The USA’s long-foreshadowed first Pluto Return finally arrives in February 2024, the 248-year cycle of destruction and rebirth that will likely reshape America’s Constitution, with a knock-on effect to the rest of the world. Pluto is the outermost of the modern Western planets, which from a Vedic standpoint lies outside the scope of human affairs, but anyone who has studied this star knows its symbolic bang-for-the-buck. It doesn’t do to be too doctrinaire: Pluto may not be a strictly necessary planet, but at this moment especially, it is highly charged and relevant. The exact transit arrives February 22nd, then July 16th, and finally December 30th 2024, ie, after the US Presidential Election, which will add yet another layer of intrigue, manipulation and power-madness.
Western tropical astrologers were proclaiming this Pluto Return in February 2022, seemingly oblivious to the fact they were two years’ early. This has nothing to do with whether Pluto is in Capricorn or Aquarius, but the fact that Pluto’s orbital period is 247.9 years, which dating from July 1776, comes to February 2024. Very simple. Precession accrues in real-time, at 1° every approximately 72 years, so in 248 years, we have to account for just under three-and-half extra degrees of sidereal time, which at its present point in its orbit, Pluto covers in two years. This precession-correction of course compounds cycle-by-cycle, so the USA’s second tropical ‘Pluto return’, in the year 2268, will arrive four years early. Or in other words, will come up nearly seven degrees short. Without adding the precessional value to any heavenly body, our calculations and interpretation are completely wrong.
USA's Sidereal Pluto Return to 6° Capricorn
These facts of the sidereal zodiac are seldom, if ever, taught honestly in Western Astrology, especially as it applies here to the Outer Planets and their longer orbits. One might try to argue pragmatically that the astrological signature is stronger in the Tropical paradigm, but this claim falls down too, badly, as it should. This is not just a technical piece of hair-splitting, but an observable, real-world effect that makes the sidereal symbolism far more potent. I said at the time, in 2022, that whatever happened vis-à-vis the USA and Pluto would be nothing compared to 2024. Sure enough, the USA’s political climate is more highly-charged than ever, and with the concerted effort to prevent front-runner Donald Trump from standing for POTUS, we are in very interesting times. One doesn’t necessarily have to be a supporter of Mr Trump to see that he is a historic figure, and will become more so in the event of his arrest or whatever else befalls him. In that case, America becomes truly a democracy in name only, and the rest of the West will likely follow suit.
The Roman Empire is dated from 27BC, and a common date given for its fall is 476 AD, almost exactly 500 years later, at its second Pluto Return (in Leo). The reasons for the fall include over-expansion, complacency and general decadence. Pluto cuts or destroys, then brings back to life again, transformed: it removes the branch to spare the tree. A trip into the Underworld lets us see what goes on outside of the light: power, control, manipulation, obsession. In a Plutocracy, power and specifically money is all that matters: a powerful interest - an arms manufacturer or drug company, perhaps - can bribe Left just as easily as Right: as long as the candidate is broadly along with their agenda.
USA ('Kelleher' chart: July 4 1776, 18:30, Philadelphia; other times are also available)
As if to emphasize Donald Trump's historic significance, if only as a rogue and demagogue, see his remarkable number of close hits to the USA’s natal horoscope: Ascendant exactly opposite USA’s Moon, Sun on USA’s Mars to less than a degree, Moon-Ketu within three degrees of USA Mars, Mercury on Jupiter to the degree, Venus on Mercury within a degree, Jupiter on Saturn within half a degree, Saturn on Mercury within three degrees, Pluto on Rahu to the degree. This latter hit, though involving outer and shadow planets, may be most significant of all to explain Trump Derangement Syndrome and how he carries the collective Shadow. What does all this mean? To repeat: he may be the catalyst for first the USA and then the rest of the 'West' moving to a neoliberal single-party state.
The Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, India, was opened and consecrated on January 22nd, after decades of legal debate and centuries of communal strife over its location. This is symbolic of the homecoming of Lord Rama, hero of the Ramayana, located on a sacred site which was built over originally by the Mughal king, Babur in 1528 – surprise, surprise, 500 years and exactly two Pluto cycles ago. The site had no special relevance in the Muslim faith and was not in use for prayer meetings. The Indian Supreme Court’s decision allowed construction of the new Mandir, and also decreed that a Mosque be built at another site in the city of Ayodhya.
Ram Mandir January 22nd 2024, 12:30pm, Ayodhya (note Pluto going to 6° Capricorn)
There is often speculation whether UK Royal and Parliamentary occasions are elected astrologically, but my feeling is mostly not. The Ram Mandir’s date and the muhurta (hour or moment), however, have been chosen minutely according to Vedic principles. This factor has been the subject of scholarly debate, with the sometime Shankaracharya of north India, for one, claiming that the date of the founding stones, laid in August 2020, was astrologically inauspicious. (Astrologers be warned: electing a date for anything - building, business, marriage - carries a big burden). Some authorities also questioned the inauguration time, since the Mandir is not entirely finished. This has been suggested as political opportunism by Mr Modi, who goes to the country in a general election in June of 2024, but in fact, the astrological timing may truly have been too auspicious to miss.
The Pran-Pratishtha ceremony began at 12.20pm local time and went on until 12.40pm to 1pm. One look at the chart tells you it has been elected: Aries rises, with a maha parivatana yoga between Mars and Jupiter in the 9H and 1H respectively. Waxing Moon exalted in Taurus-Mrigashira and Saturn in Aquarius (and Capricorn navamsha). Abhijit is the rule-of-thumb auspicious moment for elections: It is the 8th muhurat of the day between the sunrise and the sunset, which remains for 24 minutes either side of local noon, during which time the ceremonial took place. The crucial moment was in the minute-and-a-half from from 12:29:03pm to 12.30:35pm.
The sacred site's second Pluto Return was probably not part of the pandits' muhurta deliberations, but simply goes to show astrology moving in mysterious ways. A stately stone building (Capricorn) was destroyed and built over (Pluto), then brought back from the underworld, reborn and transformed.
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