Pluto Through Generations
☉♌︎ ☽♌︎ ☿♍︎
(happy new moon!)
Pluto, the smallest and furthest planet from the sun. This lil planet makes big moves in how generations of people behave.
Pluto represents the underworld and is seen as a symbol of transformation. It disrupts the masses, rules over phobias, obsessions and crime. This planet is regenerative, Pluto exploits to allow for growth. I love looking at the way Pluto lines up with the past.
The planet Pluto was only discovered in 1930, so it’s relatively new in the space of astrology. All this really means is that there’s more observational research to be done as Pluto moves through history. Being the furthest from the sun, Pluto takes 248 years to make it’s full orbit. It also has an elliptical orbit which means it can be in any one sign from 12-33 years.
I see it as since it’s so far away, it might not have as large of an effect into one specific birth chart (unless the person has it in a significant house/aspect) but that the energy of Pluto indirectly waves over the Earth as a whole. Pluto also operates on a higher octave of Mars. Scorpio’s home sign is Pluto, but before Pluto’s discovery it was Mars. Instead of the quick action Mars brings to an individual, Pluto is looking for the long term actions we take as a collective.
I’m not going to go through Pluto in every sign bc that would take actual archives of history, but I will start with Pluto in Aries.
Pluto in Aries — Colonization
Aries is the masculine, cardinal, fire and ruled by Mars. Mars represents passion, bravery, confidence, but also violence. Mars wants blood. Aries comes from Ares, the Greek god of war. And another name for Ares was Mars. Pluto in Aries was a time of war.
The last time Pluto was in Aries was in the early-mid 1800s. Colonization hit a peak in this time with the push for Manifest Destiny in the Americas, waging war on Natives of the land as genociders pushed westward. The Industrial Revolution in this time period advanced military weapons, the Wild West was getting it’s name of the Wild West for the rise of robber barons and outlaws. This was also a time when Western Imperialism peaked in Asia with British invasions in India and Myanmar. In China, the Qing Dynasty ruled until they were defeated by the British and the French during the two Opium Wars. Pluto in Aries was a marker for a lot of cruelty. It was a time of individualistic ideals and violence throughout the world.
Pluto in Libra — Peace Movements
The opposite sign to Aries is Libra. Libra is the masculine, cardinal, air and ruled by Venus. Venus represents our values on beauty, harmony, and relationships. Pluto was in the sign of Libra from 1971-1984, with the planet Uranus also joining Pluto in it’s first 5 years of Libra in 1971-1976. Uranus takes about 7 years to move through one sign and represents originality and liberation. Intrestingly enough, we know the 70’s to be a time of anti-war movements and the rise of peaceful protesting. This era of time was also a marker for women’s rights. In 1972 the Equal Rights Amendment was passed in Congress, and Supreme Court case Eisenstadt v. Baird gave women legal access to birth control. Then in 1973 the passing of Roe v. Wade gave women the constitutional right to abortion. Both of these followed the Women’s Strike for Equality in 1970. (though Pluto didn’t officially move into Libra until 1971, the year prior becomes almost like a shadow period of what’s to come.) And right here in Houston, took place the National Women’s Conference of 1977. This conference called for anti-discrimination in employment, anti-discrimination for pregnancy, equal pay, and attention to minority women.
Conversations about the protection and rights of the LGBTQ+ community also became prominent in this time. There were the Stonewall riots in the 70’s, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera founded the STAR house as a safe space for LGBT youth. In 1972 Sweden became the first country to allow transgender people to legally change their sex and allow free hormone therapy. In 1979 the first national Pride March was held in D.C. Pluto in Libra marked a time for creating harmony and brought tranformation in spaces that were all about the love people share.
Pluto in Scorpio — Millenials, Death, + Investments
Scorpio is the feminine, fixed, water and is ruled by Pluto. The last time Pluto was in Scorpio was 1983-1995, this is the least amount of time Pluto spent in one sign, and it was in its home sign. Having Pluto in it’s domicile, the children being born in this time period gives us the generation we know as Millenials. Millenials are the generation raised on Harry Potter, entered the workforce after the recession in 2008, and did a lot for redefining this workforce. The Scorpion generation redfined culture surrounding the workforce taboos of hair, piercings, tattoos, etc. (which isn’t surprising since they were also teens when Hot Topic was at its peak.)
Since Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, king of the underworld, the late 80’s to the early 90’s created more conversations around mortality.
In 1984 came the discovery of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The Titanic sinks in 1985, the following year in 1986 the NASA ‘s Challenger space shuttle explodes on live TV. In the same year is Chernobyl, a nuclear explosion in Ukraine. Prozac becomes the first depression medication on the market in 1988. Exxon spills 10 million gallons of oil in 1989, with our Mother Earth taking a huge impact on its ecosystem. OJ is acquitted in 1995 for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, with millions of people at this time fascinated by this case.
