Why Pluto’s Move Into Aquarius Is the Biggest Astrological Transit of the Year

*All times listed are in Eastern Standard Time (EST)

How does your birth chart factor into Pluto’s transit into Aquarius?

Before we go any further in this investigation, I want to emphasize that everyone is unique and therefore has a different experience of Pluto. You may experience the planet and its transit differently based on where Pluto is in your chart, as well as which of the 12 Houses it is in and what aspects (angles, relationships) it makes to other planets in your chart.

When I was 25, Pluto crossed my ascendant sign (also known as a rising sign). A short while later, it opposed my sun. Without going into too much personal detail, I will simply say that it was an intense and life-changing time, to say the least. Fascinatingly, if I live to be 100, Pluto will cross the bottom of my chart; if I’m still alive, I would be fully onboard for Pluto to take me into the great beyond.

If you are a Capricorn, sometime in the past 15.5 years, Pluto was on your sun, and your life likely underwent a major transformation. Fortunately, I am happy to share that you will never have Pluto on your sun again (yay!) — unless, of course, A.I. takes over and our brains all live on into infinity, in which case, I’m sad to report that it will happen over and over again. (Luckily, we’re a long way off from that, however many strides artificial intelligence has made thus far.) You have probably learned myriad major lessons and, at this point, you deserve a gold medal for adaptability.

What years was Pluto previously in Aquarius, and what happened?

Astrologers for centuries have observed phenomena in the heavens and connected them to whatever was happening on Earth when that phenomenon repeated itself. Therefore, one way to understand what Pluto in Aquarius might bring is to go back 248 years into the past — that is, the last time Pluto awakened the Aquarius consciousness.

The last time Pluto moved into Aquarius was at the end of the Eighteenth Century, between 1778 to 1798, which coincided with the beginning of what some historians consider the Age of Revolution, a time in history when countries all over the world were rising up and challenging the ruling authority. These included major political and social revolutions on every continent.

Going another 248 years back in time, Pluto’s previous stint in Aquarius (1532 to 1553) bore witness to the Protestant Reformation challenging the Catholic Church’s authority. Aquarius is the sign of the revolutionary and the visionary — and, in and of itself, is not about war nor destruction. But, we see that in times when Pluto has implemented the Aquarian vision of equality and freedom, many societies indeed experienced war and destruction. (That said, as an excerpt, republished by the New York Times, from Will Hodges’s What Every Person Should Know About War states that “the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.” Oof.)