The New Zodiac Signs

Scorpio

Pluto is death, and beyond

"Pluto is where evolution collects it's materials to build anew. It will create new ideas from the birthed remembrance of decay-a word we use as the ultimate accompaniment of death. We could also use it as the ultimate giver of birth. To take lessons from Pluto is to understand our own nature. Just as the cycle of life brings endings, completions and to us sentient beings, sadness, we can also see opportunities in our daily world view to appreciate and anticipate the good with the bad, the birth from the death and the newness from the decay. Pluto holds all of life's lessons, if you are listening."
--Alicia Ruth, from the Aboriginal Astronaut

Scorpio's ruler, Pluto, is a scary object in space. Frozen, forlorn, at the edge of the Sun's solar winds, Pluto is the power of chaos and inevitably that mentored the birth of the inner planets. It is the on the ring of planetoids that face outward, beyond the Solar winds. Although the International Astronomy Union has relegated Pluto to planetoid status, Pluto represents what we can't see or understand, and therefore, what frightens us. It also reminds of of the titanic power of the Universe. It really doesn't matter where it is in your chart, Sun, Moon, or in the aspects--The influence of Pluto will always add a gong of finality to wherever it visits. Pluto is death at the door. And yet--as we resolutely face our destiny--what lies beyond the threshold of what we already know?

New color image of Pluto and its moon, Charon, taken by NASA
Pluto reeks of ancient history, of millions of years and the mysteries of birth and death. Scorpios feel it as a hidden signal from outer space.

Pluto also gives Scorpio its powers and fosters the sense of duty and discipline. It is fearless in the face of the unknown. Representing the will, the determination, psychic strength, regeneration, Pluto is the repository of our oldest concepts, darkest urges, and complete destruction; the way we meet our fate.

The Baby Boomer Generation:
1950-1968: Pluto in Leo

Pluto and Leo go well together, NOT. This is a life-or-death challenge, and despite the cat's nine lives, Pluto wins. The people of this generation consolidated to achieve political power and form a youth constituency that terrified the establishment. Leo scares its prey, its opponent. Domination, cult-of personality, and leadership were important issues for Pluto-Leo. The downside is a tremendous ego, which they celebrate in the Eighth House of the Dead, by going back to imitate their ancestors. Being a fixed sign, they can't escape their own history.

The last time Pluto was in Leo was 1701-1721. One look at the clothes and hair of that era tells you a lot about Leo. Ornate, grandiloquent, almost foppish, with great care to make the hair the centerpiece of beauty and awe.

The latest incarnation of Leo is July of 1950 to Oct. of 1968, the generation that grew up to be the hippie youth movement, where hair again was a political statement, as well as personal adornment. Instead of silk and frock coats, this generation chose working class denim and sandals to reject the bourgeois "charcoal gray" suit and wing-tip shoes of the businessman.

In both eras, the rise of a new Leo generation meant revolution and unrest. They seized on the value of breaking ossified laws and stereotypes. They rejected the system and wanted to return to a simpler time, a tribal arrangement. This brought on a new cultural hierarchy with musicians, gurus and shamans captivating the public while privately harboring sex and drug addictions. The Pluto-Leos are defiant, but trapped in the jungle, and the new societies they created were destroyed or self-destructed. The rebellion was just as much an ego trip as it was a cultural leap forward.

Pluto means change is impossible without death, so only adaptation can help the Baby Boomers stay relevant in today's world as they face the grim reaper. They are all in the same boat with the younger generations in a sea of trouble, disruption and insecurity. As the cat loses his teeth and roar, he'll have to move quietly to avoid a gruesome fate courtesy of the Hyenas.