On the collective level, Pluto’s influence brings trauma, transformation, and renewal in the field of power, with a correspondingly profound effect on society. After WWII ended, the Cold War began as a result of the failure of negotiations to control nuclear proliferation, and the image of Communism as “the enemy” was cultivated, not only in the U.S. but throughout the Western world. The Chinese populace passively suffered the harsh measures imposed by Chairman Mao Tse-tung. This culminated in the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,” which ruthlessly suppressed its opponents. Students and young people between the ages of 18 and 23 were the scapegoats of this rebellion.
Pluto’s entire passage through Leo was characterized by power politics in the hands of charismatic leaders who wielded dictatorial control. Roughly between 1946 and 1950, power was visibly concentrated in the hands of an elite. The heroic figures within this elite played an important and formative role for the national psyche in all countries. According to the imprint of Pluto in Leo, members of George W. Bush’s generation have to express themselves uncompromisingly through the firmness of their personal convictions and principles. People in this generation who are born with the talent to lead others would not be willing to allow themselves to be ordered about by “authority figures.” In fact, egotism and self-aggrandizement have characterized many leaders of this generation since their coming of age.
However, people born with Pluto in Leo are not immune to crises of identity. Such crises typically beset them either through childhood events or love affairs. These people tend to experience radical changes that compel them to redefine their life goals and their attitudes toward personal power.
From a practical standpoint, this means that, when Pluto-in-Leo people set out to develop new projects, they should begin by asking themselves: How does this project benefit or serve humanity? Will my work reach the masses? Only if these people meet the needs of the collective can they expect to receive long-lasting energetic support for their efforts; otherwise, they would receive only short-term recognition.
Uranus in GeminiThe transformations of our era are not solely determined by the energy and power of Pluto. Pluto is equally supported by the energy of Uranus, which tends to overthrow existing structures. Uranus was in Gemini from 1942 to 1949. People who were born during this interval are now between the ages of 55 and 2. Many eccentric ideas of the people of this age group will surely never be put into practice; we’re still coping with the consequences of some of the ideas they were able to manifest, such as aspects of biotechnology, nanotechnology, neoliberalism, and neoconservatism.
When Uranus is in Gemini, it’s as though a lively breeze is continually blowing. Via Mercury, airy Gemini conveys the joy to be found in interpersonal contacts, communication, and the sharing of ideas. Exchange, trade, negotiations, and contracts are all at home here. Electrifying Uranian breakthroughs and a tremendously inventive spirit characterize this transit. Between 1942 and 1949, aviators flew to new heights and achieved supersonic speeds for the first time; the atomic bomb, the photocopy machine, the transistor, and new medicines were invented or developed. Exciting innovations took place in the educational field. When the Uranus-in-Gemini generation came of age, advances in computer technology occurred at a breathtakingly fast pace, and the World Trade Organization was established.
The childhood and adolescence of people with Pluto in Leo were characterized by strong upheavals in their education, thanks to Uranus in Gemini as well as Pluto in Leo. It is interesting that when these people were between the ages of 20 and 25 (the focal year was 1968), they struggled to free themselves from dominant fathers or father figures. One consequence of this striving, for example, was the many conflicts between students and authorities at the universities. Many students joined movements supporting civil rights, feminism, and ecology. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, and Greenpeace began its activities in 1971. The youth of the Pluto-in-Leo/Uranus-in-Gemini generation asserted the power of the individual to challenge the status quo and make a difference in the world.
A new freedom (resting upon a foundation of greater collective freedom, at least in the West) underscored the development of the individual and made it possible for people to experiment with new structures and new ways of perceiving and understanding themselves. In this era, on January 1, 1967, “Commune I” was founded in West Berlin to “revolutionize everyday life” and to put an end to the bourgeois relationship of dependency between men and women and between parents and children. The entire entertainment business became a new force that evoked the enthusiasm of the masses The cult musical Hair premiered in New York City on April 28, 1967. Its theme was a quest for new lifestyles, together with a radical protest against racism and the middle class. Protests against the Vietnam War were organized around the world.
