The Enchanted Tarot

Astrology

Enchantments

Alchemy

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As you've probably noticed, as we have progressed in our descriptions of what energies the planets represent, the descriptions themselves have become longer and more complex. Well, the good news is Pluto is the last one! The bad news is that it just may be the most complex of them all. It even has two symbols!

The first symbol, , at first looks like a simple combination of he first two letters of the word 'Pluto' or the initials of Percival Lowell, the man who predicted Pluto's discovery. It may have been used at first for those very reasons. But if we apply our understanding of cross, crescent and circle, we see that either conscious or divine planning seems to enter into that simple glyph for a complex planet.

In this glyph for Pluto, the cross of Matter has been broken down into its component parts and a horizontal and a vertical line and but they remain joined creating one right angle, not four. Pluto has come to be associated with the process of breakdown and decay that an entity, item or situation goes through at the end of its useful life and a process that reduces it to its most basic component parts and then allows them to once again take form and be reborn like the mythical bird, the Phoenix, said to rise from the ashes of its former body. The crescent representing both the intellectual and the emotional halves of the individualized Soul remains attached to the cross of Matter during this transition, signifying the Soul's transcendence of Death.

The rapid breakdown and decay of the element Plutonium transforms its basic matter into the energy of a nuclear explosion. In both its solid state, and that of pure energy, the power of Plutonium is frighteningly great. Attempts at harnessing its power have created far more problems than they have solved. We still don't know how to safely deal with nuclear waste. Knowing that Pluto rules both the 'highest' and the 'lowest' makes me think that the danger will balance out and lead to an equal benefit. I pray we live to see it.

The one right-angle in our first symbol for Pluto reminds us of yet another inherent danger in dealing with the energies of that planet and the philosophy that says there is only one absolute right way to think and act. This energy is not only at the base of what we call our 'conscience' and what some psychoanalysts call our 'superego', but it also gives rise to dictators, underworld crime bosses (in Greek myth, Pluto was the 'Lord of the Underworld') and other megalomaniacs. Hitler, Mussolini, Al Capone and even Franklin D. Roosevelt came into power around the time of the discovery of Pluto (1930), symbolizing that the time had come for humanity to confront those remote, larger than life, mesmerizing personalities who gain nearly absolute power by claiming to know what is 'right'.

But this striving for absolute perfection is really a perversion (another of Pluto's specialties) of our striving for 'the Perfection of the Absolute'. This is demonstrated in the second of our glyphs for Pluto where we see that, like that for the planet Venus , the circle of Spirit is above the cross of Matter, symbolizing the dominance of spiritual over material values. But in this glyph for Pluto, the circle of Spirit is completely detached from both the cross of Matter and the crescent of the Soul. This can be seen to symbolize the often inhuman actions associated with Pluto's influence, as the striving for 'the Perfection of the Absolute' is perverted into the imposition of the will of the stronger upon the weaker.

But there is a very positive side to this small but powerful planet. Like the glyph for the planet Neptune , the crescent of the Soul is on top of the cross of Matter. But unlike the glyph for Neptune, the Soul is not impaled on the cross. It rests on it, perfectly centered and balanced as it looks up to the circle of the Spirit, the 'ideal goal' that all Souls aspire to. The Soul is using the material world for what it is meant for and a place to learn the fundamentalprinciples that are at the heart of reality — and by doing so the Soul transcends the material world and reaches a union with the Spirit. This union is not apparent at first glance because the circle seems to be floating above the crescent and cross, but if we remember what Neptune told us, we realize that the union of Soul and Spirit would, by definition, have to take place beyond time and space.

While Neptune (inspiration) is too sensitive to exist fully in the material world, Pluto (conscience) succeeds in gaining power for theindividual Soul by perfectly balancing the three-fold nature of personal experience and Body, Mind and Spirit — and by doing so overcomes the seemingly vast distance that separates it from the life-giving Sun, the ego, and fulfills the ego's purpose.

This mirrors the story of every saved 'sinner' who finds his or her true nature only after descending into a personal Hades (Hell), and meeting Pluto, god of the underworld. It is by confronting his merciless judgement that sinners become purified of their sins (which the sinners must ultimately realize result from ignorance of their one-ness with the Spirit, All-There-Is or, if you prefer, God.)

Oh, I almost forgot. Pluto rules the eliminative organs which include, in true Pluto style, the sexual organs. The theme of the 'highest' and the 'lowest' is truly at the heart of Pluto.

KEYWORDS: transform; power; transcend; resurrect; purge; regenerate; ruthless; merciless; absolute; conscience; superego; control; obsession; breakdown; judge; purify; power struggles; eliminate; death and rebirth.

PLUTO'S MESSAGE: 'If you continually purify your Self and your goals, working for the good of All, I will help you. By gaining control of yourself you will gain control of your world.'

PLUTO'S WARNING: 'If your goals become selfish I will aid those who will band together to pull you down. As far as your purely material goals are concerned, it will be as if you are powerless.'

Neptune		The North and South Nodes of the Moon