Pluto in Aquarius Lessons We'll Encounter

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty.

-Bertrand Russell

Yesterday at 4:28 am pt, we experienced a Pluto Cazimi in Aquarius. This piece in particular has been hard to write because Pluto is so loaded. So is the weight of the world.

The words finally started poured out organically once I started my period today & entered my lunar return a couple hours after the moon entered Scorpio.

Since Pluto ingressed into the sign of Aquarius last November, I've been in my own katabasis (especially with my Midheaven in Aquarius).

To start, let’s first address what a cazimi is. A cazimi occurs when a planet aligns closely with the Sun (we call this a conjunction), infusing both planetary energies with a heightened sense of clarity and power. Pluto, the planet of the underworld & transformation, lays bare to what is decayed, hidden, or entrenched in shadow.

When Pluto enters the Sun’s spotlight, there is no room for illusions—only the stark reality of what needs to be transformed or released.

This Monday, the United States swore in its newly inaugurated leadership that ironically coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Personally, it has felt so incredibly oppositional, confusing. I refused to turn on the TV, but I could feel the energy of the collective even with the screen turned off. The fear. Being on edge.

One of the most powerful words MLK delivered is from “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. I highly recommend reading the full speech to feel this dichotomy yourself.

MLK’s vision of justice and equality is quintessentially Aquarian. His natal Mercury is 11° in the sign of Aquarius if that’s not telling enough. The sabian symbol of 11° Aquarius is:

“During a silent hour, a man receives new inspiration which may change his life.”

Aquarius can at times be eerily prophetic. MLK ends his speech with:

“-I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land-”

The next day after King delivered this speech, he would be gunned down, he would be assassinated.

Pluto’s energy pulls whatever sign it touches into the underworld, compelling us to explore the depths of its shadow frequencies. In this process, we are confronted with questions about our beliefs, values, and the structures we’ve constructed to navigate our human experience. Pluto Cazimi in Aquarius makes us confront both the existentialism of the human condition, of human progress, and strengthen the causes we choose to stand for.

MLK’s vision is a future-forward dream of unity and freedom for all. Yet the current political landscape is clearly marked by oppositional values. And this poses a question that cuts to the heart of Aquarius’ paradoxes: How do we reconcile conflicting visions of progress and freedom?

In Aquarius, one of the tallest orders & challenges is to become “the visionary,” the progressor who moves the world and society forward. But to do so, we must first confront the shadows of Aquarius that we’re currently seeing play out in the world: censorship, nihilism, rigid dogma that alienates the “other,” institutionalized systems of control, and intellectual elitism. These shadows manifest when ideals of progress and freedom become so rigid that they suffocate the very individuality they claim to champion.

Pluto in Aquarius will have us grapple between future-forward vision becoming so focused on the collective that it forgets the humanity of the individual... to the other Aquarian spectrum where we can become so fixated on contrar