The 2022 United States Pluto Return

 

The Pluto return of the United States is one lens to analyze recent American cultural and political history. A Pluto return, like other planetary returns, is when the planet Pluto returns to a specific degree in the zodiac. Because Pluto takes around 240 years to complete its return, it has a unique interpretive value when compared to the planetary returns of the other planets, which are much shorter in length. It should be stressed that the planet Pluto was not used in traditional mundane astrology. Pluto was only discovered in 1930, and its use as a tool to understand countries, nation states, empires, kingdoms, or other political bodies is relatively new and uncharted. The Pluto return of the United States is primarily the most popular application of the Pluto return to a nation state. With the recent popularity of astrology in the United States, the concept of a Pluto return has appeared in popular culture. Kanye West recently posted on instagram about the US Pluto return, and mainstream media organizations have reported on the phenomenon.¹ To examine a Pluto return, an astrologer has to decide upon a key event that can be associated with the birth of a country, such as the creation of a constitution or the declaration of nationhood. Most people agree that the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 was a seminal event in the history of the United States. On that day in 1776, the planet Pluto was at 27 degrees Capricorn in the tropical zodiac. The most commonly cited chart for the United States founding is the Sibley chart, which has the signing of the Declaration of Independence at 5:10 PM July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Using the Sibley chart data, I will discuss issues related to the United States’s Pluto return, including difficulties and challenges, and present my views on it. 

Pluto’s History and Significations

The planet Pluto was discovered in 1930, and astrologers like Reinhold Ebertin and Dane Rudyhar helped to create some of the significations that later astrologers like Robert Hand popularized in the 1970’s.² Richard Tarnas wrote further on the significations of Pluto in his book Cosmos and Psyche. Amongst Pluto’s significations are death, rebirth, transformation, hidden things, the unseen, invisible forces, intensity, heaviness, magnification, destruction, regeneration, the collective consciousness, effecting masses of people, power, control. intensification, primordial instincts, and the subterranean. 

There are issues around the choice of chart for the United States and interpreting the Pluto return. Because the Pluto return isn’t a part of traditional astrology, it’s important to discuss some issues around its application. First of all, the choice of the chart for the foundation of a nation is an important issue. The Sibley chart is largely accepted as the chart for the birth of the United States as a country. It should be considered how much the chart of the inception matters for the analysis of the Pluto return. Does the second house Pluto somehow indicate the country was founded with financial concerns playing a secretive but paramount role? Pluto in the second house would indicate a rich country, which is certainly true. America became the wealthiest country in the world after World War Two. Or can the Pluto return be interpreted regardless of the inception chart for a nation? In traditional astrology, using a root chart is an essential component of analysis. In this article, I will avoid interpreting the Pluto return in relation to all its aspects in the Sibley chart. Instead, I will relate it to its house in the Sibley chart.

There is a strange connection between the era a planet was discovered and the character of the times. The United States, for example, has a major conflict every time the outer planet Uranus enters Gemini. Uranus was discovered in 1781, not too far off from the time the United States was born. The American Revolution (1775-1783), the French Revolution (1789-1779), and the Napoleonic Code(1804), all stemmed from that time. In a recent episode of the Astrology Podcast, Tarnas explains the connection further. He connects Uranus to the industrial revolution, liberation, freedom, and revolution of the era.³ Neptune was discovered in 1864  and it coincided with Transcendentalism, Romanticism, Society for Cruelty to Animals, the Red Cross, child labor laws, according to Tarnas.⁴ Pluto was discovered in 1934, and the 1930’s was a time of totalitarian methods of control that hadn’t existed previously. There is an argument for connecting the time a planet was discovered and events that occurred in that time. 

Difficulties and Challenges

There are many other ways to interpret mundane events using planetary cycles. Astrologers using the Pluto return to analyze countries or kingdoms have to deal with other cycles such as the Medieval era’s historical astrological theory which relies on Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions and triplicity shifts as well as Saturn-Mars conjunctions in Cancer, or cycles that some modern astrologers like Rick Tarnas have used to understand history, such as the Saturn-Uranus cycles, and the Saturn-Pluto cycle, amongst others. Undoubtedly, there will be times the Pluto return may coincide with some of these cycles, but in other cases the other cycles will coincide with major historical events more concretely. Then, how should astrologer’s view new political formations, such as a republic becoming an empire, or a country that goes through a period of instability before the advent of a new ruling class and system? There are no clear answers and likely there will be various themes based on the cycles they correspond to. Therefore, the Pluto return might not align with some of the most revolutionary or important historical events of a given nation due to other cycles playing out. 

