Mars is about to make a conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn (6:06 pm EST Monday, or 23:06 UTC). It makes two other aspects in the process. First, there is already a planet conjunct Pluto, a centaur called Narcissus (obviously not named for a mythological centaur).
Photo by Eric Francis.
Second, anything that makes a conjunction to Pluto these days also makes a square to Uranus. Put simply, Mars will be firing up the Uranus-Pluto square, the generational aspect that is the backbone of what I call 2012-era astrology (approx. 2011-2015).
When a fast-moving inner planet makes aspects to a longstanding generational aspect like the Uranus-Pluto square, there’s the possibility of a moment of revelation. True, that’s always possible, though I’m talking about one associated with learning astrology. I call these ‘proving moments’, though by proving I mean demonstrating the possibilities rather than some form of scientific proof. I am borrowing the term from my first cousins next door, the homeopaths.
The tendency of astrology is to predict events. I prefer to use it as an observation tool, and a means of analysis, and this is what I suggest we do with this one-of-a kind pattern. Whatever happens over the next week or so will tell us something about the Uranus-Pluto square, and about the times we are living in.
Our old friend Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) observed that the environment is invisible. Using astrology and observation, we have an opportunity to see what is actually in our environment and how it’s influencing us (and vice versa).
As part of the environment, the times in which one is alive are notoriously difficult to see. What is happening now, whenever now may be, is almost always taken for granted. It’s just the way things are; no need to really notice what it’s telling us. Astrology has a different message — pay attention and notice.
Marshall McLuhan, photo by Yousuf Karsh.
Part of what makes this aspect pattern one of a kind is the presence of Narcissus, a factor I have not worked with till now. I kept noticing it hanging around in the vicinity of Pluto, and figured out that it had to be moving slower than your average asteroid. I went looking for additional information, and learned that it’s classified as a centaur because it crosses Saturn’s orbit. Its orbit is 18 years, more than four times longer than most asteroids.
Narcissus is the lead character in a Greek myth, and in modern parlance, it’s the namesake of a psychological issue (narcissistic personality disorder). Wikipedia’s editors describe this as affecting someone who is “excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and to others in the process.”
Prevailing estimates that this affects just 1% of the population are hilarious. I think it’s more like a good strong influenza; that it’s close to the essence of our society’s emotional plague. To unravel that all you need to do is study television commercials, movies and pop culture.
Narcissism is a form of extreme self-interest at the expense of, or to the exclusion of, other people, and to the detriment of the person stuck in this place. It’s also self-defeating, in the end, just like many diseases first thrive on and then kill the host organism. When you put Narcissus together with Pluto, you connect it to the evolutionary impulse that Pluto carries. This can work many ways — through extreme experiences, a liberationist impulse, or thirst for wisdom, to name a few.
Mars conjunct Pluto-Narcissus, then squaring Uranus, is begging for enlightened self-interest. I would describe that as self-interest that recognizes that we are all connected, and have common needs. Actual self-interest sees common interest, just like a smart business person knows that other people succeeding in business is essential to his or her success.
Another way to conceive of this aspect pattern is an eruption of the issue that it describes. Mars-Pluto-Uranus, square Uranus, has a bonfire of the vanities sensation, a fire that may burn bright enough to see what all of this unenlightened self-interest is about. It may even burn bright enough to provide a glimpse of what lurks in the psychological landscape around us.
Eric, or anyone, I just started looking at declination and Mars is also out of bounds right now. Do you consider that as making the aspect possibly more potent/erratic, or not?
I have not tested the out of bounds theory personally, and it’s never really drawn me in. However, from what I know, yes, and second, how much more erratic can things be now? Am I correct in saying this is a declination issue? I will check my astrology encyclopedia.
OK. The concept was neither in the Encyclopedia of Astrology nor a very good dictionary. So I checked the ephemeris, and Mars is indeed at its most extreme south declination, 24+ degrees south. It’s about to turn around and head back in the direction of the Northern Hemisphere. I could certainly see this being distinctive.
