Clues to the effect of the upcoming two decades of Pluto in Aquarius may lie – in part – in the types of individuals who carried this signature in their charts.
Looking back over 1778 to 1797 what stand out are inventors and social reformers born during these years who had an impact on knowledge and culture in later years.
Michael Faraday, 1791, one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time with his studies into electromagnetism was born in 1791, the same year as Charles Babbage, father of the computer; and Samuel Morse, co-developer of Morse code and the commercial use of telegraphy. Admittedly there was also a Uranus opposition Pluto that year which would help to promote a leading-edge mentality.
Fanny Wright, 1795, a Scottish-born freethinker, feminist, utopian socialist, abolitionist, social reformer, and Epicurean philosopher advocated universal education, the emancipation of slaves, birth control, equal rights, sexual freedom, legal rights for married women, and liberal divorce laws. She was also vocal in her opposition to organized religion and capital punishment.
Sarah Grimke, 1792, American abolitionist, widely held to be the mother of the women’s suffrage movement.
Lucretia Mott, 1793, an American Quaker, abolitionist, women’s rights activist, and social reformer.
Elizabeth Fry, 1780, prison reformer and Quaker.
Robert Peel, 1788, founded the Metropolitan Police.
Thomas L. Jennings, 1791, an African-American inventor, and abolitionist.
There were also influential thinkers like the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, and explorers, as well as creative types like Lord Byron, Percy Shelley (also an activist and radical), Rossini, John Keats and painter William Turner, whose skyscapes have a fittingly Aquarian feel.
Not much stands out from the previous Pluto in Aquarius, 1532 to 1552, apart from the French essayist Michael de Montaigne. Also Hieronymous Fabricius, 20th May, 1533, father of Embryology, a pioneering Italian anatomist who designed an orthopedic exo-skeleton. And Queen Elizabeth 1, 1533.
Those who shaped the culture of the Pluto in Aquarius years would, of course, have been born during Pluto in Sagittarius, in Scorpio, Libra or even Virgo. But still faint hints of how the energy plays out from the above.
Robespierre too was a Sagittarius Pluto (Asc Aquarius, Saturn in Pisces) with a big footprint during the Pluto in Aquarius 1780s/1790s. As well as showcasing the desire for equality and freedom, this period saw many brutal deaths of French men of all classes, not just the aristos. Perhaps this is the shadow side of Pluto in Aquarius- that it can lead to a tyranny by the people.
There’s so much to think about here! Thanks Marjorie. The social reform theme is very interesting. Here’s something I noticed – for the 2008 UN International Women’s Day the theme was Investing in Women and Girls, with focus on equal pay (!) and financing business. Pluto was 0 degrees financial Capricorn on 8th March 2008. This year, on 8th March, Pluto approaches the Aquarius ingress. The UN theme is “DigitALL to highlight the need for inclusive and transformative technology and digital education”.
A recent article in one of the Science magazines states that every cell in our bodies is a tiny battery, providing electricity which could help or harm. It occurred to me whilst reading the article that the timing was very interesting, as it was in some ways describing Uranus (electricity) and Pluto healing. It is also interesting that King Charles is a Scorpio sign and his Coronation will occur just after the first appearance in Aquarius.
That’s interesting to hear Elizabeth 1 was born with Pluto at o degrees of Aquarius. I have my sun at 0 degrees of Aquarius conjunct the IC.
I’m a bit nervous. About the possibility of my parents dying. They are old so yes obviously they will die. But I don’t feel ready for it.
In January I started extensive building work in my flat next to my kitchen. I’ve been living in dust and cold for two months and it seems like the coldest winter in years. I cook for a living and I haven’t been able to cook. I’m living in chaos, with mice, a gas leak, and all my belongings on the floor. Everything is covered in dirt. I feel like I’m living in a war zone, possibly the Ukraine.
On the other hand I’m loving finding out about my structure of the building where I live. I love seeing the bare bones of it.
One of my worst nightmares is disappearing into a sink hole in my bed. This happened to a guy in Florida, he was asleep and he sunk into the ground, never to be seen again.(https://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/01/us/florida-sinkhole/index.html) How plutonian is that?
(I do have moon at 5 degrees of scorpio in the 1st also).
So I’m both enjoying and dreading it. Is this effect of Pluto on my sun/IC already? or is the worst yet to come?
Thanks Marjorie
A thought that occurs to me from the names mentioned (including Elizabeth I) that these were effective in practical ways.
Pluto in Aquarius 1532-1552 – you may want to consider Queen Elizabeth I born 1533 at the very heart of the massive drama surrounding Henry VIIIs split from Rome (formalised 1534), and marriage to her mother Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth had a profound influence on the religious, economic and cultural life in her later years as a very powerful and unusually independent Queen regnant.
Yes, Elizabeth I’s reign saw England’s rise to power as it became one of the most prosperous countries in Europe, not to mention the exploration of the New World and the colonisation of America which placed England as a world power. Not to mention the cultural and literary flowering of the English renaissance and the fact that we now regard this period as a golden age. So it’s interesting that Elizabeth herself was born with Pluto at 0 degrees of Aquarius in her 1st house.
I’d like to add Hieronymous Fabricius, 20th May, 1533. What a name! He is known as the Father of Embryology, and was a pioneering Italian anatomist. He also designed an orthopedic exo-skeleton.
That’s the old ruler Saturn, no doubt. There are a few Aquarius Plutonians of note – Tycho Brahe (1546), Mary, Queen of Scots (1542), Edward Vi (1537), Francis Drake (1540), Cervantes (1547), who all strike me as either rebels, satirists, or in the case of Brahe, pioneering astronomer, astrologer and alchemist.
Pluto in Aquarius would have been devastating and dark for the indigenous Americans and other populations of the ‘New World’, and European slavery begins here. Perhaps with Pluto here, there’s a turning of the 11th house wheel of fortune – as one rises to power and prosperity, another suffers terrible darkness and oppression. Another Pluto in Aquarius event in France, the so-called Terror is a microcosm of that.