ILLUMINATING THE SHADOW
"If you've ever experienced a Pluto-Venus conjunction, you know what it means to die and be reborn, nothing less"
Niamh
Pluto: Transformation in Astrology
Let's start with Pluto.
Pluto is the planet most associated with transformation. Anyone that has ever been through a rare once in 248 year transit Pluto conjunction with their birth Venus will know what I am talking about!
Pluto is about life changing experiences that leave you an entirely different person. The Phoenix rising from the ashes is a metaphor for Pluto - being forged in the crucible of the alchemical fire - stronger and more formidable than before. Transformation is less about the destination, and more about the process. There is a rite of passage with Pluto. Scorpio is the sign most associated with Pluto's power. Although a water sign, its classical owner is Mars and so it has courage, originality and tenacity. Also the focus to stare into the abyss with courage and resilience - and then descend, assimilate, investigate, and not turn away - not yet anyway. Scorpio's task is to understand the darkness fully. After all, once the darkness is integrated, it is purged. We feel free.
Ahh, but the process-it is never that simple.
Sometimes Pluto is just bloody hard.
After all, another aspect to Pluto is Power.
Pluto is involved with power dynamics - and the flip side of power is vulnerability.
To the power hungry, vulnerability is death.
Pluto rules over death as the ultimate transformation. Call it ego death, if you will - the kind that means to survive is to be born again.
There is nothing like a Pluto transit for stripping away masks or illusions - anything superficial, unnecessary or light-weight must be shed. Again, with Pluto, the world "must" crops up a lot - Pluto will force a reckoning.
Aspects between Pluto and the Moon in the birth chart, transit or a relationship reading, can be particularly revealing. The Moon illuminates our deepest desires, emotions, hopes and dreams. Any conjunction, square or opposition between Moon and Pluto with suggest a persons emotional life is affected deeply by power dynamics - and power struggles.
After all, Pluto is also the god of riches, and holds great wealth. Pluto, also Hades in myth, rules the Underworld where souls are judged, away from the sunlit world.
Aspects between Pluto and Venus will also completely revolutionize a person's sense of love or attitudes towards finances, abundance, and what they hold dear. Hard Pluto to Venus aspects signify passion, but also compulsion and obsession.
However, even when in relation to another person, or a romantic relationship, Pluto is first and foremost about Self-transformation.
"Having Moon conjunct Pluto in my natal chart explained so much about how I am the way I am"
Emma
CAROLINE'S PLACIDUS ASTROLOGY READINGS
Hi, I'm Caroline - a Dublin Placidus astrologer based in Blacrock.
To book a session I will just need your date, time and location of birth.
The Moon: Shifting tides
The Moon's aspects to other planets tells us a lot about a person's emotional receptivity.
Moon conjunct Saturn can reveal someone who finds themselves in an emotional fortress, fiercely guarding their emotions.
Tight aspects to the Moon will always indicate what is being expressed, or has yet to be expressed.
Moon, Mercury, or any other personal planet for that matter, touching The North and South nodes - the eclipse points - will always add intensity to be transmuted or transformed. Mercury, the intellectual mind, on the nodes can point to very disrupted thought processes.
Asteroids like Chiron, the wounded healer, and stars like the fearful Algol - represented by a Medusa's severed head - in close aspect to personal planets, will also reveal psychological intensity. Lileth, the conceptual dark point of the Moon, tells us about the repressed feminine, including sexual impulses that may be buried or not acted upon...yet.
" I am the Phoenix rising from the ashes. I've always intuitively felt that. Now I know why"
Bianca
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Planets in detriment and fall
When a planet is comfortable but not at "home" in its sign, this may reveal the shadow aspect of that sign - take Venus in Aquarius' propensity to be detached or just plain cold.
Planets in detriment or fall, in signs where they are the least comfortable, often reveal major life lessons that almost always involve transformation.
For example, in Scorpio, the Moon may be suspicious, resentful or secretive. In Virgo, Venus may become perfectionist, hyper vigilant and ciritical. In the sensitive sign of Cancer, Mars may struggle to express drive in a healthy way.
Then there are the aspects and the houses that can reveal a mismatch between the planets natural state of ease and the conditions it finds itself in.
The 5th house of a birth chart is a house of creativity, joy and abundance. However, Jupiter even well placed in Pisces, and along with other aspects that support this in the chart, can indicate tendency towards over indulgence and excess. After all, Jupiter will amplify or expand whatever it touches.
"The Life Path reading with Caroline was amazing - there felt like a reason behind so many of the major chapters in my life"
Hamza
Neptune: Transcendence or undoing
Neptune must be mentioned, too, when dealing with transformation in astrology. Neptune represents the unseen realms: creativity, dreams, magic, theatre, mystical experiences, and psychic gifts.
The shadow side of Neptune - as with Jupiter and Pisces - is linked to illusion, dissolution, addiction, and undoing.
The danger with Neptune is the complete dissolving of boundaries.
Escapism may lead to stagnation, a self created prison of the mind. Everything is foggy, smoke and mirrors, and we may struggle to keep our feet on the ground!
Strong Neptune in an astrology chart will indicate great potential for positive transformation, even spiritual transcendence, as well as the opposite pull toward stagnation and loss.
A key part of understanding a person's astrology, is to understand the potential for transformation. The birth chart holds the person's core psychological make up and what they are here to learn. Life Path readings that uncover the year ahead will also help to make sense of life challenges happening now - we are always in the crucible of transformation, that is what it means to be human.
As well as being a Placidus Astrologer, I am also a Reiki Master Teacher and a Tarot Reader, based in Dublin.
Caroline x
