At the time of writing this, it’s my birthday and I woke up at 4:44 with my podcast queue at an episode about the death of the wounded maiden and becoming the mother. The host is new to me but what she was saying is like I could’ve said it myself.
Gotta steal the idea of screaming at God because despite deconstructing for 3y+ I feel like most of the journey has been in the head, and my marriage breaking down because religious obligation was the only thread barely holding it together took up most of my emotional energy.
But the patriarchy did not come to exist in a vacuum. It doesn’t matter if you’re waiting for a man to rescue you like a prince in a fairytale, or your hope is in something more intangible swooping in, or both to be honest. They’re not mutually exclusive, and they all originate in the same learnt helplessness.
At the time this reflection will come out, we’ll be within 1º conjunction between Pluto on its way into Aquarius before the next retrograde will hit the anaretic degree again later in the year. This makes this Aquarius season, in my eyes, quite special. It beautifully shows us the tension between the themes of generational planets and the cyclical nature of the personal ones.
Aquarius season came last year, and any year before that since before astrology or any calendar was a thing, the lack of measurement didn’t mean time didn’t pass…and it will come again for as long as the Earth shall live. But this year, it feels different.
It may be personal, since I’m just over a month away from being able to apply for a conditional declaration of divorce at last. But everyone is talking about it, so it might be felt on a deeper level, in the Universal Soup of the Collective Unconscious, whatever that is.
Aquarius season marks the beginning of the year in Human Design, as the first gate in the sign is Gate 41, which is the energy of honouring your hopes and dreams, which places the earth in Gate 31, the gate of Manifestation.
I, like many, have felt the energy of the new year starting pretty slow, as is the case for winter as a season of incubation and preparation. Before agriculture became industrialised in an attempt to keep up with the increasing demand for crops, the rhythm was that of crop rotation.
Up until about 1000 CE, it was between two fields, and then it became three, but the concept was simple: they would plant one with wheat, one either with legumes (peas, beans, lentils) or barley, and leave one to rest, allowing animals to graze on its natural weeds and leftover stalks from the last season, with their manure helping to fertilise the soil.
This rhythm of rest inbuilt in the system hinged on an understanding that you need to replenish what you give. But like our soils, we have created a society where we do anything to replenish artificially in order not to stop and rest and, dare I say, feel the things we are meant to feel.
Something that caught my interest is that in Human Design, the collective is about to enter a Line 1 year. The information came to me second hand via Jody Shield, so I’m not up to speed with where the idea that we have years like that comes from.
What struck me is that Line 1 is about foundations and uncovering the subconscious. Which are all, you guessed it, themes of Pluto. As a new generation comes alive with Pluto in Aquarius, the whole collective is transitioning through the death of the old paradigm, and is about to see the shadows being triggered.
After all, we are 3 years away from 2027, when there will be a shift into the Cross of the Sleeping Phoenix. Whatever language one uses to talk about these seismic societal shifts, it’s hard to argue that we aren’t moving towards the death of big institutions and a future that is more empowering for the individual
Using nature as a metaphor for Pluto is not amiss. First of all, mythologically speaking, we’re talking about the god of the Underworld, and in the 3-part division of power among the brothers, the earth above it. The title Plouton is an inheritance of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which worshipped Persephone as the Maiden (Kore), goddess of the bounty of Spring.
It was at times conflated with Ploûtos, personification of wealth, son of Demeter and a mortal lover. A couple of hypothesis from classicists as to why are that wealth was mostly from minerals, therefore below ground, and another that one specific iconography hints that he was, in fact, born of the Underworld (that is Hades and Persephone) and brought to his grandmother for…reasons.
We could spend the whole day week trying to make sense of the little we know of the archetypes of Eleusis. Suffice to say, Pluto’s planetary archetype holds the tension of both. In Roman mythology, the deity was the Dis Pater, often translated as Rich Father, but possibly derived from Deus, which could be its own essay.
Another title of invocation for Hades, alongside Pluto, was Chtonic Zeus, which to me gives us an insight in the power part of the astrological archetype. But this is a newsletter about Aquarius, and not just another opportunity for Hades girlies to gush over their patron deity.
Aquarius is a sign most commonly associated with technological innovations, but I believe it’s one of many that are not given justice by the popular understanding of Astrology. The last time Pluto was in Aquarius it ushered the age of democracy, as it coincided with the Enlightenment and the revolutions of the late 18th century.
But the history of how Aquarius energy transformed society goes much deeper. Boudicca rose against the Romans when Pluto was in Aquarius in 60 CE, Christianity became the state religion when the transit happened next in 305 – 329. We’ve seen the first university (795 – 819), the Great Schism (1041 – 1063), English Common Law (1286 - 1308), and the Reformation (1532 – 1553). That’s in the history of Europe alone.
To me, Aquarius feels more strongly about the deeper meaning of what it means to be human. Technology is just a byproduct of that. But we see a lot of focus on innovation and AI when people discuss what to expect of this transit, or Aquarius in general. It’s painted as a very aloof and intellectual sign.
Which is ironic, since its name is literally water-bearer, and we associate water with the emotional inner life. In Ptolemy’s division of the constellations, its found in the Sea, the area of the sky where the constellation have all water themes, possibly because the Sun transited them during the rainy season.
There are two main mythological associations for Aquarius, one with the son of Prometheus (Deucalion), who built a ship in a flood myth similar to Noah’s Ark in the Bible, and the other the myth of Ganymede, the beautiful Trojan youth abducted by Zeus, which was a model for pederasty because Zeus was an equal opportunity philanderer. Of the two myths, perhaps Deucalion has a connection with technology, but I feel like the interpretation is a bit of a push.
Arguably, technological advances are the things that humans have created to make sure we’d have a more comfortable life. And a more comfortable life is one that allows us to pursue the deeper philosophical questions about the meaning of being human. When you’re trying to survive, such lofty themes become secondary.
I believe we will be shown more and more how much we let technology control us rather than be the masters of it. That ca 240+ years since the Industrial Revolution, with all the technological advances we had, we live in a society where we live to work rather than work to live is absurd to me, and it’s beginning to be seen as absurd by everyone else.
But as the Sun enters the sign at 2.30pm tomorrow (Jan 20th), we will have just a month of this solar transit. The Sun in Astrology represents our sense of self. Our ego or conscious mind. The traits we claim about ourselves that are mostly seen when you dig beyond the outer layer of the Ascendant.
Since to get there it will be conjunct Pluto, which will then follow into Aquarius the next day, this coming season asks us the question of who do we want to be in this new world that’s coming about whether we do something about it or not. Because there are people who are actively fighting for change and to give answers to such questions on a collective level.
We can interrogate our dreams and manifestations if we believe we are moving from an energy of something to prove or a quest to fill up a void, but otherwise no matter of big or small your visions for yourself and others are, the time has come to set the plan into motion.
Until next time, keep living in wonder
P.S. My friend Kate is running one of her Re-righting the Story workshops online on Saturday Jan 20th at 1pm EST. I took part in one last year, and I found it very healing. You can find more information about what it entails on her IG, Lux Healing.
If you are an artist, creative, or alternative entrepreneur building a personal brand in 2024 let me know. I have things that might interest you coming that won’t interest this whole list and I’ll reach out directly when they go live.