At 26 degrees of Sagittarius, the Galactic Center of the Milky Way is hidden behind a veil of dust and gas. With Pluto, our Solar System's outermost planet (symbolic of the parts of ourselves we're least able to access) moving over this same degree, we are experiencing seismic shifts deep in our universal unconscious. The last time this occurred was in 1745, the birth of the industrial revolution. Daily life changed irrevocably as workers moved off the farms to gun production because of the Jacobite rebellion in Britain and textile expansion. The polarity of religious fundamentalism and religious exploration was represented by the birth of Hasidism and of Universalists. Ben Franklin ran with his kite to harness electricity. And of course, the voices of the American and French Revolutions were gaining momentum.
In the 1500s when Pluto was at this degree, the first map of America was published and the Protestant Reformation swept through Europe, laying the seeds for the ground on which the United States was established. Each time Pluto confronts the Galactic Center, we experience a death of the familiar routine of life while we embrace the “new birth”. It becomes impossible for us to go back to the way things were before, while we grapple with changes that we may not be able to cope with in the most progressive way.
When Pluto traveled through this point in the 1250's, eyeglasses were introduced and Marco Polo headed for China. The illuminating piece about looking at a transit historically is we can see parallels of what occurred in the past with the present. Our medical technology continues to provide options for people, but we must deal with its ramifications. As of today, the wounded US soldiers from Iraq that cannot return to duty totals over 7500. Our technology has altered the potential casualties of this war, but the long-term consequences of maimed survivors with limited services available to them will have a far-reaching impact on our society.
Historically we see how technology has changed how we “see” life. At this time, a spa owner tells me how her clients don't relax in the massage or treatment. Everyone has her cell phone on or Blackberry lit; we have become “married” to technology and it seems to have the signatures of a codependent relationship at best, or a battered one at worst.
Another theme has been religious expression and fundamentalism. The USA has its roots in this and we continue to struggle with the inherent paradox of giving complete freedom of religion to all. Pluto's message is always about meeting the Shadow in the mirror. Do we embrace and integrate it or do we try to eradicate it, never meeting its lessons?
As the retrograde Pluto returns to the point of the Galactic Center, we are given the opportunity to choose how we will cope with the Age of Destruction the Mayans foresaw. We can reassess choices made when earlier explorers tried to capture new worlds to make them their own. We are integrating cellular changes caused by the increasing electromagnetic field caused by our technology, which will affect the evolution of all life forms on our planet. We can choose if we will re-visit the Sagittarian celebration of the earth and the inherent information we can glean from it. When we stepped forward into the Industrial Revolution, did it have to be at the expense of an agrarian culture and the solidity of the family? Can we balance the freedom technology should avail us with a sophisticated cooperative of farming and education? We have the power of choosing what will be destroyed and what will be born. But make no mistake about it, the more each individual takes responsibility for our culture's destiny, the more spiritually evolved our decision will be. We have the opportunity to align our spiritual evolution with our technical evolution and each time we miss the opportunity, it gets more challenging to catch up. The thrust of Pluto's path is to allow us a chance to go light years in a lifetime.
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