Pluto in Aquarius: Transformation of Worldviews  

Pluto journeys through Aquarius about four times in a millennium (246-year orbit). Each time when the Lord of the Underworld enters the most social and idealistic sign of the zodiac a period of upheaval, liberation and reflection on what it means to be human is initiated. Uranus, the ancient sky god and modern ruler of Aquarius, and Pluto, modern ruler of Scorpio, represent quite different energies. Our highest and loftiest ideals (Aquarius) are challenged by the destructive but ultimately creative force of evolution (Pluto).

Going back through time, we will find that Pluto-in-Aquarius periods were marked by scientific revolutions as well as a transformation of religions and belief systems that brought on the struggle for individual freedom and the liberation from authoritative rule. Let’s explore the last three passages of Pluto through Aquarius.

1286 – 1306 coincided with the last Air Age (1186-1405). The Great Cathedrals were built, and the first universities emerged inspired by the crusades and subsequent encounters with the Arab world.  Science was still controlled by the Church. Religious and secular leaders competed over the hearts and minds of people in search for a holy order that underpins everyone and everything. The Mongol Empire spread over most parts of Asia and large parts of Europe building a network for trade and exchange. => People were united by their faith and identified themselves through their connection with the divine. => Age of the religious worldview

1533 – 1553 coincided with Neptune in Aries. This period witnessed the height of the reformation with its ongoing religious wars between Catholics and Protestants. Martin Luther translated the bible and Henry VIII of England split from the Roman Church. Copernicus postulated Heliocentrism as the astronomical model of the solar system. => the scientific world view was emerging but still in battle with the dogma of the Church; the Protestant Reformation evolved into various regional sects and spread out in a diversity of beliefs and religious practices. =>The rise of the heliocentric worldview and solar consciousness.

The next Pluto in Aquarius transit was during 1777 – 1797. The Age of Enlightenment gave rise to the secularisation of society. Church and the State finally separated. We had the American Bill of Rights, the bloody French Revolution. Uranus was discovered while still in Gemini and it was also the beginning of the Industrial and Scientific Revolution. => Age of secularisation and the beginning of individuation.

2023-2044: Age of a New Cosmic Order

Pluto entered Aquarius briefly in 2023 during March – June and will re-enter the sign of the Water bearer on January 21, 2024. Pluto will dip back into Capricorn for the last time from September 3^rd until November 22^nd, 2024. From then on, the Lord of the Underworld remains in Aquarius until 2044.

Currently we are experiencing the last days of Pluto in authoritarian Capricorn which he entered already in 2008. Since then, we have witnessed the slow and painful break-down of the old World Order. Aged tyrants are still trying to hold onto their power and systems of rule justified by archaic beliefs and false dogmas. Nonetheless, Pluto’s transformative energies affect everybody. At this moment in time, we are all called to review, reflect, make contact with our ‘personal underworld’ and do our best by clearing and purging our negatively conditioned patterns of disempowerment and disengagement from reality. The positive lessons of Pluto in Capricorn have been self-mastery and taking responsibility for our actions, knowing that we are powerful when in touch with our gut feeling and aligned with our own truth.

History tells us that during Pluto’s transition through Aquarius new frontiers of comprehension become apparent as taboos get broken and boundaries pushed. What was unacceptable before becomes acceptable. A new form of human being is emerging out of the rubble of the old at each passage. Again, humanity is standing at a highly important turning point that also coincides with the beginning of a new Air Age, a new 200-year epoch with Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions taking place in air signs. On the December solstice in 2020 they mutated from Earth to Air, initiating a time for civilization to express itself through air in all its permutations, for better or worse. Air can at once show us where we are connected as well as where we are disconnected. Air supports humanistic principles, grass root movements, and the power of the collective (Aquarius).  During the Earth Age that just has ended (1802-2020), our material conditions of life have improved beyond measure. At the same time, as a culture we have grown fragmented and disconnected. The scientific approach to life has created a soulless world.  We have lost our spiritual connection. This might be the main reason why we are at such a crisis point. We not only need to find our way forward but also back by reconnecting with our true purpose and awaken to the dimension of soul that unifies us with all life, may it be human, animal or plant.

And we must find our place in the new Cosmic Order that is emerging over the next few years, when the three outer planets align in a harmonious Minor Grand Trine in 2026 consisting of an applying sextile between Pluto and Neptune, a separating sextile between Neptune and Uranus and a trine between Pluto and Uranus.  The entry of Pluto in Aquarius stirs us already towards the new paradigm that humanity as a whole needs to call in by honouring our shared existence on earth and in the universe, while also supporting an individual perception.  

Some guiding principles:

• Think cosmically, act authentically!
• When dealing with Pluto, stay in touch with your gut feelings, your instinctual wisdom and truth.
• Reach beyond entrenched boundaries, regenerate, and follow your spiritual impulse; serve the larger cosmic whole of which you are a part.

Tina Mews
November 2023