Healing Pluto Problems [1 ed.] 0877283982, 9780877283980

Citation preview

Donna Cunningham

HEALING PLUTO PROBLEMS

HEALING PLUTO PROBLEMS

Donna unnfngban

SMUEL WEISE, INC. Yok

Beach, Maine

First published in 1986 by Samuel Weiser, Inc. P.O. Box 612 York Beach, M E 03910-0612 ww.weiserboos.com 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 17 1 6 15 14 1 3 12 11 10 9

The material in "Pluto and the Pregn ancy Trap" first appeared in troloy

Guie. Reprinted by permission of Sterling Publictions, New York. Copyright © 1986 Donna Cunningham All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmited i n any orm o r by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopyi ng, recording, or by any i normation storage and retrieval system, without prmission in writing rom Samuel Weisr, Inc. Reviewrs may quote brief passages. Library of Co ngress Catalog Card Number: 85-5210 I S BN 0-87728-398-2 BJ Coer mandala copyright © 1984 Jeanete Stobie. Used by kind permission of Lightstream Paintings, Glen Elln, CA Printed in the Unitd States of America The papr used in this publication meets the minimum rquirements of the

American National Standard or Inormation Sciences-Permanence of Paper or Printed Library Mterials Z39.48-1992(R199).

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Contents List of Chats

t o f es List of Afirmations

Introduction Why conront Pluto issues; By the time I get to Phoenix. Chapter One: Understanding Pluto in Your Chart The meanings of the planet Pluto; n oerview of Pluto placements; How to use

the

delineations;

Delineations

of Pluto

placements; Pluto

as

a

gnrational planet.

Chapter Two: The Personaliy and Charater of the Plutonian Recognizing Plutonians; How they got that way; The power of the amily secret; Emotional secrets and their contribution to isolation; Plutonians in relationship; Sex and the Plutonian; The vengeful victim; Plutonians and the death wish; The hermit, the scholar, and the researcher; The Plutonian as healer, psychothrapist, and reormer; Charts of positive Plutonians; Helpul books or Pluto problems.

Chapter Three: Healing Tools for Pluto Problms The purpose of this book is not only to give insight into Plutonian problems but to ind tools to help heal thm; The healing crisis; Astrology and Metaphysics; isualzations and airmations; Explanation of the lower remedies and how to use them; Light and color therapy; The chakra system; Easy does it; Bibliography of books on healing. Chapter Four: Guilt, Resentment, and Pluto

Don't be beguiled by guilt; The guilt trip as a power trip; Guilt as resentment turned inward; Geting caught as a p loy in the revenge game; A litmus test or guilt; Existential guilt and where it comes rom; When guilt is justiied and transormative; Symbiosis, power, and resentment; Resentment as poison; How to get ree of resentmnt and guilt; lower remedies or guilt and resentment;

Guided

meditations;

Forgiveness

and

its

healing

power;

Bibliography of helpul books.

Chapter Five: Incest and Doestic Violence Pluto in Scorpio-why it's all corning out into the open; Facts and statistics on incest and domestic violence; The psychology of the perpetrator as a Plutonian; The long range psychological efects of being a victims; Charts and case histories of incest and domestic violence victims; Help or the victim; Bibliography on sex abuse and domestic violence.

Chapter Six: Pluto. Death. and the Transormative Power of Grief How grif became gauche; Death and the Pluto in Leo generation; Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and the libertion of the dying (her chart); What to expect rom grief; Bing a riend to the bereaved; Resentment as a componnt of mourning; Guilt toward the deceased; Consequences of avoiding grie. Transormation of the living as a result of a death; Dying with dignity despite it all (a case example of an Al DS victim with ht); Mdiumship as a orm of healing (case example with chart); Indictions of Mediumship; Can You-And Should You-Predict Death Astrologically; Healing tools or grie. Bibliographies on grie, death, and life atr death.

Chapter Seven: Transits If This is Transormtion, How Come It Hurts So Much: There's got to be a pony somwhre; What in the world is transormation; Why does it hurt so much; The concept of thrapeutic isolation; Powr and Empowerment; Pluto

and the Pregnancy Trap; Pluto transits to natal plants and ht angles; Afirmnations; Beating the post-transormtion blus; Is it p ossible to predict absolutely or Pluto transits?

Chapter Eiht: CounselingPele With Pluto Problems Counseling considerations in dealing with Pluto people who come to you; Advantags and disadvantags of working with Plutonians; Healing tools to use; Metaphysics and counseling;

Kundalini Rising-Sex and the Single

Astrologr; Counseling the Potentialy Suicidal Plutonian; The

Issue of

Separation.

pendix: Help or the inner For the person who is new to astrology, sources of computer charts and how to find your Pluto aspects in the birth chart and your Pluto transits, in order to make the most use of this book. Bibliography of recommended basic astrology books.

List of Chats CHART 1. a t 2. Madame urie 3. Sii:mund Fd 4. Ellen Yoakum. Healer 5. Gandhi

. Itm 1 7. Int Vtim #2 8. Father of Incst Victim #2

9. ley Ill. Abused Child 10. Ali. e Mother 11. teofAlice and y Ill 12. lerey I I. Abusive Father 13. Composite of lerey 11 and lremy II I 14. Coosite of Ierey II and Alice 15. Charles. the Favored Child 1. seofl erey 11 and Chars 17. Elisath Kuber- Ross 1. Phi. an A I DS Vitim 19. Andreas Vasilou, Mdium 2 0. seMaon. Medium

21. ia tde

List of xrcises The Whirlgool Cleanse or Chakras Ogeninge Heat Flower The Litmus Test or Guilt Cleansing Yo urslf of Guilt Cleansing Yo urslf of Resntment A Tool or Leting Go

A Tool or Foriveness

List of Airmaions Airmations or Plutonians Airmaions or G uilt Airmations or Resentment Airmations or Grief Airmations or Pluto Transits

This book is dedicated to Anold Panitch because his communiations over the yeas have enlivened my life and his help made possible my entry into the delights of word proessing.

I ntroduction Why Conront luto Issues? The topics we will discuss-guilt, resentment, child abuse, and death-are dificult to conront. While talking about these inluences of Pluto in workshops, some people grow visibly more and more uncomortable and have to leave. Typists have broken down and sobbed while working with this mterial. Given that Pluto topics are painul, is it worthwhile to bring thm up? Yes, when you see people who were tormented by guilt come to love thmselves again. Yes, when pople hauntd by terrible secrets break down thir isolation and regain self-worth by learning to share them with the right people. Yes, because the purpose of this book is not only to gain insight into Pluto diiculties but to ind healing tools or them. If you are a professional astrologer, it's worth reading this mterial so you can hlp clients who will come to you tormented by Pluto problems. While Pluto transits Scorpio, the need to heal these diicult areas will become more and more urgnt. Your clients will be confessing their anguished secrets to you, and you ned to be able to respond with somthing other than horror. The inormation and the healing tools in this book will help you begin to prepare. The bibliog-raphies or each major topic we will discuss tell you where to go to be ven better prepared. And if you, yourself, are a Pluto person, y love to you. A Pluto person is one who has Pluto strong in the chart-or instance, Pluto connected to the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or Midheaven, or someone who has a number o f planets in Scorpio. You o n get free o f t h e locked i n defenses w e will be talking about. I won't pretend it's easy. How you got to be a Plutonian wasn't easy. But with consciousness, and with the healing tools described here, you can begin to break down Pluto barriers. If anyone in the world has the perseveranc--t he obsessiveness, perhaps-to work through a past as devastating as yours, you are that person. The pressures you have withstood

in order to survive have et you tempered stel, a diamond in the making. May this book contribute to your life.

y the Time I Gt to Phoenix. No, I'm not headed or Phonx, Arizona. It's the phoenix side of Scorpio or Pluto I'm aiming or-to rise out of y own ashes, reborn. You may be wondering why I wrote a book about Pluto. With Pluto just a degre of the Ascndant, I'e never ben able to coast, but am perpetually conronted with the need to work on myself and my relationship to the world. It seems more honest to tell you this than to p ose as an outside expert, pontificating to "you people out there." Pluto also symbolizes our relationship to the collctive, so in working on my own Pluto problems, I've learnd a great deal that has helped the other Plutonians who are magnetized to me. This book is the distillation of that knowledge and of healing tools you can use or Pluto problems. Astrology itself is very healing and should be a great hlp to you personally and to clients f you counsl others. From my earliest studies, I knew what that Pluto on my Ascendant meant, and it was mbarrassing. Pride can somtimes be a virtue, or it made me stop doing those unlovely Pluto things.

Hopeully, reading about

your

own Pluto aspects and

house

placements will serve the same purpose, of alerting you to your games. It's not easy, though, to read the delineations. More than once, writing about my own aspcts, I felt like shouting, " How dare you say that to me!" Yet the conscious awarnss itself is healing.

s you read the healing sections of this book, you may wonder, if you are a regular reader of mine, how a nice respectable astrologer with solid psychotherapy credentials got sidetracked into all this weird stu. . .light and chakras and chants and God nows what lse. It was always there, of course, with Pluto on the Ascendant, but I avoided it like the plague. ffbeat was okay, but weird, nevr. Then there came a point thirteen years into my career when astrology died-13 is a Pluto number. For one thing, no one I knew

was making a decent living at astrology. For another, it felt like something basic was missing rom the astrology I knew. Once the chart diagnosed the client's problem, where was the solution? I decided to quit and look in earnest or a nw career. During that time, I had been meeting weekly with a very fine psychic namd Andrew Ramer. We started a project about the spiritual dimensions of alcoholism which evolved into a book on addictionsquite wonderful and powerful material. Nxt, Andrew channeld some material about ealig addictions and their ater-efcts, and I began to try out the material on recovering alcoholics. Beore long, both my healing group and individual clients were thriving on it. Sometimes being too impatient to wait or our next session, I started channeling myself. (It eels like I was ld, blindolded, step by step, since my fear of these devlopments was so pronouncd.) Next I ound a notice about a class on herbs in an adult education program and saved it-it would be just the thing or Andrew. He was too busy, and somehow, almost without volition, I was on the subway headed or the class. The third week, the teachr introduced the Bach Flower Remedies or emotional problems, and I began studying them. They have been an intrinsic part of my work or more than our years. Later it became clear that I had already ound my carer change. These tools, and others subsequndy learned, added an important dimension in which the problems so readily diagnosed by the chart actualy had some solutions. Astrology had not died ater all, it just moed on to another level!

CHAPTER ONE Undrstanding Pluto in Your Chat The planet Pluto is naturally connected with the sign of Scorpio and with the eighth house. Thse three ctegories have some common interest in such matters as birth, sex, death, power and transormation. Power and how to deal with it is a major Plutonian issue, both at the individual level and or humanity. In this chapter, and throughout this book, we will be xploring the psychological complexities of Pluto, both in the birth chart and by transit. Where the manifesttions are mainly negative, we will seek ways of healing or ameliorating

the

dificulties

Pluto

represents.

This

chapter

provides

delinetions of Pluto's house position and aspects in the birth chart, as well as some thoughts on the meaning of Pluto in various signs. ( For the novice or beginning student, the Appendx tells you how to ind your own Pluto pla cements.) If you have a numbr ofPluto aspects (or if the eighth house or the sign Scorpio is strongly represnted in your chart), you would also get urther insight by reading Chapter Two. A Plutonian prsonality is someone ! with Pluto very strong in their chart, as described in the introduction. Themes you might expct with Pluto placements are guilt, resentmnt, the desire or control, spite, or revenge. Yet no one seeks revnge without being deeply hurt, so there is oten a horror story of some ind connected to the Pluto placement in the natal chart. For instance, you may see the ater-effects of a crucial death or abandonment manifesting in a tendency to develop symbiotic reltionships, altrnting with periods of isolation. Although some people are more undamentally ffected by Pluto defenses than others, we all display some Pluto traits in the areas of life Pluto touches.

An Overviw of Pluto Placements Much of wht will be discussed in the ollowing pags is aimed at the person with a dificult Pluto. If your Pluto is wll aspected (having only trines

and sextiles) or if your Pluto is not particularly strong, this mterial may not apply to you to any great degree. Yet you may ind that even the weakest placements (such as Scorpio on the cusp of a house with no planets in that house) apply to some of the diiculties you have. If

o,

reading the

comments would give you some insight, ven if you are not involved in some of the more drastic bhaviors of that placement. Whether your Pluto is strong or weak, you may squirm at some of the readings, yet confronting the truth is the beginning of change. Once is not enough, though-we have to kep on knowing, and keep on conronting, until the games we play are exposed so oten they embarrass us and we have to let go of thm. Admitting thm to others accelertes the process. We are oten o bsssed with the matters of the house or planets involved with Pluto's placment in the natal chart. And yet, what we can't let go o, we wind up perpetuating. The same negative patern may come up in our lives over and oer, and with each repetition we are more ixed on it. Where we have ben hurt or betrayed, we expect betrayal, so we select people who will betray us and then set up the betrayal by our expectations. Even a decent person who is subjectd to constant suspicion can be pushd to say, "You don't trust me? If that's all you think of me, then I'll go ahead and do it!" Thus we create our own self-ulilling prophcies. One dynamic which can be the cause of an obsession is a tndency to get into power struggles in maters related to Pluto's house or aspects. Such anatical insistence on winning can paradoxically lead to biter failures. This oten begins as a power struggle with a parent (or other important authority igure) in childhood-somone who placed great mphasis on the maters of Pluto's house and tried to push the child to succeed there. If the child succeeded, the parent won. In ordr to spite the parent and win the batle, the individual had to LOSE in the matrs involved with Pluto's house. The ailure is perversly regardd as a moral victory. This dynamic has ld me to call the house where Pluto is placed "the ail or spite house." Altrntely, the parent may have taught the child that he or she would

never amount to anything in mtters of that house, so the person xtracts revenge by ailing consistenty in ways tht embarrass the parent. There is a death's head smile as the person lamnts their ailure. . ." See, Ma, you were right!" Some people freze that area out of hurt, controlling needs and eelings so rigidly that ven riends wouldn't guess it was important, yt they are not free of it. Along with this could go a sour grapes ttitud--" ! wouldn't want it anyway"-and a sense of moral superiority over those who do succeed. Another bind occurs when the person buys into the parent's belief that the mtters of Pluto's house or aspects are so powerul tht it would transorm (and control) the life if he or she succeeded in it. As a result, an exaggerated degre of power is assigned to that area of life. Because of the power given to the Pluto department of life and the power struggles being carried on thre, the prson can wind up being controlled by the thing he most wants to control. He is powerless to succeed and yet powerless to lt go of it, until he transorms himself. Paradoxically, when the Pluto area is healed and loses its power oer you, it is an area where you can manifest a considerable degree of constructive power. In these ptterns, you may recognie a bit of the scorpion's sting, or you win the battle at the expnse of harming yourself. The person with a dificult Pluto placement can be a scorpion in that area of life, acting out venom on others, usually in a covert or wisted manner. I call this syndrome the vegiil v itim, in that here is where the person fels wronged, yet eels most justed in returning that wrong to others. A man with Moon in Scorpio, or instance, may eel gretly wronged by his mother, and may somehow eel justiied in taking his rage out on any woman who gts close to him. Not all of us are engeul victims, of course, but many of us do like playing the vitim at times, and if the Pluto areas of your life are dificult ones, you might think about whether this d ynamic is oprating to some dgree. There may be the deep, dark secret in the Pluto area of life that makes you eel you cannot be open with othrs. We all have Pluto somwhre and we all

have secrets. Readers may be relived to know that we will not discuss the sexual implications of the various Pluto placements. So oten, the deep, dark secret is a sexual one. But it's not about sx, really. Whn there is sexual dificulty or sexual obsession, the real issue is oten power. The same critical issues of betrayal of trust, abandonment, guilt, and resentment may play into the power sexuality has.

How to Use the Delineations The ollowing delineations consider Pluto in various aspets, house placements, and in some of its signs 2· They are arranged in house order, with similar p lacements grouped togethr. For instance, Pluto in the third house is grouped with Pluto/ Mrcury aspects and with Mercury in Scorpio, because all have similar eects. No two aspects are alike, but there are similarities that can help the astrologr discover similar thmes. For example, in each of the combinations Mrcury concerns are paired with Pluto concerns,

resulting

in

some

common

themes.

Where

one

of the

combintions is markedly diferent or has an important individual theme, it will be treted separtey. Because

I do not hold with the traditional

rulerships of Venus or Taurus or Mercury or Virgo, they are omited. The strength of the combination is not the same or all those grouped together. The approximate order would be: Pluto in diicult aspect to a planet Pluto in a house A planet being in Scorpio Scorpio planets in a house Scorpio on the cusp of a house Pluto in a sign

Apart rom putting Pluto in the house irst, the order of placements in a particular delineation is arranged in the approximate strength I judge them to have, as it does occasionally ay. The aspets referred to are mainly the hard ones (the conjunction, semisquare, square, sesquiquadrate, quincunx, or opposition). Sometimes even a trine rom Pluto can give you some of the described traits. The conjunction would be the strongest of all, the sextile probably pratically negligible in efect. (Not listed, but also possibly similar might be the plants and signs in the eighth house.)

Delineations of luto lacements Given what we hae said about the relative strengths of the placments, if you have Scorpio on the cusp of a house and nothing in that house, you would not expect it to oprate nearly as strongly as having Pluto in the house, or Pluto in aspect to the planet nturaly associated with that house. The efect might be airly mild, compared to the delineations, which are writn with the stronger combinations in mind, yet they would doubtlessly be there in a less dramatic and thus perhaps less conscious orm f you examined yourself. Let's look at how the combinations work.

PLTO I N THE FI RST HOUSE All strog luto aspeas o te Ascedant, Scorpio Ascenant, Scorpio plaets in the irst houe. (lut/Mars aspcts will e t1ted eparately.) This is a diicult placement, particularly when Pluto is close to or aspctbig the Ascendant. These people would probably be classed as Plutonians. (See Chapter Two.) Powr struggles may be expressd by the physical appearance. These people manage to look dramatically diferent in a way that alienates others-such as wearing black leather jackets, sexually provocative cloths, having a weight problem, or dark, brooding expressions. You can almost hear thm saying to a parent, "You can't control the way I look." Since the irst house is one of the health houses, it is crucial to work on guilt and

resentment issues, as over the years the energy could translate into serious physical problems. ( Healing this sort of problem is discussed in Chapter Four.) The Plutonian personality may alienate others, as these people may go around with chips on their shoulders, radiating rsentment. They may stringently control motional expression, not trusting the world with any important inormation, constanty scrutinzing eerything. When angry or resentful, they may withdraw into solitude or become loners. Relationships may be based on doing too much or others or binding others symbiotically. When that ails, isolation is the rsult. The reason or this lack of trust might be a very early betrayal of trust, abandonment, loss by death, or other diicult amiy conditions. The first house shows defenses we adopt bcause of the amiy nvironment and other early eents.) This is a powerul placement when

used constructively, or

these

individuals could have a great impact on their environment. As thy become comortable with the use of power, their inluence on others could be very great. It is one of the signatures of the healer or psychotherapist, or these people can see right into the heart of the problem and empower others to heal themselves. These people may also be mediums, aware or unaware.

luo/ Mars Hard Asets Mas in copio Anger is very diicult to express, and is held in under pressure until it becoms an all-permeating resentulness and brooding, because these people eel anger has the power to destroy, ven to kill. Some violent trauma may have occurred, or perhaps there were terrible undercurrents of resentment in the early environment, with violence an unexpressed thret. At the vy least, thre is a belief that anger could destroy relationships, or open conlict could lead to abandonment. Since the powr of angr is exaggerated, these people control it t all costs, yet walk around with it constantly. Others el the anger

and the dishonsty about it, and may become resentful in turn, and the Mars/Pluto pople may ultimately be abandoned, just as they feared. As Mars/Pluto pople become more comortable with anger, they can heal long-standing resentments, freing thm to use the nrgy in a powrful way. Controlled use of this energy gives a trmendous capacity to ocus. The energy may also be used or healing or to accomplish othr prodigious feats.

PLUTO I N THE SECON D HOUSE orpo paets in te nd, orpo on te eond. Power struggles can ocus on money, which was doubtlessly an important issue or the parents. When the parents gave, they exrcised a good deal of control, so giving was colord with resentment or had strings ttached, in order to keep the child close or dpndent. s a result, these Plutonians equte money with control, and may either have a great deal or none at all. Some people ail or spite by having chronic financial dificulty. This may arise when parents predicted the child would nevr amount to anything inancialy. There can be great resentment of people who do have money. (One client calld wealthy pople "Philistines.") Some may balk against the things you have to do to earn mony, conusing managemental cooperation with control. Resentment about money and the control it exercises over life can poison any attempt to become inancially solvent. Poverty itslf may become a mechanism or control in relationships. Tht is, these people may become symbiotically involvd with othrs who "help" thm, creating dependency in ordr to control or not be abandoned. Their lack of money is always the final word, the trump card thy play. ( " I can't do what you want because I don't have the money.") Sexuality can be a ploy in the game, but then both parties come to rsent having to pay that way. In liu of an actual person to be dependnt on, second house Plutonians may draw on goernment aid, prhaps with some underlying pleasure at "geting back at the system." Rsentment toward those with money may also lead less

ethical individuals with this placement to "liberate" mony or goods rom thir employer, who is viewed as corrupt and exploittie. The lip side of the coin would be seen in individuals who earn a decnt amount of money, but who do it to maintain control of relationships or the environment. These Plutonians are the "helprs" who get involved with people who couldn't manage without their inancial aid. This seemingly gives second house Plutonians the upper hand in thir relationships (because who holds the purse strings calls the shots) and also creates the feling tht they can't be abandoned because they are needed so much. Eventually, they resnt having to earn money or these reasons, and in the end neither the relationship nor the work is truly successul. Rsentment poisons all eforts, and they don't earn as much as they could, nor do they el loved or th mselves. If you put together the key words or Pluto and or the second house, you gt earning power, and that is a constructive interpretation of this placment. People with Pluto in the second who work to get rid of the negative Pluto dynamics of resentment, spite, guilt, power struggles, and control related to inances can wind up being xtremely succssful. They can be money magnets or magicians when it comes to transmuting resources into wealth.

o be successul, ailing or spite has to be given up.

PLUTO I N THE TH I RD HOUSE luto/Mecury, Merury in Sorpio, Sorpio

11 te

thid.

These people believe words are so powrful they hae the power to destroy. They are extremely careul to control what they say, lest they gie away some inormation that another might use to harm or control them. This condition occurs when at least one family member had a black belt in tongue karte, a sarcastic or scathing individual they were powerless to resist. This might wll be a brother or sister, probably older, who was so overpowering tht the

Plutonians learned to keep quit.

s adults, third house Plutonians can either be afraid of verbal abuse or be verbaly abusive and sarcastic, agreeing that the best dfense is a good offense. Another possibility is that words can be the ocus of a power struggle-as long as they don't gie you their words, they have the upper hand. In relationships, they may withhold communication. s employes, thy may withhold papework or other important inormation. As students, thy may be the ones who won't tum in their paprs, asking or extension ater extension.

Words can

also be used

to

manipulate, with

great

eectiveness. People who use this placment constructivly are percptive and deep in thir

thinking and communicating. They are

gitd at

seeing others'

motivations and can penetrate deeply into any problem. They can use words to heal, going straight to the heart of the mater. Thy are ine analytic writers and teachers. Rather than being manipulative, they can use words to inluence and empower others or good purpose.

PLTO IN THE FOU RTH HOUSE luto/Moo, Sorpio Moon, Scorpio paets in the funh houe, Scorpio on the founh.

This is a very Plutonian person, specialy whn Pluto alls near the ourth house cusp. One parnt, most likely the mother, was powerul, intrusive and controlling. When one parnt was outwardy domineering, howver, the other may have been more subtly manipulative-"lt's you and me against that monster." Oftn there are great undercurrents of resentment in the home, particularly resentment of the child's needs, or of the necessity or nurturing. Sometimes a grand-mother exerted great influence, in the manner of a mtriarch. There may have been an actual abandonment, such as a death of a parent figure, or there may have ben the constant threat of abandonmnt if

the child did not behave. Perhaps evryone was mourning a death near the time of this child's birth, so the mother was in a melancholic stte and had little to give an infant. With a Scorpio Moon or Moon/Pluto aspects, there may be dificulty trusting women, resentment of thm, or manipulation to make women symbiotically dependent in order to avoid abandonment. A parent with this placement may resnt having to nurture children, yet oercompensate or symbiotically bind children by doing too much or them. A parnt may hold on to children in a life or death manner, eeling that this is at least one relationship where he or she will nevr be abandoned. Conversely, the scars let rom the lack of loving nurturance in childhood may be so deep that this individual resolves neer to become a parent. When people have Pluto or Scorpio in the ourth, the adult home may become a battleground or power struggles; or, to avoid repeating past family paterns, these people may dcide to live alone. It can be hard to cope with living with anyone, unless this type has absolute control of the situation. " My house is y private turf, y secret santuary, and I can't really bear to share it." It is essential that people with this placement rspect their need or privacy and solitude, nowing tht evn when they live with others, they still need time alone. s they heal childhood traumas and resentments, it will become easier or them to lie with someone else. The home life then becoms the wllspring of regeneration, giving them healing energy to take out into the world. They have the ability to heal themseles of early traumas and, whn thy do, they may share wht they learn with others who have been similarly wounded.

PLUTO IN THE FI FTH H OUSE Scorpio planets in the ith, luto prominent in Leo, and Scrpio on the ith. (luto/Sun aspets will be trated separately.)

With Pluto or plants in Scorpio in the h house, t least in older gnrations, there is otn a situation of being orced into marriage bcause of a pregnany. Even within marriage, pregnancy might be used as a means to gain control of the relationship, or instance to ensure that the mate doesn't leave. Since this is not a very successful way to control, these people oten wind up resenting or spoiling the children in an attempt to make up or not wanting them in the first place. Brats are very oten unwanted children who've been raised this way; the parent has given excess power to the children and oer-indulged them because of guilt. Such children resent how thy are being used, learning early to manipulate and maneuver both parents. The children can also be seen as a means to power, or can be one parent's ticket to never being alone, so the ties become symbiotic ( Cancer Rising oten has Scorpio on the ith, so this placemnt helps explain Cancerian smother love.) On the other hand, pople with this placement may refuse to have children at all. When the "inner child" has been denied by a parent, thse children grow up to fear or resent the demands that thn-own children would make. They fear parenthood would take over their lives and leave nothing or thmselves. There is also the unwelcome issue of power that parenthood would bring. Childlessness can also be a orm of reenge toward either the mte or the parents, a reusal to confer them immortality. With Pluto in the ith or prominent in Lo, one parnt may have been overawed by the child's creativity and have sen it as a means to wealth and power. Like pushy stage mothers, they may have gone too ar, and talent became the ocus of powr struggles. This happened to many Pluto in o people, as it was the irst generation with enough leisure time and aluence to develop the creativity innate in all of us. Talent can bcome the ocus of many power struggles, especially with lovers who think love is power that will transorm and bring out budding genius. Romance and transormation are all mxd together or people with any of thse combinations. "Let me love you so I can make you over in my own image." Or vice versa. For more insight

into the romantic unctioning of this placment, read Pluto in the sevnth and eighth, as they are similar.

luo/Sun Hard Asets o a eser egee, Sun in Scorpio. Wen lo is promient in o, you may

ee

some ofthee dynam c i s.

Here the toxic authority figure is usually the Plutonian ather, oten a harshly dominering man. Because of his own power and ego neds, he could not aford to praise his child, as though anything the child d id well diminished him and anything the child did poorly relected on him. With such a ather, thre is no winning. When used negativly, this placement combines Leo's egotism and dsire or attention with Scorpio's will to power. The self-concept is bound up in

Beig Somebody. Self-hatred can be an issue if these people aren't having an impact on their world, and they sometimes employ ruthless or questionable tactics in order to be important. With Scorpio/Pluto extremism, they eel that if they aren't Somebody, then they're nobody and life isn't worth living. They can resnt people in the spotlight or rush into batles when egos are threatened. If power struggles are lost, self-hatred is multiplied. Paradoxically, whn thse people are able to let go of the ned to be the center of atention, when power is no longer important, they can actually become very powerul people or a good cause. The powr comes from an endless resourceulness, radiating from the center of their being, light rom the inner Sun that never burns out. The Sun/Pluto aspect shows the potential to transorm the sel. When something needs to be workd through, these people don't let up until it has been handled. Ater healing the slf, the capacity to heal others with similar problems will manifst itself.

PLUTO IN THE SIXTH HOUSE

Scorpio paets in te sixth, Scorpio on te sixth, possibly luto in Vigo.

This oten indicates individuals who are obsessed with work to the point o f being workaholics. These people serve, yet resent being subservient; work compulsively, yet resent having to work

o

hard. Such people belive jobs are

thir own personal avenues to power, and so maneuver to be the power behind the throne by becoming indispensable. Since this will to power is easily recognized by both the boss and co-workers, thse individuals are mistrusted. Power struggles ensue as well as resntments and vendetas with coworkers, and these people may leave one job ater another on bad terms. The sixth house is another health house, so Pluto there natally (or by transit) indicates the possibility of illness coming about through stored-up resentment. Illness may be the only means available to stop the work compulsion. Whn work has ailed as a way to power, the sixth house Plutonian may control others through illness, becoming the invalid who makes everyone dance. Symbiosis is assured: somone has to take care of thm. Most people can't abandon an invalid-they'd fel guilty! Used constructivly, this placement indicates people who continually transorm themselves

through

work, recognzing that

work and

work

relationships are a microcosm of all of life. Any situation arising on the job can be used as a means to conront and deal with the parts of themselves tht need changing. Work can become powerul in transorming life; and thse people can also become powerful transormers through their work. This is another signature of healing ability, somtimes developed due to the stimulus of an illness.

PLUTO I N THE SEVENTH H OUSE luto/Venus aspeas, Venus in Sorpio, Scorpio plaets in the eventh houe, Scorpio on te eventh, possibly Pluto in Ubro.

Love can be an obsession, and symbiosis with the lovd one is sought. A subatomic reaction of possessivnss, resentment, guilt, and power struggles can occur. When that alintes the loved one, this Pluto type may flip over into isolation, deciding not to hae any more rlationships. Some may continue to have a relationship in their head with the last one who d id them dirty, being haunted by it. Othrs may elect to stay single, because this type equates love with control and they don't want any part of that. For many with this placement, love equaled control in childhood, and unless they submited to the power of the parent, there was the threat of withdrawal of love and approval. Perhaps there was an actual abandonment or death which made them fearul of losing love, so they cling very tightly and try to make themselves indispensable. There may have been a symbiotic relationship with a parent like that described undr Pluto in the ourth-it's you and me against that monster. (To some extent, these dynamics may be true of Pluto alling into the other relationship houses, the ih and the eighth,

s

well.)

If Scorpio is on the tenth, thn Pluto alling in the seventh may show a parent who bound the child too tightly or who may have betrayed the child's trust in a serious way. Sometimes, the parent of the opposite sex was so ovewhelming, dominating, or seductive that this Pluto placement finds it terriying to orm intimate relationships. (There is oten a change or the beter in rlationships ater that parent dies.) Another dynamic is tht relationships and transormation are mixed together. Thse Plutonians may all in love in order to make the loved ones over, and the loed ones may resent both the insistence on change and the implied inequality of the relationship. Power struggles may d velop and ultimtely lead to abandonment. The "patient" may even get worse, out of spite. Or, the Pluto person may be the patient and all in love with a powerul mntor. When this placment is used constructivly, relationships can become an arena or transformation, both or the self and the loved one. In order to be

whole, these people may have to go through a process of working through hurts and resentments about each love afair that ver went wrong, in order to let go and orgive. Whn these people heal their relationship dificulties and learn to let go, this placement would also become a good counslor, particularly a marriage counselor, using the counseling relationship and a capacity or love as a healing orce.

PLUTO I N THE EIG HTH HOUSE corpio paets in te eighth, corpio on te eihth, possibly lo in corpio.

Sex is a sticky issue or people with this placement. They have been taught to give it an enormous powr in their minds, so it becomes a fearsome thing. (We in our culture have all given sex an exaggeratd amount of power, but the eighth house Plutonian carries this belif to an extreme.) These people may eel tht if they become involvd sexually, the partner will control them. As a result, they may think wice about gtting involved at all; yet they are passionate people, so it is hard to avoid what is so powerul. In sexual relationships, they may seek to have the upper hand at all costs. Giving or withholding sex becomes a means of control, and bed can become a batlefield where other issus of power in the rlationship (or in the outside world) get acted out. When resentmnts or mistrust build up in the relationship, sexuality can be frozn. Even ater the end of a diicult relationship, this type may remain frozn and unwilling to opn up to somone new. With this placement, the deep, dark secret is oten vry much present. The eighth house is also a money house, so dynamics similar to those outlined under Pluto in the second may operate. Shared resources are not an easy issue or such people, being an area where thre could be a good deal of mistrust and a stringent need to maintain control. Inheritances and other dynamics of the grif process might lead to bitr bttles. (See Chapter Six.)

Hre, also, death is very much a question and regardd with fear and ascination. Sometimes, the child may have lied in a houshold where there were many deths, or een more powerully, where there was an on-going threat of death, which is more dificult to deal with. Perhaps Pappa had a bad heart, and the amily was orever wtchul. This Pluto type could have a tremendous fear of death and live life rom the perspetie of, " I could die at any minute." The constructive use of this position is as a healr and possibly as a mdium. Thre is a great ability to regnrate self and others. When sx is cleared of its heavy emotional overlay, it can become an important means to rejuvenation and rgeneration. When money is not the source of a power struggle, this position may indicate good earning power or the ability to empower others to success.

PLUTO IN THE NI NTH H OUSE luto/Jupiter aspas, Jupiter in corpio, corpio plants in te ninth hwe, corpio on te ninth.

This shows a deep, analytical mind, yet this person may balk at completing a highr education. This type rsents having to get a degree to succeed, as gtting one would mean their parnts won. Many such people go all the way through school, then somehow fail to complete the last semester, the last course, or evn the last papr. This is a great revnge, maddening to parents who so much wanted their child to have an education, which was sen as a magical key to geting somewhere. This may be seen as a fail or spite ploy, because these people also believe tht education is powerul and life-transorming, and that without it they won't get anywhere. Whre Pluto is, one tends to give oer power, so one is stuck there-"damned f you do and damned f you don't." Rsentments can be displaced onto society. One highly intelligent man with this placement

who had just one course to go to complete a badly needed dgree expressed his resentmnt toward socity. I shocked him by saying, "You know wht? Society d oesn't care whether you finish your education or not! S ociety doesn't even know you exist! The education is only or you." Startled into clarity by this deliberate shock therapy, he went on to inish his degree. (Similar resentments and self-spiting ptterns may exist toward The Law or The Church.) When thse people work through the resentments that are gtting in their way, Pluto here can be an excellent placemnt. These people are atualy born scholars and researchrs and would get great satisaction from studying on thir own. They could also be powerful teachers who could get to the heart of abstract issues, using the power of the mind to release others from the bondage of ignorance. Knowledge IS power, and the right use of knowldge could transorm the world.

PLTO IN THE TENTH H OUSE lao in ad aspect o te Mideaven, lut/Satun hard aspcts, Scrpio Midhaven, Sorpio planets in the tenth, at times a promient Satun in Scorpio.

These placements show very diicult conditions with authority igurs and most likely a parent who was opprssive, controlling, and perhaps even abusive. The result is deep-seated resentment toward people in power (maybe toward the whole world) and a dtermination never to be under the control of somone else. The bind is that these people are also very success oriented, and it is diicult to succeed if they are orever setting up battles with the powers that be. The scorpion's sting means that they are usually the ones who wind up getting hurt. They may be playing with the Big Guys, who are born

strategists,

while

their

own

resentments

lead

them

to

make

ill-considred moves. Parents with this position who are not able to be powerul in the world

may act out powr needs on their children, repeating, in act, wht was done to them. Pluto in the tenth shows a critical, highly ambitious parnt who respected nothing but B IG success and was nevr pleased with child-sized successes. The parntal curse "You'll n ver amount to anything," may have been requently heard, and

this Plutonian

may go

through repeated

humiliating public ailures in order to get even. This depth and degree of the ail or spite game is not fun! These people may be stubbornly resistant to healing, because all healing in some way represents being under someone else's power. Possibly it is best undertaken alone. Working through the xercises on resentment in Chapter Four could be very important. A healing career is quite possible-and they will have to heal thmselves in the course of their studies! People who are reed rom the negative manifestations of this placement, who are able to work with power in a clean way, can have a strong impact on the world, bringing about healing and reorm.

PLUTO IN THE ELEVENTH HOUSE corpio paets in te eleventh, corpio on te eeventh.

Here the bogeyman is not the powerul parent but the per group these people tried so hard to belong to as tenagers and yet never could. For some, sx was the price of blonging. thers chose to isolate thmselves rather than submit to the control of the group-ater all, t eenagers dmand more conormity than parents ever could. Resentment over what went on in school can get in the way of belonging as an adult. Powr struggles can interfre with friendships, which may be entered into on the possessie, symbiotic level we see so oten with Pluto. thrs may stay isolated, even as adults, because it is dificult to trust. Group mmbership may be diicult also,

s

power.

these people are drawn into "organization politics" as a means to

Group therapy or self-help groups could bring about transormations regarding personal alienation. As issues of trust and resentment are worked through, the capacity to be a powerul group leader could emerge. These people may be drawn to groups which aim at social reorm, environmental control, or healing. Friendship can become the area where these people are transormed, or becoming involved with othr Plutonians who are not araid of intensity can work or mutual healing.

PLTO IN THE WELFTH HOUSE corpio planets in the twelth, possibly Neptune in rpio, corpio

n

the

twelth.

Repression of emotions can cause either sel-destructive bhavior or physical illness, since this is one of the health houses. Here illness can serve the purpose of allowing these people to stay seclud d rom a world that seems too p owerul, too dangerous and untrusworthy. Illness can be a way to control others, and this is also true of the emotional illnesses of the wlh house. Have you ever had to tiptoe around someone who was sverely depressed all the time and felt controlled by their seming ragility? Addiction, a welth-house ploy, can also be usd to control emotions and keep others safely at bay. These people may repress an urge-to-power and yet control in round-about ways they little undrstand. For instance, being the seemingy helpless victim also seres to conceal the powr urge-have you evr "rescud" some poor helpless soul who later took over your total life and all your energy? No doubt you learned that victimhood is powerul! (Please undrstand that there are legitimate victims, but here we are talking about the illegitimate ons, the ones who are orever d r wn to these situations thinking that their sufering is some sort of moral victory.) Unconscious fascination with power can also lead to contacts with underground charaters, ngative psychism, and various

unsavory scenes where power is usd in a murky way. Healing submerged resentment can go a long way toward liting this position out of its negative manifestations into the constructive, thus Chapter Four (on guilt and resentment) can be useul. In the house of secrets, the deep, dark secret is ever the possibility, and revealing it in the right therapeut ic places can relase you rom its power. The construtie use of this placment is in its capacity to delve into the unconscious and heal deep-seated emotional problems. Thus, it is a requent placement or those working in the fild of mental health. Likewise, people who have sufered rom an addiction and been able to stop have the most power to help othr addicts. This is also a mdiumistic or psychic position, and one where the study of dreams can be very useul. Spiritual healing is another strong possibility.

