- Image: “Transfigured” by Gary Rosenberg
The Power of Pluto’s Presence
By
Sarah Varcas
During this period Pluto first opposes the Sun (3rd – 9th), then Mars (11th – 19th) and simultaneously Mercury (14th – 17th). When Pluto’s about, power games are rife. We extend supreme efforts to control the world around us, or others seek to shape us to their own ends. We may encounter both these scenarios: one minute seeking to control everyone else, the next trying to avoid the same being done to us. Awareness and discernment are precious beyond measure when this cosmic heavyweight is doing its thing!
Pluto illuminates the unlimited power available if we will but draw upon it. This power is the very stuff of creation, the primal chaos out of which new life is born from destruction and decay. We shrink from it, not wanting to claim it as our own, for at some level we know that in doing so we become excruciatingly responsible for every aspect of our life. As Juno reminds us, to become raw power is to become nature herself, the cycle of birth, life, destruction, death and decay. We must embrace each and every stage within ourselves, welcoming the stench of death as readily as the perfume of the celestial realms. It takes raw guts and profound courage to claim this power as our own, as our very self. Doing so changes us forever and there is no going back. Pluto’s power is the fuel of deep awakening which burns through everything in its path leaving only pure potential in its wake. It is fearsome in its unrelenting force and deep down we know this. Whilst we yearn for liberation we fear its demands and retreat from the precipice before we jump.
In the coming days we may feel Pluto’s presence, watching and waiting, forcing and pushing, bearing down and demanding our surrender to a greater and more powerful agenda than our own. The challenge is to recognise this is not personal power to be used for our own ends, but universal power to be channelled through us for the fulfilment of life itself. No matter how chaotic or disordered life may seem, through all things there flows a pattern and potential. Our task as nature waking up to herself, is to allow that pattern and potential expression, bringing ourselves into alignment with the greater movement toward wholeness.
Should we batten down the hatches, adopt a siege mentality and perceive this power as personal, feelings will run high and we may end up doing and saying things best avoided! We need to discern where we must stand firm, where we can push forward and when we simply need to wield the power of surrender – an often misunderstood expression of a deeply transformative force. Pluto doesn’t turn up to help us get our own way but to show us the way of transformation which leads through darkness into light. It reveals where allies can be found, strengths developed and opportunities seized, alongside where we must offer ourselves to a greater force which shapes all things to a design beyond our comprehension.
Right now we can discover deep inner reserves of endurance, patience, wisdom and possibility. Drawing on them will provide the necessary fuel to align ourselves with the universal flow of becoming. Power struggles encountered in the coming weeks will threaten to waste our time and energy, merely complicating situations which require the opposite. Far better that we step aside – let others think, feel and do what they must – and remember that our future is shaped by the quality of our present. Energy used to control the world is wasted in pursuit of the impossible.
Beware, now, of feeling too self-assured, too certain of your own invincibility. Beware, also, of those who are convinced their way is best. Truth is, we each must walk our own path and Pluto reveals some twists and turns in it now. They may challenge and stretch us, demand surrender or implore acts of power we never thought possible. It reminds us that true power dwells within, to be drawn upon to fulfil evolutionary potential. To invest it solely in egoic power games and battles for domination will simply serve the anti-agenda of entropy and malaise once all energy is spent.
However it may feel, Pluto is firmly on our side affirming we are so much more than we think we are and yet nothing compared to All That Is. Balancing these two extremes into a creative force for the manifestation of authentic potential is our uniquely human task. In the coming days our cosmic taskmaster is on the case, ensuring we don’t let a single moment go to waste on our evolutionary journey of becoming.
Sarah Varcas
