Pluto in Sagittarius

Here we will be looking at the nature of the transit of Pluto through Sagittarius, and how it has been manifesting in both our individual and collective psyches.

Pluto's transit through Sagittarius began in 1995 and completed itself in 2008.

Outer Planet Transits

As I describe in Outer Planet Transits, as an outer planet (Uranus, Neptune or Pluto) moves through a sign, it challenges the current forms through which the archetype of that sign is being expressed. In both our individual personalities as well as our social/cultural wholes, each archetype takes on a defined and established form or structure. While that form may initially make sense, that is contribute to the health and welfare of the whole, as time goes on it may need to change, transform. Saturn, the administrator of the whole, may recognize this necessity and allow the transformation to proceed unhindered. More likely, at least at first, Saturn moves into defensive mode, resisting the change by reinforcing the old structure. In the process the structure becomes unhealthy and distorted, weakening the very whole that is being defended.

Sagittarian Models

Let us begin our analysis of the impact of Pluto in Sagittarius by looking at the kinds of structures through which Sagittarius is expressed. First and foremost, Sagittarius is the urge to make sense of life, of the world and the self. It is the conceptualizing part of the psyche, the creator of generalized theories and models that describe and explain reality. We are talking about belief systems, philosophies, religions. A primary part of any Sagittarian model is a description of the relationship between the part and the whole, the individual and the collective. This translates in most cases to the relationship between individual persons and the social group, the relationship between the group and larger groups of which it is a part, the relationship between the group and largest whole, conceptualized as Nature, the Universe, Spirit or God, and finally the relationship between the individual and God. These relationships, from a Sagittarian point of view, are primarily moral, that is the part is seen as responsible to the whole, performing necessary functions that contribute to the well-being of the whole. Playing one's part in the group endeavor is seen as good, while asserting one's individuality at the expense of the group is bad. In some, perhaps most, religions, this responsibility to the whole is explicated as a set of rules or laws, e.g. the Ten Commandments, that the individual is expected to obey. Obedience is seen as being rewarded, often after death, while disobedience is punished.

While all Sagittarian models share most of the above general characteristics, the specifics of the nature of the individual and the collective differ greatly. The Devil is in the details. The individual identifies with, that is sees himself as a part of a particular group, and each group has its own understanding of that basic relationship between part and whole. The scientist conceptualizes her relationship with the Universe one way, the Christian his relationship with God another way, the Muslim still another way. The problem, and indeed I see it as the central problem of all Sagittarian models, is the tendency to believe that one's model is the one and only correct model. After all, our model makes so much sense, if you'd just listen to me, open your mind to this way of thinking, I am sure that you would come to see that we are right.

This latter tendency of Sagittarius, to attach to a specific model, is, on a more general level, common to all the signs. As we create structures to express each of the signs in our personalities and groups, the is a strong tendency to settle into the structure, identify with it, and then see any challenge to it as threatening to our survival. Saturn kicks in, marshals resources to defend the structure, seeing the challenge as an enemy to be overcome.

Pluto on the Attack

When Pluto enters a sign, the structures of that sign are immediately experienced as under assault. After all, Pluto's function is to destroy, to kill. Pluto releases energy that is bound up in structure, for the purpose of providing it to newly birthing structures. This is the process of trans-formation - changing forms - death and re-birth. Any currently existing structure is fair game; the need is that great. Saturn will instantly jump to the defense, doing whatever is necessary to maintain the structure. It will attempt to contain and re-direct the Plutonic energy. The thing is, Plutonic energy is destructive; that is its purpose. Something has to die. Saturn says, "Well, it won't be me!" What Saturn often doesn't understand is that by wielding that power it is changed by it. "He who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Once Pluto takes aim at a structure, it will transform, sooner or later. A healthy and mature Saturn at some point recognizes this, surrendering with some elegance and grace to the inevitable change. A rigid and fear-driven Saturn fights to the bitter end.

Sagittarian Structures Under Assault

So, here we have Pluto attacking Sagittarian structures - our belief systems. Saturn kicks into gear to defend those belief systems. It grabs hold of the Plutonic sword and tries to destroy what it perceives as the attacker. The is no dearth of attackers to attack, as everyone else is similarly feeling the need to defend their beliefs. Those of us with the most energy invested in Sagittarian structures become most involved in the battle. Those of us with the most rigid and fear-based beliefs will stop at nothing to destroy the enemy. We are talking about ideological extremism.

