As transiting Pluto inches inexorably closer to my 12th house sun, I thought I’d send another dispatch that might be helpful to others experiencing the transit.
Pluto is a cthonic god, so I think it fitting to conceptualize the power that comes with this transit as a massive geyser of crude oil. And if you have a 12th house sun like me, this oil is seriously crude. It’s raw, unprocessed energy. While this is a tremendous opportunity, the oil will be full of things that are way beyond you and this means it is going to take what will feel like an insurmountable effort to refine the energy into a state that is usable and safe for yourself and for others.
What do I mean by refining this energy?
- You should set up a metaphorical pumpjack (see image below) by your well so that you can somewhat control the flow of power which may be erratic and to access it when you need it. You don’t want to have the energy build up and then explode unexpectedly, especially at someone. This could be a regular schedule of meditation, baking, dancing, whatever, up to you. Just don’t do this half assed unless you want to pay for it later.
- You need to exercise your discernment to recognize what is coming up that is NOT you and what is yours. Remember, 12th house contains a lot of crap that you are tasked to deal with, but you have no call to identify with.
- You need to be ruthless and digest everything in that flow that is yours and that is dangerous. Everything that is petty and born of your own psychological hangups. This means you need to be compassionate, as I said before, because if you don’t have the non-judgmental eye to recognize all your own crap in there, nor the mettle to get your hands dirty with your own filth, you’ll have no ability to take it out. (Yes, I know I just told you to be compassionate and ruthless at the same time.)
You’d best not slack on this process because eventually, it will all come to flow out of you. Keeping it all to yourself is not advised and will probably drive you insane. Now, the desire to project this energy onto someone else before it is fit for human consumption in order to ease the internal pressure you’re experiencing will be very tempting. In fact, it could feel incredibly wonderful, e.g., manifesting itself as falling deeply in love. This kind of projection will certainly make things easier for you in the short run. But ultimately, by asking others to carry something that is not theirs to carry, is to risk psychological damage. All this force, this energy, this power, it is yours to handle, your burden to carry, your task to integrate, and if you try to run away from it by dumping it onto someone else, even if it makes them feel amazing and completely intoxicated with you, I very much doubt that it will end well for the parties involved.
Now, this transit could all very well be the start of some beautifully intense, transformative and empowering relationships so don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying, you better have your shit together if this is how it all goes down and this in no way absolves you of your responsibility of refining what you’ve tapped into. If anything, the stakes become higher and your responsibilities are greater.
So what would “being fit for human consumption” look like? For me, it’s something like this:
- Empowering others in ways that allow them to reach their full potential (and not to fulfill your ideas about what they should become).
- Contributing to healthy, dynamic and loving communities.
- Being productive in your creativity and sharing your creativity with others.
- Laying waste to everything in your life that is deceptive, inauthentic, dysfunctional, weak, decaying, etc.
Easier said than done. After years of utilizing various strategies and studying different schools related to dealing with power I will say that I have found zen meditation to be the most effective practice for me personally. The training I received in the ability to appraise things wisely and not get emotionally sucked into a situation has proven to be very handy these past few months. Reframing things away from a lose-lose narrative is also an invaluable skill to develop. Of course, YMMV. Other systems that may help include yoga and other somatic practices, depth psychology, ceremonial magick, other religions.
A final note and apologies to those unfamiliar with Tolkein, but remember this young fellow?
I’m sorry to inform you that what you have on your hands is something like this. It’s a ring of power that’s going to bind you so tight you can’t breathe. It’s going to leave you exhausted, drained, like an animated corpse. And even as you feel like shit, it’s going to seduce you, inflate you, make you feel fucking invincible, call upon you to relinquish everything you hold dear. And you don’t get to just wear the damn thing around your neck and toss it in some lake of fire at the end of the day. You have no other choice but to engage.
If you’re not some innocent country boy like Frodo – if you’re more like a violent, remorseless, thoroughly modern existentialist like me, well then you’re going to have your work cut out for you to avoid getting corrupted by all this. And if you have spent your adult life dillying about, if you are still full of ego and weakness, then mark my words, you better be a fast learner or this power will make you fucking pay for your indolence.
If that doesn’t motivate you to get with the program, then let me inform you that not only will this power make you pay for your ethical weaknesses, it will also exact its pound of flesh from those that you love because don’t we all know that we hurt the ones we love the most. If you aren’t a completely selfish shit and actually give a damn about the people you claim to love, you might want to start thinking about training yourself to be a better person now. In fact, even if you never experience transiting Pluto conjunct sun, it’s probably best you follow this last bit of advice anyway.
That’s all I’ve got at the moment. Keep fit and have fun.
Other posts I’ve written on this topic:
Notes from the underground: transiting Pluto in 12th
Transiting Pluto postscript: DON’T PANIC
Oculus divinorum v.4 