Pluto in Aquarius in a Synchronous Universe
by Angela Cornish
This is a shortened, adapted version of the Charles Carter Memorial lecture that was given on 23 September 2022 at the Astrological Association online conference. The full version with video, text and all charts can be purchased at astrologicalassociation.com. What does the history of this transit tell us of future expectations?
It is my absolute honour to give the Carter Memorial talk this year. I would like to start with Charles Carter himself to whom this talk is commemorated every year and see where that led me.
Charles Ernest Owen Carter (birth data in natal chart), known as Owen to his friends, was an eminent English astrologer. He was born into a wealthy and well-respected family, his grandfather having established a thriving brick and tile empire which survives today as Poole Pottery.
As a young man, he graduated from the University of London and trained as a barrister. He then served in the army for four years during WW1. His interest in astrology was kindled when he wrote away for one of Alan Leo’s ‘shilling reports’.
In 1922, Carter became President of the Astrological Lodge of London (founded by Alan Leo in 1915) and edited its quarterly magazine for over 30 years. The Lodge blossomed under his leadership. Astrological lectures and training courses were held, and correspondence was built up across the world.
In 1948, the Lodge sponsored Carter’s idea of creating the Faculty of Astrological Studies, a body intended to set standards of astrological excellence and it is still a leading body today. Carter was its first Principal and became Principal Emeritus on his retirement in 1954.
In 1958, our very own Astrological Association was founded by an elite group of Lodge members in a pub (I believe) in London. The two most prominent members were John Addey and Brigadier Roy Firebrace, together with Charles Carter and many other leading astrologers of the day, including Joan Rodgers, Margaret Hone and Ingrid Lind.
Carter was a researcher and a prolific writer of articles, essays and books which proved to be extremely popular, most of which are still in print and available to students now.
What stand out immediately from Carter’s chart are the strong positions of Uranus and Saturn on the angles – Uranus giving eccentricity and Saturn responsibility. Plus, he has the Sun/Mercury conjunction: the close square between Neptune and Venus, the opposition of Moon and Jupiter square to Mercury and Pluto square Mars. He must have been quite a character. Although I am not going to dwell on his chart, I was intrigued by the fact that he died in 1968 having forecast that he would die during that year. From 1970 onwards he has been honoured each year at the AA annual conference with the annual Carter Memorial Lecture
Biwheel Natal-Progressions at his death
Now I have probably got you wondering how he predicted his own death. See his natal/progressed chart for 4 October 1968 at 16:30 pm.
At the time of his death, you can see that the progressed Midheaven has come to Uranus in his natal chart and is approaching the conjunction of his Ascendant, too. It is often said that nothing important comes to pass in the life unless there is a direction or progression involving an angle of the chart i.e., the Ascendant or Midheaven. In this case the progression involves the Midheaven to Uranus which can herald sudden and unexpected events and is so close to the natal Ascendant that it could have indicated potential danger to his physical body.
Also, there is a progressed New Moon in July 1968 for Carter conjunct his natal Moon. The progressed New Moon is really important because it only happens every 32 years or so – the progressed Sun moves approximately 1 degree per year and the progressed Moon moves approximately 1 degree per month, so it takes about 32 years for them to come together again. It places a really strong focus on a particular area of the chart and is one of the most important times in our lives as it signals both the beginning and the end of a cycle. In this case, Mars is also involved and may well have had an impact on Carter’s health.
Biwheel Natal-Transits at his death
I then looked at his death chart transits.
On the day of his death, the Sun was transiting the 12th degree of Libra, triggering the progression of Midheaven to Uranus. In addition, both Saturn and the North Node had recently transited his Descendant and opposed the Uranus (Saturn in March and April 1968 and the NN in June and July). These would have been possible triggers for the progression that year, too. Apart from these, transiting Neptune was opposing its own place natally and square Venus, Carter’s 8th-house ruler, mirroring that natal aspect.
So, for Carter looking ahead to his own death I think he would have been looking at the progressions first. And then, because there was the major configuration of Midheaven to Uranus together with a progressed New Moon conjunct Mars, he would have been on the lookout for transits that would trigger those progressions.
He would have seen that Saturn and the NN were possible triggers as they crossed the Descendant. And he would have noted when the Sun, Mercury and Venus transited that sensitive point in his chart. In addition, there was Neptune squaring his 8th-house ruler, Venus. All in all, in the light of such strong progressions and transits, I am not surprised that he predicted his own death of that year. He was 81.
