Pluto Stations Retrograde

Pluto asks us to go beneath the surface of things. It is synchronistic that just recently, there was a prominent planetary alignment in the sky of Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and the Moon. You may have heard about this in the news, as it was a unique opportunity for all of us to view these planets gathered close together. Pluto was in that lineup, too, near to Jupiter. But we can’t see Pluto with the naked eye; it is even faint with a powerful telescope. The symbolism here is in keeping with the theme that it is difficult to be aware of what is hard to see. Pluto rules secrets, what is hidden, what is out of our usual line of sight.

When Pluto is prominent in the sky, or in our individual charts, we are invited to move beyond the superficial. Sometimes it’s not an invitation--we are forced to go down into our depths unwillingly. Whether we experience Pluto as invitation or brute force often depends upon how friendly we are with ole’ Lord of the Underworld to begin with.

And there’s no time like the present to get friendly with Pluto.

On Saturday April 25th, Pluto stations retrograde. In the weeks before and after a planet stations, we feel its power more potently. Meanwhile, Pluto is continuing its conjunction to Jupiter, which I wrote about previously here. The next couple of weeks will be a time to check in with yourself on an even deeper level than you might have even been doing thus far.

Here are some potential themes of Pluto’s station, with their opportunities, challenges, and helpful questions to consider:

Honest and uncomfortable conversations with friends and partners.

Challenge: Not many people enjoy confrontation. There can be stress leading up to these encounters.

Opportunity: These conversations can lead to healing of old resentments, thereby reinvigorating the relationship(s). They can also clear the way for relationships to end if that is in our highest good.

Questions: What resentment have I been holding on to regarding (name of partner, friend, or family member)? How is it depleting my ability to be present in this relationship? What would our relationship be like without this resentment?

Time for deeper self-analysis.

Challenge: Too much time to wallow in our stuff while potentially isolated can lead us into depression. If we don’t have good external resources and internal tools, we could generate an extremely painful head-space for ourselves.

Opportunity: If we combine self-analysis with conscious self-love, we can bring to light and heal persistent, painful thought patterns.

Questions: What belief about myself causes me the most pain right now? Where did it come from? What would my life look like if I just didn’t believe that anymore?

Enforced endings.

Challenge: Humans generally dislike change. It is scary to let go of the old when we don’t yet know what will take its place. Fear abounds.

Opportunity: We can be set free from things that have kept us limited, even as we willingly clung to them for security. Our passion is ignited by the possibility of the new.

Questions: What have I held on to for too long? Why did I hold on? What new beginning can occur when I let go of it?

Need to reach out for help.

Challenge: Asking for help is vulnerable. It’s hard to admit when we can’t do it all ourselves.

Opportunity: But we can’t easily see our shadow material on our own. Pluto work often requires that we call upon the wisdom of someone outside of ourselves. Maybe it’s time to reach out to a shaman, ancestral healer, astrologer, or therapist. Choose the modality that feels right to you.

Questions: What healing modality has been calling to me recently? What has kept me from reaching out for help? What might I gain from allowing myself to receive healing?

Full disclosure: I’ve experienced each of these themes in some form over the past couple of weeks. I’m a Pluto Person (Pluto-conjunct-Jupiter-conjunct-the-South-Node). And I’ve struggled with the challenges of each of these themes personally. I have had to actively call upon a great deal of self-compassion in order to move through the challenges. I encourage you to do the same. Balance the inherent intensity of this Pluto time with as much self-love as you can muster. It is possible to be relentlessly self-aware AND loving at the same time.