Cardinal Grand Cross 2014

Today is the day of a long-anticipated Grand Cross in Cardinal signs, with Pluto in Capricorn opposing Jupiter in Cancer, both squared to Uranus in Aries opposing Mars retrograde in Libra. This configuration is highlighting where we have been stuck in our lives, what is in need of changing, and what can no longer remain if we are to move forward. With my natal Uranus in Libra, Sun/Mercury/Venus in Capricorn, Black Moon Lilith/Part of Fortune in Cancer, Moon in Aries, and most notably my Vertex at 13 degrees Aries being conjoined by transiting Uranus in this Grand Cross, and all of these in my angular houses (the houses with the Ascendant, Descendant, Imum Coeli, and Midheaven at their cusps), it has a strong significance for me as a turning point in the series of Uranus/Pluto squares that has been grinding through all of our lives since June of 2012 and that has wrought a special havoc in mine. Since transiting Pluto during this time has ground its way across my fourth house toward the Imum Coeli and back and will be scouring my Venus and then Sun/Mercury during the next couple of years, Pluto in this configuration is of particular interest for me.

Lately I’ve been exploring Pluto issues in natal charts, in large part because my own chart is filled with challenging Pluto contacts and placements, and Pluto issues keep coming up in my life and the lives of others around me. For those not familiar with Pluto’s significance in astrology, it is one of the “transcendental” outer planets/dwarf planets, staying in a single sign for many years and thus defining generations by its passage. It rules the 8th house, one of the three houses of ending, which is ruled by Scorpio, the fixed water sign concerned with the deep, dark areas of human experience – death, money, politics, psychology, religion, sex, and most of all power (to which all of those other topics can be seen as an end). There is a compulsive quality to Pluto, and strong Pluto contacts in a natal chart increase the likelihood of compulsive behaviors (including Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), and histories of abuse, violence, and death, particularly in one’s family of origin, cycles which may be repeated throughout the native’s life until these Pluto issues are acknowledged and worked through consciously. Those of us with highly Plutonian charts seem to draw other Pluto types to us (go figure) and the resulting dynamics can be intense, to say the least. Since a lot of my own Pluto challenges relate heavily to my upbringing, I decided to take a look at the natal chart of my stepmother (my father died before I could get my hands on his birth data, and I’m still waiting on my birth mother’s information). And of course I found an incredibly challenging Pluto dynamic there, both for her and for her interactions with me. I’d been aware of the challenging Mars/Saturn aspects between us, but this was the first time that I’d really paid attention to the Pluto aspects between us, as well as how those heightened our other personal and interpersonal challenges.

One of the things that I have found fascinating in my studies of astrology is the way that it can lead to a broader and more compassionate perspective. Yes, one can certainly become fatalistic or use the circumstances of one’s natal chart as an excuse for poor behavior, but astrology can also help one to see interpersonal interactions in less black-and-white terms – someone who has treated you poorly may not be making a conscious or moral/immoral choice, but instead feels compelled by a perfect storm of challenging aspects within their own chart and with yours to react to you in ways that in turn, you react poorly to. Put two people with challenging charts together that challenge each other in turn, and things can get very messy very quickly. And while it is very easy to get fatalistic about such interactions, when you become aware of these challenges by consciously working with natal, synastry, and composite charts, it can be incredibly empowering to not simply try to buck fate but rather work with it for a deeper, richer interaction with someone you might otherwise be blindly antagonistic toward. I cannot tell you how much I wish I’d had this information earlier in my life!

Given the intensity of the challenges posed by today’s Cardinal Grand Cross, particularly with the planets involved, many astrologers (myself included) have been looking at this aspect with some trepidation – Marina Macario of Darkstar Astrology has gone so far as to call it “the most dangerous day of the year.” Since I do tarot readings at Andromeda’s Alley on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I wasn’t about to hide completely today, but after the next step in my ongoing astrologically-timed mead-brewing process I’d planned to go to my studio and hole up there working for the night. But the restlessness in the air has other plans, and I’m feeling strangely social. Perhaps that’s part of the change that the Grand Cross has in store for me this spring – I’ve been too much of a hermit for a while now, which has felt necessary for processing all of the changes and Pluto-related work, but maybe it’s time to emerge from my Plutonian realm for a spell and be a little less solitary.