Some difficulties in analyzing Pluto returns that occurred in the past are lack of information, how to time the events precisely, problems with its wide application, whether to use Pluto returns for nations that have more than one Pluto return, and what kind of aspects to use. First, there’s the matter of having written records and source materials for understanding the Pluto return. The further back one goes, the less records there are of any given kingdom, empire, or political body. Next, writing for the Mountain Astrologer in 2019, Ray Grasse explains that the Pluto return should be viewed as a roughly 20 year period before events really settle into a concrete form.⁵  If the exact timing of the most visible events of a Pluto return can take place within such a large span of time it makes it difficult to analyze the Pluto returns for most nations. An additional problem in understanding Pluto returns is that it obviously would take a lot of time to apply the technique widely, as it can be applied to pretty much all historical kingdoms, empires, and nations we have records of. Another issue is that some astrologers seem to use the traditional founding of Rome as the origins of all later Roman history until the fall of the Roman empire two Pluto returns later. The same thinking has been applied to England since William the Conqueror’s invasion of 1066. But shouldn’t the Pluto return only be applied to organized, functioning systems with historical continuity? Should there be a relationship between the Pluto return of the Roman republic and the later Roman empire? Finally, there is the question of orbs. Besides the sign that Pluto resides in being a place that activates the initial themes or setting of the Pluto return, some astrologers might apply an orb of ten degrees for the effects of the Pluto return to fully manifest, and if Pluto is transiting at degrees that are near the end of the sign, the Pluto return could still be going on even when Pluto has left the sign the return occurred in. 

A Parallel in the Cultural Zeitgeist

The film Gladiator is related to the Pluto return in the cultural zeitgeist. In May 2000, the movie Gladiator was released. It went on to box office success and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Gladiator was a fictional story but some of the characters in the film were based on real historical figures. Joaquin Phoenix’s character was based on Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, the Roman emperor from the years 177 to 191 CE. Commodus was the son and heir to the famed Stoic philosopher and emperor Marcus Aurelius. During the early years of his reign, a group of senators tried to assassinate him. Further political problems developed. Later, the emperor fell into megalomania. Commodus renamed Rome the Colony of Commodus, imagined himself to be Hercules, and fought in the gladiatorial games.⁶  Commodus displayed narcissism and egotism. In relation to the Roman empire’s first Pluto return, Commodus’s rule led to the breakdown of Roman rule. It marked the end of the Pax Romana and the beginning of an era of instability. After his assassination in 191 CE, Septimus Severus became the leader and founded a short-lived dynasty. The empire’s Pluto return occurred near the end of the Severan dynasty’s rule. Following the end of the Severan dynasty, Rome faced a major period of instability, the Crisis of the Third Century. In the same way the beginnings of the empire were related to the First Triumvirate and the civil wars that followed it in the first century BCE, Commodus’s failed rule led to a period of decline that culminated in the Crisis of the Third Century. So, the commercial and critical success of Gladiator, a film that was released twenty years before the United States Pluto return, is an interesting phenomenon. One can speculate that the film being so well-received shows some level of unconscious awareness in the American cultural zeitgeist. Of course, it is unlikely most Americans that watched Gladiator were aware of the history of Rome in the late 2nd century. But as America approached its own national reckoning, it’s an interesting thought that the population of a modern day empire looked, at least subconsciously, to a bygone era and another empire’s own villainous leader whose reign was a low point. A bad stretch of time in the Roman empire corresponds to America’s own current impasse. On a final note, Commodus had some astrological parallels to President Trump. President Trump has Leo rising with Mars in Leo in the first whole sign house. Trump is widely known as being narcissistic and having a big ego, not unlike the much maligned Commodus. Commodus and President Trump were both larger than life. Therefore, there are parallels between two eras, the last decades of the 2nd century CE and the days before the US’s first Pluto return, and they are coincidentally highlighted by the success of the film Gladiator.

