In 2006-2007, Pluto was aligned with the Galactic Centre,
the core of our home galaxy, the 'Milky Way'. When activated, this 'Greater Centre', around which our Solar System revolves, represents an opportunity to re-align with our own Deep Centre.

From 2012 - 2018, the Centaurs Pholus, Chariklo and Hylonome
pass this area ... read on ...
or skip to specific information list here

There is a well known Chinese saying - 'May you live in interesting times' - which is intended as an ironical blessing. Indeed, what we thought was a blessing may turn out to be a curse, and vice versa. In other words, our 'convictions' about what is true and real often turn out to be just that - 'convictions' which put our mind behind bars.

The Sun-Centred World View

Only a few hundred years ago, believing the Sun occupied the centre of the Solar System would have marked you as a heretic. Until the time of Copernicus (1473-1543), the prevailing cosmology described the Sun and all the planets in orbit around the Earth, although the Greek philosopher Aristarchus (b.310BC) had proposed the Sun-centred system many centuries previously. The 'common sense' Earth-based perception was embraced alongside the Sun-centred view by the 12th century Islamic philosopher Averroes, but this inclusiveness seems to have been the minority view during the centuries that followed. (1)

During the time of Nostradamus (1503-1566), these Sun-centred ideas were in circulation, but disallowed by the Church.Galileo (1564-1642) was the astronomer who openly stood by the ideas of Copernicus, and paid the price for it, dying under house arrest. The 'prevailing world view' shifts far more slowly than the work of the avant garde. However, the personal and spiritual implications of our cosmology change even more slowly. (2)

Pluto in Sagittarius

The planet Pluto, Lord of Transformation, was travelling through the zodiac sign of Sagittarius, the Archer, from 1995 until 2008, when it entered the sign of Capricorn. During the first 16 years of Nostradamus' life (1503-1566), Pluto was also located in Sagittarius. Most interestingly, there was a conjunction of Chiron and Pluto which occurred on Jan 4th 1514, when he was only 9 years old. One can but wonder how the potent energies of this conjunction attuned him to the 'future', his own and that of 'the world'. (3) The turn of the Millennium was marked by a similar conjunction, also in Sagittarius, on December 30th 1999! This combination reveals the 'wounding' and destructive element of religious beliefs, a theme which is poignantly and sometimes alarmingly present today. There is something potentially 'apocalyptic' about the thinking of Sagittarius, informed as it is by the heat and intensity of the element of fire, which does not pass things through the filter of 'reason'. This is both gift and liability, both prophetic and tending towards the literalism of thinking which defines something as 'fundamentalist'.

Sagittarius is depicted as a Centaur, a hybrid creature half human and half horse, symbolising the bridging of different realms and the focussed mobilisation of instinctual forces. Speed, vision, trajectory, sharpness, target, goal, intention.. these are all words which describe the feeling of this image. Sagittarius is the last fire sign, the other two being Aries and Leo. Fire is 'upwardly mobile', consuming what is ignited. This may mean the greed, expansionism, materialism, globalism, one-sided extraversion, colonialism and acquisitionism which is all too obvious on the world stage today. Jupiter is the traditional ruling planet of Sagittarius, and equates with the Greek Zeus, reigning king supreme of Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods.

Indeed the deeper meaning of Sagittarius expresses spiritual aspiration in a wish to somehow rise above our own struggles, conflicts and human foibles to reach our own highest potential. In 'esoteric astrology' the Earth is said to rule Sagittarius, and the arrow points down, not up. (4) By extension of this symbolism, the one-pointedness of the arrow mobilises our energy to go deeper into ourselves, rather than up and out and away into the future or 'elsewhere'. The futility of expanding upwards and outwards without balancing this with grounding and inner connection is finally recognised. We 'come home' to ourselves.

Whatever Pluto touches is transformed, often through a difficult and painful process of destruction and rebirth. In Sagittarius, it is our very cosmology which is being re-born. Our notion of the cosmos we inhabit has a profound effect on how we behave. As actors, if the background scenery changes, our actions may be rendered totally incongruent unless we pay attention and change too! This background change is occurring during these times.

The Galactic Worldview

The Sun-centered view is now obsolete. Not wrong, just not the whole story. We've known for some time that the entire Solar System actually revolves around the centre of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, which is a spiral formation. We are located a fair way out on one of its arms, not in the centre. Moreover, we know there are many other galaxies of different types! For the last few hundred years, the 'solarity' of consciousness has dominated social and political forms. Now a deep shadow is cast as tyrants abound and the people are encouraged to cultivate unbridled narcissism. In these early stages of the solar ego being overthrown, we see its pathology everywhere as the degenerate and corrupt form of this archetype proliferates. (5)

What if we were to understand this as the 'old world view' we are to let go of?? How might our life change? What if we really lived from what we actually know, and what science is actually demonstrating? What if we lived the truth of our interdependence with one another in acknowledgement of our total dependence on Grace for our very existence? Also, what are the metaphorical 'flat earths' that we still believe, in terms of our own life process? (6)

In 2006-2007, Pluto passed through late Sagittarius, the current location of the Galactic Centre. (7)
There are now three Centaurs following up on this area, reminding us of the importance of this attunement. See the table below for current dates. In each case, allow about one week beforehand and a few days after to attune to the full arc of the experience.

Whenever this area of the zodiac is activated, there is a profound opportunity to listen within to what is coming from beyond the confines of the personal ego, the prevailing collective egocentricity, and the false centre from which we usually operate. We can listen to the deeper currents. Also, in particular, the last few degrees of a sign reveal the essence of the transformative process which has been evoked. Rebirth is at hand, in this case, spiritual rebirth. It is time to stand up for, embody and reveal the truths for which we stand. If not now, when? If not me, who?

Click here for notes and date list showing:

i) when Pluto is in contact with the Sun. Information, knowledge and intuitions from deep sources is brought to light or discovered.

ii) when it is stationary (S) and appearing to change direction either to go backwards (Rx) or resume forward motion (D). These are the turning points in the flow of our life. When Pluto goes forwards, plans may move ahead. (8) When Retrograde, the inner life is more accentuated; it is time to digest experience, come to terms with change and also to ruminate and rest.

iii) conjunctions and oppositions of the Sun with any of the three Centaurs in late Sagittarius > Capricorn, as well as their mutual conjunctions.

 

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ENDNOTES

(1) For an elegant summary of this fascinating aspect of astronomical history, see 'The New Astrology' by Nick Campion and Steve Eddy, Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1999, pp.220-230. For more detail, see 'The Mapping of the Heavens' by Peter Whitfield, British Library 1995.

(2) To illustrate, note that until recently, there was a Flat Earth Society with active membership.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth_Society for further information.

(3) See the article on my website 'Breaking the Taboo on God'. www.melaniereinhart.com.

(4) See 'Esoteric Astrology' by Alice Bailey, Lucis Press, New York and London, 1951.

(5) See my article 'The Lion Portal Opens, on this site for an exploration of positive solar qualities.

(6) For an inspiring exposition of these themes, see www.philipsedgwick.com/GalacticCtr/html

(7) The Galactic Centre moves backwards through the zodiac at the rate of approximately one degree every 72 years.

(8) Individual experience of these energies will depend on precisely their condition in a given person's horoscope.