The Age of Aquarius, PART 6, DECEMBER 2008

[This is the sixth in a 6-part series by noted astrologer Boots Hart on the transition into the Age of Aquarius and what it will mean for each generation undergoing these vast changes.—Ed.]

Aquarius embodies all the great ideals of equality, equanimity/life harmony and freedom. It also embodies the coldest of hard facts. Aquarius supports achievement when it’s built on fact and hard work. Aquarius blows apart, collapses and eliminates bloat, overblown expectations and irresponsibility.

Commonly associated with this sign (and the 11th house of any horoscope wheel) are the ideas of “hopes, dreams and wishes.” But that’s just the edge of the tip of the iceberg, as Aquarius is more dynamic than wistful, embodying all the theoretical, negotiated, interactive levels through which our world operates. We know this because the whole of the zodiac is a process. The first quarter is about learning we exist—how to walk, talk and be. The second quarter is about learning how to socialize, play, take care of our daily needs and how necessary it is to make efforts which aim and helping and improving what life is. The third quarter embodies qualities which center on making things work—the how to get things done, who to do it with and the working out of details regarding who does what, who gets what and who gets to establish the rules.

Which brings us to the fourth quarter—that of the age we’re leaving (Pisces) and the one we’re moving into (Aquarius). All the signs of this fourth quarter (Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces) are emblematic of and center in worldly concerns—a key to much of life. For the past two thousand years (give or take), all of humankind has faced countless lessons on our place in the cosmos and how small we are when compared with Existence, lessons which have manifested in everything from religion to science to social phobias of the most personal types. And yet during this time we’ve also learned how unique and powerful our potential is, how we share a certain “specialness of commonality” in being entirely different from one another and from every other thing or being in the cosmos. That’s Pisces. And it’s not so much that we’re leaving Pisces behind as we’re moving on. Life assumes we’ve assimilated lessons learned, and at a certain point moves us to the next level, the next subject, the next phase in mortal development. So that’s Aquarius. And throughout the Age of Aquarius we residents of this Earth will experience new lessons in how society is shaped, how it functions, and the social forces which tie it, bind it and free it to function either freely or wildly, for good, bad and otherwise.

The theme of Aquarius is making a better world. For Aquarius, the world is a marketplace of ideas and interactions. So no matter your sign and no matter when you were born, now that we’re entering the Age of Aquarius we’re all becoming more conscious of how we fit—and don’t fit—in our world. Aquarius thrives on awareness; through the intensity of its focus and ability to relate people, things, ideas…it can reward a person or simply freak them out. Aquarius asks that we venture into the world—including the worlds of our mind and our daily life. And it assures us that all we need in order to be filled with satisfaction, acceptance and security is found within—which is why some people so think Aquarius is about hopes, dreams and wishes. But those things are only what we resort to when we aren’t getting things done; when nothing is happening and we haven’t gotten ourselves to take the task on. In all things Aquarian, the reality of the dream is called motivation and the point of that motivation is to move us to learn the facts and do the hard work so we can achieve our goals, fulfilling our life functions and contributing to the world along the way. Life needs each one of us. It’s why we’re alive. The trick (if you want to call it that) is getting ourselves to recognize that the answers aren’t “out there,” they’re in our making, in our being—in being who we are.

As the Aquarian Age moves forward, more and more opportunities will become available to the “regular person,” which on a cosmic level is why Pluto’s shift into Capricorn is a timer for the undermining of so many long-relied on structures (governmental, societal, financial, corporate). All the structures which are being shaken are those which intrinsically prevent individuals from having equal footing on the world stage. Remember, cosmic forces are not personal. They are neither “for” or “against” you. For things to change, they actually have to change…which means that what was, has to “go away.” The transition isn’t always pretty, gentle or altruistic—except in its result. Aquarius is the sign of anarchism—and innovation. Where the Piscean Age was all about the permission to try, the Age of Aquarius throws the door open to all who are willing to make the effort. But it’s not a sign famous for any degree of coddling.

And yes, unfortunately this is likely to incite a peculiarly perverse part of human nature, as people love the idea of change, but they don’t like the process. Nor do people really like equality all that much. People like to win. People like feeling they’re fortunate. The very leveling of the playing field is likely to make playing the societal game seem less attractive for many.

