As a coach/guide who is in the process of integrating (as and when appropriate) evolutionary astrology into working with people through their Saturn and Uranus-oriented life transitions, a recent awakening of my own occurred on holiday. I was at sea, relaxing with the gentle rocking of the Mediterranean ocean as the ship swayed and dipped with the waves. I thought this a timely metaphor of the nature of individual Souls as part of the vast sea of the collective, out of which we all emerge, yet are inextricably linked with.
As New Horizons rapidly approached Pluto, I was engaged in my own inner journey through a Psychosynthesis training in the UK. While holding the image of Assagioli's 'Egg' in my conscious attention, I witnessed the emerging into view of the classic astrological symbol for Pluto. As I stayed with the imagery presented via the Egg, a subtle shift in the Pluto image took place...
The emergence of a single point in the centre of the circle transformed the meaning of the Lord of the Underworld's symbol, almost instantaneously (my own Uranus Opposition is drawing to a close, so these lightening-like insights seem to be de rigeur for now). The alchemy of symbol. At this time I was reading Mircea Eliade's The Forge and the Crucible, and was also steeped in the research of Jeff Greene and Mark Jones' approaches to astrology as a system for self-discovery and healing. I sensed a meaningful, joyful timing to this event, so again (and again, who, or what, is this 'I'?), so on an intuitive feeling I stayed with the unfolding image of Pluto.
The Uranian flashes continued for c.2 days, during which the circle emerged as the Sun, the life energy and unfolding purpose of the of the person represented by the birth chart. The half-circle holding, encapsulating, the Sun emerged as the Moon, the conditioned self/ego of the current life (if reincarnation is to be considered as a valid part of this exploration) in service to the purpose of the person to individuate. Lastly, the 'cross' at the base of Pluto's symbol emerged as the cross of space-time, i.e. the Realm of Saturn, keeper of structure and, potentially, guardian of our true potential through embracing maturity and responsibility for our own realities, as they emerge.
Perhaps in hind-sight the simplest change in meaning brings about the greatest transformation, and clarity on what reality actually is. The Saturn/Reality Principle writ large, if only our perceptual filters are adjusted. I know from my own inner work this to be the case.
I now find that, as I meditate on the Psychosynthesis Egg, this 'new' image of Pluto introduces itself, flickering into view, as a reminder, a way-marker towards Soul. On a practical level, for a client's birth chart, I Iooked first to the position of Pluto for that person's deepest unconscious emotional attachments and compulsions, that which they are barely, if at all, aware of. By sign and house it may represent the role the current Moon has in the emergence of the Soul's conscious purpose, i.e. the Sun in the chart.
The Moon as crucible, the alembic, in Pluto's Forge, with Saturn and Jupiter together driving the bellows of experience, Uranus beating the Soul's steel to breakthrough societal conditioning, and Neptune to temper the emerging individual through quenching in the ocean of collective Soul, i.e. for the unfolding individual to serve a unique, evolutionary purpose within the collective of society. As the South Node of the Moon represents the individual's past selves evolutionary focus (and hence attachments), so the North Node of the Moon, and the Pluto Polarity Point (the degree exactly opposite the Pluto placement in the chart) symbolising a consciously integrated expression of those those same emotional compulsions and attachments. I have found that, in applying these simple principles to holding a space for a person's transition towards consciousness to unfold, I have been party to and witness of some of the the most wonderful, meaningful transformations in the people I have worked with.
As the weeks past, and New Horizons barrelled past Pluto, I looked at one of the freshly processed and released NASA images as the probe looked back towards the Sun, the centre of our own collective system of life in this corner of the Milky Way Galaxy...
This image symbolises - perhaps synchronistically, with today's 'Blood Moon' eclipse - the veiled solar potential in each and every individual human being, and by extension the entirety of humanity. As Pluto's small, yet immeasurably powerful, form hides the immensity of the Sun's light and heat in shadow, it is our responsibility, and perhaps our destiny if we so choose, as individuals and as a species, to bring the unconscious aspects of our selves into the light of consciousness, and into our true, evolutionary potential in service to humanity as a whole.
