On Capricorn, Aquarius and Pluto (Skip this one if you don't like woo-woo) (Patreon)

I wrote some of this up to comfort a friend, but I think some of you will enjoy it too. If you don’t believe in astrology, of course, this is all nonsense to you! Honestly I think astrology should be nonsense, but somehow it has been uncannily accurate for my whole life so I have to believe in it the way you end up having to believe in ghosts if you buy a haunted house and the ghosts won’t leave you alone.

Anyway, I am not like, a pro astrologer or anything, but I am a Capriquarius and I have a lot of gut thoughts right now because I have really been watching this Pluto transit probably more than any transit ever.

Since 2008, Pluto (the slow moving planet of transformation) has been in Capricorn but on November 19th it is moving in Aquarius for the next almost-20 years.

Capricorn likes money, authority, and stability. We entered Capricorn in 2008, the year of the financial crisis, and entered a period of increasing financial inequality, the rise in prominence of tech billionaires and authoritarians, and social media began to shift from a space of conversation without monetization into an ad-infested hellscape of influencers and "hauls". If you worked well with this transit, you probably bought a home, did well in the stock market, and thrived in your career, as this was also an era with a rise in global prosperity and individual entrepreneurship. (Like most eras, it came with good and bad.)

Now we're shifting. The last time this era occurred it encompassed some of the most crucial years of the fight for American independence as well as the French Revolution. It also encompassed the Protestant Reformation/breaking away from the Roman Catholic church. Both of these moments in history involved entrenched authorities and their ideas being vigorously and violently challenged and ultimately the weakening of that authority and a rise of new ideas and technologies that have a big influence on society collectively.

Because Aquarius is a very different energy. At her best, Capricorn is your pragmatic and reassuring friend you asked about how to invest for retirement. Aquarius is your hilarious friend who can happily live in a camper van and knows random facts about both astrology and the French Revolution (hi it's me I am both of these friends actually), and she's also everyone else's friend, although she might not get as emotionally close as you might like. In short, Capricorn cares about finance and solid power structures where Aquarius cares about community and ideas.

That is to say, if you're thinking about how to cope with this new era as I am, I am thinking:

1. Focus less on your wealth, work and material possessions; if you are distressed by matters that feel beyond your control, organizing and participating boycotts and strikes might be effective ways of dealing with it

2. Think more about building real and tangible communities, particularly as there is probably chaos on the way; Aquarius will die for their beliefs and break systems more than Capricorn will

3. Embrace visionary ideas, also know they might come from unexpected sources (hey, if an alien shows up offer 'em a cup of tea)

If any of you are into astrology and have thoughts, I’d love to hear them. I don’t have a good sense of what the Neptune into Aries transit will mean for this, for starters. Neptune has always felt elusive to me (which is kind of her thing, but). I hope this helps a few of you.

xo,

Lidiya