Valentine’s Day: Pluto in Capricorn…?

It’s Valentine’s Day… and evidence of the commercialisation of love and relationships abound. When I first moved to the Netherlands – even finding a Valentine’s card was difficult. How things have changed.. A guy at the flower shop yesterday – while waiting for his bouquet – was keen to tell me that there was a “big present” to go with the flowers. “Lucky Girl” I replied!! 

Relationships form the corner stone of our lives and we can trace developments in relationships by plotting Pluto’s progress through the signs. Let’s look for a moment at Pluto’s stay in Libra. Libra is the sign of love and marriage and somehow Pluto in this sign made mincemeat of any notions of permanence in relationship. While sexual revolution of the mid 1960’s – linked to Uranus in conjunction with Pluto in Virgo – might have freed our minds – it was Pluto in Libra’s job to explore, expose and transform attitudes to partnership. Throughout the 1970’s all that was once holy ground – became public good. Films like Emmanuel (1974), books like the Joy of Sex (1972), and in particular  Deep Throat (1972) , took the sexual revolution to a new upper middle class audience. Wife-swapping and experimentation were in as were bans and obscenity trials. While the  “second wave of feminism”  led to a re-assesment of women’s traditiona role, and the pill gave women control over their wombs, love and enduring relationships went through the mill. Divorce rates rose steadily throughout the 1970’s, while some claim that current marriage figures are down by 50% on 1970. Pluto in Libra it seems, did a pretty good job!! So what happens next? “In 1983, two separate research groups lead by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier independently declared that a novel retrovirus may have been infecting AIDS patients, and published their findings in the same issue of the journal Science“. 1983 was the year that Pluto entered Scorpio. Sex became linked with death. Fear entered the arena. But let’s reflect on where we are now…

Pluto is in Capricorn – a sign that has been linked to big money, profit at any cost. The end justifies the means.  So – is all lost? Are relationships destined to be no more than  fodder for those who seek to manipulate our desires and needs? Those who seek to earn a buck at our expense?

Though it is a cold sign, Capricorn is linked to form, structure, and it has a deep respect for enduring institutions. Marriage is itself often seen as an institution, so might it be poised to make a serious come-back? The sign oppositie Capricorn is Cancer – these two signs share the same axis- and feed off each other. The family – and perhaps a growing  recognition of the fact that the young fare well in a safe nest – might lead to greater responsibility with regard to child bearing and child raising. Capricorn is discerning and tends to take a serious attitude to relationships. When the going gets tough (Capricorn) considerable strength can be drawn from one’s family (Cancer). So, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius lay behind us. As a cardinal sign, Capricorn reprsents a new impulse and we might expect a  reaction perhaps to – the 1970’s.

Though the days when moguls created great visions of enduring love (the buliding of the Taj  Mahal began with Pluto in Taurus) might be lie behind us (or in front of us!) Pluto in Capricorn might have a few surprises up it’s sleeve yet where love and relationships are concerned…..