Pluto's "demotion"
Posted under astrologyI was wondering how the declassifying of Pluto as a planet will affect astrology interpretations. – Carol
Hi Carol—
Astronomical classifications don’t really worry us astrologers, but they seem to affect the importance of the different energies in mainstream consciousness. For example nuclear energy has always been there, but it wasn’t until Pluto was found that it became a part of human life. We have plenty of examples of this—Uranus/electricity, Neptune/pharmaceuticals etc. What we don’t have to base a guess on is an example of a planet being “demoted” previously. So it’s hard to say what the long term effect is, if any. It certainly doesn’t change Pluto’s energy, and I don’t see myself discontinuing using Pluto in chart interpretations anytime soon.
That was my quick response to a question I received via e-mail. I thought others would be interested, so I posted it here. I’m sure I and other astrologers will have other thoughts as the dust settles. I am kind of excited about Ceres and Xena being in the same new “class” of planety things as Pluto. It’s a step up for them, and perhaps a step up for the Goddess energies in human consciousness. I sure hope so.
p.s. Aries62 over at Node-o-rama posted a link to this short interview with Robert Hand on NPR. I thought he did a good job explaining things. “It’s really a matter of whether astrologers feel they can get meaningful symbolism out of the thing rather than strictly speaking any physical reality.”
In other words, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
- 24 August 2006
Molly Cliborne
1 · María · 24 August 2006
Hi Molly,
Wow, Interesting and way cool that Ceres and Xena are now classified as ‘minor’ or ‘dwarf’ planets. Whatever or however Pluto is classified as, it has really played a major role in my chart in the last 5 years or so and I can really feel its enery—so significant, soooo many changes that I thought would never happen and so much healing in my life. And what will Xena bring? I like the Goddess Energies approach to human energies—the Universe knows we need a lot of healing for humankind and Mother Earth. Speaking of Goddess energies, I just read an article on the astroid Chariklo, who is Chiron’s wife. I felt that really significant and she is smack dab in my 12th house and conjunts my Sun, Venus, and almost Chiron too.
María
2 · Tim McCormack · 27 August 2006
I’m a little confused. Pluto being demoted has no particular impact on astrology, but Xena, Charon, and Ceres being promoted does?
3 · Molly · 27 August 2006
Hi Tim-- Pluto has been in use for a long time, so his importance to astrologers is well established. It's doubtful at this point that a change in astronomical status is going to affect that. Kind of like if a tomato were reclassified as a fruit. It wouldn't really change the way you make salads.
Charon isn't a big deal because he and Pluto are one in the same as far as astrology is concerned. They are always in the same location in the Zodiac, so there's no distinction.
Ceres has been known for a long time as one of the "asteroid goddesses," the goddess of the harvest, symbolic of nutrition, nourishment, family ties, growth. Her change in status, being lumped in with Pluto, I think might give astrologers reason to take a closer look at her, to give her more consideration, perhaps more importance when delineating charts.
Xena or UB313 is brand new on the scene. Astrologers have always figured out new planets gradually through research and observation, letting the symbolism emerge over time.
What I particularly like is that two planets with feminine names are stepping up. I don't know how it works, but somehow planets tend to get named for archetypes that prove to be relevant astrologically.
Although there are those that say Uranus was improperly named. That he should have been called Prometheus.
4 · Robert · 27 August 2006
I was inspired by the news, to adapt a poem:
The Death of Pluto
Adapted by Robert Croog (by substituting Pluto for Tammuz) from the poem by Saul Tchernichowsky, "The Death of Tammuz", Hebrew, translated by L. V. Snowman, published in "A Treasury of Jewish Poetry from biblical Times to the Present", edited by Nathan and Marynn Ausubel)
"Pluto is dead," Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, discover of 2003 UB313 ("Xena"), told reporters in a teleconference, August 25, 2006.
"And behold, there sat the women, weeping"." Ezekiel 8:14
Go, daughters of Zion
And weep you for Pluto,
For Pluto, the beautiful Pluto is dead;
And days dark with cloud and eclipse of the soul,
Autumn days endless the days are ahead.
Let us rise with the sun
darkness of night,In the spring of the morning,
To the forest where lingers the
To the forest where visions and secrets are hidden,
To the altar of Pluto-- high place of the light.
What dance shall we dance
Pluto this day?Around the high altar?
What dance shall we dance for
To the left, to the right, and sevenfold seven,
We shall bow to him, calling "return to our play."
To the left, to the right,
footing it slow;And seven by seven,
But hand in hand straightly, and
Pluto wherever he be we shall seek him,
The lads and the maidens apart they will go.
We have sought on the roads
light of the sun,And the highways for Pluto,
Where the crossroads lie bathed in the
Sweet to the heart in their warmth and their peace,
The sparrows fly there and the larks carillon.
We have sought Pluto
of spices,In thickets where leaves fall,
In mazes of holly and forests of pine;
Peradventure he sleeps among incense
In the circle of toadstools, the faery shrine.
We have sought Pluto
through the dell,But vain 'twas to find him,
We clambered the hills and came down
We followed the traces of all mystic wonders--
The abode of the gods and wherever they dwell;
In the grove, in the hedges,
fire,By trees that are altar fuel,
The woodland recesses-- all fodder for
But only the sparrows cried in their hunger
About the high place-- ruins trodden in mire.
No trace of the fairies
laughter ceased, too,Was found in the meadows,
With the whispering brook their
Calves graze in the meadows and there the lambs frolic
Round the springs and the wells with fall of the dew.
O, daughters of Zion,
troublous is sped,Go mourn in beholding
How the world on its course dull and
The distress of a world whose spirit is darkened,
For Pluto, the beautiful Pluto is dead.
Comment:
I am inspired by this poem and its themes which are symbolic of Pluto: death, youth, hidden and mysterious places, occult energy and return to the Earth, decay and regeneration in nature, and a playful sense of foreboding. It is a propos of Pluto's recent demotion from planetary status, and the comments of Mike Brown. It has been suggested among astrologers, now that Pluto has now been banished from the official and conscious roster, he will emerge in unexpected ways to claim a place. Pluto the Greek god emerged from the underworld to capture the beautiful goddess who was to be his wife. Their relationship gave rise to the cycle of the seasons.—R.
Note:
Saul Tchernichowsky's poem reflected his desire to have Judaism return to an organic culture closer to the biblical era than contemporary rabbinical ways; hence the pagan allusions. The book of Ezekiel mentions women "weeping for Tammuz" as an example of their straying from the faith. Tammuz was a Babylonian god, known to the Greeks as Adonis, lover of Aphrodite. The death of Tammuz/Adonis was an annual holiday of mourning in late Summer, a sign of the Fall days to come.
—R.
5 · Molly · 28 August 2006
Thanks Robert! Although I doubt Pluto is really dead, undead maybe like vampires. Only as dead as death can be. And we all know death is eternal.
Some comic commentary on the demise of Pluto. (The blogger that posted it thinks astrology is bullshit, but I like him anyway.)
6 · rosada · 2 September 2006
Could there be some connect between the deep denial we are in about the state of the planet and the demoting of Pluto? Like, rather than dealing with the awareness of death Pluto brings, we just deny it exists?