In looking t the delineations of Pluto's house and aspects in your own chart, there is doubtlssly something you don't agree with, yet in some cases the readings may bring up things about yourself tht you don't like. You may have glimpsed residues of old traumas, abandonments, or betrayals that are still afcting your life in a negat ive or painul way today. What can you do to transorm these diiculties? In Chapter Three, you will ind suggestions, exerciss, tools, and boos to read that can help you.

Pluto in a Sign as a Genrational I nluence Until recently, Pluto was designated as an "impersonal" planet and its sign was considred of little significance, as it fected masses of people. The house and aspects, it is true, show Pluto's most obvious efects on the individual, and yet I am coming to see , as a number of other astrologers are, tht the sign Pluto is in can have a proound inluence on our psychology, albeit more internal than ouward. While it is more common to refer to Pluto as a generational planet, one's gnration (and powerul world evnts that take place in ormtie years) can have a pronounced efect on personal

values, belies, and behavior. For instance, much has been written ltey about the "ME" generation, the narcissism of people of a certain age. This corrsponds astrologically, it seems to me, with the Pluto in Leo generation, born 1937-1 958. Leo is a narcissistic sign, and Pluto in o people can be self-obsessed whn that planet is prominent. Combining the symbolism of Leo and Pluto can give you a picture of the possible psychological eects of that placement. This gnration, or i nstance, was the irst to be strongly affected by the mass dissemi nation of psychological concepts, yet these ideas are primarily directed toward the self. You hear endless convrsations about MY analyst and MY Od ipal complex and MY dreams. When that generation got i nterested in the occult and spirituality, it was MY guru and MY psychic powers and MY d reams. The Pluto in Leo generation was also the first with enough leisure time and aflunce to develop thir i nnate creativity. s a rsult, that generation contains a million frustrated actors and singers waitin g to be discoverd, a million pai ntrs who are certain they'll make the Louvre f they can just get a show, a million would-be authors with ideas that are sure to hit the best-sller list if they'd only find a publisher. All of this with the lazy Leo assumption that such recognition is a birthright rather than something to sweat or. A valuable corrctive is to rcognize tht nature is wildly proliic in order to nsure its own reproduction. It creates a million sperm or each one that is strong enough to make a baby, a thousand seeds or each one that has the stamina to make a plant, and a hundred creative people or each one who has the discipline to devlop the talent. s Rainer Maria Rilke said, "If I don't man age to ly, someone lse will. Spirit wants only that there be lying. s or who happens to d o it, in that He has only a passing i nterst." U nless we are willing to totally dedicte our lives to that talent, we may not write our name on history. But talnt IS transormative, and it can be powerful as a means of self-knowledge and self-xpression. It can be a source of healing or

ourselves and other people as well. Much time has been spent on the Pluto in Leo generation because it is the dominant adult group in the world today. Lest you think the generation is hopelessly sel-cntered or all time, remmber that during the elven years Pluto is in Scorpio, it will be making hard angles (squares) to the Pluto i n L o placements a n d this could b e a time o f mass transormation, in which the work these self-obsessed ind ividuals hae done on thmselves should come to be shared with others, creating a whole generation of psychologically aware healers. The Pluto in Cancer generation is quite diferent from the Pluto in Leo gnration, and this, I believe, was partially the source of the generation gap so much talked about years back. (A study I recntly read says that this gap does not exist beween young people today and their parents.) The Pluto i n Cancer group, scarrd b y the experience of the Great Dprssion a n d wo World Wars, was ery security conscious, holding on tight to amily and traditional values. This clashed with the h d onism and individualism of the Pluto in o generation, whose main com mitments were to the self and the current romance. (Planetary placemnts during the 190s, such as Uranus and Pluto in irgo, made social reorm a pressing desire.) Pluto in a sign shows your gnration's obsessions, bing where you take yourself too seriously and can go of the dep end. Michael lutin has observed that Pluto in a sign i ntroduces compulsive behaviors to kep the mtters of that sign from dying, yet the behaviors themselves contribute to the u ltimate destruction. For in stance, he pointed out that the rfrigerator was developed during Pluto in Cancer as a way to presere ood, yet once that occurred, women d id n 't have to spend all their time t home cooing, so thy went out to work and the amily was never the same. Among a gret many other things, our generation's Pluto sign may be an indicator of our atitudes toward sex. These values come rom the gnral public and from the mdia at the time we are young, but gt imprinted and become the "shoulds" we try to live up to. For Pluto in Leo, sex is a

performance, supposed to be dramatic, romantic. It's an ego trip-"I am so great I can get all thse sex partners, and I can make you come." The Pluto in Virgo people will probably ulti mately ind thir parents immoral and adopt a much more chaste attitude, more monogamous, partially in rsponse to the spread of fearsome sexualy tran smited diseases. They do have Neptune i n Scorpio, however, so they may irst b e sex addicts, a s we all were whn they were born-"Make Love not War" and "Free Love" were the slogans of the time. Note that music is ruled by Neptune, and Neptu ne in Scorpio people have adopted sexually explicit music. On the whole, however, it is too early or us to be able to make intellignt statments about die Pluto in Virgo generation, much less Pluto in Libra or Scorpio. The efcts of Pluto in a sign are

o

long range and there can be so

much enlightenment or endarkenmnt of the natives of tht generation, we cannot tell what the n d will be. We do not evn, or that mater, know how Pluto in Leo people will react to the Pluto in Scorpio square to their natal Pluto.

luto and the Unolding of the Collective The outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are closely linked in their eects on the world, collaborating or the unolding of the collective. It seems tht Neptu ne goes through a sign first, somehow dissolving and corrupting the matrs associated with it, making the concerns of that sign an unreachable dream. It is almost as though t i nfects all of us with an illusion tht we additiely try to attain, rather like a vapor trail that Pluto years later clears up. Uranus currently ollows Neptune, popularzing and disseminating the illusions, making them available to the masss. Pluto goes through a sign some wentyight years ater Neptune and destroys the illusions of Neptu ne i n "(" generation. For example, the Neptune in Virgo generation (1921· 1 942) was born under the shadow of unemployment and poverty of the depression, so this generation came to idolie work, as though t were somehow divine. Yet, these people have had

to sufer both addiction to it, as in workaholism, and disillusionmnt when it did not make them live happily ever ater. Work became mean ingless during the time Pluto was in Virgo (1 958-1 971), encompassing the 1 960s-the tune in, turn on, drop out era, when the work ethic was abandoned. While

Nptune

was

in

Libra

(1943-57)

relationships

became

Hollywoodized. We bgan looking or happily ever atr, the prfect and eternal romance, with someone as beautiful or handsome as a movie star. The more we sought mis dream, the less we could deal with real people i n relationships, but were perpetually itching to go ind romantic nirvana, somone to lit us out of the human condition and i nto the divine. During Pluto's transit through Libra, these illusions crashed and relationships sufered rom having to see reality. Pluto in Libra i ntensed resentment about unequal relationships, so that what actually got destroyd were relationships where power was unequal. Maybe it is all Grand Plan and we ARE movi ng toward equality, but we need thrapeutic isolation rom o ne another in ordr to eel we don't ned one another to survive. Thus, when we get back to relating, it will be on a difernt basis. Atr Pluto in Libra has destroyed our illusions about relationships, so that they became progressively embitered, we may now all need to learn how to be alone (a possible i nterpretation of Pluto in Scorpio). Or, we may dfend ou rselves agai nst loneliness by i ntensiying all the Plutonian

defenses-the

control,

manipulation,

symbiosis

and

power

struggles. Except in the nd, it will be clear that they don't work. For the Neptune in Scorpio gnration (the children of the flowr children) and the collective consciousness since that time (1957-71), our illusions, asci nations, and addictions have tended to be sex, wealth, and resntment or cynicism about the corruption of the power structure. The eighth house represents debt and Neptune illusion or slavery, so we've all ben living in a antasy land with credit cards the magic wands. U nder the i nflunce of this placement, we've collectivly come to think tht sx was so important that it controlled our l ives. Ads playing on sex were used as a way of manipu lating

us into buying byond our means. We've been living a set of illusions about sex and rproduction too, with u n nedd hysterecto mies and chemical or surgical intrusions i nto the birth process making dotors rich. The use of destructive chemicals or birth control gave us an illusion of sexual freedom, yet the physical, emotional, and spiritual costs are beginning to be apparent. The current prevalence of sexually transmitd disease (like Herpes and AIDS) is already causing people to reassess their "liberated" sexuality. Illusions we bought i nto when Neptune transited Scorpio will be reevaluated as Pluto moves through Scorpio. Many astrologers have remarkd on the way the orm of the planets ollows the untion, how the

pecu liarities of their con struction say

somthing about the way the planets operate in our lives. Once more this is true whn we think of the unusual irregularity of Pluto's 248 year orbit. At some points in its path around the Sun, it spent as long

s

thirty-wo years

in a sign, whereas during recent history it stays in a sign only eleven years. This is celstial mechanics, objective reality, and yet it may be part of the acceleration of change in our lives. We all eel thi ngs are movi ng too quickly, decaying too ast; we all have a sense of too many endings, ven of time running out. Consequences seem to happen aster, and yet paradoxically our life spans are increasing as we conqur o nc-deadly diseases. These ideas about the efects of Pluto and the other outer planets are only preliminary. Astrology seems headed i n the direction of uncovering much more about the meanings of these placements, yet I would love to see a good historian with a background in political science and conomics tacle this subject. We are at a rather exciting point in the developmnt of astrology, and we can look orward to knowing a great deal more about the meani ngs and historical correlations of the outer planets in the signs. l Aspects to the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or Midheaven i nvolving Pluto, or someone with seeral im portant plants i n Scorpio or with a strong eight house indicates a "Strong Pluto." f The appendix provids urther details about Pluto aspects, and includes

inormtion so students can locate Pluto in the natal chart.

CHAPTER WO The Personality and Character of the lutonian Let's stte clearly that this is not a book about Sco rpios, b u t about Pluto in all of us, how to understan d it, and if Pluto is not worki ng well or you, how to heal it. This chapter demonstrats the best and the worst of the Plutonian. Insights and healing tools are presnted or Plutonian types. Because the Plutonian who has worked through the negative is in the best position to help the rest of us, special atention and help is given to Pluto nians here.

Recognizing the Plutonian First, it might be well to dfine what we mean by Pluto people. If you look at their charts-that is, if they la you l ook at their charts, as secrtive as they ar--you would

ind

Pluto aspcting the

Sun,

M oon, Ascendant,

or

Midheaven. U sually, it is more than one of these, mostly in hard aspects like the

conjunction,

semisquare,

square,

sesquiquadrate,

quincunx,

or

opposition. S ometimes Pluto aspects a numbr of other planets, or the person has key placments i n Scorpio, which Pluto rules. Having sveral planets in the eighth house can also produce some of these efcts. If you don't have the chart, or if you don't know that much astrology, how would you recognze the negative Plutonian? Thre are certain personality traits that tnd to go along with these chart patterns, although not all will be present in a si ngle individual, of course. If you are a Plutonian and some of thse traits emphatically do not t you, just let them go and take wht is helpul and descriptive of you prson ally. What will be given is a composite picture, based on worki ng with a great many Plutonians over the years. Plutonians who are negatively incli ned are oten very guardd and rigid, araid to let others gt close. Never revealing much about thmselves, nonetheless they know evrything about you, havi ng drawn it out of you i n

the guise of helping. Plutonians oten look i ntense and can have a mournul appearance that drives others away. Many are biter and rsentul, obsessing about the past, projecting the atitude, " Look what they did to me." They are oten mistrustul-it was or them that the t-shirts were designed that say, "The paranoids are out of get me," or the others that say, "I don't get mad, I gt even." Or, black t-shi rts that say nothing at all, or Plutonians are oten dressed in black. Even their humor is black. How many Scorpios does it take to change a light bulb? None, they'd rather sit in the dark. There

are Plutonians

who

operate

predominantly on

the

positive

levl-healing, transorming, transmuting thmselves and those around them. Never content with the supeicial, they look deeply into life and people, having a natural git or un derstanding what makes people tick. Some w are to the manner bon, through exposure to parents who were positive Plutonians. More otn, however, the positive Plutonian comes to the ability to heal th rough the necssity of healing the eects of dificult childhood or life circumstances. Many have survived extrmely harsh and traumatic backgrounds which might h ave crushed a lesser soul but gave these resilient souls the strength of diamonds. Plutonians have the git, as well as the compulsion, to find methods of dealing with the painul eents in their history, and thus will work on resolving the past. In short, many positive Plutonians began as negative Plutonians and worked their way up, through persistent efort. Most of this chapter is devoted to understanding negative Plutonians and the remainder of the book to tools or healing Plutonian diicultis we all ace. Plutonians are born cou nslors, so they tend to atract troubled people. H owever,

Plutonian s of the

more

negtie varity make themslves

indispensable, subtly convincing you that you'd be helpless without them. You can't un derstand why you've come to resent thm and you eel guilty, since they do so much or you. Somehow the balance of power in the relationship has shited so that you're doing things their way all the time and eel guilty if you don't. Women more oten than men resort to this kind of

manipu lation in order to have power. Power and control are the undrlying issues of the planet Pluto, pure and simple. Since Pluto pople are neither pure nor simple, howver, their atempts to control come out in disguised waysoten disguisd even rom themselves. Control is achieved by such subtle means as manipulation, emotional blacmail, "helping," and guilt. Another characteristic of n gative Plutonians is thir way of dealing with emotions. Being in command of emotions is to be in command of the situation, or so Plutonian s reaso n. Feelings are seldom shown, especially those where control could be threatnd-an ger, neediness, or vulnerabil ity. Pluto nians disclaim anger, yet inwardly seethe. You snse it and are bothered, but they insist, "No, no, nothing is wrong." Then one fine day, the Plutonian tells you that you've been doing X or months, it dries hr wild when people do X, how could you be so insensitie, and she never wants to see you again. You are devastatd, since you h ad no idea X was a no-no, and since she has led you to be so heavily dependent on her that you think you can't manage on your own. You are dead as r as she is concrnd , or there is no resuscitating the relationship. You aren't the o n ly o n--this scenario is repeated over and over i n the lives of Plutonians. It may, in act, be the only way they know how to relate.

How the Plutonian Got that Way I don't mean to imply that Plutonian people deliberately he this painul patern. It is helpul to remember that the dfenses which cause such pain or these adults once made it possible or thm as children to survive a dificult and oten h ostile nvironment. Thse children h ad to deal with abandonment, death, resentment, guilt, secrets, sex, or the revenge motif. Oten, there were traumatic betrayals of trust or threats to survival-bad amily situations. As we will se in Chapter Five, a strong Pluto is common among children of alcoholics, abused children, and i ncest victims. Others might have lost a parent through death or biter divorce, or they may have been children who suferd greatly at the hands of powerul adults.

ten, thre was an ovewhelming mothr who misused her natural power over the child, being eithr overty domineering or covertly manipu lative. Sometimes one parent is harsh and punitive, while the other, seemingly weaker, is actually more controlling. "It's you and me agai nst that monster, so you'd beter stick close and d o just what I say." The "good" parent can actually wind up being more of a problem, because anger against the dominering parent is clear cut while the saint/martyr parent creates guilt and seemingly unmerited resentment. ten

Plutonian children are unwanted, although the parents may

overcompn sate and coer up by spoiling them. Sometimes the parents have so many problems and are so enmeshed in power struggles with one another tht the child is simply an added aggravation. Sometimes the pregn ancy itself was no more than a ploy. This happens, or i nstance, in "orced marriages" or when a marriage is just about to all apart and the wife "just coincidentaly" winds up pregnant at the critical moment. Such ploys are not especially successul these days, but even when thy glue the parnts together resentment is created. The child may bear the brunt of the parent's angr, especially if the child resembles the mate. Another situation which may create a Plutonian is grief in the family t an early age. A deth may occur within the year beore the child's birth, or somtimes within the year ater. The houshold is i n mourning, and the inant absorbs grief as part of its character structure. Such a child may have been conceived to rplace the lost loved one. It sems almost an instinct, beyond reason. Even I, who never wanted children, ound myself cryin g over babies in the stret while y mothr was dying. As we'll see in Ch apter Six, a bereaved person is angry, and that angr can be felt by the inant and taken as a prsonal message regarding self and the world. In addition, grif leaves little energy over to atend to life, so the i nant's emotional needs may be resented, or not mt, or met by its and starts. Conersely, when the lost person is crucial to the mother (such as a parent or a child). she may cling symbiotically to the Plutonian child to make up or the loss.

Also likely are one or more unresolvd, deeply mourned deaths or losses. Plutonians seem to collet more than thir fair share of deaths, and each new one may trigger remnants of oldr grief. As Dylan Thomas said, "Ater the irst death, there is no othr." Mourning may ned to be completed in order to allow the Plutonian to let go of melancholy. Sometimes there is only the recurrent thit of loss or abandonmnt, a threat tht damages the child as much as an actual loss. I am rminded of my short-term group about mothers and daughters in which each of the seven members had a Moon/ Pluto aspect, and I, "coincidentally," was goi ng through a Moon/Pluto transit. Intrigued, we probed to find out what each had i n common. All the women had been continually threatened by their mothers as they were growin g ueither she would die or wouldn't be there when they got home from school. The group was short-lived, because during our scond meting the phone rang to tell me tht my mothr died. This shocking confrontation with the thing thy h ad been thretened with all their lives was so traumatic that none could continue. (I do suspect, however, tht thy neded to conront the reality of their mothers' eentual death, and tht was the true purpose of the group.)

The Power of the Family Scrt A family therapist I worked with, Dr. Dick Auerswald, talked about "the secret" that was always at the heart of the family pathology. The secret wists amily members up in their relationship to one anothr and the world. The Pluto nian person is oten one who l ived in a amily ull of secrets, ugly skeletons in the closet. Living that way made the Plutonian eel tainted, as though acceptance outside the confines of the amily could only be won by concealment. What sorts of secrts? You must un derstand that we are now in an age of much more openness than even wenty years ago when the adult Plutonian's sense of slf-worth was being ormed. Not tht long ago, tuberculosis was a scandal not unlike leprosy, epilepsy was the kiss of death as ar as having a

career or a mate, and if you had an insane or rtarded relative you hid that act. With Pluto in Scorpio, much more taboo subjects, like i ncest and child molesttion, are more o penly discussed, but even now they are terribly dificult secrets to l ive with. A strong Pluto is common in children of alcoholics, and this disease is still a shameul scret. The parents won't admit the alcoholism, although the behavior may be obvious,

o

it is not even all right to discuss within the

amily. Thus, amily members dny the problem and engage in a conspiracy to kep the outside world rom knowing. Teenagers, in particular, want so badly to be like everyone else that they h ide the fact that a parnt drinks. Carrying this burden, the children become araid to lt outsiders know them, even as adults. (Books or children of alcoholics are listed

in the

bibliography.)

s the child grows up, the amily secret retains its hold, but the isolation it creates inclines the Plutonian to develop other secrets. Thse are mostly desperate things done to ind loe and oercome that wful sense of bing alone. Since Pluto has a great deal to do with sex, some of the secrets are sexual. Or, dep resentment can lead to hostile actions that are also guilty secrets. (Chapter Four will give more insight i nto these ations and ways to purge the guilt so you can love yourself.) In the Anonymous programs, thy say you're only as sick as your secrets, and it's true that secrets can make you sick. They can even cause cancer f thy're malignant enough. If you have a secret that's twisting you up and you need to be ree, there's no way to do it but to find the right people to share with. Use your common sense, mind you, but share it. S ecrets lose their power whn

you

tell them.

I've been listening to

people's

secrets

professionally or almost wenty years, and out of all those screts there was only ONE that shocked me. I won't tell you what it was, but I can guarantee yours is nothing com pared to it. If yours is as bad as all that, they'll make a

V movie about it within the year. That's wht Pluto in Scorpio is about-an end to screts!

Emotions as Scrts that Contribute to Isolation Plutonian people are oten loners, or evn surrounded by other people thy can eel alone in a crowd. One major reason is that they hide their emotions so not to be betrayed by them. In doing so, they come to believe tht what they are eeling is so rmoved rom the human condition as to be alien. Any nu mber have confessed to a sense of bing rom another planet. All Plutonian traits develop or good reasons. There were seeming, painful emotional undercurrents in the home which priodically flared i nto the open. The child had to be prptualy alert to jump out of die way of the b low tht was coming. The blow wasn't always physical. Sometimes it was verbal, somtimes een psychic. Maybe it was die threat of abandonment, disapproval, or loss of love. But the threat was mere, and the child needed to monitor it continuously. Some of the felers the child used to keep tabs on the situation were: acute awareness of body language, tone of voice, minute acial changes, and een psychic percptions. (As adults, Plutonians make extrmely perceptive counselors. Sensitivity like that can't be taught in a psychoanalytic institute.) The felers were necessary, because truth was taboo, and survival depended on knowing what was going on. Most especially, the child had to monitor the mothr's motional condition, so it was bst not to stray too far. The child who sees things, howver, is oten punished if he dares to speak of his prceptions. What goes on is somewhat like the story of the em peror's new clothes. Some con artists convinced the emperor thy wre weaving him clothes of a mterial so delicate tht only the most reined, sensitive people could see it, when of cou rse they wern 't weaving anything at all. Soon the emperor and all his court were oohing and aahing over his beautiful clothes, when in actuality he was stark naked. There was just one l ittle boy i n the crowd who spoke the truth-the em peror had no clothes on. Did you ever wondr how the story really ended? Being a Plutonian myself, my bt is that nobody than ked him or it. M ore likely, that l ittle boy got his bhind tannd when he got home! Tht little boy was doubtlessly a Plutonian, and he got smart real

quick and shut up about what was going on. H owevr, f your parents lie about what is happeni ng, you come to d istrust and resent them. When the Plutonian ventures outside the amily and its dangerous emotional undercurrents, the snsitivity continues. U nspoken eelings are regarded as threatening and perilous even in situations where the red alert is unmerited. A second kind of mistrust begins, because people constantly lie about eelings-never mind that they primarily lie to themseles. The child senses the d iscrepancy btween what is being said and felt, and if he dares to speak up about it, he may be pu nished or ostracized. When this happens enough, the young Plutonian comes to eel that people are not to be trusted with feli ngs. Simultanously, the youngster may also eel strange or having thse apparenty unacceptable perceptions. Since lies continue in social situations throughout life, adults become wary of speaking out. Awareness of the lying and of bing diferent creates a painful isolation. Another contribution to the loneliness is that not only do people react badly when you reveal what THEY are eelinone could, atr all, respect a desire or privacy-but they also react badly when you reveal what YOU are eeling. If it's a dificult eeling, they'd just as soon you stiled it. And, if it's a Plutonian feli ng, like grief, jealousy, or rsentment, it's really taboo to talk about; once, maybe, but people are likely to move away from you if you are too intnse. Try telling your Nw Age, S piritual, or Transormed buddies tht you'd seriously like to kill your wife who has just let you, and then listn to the sound of the phone not ringing. Or, f your pals are Plutonian thmselves, they will tell you what to do to get over these feelings and gt annoyd whn you don't. You inally learn to shut up, and the eelings become all the more awul or not being shared. Group thrapy is extrmely helpul or unspoken emotions. You can imagine that the last thing Plutonians want to do is reveal themselves in a group of stranges. One on one with somone we are payi ng to listen isn't so bad. We can pretty much control the situation-therapists don 't say much anyhow, and we can always fire them if we don't like their reactions. I hted

group thrapy evy si ngle week or oer a year, yet it was one of the stron gest healing experiences I have ever had. I was shockd out of my proud/angry sense of alienness by being with people I didn't choose and couldn't control. They were so diferent from me and y values that I would never hae chosen to get close to them. Hearing thm express the same reactions I was having, I was orcd to conclude (you wouldn't beliee how reluctantly!) I was human ater all and not so vy un ique. Sel-help groups also revealed how much I was like others, but one can be silent within such groups, never reveal much, and move away whn it becomes too intimate.

The Plutonian in Relationships What a strage thig loeliess is ad how righrening it is. We ever allow ouelves o get oo cle o t; and f by chane we o, we quikly run away om it) : a point of ascination with transactional analysis, I dcided each Venus position could be identified by the games people played to avoid inti macy. Especially striking were those tied to Pluto with the reltionship houses (the ith, seventh, or eighth) . This would apply to Venus in Sco rpio, also to Pluto aspects to the Ascendant/Descendant xis, and probably to all Plutonians. These people have two main games, and one so readily shits i nto the other tht it's hard to discuss them separatly. The irst is, "Til deth do us part," with all its potntially sinister ramifications. Plutonians don't orm relationships, they take hostages! They are so i ntnse about love that they genuinely believe it's a life and death mtter. They are not above a one-night stand, because they can be quite passionate; but the morning ater they evaluate you as a life long partner and make an irrevocable d cision. If they like you, you're it. No easing in and explori ng each othr, then making up your mind. Possibly, with their keen insight into people, that's all the time it taks to make a valid psychological assessment, but nonetheless it can scare of olks who need longer to make a commitment. Once in a relationship, it is such a relief ater the painul

lonelinss that they become obsessive and possessive. Fearing abandonment they atempt to bind the lover with mechanisms describd arler. Out of desperate fear, they oten tragically create the abandonment they work so hard to avoid, or they wind up being sufocati ng. ter such a desertion, the scond game comes i nto play: " I've been burned beore." They may go deeper into isolation, since that gives them total control oer their environment. Some of them never try again, playing the game of "loved and lost" or "soul mate." They hang on to the old, dead love and visit the cemetry regularly. Bitter recriminations go on and on against those who eluded thir grasp, even though the lovd ons were essentially d riven away. The patern can be self-perpetuating. For in stance, a Pluto person might have exprienced a betrayal he cannot let go of. Such a person expects to be betrayd again and oten selects somone vry likely to betray him, ignoring other kinds of people. ("They simply don't turn me on.") Then by words, behavior, and body language, his lover is maneuvred i nto fulilling those cherished xpectations. ter a while, anyone would get tired of the accusations and conclude, " If that's all you think I'm good or, I'll go ahead and do it!" ter playi ng " I've been burned beore" or a while, lonliness builds up to a painul level again. When somone eventu ally ignits the embers of the desire or i ntimacy, the new love has a problem, or she will have to jump through hoops to prove she's not like that other one. Once the Plutonian starts to believe ven a litle bit, we're right back to ''Til death do us part!" The exrcise or opening the heart center given in Chapter Three can help ease this intensity about relatio nships.

The Plutonian and Sx Plutonians can be very passionate people, sometims ven obsessed with sex. Like all thir eelings, sexual desires and sensations can be intenseone of the advantags of being a Plutonian! They can be gited lovers, as keen

sensitivity to what is going on with others, even mdiumistic abilities, can help them zro i n on what to do or their partner's utmost satisfation. Their passionate, i ntense, mysterious look can also make them highly desirable. Plutonians, in short, are hot. That's the good news. The bad nws is that sex is a complex issue or Plutonians, ull of emotional pitalls. The need or power and control is part of the reason sex can be compulsive. "Scoring" is win ning, and Plutonians are bent on winning at all costsven when the sexual conqust is not to thir advantage personally, socially, or p rofessionally. In act, the more risky t is, the more of a secret it has to be, the more t turns them on. Oten, Plutonians will be powerfully atracted to social i nferiors, relishing the eeling of being on top. Or, convrsely, they may go atr po ple with power or money, seeing either as an aphrodisiac. They may also be atractd to dangerous people, engaging in a battle or control by using sex. Sexual conquest may also be a orm of revenge agai nst the current partner, a past partnr, or a parent. Sex, in short, serves many purposes other than physical release. For one thing, they don't eel alone any more. Yet, the ssential isolation of Pluto nians is such that loneliness returns quickly, so sex may become a constant need. Sex may be used as a hedge against abandonment. Plutonians may also use i ntimacy as a defense against i ntimacy. That is, lovemaing leaves little time or talking, so Pluto nians may keep you so busy that you don't notice the lack of verbal communication. Eventually, however, something i n you des notice, some part of you rebels at being a sex object, you ctch on that you are being controlled. You start eeling alone in the midst of all that i ntimacy, and you eel shut out. You may come to resnt doing t their way or eel u sed by the act that you are always u lfilled and totally exposed, while the Plutonian never loses control or lets you u lfill him or her. By that time, you are either hooked by the other relationship games the Plutonians play, like making you dependent, or you may leave. The Plutonian is abandoned again.

The reasons or sexual compulsiveness and control go back to the origins of the Plutonian personality. I ncest or child molestation may be part of the Plutonian's history, so sex and misuse of powr coexisted from the child's earliest experinces. Perhaps the home atmosphere was charged with sexual energy, and the child was overstimulated at a you ng age by being too exposed to adult sxual activity. (Didn't Frud, tht old Plutonian, come up with the theory of the primal scene as part of the origin of neurosis?) One or both of the parents may have been promiscuous or u naithful, and this fat shaped the Plutonian's picture of relationships and sxuality. Equally oten, the sxuality wasn't overt, any more than other seething emotions in the home, but the child absorbed the frustrated sexual undercurrents, perhaps being closely tied to an unconsciousy sedutie parent. Where the child felt unwanted o r un loved, lacking real intimacy, he or she may have taken whatever i ntimacy was available and may have ben sexually active earlier than most young po ple. Given the combination of one or several of these conditions, i ntimacy becoms sexualizd or the Plutonian, who may not know any other way to beclose to people. If you are a Plutonian and are wondring why you aren't such a hot number, why you've been celibte these many years, or why, when you do consent to have sex you don't enjoy t, the answer may go back to some of the dificult situatio ns that made you a Plutonian in the irst place. The betrayals

of trust, the i ntrusions

on

your body and

emotions,

or

abandonments may have been so sevre that you have real diicu lty i n opening up a n d leting g o o f control this way. Perhaps you are holding on to loads of resentment agai nst your mate or a past rlationship, the frozen angr making you roen sxually as wll. The work on resntment in Ch apter Four can hlp with that, and some of the othr healing tools given in Ch apter Three can help with sexual functioning. You ould be just as sexy as those Pluto nians described earlier, trust me!

he Vengul Vitim

Please lt me begin by saying that thre are REAL victims. As you will see in Chapter Five, po ple who hae had oewhelming power used against thm el powerless and thus can perpetuate their own victimzation i n subsequnt relationships. These unortunate people deserve nothing but compassion. Where we have Pluto in our charts, we can all sometimes play what I call the vengeiil vitim, but negativey inclined Plutonian s can devote years and considerable energy to it. In such situations, thse people eel wronged, yt eel justed returning that wrong to others. People filled with hte because of things a parent did twenty, thirty, orty years ago can xtract revenge rom everyone who tries to get close now. It doesn't make sn se, of course, but thse people eel morally correct and self- righteous. Naturally, none of this is conscious-all the Plutonians are aware of is biterness over what was done. Yet they hold on to the resentment, and by holding onto it, it is perpetuated, as i n the xample of the lover who gets pushed into betrayal by the repeated suspicions. The payof is that the Plutonians gt to say, "See, I was right! People aren't to be trusted. Betrayed agai n!" This is said with a deth's head smile that shows they somehow think thy won in this exchange. Actually, the best revenge is living well. cting the victim can become a ploy in the revenge. The wrong is played up to the hilt, so others fel somehow guilty and responsible, as though they should make up or what was done. Woe be u nto the person who tries to help the vengeful viti-and these types are seductive to many of us who need to rescue! It's a lot like trying to take a thorn out of a lion's pw. When you get hooked i nto such an i nteraction, just when you fel the sorriest, you realze you've ben stung, maneuvered, used. New York, or i nstance, is ull of starving artists who fel victimzed because socity doesn't recognize their talent (Pluto in Leo) and who are bitr tht they can 't earn a living that way. They extract revenge by playing the victim role to the hilt, inding lovers who eel sorry or them and compelled to pay the rent.

lutonians and the Death Wish Sigmund Freud, who h ad Sco rpio Rising and Pluto on the Descendant, invented the concept of the death wish as a universal human urge. Maybe tht idea is valid, or maybe Freud mainly drew other Plutonians to himself-the rising sign does determine what we draw to ou rselves and the Descendant says a great d eal about our partnerships. Was Freud haunted by a death wish that he projeted onto the rst of humanity, or do we all have it? (Frud, whose chart is presented later, also h ad Neptune in the eighth house, which could show the tendency to see death as an escape.) Negative Plutonians, nonthelss, oten have a strong death wish. Some have an ambivalence about living, an anger that thy have to be here, and a lack of acceptance of being compelled to l ive, along with suicidal antasies. As described in the book Life Before Lie, Helen Wambaugh hypnotized many hundreds of people, many of whom did not believe in reincarnation or survival atr death. Nearly all remembered events in the period beore birth, including knowledge of the life task and the selection of their parents, i n which they participated. There were some individuals, apparently Plutonians, who d id not wish to i ncarnate again, who were born more o r lss against thir will and wre very angry about it. Some remmbered miscarriages their mother h ad beorehand in which they were supposed to be born but withdrew. I ask Plutonians who evidence ambivalence about living if there was such an eent in their amily bore they were born, and they oten reply, startled, "How d id you know that?" The mother's psychic prception of the child's unwilli ngness to live could be one reason a mother would cling possessively to a child, i n the dynamics of Plutonian development discussed earlier.) Ambivalence about living may stem back to early exposure to grie. Unresolved and unconscious grie, let's say over losing a parent figure, can lie bhind a wish to die. Also, f the parents were in mourning, they thmselves may h ave been ambivalent about this child's existence, and the child, eeling unwanted, may hae concludd it was better never to have been

born. Where conditions were traumatic, the child could early on have absorbed an atitude that life was not worth living. For i nstance, the rate of teenage suicides or the generation born in the middle to lte Sixties with Pluto conjunct Uranus in Virgo has ben extremely high, doubtlessly because this represents extremely diicult home situations when the aspect is prominent (e.g., aspecti ng the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or Mid-heaen). Regardlss of its source, Plutonian s have to resolve this ongoing ambivalence in order to l ive ully. Books on reincarnation and survival sem to help, since Plutonians can begin to see that there is more to life; that even if life is diicult, there is purpose to it. Such books also discuss the ater-efcts of suicide and the probability of having to repeat the lssons of this life if that way out were taken. (See Chapter Six, where we discuss how this knowledge hlped a Plutonian let go of a suicidal preoccupation.) Clearing out deep-seatd resntments about the past with the tools in Ch apter Four also helps Plutonians eel life is worth living.

lutohe Hrmit, the cholar, the Researcher It is not tat we lve o e aloe, bt that we love o a,

a,

and when we do

te may grows thinner and thiner until there is none at all. . .We

are not the less o aim at the summits though te multitude does not aced them. -Henry David Thoreau Thoreau's words remind me of the eagle/phoenix side of the Scorpio nature, or Plutonian s are also loners in a more positive sense, ocused so totally on achieving some necessary purpose that they have litle time or frivolity. They resemble the Tarot card, The Hermit (se F igure 1) . One of our irst and braest people to soar was Amelia Earhart, whose solo flights made her a legend. As you can see from Chart 1 , she has Pluto conjunct the Moon, Venus, and Neptune in the air sign Gemini, plus the conjuntion in Scorpio of Uranus (the planet associted with avition) and Saturn (the planet of

achievement and self-discipli ne). Her chart is Plutonian, and her death was a mysterious disappearance on a flight rumored to h ave been a spy mission.

THE

HERMIT.

Figure 1. The Hermit, rom the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck. Reprinted by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Nw York. Further reproduction or-bidden.

Ch art 1 . Amelia Earhart. Born Atchison, Kansas, July 24, 1 987, 1 1 :0 PM CST, tro pical, Placidus. Data is reproduced rom Lois Rodden' roiles of Women, AFA, Tmpe, Z, 1979, p. 1 3 1 . Used by permission. For some time I h ad been using the metaphor of Madame Curie laboriously siting tons of pitchblnde to harvest a small amount of Uranium to illustrate the hard, committed, solitary work Plutonians are capable o. Finally it occurred to me to look at her chart. (See Chart 2) . She has our planets in Scorpio, including the Sun in the eighth house opposite Pluto and a stron g conjunction of M ars, Saturn, and Venus. Mars/Saturn conjunctions have a very bad reputation and in Sco rpio neither planet is ery much sought

ater, so I can imagine what a gloom and doom astrologr would have told the Madame f she wre unscientific enough to consult one. "Forgt it. All your forts will come to naught!"

Ch art 2. Marie Curie. Born Warsaw, Polan d, November?, 1 867, 1:06PM, tropical, Placidus. Data rom Lois Rodden's Proiles of Women, AFA, Tempe, AZ, 1 979, p.226. Used by permission. I once asked painstaking astrological researcher Michel Gau-quelin what occupation wnt along with Pluto Rising or Culminting (i.e., on the Midheaven). He said it was or the researcher, and that he h imself had it.

Madame Curie's Pluto is not in the Gauquelin setors, yet she is a Plutonian and a rsearcher of the highest order. Nuclear energy itself seems Plutonian, i n that t is u sed or healing, especially or the Plutonian disease of cancer, yet also has the power to dstroy our world. As befits her Plutonian chart, Madame Curie is post-humously one of our most powerul individuals, i n tht her discoeries have chan ged the cou rse o f history. It is also important to consider that the isolation suffered by Plutonians may be karmically necessary. Punishmnt is not im plied here. Isoltion may be a condition which some require in order to develop their abilities to the ullest or to achieve an agreed-upon l ife purpose. It may be necessary to ocus on some singular activity, rather than bing immersed in the daily needs of amily or other relationships. The lie purpose may be one which is so demandi ng-and yet one the world needs so bad y-that con siderable personal sacrifice is needed. For this sacrifice, Pluto nians dserve our love and support. Most of us retain little awarnss of our karmic l ife tass, so the Plutonian may be let only with the pain at being alone. Post-humous ame seems to go along with such ar-reaching pursuits, and yet this thought is small consolation. Although it is painful, isolation also gives you the sel-co ntai nment to go deeply with in. It is not so easy to hide rom yourself when you are alone, nor is t so necssary to pretend as when you are with others. One of my treasured riends, a Sun/Pluto conjunction, said that by the age of twlve he had recognied that the life path he chose would oten be a lonely one. Delving deep within is not or the ordinary person, nor does it receive much social validation. It also rquires solitude to do the painstaking anaysis of self and life typical of both the psychologist and the spiritual seeker. Being set apart, even though it is diicult, gives you the perspective to understan d your culture, why it is the way it is, and how to correct its problems. Psychologists, reormers, and others who have an urge to make an impact on problm-solving in the world are otn Plutonians. Not being as immersd in the culture as the ordinary individual, the Plutonian is not so

controlled by its valus and can explore many new dimensions. As Dag H ammarsjold said, "Pray that your loneliness may spur you into inding � something to l ive or, something great enough to die or."