However, we have digressed from his natal chart. What was interesting to me is that when the AA was formed in 1958, Pluto was just entering Virgo and at the same time making an exact opposition to Carter’s Mars at 0 degrees of Pisces.
The significance of Pluto
Chart of the Astrological Association, 21 June 1958 at 8:22 PM, London, England
Source: Astrodatabank
The AA was formed when Pluto was on the threshold of a new era as it entered Virgo. We ourselves are on the threshold of Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius which takes place on 24 March 2023, where it will stay for 20 years until 2043.
Like most astrologers, I guess, I have been thinking about what this might herald. We leave behind Pluto in Capricorn where Pluto has been since 2008 and where we have seen the structures of our lives, such as government, businesses, banks, the media and other institutions come under scrutiny – corrupt systems have been exposed. And the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II, the epitome of duty and responsibility, is symbolic of the end of that era.
But before we think about what Pluto in Aquarius might look like, let’s first take a look at Pluto itself.
Pluto was discovered at the Lowell Observatory on 18 March in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh, an amateur astronomer from Kansas who was hired by the Observatory specifically to photograph the sky with a special camera and search for a hypothetical planet predicted from the calculations of the Observatory's founder, Percival Lowell, who had died 14 years earlier.
Pluto was named by an 11-year-old girl, Venetia Burney, from Oxford, England. In 1930, when the discovery was announced, she suggested over breakfast to her mother and grandfather that the new planet be named Pluto after the Roman god of the underworld. Her grandfather forwarded the name to Professor Herbert Turner, the Astronomer Royal at the time: he cabled the Lowell Observatory, and the name was selected. Venetia received £5 (approximately £300 in today’s money).
There are two glyphs in use for Pluto. The first shows the circle of spirit, that divine lifeforce where there is no beginning and no end. This is cradled in the crescent of soul which is the non-material part of the personality, lying on top of the cross of matter which represents the physical form and our three-dimensional world. The symbol shows the soul’s mastery of the material world and the transformation of body and soul into spirit.
Two symbols for Pluto
There is another glyph for Pluto in popular use which is a combination of the letters P and L for Percival Lowell.
Pluto’s orbit of the Sun takes about 248 years, spending roughly 20 years in each sign. Sometimes its orbit comes within that of Neptune but its average distance from the Sun is 5,900 million kilometres. It is to be found in the Kuiper Belt and is made up mostly of ice and rock. It is smaller than our Moon.
The chart for the discovery of Pluto is interesting (chart not shown(. Venus is exactly opposite Neptune, quite a euphoric moment. As Neptune is significator of photography it is no surprise that this figures large at the time of the discovery. Pluto is in the 12th house (the unconscious) with Mercury and Mars conjunct in the 7th house (one-to-one relationships i.e., therapy). Although there is no direct aspect between these planets, it is interesting that Pluto’s discovery is generally considered to have coincided with the emergence of ‘the talking cure’ in psychiatric treatment which focuses on bringing repressed content to consciousness, through talking, enabling the client to address the problem.
As I have already mentioned, Pluto is also synonymous with Hades, the god of the underworld. In Greek mythology, Hades was the first-born son of the Titans, Cronus and Rhea. He had three older sisters, Hestia, Demeter and Hera, as well as two younger brothers, Poseidon and Zeus. All of them, except Zeus, had been swallowed whole by their father as soon as they were born. But, once he had grown up, Zeus used an emetic, given to him by Gaia, to force Cronus to disgorge the children in his stomach.
Hades was not an evil god. Though stern, cruel and unpitying, he was capable of justice. Hades is most often associated with death and was feared by men, but he was not death itself.
Around the 5th century BC, the Greeks started referring to Hades as ‘Plouton’ with a root meaning ‘wealthy’, because from the soil came riches e.g., fertile crops and metals. Plouton became the god who both rules the underworld and distributes riches from below.
(Editor’s note: Pluto’s mythology is examined in greater depth in the longer version of this lecture which can be purchased on the AA website.)
Death tarot
Tarot card Death
Source: Pamela Coleman Smith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
I am always struck by the similarity between the Death card in the tarot and the mythology of Pluto.
Here we see the lord of death, a skeletal figure dressed in black armour, seated high on a pale horse and looking down at the mortals in the foreground. He has his right arm extended to receive whatever the bishop-like figure is offering to him. Rite of passage is that a gold coin must be presented, or else the deceased’s soul is doomed to wander for eternity on the banks of the River Styx which borders the underworld. In the background, you can see the Sun is rising over the horizon suggesting the new future. But it is unseen by the mortals who are in the depths of their grief.
