Having more time for myself is both a blessing and a curse…
On the one hand, I get to work on those things I love, but ordinarily have no time for…
On the other hand, I’ve got to narrow my focus and choose just one of those things to actually do…
(One at a time, anyway.)

Consider this, then, an experiment in selectivity…

To my mind, transiting Pluto conjuncting any natal planet is one helluva blockbuster astrologic event.
And it usually means that the victim is being forced to make some impossible choice.
A choice in which neither eenie, nor miney, nor moe is remotely possible…
and only meanie stands out as the completely logical, yet utterly repulsive alternative.

Consider Anthony Hecht’s poem “More Light! More Light!” as a dramatization of the typical feeling conjured by transiting Pluto.

Not to alarm anyone…but I’d like to experiment by making some observations about those who may be most obviously affected by the current position of Pluto…
and then asking for some feedback.
Feedback that may be useful for all of us.
Since no one can predict the specifics of any astrologic event with pinpoint accuracy…it might be possible to improve our collective intuition by sharing some of the specifics regarding the Plutonian events that certain people are currently experiencing.

For instance, my decision to quit the practice of OB / GYN came to a head during the period in which transiting Sagittarian Pluto Conjuncted my natal Mars.
And while it’s no secret that Pluto demands we let go of what is weighing us down, it doesn’t feel that way at all until we actually allow ourselves to entertain letting go as a possibility.

Our natural instinct is to clutch ever tighter to those familiar, yet now dangerous, stones even while the Plutonian current is dragging us into the middle of some very powerful, personal river.
And up until the moment when letting go revealed itself as an option, my natal Mars was producing nothing but fear and anger.
Fear and rage, actually.

I won’t call that a moment of enlightenment…but under Pluto’s influence (i.e. through this particular, awful circumstance) I found the courage to do what my heart demanded…but that logic wouldn’t allow.
And I hesitate to call it courage, because afterwards, when close friends expressed admiration, they often spoke of the courage it must have required.
I, on the other hand, knew it as simply a matter of survival.

Survival of the soul, perhaps…but survival, nonetheless.

So…in the interest of promoting more understanding of the Plutonian nature of events that feel otherwise impossible to fathom…here is a brief list of those among us who may be involved in the most obvious…and perhaps most difficult…of current Pluto transits:

As I write this, Pluto is currently at 4 degrees, 9 1/2 minutes of Capricorn.
This would mean that for anyone born roughly between December 23rd and December 29th of any year, transiting Pluto is conjuncting their natal Sun.

Pluto transits (according to my personal, astrologic preference of 3 degree orbs) take about 5 years to complete…which is why I'm including about a week’s worth of birth days.
And those born around December 25th are likely in the most difficult part of their ordeal…
while certain birth years are also more difficult, simply because there are other planets to consider.

Those born in late December of 1988 have Uranus and Saturn in Capricorn Conjunct their Sun!
And so they must contend with a slightly longer period of a much busier and more complex ordeal than most.

Those born in late December of 1978 will also have transiting Pluto conjuncting their natal Mars…right after they’ve gone through their Solar Conjunction ordeal.
Those born in late December of 1953 have Saturn in place of that 1978 Mars…and so will have an even more serious experience to deal with.

In 1951 Chiron was Conjunct the Sun for late December births and in 1954 the Dragon’s Head was Conjunct the Sun in late December.

Those born in late 1946 also have a Sun ordeal to be followed only a few years later by a Mars ordeal.

But the greatest and most significant of Plutonian transits for late December births is doubtless the one that must be endured for anyone born in 1943.
The new Moon occurred in late December of 1943…so transiting Pluto conjuncts Sun and Moon almost simultaneously.
While this is significant in itself, the complexity rendered by the remainder of planets is such that there are numerous associated Yods, Squares, and Quincunxes.
And to my mind, Yods and Quincunxes are symbolic of serious Guilt issues.

Okay.
So that’s the bad news.
Like the Death card in Tarot…Pluto carries out the difficult initiation rites that can bring about true Transformation by means of death, loss, destruction, or the threat of any of them.
Worse news is that we can easily screw up our own initiation.
Instead of transformation, our resistance forces a kind of stillborn initiation that leaves us emotionally crippled…or at an absolute loss.

The good news is that Pluto is all about real Transformation…i.e. death to the old situation, attitude, or goals…not literal death.
And we’re not meant to fuck up…or get fucked by…that initiation experience.
But it takes a healthy dose of intuition and / or experience in order to see what the wisest course of action is when immersed in the depths of any such Pluto transit.

And that’s why I’d like to know what it is that you are going through now if Pluto is conjuncting your natal Sun.
I’d also like to know what you can share if you remember any past Pluto transit involving a conjunction.

My favorite astrologer, Steven Forrest, has already written about the concept of each sort of Pluto transit in The Book of Pluto (and so, of course, has Rob Hand) but I’m looking for the evidence of your own direct experience.

Let’s see where it goes.