The lutonian

s

Healer,

Therapist, and Reormer Plutonians can make superb therapists. They are keenly aware of everyone, understan ding Nery nuance of tone, movement, word choice, and what is not said as well as what is. A diicult home situation may be the training ground or alertness, and evn though it developed

s

a survival mechanism,

this skill makes Plutonian s excellnt diagnosticians. Through the pain experienced, Plutonians make mighty efforts to heal themselves and in so doing

develop the

courage to

confront u nconscious

emotions

and

motivations. Through slf-analysis, thy can also develop the capacity to analyze others. If we do i ndeed choose our charts and our parents, as reincarnational studies suggest, then prhaps Pluton ians select such rough circumstances to impel them in the dirction of helping pople.

s a result of background and experince, Pluto nians have a natural git or psychology. The chart of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the advocate or the dyi ng, is presented in Chapter Six (Chat 1 7, page 1 30) . She is a psychiatrist with the Sun and Moon conjunct Pluto. Another exam ple is Sigmund Freud (ee Chart

. on page 46). whose chart will be referred to in sevral chapters because of his im pact on our thinki ng. Freud is clearly a Plutonian, in that he has Scorpio Rising and Pluto d irecdy opposite the Ascendant. The dynamics of Pluto can be seen in his carer, both in the positive sense of healing and i n the ngative sn se o f power a n d control.

Ch art 3. Sigmund Freud. Born Frieburg, W. Gennany, M ay 5, 1 856, 6:21 PM, tropical, Placidus. Birth time recorded rom ather's diary according to Lois Rodden's Aman Book of Chats, ACS, San Diego, CA, 1 980. Psychology alone is not the extent of Plutonians' capacity to heal. Pluto nians who puriy resntment and othr toxic conditions can develop the capacity to use healing energis of a more subtle sort, such as the techniques i ntrod ucd in this book. Power in its purest sense, when the desire to control is absnt, can be used to transmute mater or nrgy, so Pluto nians can develop the ability to heal mind, body, and spirit-hopeully some combination of the thre. Ellen Yoakum (see Chart 4) is an example of

a healer whose abilitis were well-accepted and recognizd by the mdical profession. She had a Grand Cross (a stressul but dynamic rectan gle) with Pluto

in

the irst, Jupiter in

mystical Pisces, Venus in

health

and

service-oriented Virgo, and unconentional Uranus i n Sagitarius, die sign of the p reacher.

Ch art 4. Ellen Yoakum. Born Hillsboro, Texas, August 2, 1 03, 1 :0 AM CST, tropical, Placidus. Date rom Lois Rodden's Proiles of Women, AFA, Tempe, Z, 1 979, p. 1 38. Used by permission. Since Pluto is closly allied with the collective, Pluto nians can also have a

stron g desire to heal on a mass level; thus many reormers have a strong Pluto. One example is Gandhi, whose eforts to re India entaild gret personal sacrifices and that Plutonian capacity to thrive under pressure (see Chart 5) . H i s chart has a t-square ( a dynamic triangle) with a Pluto/J upiter conjunction i n Taurus, Moon i n Leo in the tenth-showi ng his capacity to inspire the public-and a Vnus/Mars conjuntion in Scorpio. He also has Mercury in Scorpio near the Ascendant.

Ch art 5. Gandhi. Born Porbandar, I ndia, October 2, 1 869, 7:11 :48 AM LMT, tropical, Placidus. The birth data is questionable according to Lois Rodden i n

The American Bok of Cais (ACS, San Diego,

A,

1980). Even with a

questionable birth time, readers should note tht the t-square i nvolving Pluto would be in ffect, and it is this t-square aspect that indicates his powerul motivation or reorm.

Moving &om Native to Posiive Uses of Pluto If you are a Plutonian type, you may be wondering how you can move away rom the ngative and painul uses of Pluto to the positive and construtie ones. Psychothrapy, of course, would help you undrstand yourself btter, and hopfully this book will provide you with many in sights. More importantly, Ch apter Thre will introduce practical tools which can be used to purge guilt, rsentment, con-trollingness, and other negative Pluto traits.

Books

r

Adult Children of Alcoholics

Black, Claudia n Will Never Happen o Me, M.A.C. Printing and Publications, 1 982. A book by the pioneer in the ield of treatment or adult children of alcoholics, speciying the personality traits and problms that accompany this amily problm. (Ordr from ACT, Box 8536, Newport Beach, A 92660, and ask to be on their mailing list or seminars.)

The NACOA Networ. Box 421691 , San Francisco, CA 94142. News-letter of the growing ntwork of groups and services or adult childrn of alcoholics.

Seixas, J udith S. and Geraldine Youcha. Children of lcoholism: A Survivor's

Manual, Crown Publishers, N. Y., 1985. Written by wo authors who have made substantial contributions to the field of alcohol education. Sexas has also writn ine books or teenagrs and young childrn with alcoholic parents.

thr Helpul Books or lutonians Friday, Nancy. My Mother/My Sel. Dll, N . Y., 1 978. A poweru l book on the symbiosis

beween

mother

and

daughter,

very

useul

in

ataining

consciousness into the pervasive effects our mothers have on our lives.

Hofman, Bob. No One Is o Bame: Getting a Loving ivoce From Mom ad

Dad, Science and Behavior Books, N. Y., 1 979. Full of helpul in sights and processes to get free of programming and old hurts and angers toward parents.

Keyes,

Ken. A Co=ous Person's Guie o Relationships,

Living Love

Publications, St. Mary's, Y, 1 979. A transormative book which looks at the addictive qualities in relationships, including tht of control and being right. Help in deprogramming yourself or btter relationships.

Kushner, H arold. When Bad Thigs Happen o Good eople, Avon Books, N. Y., 1 981. An atempt to look at the question of why if there is a God, tragedis happn to people. l J. Krishnamurti, Commen>res n Living, Quest, Wheaton, IL, 1967. i oag Hammarskjold, Makins, Knopf, NY, 1964, p. 72.

CHATER TH REE Healing Tools or luto Problems We have just discussed a number of problems common to Plutonians which, sooner or lter, will confront all of us i n some way. Having a beter undrstanding of where thse diiculties come rom may be helpul, yet insight without direction can be depressing. Increasing slf-knowledge without i ncreasing the power to change can even add to self-htred. Some people say, "If I undrstand why I do it, why can't I stop?" This chapter will i ntroduce you to the tools you can use to change yourself. Because Pluto, Scorpio, and the eighth house all hae to do with heali ng, a secondary goal is to inspire more Plutonians to become healers. In healing yourself, you learn the crat of healing, and this may lead to the desire to help othrs. With Pluto in Scorpio, thre should be a rsurgence of the healing arts as a normal and natural part of life.

The Healing Crisis The concept of the healing crisis is an im portant one, meaning that in tackling such problems as guilt, resentmnt, or grie, you will at times stir up the very emotions you are tryi ng to heal. Sometimes, as you honestly look at an area of life you'd like to change, the problem seems to lare up. Things aren't really geting worse, you've just removed your blin ders and discovered how bad things got while you ignord the problem. Your consciousness has increasd, not the dificulty. This reaction occurs with various types of therapy. A Pluto tran sit by itslf is a healing crisis, even f you make no special eforts to work through the issues it raiss. Many of our "problms" are really ttempts to kep our emotio ns at bay. I n one of the Seth books by Jane Roberts listed in the bibliography, she says that all illness is an atempt to escape rom the truth . I n order to solve the

problem, the motions you are siting on may need to come out. Thus, you may temporarily think things are getting worse while suppressed eelings come to the su race. If you've been sitti ng on anger about your mate's behavior or a long time, or example, a realy big ight may be needed to clear the air and change the situation. (Please note that I am not advocating wholesale emoting all over the place without regard to others. There are mature ways of dealing with emotions without either suppression or harm to others.) Both healing eforts and Pluto transits sometimes involve a temporary i ntensiication of the struggle, almost as though the problem recognizes its hold on you is being thretened. It rises up as big and menacing as possible so you'll knuckle under again. The " IT" tht is ating this way is not separate, but a part of your being which operates automatically. Dveloped as a legitimate means of survival under some earlier threat, this part persists and is inappropriately applied to new situations. Working with these parts is a

technique

developed

Programming-see

the

by

practitioners

bibliography

or

of more

N LP

(Neuro-Lingu istic

i normation).

s

an

experimnt, you might try communicating with your Pluto part. For instance, you could sit down and write a leter which begins, "Dear Pluto," asking why you keep repeating a particular patern. The answer could come as you write, or it might come in some other orm, such as a dream. I belive we all have a H igher Self (or sou� which guides us through life and which brings us particular experiences and people to further our development. Sometimes during a healing crisis (or a Pluto transit), this inner wisdom propels us i nto an extreme version of something we're tryi ng to clear up. Let's say someone has Pluto i n the sixth house and a pattern of fu ding with coworkers, so under a particular transit he gets a new job with the meanest Plutonians of them all--the boss, secretary, and back-biting coworkers are Scorpios each and evry one. He is dfinitely outclassed, and i n the ensuing battle he has to learn a whole nw way of operati ncleaning up his act i n the process. This can also happn with riendships or love

afairs, but we have to push ourselves i nto the ultimate lousy situation to get so sick and tired of it that we stop. This happens in healing crises all the time. It's no u n, but it is the begin ning of chan ge. The healing crisis is important to keep i n mind as you work with your own Plutonian dificu lties. The tools we will be using may well bring up painul feli ngs and memories. For i nstance, in working on guilt, you may have to experience exactly how much guilt you carry around. Yet, expriencing it anew and seeing exactly where it comes from is part of leting it go, and the end result is that you are no longer burdened. You are not simply draggin g up the past, you are doing it or a healing purpose a n d with tools. The pain is temporary-the healing permanent. As you do the exercises that ollow, feli ngs out of your past will oten aris--an ger, resentment, hurt-and you

may try to atach thm to

something in the present. "It's not logical," you say to yourself, "to be so angry over something that hap pened so long ago." For i nstance, you may be furious, suddenly, at a lover who let you ten years ago, but you inappropriately put that anger onto your present lover, a famiy member, or a good friend. You may attribute the rage to something a presnt lover has done, so you can say you have cause or the anger-but not to that extreme. Be aware of this tendncy to displace feli ngs and keep redireting them to the proper targt. Also, don't try to rtionalize the feli ngs away. "Th t's all in the past; it doesn't make sense to cry ovr it." Don't cover hurt eelings over with phony sweetness and light. Real orgiveness and acceptance will come later, as you work the healing tools through to compltion, but not until you've ully allowed yourself to experience the rage or hurt. Drining, overeati ng, smoking too much, or using d rugs or tranquiliers will shut the procss down or dull its impact, so avoid doing those thin gs. By neither ating on the emotions impulsively nor doing anything to shut them down, you get through them faster and have a beter opportunity to heal yoursel( Dos transormation always have to involve a healing crisis? Probably

not-your problems could drop may in an i nstant if you changed your consciousness. Pluto problems are deeply entrenched, somewhat obsessive, and oten contain an elment of the Scorpion's sting, so you may not relinquish thm easily. Most ous don't pull our hands away rom the ire until it burns us. Most of us won't stop what is maing us sick until we are sick and tired of being sick and tired. But you can choose not to beat your head against the wall. And very oten astrology can help you see the wall you're beating your head against, see that there are other ways to get around the wall. An astrology readinor reading about yourself in this bookcan be a healing crisis all its own.

Astrology and Metaphysics A prblem os o ove an intenal ae of peratio-Troube desn't stal in the world. It starts it in te mid befoe it appirs in te world. A mental state always pes actio.l Metaphysics is the study of how we all create our own reality through thought patterns. Many Plutonians are magicians, in that they are especially gited at manifesti ng things through thir thoughts and belies. When thir belies are ngative, the things they manifst confirm their negativity. G iven these tendencies, destructive and

self-ulilling predictions should be

avoided. For example, if the client accepts an astrologer's blief that his Pluto transit is going to be hell, that's what it becoms, rather than being used as an opportunity to transorm painful old patrn s. To oset negativity, most Plutonians could benefit from a study of metaphysics. (A list of recommended boos is included in the bibliography.) Groups such as Religious Science or Unity provide classes and services where you can work on ngative belief systems and create a more positive reality or yoursel( Many astrologers are stu dying metaphysics and

incorporating this

philosophy i nto their practice. It is especially useul in working with Plutonians, bcause it stops any convition tht our reality is creatd by Pluto, N ptune, or Saturn. An understanding of the ways po ple create thir

own realities can ofset the powerlessnss we oten el in the Pluto areas of our lives-that area where the inamous THEY oten looms the largest. Using the chart to explore attitu des contributing to undesirable conditions related to our natal Pluto can be very helpul.

Healing Tools Two of the tools or changing rigid thought paterns are visualiations and afirmations. We can adapt those tools to ofset the negative thinking Plutonians sufr rom, as well as the negativity all too oten im parted by astrology books or astrologers. firmation s are statements you repeat several times a day or whenever a negative thought comes up. They are always stated in the positive rther than the negative, or the statement "I will ol

do X," contains within it the thought, "I will do X," thereore reinorcing

the old program ming. Some pople write firmations on cards and read them at odd hours of the day, like when on hold on the telephone or standing in line. You may wish to design your own afirmations, or more speciic help in your personal situation. s an example, here are afirmations designed or Plutonian traits discussed i n Chapter Two.

AFFI RMATIONS FOR PLUTON IANS I replace resentment with dtachment and compassion. I allow this sitution to develop naturally or the good of all. I lt go and let God. I lt go of y past and trust in y future. I open my heart and my life to the right people. Visualizations are little plays in your mind where you imagine the situation working out the way you would like. It would be dificult to print

visualizations here to suit your speciic situation, but you can design them or yoursel. For instance, let's say you are eeling resentful because the boss is always taking credit or your work. You might write afirmations tht would help change this, such as "I receive credit and recognition or my contributions. My relationship with y employer is one of mutual respect." I n add itio n, visualize yourself speaking to your boss about the unairness of the situation, but handling it with consummate tact. Imagine him or her responding well and giving you credit at a stffmeeting. It is not ncessary that you "see" anyth ing as you work with thse mind plays. Simply imagining them is powerul enough.

FLOWER ESSENCES AN D OTHER REM EDI ES The Bach Flower Remedies, California Flower Essences, and gem elixirs are homeopathic remedies or emotional and spiritual diiculties. They help with guilt, resentment, controlli ngness,

and

other long-stan ding personality

patterns. Not a drug or a chemical, thse liquid essences are highly diluted and natural. They work on subde vibrtional lvels the way homeopath ic preparations or physical conditions do. They cleanse the aura, mending the damage from years of emotional excesses and producing signiicant changes in behavior and well being. I have used thm with astrology and therapy clints or more than our years, and I ind real and lasti ng changes take place in only a w months. If this sounds strange to you, the effectiveness of the lower essences has been demon strated by a careul study, using rigorous modern research tchn iques. For his disserttion, Dr. Michael Weisglas gave preparations to three groupsone with a mixture of our remedies, one with seven remdies, and one with the same botle of liquid but no remedies. Neither the people who took the remedies, nor the people who passed them out, knew who was getti ng which kind of botle, so it was what is calld a double blind study. Psychological tests were given beorehand, at three weeks, and at sx weeks. Po ple who got botles with no rmedies i n them did not

change, so it was not a mater of aith. For the others, the tests showed that the remedies deepened self-acceptance, enhanced prsonal growth, and i ncreasd well-being, creativity, . ulfillment.

humor,

self-understan ding, and sexual

There are three main sets of remedies, although more are being developed. You may be able to find some in your area by looking in New Age newsleters or catalogues or by writing to the companies to ask or local practitionrs. Failing that, the companies thmselves mix remedies and send them by mail. Some health ood stores sell either the concentrats or pre-mixed combintions by Deva. Books and sources of supplies are listed i n the bibliography. The oldest and longest tested are the Bach F lower Remdies. Developed i n England in the 1 9 0 s during the Depression, they relect the needs o f that time, since they are or fear, d p rssion, rsentment and othr i ntensely painul emotions and patrns. The more d iicult problms Plutonians face seem to it into the Bach it. Remdies speciic to the problems discussed i n various chapters will b e mentioned a s we go along. Those general to the Plutonian are Willow, or resntment and bitterness, Vine, or the dsire to control and dominate, Watr Violet or the aloof person who does not care to mx in with ordinary people or their aairs, Chicory or possessive, martyr types who are con stantly seeking to put others right, and Hether or lonely people who are wrappd up in thir own problems. White Chestnut is or mental worris and obsssions. The Caliornia Flower Essences wre developd during the 1 970s and also relect their era, the height of the human potential movement. Thus, they have more to do with creativity, spiritual growth, and sel-actualzation. Some of the Caliornia Flower Essences address the painul problem of alienation and isolation: Dog-wood is or receptivity to love, Shooting Star or eeling you don't blong in this world, Mari posa Lily or the eeling of I separateness. Both the Bach group and the California group publish newsleters and journals, and run training programs as well. The third major

supplier, Pegasus Products, has most of the same remedies as the other wo groups plus many others. The Pgasus remdy Mallow is or help in making friends. The remedies come i n concentrated orm, i n a liquid. Two to our drops of each concentrte are put i n one ou nee of spring water, generally i n an amber bortie someth ing like those used or eyedrops. Shake the botde well to mix all the concentrates together. Many people use a teaspoonul of brandy or of apple cider vinegar in the botle as a preservative.!. It is best not to overdo it, probably using no more than our at one time. People who prescribe them consider it wise to test with a pendulum or muscle relexology to se if this particular rmedy is good at this time. You take our drops of the d ilutd version our times a day. Taking them in the morning, to st your frame of mind or the d ay, and the last thing at n ight, to work with the dreams, is a good practice. Although the research showed faith is not what makes the remedis work, using visualizations and afirmations with them seems to enhance the result. Like all the tools we will discuss, the remdies can produce a temporary upsurge of the eelings they are designd to heal. The eelings don't get worse, you are just more aware of them and of the thought ptterns behind them. Hightened awareness is part of the process-ultimately the thoughts sound so ridiculous and embarrassing that there is an impetus to change. The healing crisis seems to last ony a w days. As you keep taking the remdy, it evens out. You might need to take wo or more bottles of the mxture to change a long-ingrained habit but the day comes when you realze you are d iferent, that a situation that once would have triggered resentment, guilt or obsessive thoughts has come up and you didn't react. The remedies are an excellnt tool or the astrologer. They are not diicult to learn and enable you to give the client something more than insight. Knowing what transits are going on helps pinpoint the most crucial areas to work on with the remedies, or transits produce their own healing crisis as well as motivation to work on a particular dificulty. For i nstance, if you h ave

Venus and Pluto in aspect, rsentments over old lovs may be geting in the way of inding a relationship. If a transiting planet orms an angle to Venus or Pluto, it would be an ideal time to take Willow, which is or resentment, and H oneysuckle, which is or letting go of the past. The Caliornia essence Bleding Heart (or releasing painul emotional atach ments) is also quite powerful. Or, suppose the chart suggests that suspiciousness and jealousy are threatening the person's marriage (another Pluto problem). Holly (or 2 suspicion and jealousy) would be extrmely helpul in changing this patrn .

H ALI NG WITH LIGHT AND COLOR In various boos, whether psychological or occult, you can read about the proprtis of various colors. Even indu stry and designers are becoming aware of the effects of having various colors around us or wearing thm. In boos on color psychology, you read that blue wors to mitigate fear or anxiety

by

making you

more

calm;

red

raiss

energy,

cou rage,

and

assertiveness; pink sotens and brings more lovi ng eelings; and green stimultes health and inancial wll-being. The advnt of Pluto in Scorpio has coincided with purple becoming a major fashion trend . . . almost a basic. Not too surprisingly, purple has to do with processing rsentments, and it seems we as a people are drawn to purple now to heal our diferences. Healers work with color also, and somtimes with light, but not always on the physical level. M ore oten, they work with the kind of light contained i n the aura. B y imagining purple, o r i nstance, the higher consciousness o f the individual is stimulated to begin releasing and processing old rsentments. The meditations given in various placs in this book make use of this kind of light. It is not necessary or you to se it or it to workonly a portion of people are visually inclind. Simply trust that the greater part of you, the Higher Self, knows how to create this kind of light. Working with light and color (whether by the clothes you wear or in your i magination) may bring on a healing crisis. It stimulates the rlease of stord up emotions, which can be uncomortable but which is part of the healing process.

THE CHAKRAS AN D THEI R H EALI NG I M PACT Many spiritual traditions recogn ze the existence of the aura or energy body. With in it are energy organs, called centers or chakras, which rgulate the i ntake and outlow of life orce. Damming up this crucial energy oten results from traumtic life situatio ns, such

as those shown

by diicult Pluto

placements or transits. For in stance, damming up the heart center can create problems in giving and receiving love. An obstruction to the solar plexus can result i n a need or excess atention or i n poor sel-estem. The exercises in this section open up the low of nrgy, and working with thm is a powerul orm of healing we all can do or ourselves. The irst cnter, the root chara, is located at the base of the spine. Blockages could result in poor grounding and insecurity, with a con stant ocus on survival. Nataly or by transit, Pluto aspects to the Moon, the ourth, or irst house might result in uprooti ng or other traumas tht could damage the root chakra. Ne are ocusing on Pluto here, but diicult aspects from other plants could create similar blockages in these centers.) The second or sacral chakra governs reproduction and the low of sexual energy; stress could result in under-or overemphasis on sexuality, or i n fears or resntments about one's gnder. Difernt teachings give different locations or this cnter, some saying it is wo inches below the n avel, others saying that men have it in the area of the testicles. A stron g Pluto in general, natal or transiting Pluto aspects to Mars or Venus, or diicult eighth house placements might create stress to this center through traumatic sexual experiences or diiculty in childbirth. The third center is in the solar plxus area, just above the waist. This center rules sel-exprssion and the self concept, and blockages could create low self esteem and a lack of self confidence, or its less obvious reverse, egotism, narcissism, and sel-centrednss.

It is

related to the Sun i n

astrology, s o Sun/Pluto aspects natally o r b y transit quite oten create dificu lty here, but Pluto/Saturn aspects could also lead to problems.

The ourth center is the heart chakra, located in the area of the actual physical heart. It is a crucial center regulating our ability to give and receive love, so b lockags could create relationship problems and a sn se of lack of loving exchange with the outr world. Natally or by transit, a Venus/ Pluto aspect could cause p roblms hre, but so could Pluto in the first house, since the person oten has felt isolted and alone rom an early age. Conversely, a symbiotic relationship with a parent could have demanded too much output rom an immature heart centr. The ith center, located in the throat, govrns communication and other expressions of o ne's abilities, as well as dealing with money. Strong Pluto placements in general could dam up the throat centr, but most specialy a Mercury/Pluto aspet n tally or by transit, or Pluto in the third house. The sixth or brow center, located betwen the eyes, has to do with mntal clarity and i ntuitive communication. Blockages could create mental conusion or obsessiv-ness

or

diiculty

in

regulting

psychic

input.

Again

a

Mercury/Pluto aspect might be implicated. The crown centr is located at the top of the head and has to do with inspirational or medittie sttes, where one is in touch with the divine; blockages would lead to spiritual lows, losing that sense of connection with the U niverse. Pluto in the welth or ninth house might cause this blockage.

The Whirlpool Cleanse or Chakras 1.

Go into a

depr

leel

of consciousness

by

using

a

particular

meditative technique you may already know or simply by breath ing deeply and counting to three over and over agai n.

2.

Erect a protective bubble arou nd yourself and ill it with a particular color of light, according to your intuition. White light is always a good choice, as it contains all the other colors. Imagine the chakras and locate them within your body.

3.

Beginning with the root chakra. imagine a whirl pool or funnel of light positiond at tht location within the bubble and pointed toward your

body. In struct the whirlpool to blaze up and consume any dark areas in its path. The light will spin as long as

t

needs to, as you move on

to other centers. Hre obstructions would come from problems about feling groundd or rom old traumas related to survival.

4.

Go on to the sexual chara and erect another whirlpool, which again blazes up and consumes obstacles. Here the intention would be to create a balanced and healthy oulowing of sexual energy.

5.

Whn the areas below el relatively clear, move to the solar plexus and start a whirl pool there. In this area, the light would blze up and burn away obstructions to a healthy, realistic sel-esteem, including go wou nds and eelings of incom petence.

6.

Leti ng the previous whirlpools spin, move to the heart center and start one there. The heart center, bing so crucial and vulnerable, can stand any amount of cleansing, as older and deeper heart wounds surface. Here the light would burn obstructions to loving and being loved.

7.

Nxt, erect a whirl pool at the throat centr, where it would bum away obstructions to co mmunication and also to a ree low of money.

8.

Nxt, do the brow center, which would reliee obstacles to the creative

9.

Finally, make a whirl pool

and psychic energy low.

t the crown, which would cleanse obstacles

to meditation and inspiration.

1 0.

Observe which of the centers still have their whirlpools spinni ng, as these may need special work. Blaze up the light brightly in those areas or a

w

momnts bfore stopping thm all and dissolving the

bubble.

1 1.

Rpeat this exercise over a

w

days until the chakras sem clear.

Latr, repeat with colors given in various chapters of this book or as your intuition guides you. Even when you've inished, repeat the cleansing periodically to avoid the buildup of emotion al and psychic overloads in the course of daily living.

Oening the Hat Flower This exrcise can be adapted or use on any of the chakras, but it is given here or the heart center, which is such a major one or opening up to more loving rlationships and or mending old hurts and losses. Many people have sufred damage to the heart cnter, especially when Pluto transited through Libra. When used to open other chakras, the afirmations would be designed or the center in question. It is i m portant to open and cleanse all the centers, not concentrting on one exclusively, or this would create an imbalance.

1.

Place yourself in a bubble. Imagine your heart center as a beautiul many-ptalled flowr, with the ptals closed. A positive color or the flowr would be bright pink, since that is the color of

2.

oe.

Starting at the outside, open the ptals, one by one. With each petal, airm your willingness to give and receive love. You may do it by saying inwardly, "I am open to love," or whatever sems pleasing to you. ctually moving your hands through your energy ield s if you were opening the petals greatly increases the eect.

3.

Keep opening petals and opening petals and o pening petals, rpeating the airmtions as you do.

4.

As you near the center, notice tht the petals are glowing with pink light, warm to the touch.

5.

Whn the cnter itself is open, the pink light radites rom it and pulsates ouward past the d ge of your bubble. Say to yourself, "This light rom

y

heart is a beacon to those who would rightully share

love with me." Draw down pink light from your Higher Self to send ouward.

This exercise is a powerul one. As you do it, you may at first ind it

somewhat diicult, as the pain you are carryi ng in your heart cnter may come up. Yet allowing it to come up, thawi ng out and releasing the grie, is an important part of the process of healing yourself. As you work with it over time, you will notice movement and energy in that part of your body. When someone you care or comes around, there will be an outward rush of enrgy from the heart that eels upliting. This chakra is quite sensitive and may close down

easily when

someone

around you

is

insensitive

or does

something to hurt you. It may also close down at times in self- protection. When it has closed, you will notice the absence of those heart rushs and know that it is time to work on the exrcise again.

Y

DOES IT

A s obsessive a n d compulsive as Plutonians are, once they ind a tool to help them work through their dificulties they are likely to ovrdo it i n their zeal to get beter. It is i mportant not to overwork these tools, as long-stan ding conditions need to heal more slowly. You would not want to be working on too many issus at one time, evn though it is tempting to do so when you have inally ound something tht would help. A good rule is to only work on the meditations fNe days a week. You can use sveral tools at once or greater efctiveness: or example, coordinating the flowr remedy or resentment with the meditations or resentment, yet when you

do

so you could conceivably i ncrease the

magnitude of the healing crisis. If it becoms too i ntense, sim ply stop or a while. It is also a good rule to give yourself a complete rest from all healing eforts-or i nstance, stop the remedis altogether or six wees every now and then. These tools are exciting add itions to the practice of astrology, and it is my hope that more astrologers will be atrated to healing work. Astrology is an unparalleled diagnostic tool, yet once you learn what the problems are, there is a great need to ind ways to alleviate them. This chapter is only an i ntroduction; the bibliography will suggest places to ind out about these

tools in greater depth.

Books bout Flowr Remedies Bach, Edward, M.D. and F. J. Wheler, M.D. Health Books, New Canaan, CT,

e ach Flower Remedies,

Keats

1 979. (Published in the UK by C.W. Daniel,

Ltd., Safron, Walden.) The original descriptions of the remedis and thir purposs by the man who dveloped them. Not as comprehensive or undrstandable as Chancllor's book, but considered the Bible on remedies.

Handbok of the Bach Flower Remedies,

Chancellor, Dr. Phillip M. Health Books, New Canaan,

Keats

T, 1971 . (Published in the U K by C .W. Daniel

Ltd., Saron, Walden.) The best book about the Bach Flower Rmedies. There is a description of each of the remedis with the purpose and personality traits it is designed to heal. There are case histories about each remdy, including the physical ailments of the prson which cleared up as the motional dificulties underlying them got beter.

The Flower Essece jounal, CA

Flower Essence Services, Box

586, Nevada City,

94939. Four large issues and periodic newsleters about conti nuing

discovery of the meaning and uses of the lower essnces, with contributions by people of various discipli nes.

Gurudas.

Flower Eseces,

Albuqurque, NM,

Brotherhood

of

Life,

110

Dartmouth

SE,

87106, 1 983. A book on the various lower essnces

which has quite i ntresting thin s to say about correspondences betwen the orms of plants and their healing purposes.

Gurudas.

Gem Elixirs ad ibrational Healig.

Cassandra Press, P.O. Box

1 0868, San Raael, A, 9491 5. Gem Elixirs and lower essnce combinations and how thse can be u sed to work on chakras and subtle bodies to h eal disease.

ources of Remdis, Boks, and Supplies Bach remedies:

Elion Company, Box 30, Woodmere, N.Y., 1 1 598; and Bach

Cntre, Mount Vernon, Sotwell, Oxo n, U K.

Calfonia remedies:

Pegasus:

Flower Essence Services, Box 586, Nevada City, A 94939

Pegasus Products Inc., Box 228, Boulder, CO 80306

Mtaphysical Books Gwain, Shakti. 1 978.

One

Crative Visualization,

of the

Whatever Publishing, Mill Valley, A,

betr how-to books

on

using

visualiations

and

afirmations to help yourself.

Roberts, Jan e.

Te Nature of Pesonal Rality,

Prentice-Hall, En gle-wood Clis,

N.j., 1 9 74. The most proound exposition of metaphysics available; much slower going than the pop metaphysics books, yt ull of im portant, powerul material about the way our personal reality is shaped by our thoughts. One of a seris of books channeled by the mdium Jane Roberts through the being Seth.

ther Healing Topics Bandir, Richard, and john Grinder. F,

Moab,

T,

84532,

1 979.

Frgs Into Prices,

The

basic

book

Real People Press, Box

about

Neuro-Linguistic

Programming, a ast-acting therapeutic mthod distilled from the work of the gretest therapists of our time and incorporati ng some of the principles of hypnosis and linguistics. Part of a series of teaching works on this method, including the excellent

Clark, Linda.

Trane-Formations,

same authors and press, 1 98 1 .

The nient An of Colr Theray,

excellnt paperback on the healing

t

Pocket Books, N.Y., 1 975. A n

o f color therapy a s practiced in other

countris. It ocuses more on the physical and emotional eects of actual light and color, rathr than the auric colors we are working with here; however the two methods can reinorce one anothr.

Wallace, Amy and Bill Henkin.

Te ychic Haling Book,

Wing-bow Prss,

Berkeley, CA, 1981 . A simply written guidebook or learning about psychic healing

and

about

grounding

and

shielding

techniques.

Sensible,

down-to-earth, not spooky in any way. The best guide of its kind, very accessible. 2 §

Raymond Charles Barkr,

Barkerisms,

p. 28.

M ichael Weisglas, Ph.D., "Bach Flower Essence Research: A Scientiic

Study," Z

The Flower Esece jounal, v.1 :1 ,

i n anothr book,

Flower Essenes,

190, pp. 1 1- 1 4 .

it i s stated that Shooting Star is helpul

or studying astrology. While this sounds contradictory, astrologers oten do eel alienated and not of this world. (See

Flower Eseces,

Gurudas,

Brotherhood of Life, Albuquerque, NM, 1983, p. 1 86.) � Recovering alcoholics would obviously not want to use brandy, The concentrates themselvs are preserved in brandy, so or alcoholics I reduce the ormula to one drop of each concentrate, using the vinegar as a preservative. This doesn't seem to bring up the drink signals.

21

h ave recorded a tape entitld "Astrological Corrlations to the Bach

Flower Remedies" xplaining the remd ies

and how to use them i n

astrological work with both natal charts and transits. It is available rom RKM

Enterprises, Box 2042, Euclid, OH 44123, or $7.95

postage and handling.

plus $1.0

CHAPTER FOUR Guilt, Resentment, and Pluto Guilt and resentment are o i ntimately related that you might call them Siamese twins-you can't have one without the other. If either guilt or resentment makes your life dificult, this chapter will help you understand what creates them and what you can do to get rid of them through considering the dynamics of the planet Pluto. We will ind the fa miliar patterns of symbiosis, control, vengeulness, and holding on. The final section of this chapter contains exercises and

suggestions

or ridding

yourslf of guilt and resentment. All of us hae Pluto and Scorpio somewhere in our charts, and all of us have sufered thse painul, alienating emotions. The sick, tummy-twisti ng feling of guilt or the burning, obsessive, b rooding eeling of resntment are all too familiar to most of us. Resentment alienates us from our fellow man, while guilt alienates us rom ourseles. Plutonian s are tormented by thse felings, which lock dim i nto rigid defenses and dominate relatio nships. Let's look at the connections beween guilt and resentment, so you can undrstand and overcome them. In order to get the most of this inormation, take a minute to make a l ist of die situations where you personally fel guilty or of people you fel guilty toward.

Don't Be Beguild by Guilt f

the Siamese twins, guilt and resntment, let's begin with guilt. The

truth is, guilt is a crock. The words guile and guilt have the same root, and there is a great deal of guile i nvolved. People who try to make you eel guilty are

being

decptive

about

their

motives.

Behind

the

high-sou nding

protestations of love and concern, the real desire is to mani pulate you so that you do what they want. "If you loved me, you'd . . . " This is emotional blackmail masquerading as love. Guilt wors, though-it will make you fall i n

line aster than threats and overt domination. Guilt is about control. A guilt rip is a pwer trip. Anytime you el swamped by guilt, ask yourself, is this person toying to manipulate me? Guilt oten ariss where people are joined in the the false dependency we call symbiosis-wh ich is like being joined at the hip-a Pluto pattern. Most of the time, people who do too much or us or give too much to us do n't do it out of the sheer goodness of their hearts. They do it bcause they want to call the shots. I s

t

really goodness to rob someone of the opportunity to

learn and grow into greater indpn dence?

Is it goodness to make you

beliee you're incompetent to make a move without them? At some level, you know you're being robbd , and you come to resnt the symbiosis. When you assrt yourslf or "slfishly" want to do what you need or your own happiness and u rther development, your so·called bnfactor pulls the stri ngs to manipu late you i nto eeling guilty. Again, the Plutonian motive is control. It's all very subtle, of cou rse, and that's why it's so eective. Yes, the guilt trip is a power trip, and guilt is guile. But you can't con an honst man, and a guilelss man knows no guilt. In other words, you are covering something up whn you all or a guilt trip, like bogus dependency and unwillingness to take responsibility or yourself, so that you 've given over the power to the Plutonian. You're conning the Plutonian into being your Mommy. Ask yourself if the reward is worth the price in sel-stem and growth. In the end, no mater how long you delay, you still have to take responsibility. The oth r way you're conning yourself (and other people) is tht your guilt trip is

ao

a power trip. You are clinging to the illusion that your actions

have so much power that you are indispnsable to their happiness. The truth is, we are immortal and i ndestructible, so short of murder or mayhem, none of our actions hae that much powr to harm anyone else, ccpt

f they are

playing Pluto games of their own. If honestly goi ng ater your own devlopment makes the other person that unhap py, then there is a false dependncy. In a situation like that, goi ng your

own way so that you can grow in independnce doesn't harm the other person, it o rces him or her to grow as well, so you may be doing a avor i n the n d . If you allow yourself to b e manipulated b y guilt into stiling your own growth , you will begin to resent the prson who manipulates you. There

is

another

sense

in

which

guilt

is

conning

yoursel.

One

psychologist whose name scapes me said that guilt is the price we are willing to pay or holding onto a false self.concept while continuing to violate it. Wherever there is a S H O U LD, suspect that this kind of alse self-image may be operating. Where you have expectations of perfection or saintlinss or yourself, there are wo ways to get rid of guilt: change your bh avior, or change your expectations. Guilt tht you hang on to is license to keep doing wrong, to kep conning yourself and oth ers i nto thinking you are tryi ng to improve.

Guilt Is Rsentment Turnd I nward Sine the evelpment of a guilt-laen haracter strutue aries rom abadonment of te efot to develop mature indepedene, it repreents a retreat into infantile depedent . . . This prodces vage moods of reentment Q

as well as a geeral ene of guilt.

Most of us are amiliar with the psychological teaching that depression is anger turned i nward. Very w people, howevr, know that guilt is resentment turned i nward. As small children, adu lts seem all-powrful over our very survival. When they try to correct us, when they try to keep us under control, we resent it, but there is very litle we can do. They have so much power and we have so l ittle. The resentment turns i nward and changs into a eeling we label guilt. Even as adults, we rtain some of that childlike dependency. No one is ever entirely grown up, so none of us can escape guilt and resentment, but the

ot

guilt-laden

people

are those

who h ave

rtreated

most i nto

inappropriate dependency. Wherever guilt exists, there also exists an abuse of power. When we get i nvolved with power-tripping Pluto nian

people,

feli ngs of powerlessness are activated by thir manipulations. We become symbiotically dependnt, and when they try to control

us, the ensuing

resentment is perceived as guilt. "How can I be angry at her when she is so good to me? I eel so guilty. She knows what's best or me." Sheldon Kopp says that guilt is obligations.

no

more than the secret resntment of unwanted

!

Now, you may hae done some terrible things. You're not a saint, and probably you've done a

w

n asties.

But so meti ms

such

ations are

sel-dfense. U nerrin gly, you do the very thing they can't bear, the unkindest cut of all, a betrayal of trust. Chances are, you did it as a way of nding the relationship or evning the score. There was no other way of cutting through the game that was goi ng on in the relationship, no other way out. At times, guilt is no more than a vengeul ploy in a powr struggle. It's a con game, like Lucy Brown in the Peanuts comic strip sweari ng over and over tht she's sorry or jerking the ootball away rom her brothr, that she'll never do it again. Then she sets him up to kick the ootball just this one more time, only to pull it away at the last minute so he'll fall lat on his ace again. Oh, I know that roten Lucy has no conscience, whereas you el guilty, but that's only the priceof admission to the game. By beating your breast with

self-loath ing, buying a

bunch

of lowers,

and bgging or

orgiveness, you've invalidated their anger and set them up so you can sht them all over again. For that kind of guilt, you should eel guilty. Bhavior like this oten comes out of the Plutonian desire or revenge. Perhaps the people you keep doing these things to made you excessively dependent and you are tryi ng to strike back. Or, prhaps you are acting out resentment

toward

a

parent

or

other

authority igure.

vengfulness dosn't care who it strikes

(the scorpion

U nortunatly, is a mindlss

creature) , so you keep making all women or all mn pay or what your mother or athr did wenty or thirty years ago. But it's not nice to act that way, so you pay or it by guilt. Suffer enough guilt and you get a ree ticket to do it again.

Getting caught is another useul ploy in this particular game. Revenge isn't any fun if nobody knows about it. Geting caught is a real kick i n the teeth, though, or the prson you're getti ng rvenge on. You get your revenge, at the cost of the consequences you have to pay (the scorpion's sting) and at the cost of guilt and self-loathing. But you still get your revenge. I n the more morbid versions of the game, that's all that counts.