The Death card is rarely anything to do with physical death. It represents an important ending that will initiate change. Hades, lord of death, or Pluto, then represents the permanent end of the cycle: the old way is dead and will never return as it was. It is accompanied by mourning which is a necessary process before the new life emerges.
Pluto as an archetype represents the principle of transformation, power and primordial instincts. It is associated with the mythical sacred bird, the Phoenix, in that a new life is born from the ashes of the old.
Hades, or Pluto, is an image of the inevitable changes in life which always contain endings and beginnings: we must acknowledge that something has died at the same time as a new phase of life has been born.
So, we are on the threshold of a new era as Pluto leaves Capricorn and enters Aquarius in March 2023.
What the history of Pluto in Aquarius indicates
Aquarius is an air sign, so communication is a key factor. Aquarius is known as the most innovative, progressive, rebellious and humanitarian of the signs. It’s interested in radical social progress by means of the group effort, teamwork and collaboration for the good of all.
Its traditional ruler is Saturn, so it has to incorporate the principles of discipline, patience, responsibility and maturity.
Its modern ruler is Uranus, planet of technology, innovation and revolution, and is associated with freedom, individuality, originality, independence and liberty.
To think about what we might expect from the dawning of this new era of Pluto in Aquarius, I thought it would be helpful to look back and see what synchronised with this transit in history.
Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, described synchronicity as the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect yet is meaningful to the observer. In other words, the positions of the planets at a particular point in time may reflect events on Earth but they don’t cause them; they mirror or are synchronous.
Henry VIII, ca. 1531
Source: Joos van Cleve, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Henry VIII chart, 28 June 1491 Jul.Cal. (7 July 1491 greg.) at 08:45 AM, Greenwich, England
Source: Astrodatabank
Pluto was last in Aquarius between 1778-1798, and before that, between 1532 and 1553. Let’s look at the earlier date first and see what kind of events synchronised with that era.
In 1527, Henry VIII, King of England, requested a papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope refused the request and Henry rebelled. In turn he was ex-communicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
At the end of 1532, Anne told Henry that she was pregnant, and Henry now knew that he must marry her as soon as possible to ensure the child’s legitimacy even though this would make him a bigamist. Just before dawn, on 25 January 1533, Henry married Anne, in secret, in the presence of four or five witnesses who were sworn to secrecy. Henry had decided that it should be kept secret until an Act of Parliament could be passed breaking away from the authority of the Pope and Rome.
In April 1533, the Act in Restraint of Appeals is passed stating that spiritual and secular jurisdiction was to be the responsibility of the King – and the Pope’s right of intervention was abolished.
By December of that year an order was issued that declared Henry head of the English Church, giving the Pope no more power in England than that of a Bishop. All preachers were told that their parishioners must be left in no doubt that the king, and only the king, was Head of the Church.
The Act of Supremacy was passed in 1534 declaring England as a sovereign state with the king as supreme Head of both the country and church. All taxes formerly paid to Rome were now paid to the king.
Apart from his six marriages, Henry is best known for the dissolution of the Catholic monasteries. To cancel the power of the Catholic Church in England he dissolved over 800 monasteries and transferred their wealth and lands to the Crown.
In 1539 he authorised the first bible to be printed in English, instead of Latin, for public use, and directed that all churches provide a copy of the Bible in a place where it could be read by all. Despite Henry’s death in 1547, the English book of Common Prayer was introduced and religious imagery in churches was destroyed in a further effort to make England a truly Protestant state and independent of the Pope and Rome.
Here we see evidence of Pluto in Aquarius in Henry’s attempts to break free and be independent of the ruling power which at that time was seen to be the Catholic Church, Rome and the Pope.
If we just take a quick peek at Henry’s chart we see radix Pluto in Libra. When tr Pluto entered the early degrees of Aquarius in the 1530s, it soon conjoined his Saturn and opposed his Mercury. When this opposition was transited by Pluto it indicated his brooding over his destiny and his inability to have a male heir – note that Saturn is the ruler of his 5th house of children – and it is no surprise that he railed against the difficult circumstances he found himself in and looked for a practical solution.
Pluto was next in Aquarius for 20 years between 1778 and 1798. This was a very important, revolutionary or rebellious time both in America and Europe.
