Astrology of the Shadow 2020: Part Two

Pluto Gave You More Than You Can Handle. Now What?  

In my last post, I went over the history of Pluto, plagues, and what’s coming up for us all with COVID-19. If you missed it, click here to catch up there.

Recently, I was talking to a colleague about writing this series. I mentioned that I want to be honest without intimidating anyone about what lies ahead for us this year, and she said, “Well, your clients and followers have been through their Saturn return already, for the most part. They’ll be totally fine if you layout Pluto for them.” 

I have to be honest: I laughed. Not because I don’t think that you’re already resilient, empowered humans who can’t handle what’s coming. Not at all! I laughed because there’s a distinct difference between what Saturn brings (or has brought) to the table and what Pluto offers.

Pluto vs. Saturn -Or- Discipline vs. Demolition

If you’ve been hanging around my social channels for a while, you’ve heard me reference a Saturn return. Around the age of 29, Saturn returns to the exact place in the sky he was when you were born. As the Lord of Karma and the cosmic disciplinarian, this is often a heavy reality check. At this point in our lives, if we aren’t living in alignment with our potential, Saturn will course-correct for you, and it isn’t always a gentle nudge. 

Here’s the shortcut to understanding these planets and their cycles:

Saturn will give us a lot to handle. During a heavy Saturn transit, things can feel downright oppressive. But Saturn always gives us the maximum of what we can handle—his essence pushes us to the boundaries of our limits so we can grow into our best selves.

Pluto, on the other hand, just straight-up gives us more than we can handle. By giving us more than we can handle, we breakdown to breakthrough. These are very different energies, and when they come together, combining forces, we get both of the archetypes working as one.

This is what we just recently went through, only with Jupiter, the biggest planet of the solar system right alongside them both, making their impact undeniably large.

Do you see the huge difference between what we experience with Saturn and Pluto?

TLDR; Saturn always gives us as much as we can handle. He stretches us to our limits, while Pluto gives us more than we can handle. 

America’s Pluto Return: A Country Reborn

And here’s the deal: Right now, America is going through its Pluto return in Capricorn (yes, even countries have their own natal charts!), which is affecting the entire world.

When it comes down to it, Pluto is giving us far more than our current structures and systems can handle so that they can break… So that we can break and regain agency in our personal and collective transformation. 

If that sounds scary, well… it is! But please know that change is supposed to be a little scary and that it’s absolutely okay to feel afraid. That said, we were never meant to dwell in this fear for the long haul. We are more emotionally resilient than we could have ever imagined. We’ve got this!

And honestly, there is no other choice but to embrace it.

We’re sitting in a painful time in human history. There isn’t a quick fix, and we’re going to be here for a while. Once we understand that, we can start to move out of our fear and switch gears from powerless to empowered, from terrified to transformed. 

Like I said in my previous post, we’re in these astrological transits for all of 2020. Pluto and Jupiter conjoined on April 4th when this pandemic took off and they’ll do so again on June 30th and November 12th. Jupiter and Saturn will also conjoin at the very end of this year on the winter solstice. This marks an important turning point in this year of endings and new beginnings. Though even then, Mars in Aries will square Pluto still, which indicates things are still hard.

We can’t go around; we have to go in. So how do we get through it? 

First, we all have to understand that nothing will go according to plan, and that’s okay. We’re collectively going through some sincere challenges and we have to be able to honor our feelings about that while still being able to pivot (this is the definition of resilience, really). 

In 2019, I had planned to open up applications for Moon School (which is one of the primary engines of my business) at the start of this year. Then COVID-19 happened, and I had to pivot. While we may not be able to fly to Italy for a luxe, soul-searching retreat, the core of Moon School hasn’t changed. I can still teach womxn about aligning with cosmic and personal rhythms to live their best and happiest lives. (In fact, I’m opening up applications for an on-line, extremely potent version of Moon School later this summer… eek! Stay tuned. I’m so excited!). 

Invest In Who And What Matters Most

That’s the lesson here, for all of us. Dial back your expectations and invest in what and who matters most. Use this time to deep and get really clear on what is going to nurture you most (we are in nourishing, soothing Taurus season, after all). What is going to sustain you in the months ahead? We all need to figure out our nonnegotiables and go all-in on them. Whatever we do now will set the foundation of what’s to come after we get through this. 

In my next and last post in this series, I go deep into the astrology for the rest of the year, and even do something I rarely do: make some predictions on where I think we’re headed when all is said and done.