I will say this, though — there are many phenomena of declination; there are declination aspects, such as parallels, there are events such as eclipses, and declination is changing constantly, as is longitude. Astrology pretty much ignores declination, except for a scant few moments here and there. It would be easier to see this in context with more experience. I would like to see some examples of events during out of bounds planet phases — this is a good proving and it’s certainly interesting that it’s passing through Ur-Plu at this time.
Let’s have a look-see as it happens.
Thank you!
If this is the case, how would you deal with a person with either a sociopathic, psychopathic, ADP or narcissism personality traits? Does this astrology imply their predatory behavior will come to the forefront? If so, this is a dangerous time, as one in 25 people have these disorders and there is not enough education and help available to the victims that are seriously hurt or affected by these people. They could be your partner, co-worker, boss, friend or even child or anybody you may have a relationship with.
Is this astrology implying that their dark intentions will show to others around them?
Ele
I personally have Mars out of bounds AT 11 DEG CAPRICORN (help) and I’ve corresponded a bit with Tony Howard, Steven Forrest’s partner, on other planets than the Moon being out of bounds and I assure you that Mars out of bounds – at least natally – has significance.
Janis Joplin, Joan Jett and a few others I don’t recall all share this placement, and as a sister among them, I can attest to a Wild Woman Extreme in a hard core way.
It is in my 4th house, so that is kind of under wraps, but – especially at exquisitely challenging moments like NOW – pretty fucking intense.
It could be useful at this point to examine where you are currently living, and whether this environment in any way restricts your freedom to be yourself. A home where you can relax is a true sanctuary from a thoroughly constricting world. Also, any issues with parents may come up. This might be a good moment to settle ongoing problems decisively. All the best to you.
Restriction such as an egg that
will kill the chick if she doesn’t bust the
@!#!! out.
And ‘where you’re living’ is a wide net,
inclusive of restrictions internalized via ye olde
karma famiglia.
It’s been quite a semester.
The understatement in all of this is extreme.
THANK YOU for your note of thumbs up <3
~ SV
I actually love the spot I live in – I literally overlook a forest that crowns the northernmost tip of Manhattan island. But the restriction in the home/legacy
etc has been excruciating. Pluto on Mars itself is the Transform Or God Forbid What aspect, and also corresponds with the eruption of desires/will denied, which fuels that transformation.. With an added Martial cherry on top – also out of bounds (as is my natal Mars) it’s been extremely extreme.
The first chart I looked at using declination was this weekend, for Noam Chomsky, and he has Mars OOB. It is also square Uranus conjunct Eris on his IC. And Eris is at 0 Aries! I’m not sure which part of his character is due to the OOB Mars, but it made me curious.
I would imagine, Ele, that it would depend on the environment of that vulnerable person, as well as the rest of their astrological placements during a time like this. And I also think that some of us who may be less vulnerable might be up for some testing in areas where we are forming ourselves. We are fortunate that Eric has put us on alert.
Thanks for the “out of bounds” conversation. I was already anticipating the conjunction of transiting Mars and Pluto (and Narcissus) upon my natal Mars (which obviously is being affected by the ongoing square).
Turns out natal Mars is “out of bounds”….riding the edge of 5th/6th houses.
Hm, I say. Hm.
One thing about out of bounds is that you could translate it to “having properties of Pluto or some other Kuiper object” as those are known for their sharp angles to the ecliptic. In a similar way planetary stations mimic outer planet transits because for some days Mars moves at the speed of Pluto when it’s transiting. Even Mercury does, for a day.
elediamond — could you point me to your source for the statement that 25% of the population has either sociopathic, psychopathic, ADP or narcissism personality traits? If it’s accurate, that’s a huge number of people.
I’m aware, as Eric asserts, that our society has a high proponent of people with some narcissistic tendencies, but that’s not necessarily the same as fitting a clinical diagnosis of “narcissistic personality disorder” according to the DSM — a distinction I’m not sure is quite clear in this blog post.
In any case, i’m not so sure the most grounded, centered or proactive approach to this astrology is to worry about “warning” potential victims of sociopaths and psychopaths (since those people are likely already in whatever unhealthy relationship it is that they need to find their way out of). That is, resources need to be made available to anyone in a psychologically abusive relationship *all* the time. Rather, I see this is as an opportunity for all of us to look for the patterns around us: in the news, in our social circles, in our own personal lives.