In America, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which argued that the goals of the United States of America were ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. The primary purpose of the Declaration was to proclaim to the world the reasons for seeking independence. This was signed by Congress on 4 July 1776 and is generally regarded as the birthday of the United States.
However, it wasn’t until 17 October 1781 that the American War of Independence ended when the British army surrendered, and the British government was forced into negotiations to end the conflict. On 3 September 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by representatives of George III of Great Britain and representatives of the USA, formally ending the war and America gained its military and legal independence.
The constitution of the United States became effective with the swearing in of the first president, George Washington on 30 April 1789 at 12:45 pm in New York. This represents the final stage in the formation of the USA, 13 years after the Declaration of Independence.
In the Declaration of Independence chart (not shown), Pluto is poised at the end of Capricorn. However, the military defeat of the British, the subsequent Treaty of Paris and the US Constitution all became effective after Pluto had entered Aquarius. And by the time the Constitution became effective, Pluto was at 19 degrees Aquarius.
We must take care when interpreting event charts – the main reason is the difficulty in establishing the exact date and time that something commences. Often there are several dates to consider as we have witnessed here.
Meanwhile, in England, King George III was on the throne. The American war, its political aftermath and the death of two of his young children placed great strain upon him and he became intermittently incapacitated by mental illness.
The cause of his illness at the time was unknown. In the 1960s it was considered that he probably suffered from porphyria, a rare hereditary disease marked by severe bouts of pain and mental instability. Recent research suggests he may have been suffering from Bipolar Affective Disorder brought on by the stress he was under. Historically, and somewhat unkindly perhaps, King George III has since been known as ‘Mad King George’ who lost the American colonies.
Discovery of Uranus, modern ruler Aquarius
The Uranus discovery chart has Pluto in Aquarius. There’s a tight t-square between Uranus, Mars and Sun. No wonder its discovery synchronised with rebellions and revolutions.
A pattern will be repeated here when Uranus enters Gemini in 2025, with Pluto in the early degrees of Aquarius. It will have been 244 years since these two planets were in these same signs: Uranus will have circumnavigated the chart – or should I say the Sun – three times since then.
William Herschel, later knighted for his discovery of Uranus, named the planet the ‘Georgian Planet’, in honour of George III. However, it was later changed by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode to ‘Uranus’ and this eventually became generally accepted as its name.
Uranus is the third largest planet in our solar system, orbiting the sun once every 84 years and is the only planet to spin perpendicular to its solar orbital plane.
Slavery
In Britain in the late 18th century, a movement emerged to put an end to the buying and selling of human beings. The campaigners fought to abolish the slave trade by making it illegal and banning British ships from taking part. Those involved came together in 1787 to form the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, sometimes called the Abolition Society.
Implicit in the Society’s campaigning and propaganda was a critique of the values of British society and an appeal to the growing humanitarian values which were emerging. The continuing efforts and sacrifices of protesters illuminated the changing intellectual and social currents of the time and the move towards a fairer, more equal and just society.
Even though the Abolition Society was formed in the 1780s, under Pluto in Aquarius, the fight to end the slave trade was a long, drawn-out battle. Even though there was very strong support to make this law much earlier, it wasn’t until several decades later that the Slavery Abolition Act (1833) was passed.
In France, the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris on 14 July 1789 is generally held to mark the beginning of the French Revolution and is the anniversary on which the revolution is commemorated.
This was a world-shattering event, caused by social and economic inequality. The French monarchy was overthrown. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were tried and executed. A Republic was established.
The chart of the storming of the Bastille (not shown) has Pluto in Aquarius. Up on the Midheaven you see the stellium of Jupiter, Venus and Uranus symbolising the urge for independence and freedom, tensions and strains suddenly released.
Three years later, the First French Republic was decreed at the National Assembly in Paris on 21 September 1792, at an estimated time of 3:30 pm. The Bastille chart has Mars on Midheaven for the chart of the French Republic, giving the attainment of aims and goals through action. Chiron on the Descendant square the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction shows strong idealism. And an exact Uranus opposition to Pluto in Aquarius square Mars represents the complete collapse of the old order and formation of the new.
Pluto in Aquarius from 2023?
Pluto's entry into Aquarius in 2023
What can we hope for as Pluto starts its next 20-year journey through Aquarius this year? What I have tried to show in this lecture is the kind of events that have synchronised with Pluto in Aquarius in the past.
