain, factory owners began introducing labour-saving machinery, which increased efficiency and profits at the expense of workers. The rich grew richer.

When Pluto moved into Aquarius in 1778, everything changed. While the US Declaration of Independence was made just as Pluto exited Capricorn in 1776, the revolutionary war waged on culminating in Britain, previously one of the most powerful countries, being taken down a peg or two. (As an aside, it’s super interesting that the US finds itself on the brink of massive change after Pluto has completed one full circuit since the Declaration of Independence.)

There was also a revolution in France. Following years of bad harvests and rising taxes to fund the war with England and the nobility’s excesses, the people were hungry and rose against them. This revolution was about inequality and poverty, as well as power and the concentration of most of the land and wealth in the hands of just a few percent of the population. From this sprang the birth of French restaurants as cooks from the big houses found themselves out of work and began cooking for the general population.

The First Fleet landed in Australia, and a new nation was born – at the expense of the one that had existed previously. Uranus was discovered, as was the first smallpox vaccination. Hot air balloons and steamboats brought new ways to travel.

From revolution new countries were formed, new ways of travel, breakthroughs in medical science, the birth and rise of trade unions … and so on.

The time before that? The period 1532-1553 saw, among other things, Henry VIII break away from the Roman Catholic Church to create the Church of England. This was followed by rebellion and turmoil as the country was torn apart by fear.

History shows us that these events don’t exist in isolation. While Pluto in Capricorn might provide an opportunity within which corruption and autocracy can thrive, it’s an environment that was born from the previous transit through Sagittarius, where unchecked governmental, colonial and economic institutions had been deemed too powerful to fail. (We saw a similar situation when Pluto moved into Capricorn in 2008, and a global recession followed … but that’s another story).

Capricorn rules Plutocrats – kings, queens, governments and political leaders. Pluto rules corruption, dictators, and autocrats. Aquarius, however, calls for a redistribution or checking of this power – even destroying the systems and status quo that allowed it to flourish.

When Pluto moved from Capricorn to Aquarius last time, King George III descended into madness, the French King Louis XVI and his consort Marie Antoinette plus large swathes of the nobility (and thousands of blameless others) were executed by La Guillotine. Even Captain Cook met his end during this period.

Pluto in Aquarius 2023 – 2044…

As for now? We’ve already had a taste of Pluto in Aquarius – between March 2023 and January of this year.

Will Pluto in Aquarius see the exposure and fall of some of our modern Plutocrats? Time will tell. The world order, however, is already beginning to change.

Aquarius is, however, a humanist sign in which the collective good and the collective future are paramount – and can detach emotionally to make that happen. That’s the thing about revolutions – the individual ceases to matter – one only needs to read Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities to see that.

Just as innovations in machinery illustrated Pluto’s last transit through Aquarius, this time around, the focus will be on technology—and we’re already seeing that with the rise of AI. As well as discovering what is possible, we’ll also discover the adverse impact of this on our livelihood, biology, and society. It’s a given that data protection will become more important.

As technology makes connecting remotely easier, it will become more important to grasp opportunities to make and maintain connections in real life, to be present rather than remote. As an author, I’m already seeing an increase in “signings” or festivals designed to unite authors and readers. We’re doubling down on being human.

What about me?

What does it mean for us? As always with these generational planets, it becomes personal when they aspect one of your personal planets. When this happens go back to your basic aspect theory:

• What house is Pluto in natally? What house is the planet being transited by Pluto in natally? These areas will be where the transit starts to happen.
• What house is Pluto transiting? This is where the main action will be occurring.
• What house is ruled by Pluto natally? What house is ruled natally by the planet being transited? These are the areas of life that will be affected by the outcome of the transit.

As an example, soon after crossing into Aquarius, Pluto will form a sextile to my natal Saturn. Below is my rough working of the transit:

When it comes to Pluto transits, keep your orbs narrow – I tend to be interested only in a degree or so either way.

Pluto’s movement through Aquarius for the next few years:

2025: 1 – 3 Aquarius

January 1 – 1 Aquarius 4′

May 4 – Rx at 3 Aquarius 49′

October 14 – Direct at 1 Aquarius 22

December 31 – 2 Aquarius 41′

2026 – 2-5 Aquarius

January 1 – 2 Aquarius 43′

May 5 – Rx at 5 Aquarius 31′

October 15 – Direct at 3 Aquarius 4′

December 31 – 4 Aquarius 19′

2027 4- 7 Aquarius

January 1 – 4 Aquarius 21′

May 8 – Rx at 7 Aquarius 11′

October 18 – Direct at 4 Aquarius 45′

December 31 – 5 Aquarius 56′