Pluto retrograde special

Hi everyone, in this article I'm going to be talking about Pluto starting it's retrograde season and what changes will his celestial movement bring both to the collective and the individual alike. Pluto, being the higher octave of Mars, represents power, but this power is something which can be extremely hard to comprehend and identify, because it tends to be hidden, it tends to operate from the shadows. If Mars, it's lover octave, is the power of the Self, the power which results from an individuals inner and outer strength, concentration, focus, Pluto represents the power of the subconscious, something so puzzling, so complex that psychologists, parapsychologists, and those who study the mind still can't fully figure out how it works, they can merely “guess” and work with hypothesis. Since, we do not have full control on what happens in our subconscious and the mysterious ways it can affect our lives and our mental states, Pluto can be considered a very independent power which we can't really fully control, merely influence and direct at best. Pluto also rules the death-rebirth, it's the planet of transformation, mutation, that which changes everything in order to support evolution and to bring out the highest possible representation of everything it touches. Beside this, Pluto, especially when it is in it's home sign of Scorpio, it rules secrets, hidden things, the Occult, humanities attempts to control chaos, to gaze beneath the Veil which separates the living from the dead. Currently Pluto is residing the earthy sign of Capricorn, which is associated with structures, organizations, earthly justice and equity, the separation of powers, authority, military organizations, learning through work and experiment and the pure force of mastery, where experience, sacrificed time (in order to learn and practice) offers the power to control matter and the material plane. For example developing a a sophisticated political system can allow governments to better control it's citizens, developing new technology though study and experiment can make any industry more efficient, so Capricorn is all about practice makes perfect, but one needs to have patience and ambition to continuously seek perfection. For the individual Capricorn rules that area of our lives which is responsible for our careers, our path's in life, the work that we do in order to contribute towards building/changing/refining/making a difference/evolving an aspect of the world/society. Some astrologers associate Capricorn with our life goals, from both a spiritual and professional perspective, in other words, what our Higher Selves want us to accomplish in this life, but also what our persona, our current incarnation wishes to do. Since Pluto is residing in this area of the sky, and it has been here for a couple of years now, we astrologers know for certain that it is this aspect of society which needs to change, and for the individual it is this area of life where certain things must be destroyed and rebuilt afterwards, all for the sake of moving forward, and for the individual to manifest a greater sense of mastery over their life. Pluto is simply trying to cause your evolution in order for you to fully grab the steering wheel of your life and consciously direct your own destiny to where you see/feel would be best for you and everyone around you. Pluto direct in Capricorn caused a lot of changes, and these changes were felt the most in 2018 up until the present moment. Some of these changes were material, physical in nature, as it attempted to purify your life from everything that was keeping you shackled (old job, marriage, old friendships, debts, material values, sources of steady income which robbed you of your time, people who unfairly depended on you and used you as a money source etc), after which (or sometimes simultaneously) it started to tear apart your old self by forcing you to relive old traumas, made all fears manifest and come to life, highlighted miss-aligned beliefs, forced you to confront your darkest side, addictions, psychological conditioning, any conflictual relations and feelings that you might have had with your family, and the list can continue. 2018 and the first months of 2019 were undeniable proof of the strong influence and power of Pluto over the subconscious and the most hidden corners of our minds, because one way or another, it forced all of us to perform very impacftul sessions of psychoanalysis on ourselves, and to rip out from our psychic “flesh” everything that didn't belong there, everything that was unhealthy. Of course Pluto wasn't the sole orchestrator of these events, he was joined by an extremely powerful Saturn and South Node, both energies complementing Pluto's role, forcing us to reject anything, that is not a valid representation of our beings and inner truth, and the South Node often acted as a mirror, in which we could see the ugliest part of ourselves. From a psychological perspective, our own ugliness is that which causes us to feel shame, and when shame gets too powerful it can take over our minds and force us to do things that we normally would never accept doing. Shame also forces us to distort, camouflage our own