Made in America: Anaretic Pluto

The next seven days, events proceed rapidly, from the Aries equinox to the New Moon, to Pluto entering Aquarius & Mars entering Cancer. This concentration of events hints at many imminent changes.

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“U.S. Pluto Return.” Graphic by Lanvi Nguyen.

Dear Friend and Reader:

IN THE MIX OF ALL THE PLANETARY FANFARE we are witnessing — Mars, Saturn and Pluto changing signs, the completion of Mars square Neptune, and the forthcoming New Moon on the Aries equinox — it’s easy to forget about the U.S. Pluto return.

That was the big astrological news before the “pandemic.” But it got lost in the gritty sauce of Saturn conjunct Pluto on Jan. 12, 2020 and all that followed. (See full coverage of the unusual events of January 2020.)

Pluto is now in the last degree of Capricorn, after gradually transiting that sign since 2008. When a planet or luminary is in the last degree of a sign, it can behave in strange ways.

This is sometimes described as being “void of course,” which usually applies to the Moon but which can apply to the Sun or any planet. Yet when a planet is in the very last degree, contemporary astrologers call that “anaretic.”

There are many different ways of calculating whether a planet is anaretic, most of them lost to antiquity. Yet in our times, the term means “a planet about to change signs.”

From Greek, the definition of this word is “the destroyer.” This term is not recorded in any etymology dictionary that I know of, and the concept barely makes it into contemporary astrology texts. (So too does the fact that a planet can be void-of-course just like the Moon or the Sun can be.)

Essentially, the anaretic condition portrays the planet as a wildcard, and it must be handled carefully in all contexts (including in a natal chart). Pluto has been pretty wild since it’s been in Capricorn. You can never quite tell what’s going to collapse next. And these events are coming closer together. But now with Pluto in the last degree (where it will be on and off for the next 18 months), we are getting the effect at full strength.

In the age of disembodied communication, the meaning and significance and experience of the body is utterly transformed and distorted.

“U.S. Capitol.” Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Does the United States Still Exist as a Civic Entity?

One big wildcard involves evidence that the United States as a country does not exist, either as a sovereign nation or as an entity capable of taking care of its citizens. We are experiencing a social collapse that at times seems like it’s happening in slow motion, then in rapid bursts, and at times aided and abetted by many of society’s own institutions.

The last degree of Capricorn has an ominous sense as well. In the Sabian symbol reference set of images associated with every degree, we see at 30 Capricorn, “A secret meeting of men responsible for world affairs.” That idea was one thing before the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Trilateral Commission.

It’s another thing with those entities running the planet. And anyone who has taken part in high school activities knows that only about 10 people run the place. The same is true in the wider world.

During the Pluto in Capricorn years, we saw the total takeover of society and all of its institutions by the digital environment. This has rotted out many structured entities (to the extent that they were stable). National borders have been erased, which some take to mean the Mexican border (a ruse) and which I take to mean decisions about the fate of other countries (including the U.S.) being made in Geneva or Davos.

This is an effect of digital conditions. It would not be possible without them, and is a direct consequence of the digital environment.

We were not totally under the digital thrall in 2008. You could still do some things that did not involve having a mandatory phone tied to every facet of your life, your identity, or your self-concept. At that time, most people did not walk around holding their brain in their hands.

I first quoted Eric McLuhan in 2016 talking about the total disorientation of mind and culture due to digital conditions. Please read this paragraph slowly, one clause at a time, and notice whether it means a little more than the first time you may have read it:

“The body is everywhere assaulted by all of our new media, a state which has resulted in deep disorientation of intellect and destabilization of culture throughout the world. In the age of disembodied communication, the meaning and significance and experience of the body is utterly transformed and distorted.”

We could all use some review of the idea that our bodies are part of the physical environment, subject to what happens here.

East Palestine Street Fair, c. 1970.

Case in Point: East Palestine, Ohio

Until Feb. 3, hardly anyone had heard of a little town called East Palestine, Ohio, founded in 1828 and located right on the border of western Pennsylvania. It’s an all-American burg, population under 5,000, home of the Bulldogs sports teams and the State Line Tavern, with train tracks running right through town.

You could have opened your eyes there and been in any one of ten thousand places in the United States, which I intend as both a compliment and as a warning. East Palestine is anywhere. It is everywhere.

Then a Feb. 3 train wreck on the edge of town led to the burning of train cars loaded with 50 different toxic chemicals right where people live.

At the beginning of the crisis, the Norfolk-Southern railroad was allowed by the state of Ohio to dump and burn five tankers full of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). An additional four cars of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) burned, as did motor oil, benzene, sheet metal, frozen vegetables and just about everything else.

Anyone who knows about environmental issues knows that dioxins — the most toxic chemical class known to science — are created when chlorinated compounds burn. Those chemists who did not know need to do some brushing up on history.

Yet we could all use some review of the idea that our bodies are part of the physical environment, subject to what happens here.

To this day, neither the State of Ohio nor the federal government have declared an emergency — an astonishing fact that represents denial not just of the situation, but of physical reality in total.

Photo by Gene Puksar / AP.

EPA, NTSB Look the Other Way

The dump and burn of 125,000 gallons of VCM was done while the EPA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) looked the other way, and after two governors issued evacuation orders.

An astonishing chemical plume was intentionally released into the sky, the Earth and the groundwater, with the worst of it held in place after the Feb. 6 dump and burn by an atmospheric inversion.

