Jupiter and Pluto meet every 13 years as they do today. At times, their conjunction has coincided with epidemics and financial collapse. Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld, rules all things hidden, from corruption to viruses. Jupiter amplifies. The Spanish Flu (1918), the HIV epidemic (1981), and the Great Recession (2007) broke out during a Jupiter Pluto conjunction. And now we have COVID-19, right on queue.
However, just as beloved painter Bob Ross instructs, “Gotta have opposites, light and dark and dark and light.” What the light side of Pluto? Regeneration. The rising Phoenix. The opportunity to build from scratch. And with Jupiter involved, there’s an invitation to reveal the meaningful gift contained within the rubble.
When Jupiter and Pluto conjoined last time, I left Oregon for Guanajuato, Mexico. As people were losing their livelihood and homes, I was walking away from mine into the unknown in search of meaning (Jupiter). An empty-nester at 40, I felt amputated with both daughters out of the house and my job as a librarian had lost its spark—Pluto: the process of breakdown. I wanted to find purpose and heart centered work. I eventually found 30 girls to care for, 7 nuns to work with, and many women to help heal from a life of abuse and trauma. In the space of two years, I had completely remade my life (Pluto, the rising Phoenix) in a way that felt meaningful and brought back joy (Jupiter). Jupiter + Pluto can and does use the compost of a disintegrating way of life to build a better tomorrow.
We’re at a crossroads. Jupiter and Pluto meet three times in Capricorn this year: today at 24°, June 30th at 24° and November 12th at 22° In January of next year, our first New Moon will be in Capricorn at 23°. In the later degrees of Capricorn, we are focusing on decaying economic structures, government, and regulation. There’s an opportunity here to move away from the decomposing status quo and use the lessons we find here to rebuild from scratch. This year and next are the caterpillar soup stage that invites us to transform into something more agile, meaningful and restorative.