truth, because we feel that it is unacceptable for others around us, ultimately leading us towards living a life of lie and self deception. Shame can be symbolically associated with Medusa the Gorgon, who was turned into such an ugly monstrosity by the Gods, that she gained the power to turn everyone to stone who dared to look at her. And it was our own inner Medusa that we had to slay, decapitate, just like the mystical Perseus, who slew her, putting an and to her torment, and giving her soul the chance to be free and escape her own shame. All of these events triggered by a very powerful direct Pluto, were a huge challenge for our psyches, some of us managed to successfully slay our shames, our own dishonesty towards the self, to break unhealthy friendships and relationships, but others got tired along the way and just did the very best they could manage at that time, leaving the rest of the inner work for later. And this is exactly where Pluto retrograde comes into play. When a planet goes retrograde, it stops in place, after which is travels back the path it came (not literally, in physical reality no planet ever moves backwards, it's just a symbol astrologers use, because it appears to move backwards in the sky, which is an illusion), and it's energies turn inwards, rather then play out as influences coming from the outside. Also, a retrograde allows all of us to recover, get a second chance of all the opportunities, which we might have missed during the time it was direct. This is like rewind and repeat from the Universe, to make sure that no one gets left behind, just that the energies of what that planet represents are not that intense, not that urgent and they usually come from within you, from the inner cosmos, so to speak. With this Pluto retrograde, which will begin around Thursday, and last until Autumn, the Universe is going to empower you with clarity, wisdom, inner power, strength of will in order to terminate (willingly, not forced by fate) all those things which no longer serve you, and of course to transform yourself from the inside, allowing you to be a more authentic, more truthful, more serene version of yourself. Often, Pluto is also thought to trigger fated events, after all it is a symbol of the uncontrollable, unconditionable, unknowable and unfathomable powers of the Universe, so this retrograde season gives you the chance to attract fated events into your life, events which may have been blocked out (because you weren't prepared, stable enough) during direct season. Since, Pluto also rules the darker sides of sexuality, in retrograde season, you might get the chance to understand yourself better, from a sexual perspective. If you ever had question like “why do I like this... that?; Why am I attracted to this or that?” , a Pluto retrograde season is a perfect opportunity to find the answers to those questions. There is one aspect of Pluto retrograde, which most astrologers do not consider, and this doesn't have to do with Pluto it's self but with his celestial companion, Charon. From a scientific perspective Pluto is not alone in the cosmos, but has a natural satellite named Charon, and this name is not coincidental. Charon is the Gatekeepers to the land of the dead, it is the Guardian which guides the souls of the dead and helps them cross the river Acheron. So, from a mystical point of view, a Pluto retrograde also symbolizes, that Charon is coming to the border that separates our world from the great beyond, increasing the power, influence, occurrence of the supernatural, and such a period is usually associated with a peak of paranormal activities, and unusual metaphysical manifestations. This is also an opportunity to release traumas caused by our inability to accept the death of someone deeply loved, because the power of Pluto manifest on the inside, during this period we can say our good bye's and intuitively feel that our thought are heard by those who can no longer be with us, and this intuitive state can help us release this kind of emotional baggage. Now, that I have talked about the individual, for the collective, this is going to play out as more and more individuals being united with the absolute inner truths, becoming stronger, wiser, immune to manipulation, fake promises, with the ability to see through that which those who govern us would have us believe, and it will urge journalists, and “freedom fighters” all over the world to uncover and publish as many secrets, conspiracy theories, shocking facts about politics and politicians, as they can. So, from this perspective, even though Pluto is retrograde, it still operates to challenge and to change the power structures that govern the world, but this time the power of the individual is focused upon. Of course this is a double edged sword, because the governments, institutions, organizations, can find more ingenious ways to pull the wool over our eyes, so until February of 2020 when the Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn takes places and unleashes the full force of both planets, this change is going to be slow but steady, where both sides (governments, organizations etc VS the individual and the collective they form) adapt to each other.