Burning Down The House: Pluto’s Return

Hold tight 
We’re in for nasty weather, 
There has got to be a way, 
Burning down the house 

Those lyrics from the Talking Heads keep playing in my head as I watch the protests following the death of George Floyd. After some early reports of looting and fires, most of the demonstrations remain peaceful. Yet I can’t help but see it as the perfect theme song for the upcoming US Pluto return in late Capricorn. With almost 2 years to go before the exact return, we may still be in for some nasty weather. 

Nothing Ordinary About It

The astrology of countries, corporations and events is called Mundane Astrology. Despite its name, there is nothing ordinary about it. This is especially true when it comes to Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, and Saturn, the god of Time.

In Mundane Astrology, Pluto oversees banking, the stock market, oil, nuclear power, earthquakes and wildfires. It rules all that is hidden. Collective shadow issues, secrets and conspiracy theories fall under its jurisdiction. So does mob psychology. At its most positive, Pluto brings renewal and rebirth.

Saturn’s territory includes architecture, government, law enforcement agencies, and authority figures. Conservatism. Rules and responsibilities. It governs limitations of all kinds, from territorial borders to personal boundaries. Saturn asks us to assess the strength of our structures, be they physical, psychological or cultural. What will survive the test of time?

The Saturn Pluto Storm

Pluto has been making its way through Capricorn since January of 2008. Saturn joined Pluto in that sign in December of 2017.

In his seminal work on cosmic cycles, Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, Richard Tarnas describes Saturn/Pluto cycles as especially grim. He correlates Saturn/Pluto periods with economic collapse, political breakdown, subversive threats and even disease. He points out that the Bubonic Plague was associated with a Saturn/Pluto alignment. So was the start of the AIDS epidemic. Saturn and Pluto made an exact conjunction on January 12th, 2020, coinciding with the emergence of the Covid-19 virus. 

For several years now, the duo has been exerting the unforgiving energy of Capricorn together and separately. Think America first. The ever widening political divide. The Me Too movement. Trade wars. Devastating locust swarms in Africa. A measles outbreak, perhaps a precursor to the global pandemic currently affecting us all.

Pluto In The US Chart

The last time Pluto traveled through Capricorn was 1762 to 1778, coinciding with the American revolution and the founding of the country. In the USA Sibley chart Pluto sits at 27 degrees Capricorn in the second house. Its return won’t happen until February of 2022. Or, if you account for precession, 2024. But we are already feeling the effects.

In Mundane Astrology the second house governs a country’s values, its money, and its resources like food and toilet paper. With January’s meet-up of Saturn and Pluto falling in the US second house, the stock market downturn was no surprise. Neither was the shortage of staples in the supermarkets.

The current mass protests, the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades, are also not a surprise. I originally thought lack of food or loss of income from Coronavirus shutdowns would be the catalyst for civil unrest. Instead it has turned out to be the repeating fight for equal treatment that has its karmic roots in the country’s very founding.

Civil Unrest Redux

It seems remiss to discuss Pluto and the current protests without referencing another turbulent period in recent history. The mid-1960s was a time of tremendous change, marked by huge demonstrations. The US was rocked by 159 race riots in what is now referred to as The Long Hot Summer of 1967. The largest and deadliest of these were in Detroit and Newark, NJ.

At the time Pluto was dancing in the sky with a different partner, Uranus. Uranus is often called The Great Awakener as it brings forth the energy of rebellion, independence and explosive change. The exact conjunctions happened on October 9, 1965, April 4 1966, and June 30, 1966, but the two continued to exert their influence well into that next summer.

Astrologer Jude Cowell notes in her well written blog on the astrology of US politics, Stars Over Washington, the transiting midpoint between Uranus and Pluto is currently opposing the conjunctions of 1965/66. For those who don’t speak astrology, that means the same energies that spurred on the violent protests of The Long Hot Summer are again being activated.

While many of the issues ring familiar, we’re not currently seeing the kind of violence we saw in the 60s. The difference may be the dance partner. While Uranus adds explosive, revolutionary energy to Pluto’s call for death and rebirth, Saturn adds a more measured, somber tone. However, that may change when Saturn fully enters Aquarius, the sign ruled by Uranus later this year and is joined there by expansive Jupiter on the Winter Solstice.

Karma In The US Chart 

When I analyze a Mundane chart I look for the karma of the collective, similar to how I look at an individual’s past life energies in my natal Karmic Astrology readings. The classic karmic markers in astrology are Saturn and the South Node of the Moon. In addition, I look at a host of other factors like retrograde planets and intercepted houses. The US Sibley chart has both.

