On the 9th April, Pluto goes retrograde until September. Pluto, the planet of transformation, change and regeneration remains in Capricorn. As always, retrograde Pluto reminds us to accept change in our lives. As one thing comes to an end, a new cycle begins.
Pluto is the transformer, and in retrograde his energies are turned towards inner change and transformation. There seems to be a potency and intensity about Pluto when retrograde, almost as though the energy ray becomes more concentrated. This in turn leads to a sense of pressure for each of us to go within in order to let go of those thoughts, patterns, attitudes and ideas that no longer serve us.
We often find ourselves in repeating patterns in our lives, when this happens it is easy to feel that our lives are out of control, spinning wildly. At the same time, these patterns are often the core of our feelings of powerlessness – and it is not that our power is taken from us; more often we give it away, getting into self-negating and destructive patterns that chip away at our self-confidence, self-belief and inner strength.
Pluto makes us face up to these challenges by throwing up issues we had long thought resolved. They are thrown into our awareness or our line of vision. He wants us to see that these issues have not yet been fully eliminated or released from our psyches. The challenge with Pluto though, is the fact that he doesn’t accept being ignored, he doesn’t like it when we bury our heads in the sands trying to remain oblivious from the issues we simply find too challenging or traumatic. Pluto keeps pushing us, chipping away at our resistance until we face up to the things we need to face up to. If we continue to ignore him longer term, he has ways of making us pay attention; from personal experience he can make us STOP, forcing us to pay attention.
This sounds cold and heartless, and in some ways when we think of this distant dot at the far reaches of our solar system, we can see why. However, Pluto represents cycles, endings AND beginnings, and he helps us to see that we can’t have one without the other. Things come and go in life, and we need to take notice and be open to change. Resistance is futile, and we need to surrender to the flow of life. This is not the same as giving up though, quite the opposite in fact, rather Pluto is about letting go of the old and outdated, letting go of the things holding us back, preventing us from welcoming in the new into our lives. It is about taking hold of our inner strength, and embracing the inevitable changes that we face.
In order to work positively with Pluto, each of us needs to be open to going within, to be aware of what lies beneath. Pluto will help us to dig deep, to be aware of ourselves and our lives at the deepest levels.
Pluto is the catalyst, and his influence, whilst challenging, is completely necessary. Pluto just can’t be ignored, and his retrograde phase this year seems to be quite intense. It seems that for those of us on a spiritual path, the need to clear out our inner closets of cobwebs and skeletons is particularly important. So the coming months are likely to bring great inner challenges, but if we are prepared to truly embrace Pluto, we are likely to be feeling stronger, more complete and much more in control of our lives and destinies as a result.
So, this is not a time to fear, but a time to embrace. Acceptance is key, after all what choice do we have?!