ARTICLES

My take on Pluto's coming transit through Capricorn
By Gary Lorentzen

Once Pluto went into Capricorn in 1763, the political and economic structures of the world began to transform. The previous Pluto in Sagittarius had expanded the ideals of Renaissance (Uranus Pluto conjunct in Leo in the mid 1400s) into a new Age of Reason--a new Enlightenment. The new idea, 'Reason was Divine' -- it was God manifesting in the world through human beings -- came about with Uranus in Pisces squaring Pluto in Sag. Reason was the 'divine spark' (Uranus/Pisces) in the human brain that would transform the superstitions and illogical beliefs (Pluto/Sag) of the previous 1700 years, taking Descartes' (b. 1596 with Uranus/Pluto conjunction in Aries) statement, "I think, therefore I am", which in turn was a reformulation of the humanism born during the Renaissance-- Uranus/Pluto conjunct in Leo, and turning it into a new cultural value and world-view. All social, political and economic structures that did not embody those free-fire-spirited ideals of Pluto in the Fire Signs were targets for rebellion and revolution once Pluto went into Capricorn. The mass psychology that had unquestionably accepted Kings, Queens, empires and aristocratic royalty as the natural forms of human leadership began to change. Pluto in Capricorn transformed all of that and institutionalized the Enlightenment philosophies in a new form of social organization called 'liberal democracy.' (Especially, when Pluto squared Saturn in Libra, the Americans began agitating for a new social/political contract with England.) These new socio-political ideas were institutionalized in the Articles of Confederation that obliterated authoritarian government structures and completely embraced the concept of government as a 'social contract' with the power concentrated in the People once Pluto entered Aquarius. (The Articles, however, were ill-conceived in structure and were scrapped in favor of Madison's and Jefferson's more balanced approach, The U.S. Constitution with its Bill of Rights--but this was also under Pluto in Aquarius.)

Pluto in Capricorn also forced people in the European colonies to take sides between loyalty to a crown or loyalty to this new liberal ideology. The gnawing question of the day in colonial America was: who is the patriot? He who is loyal to the King of England or he who is loyal to his status as an American? In the end, the latter prevailed, and all those who were loyal to the crown were forced out of the colonies at gun point! (Those loyalists all went to Canada and founded the Maritime Provinces and Toronto!) But, typical I suppose of Earth Signs, Pluto in Capricorn raised the spectre of revolution because of mis-handled economic policies by Britain. The war with France that ended in 1763 had bankrupted Britain and in order to rebuild the treasury they began taxing their colonies. Since the colonists in America felt that they had no political representation in the Parliament, the crown could not legally, morally, ethically or legitimately tax them to pay for the war. When the Crown INCREASED the taxes to punish the up-start Americans, they went into open rebellion that led to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. In more general economic terms, Pluto in Capricorn also brought about an end to cottage industry and replaced it with mass-production in factories. This ended the old Mercantilist economic system that underlay the relationship between Mother Country and Colony and a new economic system had to be developed. This happened with Adam Smith's groundbreaking "Wealth of Nations" (published in 1776 w/ Pluto in Capricorn), which laid the foundation for the new Capitalism.

If the same patterns hold for the coming Pluto in Capricorn era, which is also the Pluto Return for the U.S., and Pluto will oppose all of the US Cancer planets and square its Saturn in Libra, then we can expect the U.S. to go through a very difficult period of testing its resolve to maintain the principles of liberal democracy that underlie its reason for existence. We will struggle with the same basic question: who is the patriot? He who pays allegiance to the office of the President, the symbolism of the flag, the 'crabshell' nature of traditional American isolationism and domestic security, or he who stays steadfastly loyal to the principles of liberal democracy and the rule of law as envisioned and created by Jefferson and Madison? With the Pluto opposition to our Cancer planets and square Saturn, will we move our political and economic system towards the highest degree of 'homeland security' possible, even if it's at the expense of The Law and its constitutional framework (Saturn)? Will the 'patriots' be those who support this extreme protectionism/security or those who support the spirit of human freedom and the original intent of the liberal society as framed in the Constitution? It's a very difficult question, because of the geopolitical realities of terrorism and the anti-democratic forces in the world, who are seeking to destroy democratic, capitalist systems. Cancer/Capricorn issues are certainly focused in home/security/governmental/economic/social structures. Pluto opposing Venus, Jupiter, Sun and Mercury in Cancer will certainly raise havoc with our ideas of 'nationalism' and 'homeland', as well as our sense of humanitarianism and generosity (Venus/Jupiter). The economic crisis that comes with Pluto opposing those planets could be very serious, just as it was when Pluto conjuncted those Cancer planets from 1917-1939. When Pluto conjuncted the U.S. Sun and squared Saturn in the 1930s, we had the constitutional crisis of the New Deal and its attempt to combat the Great Depression. At the same time, we had to figure out how to combat Pluto in Cancer political ideologies in the world (all forms of virulent socialism...Stalinism, Fascism and Nazism), that sought to attack and eliminate liberal, democratic societies. The guns didn't start blazing though until Pluto entered Leo. I think we'll be faced with very similar scenarios with Pluto in Capricorn. Unfortunately, the Pluto in Cancer malignancies of the 20th Century did not die with World War II or with the collapse of the Soviet system. Ba'athism in the Middle East was founded by the remaining Nazis and their Arab allies in Damascus, Syria in 1945 at the end of the war. (The name of the political party is "The National Socialist Resurrection Party". The old Nazi party was called "The National Socialist German Workers' Party.") They still have control of Syria, and their military arm, Hezbollah, is trying to hold onto control of Lebanon. They are part of the 'insurgency problem' in Iraq after the US attack on Ba'athism there.

