Pluto in Aquarius: A New Era
A look at Pluto in Aquarius in the past, and what that means for our future.
If you’re even remotely tuned into astrology (or have been a subscriber of this newsletter), you’ve likely heard about the Pluto transit coming this month. There’s been a lot of fear-mongering about Pluto, so I wanted to clear up any confusion by exploring the history of this icy dwarf, how that history informs our present, and how it may influence our future.
No matter what you’ve seen or heard about this major astrological moment, let’s begin with some facts.
Pluto enters Aquarius on Saturday, January 20, 2024. The celestial body of rebirth and transformation briefly entered Aquarius last March before retrograding back into Capricorn a few months later. Pluto will station retrograde again in May of this year, then quickly dip back into the latest degrees of Capricorn in September before stationing direct and re-entering Aquarius. It will remain here for the next 20 years.
It’s a lot of back and forth, I know, but this year will be the bow on top of Pluto’s transformations in the sign of Capricorn, formally ushering in a new era in revolutionary Aquarius.
“Revolutionary” is an especially apt descriptor, as the last time Pluto moved into Aquarius was in January 1778. The following days and months contained some of the most critical turning points in the American Revolutionary War, establishing the political and societal foundations for centuries to come. Among those moments were France’s declaration of support for the American colonies and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben’s elevation to Major General, which helped organize a previously ragtag fighting force. Another moment that would echo down the walls of American History is the birth of Thomas Lincoln, father of Abraham Lincoln.
Of course, the world — including astrologers! — had no clue Pluto even existed back then. The dwarf planet wasn’t discovered until February 1930. After Neptune’s discovery in the mid-1800s, astronomers believed another planet existed in our solar system based on irregularities in Uranus’ orbital patterns. Only after decades of astronomical innovations could professionals confirm the discovery of the ninth planet. Similarly, only after the innovation of ephemeral technology in astrology were practitioners able to observe the cycles of Pluto’s movement through history, and how those movements retrofitted Pluto into the system of astrology as we know it today.
While I’m in no position to provide a thorough lesson on the importance of the moments I mentioned above, it’s fairly obvious how much radical change occurred in the months and years immediately following Pluto’s transition into Aquarius. And these are just a few examples of how influential Pluto has been historically, not just in American history, but global history as well.
Pluto’s long-anticipated ingress into Aquarius was the first transit to excite me when I started studying astrology back in 2016. While I recognize that the change Pluto brings about can be uncomfortable, I’m eager to experience it in real time and record the experience as I go. I’m immensely inspired by looking at history through the lens of astrology; it adds additional layers of context to the present day and implications for the future.
Although I can identify the themes associated with Pluto (power, radical change, and death-rebirth cycles) and Aquarius (science, technology, and collectivism), I have no idea what the future holds. No astrologer does, really. Transits often shake out in ways we didn’t see coming.
But what’s clear is this: Pluto in Aquarius begets change that trickles down the flow of time. The shifts that each of these transits create break old foundations to lay new ones, altering the trajectory of history.
Astrologers call Pluto a generational planet because its decades-spanning transits reflect societal changes. Can a Pluto transit affect you personally? Sure, and this one very well might (Aquarius placements, I’m looking at you). But there’s no use living in fear of January’s ingress, or the 20 years of Pluto in Aquarius to come. As the saying goes, the only constant in life is change.
I expect the world to look quite different by the time Pluto enters Pisces in a few decades, and I’m excited to look back on this moment with the clarity that only time and experience can bring.