General Pluto Return Characteristics

A Pluto return has general characteristics. These include instability, leadership crisis, civil war, revolution, reform, and collapse. As noted earlier, there aren’t many astrology books or works that focus on Pluto returns. So, there is not really any consensus as to its characteristics, especially in the historical and political spheres. It would be easy enough to use the general significations of Pluto and to apply them to political events. But the internet has already seemed to create a collective view on Pluto returns. Through both articles on astrology blogs and social media posts, the Pluto return has come to mean instability, revolution, reform, or collapse. Tarnas suggests a Pluto return is about death and rebirth,⁷ and two of the political forms that match death and rebirth are revolution and civil war, both leading to a change of the form of a government.

Generally, I’ve noticed a few patterns while looking briefly at previous eras. There are nations that go through one Pluto return and then collapse. Then there are other nations that go through a few Pluto returns. Of the first group, the nations didn’t even make it to the Pluto return, or fell apart not long after. The second group includes the Sassanids and the Romans. Generally, political bodies that survived a Pluto return created major reforms to address previous problems and changed the structure of their political systems. The Roman republic had at least three Pluto returns. The Roman empire lasted long enough for two Pluto returns. Its largest reforms took place after the first Pluto return, when Diocletian instituted the tetrarchy.

Overlapping Cycles

One interesting aspect of the Pluto return occurring in the 2020’s is that it coincides with other planetary cycles. The 2020’s had a Saturn-Pluto conjunction in 2020, a true conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the air triplicity in 2020, marking a triplicity shift from earth to air, and the planet Uranus ingressing Gemini in 2025 and reaching its Sibley chart point later in the decade. Uranus in Gemini especially has great significance for the United States. During the American Revolution, Uranus was at 8 degrees Gemini and the other times it was in Gemini coincided with the Civil War and the Second World War. The occurrence of the Pluto return and Uranus entering Gemini in the 2020’s indicate two major crises facing modern Americans The two major cycles will occur simultaneously or one on top of the other. Is it possible for the 2020’s to have an American Revolution-like event and for the United States to have a World War Two-like involvement in world affairs? The relationship of the Uranus return to the Pluto return will be a fascinating dynamic to watch.

Pluto as Signifying the Ruling Classes

Though other aspects of Pluto are usually stressed, the planet Pluto has come to signify the ruling classes in modern astrology. This is one other way to view the Pluto return in the United States. The Pluto return would be about the elite classes and they would play a central role in it. The level of division in American society is nearly unprecedented in recent memory, and it could be argued that certain wealthy elites have fueled the division. Since the financial crisis of 2008, some Americans have called the United States a plutocracy. Again, there are connections to Pluto’s symbolism. In the Sibley chart, Pluto is in the second house of money. The word plutocracy means rule by the rich. The word ploutos means wealth, and originally the gods Hades and Plutus were separate. Over time the two became conflated. The role of the elite classes in the US Pluto return should not be ignored.  

The Pluto Return and the United States

Modern-day America is a great subject for employing a Pluto return upon. The United States has a well-documented history and is one of the newer nations on the world scene in the last three hundred years. As a result, there is less room for varying interpretations of the nation’s founding or its connection to previous political regimes. Therefore, the United States is the perfect model for a Pluto return. 

Modern-day Astrologer’s Views on the Pluto Return 

From what I have seen, the majority of astrologers with a strong online presence fall into two camps when it comes to their opinions on the Pluto return. They see it as being either related to financial matters or being a major source of change to the United States. On one side of the spectrum, there is a focus on financial matters.⁸  Some astrologers see it being a major monetary crisis, such as an end to the US dollar’s status as the reserve currency, a stock market crash, or a major financial crisis. On the other end of the spectrum, there are astrologers who are expecting events that are similar to a revolution. Some astrologers see it as a highly serious, life-changing matter, while other astrologers think its effects are going to be negligible or less important than other planetary cycles. Tarnas says it will be a death and rebirth.⁹ The opinions of the tens of thousands of contemporary astrologers on the US Pluto return would require an article in itself, so I will move on to my own views.

