There's a lot of buzz this month centered around one particular date--February 22, 2022. Internet New Agers have seized the date with white knuckles, insisting that not only is it yet another portal-opening opportunity, but also a major shift in the timeline of the universe for as many reasons as their are psychic readers. Some have connected its importance to a major astrological transit--the United States Pluto Return. But the truth is, the US Pluto Return actually perfects two days previously. And while I'm sure there's something to be said for the numerology of 2/22, I'd like to take a moment to address this transit free of any sensational spirituality, extraterrestrial cooperation, or malevolent entities.
(A quick note before we begin: I'm using the Sibly Chart as the US Natal, which is widely accepted as the most accurate representation of the United States in astrology. I've drawn up the Return using Washington DC as the location, as the seat of US power has shifted considerably since 1776. Additionally, I use the Placidus system because I believe the uneven distribution of energies within each house best represents the imperfect nature of human life and examining when and how the signs flow from one to the other within each house gives me a more nuanced picture of the extremely messy forces at play in any evolutionary journey.)
Let's start by examining Pluto itself:
In the US natal chart, Pluto is at 27 degrees 33 minutes Capricorn, located in the chart's 2nd House. Here we see the Puritan Work Ethic, an intense drive to succeed and a belief in systems of support and structure to achieve it. Money is power, and America was about to explore this equation in some very new ways. Opposing Mercury, Capitalism was baked into the system from the beginning, creating a country whose domestic trade was based in other people's money though not always with the most transparency. Both these planets were retrograde at the time, giving a sense that as US Power swells, trade is diminished and potentially cannibalised as Mercury moves towards the chart's more domesticated 7th House and its solar stellium in Cancer.
But the Return Chart changes the flow of tides with Pluto on the chart's descendant. In order to access its remaining power, to reclaim any sense of control, the US needs to win back the love of those closest to it--likely its own citizens, represented by the Libra moon hanging low in the chart's 4th House. Aside from the cardinal placement of the planet, Pluto makes no major aspect to anything else. The Puritan Work Ethic is still there, further emphasised by Mars in Capricorn in the chart's 6th--at this point, it's such a deeply held belief and driving force that it makes the country look deeply undesirable to those who might court it. With Venus atop that martial drive, there's a sense that the country knows what's best for others better than those others know themselves. We see this strengthened with a sextile to evangelising Neptune in the chart's 9th.
At this point it's worth discussing the country's relationship and attitudes to health.
Given the events of the last few years, the US stance on public health is of obvious concern. The original constitution takes no stance on health, a fact that Dr. Benjamin Rush, a constitutional signatory and medical practitioner, warned could lead to problems down the line. And rightfully so: in the US chart, health is treated with Taurean inalienability, but the 6th House is also home to Uranus in Gemini. Hasty unconventional decisions are made in the name of public service, often on little more than outside opinion. But as this opinion changes, so too may policy--perhaps so quickly that no ink is ever allowed to dry on the page.
But this isn't so in the return chart. Here, health is handled with Sagittarian globalism, and with the 6th House host to strong personal Capricorn planets, the decisions made may become some of the country's most deeply held truths. In the debate of COVID handling, the Supreme Court recently struck down federal OSHA mandates calling for vaccination or weekly testing for all companies with more than 100 employees, originally a federal decree. But the decision was not based on the rightness of public health mandates in general--it was based on the issuing agency. OSHA handles matters of workplace safety, not public welfare, which the court argued allows them to make provisions for healthcare workers but not necessarily health in broad strokes. If the mandate had come through a different issuing agency, perhaps the court would have found differently.
The constitution has special provisions for religious freedom, an issue near and dear to the founders of the country (evidenced in part by the loose conjunction to Jupiter in Cancer and the fascinating pull of Neptune in the chart's 9th), but Dr. Rush urged his colleagues to hold medical freedom with the same esteem. Looking back today, his warnings seem ominous. The truth is there are no constitutional provisions for medical freedom, and if a well-worded case comes up to the court we can't be certain how they'll rule.
But the US esteem for law doesn't seem to be going anywhere. The Moon in Libra in the chart's 4th House assures us that law still holds weight and its gravity is enforced by Saturn. And here we come full circle--because this Return could mean big changes for the concept of law in America. With transformational Pluto on the descendant, the 7th House is poised for revolution. And as home to both Mercury and Saturn in Aquarius, many of these reforms could find a place in contractual cannon.
The 7th House also rules contracts and legal agreements, and the Return chart's Aquarian Saturn trines its Libra Moon, putting both planets in good reception. Aquarius is a sign of the collective, home to the United States' natal Moon in the 3rd indicating that the Common People and their greatest good were meant to be the voice of the nation. But that's no longer the case. The natal Gemini 7th House is home to Mars and also hosts natal Venus and Jupiter in Cancer--lawmakers may entertain outside perspectives and a well-worded argument, but loyalty lies with the money.
The Return chart brings an interesting evolution to these same energies: the legal-minded 7th House is now very much concerned about the collective, or at least their opinion, evidenced by Mercury in Aquarius, and the nation is willing to set up structures of support here. It's possible that for the first time in nearly two hundred and fifty years, the United States of America could actually become democratic.