Pluto is retrograde in the US second house, the house of security and survival. As I mentioned above, it’s where we look to assess the country’s resources and values. The second house also governs the distribution of wealth among the population.

The United States ranks as the wealthiest nation in the world. Yet, as individuals we suffer from a tremendous wealth gap. In fact, the wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. A study by the Brookings Institute shows that white families typically have a net worth ten times that of black families.

The Shadow Knows

Pluto represents the shadow. It embodies all the things we don’t talk about in polite society. On the surface Americans value liberty and justice for all. But in the shadows hides a desire for power. How often do you hear the words wealth and power in the same sentence?

Opposing Pluto retrograde in the 2nd house is Mercury, also retrograde. One of Mercury’s roles in a Mundane chart is the representation of a country’s ideology. The eighth house, where Mercury resides, denotes among other things situations of inequality or oppression. The 2nd/8th house opposition of Pluto to Mercury is indicative of an unspoken power struggle using wealth inequality as a means of control. And with both planets retrograde, it’s a big part of our collective karma.

Another indicator of karma is the sign on the 12th house cusp, which in the US chart is Scorpio. Scorpio is ruled by Pluto and it’s natural home is the 8th house. Prisons and others places of confinement are the domain of the 12th house. As shown by the current national outcry about the deaths of George Floyd and others, wealth inequality is not the only way that power is used to exercise control.

Same As It Ever Was 

Why do we continue burning down the same house over and over? The US has Virgo and Pisces intercepted in the 9th and 3rd houses of belief systems and communication. From the standpoint of a mundane chart, interceptions in these houses indicate a karmic failure on the part of the collective to define personal convictions. Instead, the populace looks to perceived thought leaders, and increasingly to online social platforms. This would explain the pervasive spread of conspiracy theories, and the growing inability to discern whether the news of the day is real or fake.

The Virgo/Pisces axis represents service to others. When a crisis hits the news, Americans famously devote their time, voices and resources to aid the cause. But with Virgo and Pisces trapped in an interception, the will to make lasting change is thwarted. And there is an unfortunate tendency to forget one crisis as soon as another becomes the cause du jour. Perhaps this is why we are dealing with the same karmic issues around racism and inequality more than 50 years after The Long Hot Summer.

Becoming the Phoenix

With Pluto retrograde in the US chart and Scorpio on its 12th house cusp, the US is dealing with some very heavy karmic burdens. Where Pluto is involved, there are many tests and no shortcuts. As the planet of death and rebirth, Pluto’s karma sometimes entails violence as part of the healing process.

But with the North Node in the eighth house along with the Part of Fortune, the reward for burning down our karmic house of cards is great! The gift to be gained is prosperity through trusted partnerships and the resources to be an agent for positive change at home and abroad.

It is no wonder one of Pluto’s symbols is the Phoenix. In order to be reborn, the Phoenix must first burn. It sets it’s nest on fire, essentially burning down its own house. Only then can it be reborn, stronger and beautifully transformed.

Rising From The Ashes

Because the karma of the US 2nd house Pluto is collective, it also falls on the shoulders of each and every citizen of the country. Yes, you read that correctly.

Right now most of us are too busy shouting to sit quietly and look at our own shadow. But if we are to heal the collective karma coming due with the approaching US Pluto return, we must.

It’s easy to look at the current crisis around racial injustice as something outside of ourselves. We can say it’s about the police, or its about the 1%, or some other institution. But that won’t heal the karma. Anger doesn’t heal anger. Shame doesn’t heal shame. And as spelled out in Sam Keen’s film, demonizing one group because it demonized another is not a path to creating a more fair and just world.

That’s not to say that there aren’t institutionalized beliefs and practices that need to be changed. There are. And this isn’t meant to dismiss or trivialize the pain felt by blacks or any other demographic group that has been the target of our karmic power grab. Because that’s real.

But let’s face it, we’re all heading into the devastating storm of the US Pluto return together. And that means that each and every one of us needs to look deep within to examine our own power issues. Where is each of us projecting blame outside of self? What about ourselves makes us feel so undeserving that we need to make someone else feel less deserving?

If we’re going to once and for all make lasting change, we must burn down the walls that house our shame, guilt, and insecurities instead of burning down the storefronts of our neighbors. We must all become the phoenix.

My house! Is out of the ordinary
That’s right! Don’t wanna hurt nobody
Some things sure can sweep me off my feet
Burning down the house.