Pluto In Aquarius: Defining a New Reality
On November 19, 2024, Pluto, planet of death, rebirth and collective transformation, enters Aquarius, where it will take permanent residence through January 2044. Despite its brief return to Capricorn from September through November, just in time for the presidential election, we have been experiencing events that clearly describe this shift for the past two years as Pluto has crossed and hovered over 0 degrees of Aquarius. As we move more deeply into The Aquarian Age, this transit takes on much greater significance, as we are laying a foundation, not just for the next two decades, but for the collective perspective of an entire age. We are seeing, and will continue to see, the best and the worst of Aquarian principles and ideals, as Pluto exposes the underbelly of Aquarian ideals and provides us with extremes of the possibilities relating to this sign. For example, extreme acts of inhumanity, both historically and currently, are being exposed to shock us (hopefully) and inspire us to strive for a higher level of humanity. Technological advances make our lives so much easier until they break down or are hacked and used for nefarious purposes, at which point total chaos ensues. Technology void of humanity is no longer merely the stuff of terrifying science fiction movies, but a very real and terrifying possibility. Knowledge is power in the Aquarian Age, yet knowledge in the hands of only the few who understand that technology poses a serious threat to the balance of power. We are already seeing extreme examples of both the highest and lowest expression of Aquarius in the world, and this will only intensify as Pluto moves more deeply into the sign. As Pluto moved through Capricorn, we became acutely aware of our failing systems and infrastructure, which no longer serve the purpose for which they were created. Such exposure forces us to rebuild and create new systems and social structures to support the upgrades of current socio/cultural reality. This is the work of the next twenty years, as the darker side of Aquarius is exposed in order to be transformed and integrated into the new collective systems in a healthy way.
Due to variations in speed of Pluto’s transit, we are experiencing a possibly unprecedented phenomena in human history, where seven Pluto generations are alive on the planet at the same time, and several of these will experience the Pluto opposition, as well as the Neptune opposition and Uranus return, at the same time. For the Pluto in Cancer “Greatest Generation”, this happened in their mid-nineties. For the Pluto in Leo Baby Boomers, this will happen in our mid-eighties.
Ages 97-123 Greatest Generation 1901 – 1927 Pluto in Gemini /Cancer
Ages 79-96 Silent Generation
1928 – 1945 Pluto in Cancer/Leo
Ages 60-78 Baby Boomers
1946 – 1964 Pluto in Leo/Virgo
Ages 44-59 GEN X
1965 – 1980 Pluto in Virgo/Libra
Ages 28-43 GEN Y (Millennials) 1981 – 1996 Pluto in Libra/Scorpio
Ages 12-27 GEN Z
1997 – 2012 Pluto in Sagittarius/ Capricorn
Ages 00-11 Generation Alpha
2013 – present Pluto in Capricorn/ Aquarius
This speaks to the unbelievably important work being done on the planet right now, and I believe, agreed to by all souls who chose to incarnate at this time. This work of defining the principles of an entire age, selecting the New Age Avatars to lead Humanity in that direction, and suffering/enduring the outrage of a dying age, requires the diverse perspective and different value systems of multiple generations. Collaboration, learning to work together in order to benefit from the creative contribution of each member of the group, is an important Aquarian principle, where “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.”
We are revisiting the last Pluto in Aquarius transit, which occurred from January 1778 – July 1797. Throughout that period, the newly liberated American colonies were engaged in the challenging process of defining the “American Ideal”, creating the laws and documents that would ultimately give form to this great experiment of democratic governance, The United States of America. To the best of their ability, and in keeping with the consciousness of the time, the “founding fathers” strove to include Aquarian ideals like freedom, liberty, equality, just and fair representation, and respect for the individual rights of every citizen. Our constitution begins with, “We, the People … “, thus securing the promise of inclusion and consideration of all who would be so governed. Flawed humans that we were (and are), we are still working on achieving this ideal. It is important to remember that this was not an easy process. There was much political infighting, due to the vast differences among the 13 colonies in terms of needs and values. Representatives fought and quarreled among themselves to include ideas and principles that best served their constituents. Years in the making, the US Constitution was not ratified until 1787. The Bill of Rights was not adopted by Congress until 1791.
Today, as Pluto once again begins its journey through Aquarius, we stand at the threshold of a major upgrade of the guiding principles that define this nation. Pluto’s war cry, “Transform or die”, can certainly be applied to the current state of affairs confronting this country, and many others around the globe. We have evolved far beyond the reality of the founding fathers, who only had to deal with 13 colonies, and did not have the media (social or otherwise), the internet, the global intimacy with extremely diverse religious and world views, weapons of mass destruction, etc. with which to contend. In spite of their different ideologies, they shared common ground in that they were all men, all white, all rich, and all recently victorious over a seemingly insurmountable foe, which probably made them all a bit prideful, if not cocky. Such is not the case today. We have front row seats, and are witness to one of the messiest collective upgrades in human history. We are about to experience another revolution, at least in perspective, as we learn to address the leader of the free world as “Madame President” and create a definition for her partner in life, “The First Gentleman”. Transformation is rarely a gentle graceful process, and the magnitude and scale of the current transformative cycle is sure to be even more disruptive and chaotic than usual. As we watch the drama unfold this year, it is important to remember that we have been here before and survived. This time, we might even thrive!
On a more personal level, the transformative process of Pluto will shift to a more abstract conceptual level, as our psychic inclinations and focus turn to issues of individuation, development of a more authentic version of Self, freedom of creative self-expression, and detachment from that which limits or impedes personal evolution. As Pluto travelled through Capricorn, the structures and systems we previously created to support our reality have crumbled and disintegrated, and now the work of rebuilding begins. New life structures must be created to support a new level awareness regarding who I really am, what I really need and want for my life, and what I must do to support my life purpose. Humanistic ideals are likely to come to the forefront as we build our new reality structures, and many will be urged to participate in the larger whole, be it through political involvement or service to society in some way. We will be motivated to create vehicles through which we can share our unique creative energy and gifts in a more public way. Aquarius, always the contrarian, places great value on independent thinking, so the ways we obtain, process, and evaluate information are subject to dramatic change. For Aquarius, knowledge is power, and in response to the need to become more educated and informed, many will seek higher education or unusual courses of study, which will become more prevalent and readily available. In many ways and forms, we will all be writing our own lyrics to the same old song: “I Gotta Be Me, and I Gotta Be Free!”
Finally, as if in support of Pluto’s permanent ingress into Aquarius, 2025 is likely to be a year of massive shifts and change in collective consciousness on several levels as the outer planets, Uranus and Neptune, and Saturn complete their long journeys through Pisces and Taurus and begin their transits into the next signs, Aries and Gemini. This is a powerful indicator of new beginnings if ever there was one. In July 2026, there is an alignment of Pluto at 4 Aquarius, Neptune at 4 Aries, and Uranus at 4 Gemini, activated by Full Moon at 5 Leo-Aquarius, with Sun conjunct Jupiter in Leo, and the Nodes of the Moon entering the Aquarius-Leo axis. In the never ending debate over when the Aquarian Age actually begins, I’m marking my calendar for July 29, 2026. I know it’s a long way off, and I will certainly be deeply exploring the possibilities between now and then. Perhaps you might want to do the same.
- By Kimberly McSherry
