Pluto Retrograde- Cocytus

The Wraith by Jay Parker, CCL

Effective Date- 4/17-9/25/16

Helios says- Close your eyes. Do you feel it? That overwhelming emptiness, barely kept out of your thoughts. You distract yourself from the ache, piling on obligations, frivolities, drugs, and meaningless sex, what have you…  But every time you blink, or rest your eyes, and breathe again, there it is- Always hovering at the edges, threatening to swallow you whole.

You fear it. You are afraid because you know it is powerful, you know that it cannot be stopped. It is pervasive and it never sleeps. It dwarfs your own mortality. It whispers dark lies to you in the quiet- that you are ugly, that you do not fit in, that you never were good enough and you never will be, no matter what you do. It whispers that your loved ones do not love you back, and that you cannot trust them, they will only betray you in the end.

It whispers to you that you are alone in this world.

It whispers that in the end, all you truly have is it, the emptiness- Your last stalwart companion.

This is Pluto Retrograde. He will summon shades of the truth; never the whole picture, that’s not his style- not when just a bit is enough to have power over you. He knows your fears and he will play on them. He will conjure up ghosts of your past to terrify you, forcing you further within yourself so that you are further and further isolated from anyone who can help you, leaving you with only the darkness to whisper in your ear.

You must not let this happen. I understand this temptation better than most- The darkness knows secrets beyond mortal ken, and will tempt you with this occult knowledge just as much as it will try to terrify you into submission (Pluto is nothing if not an extremely skilled Dom, with intimate knowledge of your weaknesses and just how far you can be pushed), and you will walk into this thinking that you can flirt with the darkness for a weekend and come out unscathed, because you have before. Before you were brought to the edge, and it gave you an amazing rush, just enough to remind you that you are still alive. Ever since, you have pushed further and further, dancing ever more erratically on the knife’s edge. You have grown careless and overconfident- because you have not faced any true consequences yet, you think that you never will. I am telling you that if you dance with the devil this time around, he will take his due.

That is not to say that you should never go out dancing again, far from it! I am just telling you that this time, decline the invitation and make the bastard work for it. You have become far too easy of a date, and you need to play hard to get! It’s time to make this relationship with the darkness work for you, rather than it be all on his terms! Dance on your own if you have to- don’t be so predictable that you will wait around for a partner, because he can smell that desperation a mile away and will absolutely prey on it.

Oh, and stop responding to his booty calls. Leave the bastard blue-balled for a bit- It builds character.

Artemis says- CARDS:  4 of Swords AND 6 of Swords

Rune:  Thoronzon

“Sometimes I feel like a Buddhist and I need to chant; sometimes a Baptist and I need to holler and shout; and sometimes I need to be a Catholic and need to purge my sins and confess. It just depends on where I am.” - Jill Scott

Pluto retrograde is a scary fucking time.  I mean, Pluto is already a scary fucking planet.  He is the dude that tells it like it is no matter the costs.  Those with prominent Pluto in their charts seem to carry around mega speakers and KABLAM energy anywhere they stomp.  This is because they are the reckoning.  They are the transformer.  They are death, the destroyer of words.  Get ready for nuclear bombs to set of inside your brain.  Pluto retrograde is on the horizon, and it’s in that devil of a goat of a sign ruled by super serious scary Saturn; Capricorn.

The one rune I pulled, Thurisaz (the thorn), is very clear with its meaning in this situation; total and utter war with the self + tilling of the soil.  You can’t plant new seeds if the soil is not fertile – if there is some harmful insect ready to eat anything you attempt to grow.  It’s going to be uncomfortable and it’s going to feel hollow, so I suggest you carry around a little light with you wherever you go – like a lantern.  Bring something or focus on something every day that brings some form of joy in your life.  In a lot of mystical circles it is tradition to purge before initiation.  Actors do this before they begin to learn a new character.  They must purge themselves, destroy the old character and rebirth into the personality of the new. 

It seems Pluto wants us to purge and become the next version of ourselves.  Hopefully it’s someone you WANT to be as opposed to someone you are being forced to become.  Unconscious forces will be magnified, and psychological issues may erupt more than usual.  You can expect a lot of people to be snapping due to aggression, especially when Mercury retrograde and Mars retrograde join this Pluto retrograde.  Please realize that a lot of your aggression toward other people may be due to miscommunication and everyone dealing with deep psychological issues during this period.

Because Pluto rules in the macro sphere as well, this is likely to be a period of mass corruption and secret warfare.  I expect a lot of what is going to go on here will be purged out and emerge for the public sphere when Pluto goes direct in a few months.    

The things that you really want, like money or power or fame or love, you will start to see all of the shadow reasons why you love these things.  You will see the rot that surrounds the edges of everything, and you will bring it out and transform it.  Or you will become more crippled and dead than before.  It’s your choice.  It’s always your choice.  Pluto is the god of the underworld and the reflection that being in this underworld brings, and these reflections are going to get violent. 

The two cards I pulled for Pluto Retrograde are both Swords; 4 of Swords and 6 of Swords.

