Between 2023 and 2044, Pluto – the planet of death and transformation – journeys through the sign of social change and radical revolutions, inventions, and reinventions, Aquarius.
This article is the original text I wrote about the history of Pluto in Aquarius back in 2022 which never saw the light of day. Back then, I had the plan to analyze the past 3 times that Pluto was in Aquarius (13th-14th century, 16th century, and 18th century) and get a comprehensive picture of how this major, extremely significant astrological event impacted us in the past, which then shows the patterns we can see in the future (and now present moment). From that point, I could then add analyses and predictions for life until 2044 and beyond. Eventually, I also added the fourth timeframe of Pluto in Aquarius in the 11th century so I could say I’d analyzed the past 1,000 years of this event (and also because I’d stumbled over the East-West Schism and was fascinated).
Writing this piece was incredibly rewarding, especially as this was my first crack at writing/publishing something about astrological events as they were happening in real time. What I also learned through this historical exploration was that there were indeed major historical patterns that could show us quite well what to expect from the future, though we’d of course meet the repetition of history within a whole new context – same theme, different expression, so to speak.
However, I never ended up publishing this version for a simple reason: the article was way too long. With all I’d wanted to do, I ended up having about about 20 pages spread out over 3 documents in Word. Even when I completely separated Pluto’s impact on the individual level, I was in the double digits for this article on history. And none of the sections were close to complete at that point.
So, I didn’t just separate the article (first in two, then eventually in 14 as I ended up writing separate articles for Pluto in each house), I also wrote a completely new and significantly shorter article on Pluto in Aquarius’s history and its implications (5 pages instead of 14). The "new" (well, shorter) article, which you can read here and was the one I published in 2022, is a lot quicker to read, but also hold significantly less information.
Despite the practicality of a shorter article, making this decision never sat quite right with me because I loved the original, and because even speaking on a panel about Pluto in Aquarius didn’t give me enough of a chance to bring all the information in my head to the world at large. But I didn’t want to post anything too long that no one would read, so I stuck with my original choice.
… but then, I was approached by someone who did want to read the entire breakdown of history, so I decided to go ahead and actually publish this long work reaching back to Summer of 2022.
So, this is why this article exists. I hope someone here other than me will enjoy this.
Shortcuts:
Let’s dive in.
What is Pluto in Aquarius?
Pluto is the planet of transformation, death, birth, rebirth, and power. It shows us the shadow side of whatever it touches and tends to put a death to outdated things, but in a way that’s usually hard to deal with. Here, we talk about abrupt endings and the fight for survival (of power structures or people). It also tends to extremize us in transit since it concentrates, radicalizes, and then expels energy and power: kind of like how a vacuum would suck particles in and then explode.
Aquarius is the sign of mental constructs, progress, ideals, liberation, and revolutions. It seeks freedom, especially freedom of ideas and speech, and freedom from oppressive forces. It brings rebellion against restriction, especially mental restriction or restriction of choice. If one person is on top of the ladder and misuses the power, Aquarius brings that person down: often through many people's interaction towards the same goal. It’s also the sign of outcasts and people who are radically different than others. But more importantly, Aquarius deals with the future. It seeks something that hasn’t been there before – or hasn’t been there for a long time. Aquarius deals with progress. Technology, science, and social change are part of this, as are education, mass education, and belief systems of any kind: the more theoretical and logically explicable, the better.
This is the sign where belief systems, once established through logic and questioning, are elevated to a more fanatic worldview that may be defended or spread with little thought to consequence. Coming together in groups is also part of this sign: power distributed equally in groups, a betterment for large groups of people or humanity at large, a focus on humanitarian belief systems, all this is Aquarius. What is interesting here is that Aquarius doesn’t necessarily like people: humanity is a nice concept worthy of flowery words and complex hypotheses, but only as long as interactions with actual humans are minimal. It also deals with individuality AND groups of people at the same time: which means that it has to do with outcasts, people who break away from groups, and groups in which the genius or strength of the individual betters the entire whole.
So: how do they interact with one another?
To answer this question, we’ll first look at the cycles of Pluto in Aquarius throughout the last millennium (a.k.a. 1000 A.D. onward). As Pluto needs 248 years to return to a sign and stays in Aquarius for 21-22 years each time, there are only 4 timeframes to look at: 1041-1063 (great separation of powers), 1286-1308 (birth of many global superpowers, ending of a cycle), 1532-1553 (rise of religious wars and the inquisition, ongoing colonialism), and 1777-1798 (American Revolutionary War, French Revolution, Terreur, genocide on Native Americans, and more.) After that, we’ll analyze the common themes and draw conclusions for life today.
Let’s go through each of them in chronological order before we take some educated guesses on what may happen this time around.
