Applied Astrology: Pluto Transits across the Angles

" First, this disclaimer: I use EQUAL houses, so when I say “angles of your chart”, that is exactly what I mean. I am referring to Pluto transits over the angles of your chart, where the angles are the same degree as your ascendant.

Pluto transits over the angles of your chart are invariably drastic and life-changing. For example, when Pluto crossed my midheaven,  my life took such a turn, I had to live underground for close to 10 year. Me! A person so social and outspoken. I was a person listed in the phone book by the time I was 17 years old, and all the sudden I ceased to exist in public (10th house) life and lie dormant for nearly a decade..." Elsa Elsa

Building a (new) home 

Vardo For Two on the ledge in Tahuya, WA. Our first stop, 2009

Eight years ago (2008) we began building a tiny home on wheels the one we would eventually call Vardo For Two. The process and the unfolding journey became a venture into both a new way of life, and the beginning of my blogging life. Intimately affecting this rebuilding was the study and application of astrology as a way to navigate and prepare, and if not prepare, at least learn to accept more readily life as it REALLY is.

Elsa Panizzon has and continues to be one of the foremost teachers in my astrological studies. From her daily blog, forum, workshops, and newsletters I have grown; she is my foundation from her teaching I makawalu (unfold) and create anew. I discovered ElsaElsa the same year we began building our tiny home on wheels.

I am a believer in the quality and value of place, and home. The chart for Vardo For Two is a living and breathing one, for a living and breathing life-giving Home with a capital 'H.'

NOW ...

I believe it's time to pull back in from my wanderings (writing of many words, stories, blogs) to assess the worthiness and strength of the foundations of my beliefs, motivations. Why now in particular? It has to do with Pluto transiting (moving over) the angles of my astrological chart.

I've posted the chart for Vardo For Two as a place to illustrate Pluto's movement. The chart shows that Pluto (indicated with a capital P in black) in the light blue circle within the chart, was closing in on my Midheaven (indicated with the capital letters MC). Keep in mind these positions indicated in black print are for 2008. Pluto crossed the angle of the Midheaven during this time.

The Midheaven is the place in a chart that is your public life. In the chart above Vardo For Two's MC is in the sign of Capricorn, and in the 9th House. The 9th House writes Elizabeth Rose Campbell "asks you to explore the truth that is so big it is written on our inner parts. It asks you to integrate those truths, to act upon your knowledge until it deepens and becomes wisdom. Yet wisdom has no shelf life. You must live it, internalizing this wisdom so deeply it encodes your very character. And then ask for more." Pluto transits over the angles are "invariably drastic and life-changing" as Elsa puts it.

The design, building and recreating a life in, and from, a tiny home less than 80 square feet in size has been a profoundly life-changing experience. We are six years into the living from it stage and the thing that strikes me most is something Elizabeth Rose Campbell writes about the activity that takes place in the 9th House. "Explore the truth that is so big it is written on our inner parts...integrate ... act upon knowledge ... until it becomes wisdom." And then she goes on to remind me that wisdom must be lived to become known. In 2008 we were beginning to explore the truth, more would be revealed; that is where we are now. More has been revealed and how well are those safety pins holding? Do they need to be moved? Replaced? Reinforced?

The people in the home

In 2008 when Pluto was approaching the MC and still in Vardo For Two's Ninth House in Capricorn, the small and mighty planet was half-way through the Fourth House for Pete my husband, and half-way through the Twelfth House for me. Our newly built lifestyle, and home on wheels was our foundation or Papaku from which we would unfurl or makawalu.

Again quoting from Elizabeth Rose Campbell, "The Fourth House; Home. The fourth-house ... encourages self-care from the root level up and describes your answers to the questions: Where is my home? Who is my family? Like the sign of Cancer and the Moon (which is Pete's Sun sign and ruling planet ... the Moon) which rule the fourth house, this life arena encourages profound sensitivity...The goal of the fourth-house arena is to create a well-made nest for any of these purposes: raising a family; self-care; nurturance from the root level up."

"Like the sign of Pisces, which encourages letting go, and the planet Neptune, which expresses soul, the twelfth house describes the homeland of intuition--the flow...It originates in the heart, not the head. It is connected to both your source and your destination... One of the biggest challenges of the twelfth house, ruled by Pisces and the planet Neptune, is understanding the difference between giving up and surrendering. Giving up is the abandonment of one's center and the capacity to respond. With that abandonment comes a loss of instinct. To surrender to a circumstance, even a difficult one, is a different dance entirely. You must retain self-love and self-respect through the surrender...Giving yourself up to the wrong habit or atmosphere is usually the result of a haphazard or nonexistent relationship with inner guidance...It becomes vitally important to have a method of picking up your guidance from the twelfth-house flow in a fully functional state so that you can implement it."

 Pluto's slow and steady forward movement

"Wherever Pluto is in your chart," writes Campbell, "it unveils your potential. It teaches you to claim your power and choose to change, even if you can't control every facet of the outcome. Your Pluto potential has been composting, building for centuries through your genes and ancestry. Now that compost is ripe and ready to fertilize your life, as an old self dies and a new one is born through Pluto."

In our case Pluto will cross my ASC, my ascendent during the next week and will move into Pete's Fifth House. The New Moon coming up Monday, February 8, 2016 marks the beginning of the Year of the Fire Monkey according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar. There are many key moments to be awake to. Applying astrology to my life with Pluto as a focus, there are questions and answers to be asked and considered as this new lunar year begins.

I use Vardo For Two as a foundation to launch new beginnings, but, also appreciate that some old attitudes and practices need to be surrendered to make a truly fresh start. When Pluto finishes moving through Capricorn in 2023, it will move into my First House (fresh). That's still seven years away. But, Pluto's movement over my Ascendent, and my natal Capricorn Moon (emotions) is a current event.

Pluto's transit through my twelfth house has been difficult. Writing about it today is helping me to wrestle with the hard truths and the hidden (also a twelfth house character) struggles. Do I recognize the difference between 'giving up' and 'surrender' as a process, with Pluto half-way through the twelfth house? What about giving myself up to the wrong habit?

Enough for now, maybe more tomorrow.

Where is Pluto transiting in your life? Can you relate to this ramble?


Intuitive Astrology Follow Your Best Instincts to Become Who You Always Intended to Be by Elizabeth Rose Campbell is the source for the quotes used in this blog post. It's one of my most used books, and part of the small cache of books that have made the crisscross journey of life before and after building Vardo For Two.