Neptune Sextile Pluto
This is the only aspect between Neptune and Pluto affecting any of our
time; it came into being, within a five-degree orb of accuracy, in January
1942, and will fall outside a five degree orb for the last time in March
2039
During the past century, there has been only one aspect made between Neptune
and Pluto, and it is interesting to note that the sextile commenced in the
midst of World War II during 1942. The influence of this relationship would
be expected to have global and generational effects; and, like all of the
transpersonal planetary energies, would be a directive force stimulating
the development of the evolutionary process within time and space.
Neptune will attract an almost mystical exploratory search from those responsive
to it; and since the sextile commenced science has reacted in two distinct
and complementary directions: effort has been poured into developing spave
travel and satellite technology, exploring the vast outer universe through
radio-telescopes, for example; while the complementary exploration of inner
space - investigating and probing the building blocks of matter - and quantum
physics has emerged at the forefront of scientific enquiry.
The attempts to understand the nature of the universe, its composition and
size, the possible creation of the universe and the 'big bang theory' reflect
the traditional Western way of looking externally. What has paralleled this
tendency has been the birth of an opposite movement amongst people, that
of self-exploration, the inner mystical way. This has been through the New
Age movement, humanistic / Jungian psychology, occult techniques, and the
rebirth of magical attitudes towards life. It has also involved the grafting
onto the Western tree of many of the attitudes and much of the knowledge
of Eastern philosophies and religions; a merging of the two hemispheres;
a potential unification of belief structures reflecting the scientific movement
towards a more mystically orientated quantum physics.
As the outer universe becomes vaster, and the inner universe becomes a mysterious
vastness of space, the only point in which the outer and the inner become
reconciled is in the human being. At a time when the immense destructive
power of splitting the atom can be used to commit racial suicide or genocide,
the old Mystery School injunction of the ancients is the key to the future:
'Man, know thyself'.
The generations born after this aspect commenced, or those especially receptive
to its influence, are aware of the basic tendencies emanating from it. They
are life-enhancing: the need to protect the world's environment from senseless
devastation; the need to extend individual rights and freedoms, to unfold
international co-operation and to move beyond an embracing consumer materialist
dominance in the West. The recognition that potentially a higher quality
of life can be had in the world for the majority of people through a redirection
of resources (if the will is there) can lead to radical change.
The energies of transformation are present, and much depends upon our use
of them, individually and collectively, for negative or positive results.
The challenge of 'free will' is to make choices and decisions which determine,
in the present, the nature of the future.
Haydn
Paul
Neptune, as the planet that refines and disassociates, that liquidates what
is personal and leads us to an experience of oneness, is intensified by
its contact with Pluto. Therefore, in the period covered by the sextile
of these two heavenly bodies, we are likely to see a collective need for
unification and for a development of spiritual values. This very thing has
manifested itself in the revival of mysticism and esoteric study, in which
Eastern religions advocating detachment (not to mention watered down versions
of these religions) have been popularized in the West. On the other hand,
Neptune dissoluteness has also become widespread under this reputedly benign
aspect, and a baffling drug problem bedevils a large part of the globe.
Pluto has to do with power, and there are close links between drug distributors
and powerful forces in lands where the raw materials are grown.
Conversely, Neptune's effect on Pluto is to make power structures and power
blocs more sophisticated and harder to define. Rival groups of countries
now co-operate quietly on a host of important issues; so that, although
some of the old power blocs survive, it is hard to say where their ramifications
begin and end. What is more, Neptune tends to undermine and erode established
power structures. Subversive elements are burrowing away all over the world,
and seem to survive the measures taken to eradicate them.
Pluto also signifies the masses and large-scale events. When it is joined
by Neptune, irrational ideas. religious quirks, strange delusions and other
follies sweep common sense out of the collective mind. And, since Pluto
intensifies, the things mentioned build up into mass hysteria, holy wars
and other crowd madness.
Neptune and Pluto both symbolize unconscious factors in the human being.
Their combination gives the impetus to fruitful research into the hidden
side of things, into the repressed contents of the psyche and into the secret
properties of matter. Nuclear physics, depth psychology, parapsychology,
the meaning of life and death, anxiety neurosis, and causes of freedom and
inhibition in the unconscious, are all openly investigated; with the result
that people are brought closer as a whole. With this combination, collectivization
and harmful social pressures are strangely juxtaposed, giving an increased
insight into human functioning that eventually helps people become more
balanced and integrated.
This combination is probably often at work (regardless of aspect), guiding
the unconscious flow of events whenever far-reaching cultural and social
changes are taking place. But because Neptune and Pluto are so elusive,
it is not easy to recognize the direction or destination of this flow in
our own day and age. Only when future historians come to write of our times
with cool detachment will it be possible to assess how, during periods when
these two planets are in contact, great forces prepare a new era.
Karen
Hamaker-Zondag
Neptune is a generation planet, as is Pluto. When there are aspects between
these energies, they are common to a great number of people within that
generation. Pluto represents the mass unconscious, the unconscious motivation
of a generation. Neptune symbolizes the universal dream. The merging of
the energies symbolizes the possibility of integrating the mass unconscious
and its creative dream.
In the Hindu creation myth, the 'god' (or creative essence) is immersed
in a dream of a world. In this dream state, nothing happens; ideas float
around but nothing materializes; nothing is realized. In order to actualize
consciousness, the 'god' realizes that some manifestation must take place.
So he splits himself up into millions of pieces and becomes the universe
- the planets, the sky, the earth and its waters, the vegetation, the animals,
the grass, the rock. The universe teeming with life, all struggling to survive,
is the conscious realization of that dream.
When aspects take place between these two representative forces, great changes
take place in our world. When we are born with these aspects, great changes
take place within us. The dream becomes intermingled with the unconscious
motivation; the dreams bring the contents of the collective unconscious
into realization. Unless the aspect between these two planets also ties
into a personal planet, the effect will take place in our generation; when
they are tied to the personal planets in our chart, we have a chance for
profound personal transformations.