The Litmus Test r Guilt You may wish to refer to the list you created earlier of people and situations whre you eel guilty, or you may wish to take time now to make such a list. Considering all the thi ngs we've said, there are seeral questions to ask yourself when you have an atack of guilt Am I involved in a symbiotic and alse dpn dency? Am I abdicating responsibility or my own life? Are they laying a power trip on me? Am I doing a power trip or con job of my own? Are they limiting

y

growth or vice versa by guilt?

What in this situation am I resenting? Am I using my guilt as license to kep o n doing it? Am I tryi ng to get even with this person? Am I trying to get even with the parent this person represents?

Once

you

have

answered

these

questions,

you

will

hae

a

beter

undrstanding of the sitution. By seing it more clearly, you will have an idea of whether there is, in

at, anything to el guilty about. If the action

you eel guilty about contributed to your growth, it was probably right or you to do it. Prhaps you d id n 't do it in a kind or con siderate way, and you may ned to make amends or that. You can nver make another person happy by stiling your own deelopment, however, because that inevitably leads to resentment, usually on the part of both you and the i ndividual

i nvolved.

The xistential Guilt of the Plutonian What you will not ind on your list is the guilt that preceded it-guilt waiting or a transgression or even an antici pated transgrssion to asten onto. You walk around with it eati ng at you, and since no one likes to el guilty without a reason, you i nvent one. "I shouldn't h ave spoken so sharply to her. I should have called to see how she was doing. I should have tried harder. I must be a scum bag to have such disloyal thoughts. As a mater of fact, I AM a scum bag; I can't imagine why anyone likes me. They wouldn't if they really knew how I am." I call this existential guilt. If you have it, you h ad it long beore you were old n ough to do any real harm to anyone. Freudians would say it has to do with toilt traini ng. I say it has to do with the toilt trainers and with the resentment they had about taking care of a baby. Such children pick u p the fact that Mommy doesn't seem to like them, at least when they are hungry or tired or sick, so the children conclude it's bad to have needs and that they are unlovable. They come to have guilt about taking up space on the planet, about needing anything, about existing at all. And, underneath it and feeding it, thre is also rsentment about not being loved and nurtured rightly. People may do one of two things with existential guilt. One is to spend your life in atonement, being as saindy as you can and dedicating your l ife to serving others. (And secredy being

vey

angry, so that it permeates the

atmosphere around you.) Or, rather than becoming a sai nt, you might become a sinner, inding tran sgressions to account or the guilt and punishments to atone or it. This is also a way of getti ng evn with your parents, blackening thir good name. How do I know about existntial guilt? I had it. I used to have it so bad that when a police car went by I would cringe. I'd never done anything illegal in my life, but somehow I was convincd they wre going to arrest me and take me away. I got over it by the processes outlined i n this chapter, and by

now anyone would be hard put to manipulate me through guilt. It is beautiful to be ree of it.

When Is Guilt Justiied and Helful? Sheldon Kopp says, " I belive w e are not punished FOR o u r sins, but BY 1 them.'' By now, you may be asking if there is ever a reason to eel guilty. Yes, I do beliee that there are times when guilt is appropriate. Appropriate guilt arises when you abuse your own power. When you have been controlling, conning or manipulating somone or your own ends and not or his or her growth, you are abusing your power. There is also legitimate guilt when you are not doing your best to master yourself and grow spiritually. But legitimate guilt should never last more than a w minutes. Becoming aware that you have done wrong should be an occasion or growth, an upliting of consciousness that says, "I won't do that again." It could be ollowed by a sincre atempt to make amends-not a sleazy "I'll make it up to you somehow," ollowed by repetition ater repetition. Like all manifstations of Pluto, the true purpose of guilt is tranformation. If you don't hold onto guilt, but work through it, those moments of nowing you havn't done your bst can strengthen your character and i ntegrity, helping you unction in the world in a more conscious, loving way. But that kind of good, wholsome guilt only coms when you've heald yourself of resentment. Thus, it is time to look at rsentment and the part it plays i n this nexus o f dificult motions.

Symbiosis, Power, and Resentment In order to get the most out of this sction, you may wish to take a w moments to make a list of the people you resent, the ones you hate, or the ones you never can orgive. Odd, isn't it, how many of those same people appeared on your guilt list? By now, it should be gtting clear that the people we resent most are people we depend on most. Outsiders may make us angry by thoughtlss ations, but only those who have real or imagined

power over us can make us resntul. We hold anger in because we are araid of desrtion or retaliation. The more false dependency on the person, the more we h ave abdicated our own power, the more araid we are to show our anger. We are afraid we'll lose thir seemingy in dispensable help. It should be said tht both partners in the symbiotic relatio nship are Plutonian , in that both are trying to manipulate and control the other i n order to sustain the symbiosis. The "mommy" is dependent on the "child's" dependency i n order to eel powerful and i n control. Yet, when we try to control something, it winds up controlling us. Control taks a trmendous amount of energy and neer works or vy long. Such a stiling relationship readily generates a wo-way rsentment. The overtly dependent perso n comes to resent the inequality and the loss of growth and reedom. The overtly giving person comes to resnt having to give so much. The git

ol

willingly given is no git

l

all. I n act, any time you

resent having to give somthi ng, suspect that a Plutonian dynamic is going on, whre you fear that not giving will mean you are going to be abandoned. Since the "giving" makes the receier more and more dpn dent, both people can bcome increasingly resentful, leading to the kinds of nasties we talked about under guilt. Ultimately, escalating resentment can lead to a biter and painul parting that may haunt each prson or years. The truth is, real i ntimacy-Venus intimacy, not Plut--is impossible without equality and the reedom to express and resole conflicts that naturally arise in any relationship. Anger that is held in ferments and creates distance. If you consistently do somthing which an noys me but I am araid to tell you, the unspoken

angr grows and eventu ally pollutes the

relationship. Only by opn discussion of the conlict, as wo equal partners, can the relatio nship grow. When the rlationship is u nequal, the anger is more likly to be held in out of fear and it ventually changes into resentment. When enough resentment is stored up, the rlationship is destroyed and the feared abandonment atualy happens. Somtimes we carry resentmnts aroun d or years ater these painul

partings. This is also an illusory power trip-a way of holding on to other people, even though they may have long since orgoten us. We fantasze about meeting them againor "dread" another meting. We fantasize geting even. We antasze geting rich and powerfulor dead-just to show them or to make thm sorry thy ever let us. The vry olks we love to hate are usually the ones we once lovd the most. It doesn't gie us power over them, but it gives them immense power over us. In hanging onto the resentmnt long ater the relationship has endd , we are till giving over power to the other person. The more we resent someone or something, the more power we give up, and the more we are controlled. These people become immnsely im portant in our l ivs, even though we may now be insigniicant in theirs. As we brood over them, they grow in our imagination, becoming less and less the real people we loved and more and more bigger-than-life mon sters. Go visit the dragon; you may find nothing but a worm.

Rsentment s Poison A mmber of y healing group or alcoholics once asked, 'What's the diference beween anger and resentment? Aren't they the same?" (They aren't the same in astrology-an ger is Mars and resentment is Pluto.) I replied that angr and resentment are the same only in the sn se that grape juice and wine are. They start out the same, but rsentment is anger that is frmented and aged like wine, thus bcoming a more poisonous substan ce. The liver, on the spiritual level, metabolizes anger, and nobody ever got cirrhosis rom grape j uice. Rsentment is an eno rmous problem or the alcoholics I work with, so it is a factor i n addition and other tormenting patrn s. It is also a poison to the body, causing problems like gallstones ('What she does galls me") and cancer, i n which the things that are eati ng you up start eating away at your body. Conversely, a study has shown that cancer patients who are able to mobilize their anger have the best chan ce of surviving.l

One of the side-efects of resentment is self-hate. It is as though our bodies were vessels, and when the essels are filled with resentment that has no place to go, it backs up on us. H atred of others becomes self-hate. The more self-hate we h ave, the more we are likely to orm symbiotic "love" relationships of the Plutonian sort to try to reclaim our self-esteem through the other. Yet, sel-esteem can't really come rom anyone outside ourselves, and if we hate ourselves or others, we have a vy hard time fin ding love. The Plutonian who is motivated to get self-love through power over others rarely inds love, only hate. Whn you walk around resentul, your attitude alin tes others. If you walk around with a chip on your shoulder, you ind plenty of people who enjoy knocking it o. You become unhappy with your life because your relationships are so bad, and you come to blame God or your troubles. Progrssively biter alienation from God and man is the life history of many people with a strong Pluto.

he Pialls of Revenge and Site Vengell people submerge grief in anger. . . They are unwillig

r

uable o

aept tat they are te ot of peson o suer injury. Revenge is an attempt l o sustain an esentially false image of oeelf Doubtlessly, revnge is an unpopular word or moderns. We talk about getting even, or getti ng back t someone. The phrase, "to get even," suggests there is an imbalance of power. If we have to get even, that means thi ngs were U Neven to bgin with. If we didn't el intimidated about assrting ourselves, we'd be able to do someth ing, and we wouldn't wind u p nursing a grudge. Nusing is a dependency word, and we resent most the very people we are most dependent on. The greatest and most sustained resentments leave us with a desire or rvenge. Often, when we are powerless and dependent in a relationship and have no direct way of striing back, we do things to ourselves out of spite. Children oten do this, but many adults also do spiteu l things to thmseles to get back at thir parents or things parents did long ago. For i nstance: a

parent keeps telling the child he'll never amount to anything, so as an adult, he gets ired from one job ater another. Or, a mother keeps telling a daughter she's at and ugly; the girl gains more weight out of spite. When you say, "I'll show them," you gnrally show them by harming yoursel. call the house Pluto is in the fail fr spie house. (See Chaptr One.) In addition, as Theodore Isaac Rubin points out, the search or vindictive triumph destroys our satisfaction in other im portant aspects of life, being unrelenting in its dmands. He says, ''The quest or vengeance puts ou r own drive and powr outside ourselves, giving the person we must gt even with power over us. . . It tends to push other, more important areas of our lives to 2 the side." Both Plutonians and the sign Scorpio are nown or vengeful-ness, and when the scorpion stings it ills not only its enemy but itself. All rvenge is like that; the desire or it almost always poisons your consciousness, and acti ng on the desire or revenge oten leads to a destructive escalation of the conflict. Most orms of vngeance are extremely Plutonian. Suicide is oten a vengful at. Telling the deep dark secret can oten be done in a vn geul § way, a la Christina Crawford. The major problem with reenge is that, as long as you go ater it, you are controlled by it, and waste energy you could use to do something positive or yourself. You are mired in the past and cannot reely move toward the future. Thus, the work on leting go of rsentments and orgiving is not or the sake of the othr person but or YOU RS ELF. If need be, you can adopt the Scorpio version of the Lord 's Prayer: "Forgie us our debts as we orgive our dbtors, even though the bastards don't deserve it!"

Healing Tols: How to Get Fre of Resentment and Guilt If you identiy with the dynamics described here, wht can you do? Pluto has its positie side too, and you can u plevel the energy of this planet from destrutie to constructive. Pluto rules psychology and self-analysis, so you

can pu rge yourself of the past by looking dep within and conronting yourslf ho nestly.

Pluto

is

the

planet

of rebirth,

of healing

and

transormatio n. You can claim a new l ife or yourself, a joyul fredom from guilt and resentment, if you direct attention to recognzing and changing these patterns. Healing begins with consciousness; the more awareness you h ave of the mech anisms behind guilt and resentment, the less likely you are to all i nto them. At irst the awarnss can be pai nful, like a light suddenly turned on i n the dark. A s you adjust t o seeing things in the new light, you'll prefer that to stumbling over them i n the darkness. The second crucial step is to stop projecti ng the blame onto TH EM. Except as children, or unlss you wre the victim of violence, if you were a victim, you contributed to the situation by abdicating your power, reu sing to take ull responsibility or yourself. Wayne Dyer's book, ullig Your Own Strings, contributes insight into victim 1 situations and help in gtting out of them. Exploring guilt and resentment situatio ns by writi ng or talking them out on tape can help you see them more clearly. Look at your lists of the people i n your life you have deeply resented o r the ones you eel guilty toward. Think them through i n more depth, paying particular attention to situations in childhood and adolscence. Write about each one separately i n more detail, considering the questions of power and dependncy. Consider how your actions and character flaws played into the situation. For instance, did you make excessie demands or atention or nurturing, or ail to assrt yourself or communicte about conflict? Did you let pride, fear, or inantile needs get in the way of an open, equal, sharing exchange? Consider, also, how symbiotic dependency applies to you in that relationship. As an experiment, pretend to be the other perso n and write or talk out the incident from his or her point of view. How did your own behavior look? What were the pressures, or what motivs did the other prson hae? Does the situation look difernt whn you see it in the light of these questions? The very at of thinking the lists through is healing, because seeing old

situations in a new light will enable you to let go of some. Listing the people you feel guilty towards is helpul in other ways. It establishes the boundaries of your guilt, so that it is speciic rther than limitless. You can then decide whther your guilt was real and merited, or whether it arose out of a power trip. Evn i n some situations where you more or less delibrately hurt someone, you might consider whther or not the desire to hurt came out of resentment of power and dependency dynamics within the relationship. There are situations where guilt is approprite, and i n those situations you may be able to relieve your guilt by making su itable amends to the person. If it is hard to think about making amends, you might wish to consider whether you also have a resentment toward that person which could be � getting in the way. If so, you would irst want to work on the rsentment. In

some

in stances,

making amends

can cause more harm

than

good-let's say you eel guilty because you were secretly unfaithul to your mate. A confssion would do needless damage. Or, let's say you 've embezled money rom your company and confssion would mean losing your job, causing severe inancial hardship or your amily. You might also want to consider your motivation or confession in those circumstances to see if it is not a orm of reenge. For those guilty secrets, the old ritual of confession served a valid healing purpose. If you can't go to confession (and you don't have to be a Catholic to avail yourself of that service), find a safe confessor lsewhere. Astrologers also take a vow of silence, so you might want to talk to one who is able to hear you. Not all astrologrs are good counselors,

but

astrological

counseling

by

a

humanistically·i nclined

practitionr can be very healing. Plutonians isolate themslves by their guilty secrets and the isolation harms them. You are only as sick as your secrts.

FLOWER REM EDI ES In addition to these processes, there are also speciic healing tools or guilt and resentment-guided meditations and flower essences. These tools were

outlined in Chapter Three. Among the Bach lower remedies, Pine is the speciic remedy or guilt. In addition, Crab Apple is or self-loath ing and the feling that you are somehow unclean. Sunlower, among the Caliornia essences, helps with balancing out the ego and restoring self-esteem. Fuschia and Scarlet Monkeylower from the Caliornia kit also help with i ntegrati ng powerul emotio ns and so could be helpul. For both guilt and resentment, the Bach remedy Honeysuckle is good , because t deals with leting go of the past, and both these emotio ns keep your energy stuck in the past For

resntment,

the

Bach

remedy

Willow hlps

with

biterness,

resentment, and the eeling that you 've been given a raw deal. Holy is or hatrd, jealousy, suspicion, and the desire or revenge-all those Plutonian goodies. If you are troubled with any of these, Holly would be a priority, because these emotions are exceedi ngly toxic ons which can poison all atempts at self-hlp. Whn resentment comes u p as a result of a desire to control, Vine is the Bach remedy.

AFFIRMATIONS FOR GUILT The past is meani ngful only or what I can larn from it. I regard myself and y past with loving compassion. I accept responsibility or_____ I find a way to make amends to___ , or if t would e harmul to do so, I let it go. I trust in my ability to do betr. I orgive myself or all past transgressions.

GUI DED M EDITATIONS

The ollowing meditations are design d to help you work through situations where guilt and resentment are troubling you-the ons on your list which haven't been totally relieved by the process we have been doing. You might find it helpful to read the stps out loud slowly onto a tape recorder, so you don 't have to look at the book while you work. If you have any of the lower remd ies discussed in the last section, it is quite powerul to take a drop of the rlevant one in a glass of water as you begin the meditation.

AN EXERCISE FOR CLEANSING YOU RSELF OF GUI LT You may wish to do the ollowing exercise several times or each person on your list. It is particularly crucial to do it or your parents and mate. 1.

Go down i nto a deep state of consciousness or pretend to. Ask your Highr Slf or help in getti ng free of guilt.

2.

Create a bubble of lovly, shimmring lavender light around yoursel. I magine your body as an empty outline, and fill that in with a lavender fire.

3.

Some distance outside yoursel, create another bubble of lavender light, and inside it place the perso n or situation you eel guilty toward. Crete them in as much detail as possible, replayin g the eents and allowing the guilt eelings to rise.

4.

I magine that the other bubble becomes a powerful magnet, drawing out of your body the guilt you have stord up there. Go deeper into consciousness f you need to. Call on your Higher Self or hlp i n releasing the situatio n.

5.

Whn you hae released as much as you can, shit the bubble around behind you to draw out unconscious or orgoten guilt eelings or those you have taken i n psych ically rom that person. You may notice that it is evn more powerful from the back.

6.

Whn you have done as much of that as you can, move the bubble

back in front of you. Look at the person or sitution again. If he or she dos not sem changed to you, shrink that bubble in size to reduce the person's power ovr you. 7.

Blaze the other person's bubble up

s

a lavender fire that blots out the

picture and burns away the residue of guilty eelings. When the ire is a clear, iridescent lavender, burst the bubble and disprse the light into the atmosphere. 8.

Blaze the fire up i n your own bubble, asking your Higher Self to remove any rmaining paralyzing guilt and to give you clarity on any action you should take to make amends.

9.

Let go of the lavender light, replacing it with white. Come back up to your normal waking consciousness.

1 0.

Rpeat the xercise periodically, on all the people on your list, until you are ree of needless guilt.

Working this exercise through to completion brings a heady, joyful eeling and chan ges your reltionships or the better. For one thing, it will be harder or people to control you! It also helps your self-stem immensly.

AFFIRMATIONS FOR RESENTM ENT I reclaim my own power in this situation. I assert myself effectively and appropriately. I accept responsibility or my part in the conlict. I accept with serenity those situations I cannot change. I am willing to orgiv.___ or his/her actions. Bless and releas.___ to his/her higher good.

AN EXERCISE FOR CLEANSING YOU RSELF OF RESENTM ENT You may wish to do the ollowing exercise several times or each person on your resentment list. It is particularly crucial to do it or your parents and mate. 1.

Go down into a deep state of consciousness or pretend to. Ask your

2.

Crete around yourself a bubble of rich, dep purple light, something

Highr Slf or help in ltting go of resentments. like sunshine glowi ng through a purple stai ned glass window. Imagine your body as an empty outline, and fill that in with a purple ire. 3.

Some distance outside yoursel, crete anothr bubble of purple light, and inside it place the person or situation you have resentment about. I magine the person in as much detail as possible, replayi ng the events vividly and allowing resentment to rise to the su race.

4.

I magine that the other bubble becomes a powerful magnet, drawing out of your body the resentment you have stored. Go deeper into consciousness f you need to. Call on your Higher Self or hlp i n releasing it.

5.

Whn you hae released as much as you can, shit the bubble around behind you to draw out unconscious or orgoten resentments. You may notice tht it is ven more powerul from the back.

6.

Whn you have done as much as you can, moe the bubble back i n front o f you. Look a t the person o r situation again. If h e o r she does not seem changed, shrink tht bubble to reduce the person's power over you.

7.

Blaze the prson's bubble up as a purple fire that blots out the picture and burns away the residue of the resntment. Send the ball deeply i nto the ground, near the center of the earth.

8.

Blaze the purple ire up in your own bubble, asking your Higher Self to

remove any remaining resentment. 9.

Let go of the purple light, replacing it with white. Come back up to your normal waking consciousness.

1 0.

Rpeat the xercise periodically, on all the people on your list, until you are ree of resentment.

AN X ERCISE FOR LETI NG GO If you are still havi ng diiculty letti ng go of a prson or situation, the exercise which ollows is quite helpul: 1.

Put yourself in a bubble of white light and go down dep into consciousness. Connect with your H igher Slf and express your desire and i ntention to be ree of this person or situation.

2.

I magine that you are on the bank of a large, powerul river. A small bot is tied up there, and the strong current tugs on the boat, ready to sweep it down stream.

3.

I magine the person in as much detail as possible. Recognize tht he or she has a Highr Self also, which is totally sparate rom yours. Speak through your Higher Slf to the Higher Self of the other, explaining that you need to be ree of the negative bond that is tying the wo of you together.

4.

Now pick up a big, sharp n ife that is lying there and use it to cut through the rope that ties the boat to the dock. Hold on to the end of the rope.

5.

Hold the rope in your hand, and tell the person through his or her Highr Self, "I hereby voluntarily release you. Go on your own path to good."

6.

Let go of the rope, and watch as the current switly carries the boat and the prson downstream. Say goodbye to it as it gets smaller and smaller. Wish it wll. Know that the rivr can't reverse itself and go

back upstream, so the boat is gone or good and you have relinquished your hold on tht person or thing. 7.

Mourn f you need to, but know that beter things are coming in its place. You haen't lost the good that came rom the situation, only the pain.

Forgiveness as the Geaest Healing Doing the previous exercises to com pletio n should bring you a long way toward reedom rom rsentment, hate, and bitterness toward people and situations i n your past and present. These poisonous emotions steal your energy and vitality-heavy burdns which kep you rom living joyully and richly. Your ill will toward someone else, whether conscious or u nconscious, boomerangs back on you emotionally and spiritually. It cuts you of not only from the person you have come to hate (who no doubt you once loved), but from a loving exchange with others around you who sense the h ate in you and are put of by it. Finally, it cuts you of from a fre low of sustai ning energy rom spiritual sou rces, who are pushed away by negative energy. We have explored the ways resentment poisons your life. To be healed, you must become willing to orgive. This may sound outrageous, it may even sound im possible, but it is the only way to get ree of resentment. Forgivnss is a necssity or your own healing rather than out of any goody-goody impulse toward the other person. A powerul book teaching the steps we go through in order to orgive is Doris Donnlly's Laming o Fogive. s Donnelly says, "When

am hurt, physically or spiritually, my

wounds hae powr ovr me, they tell me what I can or can't do. . . . Forgiveness is a powr that serves s an antid ote to the energy of the pain 1 Donnelly dos not recommend a phony, dircts me."

that

sweetness-and-light orgiveness. She describs a proound experience i n which the resentment a n d hurt must first b e ully experienced. I would heartily recommend this book to those whose livs are darkened by

resentment. It seems to me that orgiveness and reco nciliation of our diferencs with others can be the end point of Pluto in Scorpio. We will irst bring out the secrets, the long-standing grudges, the unspoken hatreds, and work with thm until we are through them, so we will all be happier and frer.

AN X ERCISE FOR FORGIVEN ESS 1.

Put yourself in the bubble of white light. Reach up or your Higher Self and ask or help in getting ree of this burden.

2.

Now create a scond bubble of light and put the person you are working on orgivi ng i nto it. Imagine this person in as much detail as possible, particularly as he or she was when the diiculty arose. It would also hlp to ask the person's Higher Self to work with you i n releasing you both from this negative bond.

3.

I magine yourself swimming backwards in the river of time to the period when this was going on. Recreate the scene in as much detail as possible, recaptu ring the emotions you felt.

4.

Let the emotions well up until they fill your bubble. Thn imagine that a warm golden rain washes them out of the botom of the bubble until they are all gone.

5.

Once more calling on your Higher Self as well as the other perso n's, imagine a revolving door beween your bubbles. Step into it, while the other person steps i nto the other side, and use the rvolving door to exchange places.

6.

Go down depy into consciousness, and xperience the other person's eli ngs about the situation. Explore that period rom his or her point of view, particularly what pressures and needs were operati ng.

7.

Play the scne out once more rom the other person's point of view.

8.

Now step back i nto the rvolving door, and have the other perso n do

How dos it eel? How does the person experience our behavior? the same. Make the turn back into your own bubble, and contemplate

what you learned about the situation. Calling on your H igher Slf once again, ask or the willingness to let go of the situation. Come back up to waking consciousness. 9.

Repeat the xercise periodically until you are able to let go.

Isn't It Worth the Efot? Guilt and resentment are painul and persistent emotions. Thy bind your energy up in the past, handicapping you or living effectively in the present. C learing out thse patterns is like suddenly losing orty unwanted pounds. You eel lighter, frer, and more a part of the human race. Loving exchanges with others become more and more requent. Yes, there is temporary pain i n confronti ng your part i n these situations, b u t i t is nothing com pared t o your future joy. Work the processes described here honesdy and thoroughly and you will get ree. If enough of us do work like this during Pluto in Scorpio, tons of dynamite in the orm of hte and self-hate can be removed or the greater good of all of us.

Boks to Heal Guilt and Resentment Donnelly, Doris. Leamig o Fogive. Festival Books Edition, Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN, 1 980. An excellent work on the necessity or orgiveness and the healing process that makes it possible. Writen rom a religious ramework, yet not denying the pain and angr. (Sometimes ound i n religious bookstores.) Dyer, Wayne. Pulling Your Own Strings. Avon, N.Y., 1977. A useul book that contributes i nsight i nto your victim situations and helps you get out of them. When you do not eel trapped into being a vitim, you build up lss resentment.

Rubin, Theodore Isaac, M.D. Compassion and Sel-Hate. Ballan-tine, N .Y.,

1 975.

A healing book on the roots of our guilt and self-hate, one with

tran sformative efects.

__

e Agry Book. Macmillan, N.Y.,

1 979.

Another of Rubin's many

excellnt self-hlp works, this one ocusing on anger and the consequences of reezing it. N

sue Mansield, e Geswlt ofWar, Dial Press, NY, 1982, p. 1 01 .

l sheldon Kopp, e Hanged Man, Science and Behavior Books, Palo Alto, A, 1 9 74,

p. 1 1 1 .

l

Kopp, e Haned Man, p. 21 6. l From a study by Sandra ey of the University of Pitsburg Medical School, cited in USA Tday, August 29, 1984, p. 1 in the article "Angry Patients Gie Cancr Best Fight." . Mansield, e Geswlt f War, p. 0. _ Theodore Isaac Rubin, MD, Rcociliatin: Inner Peace in an ge of

Axiety, Viking Press, NY,

1 980.

2 Accordin g to her book, Mommie aet, Christina was born June 1 1 , 1939,

in the aternoon. This chart shows a t-square of Mars, Pluto, and

Saturn, a combintion indicating both abuse and deep anger about it. l Published by Avon, NY, 1977. M chapters 8 and 9 of the Alcoholics Anonymous guidebook, Twelve Steps

and Twelve Traditions (published by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., Box 459, New York, NY 1001 7) gives you a process or relievi ng yourself of guilt and making amnds to people you have harmed. You can ind this book t your local library. l Doris Donnelly, Leamig o Fogive, Festival Books Edition, Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN, 1 980, p. 72.

CHATER FIVE Incst and Domesic Violence With the advent of Pluto in Scorpio, incest, sexual molestation, child abuse, and domestic violence are all making headlines. The very week that Pluto wnt i nto Scorpio or the irst time, in November, 1983, me television movie Somethig About Amelia was aired-the irst realy sensitive treatmnt of i ncest or a national aud ience. In the year that ollowed the news was full of developments

about

sexual

abuse.

Recent

publicity

about

child

pornography and about child molestation in day care centers has sickened all of us. A woman won a very large suit agai nst her stepfather or molesting her, in what may bcome a landmark d cision. Another youn g woman is suing several priests who molested her. A man won a huge sttlement or psychological d amages done when he was raped in jail. A self.help group was ormed or women who have been sexually abused by their therapists. In this chapter, we will discuss the psychological and astrological components of domestic violence, including i ncst, batred wives, and child abuse, all of which are xtremely Plutonian i n nature. s distressing as this material will be, it is a hundred times more distressing to the person who had to l ive it.

The rvalence of Sexual Abuse and Domstic Violence More and more pople are reealing that they wre abused either physically or sexually. Abuse is probably the most u nderreported crime of all, because it is such a guilty secrt or the victi ms. Evn reported statistics and the ery consrvative estimates are ovewhelming: 1.

It is speculted that 040 percent of all girls beween ages -1 3 will be sexually victimized by an adult.

2.

8

percent of boys h ave also been molsted, but this is very much

underrported bcause boys are afraid someone will think they arn't a man or are gay. 3.

Thre are maybe 35 million people i n this country who have been

4.

Molestation is kept secret. Some 50-80 percent of the time, the person

5.

The ofenders are male 80-0 percent of the time. 0 percent are close

sexually molestd. tells no one. to the family in some way, rather than being a strangr. 6.

70

percent of youn g prostitutes are victims of incest or sexual abuse.

80

prcent of female drug abusers have been sexually assau lted and

use the drug to deaden their eelings. 7.

I n one study, 80 percent of the youn gsters in a juvenile hall had been

8.

At least 28 percent of all women are beaten by their husbands.

sexually assaulted.

Sexual abuse and domestic violnce cross all class and ethnic lines, yet are much more reported among the lower classes who have to depend on public agncies and city hospitals who kep statistics. A middle or u pper class person can fford private medical and psychiatric care, and statistics are not made available.

Why this Chaptr Is Ncessary As you can see, abuse is a major problem, not just someth ing that happens to a w unortunate people you neer mt. The reason or including it in a book on Pluto are woold. First, abuse is a Plutonian problem and t creates Plutonian people. Second, this i normation is intendd as in-service education or astrologers who may counsel victims. Astrologers or counslors who se clients regularly should know the psychological eects of the victim experince and should be acquai nted with local resources or i ncest survivors, batered wives, and rape victims. Your

clints are going to be revealing their secrets as Pluto moes through Scorpio, so you ned to be prepared to listen sensitively, u nderstand thir experience, and recommend places they can go or help. There will be those, also, who cannot reveal their secrets, who don't know yet that it is healing to talk about them. Recognzing the signaturs in the chart may hlp you to gently and sensitively raise the issue, thus reei ng the client to sek appropriate hlp. The bibliography lists books about abuse tht are all xtremely upseting to read. Yet, the pain of reading about abuse is nothing com pard to the pain of the experience. The books would give you a thorough undrstanding of what abuse eels like, so that you can rspond with empathy rather than maing oolish judgements and assumptions. The authors articulate the experience betr than mo t victims can. Even if you are not an astrologer, you may ind it usful to understand the victim, because the probabilities are very high that a nighbor, a friend, or even a family membr will soon speak up about abuse that has been kept secret. Since one woman in three, and an unknown number of mn, h ave suffered from some orm of sexual abuse, you already know many of the victims personally, people who are sufering the efcts in silence.

Our Tendency to Blame the Victim One tendency we all have is to bame te v c i tim. This otn happens to victims of rape, as we judge that the woman must have worn provocative clothes or otherwise asked or it. It happens to the baterd wife, when we play "junior Freudian" and decide that she must unconsciously provoke and desire hr abuse out of some sick, masochistic need. It happens to i ncest victims, as we tend to think the child somehow seduced the parent or the quirky uncle. It happens to mugging vitims, as we blieve they were careless in being in that place at that time. We all want to beliv--just as the victim does-that she or he somehow was responsible or what happened. Blaming the victim makes us eel more powerul, more i n control, as though

something like that could

nevr happen to us. Sometimes the most

vehement of blamers are those who have repressed memories of abuse done to them or who are repressing their own violnt or antisocial u rges. There are lots of popular myths, all with the idea that victims oe being abused, that they participate and contribute to it, and that's why they stay i n the situation. N o o n e undrstands, o r i nstance, why the repeatedly bttered wife doesn't just pick up and leave her husband, or why the victim of i ncest doesn't just tell her mothr what is happening. If you read the histories or listen to the people, however, you vry oten find that the batred wife did try to leave and the incst vitim did try to tell someone, maybe more than once. The reactions of the family and key people in the environmnt, most especially the "helprs" in social agncies, the church, or the hospial were anything but helpul and ultimately pressd the womn back i nto victimhood. The consequence of this tradition of blaming the victim is that it adds to the isolation. Rape victims and bttered wives, in particular, complain that the people they go to or help atrwards compound the damage with the insensitivity of their reactions. When people say it was your own ault, you become evn more ashamed and n raged, so you shut up about it. It becomes a guilty secret that alienates you rom the rst of humanity. In short, you become a Plutonian.

How the edial Comlex Got I nvented Another of the secrets revealed in the irst year of Pluto's transit through Scorpio has to do with the origins of the Oedipal Complex. When Freud irst began i nvstigating neurosis, he wrote that it arose when children had sexual encounters with adults. This was not well rceived by his mntors and assocites, so subsequently he "discovered" that this complex was ntirey a fantasy on the part of females. Searching or the cause of thse fantasies, Freud decided that it was because the female children wanted to sleep with their fathers (Eureka! The Oedipal Complex!) and when they could not, they had these fantasies in ordr to cope with the situation.

Latly, nw i normation has come out about Freud and his circle of assocites. It appears that Vienna was a Victorian hotbed of incest, child molsters, and child pornography. Freud's own trusted mentor, who urged him to abandon his early inding that molestation led to neurosis, was actually a child molester! Precisely like most men who molest children, if you read some of the books in the bibliography, he assured Freud that the children really wanted sex with adults, tht they were seductive and "asking or it." Whether out of ambition (Scorpio Rising) or being too easily inluenced by parental igures (Moon square Neptune) , Frud bought it, and the Oedipal com plex was born. Psychology was and is a male·dominated world, so male perspectives on sexuality are the ones which most i nfluence � our thin ing. Freud's chart was reprod ucd in Chapter Two (see Chart 3 on page 46). People's charts tell us wht is going on with their work, evn ter thy die. Freud's transits or 1 983·6 are dificult, in that first Saturn in Scorpio and then Pluto opposes his strong, angular Pluto on the Dscendant. The secret of the Pluto placment will out, even posthumously, and here the secret was the kind of associates he kept. The dificult transits he is going through i n the l 980's suggest that Freud has alln on hard times, a n d h i s popularity and i nfluence will nosd ive. The problm with Freud's being duped is that he powerfully inluenced all the gnrations of therapists since thn, as well as those i ntersted in pop psychology. Thus therapists and many interested lay people place the blame on the victim as the seductress, or dismiss the whole thing as antasy. All too oten, when children say someone is touching them where they shouldn't, a parent or other adult accuses the child of making it up. And yet no our or ive year old child really has access to the details about sexuality that youn g victims describe. Even whn the children are believd, the thory of the guilty victim holds, so both therapists and pop psychologists oten approach the victim rom the viewpoint that the children unconsciously wanted the abuse and seduced the

perpetrtor. This tendency is alienating and enraging, i ncreasing the guilt, resentment, and isolation the victims already eel. Another damaging tndency thrapists have is blaming the mother, saying she was sexually frigid, driving the ather to molest daughters because of hr coldness. One reason Plutonians kep thir secrts is that so oten the po ple they go to or hlp wind up maing them eel wors--m ore ashamed, more angry, and more betrayed.

luto, Masculine Power, and the Problem of Abuse We will see a heightened and d iicult Pluto in the charts of abuse victims. Sexual abuse and domestic violence are xtremely Plutonian in nature, involving a traumatic betrayal of trust. It is essentially an abuse of powr, particularly the almost total power of adult over child. With wife battering and rape, the perpetrator is still using suprior power-ist power. With various orms of sexual abuse, it is not a qustion of simple lust, or that could always be satisied in other ways. The real question is that of d istorted power. A distorted power complex is a major part of the psychology of men who commit physical or sexual abuse, according to i nterviews. These mn are very much locked into a traditional male expecttion of being dominant. Yet, something is happening i n their livs so they can't live up to those cultu ral expecttions-ailing at work or otherwis--a nd thy eel powrless. When they are totally frustrated over their lack of power in the world, they abuse their wies or children in ordr to eel powerul again. Very oten, they, themseles, were abused as children, in an abuse of power that gets handed down through generations. Plutonians bgat Plutonians. Thus, the powr reltionships betwen the sexes set up the conditions or abuse in our culture and make it prominent. Childrn are raisd to obey adults. Litle girls, in particular, are raised to be docile, obedient, dependent,

cooperative, and to defer to men. Thus girls are socialized in such a way that they are more likely to become victims, and the oewhelming number of victims are female. Women who are taught to be dependnt on men, and who try to preserve a rlationship at all costs, are also much more likely to stay with an abusie husband. If you add up the statistics on bttered wives, child abuse, rape, marital rape, and child molesttion, it is a major social problem, one in which the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are male. It can no longer be sen as an individual problem, although the lives of individuals are tragicaly marred. It is a societal problem, and our society's expectations about men and women contribute to the problem in a major way. Pluto is

s

much about

the masses and about social control as about the individual. Another way in which abuse is Pluto nian is that it oten includes a revenge motif. Sometimes, or i nstance, rapists hate all women because of their mothers' sexual promiscuity or because of other things mothers did. When abusers were also abused children, they are seeking revenge or what was done. Oten, f you look closly at incest, the ather or brother is seeking revenge on the wife or parents and taking it out on the child. By acts of violence, perpetrtors vent stored up rage, ating it out agai nst someone who is powerless.

The Psychology of the Vitim Victims, by definition, have had ovewhelming power used against thm i n a way thy wre helpless t o resist. Victims o f armed robbery, or instance, have no safe way to resist. Child abuse victims are helplss to prevent the repeated violence done to them. Incest victims and batered wives slowly, insidiously, h ave their powr to resist taken rom them as well. Powerlessness does something to victims' personalitis. Rage and fear get locked i nto their bodies, but if the abuse continus, they ultimately become numb. They come to el that thy were responsible, that they somehow provoked it, so they fel terriby guilty. (From Chapter Four, you will

remmber that guilt may arise out of the wish to fel you had power over a situation.) Paraysis sets in, especially when the abuse is repeated, so they fel helpless to do anything about it. Self-stem is gretly lowered; thse people eel tainted, as though no one would care or them if thy knew. When they are not belieed or helped, the abuse bcomes a terrible, dirty secret. They come to feel they don't hae rights-the right to say no, the right of control over their own bodies. Incest and sexual abuse victims i n particular eel thy haven't the right t o say n o sexualy, since the violation of their bodies was done by an adult in authority over them. Bing the victim in one situation sets you up to be victimized in others as well. H aving lost the sense of control over your life and your body, having lost the right to resist or to say no, you easily become the target or the next abusive person who comes along. Your posture is submissive; you are an easy mark or somone with a wisted power complex. Thus a woman who is battered by one husband may wind up marryi ng an other man who beats hr, prompti ng the pop psychologist to smirk self-righteously and say, "See, she unconsciously loves it!" Maybe she was a batred or molested child to begin with, setting u p a patern of being victimized.

