Pluto Stations…
Pluto, King of Darkness, at 26° ♑︎, stationed retrograde just after the Scorpio Full moon. Anytime a planet stations, it’s traits are amplified. Thus we may be feeling like the things that normally stalk our nightmares, those pesky underworld emanations, are surfacing in the daytime. Increased insecurities, jealousy, envy, feelings of instability, and/ or shady characters that you just can’t seem to get rid of, are all coming forward to be looked at and cleared. Pluto reminds us that it’s all ultimately an offering for our healing and transformation anyways. Like any talented professor, Pluto forces us to get curious. To look through to the quality of soul inherent in the darkness. However, if we avoid what’s on his syllabus he will instigate a series of intensified clashes with the work, until we are literally forced to complete his assignment. So being attuned to the terrain of shadowlands helps avoid those clashes from morphing into a crisis. Holding the awareness that Professor Pluto is on the scene will help you detach from the situation and allow you to get down to business.
A damsel in distress taking a harrowing plunge into the underworld, is a popular motif throughout all of documented mythology. Stretching all the way back to the oldest recorded cuneiform texts, “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, and “The Descent of Inanna'“ through to more westernized forms like the story of Persephone in Hades. But what about the ascent? It points to an important, and often overlooked inquiry. How do we reclaim our power, and rise from the midst of the panic and chaos? What does it mean to be sovereign, to rule oneself? How do integrate our underworld experiences healthily, and locate ourselves on our own mythic timeline? And lastly, (most importantly) how do we “get our groove back”, after the fall?
Chaos is the void of pure potentiality. She can be a wildly disorienting force if we aren't accustomed to living outside of our day runner, or google calendar. But stepping out into the wild unknown, is the mandate of the moment as Venus travels through Taurus where destabilizing Uranus has been tilling the ground since 2018. Wherever Uranus is we can expect radical shifts that shake up both our personal and collective paradigms. So don’t be too alarmed if you’ve noticed the things that you now are attracted to may have seemed to riskee or taboo for you in the past. That calling to step outside of the status quo is where the juice is. This isn’t about our comfort, or drawing within the lines but rather, this is about creating from the canvas of chaos. We are experiencing the paradox of wanting things to stay the same while encountering ceaseless change. While you may feel like you’ve been shot out of a pinball machine, the anecdote is connecting to our inner compass, while cultivating a practice of allowing. The fullness of our surrender to the unknown is our invitation to participate in creation. “If one opens to chaos; magic also arises.” -CG Jung.
May 3rd - May 6th Venus at 23° Taurus is in an applying trine to Pluto at 26° Capricorn. The Pluto Venus Magnetic principle is deep and probing. It helps us identify and purge the toxic, unconscious patterns, and connections we’ve unwittingly attracted across various timelines and from all dimensions. Again and again our unconscious presents us with the thing that causes us shame in an effort to heal it. But if it is unconscious, how do we go about that? Jung had a theory that these shadowy patterns kept presenting in our lives because we actually subconsciously desired the horrid thing. In some kinky way they turn us on. I know that’s an absolutely radical statement, but stay with me here.
In her groundbreaking book, “Existential Kink”, Carolyn Elliott uses the example of Alex to illustrate this point. A young man who, running from his shadow, spends a lot of time and effort getting a good education so he can land in a successful position, because success is the thing Alex has been told he “should’ want. Months later Alex finds that he “accidently” gets himself fired, only land back at home in his parents basement. She writes “Unconsciously, Alex is enjoying living with his parents and being taken care of. The ironic thing is: as long as Alex resists allowing himself to consciously experience his job loss and his being taken care of as a great victory and a fulfillment of his desires. (In other words, as long as he resists consenting to experience it as kinkily awesome the very same way his unconscious experiences it), then the more out of control he will feel.” Carolyn Elliot proposes a whole method of alchemy in her book. Summarily, Carolyn’s book is about leaning into the shadow. Delighting in, and even celebrating the things we find in the shadow lands, so we can finally feel fulfilled and move beyond their grasp, allowing us space to create something new.
That is exactly what the Venus /Pluto principle assists us with. It causes a series of intensified clashes with our shadow that reveal what is calling to be reformed from the foundation of our lives. This helps illuminate those unconscious patterns, the limitations that we project into our relationships and onto our partners that secretly turn us on. Control can be really sexy, it can also mirror where we too, are trying to outrun and deny our shadow. We have the opportunity now to transform the blockages that prevent us from fully taking responsibility for what is happening in the dark. And to look at the patterns of control that are keeping us stuck in a graveyard of unmanifested dreams.
**Working with the shadow should always be done responsibly, and approached with caution.
Art By Heather McClean.