Yet whether the “currency” of your satisfaction is money, fame, love, achievement—whatever embodies the key to your fulfillment, in metaphysical terms it remains important for each one of us to design and earn whatever our goal is. And that’s perhaps the most important thing to understand moving forward. As people, we tend to focus on the getting. But the master phrase here is “cause and effect” and this points out that the size, quality and nature of the causal choice is what generates all the results. We each have a job to do—and the process of that job involves tackling not just what we want to do, but what needs doing. The implication of the open playing field is that there’s more which needs doing and that people need to put old parameters and assumptions aside in adjusting to whatever it is they need to learn going forward.

No one’s going to invite you to get ahead from here on out; this is a brilliant age for those willing to function based on the truth of facts and likely to be a daunting one for those who are counting on rescue or a free ride. There will be lots of elitists, but to adopt the elitist bent is sort of like volunteering to be a dinosaur—it’s a big power trip which is ultimately doomed.

All of this feels very personal for those born under Pluto in Cancer (1914-1938). Being a generation which has endured hardships and made great personal sacrifices, and understanding that this is how you earn anything, many of today’s vacillating attitudes may make it seem like all their hard work has been in vain. But it hasn’t, unless this generation forgets that becoming senior in years has nothing to do with self—and human respect. One doesn’t have to be running the world to affect how it operates, making this a choice between fatalistic worrying versus continuing in the role of karmic parent to a world which needs firmly disciplined perspectives.

The biggest change these people are called upon to recognize in their advancing years is that they should move from building the home of their family to focusing on their home world. Theirs is a valuable and experientially tested knowledge which can be used to the benefit of all—and in so doing, also create security and a future filled with those opportunities they want for their nearest and dearest.

That the world is going though a “starting over” phase doesn’t enchant Pluto in Leo (1938–1958) people. Born in love with personal creative freedom and simply having life their way, Boomers couldn’t wait to become adults but have resisted many of the true qualities of maturation. Yet now that maturation has come upon them physically, they know they possess the right combination of determination and life experience to get much done. But still they resist—and will continue to resist until their lives can only be (pre)served by risking the fantasy of their inner nature in the blunting tests of real world productivity. They will matriculate honestly, achieving that longed for freedom, or find themselves emotionally, financially or socially strapped (even destitute).

All of this is about teaching this potently self-oriented (“me”) generation to grow beyond being the person who plays only when they stand to make gains which serve a personally directed purpose. Being a generation which wants to be trusted and confided in, Baby Boomers have a high internal sense of honor. Whether they are willing to balance that against humility in such a manner that they create a balance between themselves and the world will test whether (and where) this generation’s natural generosity has degraded into foolish frugality and a miserly spirit bound in chains of fear of change.

Learning to master their conviction that they have to make do and that they aren’t the masters of their own lives is perhaps the greatest personal test of Pluto in Virgo (1958-1972) natives, for not even their substantial worldly successes will compensate any of these people for a lack of faith in themselves. Famously drawn to thinking that happiness is found in a lack of feeling obliged, these natives will ultimately learn that it is the very responsibility one takes on which proves the value of one’s intent (internally) and that worth is not about money, but about the accumulation of power to be found in an honorable ability to discriminate. From that comes the determination of how to construct a course of life which may or may not be costly but which is more fulfilling than any expectation can ever be.

Always passionate, always mindful of worldly workings, the Pluto in Virgo generation has diametrically oppositional choices when it comes to how they order time and effort centering around the word “provide.” At one extreme, as they provide based on internal values, so they are provided for and spiritually freed, but materially deprived. In the other, they aim to provide themselves with external provisions and end up in a gilded prison of moral, emotional deprivation as a slave to financial encumbrance. The balance here is struck by measuring one’s life against the humility of human spirit, allowing for riches to be acquired through patience, and emotional comfort to become a product of satisfaction with self developed through differentiation from all else.

Recognizing the value of understanding people (not society, not humanity—people) is the Gen X (Pluto in Libra, 1972-1983) quest, a lesson in cosmic functionality which may seem ironic, but which holds at its heart a vital and eternal truth: everything happens for a reason. Gen X is drawn to the famous and successful not because they need to copy or become that person, but because the road to self discovery those people have taken…because understanding how and why such choices led to success is a Gen X key. Once truly distilled, these ideas become a blueprint Gen X’ers will ultimately employ in harnessing their multi-faceted talents.