See the chart for Pluto’s ingress of Aquarius on 23 March 2023. Pluto is right on the Descendant with a Sun/Mercury conjunction on the Midheaven. It seems that Pluto’s energy might be best experienced through relationships and by negotiations, discussions and compromise and where listening, as well as talking, are paramount rather than fighting.
The theme arising from the past indicates the following: fighting for freedom, equality and liberty for the individual and the collective against the powers that be.
For example, in the 16th century, Henry VIII was fighting against the power of the Church, the Pope and Rome; in the 18th century, Americans were fighting for their liberty against Great Britain; the French people were fighting for social and economic equality against the privileges of the rich and powerful leading to the downfall of monarchy and the establishment of a republic with citizenship and rights.
In addition, we saw the discovery of Uranus which again synchronised with rebellions, revolutions and the emergence of the rights of individuals, including the formation of a group whose aim was to abolish slavery and liberate all people.
Pluto in Aquarius is a generational configuration: the background to a certain period, the broad strokes on the canvas, if you like. And, while we understand that no cycle operates in isolation, it provides a flavour of events with which it is likely to synchronise rather than dominate. I am not trying to suggest that history will repeat itself but rather that Pluto in Aquarius will set the tone or backdrop of the big picture for the next 20 years.
We see that Pluto makes its mark slowly. Transformation does not happen overnight. It represents new beginnings as well as endings. The Aquarius modus operandi is through communication, information, intelligence and understanding. We may then seek to change society through technology, science and innovative ideas. Aquarius is a humanitarian sign and believes that social progress can be achieved by teamwork and collaboration for the good, not just for the individual but the good of all.
Pluto’s purpose in Aquarius, then, seems to be to root out, raise awareness and expose what is unjust, unfair and unequal in our society today and then to stand up and do something about it. On a mundane level, the headline expressions of the Pluto in Aquarius transit is likely to be many protests against injustice, corruption and prejudice. A stand or fight may be needed wherever there is oppression or inequality – yet eventually peace, liberty, freedom and equality prevail.
Personal responsibility
It is often said that if you want to change the world, you must start with yourself. If you have personal planets in the fixed signs of Aquarius, Leo, Taurus and Scorpio, expect the following when Pluto transits those planets: that you may find you are closing one door to open another; that you are completing a chapter; that you are having a parting of the ways or that you are putting the past behind you. It may feel that you are going through a transition; that you are eliminating what isn’t necessary and concentrating on essentials. You may find that through conflict with another person, you have to fight for something or stand your ground and develop your assertiveness. You may also find that you can transform your physical body through exercise and become more self-empowered by developing willpower.
Pluto
Source: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute - Public Domain
In particular, with Pluto to the Sun, you are challenged to discover your own power and strength. Your sense of identity may change as you become more assertive and empowered to make some drastic changes.
Pluto to the Moon brings intensity and passion to the feelings. You may find that you experience some extremely strong emotions that you feel unprepared for.
With Pluto transits to Mercury, communication takes on a new depth and you are impassioned about your ideas. You are interested in discovering the truth: what lies beneath the surface? You are driven to explore what is hidden, secret or taboo.
When Pluto transits Venus, you seek intensity and passion in your relationships and will experience emotional extremes while you learn important lessons about love.
Pluto to Mars transits affect your drive, stamina and strength. Your ambition to succeed is very strong and you will go to great lengths to achieve your goals.
But, aside from our personal issues, there is no doubt that we currently live in troubled times and that Pluto in Aquarius is set to shake the foundations of our social structures. Even so, this wonderful, synchronous, universe of ours is challenging us to implement a humanitarian agenda and progressive policies. Despite the obstacles that still lie ahead, we must find the courage of our convictions as we move forward into uncharted territory and build a better future for everyone.
This is my hope for the next Pluto in Aquarius.
Note:
The full version of this lecture can be bought at the Astrological Association website: astrologicalassociation.com. Go to Conference option in the menu.
Published by: The Astrological Journal, Jan/Feb 2023
Author:
Angela Cornish, DMS.Astrol, STA.DipH, has practised and taught astrology in classes, talks and workshops for many years at home and abroad. She gained her Diploma in Astrological Studies from the Mayo School of Astrology in 1984 and the Diploma of the School of Traditional Astrology in 2011. She has been a tutor for the STA Horary Practitioner’s level course. Angela is currently Secretary of the Astrological Association, Secretary of the Association of Professional Astrologers International and a member of the Astrological Lodge of London. In 2019 she was co-winner of the Charles Harvey Award for Exceptional Service to Astrology.
© Angela Cornish, 2023
