Pluto in Aquarius, a surprising association with Uranus and Ketu

By Bernard Duchatelle

Dragon
Source: Image provided by Timelords, created by Julija Simas

Pluto has been in Aquarius since March 23, 2023 (1) and we don't keep track of the lectures, webinars, articles, and videos published on this subject: we are living in an extra-ordinary age and Pluto could well be the key to the evolution of our world, for better or for worse. Is it for instance a mere coincidence that the abrupt and alarming emergence of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) is now taking place? As it is summarizing what fascinates and frightens us the most in the unfolding of a technology that is running wild, announcing a new era that will have to decide between destruction and regeneration, one of which may indeed precede the other.

Through analogies and keywords, one quickly gets an idea of the potentials of these twenty years long transit. On the bright side, a world shaped by scientific breakthroughs and computer science in the interest of medicine, ecology, humanity, and life. In short, a service-oriented smart science. Politically and philosophically, a thorough transformation of our obsolete societies. An increased understanding of the complexities of fear and obsessions; of our sexual life, including a real freedom for women. On a metaphysical level, some real insights about the mysterious connections between matter and consciousness, and an intelligent exploration of death could nurture a spiritual renaissance. On the negative side – this is an understatement - an accentuation of the grip of the world's financial, political, military, and technological powers at all levels of society. A hierarchical fragmentation increasingly pronounced between the weak and the powerful. A proliferation of dystopian dictatorships backed by sophisticated monitoring technologies. A sexual permissivity mistaken with freedom, worsening obsessions, cynicism, and the unbridled quest for sensations. Self-interest at all costs becoming the main rule in life. Finally, a terribly materialistic world in which the sacred, understand the true religious, has no more breathing space.

Many other perspectives are to be considered, but we will focus on the chance of a drastic, conscious, revolutionary modification of our patterns of behavior which can only take place through a radical transformation of our consciousness. In other words, the opportunity to combine the most promising features of Scorpio and Aquarius through Pluto and Uranus, the two stars most likely to bring about the changes necessary for our survival: Pluto in the field of matter, Uranus in the field of the mind. Ketu, the south lunar node, is amazingly involved in this process and we will see why.

Updating ideas

The challenge of Pluto in Aquarius is to align our current civilization with the innovative and revolutionary ideas that fortunately abound, rather than getting bogged down indefinitely in a world that is irrevocably collapsing. We know that its previous transit in this sign, from 1778 to 1798, accompanied major socio-cultural upheavals: the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) was in full swing; the Industrial Revolution was underway; the French Revolution promoted the Human and Civil Rights which greatly influenced world ideologies.

But to think that Pluto in Aquarius brought about these revolutions would be inaccurate: as a star of destruction and regeneration, it actualized the awareness and revolutionary ideas that had evolved during the Age of Enlightenment. Spinoza, Hume, Locke, Diderot, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and many others questioned the political, economic, and religious values of their time; they inseminated the collective consciousness with new concepts and in due course Pluto in Aquarius prompted their surge, hastening the death of old worlds and giving birth to new ones.

Pluto's darkening and dangers

Plutonian energy has the knack to darken everything. The Industrial Revolution started the systematic destruction of our environment; The French revolution delivered the Terror and Napoleon; American freedom evolved into brutal liberalism. Pluto appears to reflect our potential to corrupt the best of our orientations at the altar of self-interest, power, and domination. Our plutonian side gave rise to the disenchanted world spoken of by Max Weber and to a proletariat never seen before. Confined to abject misery, millions of human beings, including five-year-old kids, suffered the alienation of strenuous labor to serve the new elite, the grand bourgeois and the Gentlemen that still dominate our world.

Thus, we inevitably come to the question of consciousness and free will, as it is a matter of using Pluto and not being subjected to it: This implies a holistic approach to life, ultimately focused on its finality.

Uranus, Pluto, and Ketu

A curious game going on between Uranus and Pluto, whose mutual tensions are quite destructive, should question us. Uranus searches freedom, while displaying a definite tendency to authoritarianism and fanaticism; Pluto induces power, obsession, and domination. Pluto excels at deviating Uranus from its quest, systematically turning - as history showed us on many occasions - the revolutionaries into tyrants. The current equation between these two is quite peculiar: Pluto enters Aquarius, the home of Uranus, which in turn is exalted in Scorpio, the home of Pluto. This may seem trivial, as dignities mostly reinforce the strength of a star, but these two planets are both penetrating (Scorpio) and each one, according to its specific way, takes part in the death of the past to produce, ideally, the new.

The Scorpio values in all their extreme depths are particularly stressed, an observation confirmed by the synastry of 3 charts: The discovery of Uranus, then Pluto's discovery, and then this most recent appearance of Pluto into Aquarius. We notice a highly meaningful pattern concerning Ketu, the south lunar node, in its precise location at the time of these events (2):

• Ketu was at 05°08’ Scorpio when Uranus was discovered on the 13th of March 1781 (3)
• It was at 05°10’ Scorpio when Pluto was discovered on the 18th of February 1930
• It was at 04°15 Scorpio when Pluto entered Aquarius on the 23rd of March 2023

Rahu in opposition in Taurus is not without importance, but the connections that Uranus and Pluto share with Scorpio clearly cause Ketu to require our full attention.

Ketu

Triwheel: Discovery of Uranus, Discovery of Pluto, Pluto ingress in Aquarius
Source: Chart provided by the author

A word about astrological theory is now necessary, as this same position of Ketu during these 3 events is not inconsequential. What does it mean? My understanding of the lunar nodes differs substantially from the one held by many Western astrologers. Contrary to a common doxa, I believe that Rahu, the greedy devourer of the Sun, leads in a detrimental direction. Without getting into specifics, my perception is quite close to the Vedic astrology approach who consider Rahu to be materially favorable but spiritually adverse, and Ketu to be materially adverse but spiritually beneficial.

