Pluto is a slow moving planet, well, dwarf planet. Yes, we have to accept that Pluto is a dwarf planet-it’s smaller than Mercury, and Mercury is a small planet! This might be a confusing curveball for astrology enthusiasts since Pluto is often still referred to as a planet, but so are the moon and sun (which are luminaries), however this is simply done for ease of language.
Pluto’s orbit is roughly 248 years, so since it’s discovery by humans in 1930 it has yet to reach even half of its orbit. The term return means that a planet is returning to the same position it was in at a certain point in history. In astrological terms, that means it returns back to the same sign and degree within that sign.
For humans a pivotal point in our adult lives is marked by the Saturn return when Saturn, with its 29.5 year orbit, returns back to the sign, and eventually the degree, it was in at the time of our birth. Since Pluto moves at a much slower rate than Saturn, humans will never experience a Pluto return (unless vampires or elves are real) but nations, societies and empires will.
Pluto is the planet of deep transformation, slow change and upheaval, obsession, and bringing darkness into the light. Pluto is only one of the Roman gods associated with the underworld, Dis Pater being the other one, with Hades being their Greek counterpart. Many of the associations of the Roman and Greek gods became assimilated with one another over time and we see that chiefly being true with the underworld gods.
To learn more about the planets, their basic astronomy, their Roman and Greek namesakes and how that relates to astrology, click here
During a nation’s Pluto return the underworld theme of death shows up in both literal and metaphorical ways. It’s not uncommon for war and disease to spread during this transit, causing a major loss of life to the citizens of the country, but there is also an overarching theme of deep, irrevocable change that takes place in the way the country is run.
So Pluto returns, for a nation or empire, signify a time of drastic change, but it is a necessary one. This is usually noted by famine, war, plague, dissent, poverty and the like. While these are all horrible events that I wish we as humans didn’t have to face, there’s no denying that many nations (and certainly all empires) are incredibly flawed. Pluto brings to the surface issues that have long been coasting under the radar, unattended to and undealt with for far too long. Sometimes bringing the bad stuff up to the forefront is the most effective way to deal with the problems.
Since Pluto is a tool of modern astrology, Pluto returns are something we’ve been able to study retroactively. Let’s look at some notable ones to see how other nations have fared in hopes to shed light on how the US, who had been going through its Pluto return since 2008, will fare.
First English Pluto Return
On December 25th 1066 William the Conqueror was crowned the king of England and though England had kings before this date, this is the date we’ll be looking at. This is when the kingdoms were united under a Norman king and ushered in a new era, as opposed to the 7 kingdoms united under Aethflead and the Anglo-Saxons who followed in the centuries prior. It is important to note that most nations have many different “birth” dates, that is normal and all are valid for analyzing Pluto returns. This is, however, the one we will look at today. I welcome anyone to do their own research and explore other dates and other Pluto returns from different charts!
The birth chart for this era of England which would become Great Britain and the British Empire, chart drafted on astr-seek.com
Now, we do not have an exact time for when King William was crowned, but since Pluto moves so slowly, it wouldn’t have moved any noticeable amount that day, so we can safely say that this era of England has a Pisces Pluto at 3°44’ (we do not know which house it is in though since we do not have an official time for when William I was crowned).
When working with planetary returns there are a few important dates: when the planet moves into the sign of the natal planet, when it leaves that sign and ends the return, but most importantly, when it reaches the exact degree of its natal Pluto (natal meaning the one in the birth chart). When Pluto reaches the exact degree of a nation or empire’s Pluto return it usually signifies a certain turning point in its history.
So Pluto entered Pisces on Wednesday February 8th 1308. England then reaches its exact Pluto return on March 27th 1310 and again on February 9th 1311 (due to it’s yearly retrograde period). Lastly, Pluto left Pisces and thus officially ended its return on February 24th 1334.
During the time prior to the exact return we saw the slow decline and end of the Knights Templar, which were kind of like military priests if you will, beloved by many for their piety and their protection. At the very start of the Pluto return we saw the end of the reign of Edward I, a king known for bringing law and order to England. When he died in 1307 his 4th son Edward II was crowned. Shortly after the Knights Templar were disbanded and forced into penance.