Alcohol and buse In certain studies, statistics show a strong correlation beween alcohol abuse in a parent and other orms of abuse in the home. If the mother is an alcoholic, or in stance, she is not so likey to be alert to sexual abuse happening to her children. Because of the irritability of the nrvous system, which results from excessive use of alcohol, parents who drink are more prone to child abuse, and men who drink heavily are more likely to abuse their wives. About orty percent of cases in famiy court are due to alcoholism. One reason or this is that there is an actual physical location in the brain called the inhibition center which governs impulse control. Ater heavy drinking, that center is numbed, and people may do things they wouldn't

undr normal circumstances. Regular excessive drinking can damage that center, so that, een when sober, these people are more prone to violence and to sexually inappropriate conduct. They cease to now right from wrong. Blackouts also occur in which alcoholics do things and genui nely don't remmber them the next day. This is enraging, i nvalidating, and conusing to the vitim. The liver, on the level of the energy body, is the organ that metabolies an ger, so alcoholics are resentul people. Thre can also be nerve damage, leaving them irritable. For all these reasons, alcoholics are likly to abuse othrs in the amily. Once again, there is the interplay beween power and powerlessness, in that alcoholics el powrless over alcohol and may turn to abuse as a way of feling powerful and in control. Even where abuse does not happen in the home, howver, children of alcoholics can be prime targets or victimization even as adults. H aving been conronted with irrational authority igures whom they must placate in order to survive, and who oten act bizarrly, these children are prone to submit to others who act similarly, even those who do not drink. As well, children of alcoholics marry alcoholics in t least thirty percent of the cases, and marrying an alcoholic can increase the potential or domestic violence. I have done a great deal of work with adults who were children of alcoholics and ind tht they have Pluto stro ng in their charts, oten strongr, in act, than Neptune, the planet most associated with alcoholism. This shows how important the issue of control becomes when you have a parent who is frequently out of control. Evn when abuse has not occurred, there are many emotional scars that come rom such a background, traumas having to do with such Plutonian issues as lack of trust and fear of abandon ment. n important self-help movemnt or adult children of l alcoholics is rapidly spreading across the country.

Sexual buse: The Depest, Darkst ecrt In something like orty-one percent of i ncest cases, the sxual abuse wnt

on or an average of seven years. This prompts people to wonder why the children didn't just tell someone, why they didn't make it stop. Like most i nstances of repeated victimization, this is a complc qustion. Most survivors of repeted incest or molesttion are grad ually led into scual acts by an adult whom they trust and are taught to obey. At first, the contact may be simply kissing and ondling, moving only slowly i nto overt genital touching, and perhaps years down the line i nto intercourse. Due to the manipulatio ns and rationalizations the perpetrators use, it may be some time beore the children truly un derstand that something wrong is going on. By the time they realze that this isn't someth ing that happens to everyone, they fel guilty, fraid, and powerless to make it stop. Usually the childrn are sworn to secrcy, with threats that something horrible will be done to them or someone they love. They may also be rewarded with gits, money, and spcial avors. ten, these are children who aren't receiving much positive attention, so the ation and special atention is a ind of reward in itself. In addition, there is always the normal and natural love of the father or brother, which even sverely batered children have, so it is confusing. The children come to eel trribly guilty and powrful all at the same time. "Your mother won't do this or me. You're the only one who loves me. You 're all I have." The children may eel that the amily would be destroyed if they told-and very oten this is catly what would happen. If it is the fther, he may be sent to jail or a mental institution, while the famiy also sufers inancial destitution from the loss of his i ncome. Sometims the children are sent away to oster care, a further abandonment. Thus, the terrible scret gives these children a strange sense of power i n the midst o f their powerlessness. I t also creates a sense o f total alienation, of being set apart rom the amily, the world outside, and most especially from the peer group. At the age of ten or eleven, whn other girls are just begin ning to giggle about boys, abused female children may be experiencing i ntercourse regularly. They fel alone i n the world, not like other people, and

can bcome depressed and withdrawn. Others act out their rage, becoming rebell ious, dli nquent, or sxually promiscuous. Others become youn g drug or alcohol abusrs, or develop weight problems to avoid the issue of sexuality.

Case xampls of Incst The charts which are reproduced here are gits from wo incest survivors worked with in y private practice. (In the movement or women who h ave sufered from incestuous assault, it is preferred to call them survivors rather than victims.) If you can athom how diicult it was to reveal this secret which haunted them most of their l ives, you can appreciate wht an act of courage it was or them to allow themselvs to be written about in a book. Please send them a mental thank you. Chart 6 on page 1 02 shows a clint or whom I did a reading several years ago in New York. She says that I asked hr whether some part of her problems in love relationships didn' t have someth ing to do with a diicult relationship with a brother, but that at that time she said, "Oh, no, everyth ing was ine." Several years passed, and both of u s moved to San Francisco, and she again came to me in late 1983. I looked at her diicult Saturn i n Scorpio (in the third as part of a t-square with Venus and Mars), antici pati ng that she was going to be having her Saturn retu rn. Not remmbering what we discussed in the earlier reading, I again said that a very diicult relationship with a brother was behind the diiculties she experienced in relationships, and added that the Saturn retu rn was the time to deal with it. . that point, she told me tht hr older brother had sexually abused her from age seven to iteen. (Hr brother was born 1 1 /25/4, if you care to work with the synastry.)

Chart 6. Female. Born Nw York, NY, March 1 7, 1955, 4:18 PM EST, tropical, Placidus. This is the chart of a woman who was sexually abused by her brother or many years. Data used with permission. This is an important point or the astrologer to note. When I first did the chart, she was not ready to come orward with her secret, which stands out all over the chart once you know how to look or it. The Saturn i n Scorpio in the third might in itself suggest abuse by a sibling, but when you tie it in with Venus, ruler of the third and Mars, ruler of the eighth, the indiction is that the abuse was sexual. (Venus and Mars themslves, by'nature, hae to do with relationships and sexuality.) dditionally, Pluto is strong, i n the

wlh house, within ten degrees of the Ascendant, being the i ntercepted ruler of the third, and it opposes Mercury, a natural indicator of a brother or sister. Anothr indictor might be the Neptune sitting on the cusp of the third, ruling the seenth, which, without the other aspects, might only show a tendncy toward idealzed love or a brother. When a client is not ready to discuss the secret, it is extremely important not to push, although a gnral discussion of secrets and how toxic they are at another point in the reading may plant a seed or the uture. When this woman again came to me or a reading, she was ready to open up because of severe distress in a relationship. Perhaps it also came about bcause I, too, was ready to hear it. In the meanti me, I had done enough work with i ncest survivors and had enough experience in healing tht I had something to ofer. Then, too, the climate was right. Someihing Abot Amelia had aired on telvision; Pluto had movd i nto Scorpio and was tri ning her Mercury; and that strong Pluto of hers sensed the colletie was more ready to help her. And heal herself she d id. Not only did we work togther with the kinds of guided medittions and lower essencs presnted in this book, but she also read the books in the bibliography, had body work done, and joined a group or i ncest survivors. She wnt through a proound catharsis, months of deep turmoil of the sort typical to the process, and today she is doing work to help other incest survivors. She lt an emotionally abusive relationship and is i n a positie n w one. ( More inormation on the healing process will be given later.) Stepfathers represent a special problm, or even though they are not blood relatives, they are part of the family and take on parental authority. They don't always do a great job of it, either, as abuse statistics testiy. While maybe one in ive girls has sufred from sexual abuse, the numbers go up to one i n three and higher whn a girl has a stepfther. The stpather is not always implicated, but thse girls are more vulnerable to a variety of sexual predators. Without the real fther around, they may be seen as easy targets.

Chart 7. Woody Allen, born Decmber 1 , 1935, 1 0:55 P.M. EST, Bronx, NY, tropical, Placidus. Data from birth certificate. Reprinted with permission from Lois M . Rodden's Data News, issue #37, 10/92. One notable xample was the aair Woody Allen began in December, 1 991, with his stepdaughter Soon-Yi, Mia Farrow's adopted daughtr. Soon-Yi was beween

19

and

21

when the aair began.

No blood

relationships were i nvolved, and yt he had been in her life as a ather figure since she was 7 or so. For him to suddenly decide that she was the love of his life and to engage in nude photographis and public displays was surely a serious boundary violation if not legally incest. (The usual revenge motif can

be suspected given his estrangement rom Mia.)

Chart 8. Satchel O' Sullivan Farrow Allen, born December 1 9, 1 987, 10:49 A.M. EST, New York, NY, tropical, Placidus. F rom the ilm studio press release. Reprinted with prmission rom Lois M. Roddn's Data Nws, issue #37, 10/92. Shown here as Chart 7, Woody's chart fetures a t-square with a close opposition btween M ars and Pluto, both squaring Venus, with the outlet i n the 8th house. Mars is in the 5th, representing roman ce but also children. Nepture is in the 1 st house, a position which otn denots conusion about

boundaries. There were also allegation s that he molested their mutually ado pted daughter Dylan, but this was not substantited nor was he prosecutd. Such allgations, true or untrue, can't help but create trust issues and deep shame or the children. The only child whose birth data is available is thir biological son, Satchel, given here as Chart1 (see page 105). His chart features a tight conjunction of Mars and Pluto in Scorpio in the 8th house, so he has been deply touchd by the scandal. The synastry is also i nstructive.

Healing Tools and Rsources or Incest Victims Pluto in Scorpio not only shows screts coming out in the open, t also shows the deelopment of ways of healing these traumatic cperiences. A major slf-help movment or i ncest su rvivors bgan during the Pluto/Saturn conjunction of 1 982-83, and is gaining momentum as Pluto moves through Scorpio. Incest is perhaps the most toxic of the deep, dark secrts, the one with the most shame and stigma, and thus the one that most needs groups where survivors can talk opn ly about their secret. Because of the group support, this orm of healing is one of the more effective contributions. In these self-help and therapy groups, survivors have the opportunity to tll their secret and discuss various aspects of their eelings with others who have lived through it. This group experience is powrfully healing. Many of the groups recommend and support the survivor in bringing the secret out i nto the open with the amily, including, in many cases, a conrontation with the perpetrator. A side effect is that this rees other famiy members to tell their secrets as well-vry oten there is more than one generation of abuse i nvolved. An i ntrestingly Scorpionic tendncy in the movement is to demand that the perpetrator make restitution in some way. There is no amount of money that could com pensate or the damage, but oten the demand is made-and accepted-that the perpetrtor pay or the therapy, and survivors find this

exchange healing. ten, it is insisted that the perpetrator himself get therapy. The women in Charts 6 and 7 h ad amily conferences and insisted that their therapy be paid or, yet neither flt thy would have been able to do so without group support. (Whre mony or therapy is not available i n this way, crime victim assistance programs i n certain cities have paid o r it, even when the i ncest was never reported.) Body work is another essential part of the healing or survivors. The repeated violation may hae made them shut of rom their bodis, and also may have caused them to have emotional residuals (fear, rage, sadnss) i n the muscles a n d body tissues. Body work releases stored motions and allows them to reclaim their enjoyment of their bodies. Naturally, it might be hard to allow male therapists to work on them, and it might also be unwise to go through some of the more painful orms of body work, like roling, where the pain could translte emotionally as simply another period of abuse. Books can be healing, too, espcially or people who think they are alone in their terrible secret. Sometimes these women ned to read books like the ones in the bibliography in order to understand thy are not unusual. This realzation begins to cut through the isolation, so they can be more open to working with a group and to telling others about it. The books srve another purpose, in that they induce a catharsis of rozen eelings about the experiences. A priod of ctharsis seems to happen to most incest survivors as they become ready to work on the problem, an i ntense version of the healing crisis discussd i n Chapter Three. Crying, rage, and fear come up, eelings people may have cut of or years. (Begins to sound just like a Pluto transit, doesn't it?) Things may be pretty rocky or a while. There is no escape, but there is relief in dealing with it at last, and when this awul secret is shared, it brings a sense of hope that the future can be beter or working it through. There is a period of telling the secret to anyone they eel cares enough to listen. Su rvivors also ind othr appropriate situations to tell it in, like i ncest

speakouts. Telling it and tlling it and telling it is part of the healing, because the sense of being set apart lessens with each telling. While talking about it helps, healing has to proced on many difernt levels. Thus the flowr remedies and guided md itations in this book can play an important part i n clearing out the damage. Bach rmedies seem to be more important here. Star of Bethlhm or old traumas, Ho neysuckle or leting go of the past, Holly or hate, and Willow or resentment are all very important. Centaury, or passivity and not being taken advantage of, helps with the victim stance. Within the Caliornia essnces, the ones or sexuality may be needed when the healing is urther along. Sticky Monkeylower or fear of intimacy and or integrati ng sexual energies could be very useful; others

might include

Fig or trust betwen couples,

M ananita or

ambivalence about the body and or grounding, and Fuschia or i ntegrting powerful motions.

A Case of Child Abuse The ollowing case of child abuse came to y atention a number of years ago, when I wrote advice columns or astrology magazines. At that time, I was Director of Social Service in a hospital, and while arrangi ng a series of educational programs about child abuse or the staf, I was struck by how Plutonian the relationships were-the power struggles, the revenge motif, the deep dark secrt. All these dynamics will be seen in the sad case con sidered here. The story itself reeks of Pluto, even beore you look at the charts i nvolved. The story and birth i normation were given to me by the grand- mother, but names and birth i normation will be conceald or reasons of conidentiality. All i normation is presentd rom the gran d-mother's point of view. I did not met the people, since thy livd in another state. Nonetheless, when talking to the grandmother on the phone, she seemd to be a stable person and a reliable source of inormatio n. The family con sisted of our people: an abusive ather and mothr, the

abused older child, and the adored younger child who was not abused. We will look at individual charts and composites. This case represents an unu sual opportunity to see all the charts rather than just that of the abused individual. Child abuse is a amily problem, in which all members play a part, and in which the abused child has been given a particular role. We will call the boy Jeremy 111. It is signiicant that his grandfther was Jeremy Sr. and his ather Jeremy II. The names alone might indicate that some displacd rage at both the grandfther and father is being acted out in the beatings. This child was the product of a orced marriage when the mother, whom we will call Alice, became pregnant. It can be suspected, even from the charts, that she deliberately got pregnant to trap the ather i nto marriage. (Pluto is in the ather's ith, which oten suggests a pregn ancy marriage, and there is a heavy Pluto and Scorpio i nflun ce i n the mother's chart, which we will see later.) From her chart, we might also suspect she d id this out of desperation, to escape rom her own abusive parents. I mmediately atr the marriage, she sought an illegal abortion. She was not successul and hated the child from the time he was born. The father biterly rsented marriage and parnthood, as he wasn't ready or the responsibility and wanted to go to md ical school. He ultimately d id go, and was a su rgical resident at the time the grandmother wrote to me. (What about the H i ppocratic Oath, fella, my Pluto wants to ask!) Both parents beat the child rom toddlerhood onward. Serious physical and emotional damage was done, including a broken arm, testicles so badly injured that surgery was required, and a period where he could not evn walk and had to learn all over again. (Hopeully, by now, no hospital would observe injuries like that and not become suspicious.) Emotional damage was apparent, in that the child shook continually, was oten withdrawn from reality, and was jumping from high places. The relatio nship beween the parents was a strange, sado- masochistic one. The mother was promiscuous, and the child oten witnessed her having sex with other mn. The father once

caught her in bed with another man who hld him and the children at gunpoint. Ater that incident, the parents divorced but still lived together. The cou pie had a second child, three years younger, whom we shall call Charles. In stark contrast, Charles was adored, showered with atention and possessions. They semed to have split their ambivalent eelings about parenthood right down the middle. It is not unusual in such amilis to h ave only one of the childrn abused-the abused child is spcial, sometimes demanding more care or coming t a crisis time when the parents can't meet the demands of an infant, or possibly resembling someone a parent hates. The grand parnts were ctremely worried about Jeremy Ill. : one point, when the child was visiting, they took him to a pediatrician who reported the case to child welare authorities. Their eforts were blocked because the parents were able to put up a good ront to i nvestigators, being ouwardly charming and quite i ntelligent, as well. The ather's

position as a

doctor-to-be also shielded him; physicians are rluctant to see any mental problem in a fllow physician and are notorious or coveri ng up or one another. The only result was that the grand parnts were not allowed to visit or a year, and the boy was ven more seriously abused in retaliation. U nderstandably, the grandparents were reluctant to take urther action, feling it might endanger the child and their rlationship even more. However, t the time the gran dmother wrote to

e,

both the natal charts and

coming transits were alarming, so I advised her to seek legal help to remove the child. The outcome is unknown. The begi nning astrology stu dent may find the interpretations which ollow quite technical. U nortunatly thre is little that could be done without depriving practicing astrologers of important i normation they might need some day. You would be advised to get as much as you can from the psychological exposition or sip to the more general chapters.

J EREMY I l l: TH E ABUSED CH I LD Chart 9 is extremly Plutonian, in that Pluto and Uranus are conjunct in the

eighth house, orming a t-square with an opposition to a Mars/Sturn conjunction squard by J upiter. Mars/Uranus, Mars/Stun, and Mars/Pluto aspects can all show a brutal parent, and to have all three is singularly dificu lt. The eighth house location of this very dificult Pluto, ruler of the Midheaven, would raise the possibility of sexual abuse as well, since some cases of incest have similar signatures. The Mid-heaven, which shows the parents as authority igurs, is in Scorpio, and Neptune in Sco rpio is conjunct it and square his

Sun.

Neptune there suggests emotional

disturbance on the part of the parents, but also their ability to put up a false front. Alcohol or drugs could play a part in the amily violence.

Chart 9. Jeremy 1 1 1, an abused child. The birth data is not available or reasons of conidentiality. The sevrely diicult aspects in the chart far ouweigh the helpul ones, but Jupiter in the h, trine the Sun, suggests that hlp may come through the school and rom legal assistance. Venus in Capricorn on the Ascndant ruling the ninth and the ou rth also suggests that legal i ntrvention by the grandparents could save him. Nonetheless, the d amage suggested by that t-square and prominent Neptune square the Sun is considrable. As oten happens, he himself could be abusive or violent as an adu lt, unless he receied a great deal of therapy. Pluto is strong in the chart, so healing could occur, but only with a great deal of work.

ALICE: THE ABUSIVE MOTH ER f the parents' charts, Alice's appears by ar the more abusive. (See Chart Q.) She was born with the rather infamous Pluto-Satu rn conjunction in Leo closely conjunt her Lo Midheaen, showing her as a person who must dominate at all costs. This combination also suggests that she herself may have had a power-hungry and abusive parent, and that her abuse of Jremy may be a way of acting out her hatred and vengeance toward tht parent. The square rom Jupiter in Scorpio in the first only expands the desire or powr. She has Scorpio rising and Venus and Mercury in Scorpio as well. Her highy sexual nature may arise rom this concentration of Plutonian energy, but its irst/tenth house concentration suggests she may have been excessiely stimulated at an early age by eents concerning her parents. f the two parnts, hr chart more clearly illustrats the finding that an abused child can grow up to become an abusive parent. (The grandmother, who was her mother-in-lw, had no inormation on Alice's childhood.)

Chart 1 0. lice, the abusive mother who gave birth to Jremy I l l . Readrs should refer to Ch art 9 or the planetary ties btween mothr and son. Birth data is not available or reasons of confidntiality. Exactly like her son, Alice has a diicult t-square involving a Mars/Uranus opposition from the eighth house, orming squares to a planet in the h, the house of children. In her case, the ith house planet is her Pisces Moon, suggesting tht she eels trapped and enragd by the ned to nurture others. The same degrees of the mutable signs are involved as in Jeremy's chart, so the synastry shows he could readily be a targt or her explosive anger. The eighth house Uranus aspeted by Mars suggests that or her, somehow,

violence has become sewalized,

so there can

be a heavily sexual

undrcurrent to the beatings, an S&M compo nent.

COM OSITE CHART: ALICE AN D J ER EMY I l l The mathemtical principls of composite charts are such that when-ever both people have ay aspect betwen wo given planets, the composite will have some kind of aspect beween those same wo plants. A M ars/Uranus opposition from the eighth to the second appears in both Jeremy's and Alice's charts, so the com posite (Chart 1 1 ) has the same aspect, again in a t-square, this time to Nptune, with the Moon conjunct Mars. The t-square is in fixed signs, which are more entrenched in their behavior, and more resistant to change. The Moon is in Aquarius, a rather explosive Moon at times, particularly with Mars and Uranus orming such diicult aspects.

Chart 1 1 . The composite chart combi ning Alice (ChartQ) and her son, Jeremy I l l (Chart 9). Pluto is also signiicant, i n that a close Jupiter/Pluto conjuntion orms quincunxes to the Moon and Mars in Aquarius, sesquiqua-drates to the Sun, and a square to Saturn. The Pluto/Saturn square echoes the mothr's own Pluto/Saturn conjunction and Jeremy's Pluto/Sturn opposition. Since Pluto and J upiter are in the ni nth house, legal remedy is again suggestd.

J EREMY I I : THE ABUSIVE FATH ER Jeremy Ill's ath r is shown i n Chart 12 on page 1 1 6. He also has d iicult

placements in the mutable signs, in some of the same degres, but not a t-square. Mars and Uranus are conjunct. The act tht Mars and Uranus are in Gemini and on the cusp of the third house (brothers and sisters). squaring the Moon, hints that wht may be going on in his angry explosions is a kind of sibling rivalry with his son. This is echoed by the strong ith house placements, including the Sun. Many strongly ih house po ple want to be indulged children themselves, not saddled with children. Mars and Uranus square his Pisces Moon i n the welth, which is also opposite Jupiter and near Alice's Piscs Moon. Thus there is some suggestion that he is strongly negatively i nflun ced by her, and tht his behavior toward his son is a way of ating out his rage t his wife. U nconsciously, she is seen as a mother igure, and his rage is at ru strated dependency neds. Again, given the strong Neptunian component, there is the possibility that drugs or alcohol may trigger the abuse. Pluto is lss dominant in this chart, but falls into the house of children, the ith house. It is virtually unaspectd, which can in itself bespeak dificu lty in i ntegrati ng that energy i nto the life. (Paradoxically, an unaspected planet can become dominant.) There is a wide sesquiquadrate to the Pisces Moon, again suggstin g that he is acting out rvenge on his wife, even possibly on his mother.

Chart 12. Jeremy II, the abusive father. Readers should com pare this chart with Ch art2 to see the ties beween ather and son. Birth data is not available or reasons of conidentiality.

COM OSITE CHART: J EREMY

Ill

AN D

HIS

FATHER Chart]] is a com posite and is even more diicult than the com posite betwen Jermy and his mother. Rther than a t-square, there is a grand cross spread across the ixed and cardinal signs. Once more, the Moon,

Mars, Uranus, and Nptune are part of it, joined hre by Venus. The eighth house and Pluto are again featured. Pluto closely squars the Scorpio Sun and orms a quincunx to the Moon. Pluto is angular, close to the Descendant.

Chart 1 3 . The com posite chart combi ning Jeremy II (the father in Chart 1 2) with his son, Jeremy II (Chart 9) .

COM OSITE CHART: PARENTS

Since both parents have Pisces Moons with hard aspects to Mars and Uranus, their com posite (see Charti) does too, orming still another mutable t-square, along with Venus and the Nodes. The eighth house is important, containing one end of the t-square, with Pluto near the cusp of the eighth, sesquiquadrate the Moon. There is no d oubt that or this couple the violence

is sexualied, and that they have a

sado-masoch istic

relationship. With our planets in the ninth house, legal complications seem likly, yet the Sun/Jupiter conjunction shows they could grow rom it.

Chart 1 4. The com posite chart or the parnts, lice and Jeremy I I. (Se Charts 10 and 1 2.)

CHAR LES: THE FAVORED SON Chart 1 5 i s by no means an easy chart. It i s full of quincunxes, including an Eye of God ormation with the Sun at the apex. Quin-cu nxes bespeak incongruities or diiculties rconciling one ned with another. With the Sun and Saturn i n Aries conjunct the Mid-heaven, and Leo Risi ng, Charles needs and wants attention, but it is an u neasy crown he wears. The quincu nxes to Neptune and Pluto show the undercurrents and the deception tht is going on, all of which should give him the uneasy sense that the love he is geting may not be real, that he h ad beter be perfct or he might be next.

Chart 1 5. Charles, the avored child, Birth d ate is not available or reasons of confidntiality. With Leo rising, the Eye of God with the Sun, and all his elevted planets, Charles has been given an elevated viw of hi mself as a very special person (he may literally eel that the eye of God is upon him), yet, with no squares or op positions to galvanize him into action, he doesn't know what to do to atain or deserve tht loty position his parents are setting him up to expect. The eye of God is rpeated in Charles's com posite with his ather, which is shown as Chart 1 6.

Chart 16. The com posite chan or Charles and his ather, Jeremy 1 1 . (Se

Chans 12 and 1 5.) We h ave seen the charts of all our family members i n a case of severe child

abuse,

as

well

as

composite

charts

illustrating the

complex

relationships btween various members. Certain common themes and even common d grees wre remarked u pon. Most especially, those i nvolved in the abuse h ad dificult aspects in the mutable signs, all with Mars/U ran us and Mars/Moon hard aspects. T·squares with thse planets appeared in both natal and composite charts. The eighth house was prominent, as was Pluto, illustrating the sexualiation of violence and the warpi ng of power and control needs. We should not conclude that any of these placements, on their own, lead to child abuse, but the extreme concentratio n of diicult aspects, all i nterlockd i n the charts of amily mmbers, did result i n seere abuse.

Some Haling Ideas If you have been abused, prhaps it would be healing to start a group yourslf. Some of the healing tools in this book could be helpul, such as the xercises or guilt and resentmnt. Doing exactly the same xercise as the one or resentment, but using the color blue, would help to remove the residue of fear. GENTLE body work, such as massage, not the painul ones like rolfi ng, could help release the stord up emotions and give you a pleasurable sense of your body. Bach lower remd ies which could help are Star of Bethlehem (or old shocks and traumas). Honysucle (or leting go of the past) . Willow (or resntment and bitrnss). Holly (or hatred, suspicion, and the desire or revenge) . and Centaury (not to allow further victimization). n im portant sel-help group or adults who suffered rom physical abuse as children has been ormed by Christina Crawford, who wrote Mommy Daret. You may contact thm by writing to The Survivors Network, 1 8653 Ventura Boulevard #143, Tarzana, CA 9 1 3 56.

Some Final Words on buse No d oubt you have ound this chapter quite depressing, yt if you practice astrology, you may run into cases this severe, and you will need to undrstand both the astrology and the psychology of child abuse and molstation. If it is depressing or you, you can imagine how nightmarish it would be or the po ple i nvolved, so your un derstanding and compassion, your ability to hear what the person has to say without bing reakd out, is quite important. With Pluto in Scorpio, more and more victims of various orms of abuse will be opening up their secrets to you and to other kinds of healers and hel pers. The books in the bibliography which ollows can prepare you to understand and be helpful, as well as to know what treatment is available to heal the atermath.

Books bout I ncest and Molestaion Armstro ng, Louise. Kiss Daddy Goodnight. H awthorne, N .Y., 1 978. Case histories of a number of i ncest survivors, gatherd by a survivor. Powerul and pai nful.

Brady, Katharine. ther's Days: A True Story f Inest. Seaviw Books, N .Y., 1 979. One woman's story of incest, including what happened as an adult when she decided to conront the situation.

Butler, Sandra. Conspiray f Silene: Te Trauma of Inest. Volcano Press, San Francisco, 1978. An excellent book on the subject, including i ntrviews with survivors, their mothers, and the perpetrtors. Faili ngs of the helping professions i n dealing with this problem.

Morris, Michelle. f I Shuld Die Before I Wake. Dell, N.Y., 1 982. An extremely

well-writen novl about a teenage i ncest victim, stunn ingly accurate in detail. Rush, Florence. Te Best epi Seret: Sxal be of Children. M cGraw Hill, N.Y., 1 980. A painful, wel�written book about various psychological, sociological, and h istorical acets of child sexual abuse.

Books bout Rae Brownmiller, Susan. gainst Our Will: Men, Women, and ope. Simon and Schuster, N.Y., 1 975. Classic feminist text on rape as an expression of mn's hostility toward women and the imbalance of power beween the sexes.

Books bout Domstic Violence Marti n, Dell. Battered Wives. Pocket oos, N.Y. Revised, 1983. The earliest book on wife abuse, which sparked a great growth of consciousnss and a movement to help these vitims.

McNulty, Faith. Te Bunig ed. H arcourt Brace Jovanovich, N .Y .. 1983. The sto ry of Francine Hughes, who killed her abusie husband and was acqu itted in a landmark decision. (Made i nto a television movie during 1984, less than a year ater Pluto ntered Scorpio.) Francine was a 1947 Leo, bon during the Pluto/Saturn conjunction in Lo, but the book does not pinpoint her exact date of birth.

Walkr, Lenore E. The Battered Woman. Harpr and Row, N.Y., 1 979. Case histories and the psychology of the victim, as well as inormtion on treatment. !! 1f you are i ntersted in reading more of the story, see Jefrey M. Mas son's Te Asouh on Tah: Freud's Suppression of the Seduaion Teoy, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, NY, 1 984.

l vour local Alanon organization may have such groups, or you may ind out more by writing to the National Organiation of Children of Alcoholics, Box 421691 , San Francisco, CA, 94142.

CHAPTER SIX Death and the Transormative Power of Gief The ideas we will examine i n this chapter apply not only to grif because of a death, but also to the loss of a rlationship, a carer setback, an ability tht is no longr there, and most especially to the ending of a dream or hope tht was part of the reason or being. Death is the purer case, easier to grasp, but it is qually important to mourn other losses too. By looking at this dificult topic, we will learn how very Plutonian mourning is. It oten involves guilt, resentment, holding on, wanting to control, and the dsire or revenge. Pluto ruls both deth and transormation, and the death of someone meaningul is oten a time of transormtion, but only as we allow ourslves to mourn. Healing tools or dealing with grief will be prsented at the end of the chapter. lthough it goes against the natural reticence of y Pluto/ Ascendant conjunction to make it public, I am a mdium. Not only is some of my material channlled, but I also have the capacity to communicate with people who h ave died, as an inevitable consquence of being around deth. I don't practice mediumship or members of the general public who are curious and want to know how grandma likes the aterlife, but I have willi ngly acted as a mdium

when

it

was

indicated

in

the

course

of therapy

with

peopl--Plutonians mainly-who were in considerable pain due to a death thy were unable to resolve. In such i nstances, mediumship is a orm of healing, the therapy of choice. A case example will be included later on. Given this detrminedly nonprofessional standpoint, y experience with mdiumship is limited yet rather consistnt. Keep in mind that it is only one person's experience, mixed with study and

talking with

profssional

mdiums. Not exactly by coincidence, while this chapter was i n process, the U nierse collaborated by arranging a stay with a amous European mdium in London, who took me arou nd to unctions of the Spiritualist chu rch and

taught me a great deal about classical md iumship. The U niverse also provided exposure to a couple of deaths while this was being written, but it was hard to be grateu l or that particular bit of help.

How Gif Became Gauche With the Moon i n Aquarius i n the US chart, we don 't know how to grieve. More and more, we are expeted to be detach d , to pretend the loss doesn't mtter. "He's taking it very well," is considred a compliment, rather than a mtter or concern. If you are so gauche as to mourn or more than a couple of months or your loss, transormation j unkies will ask you, in essence if not in act, ''Whre does it get you to hold on to that?" Now tht we're all a bit spiritually ware, we add su pericial i normation on l ife ter death to our list of reasons or mourning being passe. "You're only holding her back by carrying on so, y dear. Don't you see you must let hr go so she can make her transition?" These statements are not wisdom, but sophistry, and are a way to cop out on what psychotherapists call grief work. Another glib copout is to minimize the loss (especially someone else's) by gloriying death as an in stant release and wonderul enlightenment. "How wonderful that he has ound his release." The deceased are oten every bit as unenlightened as thy were in life, even years aterward. Their healing is NOT i nstant-it can take up to wo years to get the astral body in shape. Possibly at the momnt of death, it is as described in the research , with lights and awesome spiritual presnces and so on, but ater the ho neymoon period, the adjustment to having passed over taks time, especially or those who have as l ittle preparation as people in our culture. Once there were customs or mourning which hlped the survivor work through grif, and which doubtlessy helped the deceased in understanding and accepting wht had happened. Many of thse customs, even within the ramework of traditio nal religions, were i ntu itively basd on sound occult principls and knowledge about wht happens ater deth. Black, or i nstance, acts as a psychic shield and protects the mourner rom being ovewhelmed

by mediumistic contact with the departed. It seems to take about a year ater death to pass over to a second level of greatr detachmnt from our plane; the traditional mou rning period lasted or a year, masses were said, and the bereaved were protectd and removd rom social rsponsibilities.

A year or

wo is the most i ntense part of a Pluto transit, and oten a Pluto transit accompanies the death of someone or someth ing meaningul. (Not every Pluto transit means a deth, but Nery one does mean an end to something major.)

Death and the luto in Lo Generation Pluto oten carries the theme of abando nment, and we modern olk (the Pluto in

o

crew) slfishly abandon the dyi ng, leavi ng them isolated, rther

th an dealing with our eelings about death. We also slf·centeredly abandon the d ead and those who mourn them. In the beginni ng, at least, the dead can miss us as prooundly s we miss them and can fel isolatd when we do not give them our loving grief. So what if your dear old mother and your avorite U ncle Bill are there on the other side to gret you when you die? It doesn't entirely make up or intimate contact with the loved ones you let behind

who

now aren't talking to you

because they don 't now how

or-worse-don't even know you continue to exist. Dyi ng is sort of like moving away, except you don't gt as many leters from your riends. The Pluto in Cancer generation were better at nurturing those in mourning, but the Pluto in Leo gnration only n otices what a bummer it is to be around them. "It's just too draini ng. I have to take care of myself." The gnration with Pluto in Virgo and Neptu ne in Scorpio, s they become the care taking adults in our cu lture, will doubtlessly be devotd and capable helpers of the dying and their survivors. Since Neptun e has to do with psychic abilities, and Scorpio (like Pluto) with mediumship, this should be a gnration of natural mediums, the time in history when communication with the aterlife becomes a natural and accepted thing. In defn se of the Pluto in Leo pople, it is well to consider why they are so

callous about death. Doubtlessly, it is bcause they have seen so much of it. They were born during a devastati ng World War or in its atermath, ollowed closely by Korea. On top of all that, the perpetual threat of nuclear annihiltion began shortly atr they were born. When thy were young adults or tenagers, they were confronted with Vietnam and the senselss masses of deaths in a war they couldn't believe in. Telvision shows average sveral brutal killings an hour, giving the message tht life is cheap. A time comes when we can no lon ger take it in, when we h ave suffered loss, or the thret of it, so many times that we close d own to it. As La Rocheoucauld said, "Death and the sun are not to be looked t steadily." This continual xposure to the possibility of annihilation may also be part of the reason or the Pluto in Leo generation's hedonism; "Eat, drink, and be merry, or tomorrow you may die." That generation will be getti ng transiting Pluto in Sco rpio square natal Pluto t about the age of orty-wo. It is a generation of unusual resntment toward parents, and as their parents begin dying, it should be an im portant transormational crisis. The narcissism that this so-called "me generation" is known or should be changing, through exposure to mortality, to a greater concern or the whole.

Elisabth Kubler-Ross and the Liberation of the ying The 1 960s were marked by the conjunction of U ranus and Pluto i n the sign Virgo, a combination that brought a great many social reorm and libertion movements. One of the most beautiul was tht ld by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross to ensure the rights of the dying to compassionate and understan ding treatment. Like most Plutonian areas of life, death is oten taboo to talk about, and her work opened the way or communiction with those who are in the process of dying. Like many Plutonians, Elisabeth sufered opprssive and underhandd atacs as the establishment attempted to maintain the sttus quo. The medical world was orever trying to dig up

scandal, tryin g to say that she was insane. Doctors, being healers, are Plutonians, and as such hae d iiculty with death's remi nder of their ultimate powerlessness. Even at this point, Kubler-Ross goes through periodic conflicts with the powers tht be. The psychic and mediumistic opening that she has been through in recnt years has again resulted in rumors of insanity. Through her experiences with dying patients and with patients who communicted ater death, she has come to believe deply in survival past death and i n reincarnation. In the pilogue to her biography, she says: I have had every mystical experience that human beings are capable of. have exprienced the greatest highs without ever having takn drugs. have seen the light that y patients see in their near-death xperiences, and I hae been surrounded by that i ncredible unconditional love that all I of us experience when we make the transition called death. As you can see rom Chart 1 7 on page 1 30, Elisabth Kubler-Ross qualiies as a Plutonian. She has Pluto conjunct her Cancr Sun and North Node and very widely conjunct her Cancr Moon. Wht higher expression of this combintion could there be than in her nurturing and caring or the dying? If you gave me the chart and didn't identiy her, I would guss hr profession as a medium, so strong are the mediumistic indications. The close square rom Mars in Aries in the first house to Pluto and the Sun is diicult, yt she uses it in the highest expression, as a fighter and leader or the rights of the dying. (Quite possibly, howevr, she does provoke some of the batles she gts i nto with the powers that be.) The Sun and Pluto are trine Saturn i n Scorpio i n the eighth house, showing that she would take this a s a professional responsibility and become a healer in this area.

Ch art 1 7. Elisabeth Koblr-Ross. Born Zurich, Swizerland, July 8, 1926, 22:45, tropical, Placidus. Data supplied by Lois Roddn, and this birth time is more recent than that u sed in her book, roiles of Women (F, Tempe, Z, 1979).

What to xct rom Grief It may be useful to describe what grief is like, so you will know if someone is in a grief state. It's a very Plutonian state of mind, or grievi ng people struggle not to show their eli ngs ouwardly, because others tend to shun thm if they go i nto t too intnsely. There is otn a good deal of isolation: or i nstance, widows oten find tht the ormer friends of the couple no

longr want a single woman around. There is oten obsessive thinking about the deceased, and, as we will consider later, a great deal of guilt and resentment. Sometimes the wish to die is strong. The prson may eel abandoned and betrayed by the person who died, riends, and God. There may be an in itial priod of numb ness and shock; grieving people can go through the funeral ritual and the weeks immeditely atr in a zombie-like state. ("She's taking it so well.") Doctors and friends with wel�stocked medicine cabinets or private stashes contribute to this numbness by insisting on sdting grieving people. One suspets it is done not so much out of concern or the breaved (who need to experience their eelings to complete the process of mourning). but in order not to hae to be around such unpleasant eelings thmselves. This practice is most u nwise, as the grief easily gets pushed down into the unconscious. Also, being able to eel grief t the time when the loss occurs means that grievin g people gt more social validation than wees, months, or even years later, when the eelings do eventually surace. (Some people may be hard put to get any social validation at all if the relationship is a Plutonian one, secret or not socially sanctioned-like a gay lover, a long-trm reltionship with a married man, or your alcoholic fther whom veryo ne lse disowned years ago.) Grief is a powerul emotion, possibly the most i ntense. The i ntensity would vary depending on the strength of the bond (either positive or negative) . how Pluto nian the relationship was, how prepard you were or the death, or how acceptable or how Plutonian the death (suicide, can cer, and murder bing more Plutonian). In acute grie, you may wake up i n the middle of the night, night ater n ight, in a stte of anguish, and who can you call at a time like tht? (Insomnia sems to acco mpany many Pluto transits, perhaps because thre is mourning about a death or a rebirth.) In addition to sleeplssness and deep sorrow, there may be physical symptoms like loss of appetite, diziness, a pain or leaden eeling in the chest. The chest sensation, which may frightn people i nto thinking they are dying too, coms rom the woun d to the heart center that accompanies a

major loss. The heart center (or chakra) is a part of the aura that governs the giving and taking in of love energy. When the heart centr is wounded, it closes down or a time, so that even if others are tryi ng to gie love, grieving people oten cannot take it in, i ncreasi ng the isolation. Use the xercise i n Ch apter Three to reopen the heart chakra. ( I f the death was caused b y a heart or lung cond itio n, the survivor may also be picking up the symptoms mdiumistically.) Grief eelings seem to come and go. At times we orget and immerse ourselves in living. Then, the smallest thin-an object that belonged to the deceasd , a song they loved, a view they enjoyed-brings it all back in a breathtaking blow. Dealing with personal effects is the hardest thing, yt doing it and preci pitating the mourning over each l ittle shard reality is actually healing. Holidays and other spcial occasions may bring grif rushing back. Espcially well known to psychotherapists is the anniversary reaction, or dprssions may occur year ater year at the time of the loved one's death, and otn we are unaware we are mourni ng. (Pluto may be back in the same app roximate position a year later.) Worst of all is the isolation, or no one really un derstands, and no one really wants to make more than a token visit to assuage their own guilt. Grieving people need to be touched and held, and if the lovd one was a mte, that comort may be dn ied unless other sensitive people provide for it. There may also be times when we are sexually needy, or deth increses our dsire to hold on to the physical, yet we el guilty and disloyal or wanting this release.