The lunar nodes are extremely complex and meaningful. They are intimately connected to circumstances, most often imposed, dealing in that respect with the finality of life. They seem to dictate a precise, mandatory event-oriented framework which shapes our destinies. In this context Ketu is the spiritual lunar node associated with detachment from the self, austerity, simplicity and ultimately Moksha, that is, final liberation. Rahu, on the other hand, is linked to the necessary experiences we must go through, causing attachment to the self, anger, anxiety, and finally discontent that causes us to turn to the search for finality.

Pluto, Uranus, and Ketu

Understanding this, one finds it hard to believe that this coincidence associating Uranus, Pluto and Ketu could be fortuitous: on the contrary, it bears meaning and why not hope, as astrology demonstrates day after day that the cosmos is not indifferent to our existence. It is therefore possible that some specific circumstances (the lunar nodes) unfold and assert themselves, allowing the more spiritual aspects (Ketu) of Uranus and Pluto to feed our inner transformation.

Revolution (Uranus) and Transmutation (Pluto) of consciousness are the vital needs to be achieved. Pluto, the Scorpio ruler, is the Alchemist seeking transmutation, which means turning the lead of Saturn into the gold of the Sun, i.e., leaving a universe of constraints and boundaries to one of an infinite light. Pluto commands the energy that lies within matter: The Alchemist is one who considers that matter holds, in a hidden and amalgamated way, the true light. Matter is therefore both that which carries light and that which casts a shadow on it. (4)

Exalted in Scorpio, Uranus stands for the piercing intelligence that perceives truth directly and therefore changes consciousness. So, the alliance of Uranus and Pluto means to use the extraordinary power of these stars to change the world, through the transformation of our consciousness.

The singular position of Ketu we spoke about expresses a subtle, invisible yet tremendously powerful momentum, way beyond our perceptions and understanding, touching the most mysterious arcane of the universe; this very momentum activating circumstances and events with the intent to facilitate this transformation. These happenings might in some instances prove painful, for Ketu easily associates with pain, the kind that compels one to understand.

The Uranus-Pluto alliance

Can we affect circumstances? So that they (gently) shape our consciousness, knowing that most of the time we do not decide anything? How can we have them supportive and liberating? I believe that it mainly relates to the extent to which we allow intelligence to guide our destinies, i.e., astrologically speaking, on our ability to tread our personal celestial path. (5)

Within two years Uranus and Pluto will align in a trine that will last from summer 2025 to summer 2030. This beneficial aspect will however assist us only if we are heading in the right direction: we cannot afford the luxury to assume that a trine will be sufficient to revert the destructive curve we are blindly following despite all the warnings.

The quest for freedom

It is better not to expect the intervention of a Deus ex machina or believe in some kind of providence protecting us. It is up to us to save the world as well as ourselves, no one will do it for us.

Unfortunately, we may not be able to meet the demands of Pluto (the destruction of the old materialistic world), of Uranus (the urge to revolutionize thinking) and of Ketu (simplicity and detachment from the self).

It all depends on our free will with the understanding that although it does exist, it is not offered: Faced with the many unwanted circumstances of our lives, confronted with heredity, desires, obsessions and conditioning, we are by no means free. In other words, it often appears that we are the captives of our charts, whatever the formula "The stars incline but do not determine" may say. Now free will is not offered because it must be conquered, an achievement for which astrology proves to be a marvelous instrument. The quest for freedom is a synonym for self-fulfillment: Without freedom, love and the Sacred are forever out of reach and our lives have no meaning.

All these considerations and opportunities for action converge in these dark and troubled times whereas the earth and the oceans are dying. The quest for freedom is no longer a philosophical, moral, or spiritual choice but an imperative displayed by the actual celestial geometry:

• Through Aquarius as freedom is an important part of its DNA
• Through Uranus, the aim of the herald of intelligence being to release consciousness from the snares of a repetitive, noisy, self-centered, and conditioned thinking process.
• Through Pluto as the mission of the Alchemist is to set us free from the alienations of matter.
• Through Ketu whose ultimate end is to set consciousness free from the ego.

Pluto in Aquarius may stimulate this quest. This is imperative under penalty of destruction of life, or of centuries of dystopias which are fun only in sci-fi books or series. It concerns us all because prior to being political or social, freedom is first and foremost an inner issue: as long as fear, greed and the search for security are ruling our hearts, it will not be achieved.

Endnotes:
 (1) Pluto will remain in Aquarius from March 23rd to the 11th of June 2023, then from January the 21st, to September the second, 2024, and finally from November the 19th, 2024, to January the 19th, 2044.
 (2) This is the true node.
 (3) The still unknown Pluto was in Aquarius.
 (4) https://www.jepense.org/alchimie-spirituelle-definition/
 (5) Bernard Duchatelle: The Celestial Way - Horizontally and Vertically https://www.astro.com/astrology/ivccn_article210211_e.htm

Published in: Timelords Magazine, Feb. 2023.

Author:
Bernard Duchatelle is the author of the blog Bernard l’astrologue, writer and lecturer. He spent about ten years as a traveling astrologer in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, where he became acquainted with Eastern spirituality, yoga and Hindu mythology. His practice promotes self-realisation through the in-depth understanding of thought processes and the emotional mechanisms that constitute us. Astrology, he writes, appears as a coherent cosmogonic and philosophical system, illuminating the nature of the universe, our consciences and our destinies. Blog Bernard l’astrologue: https://bernardlastrologue.blogspot.com/

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