To this day, neither the State of Ohio nor the federal government have declared an emergency — an astonishing fact that represents denial not just of the situation, but of physical reality in total.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has dragged its feet on dioxin testing, pretending it was not a problem till my article on the subject went viral and the issue started showing up on nearly every blog and podcast in existence. This, in turn, pushed it into mainstream politics and to a limited extent, the national press.

Yet the governments of Ohio and the United States are letting people stew in the chemicals. Many homes are so disgusting that the paint is peeling, but they have been deemed safe. Meanwhile, political figures sashay through town, posing for photo-ops.

We could analyze this a different way, bringing the matter up to the 21st century: the effects of the Pluto return can be described as a secondary effect of the digital environment that has swallowed the world

“Fostering Hope.” Painting by Lanvi Nguyen.

In Digital, Physical Things Fall Apart

Because the United States has a late-degree Pluto (the Declaration of Independence representing the end of an old order, and the beginning of a new one) the condition of anaretic Pluto is happening again, at the time of the first Pluto return of the United States. The suggestion here is that the U.S. itself was born with anaretic Pluto. It sure feels like it. Our history has been one long disaster with a few bright spots.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, much of the Western world emulated the U.S. for its theory of what a society should be, therefore every country that did so is under the influence of the Pluto return. This includes a diversity of nations that were bombed into submission by the U.S. and its allies, as well as many “client states.” The Pluto return of the U.S. affects all of these places and populations.

We could analyze this a different way, bringing the matter up to the 21st century: the effects of the Pluto return can be described as a secondary effect of the digital environment that has swallowed the world. Notably, right at the time of the founding of the United States, electricity was about to swallow the world.

Part of the problem is the digital mentality. Most people pick something and believe it, then pretend it’s true, fighting and cawing to defend their position. It’s easy enough to delete anything that challenges one’s opinion or worldview.

Or you can identify what you believe, and vigorously attempt to disprove it and see where you end up. This requires not being lazy, or attached to one’s ideas. There is no room for ego in a sincere quest for the truth. Or you might say that the search for truth obviates the ego and all its fears and worries, supplanting them with something much more relevant.

In my article on Thursday, Feb. 2, I said that something big was coming, but the problem is that due to the distortions of the digital environment, we no longer know what matters and what does not.

“Below the Surface.” Painting by Lanvi Nguyen.

Another Aries Point Lunation

The East Palestine disaster happened just before the Feb. 5 Leo Full Moon, with both the Moon and the Sun square Uranus. All of the planets involved in that pattern were at the midpoints of fixed signs (called the cross-quarters), which made it an Aries Point event. The Aries Point is where the personal and the collective intersect or collide; it’s where the world crashes into the living room.

Aries New Moon semisquare Uranus — a repeat performance of the Leo New Moon square Uranus. This chart represents a full-on Aries Point event where the collective and the individual collide. View larger.

How did I see that? The Moon, Sun and Uranus were making either 45 or 135 degrees to the first degree of Aries. The semi-square and the sesquiquadrate (as they are known) are trigger aspects, and something was indeed triggered — far worse than I could have imagined.

In my article on Thursday, Feb. 2, I said that something big was coming, but the problem is that due to the distortions of the digital environment, we no longer know what matters and what does not. I called the article Under the Moon: Hour of Awakening. We will be living with the events of Feb. 3, 2023 for a long time — though they are part of a much larger pattern.

We have another Aries Point chart with the March 21 Aries New Moon, arguably more influential and on a larger scale because the New Moon takes place exactly in the first degree of Aries, about 18 or so hours after the equinox. This would be extraordinary in its own right. Yet Uranus is still sitting about where it was, 45 degrees from the Moon-Sun conjunction.

So we have another Aries Point kind of event described. This time, Uranus enters the aspect pattern in a more concealed way. The semi-square is like a veiled square, yet despite being hidden, Uranus still remains available as a source of shakeups and unexpected events, magnified by the Aries Point.

And the worst effect of digital is to make us think we are all connected, when in truth most people feel isolated and helpless.

“Movements Between Here and Now.” Painting by Lanvi Nguyen.

And Then Pluto and Mars Make Their Moves

Then, two days later, Pluto enters Aquarius, and a new phase of history begins.

And two days after that, Mars leaves Gemini and enters Cancer — contacting the Aries Point by way of touching the location of the Sun on the Cancer solstice. And Mars forms a 45-degree trigger aspect to Uranus in Taurus.

Once again, we are looking right at something big.

But what? Well, with Uranus and Aquarius involved, we might turn our attention to the fragile state of the internet, the financial system and the electrical grid.

Whatever happens, we must acknowledge that it’s happening in a world that cannot support its people. We still spend billions of dollars on bombing campaigns and responding to nonexistent viruses. We live in a constant state of crisis and cannot readily identify what actually matters.

And the worst effect of digital is to make us think we are all connected, when in truth most people feel isolated and helpless. Technology has advanced to the point where most people have no idea how to take care of themselves, or of one another, and yet there are no trusted institutions to do so. We use the word “community” 20 times a day, but community is what helps you when you need it.

We live in a world where a dioxin train wreck in the middle of 125,000 farms is somehow not an emergency. It’s just the way things are. We live in a time when nobody has accountability, including for what we know or fail to know.

Winston Churchill famously said that Americans always do the right thing — after they have tried everything else. We are running out of options.

Faithfully,

“Internal Metamorphosis.” Painting by Lanvi Nguyen.