The astrology of power and the last gasp of Pluto in Capricorn
And, how not to be a tyrant
Yes, things can get more tense. And they are indeed, as we move toward a Super Full Moon (i.e. very close to Earth) in Aries, the sign of the god of war, on October 17th.
We are once again in a season of volatility, this time with the planet of action and self-assertion - Mars - moving into a face-off with Pluto, God(dess) of the Underworld. The opposition will be exact at the Scorpio New Moon on November 1st, but is heavily triggered (as might we all be) at the Full Moon.
The Mars-Pluto opposition occrs on a regular basis, most recently in May of 2023. But this instance occurs at a volatile degree of the Zodiac, 29 Capricorn, and is the first of three exact events through April.
The last degree of Capricorn is associated with tyrants and dictators, especially in a time when our understanding and use of power is incredibly distorted. Pluto’s work is to excavate and expose the distortions, whether in our institutions or ourselves.
A Full Moon sheds light, amplifies, and brings to fruition the seeds we have been planting since the cycle began at the New Moon, in this case, a solar eclipse in Libra. This Aries Full Moon, while not an eclipse itself, closes out the last eclipse season of 2024, as well as the last series of eclipses along the Aries-Libra axis1 for nearly a decade.
In this case, the Sun and Moon form a tense cross in the sky with Mars and Pluto. All four cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn - are activated. Cardinal signs initiate and begin, they carry an energy of assertion. This is not a passive event.
Mars and Pluto are both power planets, related to will, desire, and passion. Mars operates in the more personal, visible, and material realm. It points to what gives us energy, lights our fire, and what we choose to go after. Pluto, as an invisible planet, governs the hidden, subconscious passions we may have trouble bringing to consciousness, much less admitting. It is a chthonic force that comes from the deepest place within.
The two planets in tension, such as in an opposition, bring struggle for dominance and control, and often involve force. This is true in a natal chart as well as in world events. With an opposition, too, often comes projection onto another. Accusations of evil and villifying others can be an effect of this configuration.
While it is hard to imagine the political conversation expressing more finger-pointing and accusations of evil, that may well occur with the planetary energies at work. But it may also happen for you, too.
What can you do with all this tension, especially knowing how volatile the world is at the moment?
In fact, it’s incumbent on you and me to recognize and transmute our own tendencies to tyranny. What lives in your heart, and mine, is what shows up in the world.
And while you may not identify with the archetype of ‘tyrant’, just think for a moment about the last time you were carried away by your own will, passion, or need for control in an exchange with someone else.
Chances are, there are few among us who can claim to never have tried to bend a situation or fellow being to our will. Especially because we are indoctrinated to believe that our power lies in our ability to control the outcome, to get what we want. The extreme consequence of desire and creative power is forcing the result.
Bringing the cardinal energies into consciousness - Aries as the impulse to be yourself; Cancer as the tendency to nurture and protect; Libra as the need to be in relationship with the other; and Capricorn as the desire to build a foundation with and on the Earth - is the opportunity at this Full Moon. Learn to love what you desire, and take action aligned with nature and your soul, in cooperation with every other person or thing.
This is what it means to co-create with the cosmos.
The partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025 will be in Aries, but the eclipse axis itself, the nodes of the Moon, will have shifted into Virgo and Pisces by then.