Edward has a more shameful reputation as a king of England for many reasons but chief among them was his relationship to Piers Gaveston. Upon the death of Edward I he returned to England (after being exiled). Many believed they were two kings in England, the one who held the title and Gaveson who pulled the strings. Rumors also remain as to whether they were sworn brothers or best friends. When Edward II met with the barons to discuss government reform under his rulership in 1308 their prime concern was Gaveson and his conniving.
Upon the first return Edward II agreed to an election of 21 barons which would be known as Lord Ordainers, and after the second exact return we saw the Ordinances of 1311, which were an attempt by the Barons to settle differences with the previous reign of his father but also with Gaveson. By January of 1312 Edward II was preparing to fight against the rebel barons but by the summer the rebels had succeeded in killing the king's favorite person.
The king’s other great failures were the Great Famine from 1315-1317, with the First Scottish War of Independence beginning in the middle during 1314, and then officially concluding in 1328 with the signing of the treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton. Then, in 1326 Isabella of France, wife of King Edward II, succeeded in a bloody invasion of England, in which many nobles were brutally killed and by the end of the year she was successful in incarcerating her husband.
In 1327 her 14 year old son Edward III was crowned king after his father was (most likely) murdered. The Second Scottish War of Independence began in 1332 and power between England and Scotland flip flopped for the remaining two years of the Pluto return (though the conflict lasted longer than that). Edward III ruled for 50 years-one of the longest reigning nobles in England's long history. He succeeded in many ways that his predecessor’s didn’t, building England up as a stronghold of military defense.
What we see here is a slow decline from 1308 with the crowning and reign of Edward II, famine, war, civil unrest and the like. King Edward II was a symbol of what not to do and how not to rule, so when his son took over he was able to reform the country and bring on a time of fortitude that had been yet unseen. England was not entirely destroyed, but the England they knew was deeply reformed by the new king and his long lasting reign.
Second English Pluto Return
The second Pluto return for this era of England began when Pluto moved into Pisces on February 11th 1553. It was exact on March 28th 1555, August 16th 1555 and again on February 9th 1556. It left Pisces on January 31st 1579.
In February of 1553 King Edward IV fell ill and then died in July of that year, most likely of tuberculosis. Wanting the kingdom to remain Protestant, he wrote up his succession to go to Lady Jane Grey, but she only held the title for 9 days before his half sister Mary took the throne, becoming the first official woman to rule England.
Yes, this is “Bloody Mary,” named so for burning hundreds of Protestants at the state during her 5 years reign. Beginning in 1555, Mary I quickly and brutally returned England to Roman Catholicism, killing as many Protestant priests as it took along the way.
There is usually a disease outbreak during a Pluto return and this one is no different, influenza ravaged the British Isles in the summer of 1557. We know influenza to be a once yearly nuisance these days, but this outbreak was quite lethal and known to cause miscarriages. This was not a common cold, but instead a deadly pandemic which also led to economic turmoil. After 2 phantom pregnancies which were likely more so a sign of disease (likely ovarian cysts or uterine cancer, not the influenza pandemic), Mary I died in 1558.
In November of 1558 Elizabeth I became the second queen of England, returning the country to Protestant rule and ushering in the famed Elizabethan era. Much the same as we saw in the last Pluto return, she brought on a new era. Hers was far more peaceful though, diplomatic, moderate and reliant on council. This was a great era of art, literature and travel, however we cannot overlook that England joined the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the 1560’s during her rule, something that would be reevaluated upon the next Pluto return.
Again we see the Pluto return beginning with the death of a monarch and the throne being-this time taken over-by a ruler who took the empire on a short whirlwind towards death and destruction. The return ended with a new monarch taking the throne and ushering in a rule that was much more approved by its people.
Third English Pluto Return
The third Pluto return for this era of England began when Pluto entered Pisces on February 18th 1789. It was exact on April 3rd 1800, August 9th 1800 and again on February 13th 1801. It ended on April 17th 1822.