Their growing alliance with countries like Iran and the existence now of their 'Hezbollah sleeper cells' in Europe and America may force the liberal democracies of the world to fight for their very existence, just as we should have in the 30s, but didn't. Unfortunately, the Western Democracies were then suffering from the worst economic depression in history, so there wasn't much energy focused on foreign affairs. The fascists and the Nazis of the 1930s took advantage of that scenario. The current anti-democrats in the world are actually holding the purse strings of the world economy, which is driven by the West. It's a very dangerous situation. Right now, Russia's liberal democracy founded by Yeltsin is quickly transforming into a fascist state under Putin. China's so-called Communist system has transformed itself into a totalitarian capitalist system...which is just another way of describing Fascism. Iran, as the world's first modern 'theocracy', is vying for control of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. If it succeeds, it will seek to eliminate all non-Muslim elements in the region (i.e., Israel) and jockey itself into the lead position of the anti-Western, anti-democratic forces in the world. When Pluto is in Capricorn, the liberal democracies of the world will feel the pressure of the success of these very non-liberal, theocratic, fascist and neo-nazi systems which have organized and increased in power during Pluto's transit of Sagittarius. Once Pluto is in Capricorn, these ideological movements will become solidified, organized and institutionalized as government. They will then create a block of economic and political opposition to Euro-America-Japan-S. Korea. Since most of these countries will be in control of the flow of the world's oil, thus controlling the purse strings of the world economy, the capitalist/democratic West will be in serious trouble.

Unfortunately, the liberal immigration policies in Europe and America during the Pluto in Sag period, which admittedly were for good-hearted reasons, have allowed enemies of liberal democratic societies to infiltrate and establish bases. This will prove difficult to combat, if not impossible. The current problems with non-European immigrants in France and Britain are only the beginning. For the US, as the first liberal democracy, the Pluto Return in the U.S. chart will set the tone globally. During the Pluto return in Capricorn, the liberal democracies will be viewed as the 'old guard', the 'old world', and their view of society no longer viable for the future. Many Europeans and Americans will probably buy into that point of view and see the U.S. and the democratic West as a whole as the enemy of progress--progress defined as political and economic entitlement (Pluto in Capricorn). On one level, ideally all people should be politically and economically entitled and enfranchised, but unfortunately, not all people want to put the effort into educating themselves and striving for excellence to make real political entitlement and enfranchisement work to create a healthy society. You see this trend in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez. He's a demagogue who 'champions' the poor, blames corporate capitalism and the US for all of 'his' peoples' ills, and has decided he's an enemy of liberal democracy, and therefore America, because our system won't in and of itself 'take care' of the poor. So, now he's the newest dictator on the block and will become a leader of the non-democratic forces in the world. Based on the chart that gave him dictatorial powers, he'll probably ally himself with any country that is NOT democratic and try to create a world-wide anti-American front. He'll probably succeed when Pluto goes into Capricorn. These anti-democratic forces will eventually form a nasty block of opposition that only armed conflict will resolve (in my astrological opinion). If Europe and America are to survive as liberal democracies, we will once again have no choice but to fight it out with those who hate democracy and capitalism and want to destroy it. This could become a very harsh reality once Pluto enters Aquarius and conjuncts the U.S. Moon. WWII and the early Cold War occurred when Pluto opposed the U.S. Moon from Leo to Aquarius.

I know it's a bleak picture here, but, as a nation, we've been through it before...WWII was fought for the same basic reasons. We'll probably have to fight again to keep liberal democracy alive in the world. We'll end up doing that, I think, with Pluto in Capricorn opposing all of our Cancer planets and squaring our Saturn...if we don't resolve the conflicts then, when Pluto eventually conjuncts the US Moon in Aquarius, it could be another catastrophe like the 20th Century wars.

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