Also notably, there was a lot of Scorpio-esque trends in this era’s pop culture.
MJ’s Thriller was top of the music charts, MTV influenced more punk fashion trends with Vivienne Westwood being a vangaurd in the fashion world. Ghostbusters, Die Hard, and E.T. were also popular films at this time.
Both Pluto and Scorpio can tell us about long term assests/investments. In 1983 the internet was born, which begins this new venture into the unknown digital space. In 1982 IBM releases the first personal computer (y’all remember that dial up tone?)
Apple releases its first Mac computer in 1984, and Bezos launches Amazon in 1994, becoming the world’s largest online retailer.
Pluto in Scorpio showed us this embracement of the unknown that was driven by long term moneeeey.
Pluto in Sagittarius — Gen Z, Tech, + Religion
Sagittarius is the masculine, mutable, fire and is ruled by Jupiter. Pluto was in Sag from 1996-2008. Jupiter stands for expanding your world view and actively seeking higher knowledge. Sag has a need for freedom so that they can understand different people + perspectives. The children born in this time becomes the generation we know as Gen Z. Gen Z also gets called Zoomers, which is funny considering Sag is a mutable sign so it wants to both share and seek knowledge, but being a fire sign, it also wants this knowledge to be spread fast.
Gen Z becomes the first generation of children to actively grow up with the internet. To further fuel this, the toys of this time get even more techy with the Game Boy color, Webkinz, Neopets, and all the Tamagotchi pets that I never got to have 😔. Then, by the time Gen Z begins to enter the workforce, COVID hits shifting the majority to be even more online. Gen Z joining the workforce also created new jobs through the power of social media. (this is abt to be the most genz thing I could type rn but I saw a TikTok of a Gen Alpha baby saying they wanted to be an “influencer” when they grow up. like?? what is that!)
Gen Z is also the youngest generation to be this depressed + stressed. (real)
I think that this comes back to the saying of “knowledge is power.” The powers of the internet make it impossible to escape the hellfire Earth we’re on when we seen all the issues with global warming, continual discrimination against POC, the wars on Palestine, and it goes on. Knowledge is only helpful if it’s being weilding correctly, if not the power becomes a weapon.
Sag’s are the truth seekers of the zodiac. This generation has had to face a lot of ugly truths.
More tech related moments:
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Google is created in 1998
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USB flashdrives are created in 1999
- AIM and AOL are at the height of connecting people through real time chat room
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T-Mobile Sidekick debuts in 2002
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the Motorola Razr & the iPod mini releases in 2004
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the iPod Shuffle follows in 2005 (the limewire era)
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PlayStation’s PSP also releases in 2005
- the first ever iPhone is released in 2007
There’s more conversations about religion in the media in this era of late 90’s to early 2000’s.
The religious cult, Heaven’s Gate, commits mass unaliving in 1997.
9/11 happens in 2001, which though a tragedy, manipulative media created Americans to view Islam as a harmful religion.
The Second Persian Gulf War starts in 2003, with the media continuing to manipulate its narrative concerning Islam and any individuals of brown ethnicity in the United States.
In 2005 Pope John Paul II passes away. (being raised a Catholic I vividly remember this happening) The Catholic Church observed 9 days of mourning, with over 4 million Catholics grieving in Rome.
It’s interesting that this is what media focus was when Pluto was in Sagittarius, yet as Gen Z begins to come of age, we’re starting to see more of a rise in New Age Spiritualism.
Some Sag energy pop culture moments:
- Movies mixing together live action + digital animation: Space Jam (1996), Stuart Little (1999), Osmosis Jones (2001), Looney Tunes (2003), Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), Spongebob Movie (2004), Enchanted (2007)
- Music highlighted more R&B artists: Destiny’s Child, 50 Cent, Nelly, Missy Elliot, Snoop Dogg, Baby Bash, etc.
- Sag queen Britney was also top of the charts
- Lisa Frank was popular
- Bratz dolls are released in 2001
- Teen magazines: TeenVogue, J-14, Seventeen, Tiger Beat
- Kim K was still Paris Hilton’s assistant. Kim is a Sag rising, so transit Pluto in Sag was in her first house — she was being seen but Pluto made her a shadow to Paris.
- Fashion wise: Ed Hardy, Von Dutch, platform shoes, tiny shoulder bags, mini skirts, the tiny y2k sunglasses, jelly shoes, jelly bracelets — makes sense that these are on trend again as the kids born in this fashion era are now consumers.