For example: while the big expose about Jian Ghomeshi in Canada blew open a couple weeks ago with the eclipse, it has been gaining momentum in that time as Mars has been nearing Pluto and Narcissus in Capricorn. Ghomeshi is being revealed as a true narcissist, his personal and professional behavior damning him in print — and it’s also shaking up the public’s perception/understanding of the inner workings of the oh-so-established institution of the CBC.
How very Pluto in Capricorn, yes? We could say in that situation that Ghomeshi is the “out of bounds” Mars whose out-of-control sexual behavior and professional ambition drove right into his own undoing (and that of his well-established public persona) at the hands of Pluto. He finally ran up against forces bigger than himself.
Anyone else seeing similarly illustrative events?
Regarding the Out-of-bounds discussion. Sara, I get it.
Always been the wild child, and no one has ever been lukewarm toward me – they either love me (most people) or don’t want anything to do with me… but I have not one, not two, but three planets Out of Bounds. I hadn’t really known much about this aspect until I read an article in Mountain Astrologer June/July 2010 issue on Moon out of bounds, and that’s when I checked my chart. I always thought is was my Sag rising conjunct the galactic core, beaming me in with a direct message to change the status quo, or maybe my Jupiter/Uranus conjunction (within minutes) that affected me so, umm, wildly. Explosions or sudden change in a big way! But with both Out of Bounds Moon at 6 Cap and Mars at 20 Cap being tweaked for oh-so-long by Pluto and now Mars, I had long given up ‘normal’ for the past year. And, Out of Bounds natal Venus at 23 Scorpio in an almost exact conjunction (though Venus is not OOB right now), all I want is intelligently passionate love – and a yummy dessert. Just getting over my third iteration (due to Rx) of my second Saturn return, Mercury about to conjunct natal at 7 Scorpio…. I have warned loved ones…. tread softly, please. There is a lot going on in this non-stop party in my brain and being! Motivation is good for unpacking those final boxes I hadn’t gotten to after the 1,600 mile move…. Or to just sit and ponder – been thinking a lot about projection lately, from both psychological and metaphysical perspectives.
One thing I did notice on roads yesterday, curvy and hilly Appalachian two lane roads…. Way too many cars and 18 wheelers coming toward me over the dividing line! Out of bounds at 60 mph…. Thankfully, didn’t have to get into the car today!
Have fun, everyone! Thanks, Eric, for the post, and others for the interesting discussion.
Kathi
Interesting.
Thats a whole lot of Pluto.
But then, (from my little piece of our rock) with transiting Uranus 9th house trining natal Uranus on the AC, all that Plutonian energy in Capp is probably helping keep the square of this era (tightly) balanced, rather than feeling like a theme park ride.
Re narcissism and NPD, there is obviously a spectrum, though that is blurred by the fact that our society seems to push everyone to extol the virtues of narcissism and worship the individual ego at the expense of nearly anything collective. And there is the added problem of figure-ground contrast being difficult to discern in this environment. One does not need to be obsessively self-centered in all facets of life to have it spill out and really affect people; to have it be a real factor, compounded by other social factors.
One other thing to consider is a generational issue. This affects certain generations more than others, as a sweeping social issue that reaches millions of people, though I will leave it to people better versed in generational theory to lay that out.
BTW amanda — artful description of how the astrology parallels Ghomeshi.
Example may be the “concert for valor” to be held on the Mall in DC tomorrow night. Jingoistic self interest and nothing to do with honoring veterans.
Amanda: What Eric said.
Thanks everyone for all the OOB insight!
I was intrigued and somethings resonated with this Mars oob south declination idea when I read the email earlier today. I feel like there is this quality of when a analog tube amplification reaches a certain point of distortion and simultaneously that distortion becomes harmonic. Perhaps it’s too like simply distortion created by amplification – that extreme – overload point that functions yet introduces a random and chaotic factor.
Perhaps I’m biased on this as when Mars / Pluto were exact yesterday eve, they were conjunct my natal south node to within 15 minutes and in my 12th house as are my natal sun : moon : rising : mercury. My natal mercury was also exact sextile to neptune. So like I stated I may be biased, yet a certain flavor of consciousness spoke when I read this Mars oob idea