Swords represent air and the season of winter.  They talk to us about ideas, the intellect, communication, truth, power, deception and violence.  With two of these cards playing off of each other, this Pluto Retrograde is going to be extremely cerebral.  I would say that if you have issues with anxiety or depression, you should build some safety nets for yourself for this 5 month period.  If you can anchor yourself in correctly and narrow in on one issue at a time and truly dive (with support from those you truly trust to watch over you), you will succeed in purging the demons holding you back from taking your next step.  If you really don’t trust a fucking soul, you’re going to have to grit down big time right now.  It’s going to be a rough fight, especially with these other retrogrades joining Pluto (Saturn, Mars, Mercury).  You need to be hyper aware in this time because illusions will become thick.  If you practice, it is a good time to work with deities like Shiva. 

Where 4 of Swords is forcing us to heal our inner wounds, the 6 of swords tells us to move the fuck on.  Hello!  Your boat has taken off (probably without you).  Good job.  Now you’re going to have to swim out to it instead of sitting comfortably inside of it as you transit to the next shore.  We warned you about this boat in former sky watches – well there it goes.   Don’t let the things that you want vanish like a ship in the night.  Start swimming, face your fears, dive into the depths and get on that boat and move the fuck on.  If you don’t, you can bet you’ll be trapped in last year’s karmic wheel.  You don’t want to go through all that bullshit again, do you?  It’s time to illuminate, destroy, and transform.  I wish you all the best of luck.    

Saturn Sextile Scorpio (and Trine Chiron)- Scar Tissue

Show of hands- Who feels like this right now? All of you (Including your humble Astrologer)? Good, you're not lying to yourself. Awesome, you're ahead of the game. So, here's the rules for the next round:

Saturn and Pluto are resuming their fuqery- Enjoy that. If that wasn't enough, Chiron is also coming to the party too. Fun times, aye? So since we haven't really had a chance to sit down and talk about it, man to audience, I think its high time we made this happen.

Lets start from the outside in- Pluto: The black, dread lord of Hell. The bastard is in Capricorn (Saturn's Sign) and has been raking you over the coals since about 2008. This produces one of two extreme effects- Either you break under his torture, or you get stronger and use his power as your own. More often then not however, one leads to the other with our Dark Lord. Still, we're stuck in his particular hell till about 2024, so not much we can do about the situation, except for to manage as best as possible, be relentlessly upwardly mobile at all times, and make sure to grab a piece of the pie for you and yours- screw anyone else.

Saturn of course, is currently in Scorpio (Pluto's Sign)- So the two create a mutual reception, strenthening and supporting each others goals, giving each other a strong ally. Saturn is of course, the Lord of Time and is a relentless teacher of his lessons- But very generous to those that he favors and the ones who choose to work with him instead of fighting. In Scorpio, he is the torturer that forces you to rake others over the coals, speeding up the Pluto process. However if you only agree to do it, and abandon your own inhibitions toward it, then the rewards are palpable- You become a King of Hell, in and of a sort.

Chiron is the wild card- Not part of the mutual reception, and in Pisces with Neptune (but far enough away not to exacerbate matters), Chiron is someone we haven't spent nearly enough time talking about. However, I could devote every post from now til the end of the site and I still couldnt cover Chiron enough. Chiron is the Master, the Wounded Healer who is both animal and man, and uses his wisdom (and pain) to train up Heroes. He takes regular, broken down and tired people and transforms them into brilliant, shining amazing specimens of what we could all be, at our best. He takes us in and shares what he knows, for our own benefit, so that we can go out and share it with others to make the world better, however we can.

Now how to read these three together? I assure you, it would be much easier if we didnt have a huge, fuck-off stellium in Pisces muddying up the already very cloudy waters- The Sun, Mercury Retro, Venus, Mars,  and Neptune (the sign Ruler), all cozied up together (well, give or take a few degrees). But we do, so there you have it. Anyway, this gives all three of the players listed above a major power boost, so they are given even more importance. At least if you listen to them, that is.

Anyway, how it goes is something like this- Pluto cuts you off at the knees, breaks and tortures you, bringing back all of your old pain and baggage that you refuse to deal with. Then Saturn swoops in, scoops you up and says "Look, you know what would help you and make you feel a lot better? Making someone ELSE feel what you've been put through. Here, let me show you how its done." From there, you learn, and get more proficient, but emotionally you're frozen and even more broken then before. At your worst, enter Chiron. He grips you tight, and lifts you out of Perdition- taking you back to his cave, a safe place, and he helps you heal.

Once you confront your demons, and learn to laugh at them, then you do the process in reverse- You go back to the gates of hell, kick them in, and help others to get free when and where you can. You learn the hard lessons, like how not everyone can be, or even wants to be, saved; And even when you save them, they never thank you (Saturn)- but you save a couple. You make a difference. Not as much as you may want, but never discount a small action- they usually have the greatest effects. You pass on what you know, and what you learned. You learn a couple things yourself! You see it all again, through their eyes, and it gives you a fresh perspective. You come away changed, and better for it- Rooted in a strong sense of Self and embracing your own power, you become magnificent (Pluto).

As to what happens after that, well thats entirely up to you. Besides, id hate to ruin the surprise!

-The Astrogeek