The Times They Are A-Changin’
~ Bob Dylan
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
~ Bob Dylan
Copyright © 1963, 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991, 1992 by Special Rider Music
Early this morning, Pluto and the Sun met up at 29°59’ of Capricorn—their last conjunction in Capricorn for approximately 250 years. Then, within the hour, the Sun moved into Aquarius. Pluto followed in the Sun’s footsteps late this afternoon.
Much has been said in astrological circles about today’s events, and no doubt it’s monumental. Much has also been written and podcast about what Pluto in Aquarius will bring over the next two decades based on other eras when Pluto was in this sign. The thing is, the last time Pluto was in Aquarius, human beings didn’t know it existed, so it wasn’t in astrological charts at the time. We can only reconstruct those times in light of the understanding of where Pluto was hiding in the sky, and how that energy was at play in the events we now look back upon. Who can say how much impact awareness about the energies a planet represents has on our thinking about it after that planet comes to live in our consciousness? Which is to say, that all that follows about Pluto is based on a retrospective understanding of the how symbolic meaning played out in history before the planet was discovered in 1930.
Since I already wrote about Pluto entering Aquarius in my last two posts, I didn’t think I’d be writing today, but I felt drawn to look back through history and charts from other times of upheaval to see what I might learn.
In Mythology, Pluto is Lord of the Underworld and associated with powerful primal human urges. He rules over power, the hidden, the taboo and deep psychological processes. Under plutonian influence we are called to face our shadow, to delve into our subconscious and unconscious to better understand our motivations and purge whatever is stagnant, corrupt or no longer life-enhancing. Transformation is a Pluto word. The challenging underworld passage through death to rebirth and new life is meant to empower us, not destroy us.
Capricorn, where Pluto has been since 2008-9, has to do with authority and the established tangible institutions that have held the structure of our society in place over time. Capricorn is about centralized power, the idea of top-down governance where “the father” that takes care of the children (the people)1, and the evidence of Pluto’s deconstruction is everywhere. We’ve seen the rot in banking, industry, government, medicine, finance and more. What institution hasn’t broken down over the last fifteen years? Pluto will be wrapping up unfinished business in Capricorn for a couple months this fall (just in time for the US election), but between now and then, we’ll get a preview of what he might be up to for the next 20 years.
Aquarius too is a social sign, but it’s more idealistic and conceptual than practical; concerned with systems and paradigms, mental structures and how they influence what’s possible in concrete reality. The idea is the betterment of humanity as a whole. Aquarius is progressive as opposed to Capricorn’s conservatism, and often we see a pendulum swing from status quo to rebellion as planets move through these two signs of the zodiac. It’s connected with science, technology, humanitarianism, equality, groups and community. It’s an air sign as opposed to Capricorn’s earthiness. Sometimes referred to as the sign of humanity, it’s in these arenas where we can expect Pluto’s work to unfold. What will it mean to deconstruct our concepts of what it is to be human?
The latter part of the 18th century until the mid-19th century is often referred to as the Age of Revolution, known for a massive shift in power in Western Europe and the Americas from absolute monarchies to various forms of representative government. Typically, the French Revolution is cited as the driving force behind this movement, but this is to overlook the fact that the fuel and appetite for revolution in the American colonies a decade earlier arose from a similar dynamic—the crown’s denial or dismissal of the needs and demands of its subjects.
The consistent theme of this era is decentralization of power—the people battling the state to reclaim power. The American Declaration of Independence and Constitution put it into these words, “All men are created equal…” and “We the people…”. The national motto of France and Haiti, “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”, is enshrined in the French constitution, but finds its origins in The French Revolution.
The writing of the American Constitution, the French Revolution and Haitian Revolution all occurred during the time that Pluto was last in Aquarius. In contrast with Louis XIV’s2 famous statement, “L’état, c’est moi” (I am the state), the people are not king, emperor or state. The last time Pluto was in Aquarius saw the beginnings of the final collapse of absolute monarchies in Western Europe and the demise of the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings.
The sign opposing Aquarius is Leo, associated with royalty and the heart. Leo is ruled by the Sun, the central power in our solar system. The symbol for the Sun makes it clear where the power lies, like the heart at the center of the human torso. The symbol for Aquarius is two equal lines that look like waves—no center. Leo is about “me”; Aquarius is about “we”.
Given that the next 7+ months will show us something of what Pluto is likely to dig up over the next 20 years, this is a particularly good time to take note of what’s going on, both in our personal lives and in the collective.
As I was thinking about the Age of Revolution in Europe, I was bothered by the fact that the Russian Revolution happened at an entirely different time. Not being a scholar of Russian history, I can’t trace the events of the 18th century in Western Europe to those of the 20th century in Russia. There may be a direct traceable connection, but what caught my attention in the charts was the relationship between Pluto and Uranus—the planet known to be associated with revolution and rebellion. During the time of the American, French and Haitian Revolutions, Uranus was in Leo, bringing his version of upsetting the apple cart to the heart of power. Interestingly enough, the events that led to the Russian Revolution can be traced to 1905-1912 while Pluto was widely opposite Uranus. In 1917, Uranus was in Aquarius within a couple degrees of where Pluto was in 1789. Now, Pluto moving into Aquarius puts him in a sign-based square to Uranus. What does all of this mean? Seeing this relationship doesn’t change anything really, just that it seems to me that these cataclysmic events of the late 18th century don’t relate to Pluto alone. The ripple from them, provoked during the passage of Pluto in Aquarius moved through time and it seems as though we can look to the moments when Pluto and Uranus were in tense aspect to each other to see the heights of that ripple.
Bob Dylan wrote The Times They Are A-Changin’ in the fall of 1963, performing it for the first time the night after JFK was assassinated. It was released in January 1964 with Pluto conjunct Uranus in Virgo. The times were indeed a-changin’.
None of us can predict the details of what will unfold during the next 20 years of Pluto’s passage through Aquarius, but we can be sure that the themes discussed above and in previous editions of Mercurial Musings (here, here and here) will be part of the story.
In 2025-26 Uranus, the planet of revolution, liberation and innovation will move from Taurus into Gemini; and Neptune, the planet of imagination, transcendence, illusion and dissolution will move from Pisces into Aries. Pluto leads the way, but with all three of the transpersonal planets moving into radically different signs, the only thing we can be sure of is that the times, they are a-changin’.
If you’d like some help decoding what Pluto, Uranus and Neptune changing signs might mean for you personally over the next couple years, I’m available for private consultations. Last year, I had the great pleasure of meeting some of you face to face over zoom. If you’d like to begin 2024 with a better understanding of yourself or what the year or years ahead might hold, I’d be delighted to serve as your guide to the current astrology. 2024-2026 promise to be big years.
As always, thank you for reading.
Cami
think Patriarchy
Reign: 1643-1715