My View

Because of competing cycles in the 2020’s such as the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions making a shift to the airy triplicity or the type of cyclical change that comes with a 4th turning, it is difficult to ascertain exactly how the Pluto return will play out. So, I will make very general, apolitical forecasts. Modern technology makes it unlikely that the Pluto return will be like the American Revolution or the Civil War. The events of the Pluto return are not new to 2022, and they have been at play for a long time. Instead of a shooting war, the Pluto return has been characterized by information war, culture war, and war over the institutions of American life. It is the same war between the coastal regions and lands in between, the war of the Cathedral and the managerial class against the rural, blue-collar workers, deplorables, and populists. The Pluto return and other planetary cycles have already led to huge numbers of Americans having distrust of the media and unfavorable views of the political class.¹⁰ It will likely lead to a major fracturing of the social and political order and economic concerns are only one possible cause. I believe that 2022 will have some key events that lead to a crisis and some type of struggle. Social and political conflict will heat up, and in true American fashion, will once again pit freedom and authoritarianism on different sides like it did in the American Revolution. Hopefully, Americans will be able to avoid bloodshed and human suffering while preserving the Uranian principles in the Bill of Rights like freedom of religion, speech, and assembly. 

It seems clear to me that the United States won’t collapse on this Pluto return. One thing that was noted earlier is that when looking at the Roman Empire and the Sassanid Empire, both empires lasted at least two Pluto returns. A political body that reforms itself has the ability to reach at least two Pluto returns. Looking to Rome, it also seems that the form of government can change, that is it can go from a republic to an oligarchy or an oligarchy to an empire and so forth. Rome went from a republic to an empire after at least two Pluto returns. Its empire collapsed after its second Pluto return. It is possible that the United States will survive and go on to a second Pluto return. For some reason, it seems like the United States has an affinity with the Roman Empire. It might have more in common with the Roman Empire than we know and also survive to see a second Pluto return. Another thought is that it also seems that in the next Pluto return in 240-something odd years, America has a better chance of changing its system to an entirely new one than in the current one. The next article in this series will look at Pluto returns in the context of Roman history.

 

Parts of this article were adapted from an earlier article on Pluto returns, Fixed Signs on the Pivots Might Show Past Connections to America’s Founding: An Insight into How Modern Americans Might Experience the US Pluto Return of February 20, 2022 

 

Note to readers: Originally, Roman history and its relationship with Pluto returns was going to be discussed at length in this article. However, due to the long word count of the article, the analysis of Roman history will get its own article. A link will be posted above once it is published. 

 

 

Notes

1. Deirdre Simonds and Aisha Nozari, “Kanye West CONFIRMS Donda sequel album,” Daily Mail, January 28, 2022. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10452879/Kanye-West-CONFIRMS-Donda-sequel-album-divulging-significance-imminent-release-date.html
2. The Astrology Podcast. “Pluto in Astrology: Meaning and Significations.” Episode 336. Released January 20, 2022. https://theastrologypodcast.com/transcripts/ep-336-transcript-pluto-in-astrology-meaning-and-significations/
3. The Astrology Podcast. “Pluto in Astrology: Meaning and Significations.”
4. The Astrology Podcast. “Pluto in Astrology: Meaning and Significations.”
5.  Astrodienst. Ray Grasse. “Turning Point: The United States’ Pluto Return.” The Mountain Astrologer, 2019. Last accessed February 22, 2022. https://www.astro.com/astrology/tma_article210208_e.htm
6. Britannica. “Commodus.” The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Last accessed February 22, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Commodus
7. The Astrology Podcast, “Pluto in Astrology: Meaning and Significations.”
8. For the financial camp, see the Astrology Podcast. One example of the other camp is astrologer William Stickevers online content. The Astrology Podcast. “February 2022 Astrology Forecast.” Last accessed February 22, 2022. https://theastrologypodcast.com/2022/01/27/february-2022-astrology-forecast/  William Stickevers’s website. Last accessed February 22, 2022.https://www.williamstickevers.com/
9. The Astrology Podcast. “Pluto in Astrology: Meaning and Significations.”
10. Tipp Insights. Terry Jones. “I&I/ TIPP Poll: Trust in Media Collapse Continues As 2022 Begins.” January 31, 2022. Last accessed February 22, 2022. https://tippinsights.com/i-i-tipp-poll-trust-in-media-collapse-continues-as-2022-begins/

 

 Photo Credits

1. Fireworks over Washington, D.C., United States on July 4th. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith. Public Domain.
2. The United States Sibley chart. Astrodienst.
3. Event charts made using Astro Gold software. Astro Gold.