Saturn Pluto and The Dance of the Macabre

On October 29th, this Thursday, Saturn enters Libra. This shift takes the pressure off Virgo and brings it to bear on the Librans. Saturn functions well in Libra. In astrological terms, Saturn is exalted here and the Saturn principles manifest easily. Saturn represents the physical structures of our universe. When Saturn transits, moves through, an area of your chart, that area faces tension, testing and examination. Saturn moving through the tenth house of career and public life often brings great rewards if you have done your work well. If you have tried to take shortcuts and have not done your homework, Saturn exposes your shortcomings. This holds true for any other area as well, such as relationships, physical body etc. If you have ignored your health and well being, when Saturn comes to call you are forced to deal with it. If your relationships have hidden tensions or problems and you’ve been coasting along, Saturn says take a look here. On November 15th Saturn makes the first, in a series of three, aspects to Pluto. Put these two bad boys together and you’ve got trouble. They signify crisis and conflict on an international level. Throw in some organized violence and oppression, totalitarian regimes and reactionary forces and you get a pretty good picture of what the Saturn/Pluto cycle represents. They “hung around St. Petersburg”, were active during the escalation of the Vietnam War and the US ignominious exit. The rise of Fascism in the 20’s, the economic crisis of the 30’s, at both attacks on the Twin Towers, Saturn and Pluto danced the dance of the macabre. The events associated with Saturn and Pluto often signal a loss of innocence, a sense that things will never be the same, a feeling of vulnerability and victimization. On a personal level we feel like we’re dealing with circumstances beyond our control. The company closes down; your apartment building is converting to Condominiums, your best friend moves away, gets married, gets divorced, is gay, is straight, is not the friend you thought. Saturn forces you to look at things very closely, to examine them to see what they are made of. Saturn says; face the reality of the situation. Pluto changes you on a very deep level. With Pluto, you look way down deep inside yourself and pull stuff out that you didn’t know was there. Sometimes that stuff is icky. Pluto brings all the crap to the surface where hopefully, it will dry up and blow away. At any rate, the next few years are not going to be easy ones. The economy, health care reform, war in Iraq and Afghanistan are symbols of the planetary alignments occurring now and over the next year or so. As an astrologer, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Pluto’s move through Capricorn will expose the ties between Wall Street, Big Oil, Health Insurers, Big Pharma and our elected officials. It remains to be seen what those in power and those who hold power behind the scenes will do in order to maintain that power. I fear that Bush’s game of raising the terror alerts to bolster his approval ratings will seem like child’s play.