Religious Extremism

The most obvious manifestation of ideological extremism, though by no means the only, is the rise of religious extremism in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic world. Whether we are talking about Islamic terrorists, Christian fundamentalists, or far right-wing Jews, the basic mentality as well as the response to this transit seem the same to me. The religious extremists seem to believe that only they truly understand what God expects from us, and only they are obeying His dictates. To this they sometimes add a feeling of responsibility to impose those dictates on everybody else.

It seems to me that this type of individual or group has a highly structured, hierarchical model of reality with an all-powerful God as the final authority. All relationships, whether between the individual and God, the individual and the group, and the group and God, are based on rules and expectations. Obeying authority is good, and is rewarded, while disobedience is evil and is punished. Saturn defines itself as part of this authoritarian hierarchy, ultimately responsible to God to maintain order and discipline, brooking no deviation from the straight and narrow. Doubting or challenging its absolute authority (derived from God), both in its model of reality as well as its rules for behavior, is simply not allowed, and punished harshly.

As Pluto moves through Sagittarius, our models of reality, as I said, are under pressure to transform. The rigid Saturn of the religious extremist cannot allow this, cannot risk God's displeasure and inevitable punishment. It clamps down firmly on its own beliefs and behavior, while at the same time projecting the Plutonic energy outwards. We are under attack! We must destroy the enemy before they destroy us!

American Ideological Extremism

And so the radical Islamists attack the dual hearts of the evil Satan, the capitalist Twin Towers and the military Pentagon. On one level the suicidal terrorist Saturn understands Pluto's price - self-destruction. This is tempered, however, with the comforting belief of an after-life reward for obeying God's will.

Some Americans see this attack in the terms of their own religious model. There is talk of the attack as God's retribution for our nation's sins, including legal abortion and gay relationships. This does not go over well politically, and so the rhetoric is tempered, though the belief remains untouched. A more politically effective version appeals to our secular ideology - "The terrorists hate freedom and democracy - they want to destroy our way of life!" We must destroy them instead! And so the U.S. attacks the heart of the Islamic enemy - the Taliban state in Afghanistan. Feeling heady from its apparently low-cost victory, the U.S. turns its eyes towards another dangerous enemy - the weapons of mass destruction holding Iraq. And again, an apparently swift and low-cost victory - "Mission Accomplished". Saturn is pleased.

The American Saturn has less understanding of Pluto's price. What was taken to be easy victories was actually the enemy going underground. The Iraq war drags on, and the Taliban return to southern Afghanistan. As the casualties mount, and our debt sky-rockets, the true cost begins to show itself. More insidious is the shift of power to the executive branch of government. Warrantless spying on Americans, imprisonment of arbitrarily-defined "enemy combatants". We are slowly surrendering the very freedoms that we are supposedly defending. Those of us that have rigid, hierarchical Saturns, whether religiously based or not, see this as either necessary ("the Constitution is not a suicide pact!") or welcome ("We need strong leadership.").

Are we learning anything? Is there any positive transformation of our collective beliefs? George Bush's approval ratings have dropped dramatically from post-9/11 levels. Is this because we are seeing our self-destructiveness - "We have met the enemy, and it is Us"? Or is it simply the practical American temperament that sees our failure in Iraq as due to an incompetent strategy? Is our collective Saturn seeing the actual danger - authoritarian, fear-based and fear-mongering ideological extremism of any religious or secular persuasion? One way or another we are changing - this is Pluto's bottom line. Are we transforming, or just destroying ourselves?

Transformation

We've looked at examples of rigid and fear-based Saturns resisting the process of transformation by attempting to co-opt the power of Pluto to destroy a perceived enemy. We have seen how this inevitably results in self-destruction. A pertinent question is why - why cannot Pluto's power simply be directed and used without affecting the user? This will lead us to an even more important discussion - how can Saturn most positively respond to Pluto in Sagittarius?

We know that Pluto operates behind the scenes, below the surface, in the darkness. We can say, using psychological terms, that Pluto operates in the unconscious. This region contains those parts of the psyche that have not been integrated into and therefore are not easily available to the conscious mind. In some cases they have been actively rejected, repressed, alienated. Saturn creates a system of defenses that keep these banished parts of the psyche out of consciousness. In this way it maintains a stable, structured consciousness.

