Just as we descend into our consciences to judge actions that our minds cannot weigh, can we not also search within ourselves for the feeling that gives rise to always vague and cloudy thought forms?
Alfred de Vigny (poet) – Natal Pluto in Aquarius in 3rd House
Without present examples of Pluto transiting Aquarius, and especially considering that Pluto transits are quite private… (unless they happen in the angular houses), Alfred de Vigny, the French poet born in 1797, can give us an idea of the way Pluto in Aquarius in the 3rd House thinks.
A brief look at Pluto
Pluto in the natal chart shows us the trail that leads to the release of past conditioning, at both ancestral and soul levels. Its position in the birth chart shows where we are stuck, reliving ideas, feelings, actions, and experiences that belong to an old self. At first, when we are very young, we do not realize what is happening… Without knowing it, our reactions arise from archetypal behaviors strongly linked to the astrological house where Pluto is located. Like a chrysalis that still surrounds us… the memory of “past lives” makes us follow parameters that are not really part of our present. And Pluto somehow acts as a bridge between the two worlds.
For me, the example of the caterpillar and the butterfly perfectly exemplify Pluto. The caterpillar does not disappear, it simply transforms inside the chrysalis. Although the forms change, the butterfly is still the caterpillar… although now it has wings and a new potential. With its transformed body, the butterfly is able to see the world of the caterpillar from a new perspective… a perimeter that, although it has been full of challenges and adventures, is smaller than the world that opens before her. In the birth chart, Pluto shows that although we are already a butterfly, we still somehow believe we are the caterpillar. Thus, we have not yet realized our present potential.
Of course, spreading our wings is not easy, since we do not know that we have them! Pluto pushes us to jump and fly… and that activates an alarm within us that awakens the survival instinct, which leads us to cling to what we know with all our might.
We can also see Pluto as the collector of the etheric garbage (or the chrysalis) that does not allow us to recognize our current state and that, for some reason, still surrounds us. Pluto is collecting what is no longer useful and taking it away. It is our attachment to what was and our desire not to lose it that creates the Plutonian crises.
Pluto’s transits are also activating these memories of the past and in my opinion, they assist the natal position of Pluto. However, transits activate other aspects of our reality, side by side with the Plutonian signature of birth. Although Pluto’s transits can be intense, they are also parallel to our initiation path, and for this reason, the elimination process is experienced in a more conscious way. It is easy to believe that Pluto’s natal position shows a personal trait and not a process of regeneration. Transits help us distinguish Plutonian energy, and by paying attention to our reactions during these transits, we can begin to recognize our natal Pluto.
Pluto Retrogradation during 2023/2024
Pluto’s retrograde movement between Capricorn and Aquarius is undoubtedly a preparation for the next 20 years. We could say that this retrogradation is creating two very clear energy currents: those who seek to maintain the status quo and those who don’t. The retrogradation brings with it the potential for peaceful integration, where old social structures are renewed to give way to a new vision. But there is also the possibility of establishing rules that seek to maintain what is known and the consequent clash with those who seek progress.
On a personal level, Pluto’s retrograde motion will show to what extent we seek to “do our duty” or “do what we really want”. With “duty” I mean the submission to external authority rather than our own… keeping ourselves in an infant mode, without trusting our own sense of agency. We may feel that being different and independent turns us into outcasts and this terrifies us. As a consequence, we could unite with those who are like-minded, forming a collective that makes us feel “safer”. This may become an intransigent bloc…something that is, in a way, a replica of what we seek to eliminate, even though we are now living on our own terms. The Plutonian potential is to discover and embody our inner authority and begin to think for ourselves…and give space to others to do the same.
PLUTO IN AQUARIUS – DATES
| Pluto enters Aquarius | March 23, 2023 |
| Pluto leaves Aquarius and re-enters Capricorn | June 11, 2023 |
| Pluto returns to Aquarius | January 21, 2024 |
| Pluto leaves Aquarius and re-enters Capricorn | September 1, 2024 |
| Pluto returns to Aquarius | November 20, 2024 |
| Pluto moves from Aquarius to Pisces for the first time | September 1, 2043 |
This video can give you a guide to navigating the astrological energies of 2023.
Pluto in Aquarius transiting the 3rd House (Capricorn and/or Aquarius cusp)
What happens when Pluto transits the 3rd House? Here we talk about mental processes, learning, teaching, and communication. If the 3rd House is in Capricorn, we take communication and information in general very seriously. If Aquarius is also part of our 3rd House, the transit of Pluto in Aquarius will activate unusual parts of our perception, to which we may have paid little attention until now.
Pluto’s transit in Capricorn began in 2008, so for many, Pluto’s transit through the 3rd House has been going on for a while. In Capricorn, the transit of Pluto takes away with it moral rules and ambitions that do not correspond to the present. Pluto’s previous transit in Capricorn began in 1762, during the development of the industrial revolution. Those who have the 3rd House in Capricorn have had the opportunity to observe to what extent their perspective has been conditioned by thought patterns strongly linked to productivity. Perhaps they have been reviewing the extent to which what they learn, what they teach, and what they communicate has been focused on social objectives that no longer have relevance. Of course, this process may have aroused very deep fears of “failing to do our duty”, triggering crises in these areas.
With Pluto, we talk about ancestral memories and even those from the Soul! Although it may seem remote, if we are alive today we also have ancestors who have been alive hundreds of years ago, who have experienced situations that created certain behaviors that have then been transmitted from generation to generation as “ways of being”. Also, if we get more esoteric, we can also consider experiences that are in our unconscious and that belong to past lives, which condition our present.
With Pluto in Capricorn transiting the 3rd House, we may have felt great pressure from the status quo through the information we receive, the studies we have followed, or what we communicate. Whatever happens, the goal is to connect with our internal authority on this matter. Our mind points to the concrete and to what has the possibility of achievement. If we surrender to the energy of Pluto, we will see that the control to maintain what we have done up to now arises from a very deep fear that may be related to duty towards something or someone other than ourselves. Pluto is stripping us of responsibilities that don’t belong to us and we need to dare to let them go. Once we achieve this, we can use our Plutonian force to materialize our own goals.
When Pluto begins its transit through Aquarius, it begins a 22-month process where there is the potential to connect with a new way of seeing things. This can be of great help in freeing us from social conventions that still control our perception.
If the 3rd House is in the first degrees of Aquarius, the entry of Pluto into Aquarius awakens the ancient memories of the period of “liberté, egalité, fraternité!”, the US revolution, and the beginning of the abolitionist movement, among other things. The 3rd House in Aquarius tells us of a strong conceptual mind, focused on progress and freedom of thought. One of the possibilities of Pluto in Aquarius is that we feel pressure from our peers to follow a certain ideology. We can also feel “possessed” by an idea, or a great desire to study our own mind and free ourselves from archaic concepts that do not allow us to see “the future”.
We are certainly going to focus our minds intensely on progress and innovation. The 22-month period in which Pluto enters retrograde, where it moves between Capricorn and Aquarius, continues to activate our 2nd House until November 2024. This helps us see more objectively patterns of behavior that keep us flying very low due to wounds in self-esteem. In this way, we can complete the process of regeneration of our personal values that began when Pluto entered the 2nd House.
It may interest you: Pluto, in the 3rd House Natal and Transit.