(All the meanings of Pluto seem to arise i n

bereavement, don 't they?) When a past deth or other loss has not been thoroughly mourned, a new loss may ativate held·in grief. A Pluto transit may coincide with a loss, but not always. Some people undr Pluto transits may reshly experience and deeply mourn an old loss, which current life circumstances orce them to confront. Evn though these periods can be excruciati ngy painful, they bring the possibility of resolving a loss or death so life can begin again where it

let of. In the process, people may need to exprience the abandonment, resentment, guilt, a sense of betrayal, or all the eelings they couldn't work through whn the loss or death actually occurred. Harvard University has done an extensive study of grief, as reported in the book Rovey From Bereavement. Some urthr Plutonian insights were gained rom this study, or extreme dependency of the symbiotic type made the loss much more dificult to deal with. The report also indicted tht some people were unable to unction independently, and they had a sense of hopelessness about the future. In add itio n, survivors of bad marriages had an extremey diicult time getti ng over the deathoten overwhelming grif went on or years. Not only d id deth mean the loss of hope of thi ngs ever gtti ng better in ihe relationship, but an ovewhelming amount of guilt and � resentment can be mxd with grief in such situations.

Rsentment

as a

Component of Grief

Psychoth rapists find that grief carris with it resntment toward the deceasd or the abandonment. At some levl, we perceive that the soul of the individual has chosen its time and manner of death, and we are furious tht they chose to leave us, ven though most of the time the choice has nothing to do with us. We are not allowed to feel this rage-it's not nice! The resentment about the abandonment dos get acted out, not toward the one who died, but toward our fellow survivors. We displace our anger toward the dead onto the living. Deathbds are fertile spawning grounds or family fu ds-sometims the survivors get so angry at one another they don't speak until the next funeral. The feud is also a way of holding on to the dparted and not accepting the deth. The more central the igure (Mom, Dad), the more likely feuds seem to be. We want to blame someone or the loss, and can hate the one we decide is responsible. We fight over possessions and i nheritances, not out of simple gred, but as a way of holding onto the deceasd. If I can't have Mother, at least I can hae her wedding china. (It's all so eighth house!)

We also want to strike out t someone-anyone-to get the rage out of our system, so we sue the doctor who somhow should have made our loved one live orever, and we rage at God or not making people immortal. Vendetas like these come out of a wish or revenge or the death, yt we cannot own up to the real objct of our rage-the dead person. Many people may not experience this type of anger, yet counselors need to recognze tht it may play a part in the complex of emotio ns that makes up grief. It can help com plete the healing to acknowledge this kind of pain and allow grievi ng people to eel and express it. Like any emotion which is ully experienced, it transorms i nto something else-like lo--b ut not working it through reezes and prolongs it. We all know people who became embitered because of the death of somone thy loved. They are angry at God, at life, at those who dare to live on and be happy. Life turns sour or thm, and they themselvs seem to be waiti ng to die. This is a Plutonian reaction which may develop from two Pluto nian causes. The major one is not mourning thoroughly, resulti ng i n displaced resentment. The more we loe, the more we can also hate our loved ones or leaving us, and when we don't have permission to eel the rage, it becomes generalzed i nto bitterness. Likewise, the death of someone we've nursed a grudge toward also brings an upsurge of rage, along with social pressure to let go and orgive now tht he or she is dead. Secondly, even f people know how to mourn, biterness may occur because of the lack of inormation about (or faith in) survival ater death. How diferent life is when we know death is not the end ! This faith comes easiest from having direct mediumistic experiences or from a medium who gives convincing evidence of survival. In this sn se, a medium is a a healer of grief, and in some situations, mediums can really help. Even when we know a loved one survives, even when we have d irect communicatio n, there is still mourning and anger, just as there is with any other broken relationship, but death has lost some of its power.

Guilt Toward the ceasd Guilt is ar more acceptable than anger at the d ceased, and thus ar more commonly experiencd, and experin ced, and xperienced. We el guilty tht we didn't do beter by them, that we didn't call or write, that we weren't there at the end, that we didn't live up to their expectations of u s-and on and on. Similar guilt can cling to the loss of a relationship or other im portant connection. "If only I'd . . . " Guilt and resentment are Siamse wins. So as long as we can't eel and work through the resentment, the guilt hangs i n thre. Observations from Chapter Four may help people hauntd by guilt about somo ne's death. Guilt is oten related to the desire to el we h ad control of the situation, that we had the power to affect its outcome by our actions or i nactions. In this i nstance, we hold onto the illusion that if we had only done or said something difernt, we could have preventd the death.

n xtreme example of survivor's guilt was someone I worked with in y healing practice or a w months. Her father had com mited suicide, and wo years later, she was still consumd with guilt. Suicide, where someone actively chooses to abandon us, seems to i ntensiy the guilt-resntment nexus of grief. This client tortured herslf daily with recrimintions (if she'd only been more lovi ng, if she'd ony been there more, if she'd gone to see him that day) . Her atual condut, when she described it, was fairly devoted, but her ather apparently was convin ced he had cancer and chose to end his life rther than sufer. I no longer know how to reach her or permission, so her chart can't be printed hre, but she had a very strong natal Pluto in the eighth, the house of death, closely squaring her Taurus Sun and Venus in the ih

house. People with the Sun in the ih oten wish to remain the

indulged child orever, so the loss of a ather would have been a major trauma or her even under ordinary circumstances. Hr guilt seemd related to wo basic responses to death: rage at the abandonment, and a need to eel she had the power to prevent wht happened. There was also evidence that she was partially mourning her

loun dering marriage to a domineering Plutonian (Sun conjunct Pluto) . Her husband was a powerul, successul man who treated her like a child, i n a chastising way rther than a loving one. She was gretly resentul u nderneath, but terriied to contemplate change. In anyone's life, the father's death can provoke a crisis i n relationships to men and authority igures, moving us into adulthood i n a new way. We aren't a little girl or a litle boy any more, and we come to eel we have the right to govern our own l ives, make our own decisions. With this i nternal growth goi ng on, preci pitated by her ather's death, my client's marriage was beco ming intolerable. Yet, she wanted to maintain the status quo at all costs. Thus, guilt, resentment, and grief were all bound together and kept her churni ng. Our work together consisted of exploring the u nderlying eelings toward her fther and husband, both through the chart and by d iscussion. We worked with meditations or guilt and rsentment (see Chapter Four), maing tapes she could u se betwen sessions. She was also given several bottles of lower essences, including the Bach remedies Star of Bethlehem (atermath of shock) , Pine and Crab Apple (both or guilt) , and Willow (resentmnt) . : tht time, I did not have the Pegasus remedy, Eucalyptus, or grief, or the Caliornia essence, Bleeding Heart, or painul emotional atachments, but both would have been very hlpful. We also held a mediumistic session with her father, in which he asked her not to hold herself responsible but to gt on with her own life. The nd result of ou r work togther was not a miracle cure, but she was able to loosen the guilt and bcame aware that she needed to conront the very real issues in her marriage and her own life path. For those who are carryi ng guilt about someone's death, the process in the chapter on guilt and rsentment, as well as the remedies listed aboe, would help a gret deal. Survivor's guilt is common, especially in traumatic deths and deaths of young people. We eel we should have been taken instead. Some people decide to become living human sacriics, atoning or the other person's death by wasti ng their l ives, perhaps bcoming addicted to somthi ng. This is an extremely destrutie manifesttion of guilt (therfore

implying a stro ng underlying resentment) and can be hel ped by the tools we have been usi ng.

Consequences of Avoiding Grief Grief is atually the uel or transormation, and only by surrendering to t do we transorm ourseles. Grief which is frozen is like a lump of ice in the psyche. When we don't mourn, neither do we let go of the person or situation, so a part of us is stuck thre. Frozen grif reezes other thi ngs as well, like joy and the capacity to care deeply or others. Un rsolved, it can easily turn into a chronic, low grade dprssion which saps energy. As our culture provides less and less support or bereavement, statistics on depression rise higher and higher. It is no coincid n ce that as the rituals of mou rning become more and more abbreviated and less and less acceptable, statistics on cancer and other such deadly diseases rise higher and higher. In studies of the psychology of cancer victims, t was ound that many had sufered a deep loss or setback in the six months to wo years beore the on set of cancer. Doubtlessly, these people d id not grieve ovr thir losses but translated them i nto illness. Pluto rules both grief and dgenerative d iseases like cancer, and y feeling is tht the rising rate of cancer in this country is not so much due to ood additives and chemical pollutants as to our cultural proscription on mourni ng.

Transormation of the Living as a Result of a Death Grief is a process that can ' t be denied, short-circuited, or sedated out of existence. It lasts about as long as the Pluto transit that ushered in the process. We must griee fully in order to pass on to the next stage of growth. I have observed many powerul and positive tran sformatio ns in po ple as a result of the death of someone meaningful. This is not to negate the pain of mourning, yt oten the most i ntense transormations ollow upon the most

i ntense pain. Perhaps with Pluto in Scorpio we will all learn the lesson of grieving, and we will all experience powerul healings as a result. We have all seen how conrontation with ven a d istant death-a classmate, a nighbor's child, a media her�an make us take life more seriousy. The wo Plutonian passages, birth and deth, are the doorways of life, and direct experience of either can teach us more about commitment to life than any other experience. By being confronted with mortality, we determine to make the most of the years we have, and we start to work on things that hold us back. If a distant death can afect us this way, imagine how much more powerful death is near at hand. A close call with death can also have that result. In act, the experience of Dr. Kenneth Ring, president of the International Association or Near- Death Studies, is that these near-dath experiences change people dramatically or the betr, giving them a new sense of opportunity and self-confidence. The death of a parent is espcially powerful in its capacity to change our lies. A numbr of alcoholics I worked with became sober when an alcoholic parent or even a drinking buddy did. Part of this is psychic, in that parnts bind us very closely psychically, no matter how ar way thy are, or how determi nedly we shut them out. Once a parent dies, that psych ic hold is broken, so we are fre to let go of their fears, neuroses and compulsions. M y mother was an amteur astrologr, a n d I never d i d a chart reading without a n anxiety attack until ater her death. A parent's death is a pai nful rite of passage, yet it can fre us to lead our own lives, f that has been an issue or us. When the parent or mate is loved, the loss is considerable, and when hated, the grie/rage can be oewhelming. Most people have a hard time giving themselves prmission to mourn undr "hate" circumstances, because the conscious reaction is, "I'm glad the bastard's dead!" Nor do riends understan d our grief when a hated parent dies. We mourn the loss of hope of ever gtti ng what we needed; we mourn the fact that we will nver be able to reconcile ou r diferences. Atr all, where there is hate, most of the time,

thre once was loe. Workers in the ield of child wlfare ind that even severly abused children love thir parents and want to be with them; they just want the abuse to stop. If we reuse to come to terms with the loss of a hated parent or mate, we can crete serious problems, such as chronic depression, or a bitter, mournul outlook on life. H aving a Plutonian parent or mate removed rom the scene can actually pave the way or an extrmely positive transormation. Two sisters who had been i ncestuously abused by their alcoholic father were both very much overweight. Both lost a tremndous amount of weight beginning one year ater he died. They were an ntire continent apart and not in contact, yet their reactions were identical, once the threat posed by the ather's existnce and the psychic contamination by his biter, disturbd personality were removed. Once the parent is no longer around to react, many people give up self-destructive behavior intended as revenge on the parent-those ail or spite ptterns that some people deelop. Not Very one is affected in this way, but counselors should keep in mind that this is yt another kind of possible transormation.

Being a Friend to the Bereavd There's no easily understood set of rules or how to respond to bereavement, and the disappearance of socially accepted customs make it hard to know what to do. We are so uncomortable with death and grief tht it is hard or us to be aroun d it, so discomort gts in the way of responding well. We are self-conscious rather than conscious of the neds of bereaved people (Pluto in Leo agai n) . We don't want to be reminded that it could happen, will inevitably happen, to us. People who are best t being a riend to the bereaved i nvariably have sufered grief themselves. U ntil we lose a parent or a mate, it is an abstraction, someth ing that only happens to other people. Atr an im portant death, we un derstand other bereaed people beter. If we haven't allowed ourselves to grieve thoroughly, it may still be hard to be around bereaved

people, yet we do understand. If we let ourselves remember what our grif was like, we can share important bits of the process. (Don't go i nto detail about your own pain, because the person can't respond to your need when he or she is going through the mourning period.) It is vy comorting when somone else says, "Yes, it would come and go or me too. Sometimes I'd almost orget about it, then all of a suddn I'd be flooded with it,

s

bad as

the day he died. That went on or more than a year." The payof is that we gt to complete a bit more of our own mourning-a process that seems to go on or years, to a diminishing extent. How can we hlp f we haven't sufered a signiicant deth since childhood? Remember the most painful loss ver sufered (a broken relationship, a ailed dream) to gain insight into the pain of grief. Plain old gardn variety sensitivity and listening are the best tools. Books about grif and dying (see the bibliography) can help us understand the process of grif beter. Ask how the grievin g person eels. Listen. Don't talk. Touching is much btter than talking; people who are grieving need the comort of bing held. If they lost a mate, they especially need to be touched because tht natural part of life is gone. Don't el a ned to supply an wers, because thre aren't any. Platitudes enrage bereaved people. Remember that bereaved people are ull of anger t thir loss, so they readily turn their anger onto the living. They may have a chip on thir shoulder, so don't take it prsonally, turn the other cheek. And, like all Plutonian motional states, grief can be obsessive, so be prpared to hear the same painul thoughts and eelings over and over. Some people need to do tht in order to process and resole the conlicts and emotions. It is also

necessary

in

order to make the

deth real, as it is

so

incomprhn sible. Don't presnt psychological insights, metaphysical sophistry, or advice on what they should do with their l ives. They don't want to hear that Charlie was really roten, or that it was good he died so he wouldn't h ave to sufer any more. M aybe they will say those things, but they don't need to hear someone

else say them. just keep coming back to the act that they are sad and you are sorry they hu rt. That's all you can give them. And don 't assume they are over it or that thy are taking t well since they aren't talking about it any more, because there are hiatuses in mourning. They may go deply i nto t six months or a year later and really need someone to listen then. It's a process tht cannot be stopped without harm. It is their process and will be individual to them, depending on who thy lost and all the complexities of tht relationship, as well as what other losss thy've had. They do not need judgments on how that procss should go or when it should be over. Finally, what can you do or your loved ones who have died? They need your love and caring too, so you might tret them as you would a good riend who has moved away and is lonely. Talk to them mentally now and thn and tell thm you miss them. Say all the thi ngs you would hae said f you'd known that death would part you. Don't be surprised or fearul if they talk back or f you dream of them; that communication is atualy as riendly and n atural as any you h ad while they were alive. Don't be rustratd if you

don't get an answer, however, bcause the dead may go into a healing sleep or some part of the first year or wo. The plane the dead l ive on is a mental/emotional one, possibly a part of the astral plane, so thoughts are material there. Thus, I oten create lowers in my mind or my loved ones on that side. About nine months ater my ather died, I received a communication rom him that it was Dcoration Day and he wantd his grave decorted. That's how I knew it was authentic, rther than y own wishul thinking. At that point, all Memorial Day meant to me was picnics. It would not occur to me to call Memorial Day by the old-fashioned term of Decoration Day, but t certainly would be within the vocabulary and desire patern of an old timr like my ather. Since I was 1 50 miles away rom his grave and we had no family there, there was no way I could honor his wish, so I lovingly built a large bouquet of peonies in my mind and placed them on his grave. (That's what we did on Decoration Day in Iowa; we put peonies on the graves and then we watched the Legionnaires

and Girl Scouts honor the dead in a parade.) This action seemed to satisy my athr, and it felt nice to me, too.

s or your own loved ones, thy might like some of the old rituals and ind them comorting. I'm not Catholic, but I 've lit candles in churches or departed pople. They're really not so different from living people, or rom what they were like when they wre alive. ll they really need is to be remembered, just like any one else, so you could do something special tht thy liked and do it in their memory. Rmember that thy are astral, so it is literally the thought that counts. It's not so hard, really-it's just being a riend.

xamle: Dying with Dignity Desite It All Many of the psychological and astrological principles we have been discussing are illustrated by Chart 1 8, which belongs to a young man named Philip who died of Al DS. The illness was d iagnosed in April, 1 984, ive months beore Philip's death, when a bout of pneumonia had persisted or more than a month and kept getti ng worse. The illness had doubdessly been going on or some time, as there were strange and unexplaind skin conditions and other symptoms. Philip and his lover had moved to the you ng man's home town some wo years previously, and d octors there were not looking or AIDS, just as homosexuality.

people there were

not looking or

Ch art 1 8. Philip. He died rom Al DS on August 29, 1 984, and the transits or the day of his death have ben writen around the outer circle. Birth d ata or his natal chart is not available or reasons of confidntiality. Chart used by permission. When the bout of pneumonia began (April 9, 1 984) . Saturn in Scorpio had been sttionary or a while on his natal Saturn (the Saturn return). Neptune had ben crossing his ascendant or several years, which might indicate a progressive weakening of his rsistance, and was stationay nearly there t the time of his death. In his natal chart, Uranus sat on the cusp of his house of sc and death, and transiti ng Pluto had squard that seeral times, bing airly close at the time of deth. (N atal Pluto is i n the eighth house, so tht both in its i ntrinsic meaning and in its meaning in Philip's chart, t signiied

a death.) Uranus h ad been stationary or a week or so beore the death, making a very close square to Mars in the eighth house, and was on the horizon at the time of the death. While people can and do have many of thse transits without coming down with AIDS, the combination of those transits plus the strong natal emphasis on the eighth house shows the possibility of his death. I shared the last fie months of Philip's life via frequent phone calls. There was neer any remission, just a steady deterioration. The couple suffered a great deal of rjection and isoltion rom people in their circle who could not accept the implications of the illness. More love and practical assistance i n h i s arduous nursing care came rom comparative strangers, such a s people in an AIDS sup port group. Philip's amily began by denying the seriousness of the illness and hiding its true nature rom others. His brother and older sister nver once came to visit him in the hospital, and no one in the fa mily gave any emotional support or help with the medical problems. Throughout the terminal illness, vngeul and vindicative things were done to Philip's lover, who was a target or the parents' resentment because Philip was gay and dying in what they perceived as a scandalous ashion. : the u neral, the parents rfused to speak to Philip's lover and ordered others to do the same. They also arranged to have the elctricity turned of a day or two atr the u neral, since the account was in Philip's name. It was a deeply moving experience to see this couple working through the stages of dying with a high degre of consciousnss. Philip's lover had worked as a professional medium in England, and the two of them had previously studied Kabala, including those sections on death. Thus, Philip's lover was able to teach him what to c pect and to help him lovingly in various stages. They were also able to talk through and resolve various dificulties that h ad existd in the relationship, so that the atmosphere was one of loe.

s Philip died, his lover sw the Angel of Death, a towering bing of light, not a rightening but a benign presence. One of his students in a psychic

awareness class also saw the angl in a dream, and, in addition, rceived clear and specc messages rom Philip, involving things ony the two men knew about. In the wek ater the death, on August 29, 1 984, numbers of people, including myself, had experiences of his continuing presence i n spirit. Despite the tragic circumstances Philip a n d h i s lovr, a n d evryone who remained close to them, grew rom the experience. To die with such consciousness is rare at this point, yet Pluto in Sco rpio should be an era when more and more awareness, i normation, and healing are available to the dying and bereavd.

I ndicaions of Mdiumisic bilities Mediumistic abilities take several orms. Some people h ave the ability to perceive or communicate with people who h ave died. Many people d ream about having conversations with their loved ones who hae d ied. Some people eel the physical sensations of the disease the person d ied from, and this is oten a signal the person is around and wants to communicate. Other people, rathr than communicating with people they know who have died, communicate with spirit guids. This happens quite naturally, yet oten without conscious wareness, as in writing that is inspird. This latr orm of medium-ship is extremey common, yet not rcognized by a majority of people who are helped by their guides. In our culture, many po ple are mediumistic without knowing it because the church does not rcognize life atr death and rincarnation as well as it did in the early d ays of Christian ity. Many world religions recognie the truth of survival

ater death

and

provide strutures

and

rituals enhancing

communication. The Spiritualist Church, or instance, began i n the U n ited Sttes in 1848 during the Pluto/ Uranus conjunction in Aries, signiying a powerful and exciting exploration. This initiated a period when seances, loating trum pets which spirits spoke through, and spirit mterializations were common. Although some of these manifestations were genuine, they were exhausting or the medium to sustain, so the moement was gretly

hurt by fraudulent practices. For the most part, it dwindled in the U nited Sttes, yt survives in England. English mediums, inluenced by the scientiic i nvestigations of the British Society or Psychical Research, are well-trained and rigorous in their search or evidence of survival. They will not accept a vague statment which anyone could wist to hae the desired meaning, but instead insist on concrete, veriiable evidence. Spiritualism

also is strong i n the Latin American

countries, in a much more emotional orm and with admixtures of practices and rituals of earlier native and African religions. The astrological indictions of mediumistic abilities h ave to do with a prominent Pluto, Scorpio, or the eighth house. This is in contrast to a prominent Neptune, which is more akin to clairvoyance. I 've included example charts of two of England's oremost mediums, Andreas Vasilou and Mrs. Jesse Mason. As you will see, Andreas Vasilou (Chart 1 9 on page 14) has a strong Pluto i n the sxth house. Mrs. Mason (Chart 0 on page 14 ) has Pluto culminti ng, in the most powrful spot according to the Gauguelin research . It is conjunct both the Midheaven and her Sun. The prson who becoms a proessional medium would be likely to hae Pluto or Scorpio i n the sixth o r tenth, probably near an angle.

Ch art 19. And reas Vasilou, one of Europe's most amous mediums. Born Famagusta, Cyprus, February 9, 1943, at approximately 6:0 AM, tropical, Placidus. Birth was supplied to me by Vasilou; chart used by permission. All people with Pluto prominent in their charts, however, would tend to have mediumistic abilities, whther they are conscious of having the ability or not. In act, mediumistic tendncies may be one reason Plutonians tend to withdraw from society. Whether you develop your git or not, it would help to be i normed about what to xpect and how to shield and ground yourself psychically, since any time you are around death you might experince the emotions or symptoms of the deceased or the survivors without bing consciously aware of what is happning to you. It is im portant to recognize

when departd people may be trying to communicate or when their emotional state may be inluencing you psychicaly, so that you can both shield yourself and know what to do or them. An excellent book on the subject is j oey Crinita's The Mdium och, l isted in the bibliography.

Ch art 20. Mrs. Jesse Mason, a well-known medium in England or many years. Born London, England (5 1 N 3 1 , OW06), July I, 1 91 4, at noon. Data supplied to me by Mrs. Mason; chan used by permission. Mrs. Mason has since died, in December, 1984.

Mdiumship as a Healing Tool . indicated t the beginning of this chapter, I am a medium, yet I only use this git when absolutey necessary. Rcenty, it has become clear tht mdiumship is a orm of healing. Somtimes, when a loss has been extrmely traumatic or diicult to accept, mdium-ship is the only healing tool that will resolve the diiculty. Knowing that a loved one has survived beyond death can be prooundly comoiling, or many people el evn more desolate when they think there is only "nothingness" terward or the person thy miss so much.

Ch art 21. Linda. Born Encino, Caliornia, February 14, 1 957, 6:55 M PST, tropical, Placidus. Chart u sed by permission. In order to beter understand mediumship's healing properties and its many connections to the planet Pluto, let's look at a case example. Linda was a 25-year-old recovering alcoholic and drug abuser who belonged to my healing group. She came or an i ndividual healing session because of her identiication with a much-loved aunt who committed suicide our years earlier at a young age.

Linda

had felt no love coming rom

her

alcohol-addicted parents or rom her peers, so this aunt was one of the w people to whom she felt close. A near-atal suicide attempt of her own at age 1 9 brought Linda into drug and alcohol treatment programs, and she has remained ree of these substances since then. She works very hard at her recovery through the Anonymous programs, individual psychotherapy, and service to other addicts. Nonthelss, she continued to have suicidal dsires and a deep conviction she would die as her aunt did. Linda's chart is shown as Chart 21 . She is extremely Plutonian , a pattern rather common to children of alcoholics. Pluto is

precisely on the

Descendant, orming a conjunction to her M oon and an opposition to her Aquarius Sun and Ascendant. People with Aquarian plants opposite Pluto are more fixedly and self-dstructively rebellious than the average Aquarian, i n tht they are determined n o o n e will control them the way their parnts atemptd to. Neptune in Scorpio, is in the ighth-a somewhat suicidal placement. This combination suggests the use of drugs as an i nstrument to tempt death, and also that death would be perceied as an escape. Uranus square Neptune is similar to the quarius/Pluto theme of rebelling at the expense of self. Ater studying hr chart, I felt that her suicidal antasies were somthing to be con cerned about, as it bespeas a desolate, Plutonian isoltion. We decided to work on Linda's identiication with the aunt who commited suicide. In this case, I had no hesitation about acting as a medium, or the need was quite a valid one. I also suspected that exposure to the atrmath of

suicide would dissuade Linda rom acting on her own antasies about death. We drew an imaginary circle of protection around us, and I went i nto trance. In the circle, the presence of the aunt, as well

s

her dep sorrow and

remorse, were quite palpable. Linda herself was ully able to perceive her aunt's feelings. (Linda's strong Pluto indicates she had

undeveloped

md iumistic abilities of her own.) We learned that the aunt's suicide was or a totally difrent reason than Linda's atempts; they were wo entirely separte issues. Linda was gay and had opted out of the traditional female role. The aunt had married only to conorm to convention; she nevr wanted to be a mother, but she h ad no conception of any options. When a child was born to her, hr rage at the i nant's dmands and at being trapped in this role became oerpowri ng. She inally killed herself on impulse to aoid killing the infan t. Even though her death had occurred our years earlier, it was clear that this deceased woman continued to sufr deply with remorse. She was still tied closely to the earth plane, and part of Linda's sufering and suicidal preoccupation may well have been due to perciving hr aunt's condition mdiumistically. Being a aithful Catholic and thus een more guilt-ridden because of the church's prohibition on suicide, the aunt requested that Linda go to a church and light a candle on her behalf. Linda, herself a lapsed Catholic, did this and ound it comorting. (The reader should not conclude tht this kind of prolonged sufering n cessarily happns to all suicides-it may well be difernt or others.) lthough this session was deinitely a "heavy," Linda was less upset by it than the average person would be, since Pluto nians do not linch t confronting hard things. It produced stron g healing results. Through what we learned, Linda could separate rom her identiication with her aunt. More important to the healing process, she could see that suicide did not enable you to scape from an unhappy phase of your life, or she learned that it ixated you there or a longer period. Suicide ceased to be an option or her. Linda's life has been changed by her courage, or she not only aced up to

her grief, but she also gained knowldge of her i nherent mediumistic abilities. lthough we cannot be sure of the ultimate efects of our session on Linda's aunt, many mediums call this kind of contact "rescue work," or letti ng the aunt tll her story fred her so she could let go of guilt and bgin to adapt more ully to her new con dition. The ritual of confessing the guilty secret is a valid Plutonian healing, no matr which plane you happen to inhabit at the moment. S pirits can have a diicult time letting go of the earth plane when thir death has a particularly Plutonian quality, such as suicide, murder, betrayal, or having a guilty secret. In such cases, their turmoil can be troublsome to survivors who have mediumistic tendencies, however untrained. I ntervention by a traind medium can help release them.

Healing Tools or Grief Work The best healing or mourning is mourning; there is no substitute fo r activey conronting your feelings about the loss. Seeing out memories, personal belongings, or avorite songs will bring on the pain, and it is important to let yourself have the grif. Others may say you should try to orget, shouldn't wallow in it, or that you are being morbid, but they are not mourni ng, or perhaps they can't conront their own eelings. Mourning takes time; there is no way to ast oward through it, so have patience with yourself. The bibliography or this chapter lists a number of books. These may be be extrmely helpul, but keep in mind that you may not be able to read them all at once. Since people in this culture tend to isolate those who grieve, it is a gret comort to read books by others who know exactly how you el, to know that you are not alone in your i ntense and sometims inxplicable reactions. The books about life ater death and reincarnation can also be very comorting, even if you already believe in them, because now is a time when the inner, you nger you neds the solace of that reminder. Flower remedies that would be helpful in the procss were mentioned

earlier. Eucalyptus is a specic or grief, as is Helleborus and Hyssop (all available rom Pegasus). You would want to check which ones would be right or you by a pendulum or muscle relex test. Bleeding Heart (from Caliornia Flower Essnces) is or releasing painul emotional atachments. The healing crisis or Bleding Heart can be quite painul, so stop if too much pain coms up. If guilt and rsentment are part of the picture, the amiliar Bach remedies Pine and Willow are crucial. If the person who died is someone you had very negative feli ngs toward-such as a Pluto nian parent-then see if Holly is indicated. The Bach remedy Honeysuckle, or nostalgia and letti ng go of the past, may be indicated t some point, yet part of the healing process i nvolves reliving the past you shared with the person. If guilt, resentment, or diiculty in leting go are part of the grief you need to work on, ollow the exercises in Chaptr Four. The xercise in Ch apter Three on opning the heart center would help heal the heart wound rom your loss. Healing the heart center is a ind and loving thing to do or yourself, because it cleanses the grief and prepares you or loving people around you and receiving their oe in return. It is a way out of the isoltion tht comes with mourning.

AFFI RMATIONS FOR GRIEF I have the strength to grieve a s much a s I need. I am surroundd by loving people who undrstand y loss. The love th.___ and I have continues beyond d eath. Both___ and I are surrounded by love and higher guidance as we work to accept our separation. I blss and releas---to his/hr h igher good. just a.___ 's life contributed to y growth so does his/her death.

My grief tran sforms me and gives y life new meaning.

A CHANT FOR MOU RN I NG If you are having trouble bringing mourning up to the surface, there is a chant that would help. It is the chant or Pluto, part of a system of channeled chants or the planets. The chant or Pluto is unique i n that it is only u sed fo r � mourni ng, not or the other meanings of the plant. The best way to use it would be to do the chant or the Sun, to get centered, the chant or the Earth , to establish a protective boundary arou nd yourself, and then the chant or Pluto. o not worry about geting the sounds right. They are spelled ph onetically, and if you sing them from the heart, you can't sing them wrong. First, use some of the meditative devices we have already described to gt down i nto a deep state of consciousness. You might want to do this in front of a candle, asking your Higher Self or help i n working through the grief.

The Sun Chant: OH H AY YAH OH H AY YAH OH H AY YAH OH H AY YAH OH.

The Eath/Moon: SI I D R IAH S I IDRIAH S I I D R IAH

SI IDRIAH N EH HEH M H ST. lo: Tl YAH Tl YAH Tl YAH Tl YAH OH. If you el strange about chanting, you aren't alone. I was reluctant and sel-conscious about these chants i n the beginning, yet the sounds seem to reverberate to important places in your brain and energy body. The Pluto chant seems to prci pitate stored up grie. even grief that's ben stored or a long while. You do not have to do them out loud or them to have an efect.

Can We-and Should W-Predict Death strologically? A qustion that is perennially debated among astrologers is whether we should prd ict death. The modrn consensus seems to be that we should not-it is somewhat of a taboo among astrologers to do so. When clints ask, we generally duck the question by saying that we are not ortune tellers and that this is not the sort of thing that astrology predicts well. We may also give them a song and dance about how Pluto means both death and healing, so a Pluto transit could as easily mean a healing. Thre is also the fear of the self-fulilling prophecy, that if we did predict death, we might undercut the person's will to live. When push comes to shove, the ordinary Western astrologer dos n ot, i n

act, have the technology to predict d eath with any precision. Yet, astrologers of other traditions can and do prd ict death with a high degree of accuracy. Michael Lutin tlls the story of the man rom I ndia who came to him or a reading. The client began the session by saying, " I n I ndia, we go to an astrologer or three pieces of i normation. We want to know the date of the child's birth, the date of marriage, and the date of death. I already know my date of birth. I already know my date of marriage. So can you imagine why I am hre?" Hindu astrologers are noted or great accuracy with prediction, and although we Americans eagerly adopt anything else that works, we do not adopt thse predictive techniques, and in act rown on prd ictive astrology. I suspect that this has to do with our culture and its values. We ardently wish to blieve in fre will, oten in the ace of evidence that human beings u nction like automatons in most of their ations. Most espcially, people i n o u r culture d o not wish to face up t o death-we deny it will ver happen to us or anyone we love, and we bury our heads in the sand. We have dificulty discussing it with terminally ill people and in general consider it a taboo topic. It is no wonder, then, that American astrologrs shrink rom predicting death. We wish to shild our clints from bad news and we ourselvs do not like to contemplte death, evn t this remove. Howeer, the work of Elisabeth Kubler·Ross has shown that tlling the truth to a terminally ill patient who is actively seeing the inormation can help them begin to work through im portant unresolved issues and settle their afairs. If an astrologer were able to predict death with some degre of accuracy, could that not also be a srvice to the client who is asking f somone they love is dying? For me, an important purpose was sered by having astrological confirmation of the medical probability that y mother was dying (Pluto was opposing my Moon). This nowledge of approximate timing hel ped me gt to work on issues in our relationship-Plutonian ones such as guilt and resntment-so that when my mother actually did die, it was not as devastati ng as it could have been if I hadn't actively worked these

issues through. The question of predicting, or not predicting, death is a com plex one, yet I believe such predictions can be helpul t times. We astrologers need to be aware that our prohibition on orecasting death may arise more out of our own diiculties in facing and accepting death, and rom discomort in giving a client potentially upsetting inormatio n, than rom a genuine understanding of some clients' neds to know and ace the truth. For example, let's suppose you have a client who has the Sun and Moon i n Cancer i n the seenth, suggesting that the parents would be the primary love relationship. Further, suppose the client (at age thirty-ive) still l ives with the parents, who are in thir seentis and not in good health. You note tht transiti ng Pluto and Saturn will conjunct the Mid heaven and square tht Cancer Sun and Moon within the year. The probability that one or both parents would die is quite strong, and you imagine tht the client's loss would be emotionaly devastating. Would it not be advisable to gently question the client to see how prepared he or she might be or such a possible event? While I might not make a precise and emphatic statement-I could, ater all, be wro ng-I might still tell the client that there was a possibility of losing a parent with in the next year or two and it might be time to think about how it would be to lie alone. A discussion of this nature is bound to be extremely upsetting to the client, so you would need to be very gentle and tentative in the prediction. Yet, f the client can't face thinking about it, you can imagine how shocking it would be whn the parents' dmise became a reality. Sometimes I say that I can't be entirely certain, but nonetheless the time will ultimtey come when the parents will die, so it is best to begin considering it. By speaing now, I have planted the seed, providing a orum or speaing the unspeakable, and the client is becoming a litle more prepard or the inevitable. Would it not be cowardly on the astrologer's part to see such a set-up and not raise the issue i n some way?

Moving Right long. . . Maybe this is what they mean by a lingeri ng deth. Death is an endless topic, and i n this long chapter, we've only skimmed the surace. We haven't space or such Plutonian kinds of death as suicide, murdr, or cancer, but the negative Plutonian energy released in such circumstances can be considerable. For those who have become interested bcause of this discussion, or or those with a sad, personal need to know, the books in the bibliography about deth, grief, and life ater d eath will be the source of much i normation . If you don't succeed in inding them, look up grief in the card catalog in the public library, or there will be other books available. When you are coping with the death of a loved one, it's best not to do it alone, but to read what others who know about the process have to tll you. That should do much to ofset all the public pressure to cut of your eelings. Best of all would be a bereavemnt group to provide support and understan ding. Similarly, grif over other kinds of losses, like the end of a marriage or the loss of a breast, can be anguish to go through, so some of the books can give you an awareness of the grief process.

Books bout Gif Brothrs, Dr. Joyce. "How We Face Sorrow and Grief," od Huekepig, January, 1 971 p. 33. Somtimes pop psychology has its points. If you were only going to read one thing about grief, this would do. Your local library may have this in a bound volume of magzines.

Caine, Lynne. Wiow, Bantam, N.Y., 1975. The story of a young mother's irst year of widowhood, articulately written about the stages and dificu lties she went through. Very well done, and there is a sequel showing her urther adjustments.

Kreis, Bernadise, and Alice Pattie. Up From Grief Pattens of Rvety, Seabury Press, N .Y., 1969. A loving guide to recoveri ng rom grie, writen by two widows who have worked with many other breaved po ple. (Check your local library.)

Shephrd, Marti n, M D. Someone You Love Is Dyig. Charter Communications, N.Y., 1969. A guide book or fa mily members of the terminally UI and or the bereaved. Psychological and practical considerations of the mourning period. (Check the library.)

Books About ying and Life Ater Death Crinita, joey. The Medium Twch: A New Approah o Mediumship. The Donning Company, Norolk, VA, 1 982. One of the w modern how-to books on md iumship, i ntresting and wll-writen by a solidly-grounded medium. (Order rom publisher, 5659 Virgi nia Beach Blvd., Norolk, VA, 2302)

Ebon, Marti n. Dath ad Life Ar eath. Signet Books, N.Y., 1 977. Also wrote e Evience for Lfe aer Dath (same publisher). Two popular lvel paperbacks reviewing numerous cases and studies about life ater death. A chapter on

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's expriences with mediumship and

survival. Kubler-Ross,

Elisabeth. On

Dath and Dyin. Macmillan, N.Y., 1 969.

Pioneering work on the stages dying people and their loved ones go through in prparing or death and in mourning. She now accepts survival past death as a fat. Author of several books on dying and ounder of Shanti Nilaya, a project or the terminally ill and their amilis. You can write to them t Box 2396, Escondido, A 92025.

Moody, Raymond. Lfe Aer Ufe. Bantam Books, N .Y., 1 980. A careul research study interviewi ng 1 0 people who died and were brought back to life, showing a remarkable consistency in their experiencs. Further research and additional topics such as suicide are considerd in his sequel, Relectios

on Ufe Aer Life, Bantam Books, N.Y., 1977.

Ossis, Karlis and Haraldsson Erlender. Ai the Hour of Dath. Avon Books, N.Y., 1972. Rsearch i nto the dethbed expriences of over 1 5,00 doctors and nurss, with 35,00 dying patients. Interviews with 1 0 people who came back rom near-death experiences.