As Pluto moves through a sign, it activates those aspects of the psyche related to that sign that have been pushed into the unconscious. It pours energy into these alienated structures, giving them the impetus and power to break through Saturn's defenses and re-emerge into consciousness. Saturn experiences this stirring in the background as anxiety, and attempts to counter it by pouring energy into its defensive structures. Primary among them is projection - identifying this internal activity as originating externally. The alienated part of the psyche is experienced as coming from someone else. This person or group can now be fought against, with the mistaken belief that by defeating the external opponent the threat will be eliminated. However, as long as Pluto continues to energize the internal, unconscious psychic structures, as one enemy is defeated another emerges to take his place. The battle never ends, until, of course, all resources are depleted and the conscious Saturnian structures collapse.

Sagittarian Transformation

Let us now apply this analysis to the movement of Pluto through Sagittarius. As the psyche builds up a conscious Sagittarian belief system, any experiences or ideas that are inconsistent with this belief system are banished to the unconscious. The hallmark of Sagittarius is an integrated consistency of belief. Any experience is either fitted into pre-existing conceptual categories, or else rejected as nonsense. A stable Sagittarian belief system thus is able to understand everything that it experiences consciously, and tends to interpret this as knowing. It is not a far jump from knowing to being sure that its understanding is the right way to look at things.

As Pluto moves through Sagittarius, it energizes those unconscious experiences and ideas that are inconsistent with the conscious belief system. This tends to result in doubt, confusion, unsureness. A rigid Saturn fights vigorously against these feelings, single-mindedly doing everything in its power to maintain its consistency of belief and therefore its absolute sureness of being right. It projects the unconscious, challenging ideas onto an enemy that can be attacked and annihilated. Make no mistake, for this type of Saturn this is fight to the death. Since the real enemy is internal, the fight eventually, inevitably ends in the destruction of Saturn and all that it holds dear.

A healthy Saturn, on the other hand, has created a consistent Sagittarian belief system, but maintains it with less of a heavy hand. While asserting the necessity to make moral judgments and to act on these, it recognizes the limitations of its own knowledge. It relies on its ideas and beliefs to navigate through life, but remembers that they are just that - beliefs - not absolute truth. As Pluto stirs up experiences and ideas in the unconscious, even a healthy Saturn will at first act to maintain the stability of its consistent ideology. However, as more and more energy is diverted to oppose these insistent challengers, other needs going unmet in the process, Saturn will begin to recognize the extremeness of its response. It will allow the feelings of doubt and unsureness to emerge into consciousness, and honestly begin to consider the validity of those inconsistent points of view. It will release its tight grip on its mind, and allow a re-structuring of its orientation to occur, integrating any newly acknowledged ideas and perceptions. The Sagittarian belief system is expanded and transformed, the psyche now capable of understanding and acting upon a greater range of phenomena.

The key, then, to choosing Sagittarian transformation over self-destruction, lies in the willingness to be unsure. To the extent that you are willing to leave open the possibility that you are wrong, even though everything that you know tells you you are right, you have not begun down the path of mental ossification. At the end of this Pluto transit you will be able to look back and say, "The world is a bigger and more meaningful place for me than it was a few years ago." But what about our leaders, and our nation?

Leading Us to Destruction

American politicians, for awhile now, have been desperately avoiding the charge that they "flip-flop" on issues. It is as if a mark of a "strong leader" is total conviction in what he believes, with an unwavering adherence to those beliefs no matter what. "Stay the course." What ever happened to learning? And what ever happened to a considered judgment based on the current facts at hand? Wouldn't George Bush have a lot more support these days if he had said, "According to our best estimates, we believe that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction."? Or, "Mission Accomplished was a bit premature." How many times must we hear Dick Cheney say versions of "The insurgency is in its last throes" before he says, "Whoops, I was wrong about that."? Whatever I may otherwise think about the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, I found it refreshing when he said that kidnapping the Israeli soldiers was a mistake.

And for years it has been so fashionable on talk radio and TV to utter bombastic pronouncements concerning the laughable ignorance if not disreputable motivations of one's political opponents. I get so tired of hearing someone trying to drown out an opposing view with loud and sarcastic criticism. They doth protest too much, methinks.

I don't need our leaders to tell me that our enemies are "evil-doers". It is enough that they are willing to kill themselves and innocent people to accomplish their ends to convince me that they need to be forcefully opposed. At the same time, I want to know what they believe, what has motivated them to take such extreme measures. I don't want to hear any version of "God is on our side". Tell me strongly what you believe, and even maybe why you think it important that I believe it too. Just don't tell me that anyone who disagrees with you is either treasonous or a tool of the Devil.

When I hear someone speaking as if they are in possession of the one and only truth, I see a fear-based, rigid Saturn desperately attempting to keep self-doubt at bay. They may be committed to go down a path of self-destruction, but I hope the rest of us choose instead transformation.