Pluto Not a Planet?

Upon the announcement that the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto is no longer a planet, I began to have many people asking me what this means for astrology. My first reaction, somewhat defensive and critical, was "not a damn thing!" What a bunch of scientists that have no use for astrology think about Pluto is of no relevance to astrology. Pluto the physical body continues to orbit the Sun, and Pluto the archetype represented by that body continues to have the same power and meaning it had before. How you define the physical body does not affect the archetype.

Then, however, after my huff began to subside, I began to realize that of course this will have an effect. Pluto, the planet of death and rebirth, has just died (or, more specifically, has been killed). The Solar System, as it will be presented by science, now has eight planets. The whole no longer includes Pluto. The conscious whole, that is. Pluto will go underground, where it is at its most powerful. Pluto will now operate even more in our collective unconscious. For a while. Let's not forget about rebirth.

In a certain way I am telling myself that I should have seen this coming. Pluto is in Sagittarius, which rules our belief systems, our models of the universe. As Pluto moves through this sign, our models have to change, transform. Well, one of them just did.