Boks Aout Reincarnation Crimara, Gina. Many Mansios. N AL, N .Y., 1972, and e World Within. Morrow, N.Y., 1 957. Two ccllent and readable boos based on the work of Edgar Cayce, deining the principles of rincarnation and giving numerous case camples of how past lives afect this one.

Mongo mery, Ruth. A World Beyod. Fawcet Books, N.Y., 1971 . Author of numerous books on life ater death and the spiritual planes. I n this one, the spirit guide is Arthur Ford, a medium and an alcoholic during his lifetime whose work is discu ssed in the next chapter. The story of his addiction and its efets on his lie ater death are told in Mo ngomery's book.

Steiger, Brad and Loring Williams. Other Lives. H wthorn Books, Inc., N .Y., 1 969. Really nice or people who have just lost someone. D

oerk Gill, Quest: e Life of Eliabeth Kuber-Ross, H arper& Row, NY,

1 980, p. 378. � As rported in the article, "Grie. Young Spouse's Death Brings Lasting

Sorrow," USA ay, January 8, 194, p. 1 . 2

1normtion about the whole series i s available o n tape and booklet

entitled A Soar Sysem of Hilig Callis, by Donna Cunningham and Andrew Ramer. Ordr rom RKM Publishing, ox 2342, Euclid, OH, 4 1 23. Retail price $9.95 plus $1.0 or postage and handling.

CHAPTER SEVEN Transits: If This Is Transormation, Why Dos It H ut So Much? This chapter might be regarded as a survival manual or Pluto transits, because we will not only discuss the diiculties and where thy come rom but also some healing suggestions. You may ind that practically every Pluto nian character trait, issue, and emotion will arise in the course of a Pluto transit to a given area of your life. When you h ave a Pluto aspect to a natal planet or angle by transit, you temporarily behave as though you had tht aspect in your birth chart. You may find yourself obsessed with the past, resentful, brooding, deply mournul, or withdrawn. Events i nvolving basic eighth house issues like money, death, sex, and birth may come up. You may ind power struggles going on in that area of life, where you are now suddenly surrounded by Scorpios. Oh, yes, there may ery well be a transormation-what choice do you have? The purpose of this chapter is to help you understand what is going on and find ways of working with the energy of the transit rather than agai nst it. This is a process, as Pluto passes back and orth, direct, retrograde, and direct over an area You can't judge what the result of the tran sit will be by its irst crossing, which is sometimes the most i ntense. You judge it by its inal results, wo or three years down the line. People who are sensitive and aware may vry well eel the transit three to ive degrees i n advance, on a more subtle level. Oten when clients come or a reading, you see that Pluto is wo degres away so you say, "This summer you may be eeling x, y, and z. "

They conound you by saying, "1 've already been working on that or two

years." Plutonians who are progressing toward growth oten say this, or they are i ntrospective and insightful, seming to sense in advance the direction thy are heading.

"Thre's Got o e

a

Pony omewhre"

lthough a metaphysical approach can be quite valuable, metaphysics itself seemed to become exaggerated, unrealistic, and ungrounded in the last days of Neptune in Sagitarius. I have grown particularly im patient with what I call ''Wo nderbread Metaphysicians," those who have absorbed enough of the pop "Powr of Positie Thinking" hype to tll you that there are no bad transits, just challnges and opportunities or growth . Congrtulations, you're having a Pluto transit, and this means you're going to totally transorm that part of your life. This approach reminds me of the story of the optimist who goes to hell and inds himself up to his shou lders in manure. Delightdly, he d ives i n a n d starts wimming around. The pessimist stops h i m to ask why he's so happy, and the optimist says, ''With all this manure, there's got to be a pony somwhre!" The client who gets a reading only stressing the upbeat, transormational aspects of a Pluto transit may wind up eeling he is doing something totally wrong,

because

the way he's

feeling

doesn't

match

the

positive,

growth-oriented exprience the astrologer said he was goi ng to h ave. Wondrbread mtaphysicians don't tll you that sometimes during tht Pluto transit it may el like you're geting a bone marrow transplant without anesthesia. They don't mention tht you are probably going to ind yourself obsessed with people and events rom the past tht you hoped you'd never have to think of again. You could find yourself mourning someone who let you ten years ago and n raged over what your irst boss did ags ago. They don't say that you may wind up alienated rom those you love most bcause thy don't understand why you can't let go of these thi ngs they eel have no relevance to the present. There my be a pony somewhere, but during a Pluto transit, you have to move layers and layers of manure to get to it. Part of the problem is the manure-most of us create a lot of it in order to hide from our emotions. A Pluto transit means you can't hide any more, but now you h ave all those accumulated layers of man ure to deal with. You dig through the painul past

in the area where you are geting a Pluto transit, purging the eelings you never faced. The drdging up, the obsessive reiteration of what happened, and the catharsis of emotions about long finished events are actually necessary to the healing, but it's no fu n to do and no fu n or anyone lse to be around. Very oten, under a Pluto transit, current events or conditions will mirror somthing in the past and bring up all the eelings that didn't get handled thn. In coping with what is going on today, you also have to work through tht other era in order to stop repeati ng the paterns. Someti ms the only way to get over the pattern is to go into it i ntensly-geting an overdose of it. You meet the u ltimate abusive lover, you get i nto a near-catastrophic power struggle at work, or make the u ltimate mistake in that area of your life where Pluto is transiting. You do tat thig one more time, in such a way and with such intensity that you finally become aware that it cannot go on any longer. And out of the pain which ollows, you begin to do someth ing to change it. No, not everyone has to go this ar into self-defeating behavior during a Pluto transit. For i nstance, a trine by tran sit is usually easir to integrate. Even with squares and oppositions, howver, self-aware people begin working things through beore going to the extreme. You will get along a lot btter with the U n iverse if you can take a hint, learning a lesson from a small problem, rather than persisting and gtting into a larger one. A chart reading done by a humanistic astrologer can orewarn you that work is nedd i n this area of your life if you wish to avoid diiculty. A well-grounded metaphysical approach can help you se how you are creating your problems and how you can use this opportunity to transorm old unwanted patterns. The tools and suggestions or various transits can speed up the release of old emotions which have kpt you stuck. Healing and therapeutic work can have a powerul impact during a Pluto transit. Your chart can show where the work would have the gretest possible effect.

What in the Wold Is Transormation?

People talk so much about transormation, yet it remains som-what of an undefind term. Asked whether change and transformation are the same, a character in one of the Star Trek n ovls replis,

"No, change is a

one-dimensional altration, altration of orm alone-say smashing a rock with a hammer and breaking it. Transormation is wo-dimensional alteration, � alteration of substance-turning a non-living rock i nto a live lower." In contmplating transormtion, are we s o ready to turn rom rocks into lowers? Or are we just becoming crushed rocks, beten down by blow ater blow? Health comes rom willingness to give u p the state of bing a rock, solid but un reachable. Pluto represents the rebirth process, the complete makeover we do when we reach our own personal bottom in some area of our lies. It marks those do-or-die periods when we say nvermore to deply destructive patrn s of behavior. We've had plenty of pain, but even pain we don't give up without a ight, so we hang on tightly, even as we struggle to let go. We continue to bang our head agai nst the wall, all the while saying, "I've had enough!" U lti mately, in the process of this two-year transit, we do stop the head banging and get on with life. We are never the same, because we've pu rged ourselves of behavior paterns and emotio ns that have ham pered us all our lives. Some of us learn vry, ery hard in crtain areas of our livs. We may need repeated transits to that area of the chart, rpeated events to get us to give up that painfu l pattern of behavior. When I see someone who's had transit ater transit to Vnus, or i nstance, a kind of siege oer a priod of time, then I get the eeling some higher part of that person's self is tryi ng to break down defenses against relati ng. The Pluto transit is the point at which change mut occur; Pluto says, "It's time."

Why Does It Hut So Much? Alan Wats said, "o resist change, t o y t o cling to life, i s like holding your breath; if you persist, you kill yourself."Z The question of why

transormation hurts so much gos back to the old distinction beween the personality level and the spiritual level. On the prson ality level, the Pluto transit may be hll to go through. On the soul levl, it may be the bst thing tht's ver hap pened to you. We need to learn to se with our inner yes, not the outer. There is a purpose or the pain, but ou r range of vision is very limited, especially when we are immersed in the problem. The world of appearances judges thse transits and finds them bad because they hurt. We sufer from spiritual and emotional myopia, not being able to see far enough to grasp the reason or the pain or what transition it is bringing. We are heading toward health but we don't recognize the turning around. It's like having an operation; we are cutti ng out some d iseased part of the body that has been draining our health. Right ater the operation it hurts like anything, but the body is already beginning to heal. That's what Pluto is like. I've noticed that a healing oten comes when we sing "The Never Song." By that, I mean we reach a point of total despair ovr some long-stuck patern and we say, "I'll NEVER be any btter in this area of life. I give up." When we come to eel things will NEVER change, beore you know it somthing happens, someth ing has changed, and somehow we are geting beter. Most likely, because we give up our eforts to control the situation and admit we're licked, we finally accept that it is out of our control, and it would take a miracle to resolve the situation. There is something i n the state of total defeat which stimulates the thining that helps us get past it. When we inally admit dfeat, we are bottoming out on the u ndesirable patern, like the painful bottoming out the alcoholic goes through beore being able to give up alcohol. And like the alcoholic, we have to realize we are powerless ovr tht con dition i n our l ives, and we hae to turn it over to a powr greatr than ourselvs. Thus both Pluto and Neptune transits put us i n touch with lvels of bein gbeyon d the human personality. As Edward G loggler once said, 'When a man reaches the end of his rope, he comes to the bginning of God." Much of the pain with transits is reletion not cause, not punishment but

correction. It is consquence; consequence means ollowing along with. That is, it ollows along with some behavior we are engaged in which draws pain to us. We are stuck, and the Pluto transit is woring to get us unstuck, but we don't want to give the behavior up. We want to hold on to tht old patern which is killing us-maybe not literally, but sometimes with Pluto it is tht desperate. When we are stuck and reuse to budge, the Pluto transit is like having a tooth pulled without a sd tive, including i ntrnal turmoil and outside confrontations. Much of what's painul out there is a mirror of what's in here, and we hate to face up to what's inside that's creati ng our problems. As one of my alcoholic students said, "Nobody wants to read the handwriti ng on the wall unless their back is up against it." U nder Pluto, your back is defin itely up against it, you are orced to read the handwriti ng on the wall-and it ain't a an letter! Pluto transits are a time of conrontation of lasr beam clarity. In one of the Seth books by Jane Robrts, Sth says, "All illnss is an atmpt to escape rom the truth." Pluto makes you se the truth, and that's part of why it hurts. The truth shall set you fre-but first it will make you miserable. Yet seeing the truth and letti ng your actions be guided by it are part of the healing. Much of the pain we eel is caused by our own anger at not geting our way. We are slf.willed and want what we want whn we want it. We believe we now what is good or us. Many times we're in pain over not geting somthing that would h ave been devastati ng if it had come out the way we wanted. Some people become embitered over not gtting their way or not having control. I have developed a chant to help me avoid trying to orce things to come out the way I want rather than what is good or me. "Thy will not my will be done, Oh Lord." It hlps with my willulness and rustration over not geting my way. The Serenity Prayer is also useul with Pluto transits: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot chan ge, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difrence."

The Concept of Therapeutic Isolation Pluto transits may bring periods of what I call therapeutic isolation. In our grgarious cultu re, people who go of by themselves are considered weird and antisocial, but very otn in a Pluto transit, solitude is the very thing that heals. It gies us a chance not to unction in that old patern, which we are now experiencing as intolerable. We d cide we aren't going to do that any more, but we don't know what else to do, so we retreat. It gives us a chance to process how to behave d iferently, which we will do by the end of the transit. s Dr. Thodore Isaac Rubin says, "If one is sick and must withdraw, thn withdrawal is not sick but healthy. o withdraw may e a sign of feeling very badly, but the withdrawal itself is only an atempt to cope with the bad � eelings and to gather strength so as to be able to emrge." Time alone is especially helpful with symbiotic relationships. Particularly when someone couldn't stand to be alone and thus got into all kinds of wisted interations i nvolvi ng control and

power struggles, therapeutic

isoltion is im porant. People can experience that they are okay alone; they won't die if they don't have someone around all the time. If they don't have a relationship or a period of time during the Pluto transit, it is pai nfully lonely at first, but they get a new experience of thir capacity to survie, which changs their relationships prooundly. Relationships are no longer so "life and death," but can be based on loving companionship. The lesson learned during this time is, "If I can get along without you, I have a much better chance of getti ng along with you." Considering isolation from another angle, misry doesn't always love company-sometimes it hates it. There are times when it's so painul to be with othrs and to suffer their lack of understanding (worst of all, their deep down indifference), that you need to be alone and lick your wounds. You may drive people way, almost on purpose, with your anger and intensity in order to be alone, bcause being alone is the only way you can d vote suicient atention to your own heali ng, without h aving to considr the needs of others.

During

Plutonian

times-d uring

the

more

powerul

life

periods-withdrawal rom socity was once regarded as normal and expected. For in stance, the bereaved were excused from obligations. They were expected to be apart from society or a year ter the death of a lovd one. Traditionally, women were considered in their "coninement" period or orty days ater giving birth and were not to go out or see too many people. The mrit of this was not only or physical healing, but to allow time or the needed bonding beween mother and inant to deelop. I n many tribs, women were also isolated togethr when menstruating, or reasons less to do with their "u ncleanness" than with their need or rest and their enhanced psychic openness at that time. We now consider these times of thrapeutic isolation archaic and unliberated, yet each had an important healing purpose. When we do not give ourselves time to rgenerate and to process nw stages of life, resentmnt and grief can build up to toxic levels. Pluto is part of everyone's chart, and thus, in order to transorm our dificultis, we all need solitude to think things through. Time alone can gie us guidance rom our Highr Selvs, and we don't always take time to receive this guidance in the course of our hectic l ives. In the old days, we had retreats and monasteris. Today the average person has nothing like that and litle awareness of the need or it. Today we h ave cancer. If clients complain of wanting to be a recluse or a particular period of time, tell them that's not a problem, that's a solution. If you ocus on past paterns during the reading, you can help your client make sense of this u rge to solitude, so disapproved of i n our cultu re. Plutonian po ple, on the other hand, may ordinarily have a need to be alone much of the time, and somtimes a Pluto tran sit will change this patern of solitude and make it possible or thm to be more comortable i n the company of others hereater.

luto Transits, Power, and Empowerment n issue that oten comes up during Pluto transits is power and how we

use t. Most of us are araid of power, and justly so, as very w of us know how to use t constructively. If someone has been misusing power-giving it away i n a symbiotic relationship o r taking too much of it from someone els-then the Pluto tran sit is oten the time the balance of powr has to get turned around. Power struggls can result, with Plutonian manipulations and striking back-the worm turns. Sometimes we want revenge or the way the person we've given ou r power to has been treati ng us. We aren't taking responsibility or the act that they couldn't have done those things if we'd owned ou r own power. Nonethless, po ple who are having an important Pluto transit oten experience an increase in power, so part of the diiculty is learning how to handle it. When Pluto is transiting the Midheaven, or i nstance, power is i nvolvd with the career. Sometimes thre is the transormtie deth of a signiicant parent igu re. I once did the chart of a Freudian analyst, and seeing a recent M idheaven aspect by Pluto, I askd if somone close to her had died. She replid that Anna Freud had rcently died, who was both her mntor and the leader of the psychoanalytic profssion. While she flt grie, she nonetheless now felt free to develop her own work along lines she could not have while Anna was alive. Sometimes the Pluto tran sit ushers in a prsonal transormational experience, and by taking a workshop or doing some other kind of therapy, people experince thir own power in a nw and wondrful way. People i nvolvd in est, or i nstance, oten talk about empowerment, which means releasing yourself (or others) rom barriers to self-exprssion to become as powerful as you can possibly be. "How do you do that?" I 'm sure you're asking. While all the tools discussd here can help, if I had the healing tools or that speciic need, I'd probaby do workshops on power, not write about it! I suspect that t takes the power of a group to help us get on with empowerment. Thre are so many anti-empowrment orces in our society, so much countr-conditioning, especially or women, that we may need on-going encouragement to counteract them. The whole issue of power is

such a diicult one tht we actually need permission to explore and develop it in our present society.

luo and the rgnany Trap There is no such thing as an accidental pregnancy. Tht was the conclusion I reached ater ive years of social work in matrnity clin ics. Single or marrid, most women who "got caught" did it accidentally on purpose. Oh, they might not have ben consciously ware of doing it, but or most of thm, the pregnancy served a very useul purpose. Astrologically, pregnancy and rproduction are ruled by Pluto, and many pregnancies do occur under crucial Pluto transits connected with the angles, the Moon, or planets i n the ith or eighth house. Pluto also ruls hidden motivations, mani pulation, revenge,

power

struggles,

subtle

efforts

to

control

others,

and

possessiveness. With many of the women with "unwanted pregnancies," one or more of these Plutonian motives seemd to apply. Since awareness of such motivations would defeat the purpose of the prgnancy, the women gnrally repressed them and consciously only felt upset about being pregnant. Revenge against the mother, the husband, or someone else is a requnt motivation. In one case, a mildly retarded young women livd under the domination of an older sister who constanty put her down and did not allow her to function anywhere near her capacity as an adult or as a woman. The sister, a devout Catholic with many children, had to have a hysterectomy. Several months later, my patient became pregn ant. This was a neatly chosen revenge-sayi ng, in efect, "You'e never allowd me to be a woman; well now you're not a woman any more and I'm showing you that I am!" (Not all thse feli ngs were unconscious.) She h id the pregnancy or our months, almost managing to wait until it was too late, but the sister did ind out, and ater much rligious conlict orced her to h ave an abortion. My patient gave the fetus her sister's name. Isn't it remarkable how Pluto nian the situation is? It became Plutonian in a

positive wy, too, bcause through our work together, she was accepted into a vocational rehabilitation program and evntually got a job and her own apartment, and the last I heard of her, she was marrid. As drastic as her pregnancy was, it did sere the purpose of ending her sistr's sufocatin g domination a n d o f beginning a life o f her own. Another element in this situation is the Pluto nian trait of on-upmanship. oten saw this in prgnancies that spread through families. One notable example i nvolved three unmarried teenage sisters who become pregnant within months of each other. It seemd like the scond was jealous of the atention showered on the irst when she became pregnant, so she decidd to ollow suit. The third couldn't stand the atntion the irst wo were getting, so she joined the movement. Finally, not to be outdone by her daughters, the mother (wh o was also un married) became pregn ant too. Naturally, none of thm were conscious of the com petitive side of the situation, but it was quite clear to those who workd in the clinic. Pregnancy can also be a way of gaining control of a situation. I observed many married womn who got pregnant just as they were being pressured to go to work or to develop in some new way. " I can't; thre's a baby coming." Sometimes it is the husband she seks to control. One woman, who resented being let alone so much when her husband started going to grad uate school at night, suddenly experienced a ailure of a birth control method tht had worked successfully or years. The Plutonian theme of abandonment also comes in here. Many babies are conceivd to prevent a marital separation: "I can't leave my wife now, sweetheart, she's pregnant." I n the good old d eys, many babies were conceivd to orce a marriage. Even today women try it, but times have changd and it doesn't work. Nonethless, it is one way to hang onto somone who's goi ng to leave you, b cause you can orce child support payments on them. Even if it doesn't work and you never get a dime, you have a pice of them under your control orever, and they know it.

s an idealistic young social worker, I tendd to se the woman as the

wronged one, seduced and abandon d . Any remaining ideals I h ad in that area were shattered when a private therapy client of mine was entrapped by an old girlriend who beggd him to come up or a weekend or old time's sake, assured him she was sterile, and a month later, wrote him to say, "Guess what!" Even if this method of getting your man works, the person who is trapped i nto the marriage oten eels extrmely resentful, and will make the woman-and unortunately, the child-pay or it. Whther it works or ails, the mother is also likly to resent the child, especially f it resembles the ather. The child is oten a pawn beween two po ple embroiled in Plutonian power struggles. Wht happens to the child? Well, it grows up to be a Pluto nian, that's all. Michael Lutin recently observed to me that many of his clients became pregnant as Pluto let Libra, as a way of holding on to a relatio nship that had already died. The Pluto/Saturn conjunction happened at the end of Libra, and i n doing research I ound that both the Pluto/Saturn conjuntion of 1982 and tht of 194748 wre accompanied by marked increass in the birth rate, perhaps or Plutonian reasons. The conjuntion of 1947 ushered in the great Baby Boom, but was ollowed a year later by the greatst peak in the d ivorce rate in our country's history. lthough the births may have been an attempt to avoid aban donment, it did not in act succed. Not coincidentally, women worked outside the home or the first time during WWI and W I I . When the mn came home, the women were orced to give up the l ittle bit of power thy h ad attained. The Baby Boom was doubdessly a response to this problem around women's power; pregnancy itself is oten the u ltimate weapon i n the power struggle betwen the sexes. Keep 'm pregn ant and bareoot is an old male joke (ha h a) that contains a great truth about the relationship beween the sexes.

I have also seen the issue of power and prgnancy arise when women (single or married) get pregnant just at the time whn they had the opportunity to moe ahead in a career. One such instance at the clinic was a

sweet young woman, who not only was the irst in her large and very troubld amily to graduate from high school, but she had also won a scholarship to college. It was sad to see her leave behind her bright hopes and become another welare mothr. Perhaps she would one day reclaim her potential, but it would be very diicult, givn hr background and environmental prssures. For such women, and she was only one of many, to move orward meant emotional abandonment, risking the resentment and jealousy of hr amily and pers, leaving thm behind and moving into terriying and lonely territory. The riss of advancement are vry clear in her case, yet all women ace such risks when thy dare to be powrful. Women are taught to be dependent, and movement into success is threatening to othersespecially the men in their l ives. Lest you think only women employ the pregn ancy trap, mn h ave been known to maneuver women i nto prgnancy to keep them rom advanci ng. Many men don't deal very well with a woman's success. Many times, whn women clients are having Pluto transits to the Midheaven, they tell me they are on the verge of a promotion, or their business is just taking of, but they suddenly eel they M U ST have a child, because the biological clock is running out (I'e h ad thirty year olds tell me this). The issue, as we discuss it urther, is that these women are having to ace up to the fearsome issue of becoming powerul and successul, and this wonderfully acceptable feminine reason becomes their cop out so they don't have to deal with becoming powerul. My eeling is that the child concived or such a reason, just as the mother is bginning to make good in a career she loves, is either going to be resented or will be the mother's substitute or the power she lost. (ter all, tht child's Pluto will orever orm an aspect to the mothr's Midheaven.) By now you must be asking whether there are any nice reasons to get pregnant. Yes, two people can d cide thy love each othr and want a child. But I've been talking about unconscious d cisions made or the wrong reasons. When undertaken or the right reaso ns (and sometimes even when it

is not). parenthood, like many other Plutonian pursuits, can be the source of transormation. I can't remember the author's name or where I read this, but the words stuck in my mind: "The miracle is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adu lts." The crisis of adjusting to parenthood takes about a year of hard work, so pregnancy and first year of a child' s life correspond to the most i ntense part of a wo·year Pluto transit. Another quotation that illustrtes this principle was one I ound in a newspaper column, writen by john Carroll of the an Fanco Chonide: " I rejoiced i n the transorming nature o f atherhood. The side efcts of being a parent were surprising and satisying; I perceived, or the irst time, my own mortality-thse beings would oudie me-an d my own immortality-these beings carried, among other things, the mmory of my existence within them. And their existn ce, and my relation to their xistence, helped me to understand my own parents. Oh, yes, I said to myself, I see. Got it, Mom. 2 Not all that easy. Yes."

luto Transis to the Natal Chat The Appendix lists Pluto's movemnts over the past ten years. The lists can alert students to past and future Pluto transits to thir own charts. During a transit of Pluto to the planets in the birth chart, any number of the issues we have been discussing may come u p. You may find yourself confronted with obsessie thoughts of the past, power struggles in the area of your life whre the transit is operating, compulsive relationships with Pluto nian people, a birth or a death. These extrnal evnts are merely the man ifestation of-as well as the catalyst or-the process you are going through i nternally. The ultimate result of that process, if you work to heal yourself, is transormation of how you operate in that area of your life. Let's look at individual transits of Pluto to natal planets.

PLTO TO THE SU N

The process going on here is the puriication of the self. Bcoming i ntensely sel-obsessed, you may first exaggerate to a painul degre, then be heald o, the negative traits of your Sun sign, as you evolve in the direction of the positives. False self-concepts are strippd away and mourned, u ltimately revealing the true self. Old evaluations of slf-worth , both un meritedly negtie and unmeritedly egotistical, are acted out, bringing you ultimately to a more realistic self-acceptance. So metims, the death of an im portant male igure may initiate this major reormation of the identity. Power and making an impact may also become an obsession, with resentmnt toward those who do not validate your talents. The California F lower Essence Sunlower is ttremely useul in balancing the ego and bringing about a true self-acceptance. Their essence Sagebrush is or inding your true slf by letti ng go of alse identiications. Work to clear out the solar pltus chakra is very useul. You may do this by imagining a ball of white ire in the solar plexus, burning away sel-doubt and go problems. Lavender ire or guilt can also be useul to those aflicted with self-hate, perhaps using the Whirl pool cleanse on page 61. The tercise or opening the Heart Flower (see page 63) may be changd by i magining the lower in your solar pltus instead. Design airmations about sel-worth and self-love.

PLUTO TO THE MON Issues aroun d dependency a n d nurturance come t o the surace a t this time. The relationship with the mother is closely examined, with old conlits and resentments arising as strongly

s

in childhood. By obsessiely an alyzing and

reliving them, you bcome ready to let them go. Paterns of symbiosis or dependency derivd rom the moth ring you got may be actd out with key women in your life and changed, since a shit in dependency paterns is going on i nternally. The image of wht womn should be is usually also challenged, with some resntment and conlict about feminine stereotyps. There is a possibility that these changes could be triggered by the deth of

the mother or a key female igure. Equally oten the mothr herself goes through a major transormtion, giving her children permission to change how they relate to the issue of femi ninity. Another transormational event could be parenthood, yet the prgnancy could be undertaken or mani pulative reasons, such as to remain dependent or in control in a rlationship, or to avoid becoming more powerful in the outside world. Nancy Friday's book, My Mothe, My Sel. is

n

extremely useul one to

read during this transit. (I have also writen a book on the Moon calld Beig

a Lunar Type in a Solar World, which would help you in xploring Moon-relted issues.) Rebirthing during this period could be extremely powerful. An appropriate remedy might be the California Flowr Essence Pomegranate or the healing of emotional extremes due to im proper nurturing in childhood. The Bach remdy Red Clover is or the overanxious or overprotctive mother. Another likly process during this transit occurs when motions you have been unwilling to deal with come to the surace and dmand atntion. They are chewed over and over, mu ch to the discoort of you and those nearest. There can be a catharsis of unresolved eelings about the past or of issues not dealt with in the present. There is no more hiding-the emotions are right on the surace, and you get to learn nw patterns of acing and dealing with thm. You are i n a self-analyzing mood and may be drawn to study psychology in order to understand where these eelings come from. The result is greater emotional health and wareness, rather than repression, yet your eli ngs would not have been buried in the irst place if you knew what to do with them, so it can be rther u ncomortable at the onset. The Caliornia Flower Essences Fuschia and

Scarlet Monkeylower are or

i ntegrating repressed emotions. Something akin to primal therapy might produce the intensive catharsis this transit calls or. This could also be an etie time or Rolfing or other body work where emotions long held in the body are released.

PLUTO TO M ERCURY Here the capacity or thinking and analyzing is deepened and you are likely to be drawn to study psychology, the occult, reincarnation, or healing. Old belief systems are challenged and you must accommodate new ideas. You may pursue these new i nterests obsessively, possibly finding it diicult to communicate with ormer i ntimates who do not share thm. Communication in general becoms an issue-you may have a compulsion to speak up about things you once considered u nspeakable, or you may have a sense of not being able to commun icate t all about some important maters. Speak irst through your Higher Self to the Higher Self of the other person, saying what is in your heart. Relatio nships with brothrs and sisters may reach a point of no return, or old ptterns of relating, or issues rom the past must be resolvd or the connection may eectively be severed. Writing,

s

in journals, may be used as an emotional catharsis and a

healing tool. For example, the process developed by Ira Progof known

s

the

Intensive journal Workshop uses written dialogues with parts of yourself to integrate and reconcile inner dissonance. This may be a time whn you develop your writi ng ability and have the capacity to ocus on im portant writi ng, research, or study projects.

PLUTO TO VENUS A Scorpio or other Plutonian may nter your life and you may have an i ntense love rlationship. Alternately (or in addition) long·standing love relationships endure a crisis i n which resentments and other long-hidden issues come to the surface and must be resolved. Relationships become the orum i n which the issue of power is examin d , and thre is also the necessity of examining the sexual dimension of your relatio nships. Some of you may eel the ned to be alone or celibate or a year or longer to break destructie relationship paterns, so that you are rather lonely. At the end of that time, however, you

understand that you won't die without a relationship, so relationships are much healthir, not so compulsive. One way healing can occur is to go back over painul broken rlationships, mourning them com pletely, purging resentments about them, and analyzing what really happened in the situation. Regularly using the xercise to open the heart lower is powrful. Caliornia Flower Essences that would be useul are Bleding Heart, (or releasing pai nful old atachments) , and Mari posa Lily, Shooting Star, and Dogwood (all or receptivity to love). Pgasus and other com panies sll essences based on gemstones and can provide Turquoise and Ruby, which are both good or healing the heart center. Bach remedies Hon ysucle (or leting go of the past) and Star of Bethlehem (or releasing old shocks and traumas) may be im portant if you've h ad a traumatic relatio nship breakup.

PLUTO TO MARS Problems around an ger and self-assertivnss now come to the surace and demand to be conronted. You ultimately transorm how you deal with these issues, yet in the meantime they can become obsessive and uncomortable. You may ind yourself brooding about current situations where you have given away your power. You may also obsessiely relive past situations where angr was buried, in order to experience a healing ctharsis. Ulti matly, you can no longer bear to be quiet when you need to assert yourself, so you learn to speak up, no matr how hard that has always been. For you who deal with anger in an excessively aggrssive way, the worm may turn, and the people who were i ntimidted by you in the past may begin asserting themseles, so that you have to learn to be lss com pulsively powerful. If anger has been dealt with destructively, old paterns can be played out in a dangerous way, so outside help is advisable. The issue of the masculine stereotype is also ad dressed, prhaps by conrontation with a man who orces you to reclaim your own power. Healing can come from doing the work on resentment in Chapter Four

including the exercise with the purple ball. e Agy Bok, by Theodore I saac Rubin, is vry hlpful in understanding the results of not dealing with your angr. Books and groups on self-assertiveness would be xtremely beneicial. There are a number of remd ies or an ger in the Bach kit, including Im patiens (or impatience and irritability). Willow (or resentmnt). Holly (or hate). Vervain (or people who become incensed by injustices). and Cherry Plum (or those who fear that their temper may get out of control and that thy may harm someone) .

PLUTO TO J UPITER This transit ushers i n a crisis of faith i n which you find old answrs and belifs no longr dep enough to explain life's biggr questions. For i nstance, you may begin to wondr why bing a good little boy or girl does not produce the rewards it is supposed to. U nwise givi ng or generosity can backire, and you have to learn how to give without harming yourslf or others. You may also become somewhat skeptical or even cynical, with your ormer optimism seen as rather naive. You may conclude that God is dead and spnd the remainder of the transit trying to igure out what to blieve in now. Ultimately, you start to grasp the hidden meanings of life's larger questions and you come to see that the God who is dead was the one you met in Sunday school, rather than the true deity. Your mind depens and you start search ing or your own answrs, rather than blindly accepting the on s you were taught by the orthodoxy. However, the more attached you are to KNOWING and BEi NG R I GHT, the more pai nful this soul searching can be. The Caliornia Flower Essence St. john's Wort is or trust in God. Their remedy Shasta Daisy is or synthesizing i normation from your spiritual quest.

PLUTO TO SATURN Where Saturn is in our charts, we tend to become rigid, with fear and

insecurity crystallzing us into an inflxible structure or patern of behavior. just as the tough outer covering of a growi ng shellish bcomes too confining and must be shed, so must our structures period ically be cast of if we are to continue to grow. Since that shell represents security, we are oten terriied to let go of it, and sometimes it must be pried o. Pluto is the kind of transit when that happens, whether or not we cooperate. Another issue tht may come up with a Pluto/Saturn transit is authority. Some diicult and even destructive power struggles can ensue with bosses or others in authority, unless the individual learns to relate to bosses and to reality i n a responsible, disciplined way. The transit is also a time of revaluati ng goals and ideas about success, and change is needed to remove barriers to your success. Some of the same solar plexus cleansings given or Pluto/S un transits can be helpul, as you need both self-conidence and clarity about your true capabilities. Both purple (or resntment) and blue (or fear) might be useul colors to do with the Whirlpool Cleanse. Two California F lower Essences or dificulties with the father, Sunflower and Saugero, can be useful hre. Goldenrod Bud (or owning your own power) is another California ssence tht may be relevant. If the need to dominate or control is part of the problem, the Bach remedy ine could be important. As usual, Honysucle (or letting go of the past). Willow (or resentment). and Holy (or hate or the desire or revenge) may be requird in a diicult conlict with power and authority.

PLTO TO URAN US The die-hard rebel may do just that. The rest of us, ho peully, will learn how to be an individual without having to knock heads with authority. The person who has always done everything his own way and ben a law unto hi mself may suddenly ind himself unbearably lonely, so he will begin to learn how to temper his individualism in ordr to allow or more i ntimacy. What is transormed here is the need to proe how diferent and how much better we

are than the rest of the world. Conversely, lifelong conormists may suddenly rebel and strike out or individuality. Work on the solar plexus may be requird to learn to love and trust your individ uality without having to start a revolution. The Bach remedy Vrvain (or those who are incensed at injustices) may be useul here, as well as Willow (or resntment), and the Caliornia essences Saugero and Sunlower will help with conlict with the ather. Also appropriate could be the Caliornia remedies Sagebrush (or being true to the self) and Mullein (or finding your own true path) .

PLUTO TO N ETU NE At least during this era of h istory, the conjunction happens to all of u s at about the same age as the Sturn return. It oten signals the death of one's youthul idealism, destroying certain illusions and breaking down masochistic paterns in areas Neptune touches. The negative Neptunian aspects of your personality

may be tm porarily intensiied, as

you

do the ultimate

sel-deception, the ultimte rescue job, or the ultimte masochistic action. Through this i ntensiication, you learn that it hu rts too much, that you don't want to keep on hurting yourself, and you bgin to change, perhaps looking to spiritual studies or answrs. lthough everyone gets this transit around the same age, it is most crucial when Neptune is an important planet in the ht. In these cases, this transit seems to be handled in one of wo ways: ither you go i nto positive expressions of Neptu ne such as service and spiritual devlopment, or into negtie expressions of Neptune such as drug or alcohol abuse. (In other eras, due to the ccentricity of Pluto's orbit, the conjunction happened at other ages.) Meditation and spiritual studies are the highest use of this transit, which can usher in a great amount of soul healing or the individual. You may like to use Neptun-related Bach rmedies such as Centaury (or not being victimized) and Clmantis (or dreaminess and spa6ness). The Caliornia

Flower Essences are more spiritually directed, generally speaking. Caliornia Poppy, or i nstance, can help you atune to past life abilities. Since the transit is oten accompanid by a psychic wakening, Yarrow is very helpul or protetion rom harmul psychic inluences. Star Tulip is or psychic awakening, but it should always be taken with Yarrow or shilding. Using the md itations to open your brow and crown chakras can be helpul, but it is not good to concentrate on them exclusivly, as you need to be solidly grounded i n the lower chakras in order to use these well.

PLTO TO PLTO This is a major chance to heal your Pluto problems, whatever thy may be. You will be conronting and breaki ng down barriers. Issues arou nd power, control, trust, and isolation are major concerns now, the transit pushing you to solve thm, perhaps through the kind of i ntensiication of the problems we spoke of earlier. The Pluto in Leo generation is getting the square beween Pluto and ntal Pluto about age 42, but Pluto's orbit is vy irregular and it happens later or other generations. Perhaps this generation is one which needs to conront Plutonian issus sooner, so we can sae the world rom destruction and heal it and ourselves. For women, this era can signiy menopause or the em pty nest syndrome, which is transormational in that you need to look at other reasons or being than the traditional female role. Whether or not you actually lived the role, the ending of mn struation creates a crisis of exami ning your femininity.) Men can also have an empty nest crisis and one involving the limits of their power. All of the healing tools mentioned in this book or various Plutonian issues could be u sed very successully during this time.

Tansits to he Anls I am increasingly seeing the angles i n the natal chart as a whole. The MC/IC axis, or i nstance, is not wo lines but one, and the same can be said

of the Ascendant/Descendant axis. As you will see in the ollowing i nterprettions, they function as a u n it, in which events or changes in one preci pitate a corresponding adjustment in the other, as the status quo is th reatened. Use whatever tools or healing tht connect with the issues that arise, since these are major life realignments.

PLUTO TO THE MC/IC During a Pluto transit to the MC/IC, a career change oten necessitates a major chan ge in residence and also means a shit in the power struture i n the home life. The death o f a parent, which may happn u n d r this transit, brings about a proou nd change in dependency and the rlationship to the past (both being aspects of the IC) and also may begin a shit in one's career or l ife path. The issue of power is a major part of this transit, also the roots or connetion to the past. For women, prgnancy does occur under this aspect, but it is unortunately all too oten related to the wish to escape rom success.

PLUTO TO THE ASCEN DANT/ DESCENDANT The Ascendant

is

ou r i nterace with

the world,

showing how we

characteristically project ourselves. Thus, a shit i n this projection of self will bring about a correspon ding change in our most intimate relationships, as signiied by the Descndant. The Pluto transit may show a breaki ng through of barrirs to intimacy, perhaps because of the therapeutic isolation discussd earlier-the pain of loneliness orcing us to be more open to true intimacy. This would also be a time when healing or therapeutic work would bring about a powerful change in relation ships. The Ascndant relects the physical body, so a health problm may conceivably

arise

rom

accumulated

resentments or other stored-up

emotions. Confrontatio n with mortality through a health crisis in yourself or somone you love (the Descendant) may make you more open than usual to closeness; evn ill ness itself may be or the spiritual purpose of breakin g down isolation through the necessity of being taken care o ( I n addition, gtti ng ree of illness may require a ctharsis of buried emotions, and greater emotional xpressiveness in itslf may open you up to more closeness.

Healing Tools: Making Pluto Transits Easir or Yourself There are tools we can use-torches we can light or our passage through this deep i ntrnal tunnel, if we will only reach or them. Two of them, psychology and the occult, are both Plutonian pursuits, and, if rightly used, can help us have a btter u nderstanding of ourseles, our eelings, and our self-defeting i nteractions with the world around us. If t any time in life psychotherapy is going to be p roductive, the period of a major Pluto transit indicates when we are most receptive to i ntervention and most inclined to i ntrospection. Naturally, the books and tools suggested i n this book can be used optimally under a Pluto tran sit

s

well.