Through this process of implementation Gen X finally encounters itself—a vital confrontation which calls upon them to recognize that it is by molding the blueprint to the unique person which creates an iconic ability.

The concept here is about “mirroring”, with the extremes being expressed as efforts to perfect images or ideas in order to earn love and approval. Yet the relentless void Gen Xers seek to fill, stabilize and calm so that they have a basis for decisive action can neither be eliminated by divorcing physical influences in favor of intellectual pursuits nor by living a life all about looks, lifestyle and societal associations. The solution charts a midcourse, adding one part acceptance of natural variation in human reality to one part diligent development and application of one’s abilities in a contributory effort which attracts those who can appreciate and share the effort to become.

As they move into their adulthood, those people born under Pluto in Scorpio (born 1983—1995) are going to recognize the opportunities they have to shape the world we know—and a world many of us can’t even imagine, and may never live to see. There is a streak of natural self protectiveness in this generation which will be tested against the temptation to work only for their own gain, their own goals, their own benefit. Being able to resist the “vision” and the altruistic dream is a great sacrifice for these natives who curiously, will find it hard to make realistic choices, particularly throughout their 20’s.

Born with a tendency to see their solutions in a validation which comes through others “joining” their team, Pluto in Scorpio people will do well to marry not the process but the greater goal, and find those who will work with them to achieve something which all parties find rewarding. Great shifts of dynamic are to be expected in the lives of this generation during their 40’s too, testing each individual’s ability to recognize, admit and move on where situations (relationships or things) have run their course or proven ineffective. This generation learns through experiences which cause them to move past fear in developing the great emotional capacities which ultimately lead these natives to a sense of inner and outer balance.

Greatly empowered with mental energy so potent that it resists the idea of being harnessed, the Pluto in Sagittarius generation (1995-2008) is born to “think big” but will find themselves limited until they learn two things. One, that thinking big is one thing—having a big effect is quite another. Two, that success comes not from just getting to do what you do, but from having it serve a purpose. This is a generation which is all about linking and linkage, a fact which has been mirrored by the exponential increase in media/communications potency, potentials and methodologies during Pluto’s passage through this sign. Focus of this energetic requires this generation to listen—and also hear. The difference between these two is all about (and depends on) the developing of a broad-based perspective capable of perceiving not merely value, but opportunityand advantages in ideas, things and attitudes which are fundamentally foreign, often at many levels.

Righteous humility may be the best emotional bylaw for this generation, for the Pluto in Sagittarius generation either learns to surrender in making allowances for differences of opinion and the richness of diversity as it goes along, or lives into a time where the world and their own families embody and mirror their own limitations. Given that for this group such a fate would amount to living through their own execution, the guiding concept thus becomes accept actively, do deliberately, react responsively.

The Pluto in Capricorn generation (2008—2023) is one which by virtue of Pluto’s highly oblong orbit signals a group of people who have the rare opportunity of being one of few generations which has the chance to know their metaphysical opposite: the Pluto in Cancer (1914-1938) population. Because of this, Pluto in Capricorn people are going to be tested by history while being blessed with the opportunity to consciously build on the legacy of their forebears, forging stability from a preceding century which has seen family values, religious notions, the national and international policies around the world jolt from extreme to extreme.

As the creators of a new paradigm which will then be tested and built upon by generations yet to come, Pluto in Capricorn people are going to feel challenged by a fluctuating sense of proportion. In one moment life will ask them to contemplate and discern between frugality and miserliness—in the next, life will require that they make choices and initiate actions which deftly parse or marry ambition and leadership. Endowed with enormous perseverance, these people will be endowed with an ability to recognize realities which will either empower or daunt them, suggesting a need to balance pragmatism against escapism, lest they stray from positive means of employing wealth, power and empowerment for selfish ends. The essential question these people face concerns how to embody inspiration with sufficient clarity of intellectual spirit as to motivate investment of one’s abilities in connective tools which in improving the situation of others garners respect, appreciation, reward, faith and greater opportunities.

[Ed. note: if you're interested in learning more about the Plutonic generations and their different issues, struggles and points of view, check out Boots Hart's 12-part series on Pluto in Capricorn.)

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