Thanks to Urania for this lovely image. Please pay her a visit to thank her for the bandwidth!

As we approach the mid-phase of Pluto’s conjunction to the Galactic Center I’ve received several emails asking about how this is likely to affect us on a more personal level, and the fact is that we really don’t know. There are very few astrologers who use the Galactic Center in charts, and therefore there is little research to suggest what forms this experience may take. However it manifests we can be sure of one thing: it will be different for everyone depending on their charts.

There was an active argument on a listserve last year about whether or not eclipses have an effect on individuals. Some swear by eclipses and for others, like me, they make no impression whatsoever. It appeared to me from that discussion that the more lunar types with a Cancer emphasis or prominent Moon were most likely to experience an eclipse in their personal lives.

Those of us with planets at 25-30 degrees are most likely to experience this dynamic because we are being affected by the transit of Pluto over those points in any case. Pluto drives us relentlessly towards transformation, creating endings and new beginnings in order to align us more completely in our evolutionary journey. As it concludes its travel through Sagittarius, it is working to clear away the ideological debris in order to prepare for its entry into Capricorn where it will begin the transformation of the strucures of government, wealth and mores.

On a personal level I believe that we are being realigned now in a way that transcends the details of our individual lives. The Galactic Center is the soul of our planetary system and as humans we are part of a spiraling series of collectives: our families, our communities, our nations, our planet, our solar system and our galaxy. As part of the collective, everything that we do has an effect that ripples throughout the realm of experience. Perhaps the passage of Pluto across the Galactic Center is deepening that experience for all of us, bringing us into alignment with what is needed in order to evolve as a collective to the next phase of human experience. Pluto deals with issues of power; under his tutelage we surrender our need for the power of ego in exchange for a more transformational and transpersonal empowerment.

As with any Pluto experience, cultivating a relationship with the inner guidance of our higher self and letting go of that which no longer serves us will facilitate our connecting not only to our own purpose but to the human purpose as well. If the Pluto/GC alignment is in a harmonious aspect to our own chart, the process of connection is likely to be relatively smooth and exhilarating. If the alignment forms a challenging aspect to our own chart, that surrender may appear as a crisis that forces us to abandon something that we hold dear – perhaps our own ideology.

This is a major planetary event, and its effects will not become known overnight. In my research of previous Pluto/GC conjunction cycles , it did not appear that was any one significant event that occurred as a result. However, a broader view revealed that these times were powerful turning points for human society as a whole. (see earlier article for more details)