Capitalie on your Pluto transit, and your life will be much the better or it, even f the actual process can be painul at times. If you can learn from a little nudge, rther than being clobbered, the process won't be so diicult. Work hard on the first Pluto transit to a planet; work hard in beween. If you thoroughly understand your chart, you can become aware of the issues and start tackling them. Do healing work on yourslf in those areas-use the tools suggested or various aspects and read the books in die various bibliographies. My own prsonal approach to astrology is what I call homeopathic, particularly the principle of homeopathy tht says that like cures like. If you're having Pluto transits, do Pluto things. Go through a deep analysis of what your Pluto means, or of the u nctioning of a plan t in your birth chart which is geting a Pluto transit. Try other Plutonian orms of healing like

rebirthing-it would

be

specially

good or the Plutonian who

has

ambivalence about living. Therapy itself is Plutonian, of course. Maybe just as powerful in terms of timing would be goi ng of on a retreat, taki ng time alone to think your l ife ovr. Joan Negus recommends that you clean your closets, garage or storerooms undr Pluto transits, b cause the objects are loaded with meanings that link you to the past, and getti ng rid of thm helps you to let go of the eelings and meanings attached to those objects. Sometimes the past will literally come back to stare you in the face. I oten ind that clients with Pluto transits go back physically to the atual situation tht caused so much pain in the irst plac--or i nstance, any nu mber have actually moved back in with their fa milies. Frinds who are into pop psychology may think of it

s

a collapse into nuroticism, but somtimes it's

the only thing that allows you to see the past with enough clarity to release it-to see, or i nstance, that the people who were so overpowering when you were younger are now getti ng older, maybe ven ebe.

AFFIRMATIONS TO USE FOR PLUTO TRANSITS I ace the inevitable with acceptance. I trust that as this door closes another opns. I relinquish the past i n avor of a beter future. I ace the uture with trust in its lightness. I believe in y own evolution toward the higher. I am healed of my patern of_____ I accept a miracle.

Beating the Post-Transormation Blues Sri Chinmoy's words can help us understand Pluto transits: "At every

moment we are dying and renewi ng ourselves. Each moment we see that a new consciousness, a nw thought, a new hope, a nw light is dawning i n u s . When something new dawns, a t that time, we see that the o l d has been transormed i nto something higher, deper, and more proound ."Q At their best Pluto transits can be what Richard ldmon calls a peak peiene, a time so em poweri ng that we break through patterns tht have held us back, painully, all our lives. Thus, Pluto transits can also be times of great joy. Nonthelss, having a breakthrough in a particular area is just the beginning of the work, like having a baby is only the beginni ng. People not understan ding this can have a letdown ateward similar to a post partum depression. In California, when I l ived there, people spoke of themselves as workshop junkies, h aving to go back or thir ix period ically. San

Francisco

psychotherapist,

Sara

Strand,

writes

about

the

post-transormation blues, a condition that appears to be the cosmic equivalent of casual sex: Because such

experin ces can be so intnse, compelling or even

otherworldly, they oten result in the cretion of superhuman ideals or a set of standards no one could possibly maintain. It is only when we relinquish the ideal that the truly transormed person emrges: inspired and uninspired; secure and insecure; joyous and solemn; wise and stupid; i ndependent and dpn dent; imperect still, but transormed anew again, again, and still agai n:l It's good to know that you will have Pluto transits all your life, and that even in the aterlife, you'll keep on having opportunities to transorm yourself. We seem to ned to go over the same ground again and again, as we get transits of one kind or another to the same areas of our charts. There is no hurry; we have orever.

Is It Possible o Prdict or Pluto Transits? I don 't think we now enough to predict with precision. For eery person who comes to power undr a Pluto/MC transit, another will all rom grace.

For every one who inds love under a Pluto/Venus transit, another will lose it. For eery person reborn u nder a Pluto transit, another will die. For Nery one who comes out of isolation, orgives, and o pens up u nder a Pluto transit, somone else will become a recluse, embitered and closed of due to betrayal and abandonment. Perhaps

a

diference

is

one's

lNel

of spiritual

awareness

and

insight-that's a tmptingly easy answer. How out of touch are you? Do you approach or avoid self.confrontation and struggle? If Nptune is stron g natally, you may deny many things, s o the laser beam clarity o f a Pluto transit is painul. If Pluto is strong n tally, you probably aren't hiding FROM the pain but IN it. But prhaps spiritual development isn't the only thing that makes the d iference. Prhaps even one as aware as you could go into negtie Pluto behavior with some realy tragic loss. And perhaps even a spiritual ignoramus could be n nobled under the pressure of tragdy. Past performance is no guarante of anyth ing. But consciousness is one of the things that makes a d iference, and astrology is a magniicent and powerul tool or consciousness. A chart reading can help you see the situation in a difernt light, can help you work with the transits rathr than agai nst them. If you are an astrologer, you can make a diference by srvi ng as an educator. But in order to educate, you have to know about more than astrology. You have to know about psychology and all the kinds of Plutonian situations we've discussed in this book-grief, incest, domestic violnce, and so on. The chapter which ollows is a discussion of special counsling considerations or working with Plutonian people. § Diane Duane, e Wunded Sky, Pocket Books, NY, 1983, p. 1 23. ZAlan W. Watts, e Wsdom oflncuty, Vi ntage Boos, NY, 1 95 1 , p. 41 . � Theodore Isaac Rubin, MD, Throuh My wn Eyes, Macmillan, NY, 1 982, p. 22. 2john Carrol, San Facio Chronicle, August 2, 1983, p. 3 1 .

!

sri Chinmoy, eath and Reinanation: tenity's Voyage, Agni Prss,

Jamaica, NY, 1974, p. 39. llopen Ecage, January, 1984, p. 39.

CHATER EIG HT Counseling Pople with luto Problems This chapter is meant to serve as a guide to working with Plutonian individuals. In order to ease the pain they are in, Plutonians work or transormation, so you are likely to find them among your clients. This chapter is meant not only or the astrologer, but also or the counselor who uses astrology as a diagnostic tool, so some of the remarks are more relevant to long-term work than to one-shot consultations. With Plutonians, howver, the intn sity of the interaction is such that even a single consultation or a yearly reading can take on some of the same characteristics as lon ger-term work and thus require some of the same cautions. Keep in mind the dynamics of Plutonians so you have a clear piture of thir dificulties and where they come from. Here we will be explori ng how those traits come to play i n the counseling sitution.

An Aside to the Plutonian Reader First, a note to the Plutonian person: I knw you are reading this, because you want to know what I have to say about you. Doubtlssly there will be things in this section that make you indignant, because you never did such things and even if you maybe d id do them once or wice to your astrologer or counselor, your motives were beter and higher and you just d id them because you were in pain. Relax, because this is really not about you. I 'm talking about those other Plutonians, the ones who aren't working on transormi ng themselves and have no awarnss of why they behave as they do, in those compulsive, rigid, painul patrn s. You are obviously heavily i nto transormative efforts f you bought (or borrowed) this book and read this far. But some of those other Plutonians really need hlp, and so this chapter is to teach the astrologer or counselor how to help them begin the work of

transormi ng painul Pluto nian paterns. Okay? Wouldn't you rather they knew what they were doing? Remember tht I'm a Plutonian myself and have probably done eerything talked about in this chaptr, and I'e also drawn a large number of Plutonians to my counseling work.

lutonian Deenses at Wok in the Session s an astrologer, you know you have a Plutonian clint when the arms are tightly crossed ovr the chest and the chin juts ouward in a "show me somthing" attitude. Plutonians (overtly or covrtly) say they're not going to tell you anyth ing, they're paying yu to tell ihem. You will probably not get so much as a nod of conirmation when you make an observtion, and when you ask if what you're saying is true, they say, "sometims." Scorpio Ascndant people are particularly loathe to tll you that you are penetrating thir defenses. If you can stay calm and non-defensive, not needing to hammer your point home, they are much more able to listen, whether or not thy acknowledge you. When it's clear that it's goi ng that way, I shrug my shoulders and do ten minutes or so of telling them about the chart, enough to let them now that I i ndeed do know my stuf. (If they were rferred by a frind, then you're really in trouble, because thy're convincd the riend told you all about them.) We don't go or the heavy stuf right away, but gradually go i nto it, as the arms begin relaxing and the chin movs into a more normal position. At that point, I discuss Pluto and wht it means in terms of secretiveness and lack of trust, as well as some of the Plutonian personality traits and how Plutonians got tht way. By then, they see that I do now about thm, in a way tht no one outside d oes, and that they are accepted. This may be, or some of them, a powerful and unique experin ce. ''You mean it's okay to discuss eelings here?" It is then suggested that a dialogue would be much more produtive, and by this time, they are oten more open. But not entirely. You still should not push them to acknowld ge that you are right on target or that there may be something to what you are saying

about changing their patterns. A tape of the session is essntial or Plutonians, because when they replay it all by themselves, they can let down thir guard-you are not there to contnd with-and they can be open to hearing wht you have to say. Don't xpect or insist on validation of your i nterprettions or on a commitment to change anything. That would be coming more out of your own ego and power needs, and it sets up a power struggle immeditely that Plutonians are all too amiliar with. You become the ovewhelming, i ntrusive parent, snooping in their diary. They may have to control the situation-we must sit here not there, the window must be open, I want to operate the tape recorder myslf, I want this set of questions in this order. If you can do what thy ask without a great deal of d iscomort, why not accept this need to be in control, so they are comortable and more receptie. They are predisposed to see everything as a struggle or control, but you can put yourself aside or that hour or two to make them comortable. Nturaly, if they are extremly rigid and demandi ng, you can point out that their ations in the session are exactly the sort of behavior which interferes with thir relationships on the outside. Recognize and accept that they do not trust you. Why should they? You are a stranger, an unproven commodity, and they have had repeated betrayals of trust. You doubtlessly have eet of clay-we all do, and Pluto nians are master clay oot spoters. Discussing confidentiality with them-and ten hooig it -is quite important, given the very likly presence of secrets and guilt that could be poisoning their lives. Don't take or granted tht they know the session is conidential; even f they do, it is reassuring to hear and creates more openness to discussing things they might not fel free to do elswhre. In fat, an explanation of how screts can alienate may be helpful t some point, when you get down to the nitty gritty areas.

The Advantags and Disadvanages of Working with lutonians If you are dealing with a strongly negative Plutonian, you will quickly see

the disadvantages of counseling them. They are guarded, mistrustul, and slow to open up.

Bcause they h ave so much anger toward their

overpoweri ng parents, they could try to hook you i nto a power struggle, wheth r about ees, tims, where you will meet, or most of all, about geting beter. In counseling, they will doubtlssly want the kind of intense, symbiotic relationship with you as described under personality traits-if it doesn't develop, they are convinced you don 't care. They can be xtremely melancholy and bitter, ull of slf-hate and resentment toward othrs. Your i nterpretation s may add to their slf-hate. "Now that I understand why I do this, why can't I change?" Their emotions and the situations they are i nvolved in are i nvariably intnse, so be clear and wel� rested when they come. s we will discuss later in more detail, some have strong death wishes and suicide antasies. They are fixed in their behavior, pessimistic in their outlook. Thy are otn manipulative, knowing just what strings to pull, and will lose respect or you if you all or the manipu lations. Thy are also great t sizing up your Achilles heel and zinging you. You will have to choose your words careully-Pluto nians will store up every ill-considered remark you make and turn it agai nst you in some vulnerable momnt. Plutonians want and demand i ntensity. Once they finally open up, they may want you to keep going or hou rs, discussing all their trouble areas, all the past. You do not have to all into this. You may limit your sssion to what is comortable or you and tell them to come back or others (e.g., a session on the relationship that is giving them so much pain) . When the inancial houses of the chart are i nvolved i n the piture, some Plutonians want more than their money's worth , but you do not have to be mani pulated. ("The other astrologr I wnt to gae

e

a much longer session. As expensive as

this is, I would have expeted more.") It is also not a good idea to bargain with them or allow them to owe you money, as the eighth house connection means they can play games over money. Plutonian defenses can also interfere in that healing may be perceivd as

being under someone else's power, so thy may be stubbornly resistant, almost as though survival depended on not bing controlled by anyone else. (Remember that at some point in their history, survival did!) You will also recall what we d iscussed about ailing or spite, so Pluto nians may also contrive to ail at therapy. Not only does it get your goat, but if they got beter, you would abandon them. I n addition, the resentmnt and sel-hate are so poisonous that until they are tackled (by the Bach remedis Willow and Holly, or i nstance) , Plutonians may not allow themselves any happiness. Despite all the disadvantages, there are many rewards to working with Plutonians. Thy are gutsy survivors of things that would h ave crushed lsser people, so thy take tht same courage with them i nto the healing work. They are self- motivatd people who CAN do it alone. They are deep, insightul, i ntrospective people who do not run from sel-confrontatio n. The deeper you go and the more you ocus, the beter they like it. Although they may protest loudly that you are killing thm, they actually love you to go in and stir things up. Thir very intensity is an advantage; the "heavier" the session, the more thy think it was worth it. Plutonians have a great untapped power to heal and regenerate themseles, which they bring to your work together. Thus, they are capable of proound transormation s if you show thm a path of growth. They are the people you thought you made no im pact on at all (ter all, they didn't say a word) who come back or another reading a year later and say, " I hated what you said, but when I played the tape over, I had to admit you wre right. Since then I've turned y life around in the ways you suggested." They will work hard to change, take what you say sriously, and never let go of a goal once set. (Hre that same Pluto nian tendncy to hold on is turned to good use.) Even thir obsessive-compulsive traits have positive uses, or if your work together i nvolvs meditations, writen i nventories, or other exercises, they will do thm over and over until they get the desired result. Dr. Maria Fagn an, a Caliornia psychologist who uses astrology, suggests that the mournulness of Pluto nians may arise rom the constant death/rebirth process in their livs,

as they prptually work to transorm themselvs. One final considration is that if you are doing some sort of psychological or healing work, you are likely to be a fairly Plutonian i ndividual yoursel. Thus it is ctremely important that you have a high degree of wareness of your own Plutonian traits and, whre they are causing you d iiculty, i nvolvment i n transormational eforts of your own will help. Othewise, you could overty or covertly transmit a message of hopelessness about the client's Plutonian diiculties or reinorce their more negative Plutonian viewpoi nts as desirable. Likewise, unless you are fairly clear on the issue of control, you can have occasional lapss i nto Plutonian controllingness, insisting to the client Yu

viii be tranOrmd. You might also get i nvolved in ngative Plutonian i nteractions with your clint, such as power struggles or symbiotic ties. It is well to remember what J. Krishnamurti said: Can another, however great, help to bring about a transormation in you? If he can, you are not transormed; you are merely dominated, i nfluenced. This i nfluence may last a considerable time, but you are not transormed. You have ben ovrcome; and whether you are ovrcome by envy or by a l so-called noble inluence, you are still a slae, you are not ree: On the other hand, the Plutonian who has worked through a particular problem is i n a powerul position to help Plutonians who have not, because of the nonjudgmental un derstanding of where the problem comes from, how it fels to be in it, and wht it takes to get out. Thus, if you yourself are a Plutonian who is a counselor or astrologer, the efo rts you make to be ree of the Plutonian problems discussed in this book will help your clients as well.

The Power of the strologer Plutonians,

are first and

oremost fascinated/rightened

by power.

Astrologrs h ave a special power, in that their knowledge of people seems

mysterious, almost supernatural. Thus you have a special capacity to afect this clint, in a good or bad way, so your i nterprettions must ocus on the mtaphysical and transormative rather than the ngative and judgemental. Power struggles may be especially prone to arise, since Plutonians ned to defend against what they perceie as your supernatural power. Due to the overwhelming power relationships they were subjected to as children, Pluto nians have a deep belief in magical powers, so even if you were to convince their conscious mind that wht you are doing is not supernatural, thir unconscious would still cling to the belief that it is. In woring with Plutonians, the astrologer o r counselor's ttitude and stance is all-im portant. These people rarely let anyone i nto their privte space, so gret is their alienation and lack of trust, and their conviction that they are so strange no one could accept them. You are there because of the secret knowledge of them the chart gives you. Thus what you do and say is very potent. Whn Plutonians experience tht someone knows about their insids, thir secrets, and IT'S OKAY, it can be an impactful experience that could open them up to other healing eforts. Your belief that they are okay, not weird and mssed up, is crucial. Your compassionate acknowledgement that thy had good and suicient reasons or their Plutonian paterns of behavior helps them to be com passionate with themslves also. The rcognition tht behavior which now causes Plutonians so much pain once hel ped thm survie a diicult, een dangerous and hostile environment is helpul. It is useul to see that it still serves them well in certain situations, that not everyone I S to be trusted. Speciying the positive capacities that came out of their trai ning takes the onus of it. For instance, they h ave an exceptional capacity to understand human motivations, seing why people are acting the way they are, and knowing wht is unspoken in a situation. (Other construtive Plutonian traits are discussed in Chapter Two.) Show them that thy can use these positive and een necessary traits whn they need to, but not ixedly and compulsively. Your conidence in knowing that things can get beter, that there can be

another way, can oset Plutonians' own basic pessimism about themselvs, people and life. If you have had problems similar to the ones you are discussing and have overcome them, it could help if you were willing to share yourself and your own transormation brifly-not in gory detail, but enough that they know you do understand. This makes them eel that they are like you, not alien, wrong, and judged; tht there is hope or them. (It also helps them relax-thy now now some of our secrts!) I belive in sharing myself with clints and being a person, not the nutral, mysterious Freudian. (With Scorpio Rising, Freud ound safty-and control-in hiding hi msel. Freud, ater all, was a Plutonian.)

Plutonians and the Impotance of Emoional Honsty It is important that you acknowledge your own eelings, if eelings do come up in the cou rse of working with Plutonians. These people can be quite provocative or controlling, and it is btter to say when you think this is going on, if it is making you uncomortable. They would respect you more or not alling or the game. They will also respect and trust you more f you are honest about eelings: or i nstance, if they are making you angry. You will recall that one of the reasons Plutonians became secretive is that people around them as they rw up lied about how thy were eeling and also tried to stop Plutonians rom expressing their own emotions. A high dgree of sel-awareness on your own part is needed or all counseling work, but especially with Plutonians. You can be tactful and diplomatic about expressing what you are eeling with these sensitive people-or i nstance, you might simply say, "I don't like it that you always come late or our sessions." If you do, you provide or thm a role model of self-assertiveness and dealing with an ger. If you don't, thy prceive your unspoken anger and think you are bing disho nest; they may also push and provoke even more to get a rsponse. BE GENTLE, however, as Plutonians are terriied of conlict because thy eel it will get out

of hand, or that it means the nd of the relationship. It is better to speak up sooner, beore you get really angry. If ned be, do the exercises or resentment whn this emotion coms up, so that you can discuss the matter more dearly.

Healing Tools and Their Spciic Applications to Plutonians You would want to enquire, beore you make suggestions, exactly what Pluto nians have auy done to help themselvs, because you can bt they have tried to transorm themslves in some way, perhaps tried one thing ater another in the atempt to stop the pain thy are in. G ive them rcognition or what they've tried so ar and discuss what they did or d id n 't like about that orm of help. This approach averts the "Why don't you . . . yes, but. . . " game, in which you suggest one thing ater another, while the Plutonian grows more and more contemptuous of your lack of undrstanding. Self-help books are good or Plutonians, who oten want to do it thmselves i n the privacy of their own homes. They can ocus and think deeply enough to beneit rom read ing slf-help books, and oten become i nterested in psychology as a rsult. For those with traumatic backgrounds, reading about people who share their dep dark secret has a urthr use, as thy learn that they are not alone, that others have gone through similar experiences. This can pave the way or joining a self-help group. You might wish to read the books recommended in the bibliographies or various chapters so you can recommend helpful material, as well as geting more insight into Plutonian problms. The books about life ater death can be quite transormative or those with a death wish. Metaphysical books can be quite useul or the negtivity. To a certain xtent, traditional talk thrapy can be a corrctive xperience, in that t gives Plutonians the op portunity to reveal thmselves to another who has some perspective on the situation, and who listens without i nvalidating their keen percptions. However, talk by itself may produce

insight but not necessarily change. Thre has even been a study which showed that talking about anger doesn't necessarily relieve it, it may only rehearse it. To ofset the isolation Plutonians el and their guardedness agai nst sel-revlation, group therapy can be a powerul heali ng, yt is one solution Plutonians oten have diiculty accepting. Self-help groups where people of similar experiencs work with one another are possibly the most powerful group expriences. Working with some of the healing methods in this book speciically aimed at Pluto problems could be helpul. Sh are some of the ideas, the afirmations, the meditations, the lower remedis or other tools-possibly even this book. You might wish to be aware that f you take Plutonians through the guided meditatio ns, any similarity to hypnosis could threaten thir need to eel in control at all times. It is also im portant to explain as much as you can about the tools and how they work, in order to oset an unconscious eqution of healing work with power and its possible abuse.

Using Metaphysics in Astrological Sessions Astrologers can beneit rom studying and using metaphysics i n their work in a number of ways. First, it counteracts the fatalistic belief that Pluto, Uranus, or Mars causes the client's problems. While this point of view has been un popular among astrologers or a blessedly long time, we still vacillate about it, slipping back and oh i n our language. I n addition, many of our clients have been xposed only to pop astrology, which still warns them that Big Bad Pluto is now in their solar tenth house and this means treachery i n thir career. W e need to constandy educate clients about the part they play i n creating thir own problems because o f thir attitudes a n d expectations rom life, themselves, and other people. The mtaphysical approach is especially important with Plutonians who are sublimi nally to modertely paranoid and who want to project the cause of thir dificu lties onto the ubiquitous TH EM. They don't trust people, they expect to be betrayed or abandon d , they KNOW the boss is out to get them.

Thus, they can easily take what you say and translate it i nto a eeling that Pluto is out to get them. It is all too easy to play i nto their despair and deth wish, because if they eel their natal chart or transits are too dificult this means life is always going to be this way, so why go on with it. Given these characteristics, it is important to help clients understan d how thy create their own diicultis in the areas of life where Pluto falls. Using the chart to show xacdy how their atitudes and expectations contribute to the diiculty can be extremely helpul i n getting another perspective. Let's say Pluto is in the tenth house, and the individual had repeated slf-destructive batls with bosses, which led to a trail of bitter carer defeats. By transit, Saturn is coming to square Pluto, so the pttern could be about to repeat itself in an extremely conronttive orm. Given this alignment, the astrologer is in a pivotal position to help the client use the transit to mature in deali ngs with bosses. The metaphysical app roach to this particular situation would be to explore the kinds of authority igures the client had as a child, and what remaining resentment and spitfulness come rom that early experience. Point out how he or she could set up the same sort of negative i nteractions with bosses as he or she experienced in childh ood by adopti ng a provocative, resentul, mismistul attitude and prhaps getti ng i nto power struggls. The boss, seeing that the client is challenging or sething i nwardly at any order, may decide that the client is a person who neds to be watched careully, an employee who is not open, who has things up his or her sleeve, someone not to be trusted. Anywhere we have a chip on the shou lder, there will doubtlessly be someone who wants to knock it o, thus the atitude we convey begs or trouble rom the boss and coworkers. Thus, thought ptterns and expctations in work situatio ns efectively set the clint up to have dificulty. The astrologer with a metaphysical approach might say that the Saturn transit to Pluto means tht this is a time to grow up, to take a much more realistic, self-discipli ned look at how one operates at work and to approach

the boss as a mature individual. It is also a time to conront barriers one places in the way of having an impact on the world, self-destrutie behaviors tht keep one rom having the power desird in a career. Whereas continuing i n the old patrns might make this an especially hardnosed conrontation with the reality of the boss's power, real progress can be made by taking the atitude that it is time to get srious about goals and to resolve authority problems prptuated self-dstructively in the carer. By changing the thought paterns and expectations that go along with Pluto in the tenth, the client has the opportun ity to manifest a more powerul carer. Contrast this with the efect of the astrologer who says, "With Pluto i n your tenth house, you can expect to b e betrayed b y bosses ovr a n d over agai n. I n act, with tran siting Saturn making a square to that Pluto, your current boss will turn out just like the ons in the past." The client hearing this would be devastated and conclude that Pluto and karma are ganging up on him, so there's no hope or success i n this lifeti me. Since the astrologer has conirmed his suspicions about his current boss, he begins to scmtin ize the boss's every move, maybe een eavesdropping or snooping in the fds to see when the axe is going to all. Perhaps he begins cozying up to the boss's rival or superior, thining to save his neck. The boss notices all these manuers, resents the em ployee going over his head, and starts coming down heavy on the person. The power struggle escalates, until just as Saturn makes that exact square, the client gets his pink slip. Biterly, he decides it will be a cold day in hell beore he trusts another boss. What could hae ben a learning experience i n turning the patern around becomes a final defet. Although the astrologer was right in the predictio n, practically to the day, the client doesn't go back. Who neds more bad news? Granted fw of you who are reading this would interpret charts in so negtive a ashion, but no doubt all of us at times say things that buy into clients' self-defeating convictions about l ife. We should also be aware that clients may be reading astrology books or magaines with a deterministic

point of view. Thus it is important to keep voicing metaphysical principls. You may also wish to give the clint airmations to counteract the negativity, either those in this book, some from metaphysical writings, or some that you and the client create to it the precise situation. The astrologr who wishes to become more aware of metaphysical principls may begin by reading some of the Seth books listed in the bibliography of Chapter Three.

e Ntue of soal Rility

most

of metaphysical

advanced

presentation

Anothr powerul book is Ron Smotherman's

principls

is perhaps the

in

p rint

today.

Winnig Thrugh Enlightenment.

Lctures and classes from Rligious Scince, Unity, or Science of Mind not only teach the ideas, but give techniques or changing thought patterns.

Kundalini Risin: ex and the ingle Astrologr It doesn't matter wht your Ascendant is; all too oten, when you do a session with a client, you 've got Kundalini rising. H ave you ever had the experience of being extremly horny ateror duri ng-a session? If so, it could very well be that while you work, the kundalini energy is rising up the spinal column and that you are actually doing healing, with or without conscious awareness. Not undrstanding this, you may i nterpret this surge of energy as primarily sexual and find yourself powerfully attracted to the client-and possibly vice versa as the kundalini energy also rises in him or her. Traditional psychotherapy contains a prohibition agai nst having sexual relationships with clients, and this taboo sems to be a wise one. I have met too

many women who wre seduced

by their therapists,

and

without

exception the experience was devastating. It is an abuse of the therapist's considerable power over the client,

and, since the therapist comes to

represent a parent igure on some leel, it is a betrayal of trust very much like incest. Yes, the client frquently has sexual eelings and fantasies toward the thrapist, but it appears to be qu ite destrutive to live out those fantasies. I n act, recently in the state o f Washi ngton, a self-hlp group was ormed o r

women who have been molested by their therapists. Astrology is an ambiguous profession in that it is not so ormal and is i n the nature o f a consultation rath r than on-going work. Does the prohibition agai nst sleeping with clients extend to someone you only see once and then decide you want to have a relationship with? In beween is the rlationship of studnt to teacher. When a class is small, i ntimate, and self-revelatory, eelings

of closeness

Nonthelss,

f

can

grow

up

which

beg

to

be

taken

further.

you are teaching such a cosmic, transormative subject as

astrology, you as an individual get submergd in the power and xcitement of what you are imparti ng, o your students may be moved by that powr rather than seing you s a real person. (What do I think? Well, I wouldn't, ahem, take a position.) During a one-shot reading, it's tempting to get to know this magnetic, i ntense Pluto nian individual sitti ng in front of you. The session has been so powerful, so inti mate, and you really felt connected, like you were making an impact. lthough Plutonians can radiate sexual energy, it would seem to be a very bad idea to bcome involved with your Plutonian client, considring the Pluto nian modus operandi in reltionships. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have a ling with a Uranian client-if you can handle the fact that h e or she is going to love you and leave you-but it could be a trrible dissrvice to a Pluto nian, and ater all, aren't you there to serve? For one thi ng, your session may have been the most powerul experience of sharing and i ntimacy the Plutonian client has h ad in a long time, but many have trouble with i ntimacy unless it is sexual. Sex can be used to create distance, to disarm you so that your knowledge is harmless. As we learned earlier, sex is oten about power rather than about intimacy or lust, so by being i nvolvd that way, the client controls the situation and you lose your transormative power. (If you, yourself, are a Plutonian, you should also check out your own reasons or wanting to turn the emotional inti macy of the session into physical inti macy.) For many Plutonians, all closeness has become sexualized, perhaps due to

unortunate early exposu re, such as incst or child molestation. They can be seductive, but some part of thm will be outraged if you, of all po ple, do not u nderstand and if you treat them as sex objects the way the world does. Even if you do nothing except let yourself eel the atraction, it still can be regarded as a betrayal of trust. Plutonians are so sensitive to subtleties of body language and nuance that your thoughts are as real in the i nteraction as anything overt. As the kundalini rises during the session, let yourself know tht it is healing nrgy you want, not sexual energy, and ask your H igher Self o r help. A simple prayer or airmation will transmute it. I'd like to take the opportun ity to discuss somthing never mentioned i n teachings about healing. I a n d other healers notice that when you are just beginning to work with healing tools, there seems to be a period of time when your libido is dampened. This apparntly comes about because the healing nrgy partially travels through the sexual chakra. Not knowing this, you may conclude that there is something wrong with you sexually, that you have gotn rigid or im potent. One of my colleagus was ready to go through a very expensive course of sex thrapy when this happened to him, except that we ortunately discussed this phenomenon. The xercise or opening the heart chakra (see page

63) can be u sed on any of the charas. If

you repeat it with the sexual (sacral) chakra, located two inches below the navel, you may find it helpul in situations like this.

Cou nseling Suicidal Peole and her evre Problems You need to be aware that some Plutonians have extremely destructive and even dangerous behavior ptterns, such as active suicidal tendencies or i nvolvments in sadomasochistic rlationships. You also ned to be aware tht Plutonians are extremely gited t covering up their trouble spots, so that you may get ony the faintest hint that anything out of the ordinary is going on. To be a good counselor, you also ned to be a good detective, fin ding clues i n the smallst bit of body language, the slightest change of intonation,

and most of all, in what is N OT said or is conspicuous by its absence. Being a Plutonian yourself is a good preparation or this sort of detection. My first word of advice to astrologers on counseling actively suicidal Pluto nians is: DON'T. You are over your head; or these inds of people, you realy need to know your local mental health resources, particularly the nearest suicide hot line. It would also be im portant to h ave a connction with a therapist, preferably a psychiatrist, whom you can turn to in an emergency. If you do anything lse you are responding to your own ned to eel powerul and in control. You may very well get the highly seductive line o, "But I don't want to go to anyone else. You are the only one who understands." It is well known that many suicide threts and gestures are manipulations. This can be true, but you should be aware that suicidal Plutonians have nothing to lose. Either the other person will do wht they want, so thy have control, or if they succeed in their attempt, they will get wht they've wanted all their lifedeath. (Read once more the section on Plutonians and the death wish.) When you are counseling highly Plutonian individuals under very rough transits, specialy Pluto transits, you may need to enquire whether thy are suicidal. The average person would be reaked out by such an enquiry, but not Plutonians. For thm, death is the stuf life is made of. ll the same, a gnde approach is needed. "H ave you ver wished you weren't alive?" may open it up. If they admit to this, " H ow strong is that wish? Hae you, or i nstance, evr felt suicidal?" If thy admit to this, ask, ''Whre d o you stand with

that

wish

t

this

time?"

(Many

have

studied

life

ater

death,

reincarnation, and karma-stu dies which are unintentionally transormational in that they come to see tht suicide would not be an escape from the dificulty.) Finally, with anyone who is contemplati ng suicide or violence, it is helpul to get specific. Do you hae a method in mind? Do you h ave the mthod available? Do you h ave a plan of how you would go about this? Do you have a date and time in mind? The more specific the answers, the higher the risk that they will actually carry out thir plan.

e

alert also to events in their lives that might increase the possibility of

suicide, such as the loss of the one symbiotic rlationship, or any event that brings a great increase of guilt, resentment, or grief. For i nstance, studies show that men who have recntly lost their mothers are much more prone to suicide. It is probably not good to predit to them that they might commit suicide, because that so h ooks into their own fear/wish that it can be a self-fulfdling prophecy. H owever, you might note times when they would be more depressed or under more strain due to Pluto transits, and thereore might have a special need or therapeutic support. You may

e

wondering if there are some definite indictions in the chart

or suicide. Some years ago an extensive study was conducted by the Research Committee of the New York chapter of the National Council or Geocosmic Research. A number of very well qualifid professional astrologers (myself included)

worked

with

pairs

of charts

(one

suicide

and

one

nonsuicide, with n o ind ication of which was which), using both the natal chart and transits or progressions to see if it was possible to guess which was the suicide. None of us did very well at it, ortun tely or unortunately. When aced with diicult transits to Pluto or the eighth house, your best bet is to ask the clint. The Bach flowr remedy Cherry Plum is usful or suicide wishes or a eeling that one may harm someone else. The Bach combination known as Rescue Rmedy is available in many health ood stores and is a gnral remedy or crisis which all astrologers and counselors should hae on hand. Willow or Holly might be hl pful i n rmoving underlying hate/self-hate, but you have to be careful i n when you apply them s the rsulting healing crisis could tip the balance.

It is

much

beter to have your clients

under

professional care, using Rescue Remedy u ntil the threat retreats, and only thn to use Holly and Willow if the pendulum or other diagnostic test says it is appropriate. In

assessing the likelihood

of violence, the same

need or speciic

i normation exists. In dealing with an xplosive marital situation, or example,

you would want to ask whther batering had ever occurred, if it has been escalating, or if the partner had ever done violnce to anyone lse. Again you would want to know the resources or batered wives or children. If you are dealing with clients who are considering harming someone else, you'd want to know speciically if they have a plan in mind, if they have chosen a weapon, if the weapon is available, if they hae a definite time or date they plan to do this, if they hae already tried to harm this ind ividual, or if they have harmed anyone else in the past. As in the questions about suicide, the more specific the answers and the irmer the plan, the greater the danger that violnce will actually occur. Rescue Remdy, agai n, is someth ing to have on hand, and Cherry Plum has proven useul or the prson with a violnt tem per.

Plutonians and the Issue of Separaion First,

would h ave to say that traditional

psychothrapy itself has a

peculiar set of belies and mores about separation. For in stance, if I, as a social worker, developed a positive working relationship with a client which was producing results, I was expected to cut it off entirly and oreer if I let the agency or if the client moved outside our boundary l ins-like I was dead or they were dead. N umbers of such psychotherapeutic traditions come rom the Freudian model and are held as gospel, yet, as we've seen, Freud himself was extremely Plutonian where relationships were concerned. Thus, we can suppose he h ad more than his share of problems with separation and the issue of abandonment, like cuting people out of his l ife if they let him. I myself hae very loving and supportive rlationships with people who have inished therapy with me, yet I always eel that prhaps I am not being thrapeutically correct, not the neutral totally nonsel-revealing Freudian-not, when it comes down to it, as Pluto nian as Freud himself. These therapeutic considerations aside, Pluto nians have spcial problms around separation rom their counselors, since abandonment is a major issue. Very oten, a crucial abandonment or the conti nual threat of it was part

of what made them Pluto nians in the irst place. They've trustd you, opened up to you in a way they do not ordinariy do, so or you to leave them can strike very deep and be very painful even though they will not admit it. They're the kind who abrupdy decide in mid-July to tenni nate therapy, denying the thrapist's August vacation has anything to do with it, and denying any angr at the separtion. Most Plutonians, i n any kind of relationship, will leae first beore thy allow themseles to

e

let.

lthough Plutonians oten reuse to admit the i ntensity of the atachment, unless

the

separation

is

handled

properly

(or

sometimes

even

if the

separation is handled properly). they may very well reuse to see an other counselor or astrologer. For them, it can be simply too dificult to go through the process of opening up to still another person, learning to trust, and telling all their painul secrets. If you are an astrologr who has ormed a relationship with a Pluton ian client over time, you may very wll wish to offer the person the option of telephone consultations if you or they move away. Counselors, also,

f

you can lay the ghost of Freud to rest, why not let the

miracles of modern telecommunication allow you to reach out and touch somone? l J. Krishnamurti,

1 1 7.

Commeniories on Living,

Quest, Wheaton,

I L. 1 967, p.

APPEN DIX Help For The Begin ner Geing and Reading Your wn Chat This section is meant to be helpul to the novice or student who finds some of the explanations we've d iscussed too technical. If you do not already have your own chart, the best suggestion would be to get one rom a reputable computer irm, as that would give you accurate mthematical calcu lations.

It

costs

about

$3 to have the ht done without an

i nterprettion. You would want to consult the companies about the cost of other services, such s a printout of transits. The ollowing compan ies are known to be reliable and accurate: Astro Computing Srvices Box

1 6297

San Diego,

A 921 1 6

Astro N u meric Services Box

1 020

El Crrito, CA

94530

Astro-Graphics Servics Box

28

Orleans, MA

02653

Once you have your chart, it may be hard to read if you are not used to the symbols, numbers, and layout. The first thing you need to be amiliar with are the twelve houss and where they are located on the wheel. � on page 208 shows you the ordr of the houses. You should also be amiliar with the means of the houss. Keywords o r the symbolism of each house is as ollows:

Fim houe: irst approach to

situations; perso nal appearance

Seond houe: money

and how you handle it; values; resources

Third houe: thinki ng,

learning; communiction, sibli ngs

Funh houe:

the home; past; family inluence; nurturing

Fth houe: children; Sixth houe: work and Seventh houe: Eighih houe:

cretivity; rcreation; romance your atitudes toward it; health

marriage and other commited relationships

sex; reproduction; death; healing

Ninth houe: religion;

philosophy of life; higher education

Temh houe: career; your status Eeventh hue: Twelih houe:

in the world; authority

riends; grou ps; social chan ge

the unconscious; secret behavior; spirituality

Figu re 1 . The houses.

The first thing to do is to look at your own chart to determine your Pluto's house placement. Look also or its sign and degre. In some computer charts, it is writen as PL 23LE14, which translats to Pluto at 23 d grees, 14 minutes of Leo. Your own Pluto, of course, would be diferent.) Now take a look at l on pages

09 through 21 1 . l shows the symbols and

meanings of the signs, planets, and the houses. Each planet "rules" a sign, and the table shows you that the sign of Aries is ruled by Mars, and Aries also relats to the first house-and so on.

Table 1 . The general characteristics of the signs and their connections with the planets and houses.

SCN

T

OUSE NON

Nt1: �C, tf ce. .I, Clln Oe. S,.:. T

Man: r. �. J(.

lrt H«: Yttft � 0 ds. e r lcy.

Tws: llo h. 1i1. cdwh ey d 1 Os. k d c. cn e Ce.

V"'; o a f n. rc n s n lS. .y ....,, S,.:. 9

l HMH: y j w u

�: A I. klc ip. f l. d cd ,,-· l: l

M"J: �.

s,.:. 9

d HMH: Yw ng d ��. w u n c i; ilp d w �i.

1t:r $, iy, d (ily f i1. ir vy ly r y td O � . c -. d .lc. Syl: S

M M: e ', ry, �. ., : il. s, c tS. eh. d jin. s,.:. b

Ft HH: e g t l f b. ftl t y d "'· - e lie. c � l yr ""'·

o:Ws o c c f l n, l\e cl. ,,..,. l