Which may sound ironic if you've been living in the same United States that I have. Innumerable news stories over the last few years alone have had both sides of political thought decrying the End of Democracy at some point or another. In most American social studies classes, we learn that we live in a Democracy and the ultimate power of government is held by the people through regular elections. But that's not exactly true. In theory, America was meant to be a Representative Democracy, or a Republic, where government is run by officials elected by the people to advocate for their best interest--a Common People represented by the Ideals of Collective, as indicated by the US natal Moon--but our current model of government relies much more heavily on market than elections. Again the idea of the Free Market would allow people to vote with their dollars, growing markets that actually cater to their needs while others die out. But in the time since Adam Smith wrote the Wealth of Nations, much about our monetary system has changed. The market is now ruled more by speculation than patronage, and corporately sponsored lobbyists have as much sway in Washington as any elected official. We may still be able to define the United States as a democracy if we--like the law--consider corporations legally as people.
But this could change. While the Return Chart still places the Moon in a conceptual air sign, Libra brings a degree of humanity to the collective it represents. There is still Big Money in America's corporations with both Mars and Venus in institutionally-minded Capricorn alongside Pluto, but the American Public is watching more carefully and feeling the inequality more keenly than ever.
There's a lot more to unpack in regards to Pluto's time in Capricorn and the changes it brings to corporate entities and institutions, but it would render this article unreadably long. That's a topic for another day.
If America once identified itself as a Utopian experiment in government, part of a thriving world exchange equal to any other power, it's been at least a century since we grew a bit too big for our revolutionary breeches. The Sibly chart positions the US Ascendant at 12 Degrees of Sagittarius. The Founding Fathers saw their newly minted country as a beacon of Truth in Governance, but Jovial Sagittarius has a tendency to swell. With a few more revolutions under its belt, America fancied itself the seat of global power and the ultimate arbiter of an international morality.
But this area of the US chart has also been a hotspot of activity over the last few years: when the nodal axis shifted in June of 2020, it placed a host of astrological phenomena right in the American Identity center. The Total Solar Eclipse on December 4th of 2021 sat perfectly atop the US Ascendant. Eclipses were traditionally malefic without exception and while modern astrology is a bit less fire-and-brimstone than the older art, eclipses indicate life-altering change. In so many ways it feels like lightning striking at the too-large ego of the nation, a reminder to an overgrown empire that the world is a big place and there are still beasts in the shadows.
Of course the US response remains to be seen. It's easy enough for one individual to admit their mistakes and step back, it's quite another for an empire to admit their wrongdoings and examine their place. The Return chart places the ascendant at 22 degrees of Cancer, just nine degrees away from the natal Sun. If US Power was intelligent, they would return to their roots and examine what lies at the heart of the American experiment. There are scholars who study the constitution and actively advise lawyers and law makers, careful not to step on the toes of what amounts to our national skeleton, but centuries after its creators have passed this amounts to little more than semantics and logic puzzles. With returning Pluto opposing this indicator of identity, we may yet see a new wave of nationalism as the nation renews itself in its original image. Of course this would bring challenges to its standing as a global power but the US has long been losing its grip on the pulse of the world. It's been slow to adopt the welfare and safety standards that spread first across the European Union and then into Asia, still importing--and exporting--tons of toxic chemicals and genetically modified crops banned throughout much of the world. Conscious citizens of the US actively seek products from other parts of the world because of rightful distrust of their government's concern for their wellbeing. In order for the US to remain a relevant player on the global stage, it must scale itself back, tend to its own children, and clean its own house. If it can restore its domestic territory to harmony, a new wave of nationalism could restore the country to something beautiful. But nationalism grows toxic easily and the word itself has become synonymous with fascism especially over the last few years. With the return chart's community centers in polarized Gemini we could well continue to stand as a house divided, splintered into hyper local communities of a like-minded few. This hardly seems like a stretch--every year or so, headlines blare that recent polls show Americans would rather split the country into sovereign regions or some state or the other wants to secede. We already live under only superficial unity.
Like any major outer planetary transit, the US Pluto Return will not play out in a single day. We've lived in its shadow for several years already and thanks to Pluto's annual retrograde we'll see two more perfections of this aspect which we'll discuss in time. Ultimately, this will continue to unfold through 2024 and likely culminate in Pluto's ingress into Aquarius which will change not only the US landscape but that of the entire world.
It's also likely that we will not see all the developments this brings. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, and in order to tweeze any meaning from the events ahead one will need to watch carefully with discerning eyes. There are so many moving parts on the world stage, and any meaningful discussion of mundane astrology must be accompanied by a healthy dose of objective history, itself a scarce resource in actively rewriting with each passing day.
I sincerely doubt that any of my readers are US lawmakers. Most of you are just like me: concerned citizens and curious onlookers. You're either navigating life through these undoubtedly historical times, looking to see what words are used to record in realtime, or you're making popcorn on the flames of the destruction just waiting to see how it all ends. I can share similar stories from history and myth, point to their endings as near certainties for our future (which I may well do in the coming weeks), but there is still much to be seen. Even pawns play a part in the game, and citizen action could certainly turn the tables. So for now, keep your eyes and ears open. Listen carefully, look past appearances. But most importantly, act as though the future you wish to see is a certainty. Remember that Free Will is the hardest choice you'll ever make, and it's a vow you'll renew daily especially as the powers that be flail against their slipping grip. Remain poised, move deliberately, and continue ahead.
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Intelligent and clear analysis. Thankyou. Look forward to the next installments.