King George III reigned from 1760-1820 and lived a long, albeit not healthy, life. It’s unclear whether George III suffered from untreated bipolar disorder, arsenic poisoning or the genetic disease porphyria, but he has been given the title “Mad King George.” Mere days before Pluto entered Pisces the prime minister William Pitt introduced a bill to Parliament to make George’s son Prince regent (acting king) while he was unwell from a period of instability the following year. However, George III recovered before it was taken into action.
During 1800 George III survives three assassination attempts and also begins to put in the work, through Parliament, to make an official union with Ireland. At the time of the third exact return in 1801 his title changed to King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the two kingdoms officially became united.
George III never owned an enslaved person and was an outspoken opponent to slavery. There was of course dissent due to his opposition and wish to end the trade, his cabinet was divided, his people were divided, and truthfully he could have been more staunch in his own beliefs, but he successfully passed an Act of Parliament banning it in 1807 despite the politics and uprisings in the streets (but I’m sure that much like in the US, it did not end the act of slavery entirely). He died in 1820 and thus ended his reign after putting up a good long fight.
However, George IV had been serving as Prince regent since 1811 (after nearly taking on the role in 1789) while his father was unwell, officially taking the throne upon his death in 1820. He was a stylish man and enjoyed fancy clothing. He remodeled many buildings all over the country to make them more pleasing and fashionable, as fashion and beauty seemed to be of a high priority to him. He also attempted unsuccessfully to divorce his wife, and was not a well favored man in his 10 year reign.
So, as you can see, this Pluto return is a bit different than the other two, but it’s interesting to see the slight shift and the change of the empire on the exact date when Ireland officially joined the United Kingdom. And though we did not see the formula of (death of a monarch)-(bad monarch)-(good monarch), we did see a major turning point with the banning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade which shows us how Pluto forces us to look at past mistakes and rectify them.
German Pluto Return
Germany, like many other countries, has many stop and start dates. It went by many names and had many borders, so there are a few Pluto returns we could look at, but I am always most interested in trying to find the oldest date I can (that still most closely relates to what we would consider the modern iteration of the country). So the chart we’re looking at is when the region east of the Rhine was called Germania by Julius Caesar. The date is given by worldatlas.com.
Looking at this chart Germany has a Leo Pluto at 7°56’, but since we don’t know the exact time of “birth” for Germania we do not know which house it resides in in the chart.
The birth chart of Germania, chart drafted on astro-seek.com
I won’t take us through every German Pluto return this time, instead let’s look at their most recent one which began when Pluto entered Leo on June 14th 1939, was exact on September 10th 1943 and again on May 6th 1945, and then ended on October 20th 1956.
If you know your history, WWII took place between September 1st 1939 through September 2nd 1945, beginning shortly after Pluto entered Leo and ending shortly after the second exact return. September 1st is when Germany invaded Poland after signing a non aggression pact when Hilter took office in 1933. This roused the attention of governments across Europe despite the fact that concentration camps had already been up and running since 1933.
The next summer, on June 10th 1940, Italy allied with Germany. Italy’s official involvement in the war began with Mussolini’s declaration of war against France.
On September 8th 1943, a mere two days before the first exact Pluto return, Italy surrendered to the Allied Forces. Germany tried to invade Italy to keep the country and its naval ships out of the hands of the Allies, but they failed, possibly turning the tides of the war. A mere week before the second exact return Hitler died on April 30th 1945.
More important than the war games, this period in German history was about hate, anti-Semitism and how easily people can be swept into an authoritarian regime under a mouthy dictator. Pluto brings the ugly parts of the country to the surface so that they may be dealt with, and this was truly one of the ugliest faces a country can have, killing up to tens of millions of people all in the name of hate and authority.
Germany, however, has also done an exemplary job of repentance since the atrocities of the holocaust, making sure to teach of their past and not sweep it under the rug so that it may never be repeated again. Is this cultural, or a lasting effect of Pluto? I will let you reflect upon that and come to your own conclusions.
US Pluto Return
There is some debate as to the precise date for the birth of the United States of America. Some people prefer July 2nd when Congress voted in favor of independence, some prefer August 2nd 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was actually signed, but I prefer July 4th 1776.
