At the limits of our known solar system, where the Sun is no brighter than any other star, orbit the mysterious planets Neptune and Pluto. It has taken until very recent times for us to become aware of these distant voyagers: Neptune was discovered in 1846 and Pluto in 1930. The far-flung orbits of these two planets means that they travel very slowly through the zodiac, Neptune taking 165 years to pass through all twelve signs and Pluto 248 years. It is not just their great distance from us that creates the aura of mystery but also the fact that neither has completed a revolution through all twelve signs since its discovery. Astrologers have therefore been unable to observe the complete effects of either of these planets. Just as an aside, a momentous day will be reached on April 11 2009 when Neptune makes its very first return to its discovery degree in 25 degrees Aquarius. This date marks Neptune’s "coming of age" and no doubt will organise for us some form of "celebration."
Another mysterious and amazing phenomena is in the relationship between these two: part of Pluto’s orbit around the Sun is inside that of Neptune’s. For most of its course Pluto is well beyond Neptune but as it moves through the signs Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius, it moves closer to the Sun. This has the effect of making Pluto move faster than Neptune through these three particular signs. Pluto reached perihelion (closest position to the Sun) back in 1989, since then it has been moving further away and will in 2003 begin to cross back over Neptune’s orbit. This process lasts until 2015 when Pluto once more becomes the furthest known planet from the Sun. During this period the two planets move at the same speed through the zodiac and therefore the angle between them in the zodiac does not change. This twelve-year period, 2003-2015, contains the stationary angle between Neptune and Pluto.
So is this angle of astrological importance? Can we expect any significant events to mark Pluto’s return to the edge of the solar system? Well, thanks to the computer age astrologers have for the first time at their finger-tips accurate calculations of planetary movements over thousands of years. This allows us to look back in history and see what was happening when similar alignments were in force. This stationary angle between Neptune and Pluto occurs just over one hundred years after the two planets formed their 1892 conjunction. The previous Neptune/Pluto conjunction was in 1398 and between the years 1507 to 1518 their angle was stationary as Pluto crossed over Neptune’s orbit. What was significant in this period of history?
On 11th November 1507, as the Pleiades passed overhead, the Aztecs performed what was to be their final Toxiuh molpilli, their New Fire Ceremony. Every 52 years the lighting of ceremonial fires occurred to herald the end of an old cycle and beginning of a new. They tore down many of their structures at these times to create space for renewal and regeneration. They were unaware that Pluto was beginning to cross Neptune’s orbit, as were the Spanish who had already found the Mexican coast and were making tentative expeditions into the interior. In 1519, as Pluto had just re-established itself on the edge of the solar system, Herman Cortes arrived in the New World with an army of 600 soldiers and within two years the Aztec civilisation was destroyed. The palaces and temples were dynamited, Montezuma was dead, the population turned into slaves and their own language and culture banned. Without doubt this period has proven to be a major turning point, not only in the affairs of Central America, but for the whole of the American continent. It was also a major turning point for the west when it became aware of a new world, pregnant for exploitation and colonisation.
Let’s look at an earlier stationary angle, the one following the Neptune/Pluto conjunction of 82 B.C. The two planets separated after the conjunction, Neptune pulling away from Pluto. A sextile (60 degrees or two signs apart) had been formed by 30 B.C. and Pluto had moved inside Neptune’s orbit. Between the years 23 A.D. to 34 A.D. the stationary angle was formed. Although the exact date of the crucifixion of Christ is unknown, it almost certainly occurred in this period, possibly in 28 A.D. when the astrological configurations of the time best suited such an event. Just as Pluto was once more becoming the furthest planet from the Sun, a historically insignificant execution of yet another of one of the many Jewish religious fanatics of the time turned out to be a major turning point in the history of the world!
In both the historical examples I have given of this stationary angle between Neptune and Pluto, events have occurred that have changed the course of history by transforming the lives of those initially caught up in the events, and later millions of others. But can we really expect a transformative happening on the same scale during the 2003 to 2015 time slot? The answer has to be yes. Conscious awareness is an extremely potent force and since Neptune and Pluto were not discovered until comparatively recently, this is the first time Pluto will cross back over Neptune’s orbit since we have become aware of these planets. The potential impact of this astrological event upon the affairs of humanity is considerably increased by the fact that we now know it is happening. For many reading this article the prediction of an event as powerful as the crucifixion of Christ or the discovery of a new world in the first decade of the new millennium will not come as a great surprise: we live in exciting and exhilarating times of transformation, full of symbols and omens of a rapidly changing future; it does feel as if almost anything is possible as we hurtle forward to meet our destiny.
One does not have to look very far beyond the actual events of these two historical examples to see that in fact they were both very much on the cards. The Jews, under Roman rule, were ripe for a political/religious figure to lead them in revolt against their cruel oppressors; their prophetic tradition was there to add authority to any such claims of a Messiah. Likewise the days of the Indians in America were numbered after Columbus first came across the West Indies; the Spanish and Portuguese were racing each other to get their hands on these new lands. However in both cases there was a tremendous element of surprise. Jesus had not come to save the Jews, but the whole of humanity. His message of salvation was not what they expected and consequently they rejected him. The early Spanish explorers, when landing in Central America, had absolutely no idea of the scale of the land-mass they were setting foot upon or the changes their genocide against the indigenous peoples would eventually bring to the world. But are not turning points like this? We can see the bend in the road ahead yet, when we actually arrive, no amount of planning can prepare us for the unknown.
No one has to be a prophet or seer to appreciate that over the coming decade the new technologies and scientific advances are going to bring even more change into our lives. However, it is not the predictable changes the Neptune/Pluto stationary angles are concerned with but the unpredictable, the unforeseen, those that are not planned. Embedded in the 2003 to 2015 period is the twist which will take all of us by surprise, a wonderful wrong-footing which will shake confidence in the institutions empowered to guide our destinies as well as severely test personal faith and hope.
This stationary angle between Neptune and Pluto is a rare event, a twelve-year period that occurs once every 248 years. Yet it is not the only uncommon alignment in the heavens during this decade, as we are also about to experience an astrological event that only happens for a short period during the 3,764-year cycle of the Uranus/Neptune conjunctions. But that’s another story, one I hope to tell you about in the near future.