The birth chart of the USA from July 4th 1776, chart drafted on astro-seek.com
Why? I think it’s good to take into account that this is the date we celebrate our nation's independence and have done so since 1777. This is that date that was felt to hold the greatest significance, the day that the Declaration of Independence was written and approved of. It must have felt official and real to them. July 2nd was the “go sign” and August 2nd was merely about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s upon what they already felt in their hearts.
Unlike the other charts we’ve been looking at, we actually do have an exact time for when the Declaration of Independence was officially written and agreed upon, 4:50pm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. What this means is that we can get an accurate rising sign and therefore know which house all of the planets, including Pluto, reside in in the chart. So this means that the US has a Capricorn Pluto at 27°33’ in the second house of money, resources and worth.
This means that our first Pluto return began on January 26th 2008. It’s exact on February 20th 2022, on July 11th 2022 and once more on December 28th 2022. Then it leaves Capricorn on March 23rd 2023.
The major events in 2008 were the economic collapse and then Obama beating Mcain in the presidential election that fall. Obama served from 2009-2017, a generally beloved president, but certainly not beloved by all. He was the first black US president and that definitely started a rumble of hatred in the country that grew bold once Donald Trump began running for president in 2015.
Trump is certainly a fine example of Plutonian work, pulling up all the darkness that has been lurking unchecked for far too long. Trump's presidency made the racists and the bigots bold and proud in their beliefs. It’s important to remember that The United States of America was founded by stealing native lands through murder and all the horrors of attempted genocide of the native people of this land, so racism won’t magically go away without a conscious effort.
At the time of Trump’s presidency, the Civil Rights Movement was only 50 years in the past, and the horrifying legacy of slavery was a mere 150 years in the past (in legal terms that is, it was practiced illegally for many years longer in some places). Leading up to its Pluto return, the US had never dealt with its racism or bigotry, so it’s no surprise that the highest elected office was held by someone as deplorable as Trump, someone who not only highlighted these ugly truths, but proudly rubbed everyone’s noses in his hateful vitriol.
In 2020 the Covid-19 global pandemic hit and by 2022 a million US citizens have died with many others suffering from the long term effects of Covid. Even those of us who have never contracted the virus, and are not suffering a decline in physical health, are still not going to come out of this unscathed. This is a source of shared trauma not seen, I’d guess, since the Great Depression.
It’s a deeply challenging time we live in. We haven’t been this divided as a country since the Civil War; people refuse to believe science, others are becoming homeless during a pandemic where it isn’t safe to be around others, meanwhile billionaires are racing to space, companies are lighting the ocean on fire with oil spills, police are murdering innocent adults and even children almost weekly, people have uncovered over 7,000+ bodies of murdered native children from residential schools. All of this is happening live and being reported to us daily through the internet and social media, and yet we are expected to show up at our jobs day in and day out and pretend that everything is fine.
The Pluto return is happening in the 2nd house for the US, which is the house associated with money, finances, resources, materials, tangible things, and worth. Since Joe Biden was elected in 2020 and sworn into office in 2021, we’ve seen the themes of the 2nd house grow in relevance to the US’s Pluto return. The pandemic has acted like the first domino to fall and set off the rest of the chain, everything was already there to begin with but something had to fall first to get it started.
In March of 2020 we were told that we would need to take a 2 week vacation to quarantine to make sure that this virus didn’t spread. You’ll remember that it got pushed to a few more weeks, a few months, maybe a few more, and then many stopped listening to the health advisories altogether, even though the infection rates were worse than ever. Some people in this country get paid time off but many others do not. So what happens when you’re forced to stay inside for a few weeks, not get paid to do so, and have no financial government support? Well you run the risk of going homeless during a global health crisis.
Eventually some of us didn’t get evicted and got to go back to work, however, a few weeks/months at home getting to actually have free time for the first time in many years had a striking effect on a lot of the population. This brought on what is known now as the Great Resignation, which really took hold starting in 2021 when workers began to fight for better pay and working conditions at their jobs. The working people of the US are no longer willing to put up with poverty wages, poor working conditions, unreasonable demands, and laboring their lives away all for a poor quality of life while CEOs profit off their labor.
We’ve seen mass unionizations and workers strikes for huge companies, and many have been successful, garnering media attention. As I write this article mere days before the first exact conjunction, Starbucks is still putting up a nasty fight against its own workers fighting for unionization, firing workers who are fighting for their right to unionize, telling them to take off their union pins, firing people for even mentioning unionizing, so the fight goes on.
On the other hand we've heard the phrase, “no one wants to work anymore.” Some stores will post signs saying things such as, “be patient with us, we’re understaffed because so one wants to work anymore,” which is an advertising tactic. What the signs should say is, “no one wants to work because we don’t offer a living wage,” or “I’m a horrible boss who belittles everyone who works here and makes it such a hostile working environment that I can’t keep staff for long,” because those are the complaints heard from the working class. They simply want to be paid fairly and treated like valued workers, and they are no longer willing to put up with jobs that don’t meet those base level requirements.
The average US worker has been undervalued and labeled as “unskilled” specifically to underpay them, not give them health care, and treat them as less than human so that as much profit as possible can be funneled to the higher ups in the business. This is another long standing system in the US that is horrendous and has been swept under the rug for far too long, but Pluto is more than happy to pull it to the surface and force us to deal with it now.
The Exact Pluto Return
So what will happen now that the year of the exact returns is upon us? In reality, we’ve experienced one “unprecedented event” after the other for two years now, so I doubt that whatever is to come on 2/20, 7/11 and 12/28 will not shock or surprise us more so than anything else has in the past two years. That’s not to say that the Pluto returns will not coincide with pivotal moments in US history, it’s very likely that this year will be remembered as a serious turning point, but more so that what happens will have little immediate effect on us as US citizens. Instead we can expect to feel the repercussions of 2022 in the years that follow.
So there’s no reason to fear these dates as a certain end time in the US. Our world will not suddenly come crashing down in February, July or December of 2022, so there’s no need to panic, but this year is also certain to bring us more “unprecedented events.” With the conflict between Russia and Ukraine happening in February 2022 that is where many astrologers are looking regarding this Pluto return. I’m curious to see (if this is indeed the course the Pluto returns are taking) how this conflict will fit into the themes of racism, bigotry and workers rights here in the US, but only time will tell.
Astrology is less a tool of prediction and more so a guidebook for living through the present.
What I find most interesting as an astrologer (and someone who wishes to see the state of the US improve massively for its people) is that, after the Pluto return officially ends in 2024, we will soon see the beginning of the US’s next Uranus return in Gemini. This will be the third Uranus return in the US, the first took place during the Civil War and the second took place during WWII. Now, it’s not surprising to find wars when we look back at US transits and history because only 15 short years of this nation's entire history have been without war. However, these two are significant ones that represent a great divide in thinking, which we could argue parallels the current divide in beliefs that our country faces now.
So, it seems that Pluto is bringing up the darkness that must be faced and Uranus may be the one that invites us to act upon it.
I was in the 5th grade when the US entered Iraq and the war began. I was 30 when we left. I do not wish to see a great war in my lifetime, but both history and astrology are the study of cycles, so I’m sharing with you the patterns I see and what they could mean.
Hold fast in your beliefs and take care of your community. It’s not likely that we will soon see an end to these unprecedented times. I know it seems like a lot (it’s been hard to write it all out), but when bring your gaze outward and realize that you were born at a time when you could witness a once in a lifetime event such as the first Pluto return of a nation, it makes you feel both so small and yet as big as the universe itself. Perhaps you are here for a reason, perhaps you choose to incarnate on the earth at this time, perhaps it’s all random, but you’re here.
You’re here on this fucked up little planet with all these fucked up little people, and you’re trying. That’s all you need to do, try. There’s no one simple solution to fix this mess. There’s no magic pill, remedy, or word that is going to solve all of this quickly, it’s a slow crawl towards betterment and all you have to do is try and keep trying.
And when it all gets too overwhelming, go lay in the sun, pet an animal, hug someone you love because you are here to live. You are here to experience what it’s like to be a human and sometimes those experiences are hard and that’s ok, but that’s not all you’re meant to do and be. You’re meant to find softness and quiet and beauty as much and as often as you can, even when it feels like the world is crumbling.
So no matter what happens these next few years, remember that you deserve to live.