The Last 1,000 Years of Pluto in Aquarius
Note: In the following article, you’ll see multiple analyses of events that had major components of church politics – specifically of the Christian churches. The reason for that is this: in the past millennium, especially the timeframes from the 11th-16th century I’m looking at, the church played a very different role in the Western world than it did today (this doesn’t go for the 18th century as much). Today, in most parts of the West, religion is a choice, and church affiliation is not only not required, but what type of church you’re in doesn’t have too many implications outside of your spiritual life.
But back then, religion was only mandatory (and having the wrong faith/wrong way of believing/wrong church could get you in serious trouble, including keeping you from your crown, prohibiting you from marrying, or even putting you in mortal danger). The churches themselves held political power and had a certain amount of control over different countries’ rulers and even had geographical boundaries. And this isn’t even counting the massive role that religion and religious institutions had in everyday life for everyone.
As religion was part of every aspect of everyday life and politics, something that affected the church or faith in, f.e. the 11th century, was felt in most of Europe in all areas of life. Social and political change had a flow-on effect on the church and vice versa. Besides, a lot of the historic events that happened back then that still impact present-day life for us have actually come from the major upheaval in the Christian church, so I can’t not cover them in this article.
Also, especially for the 11th century, there aren’t many historical sources outside of European/church history that are well preserved, so getting information on what happened in a very specific timeframe of ca. 21 years is a lot more difficult.
However, I’m not just focusing on Christian or Eurocentric history (though I’ll admit that’s what I know most about), but history in general. You’ll find events from all sorts of countries and cultures in this article as well as breakdowns on why they mattered (and in some cases, still matter). I also included multiple events per time frame and tried to explain as many as feasible in a (still relatively short, given the subject matter) article. Also, my focus in this article is on the history - if you want to learn how to work with this event to make it your own, this is the article for you: Pluto in Aquarius on Your Personal Life: Where One-Size-Fits-All Goes to Die.
1041-1063: Separation and Ripple Effects.
We’ll start with the first pass of Pluto in Aquarius through the 2nd Millennium A.D., a.k.a. 1041-1063 A.D. Part of this timeframe overlaps with Neptune in Aries 1042-57. To read about that, click here.
Two of the most interesting developments of this time frame are taking place in Europe and in Christian history, which is why we’ll focus on that first – and we’ll start with the (Great) East-West Schism.
In summary, there are two major Christian factions of the church that have seemingly slight but in actuality profound differences in theology (f.e. about the Holy Spirit) and thus, practices of worship: the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (for reference, the third major branch of Christianity in today’s world, Protestantism, came about half a millennium later). Before the events during this timeframe, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy were one under the leadership of the pope in Rome despite being at odds for centuries already.
Catholicism’s center of power at the time, as it is today, is Rome… but Rome wasn’t the only center of Christian belief and power back then. There was a rivaling city in which the differences in theology and worship from the Latin (today Catholic) branch of Christianity overweighed: Constantinople (this is today’s Istanbul), the capital of what used to be the Byzantine Empire back then. Technically, the head of the Church of Constantinople was under the pope – but given a mix of geographical distance (it takes a long time for messengers to get from Rome to Constantinople), the power of the countries Rome and Constantinople were affiliated with (which always brings political implications), and those insurmountable religious differences, the churches split in what’s called the (Great) East-West Schism.
Here's what happened: In 1053 A.D., the Patriarch of Constantinople (read: local religious leader within Christianity, though technically under papal authority at the time) closed all Latin churches in the city. After an attempt at negotiations from Pope Leo IX’s side, which centered around the religious legitimacy of Rome’s pope over all of Christianity, Patriarch Michael I Cerularius excommunicated Pope Leo IX and broke his church from the rest of the Catholic/Latin church in 1054. He then convinced several patriarchs close by to break with Rome as well and essentially set up a rival papacy. By the way, this excommunication came too late given that Leo IX had passed on just prior, but the news hadn’t reached Constantinople yet, and it was only taken back by what had now become the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1965.
The political world at the time reflected the change of churches in Europe: as rulers at the time claimed that their crown came via divine appointment, the church had a foothold (and sometimes much more than a foothold) in politics as they could decide a ruler’s legitimacy… and they used that foothold to push for advantages either for the people (social change), or their own power. With two churches connected to two major political powers (the Byzantine Empire was no joke), the European world split in two: some powers decided to orient toward the East, and some powers stayed with Rome. This led to a political schism of countries that had, theoretically and often practically, common goals based on their shared religion… but now were part of a rivalry.
This split of the church had large-scale implications that rippled throughout history – for instance, the crusades waged by Catholic Christians against/inside the Byzantine Empire between 1063 and 1286 (years mentioned because they’re the end/beginning of a Pluto-in-Aquarius cycle), wouldn’t have happened had the Eastern Orthodox Church remained under Rome’s authority. The rivalry between the Byzantine Empire and several European Catholic-aligned world powers would have also not been as big (and this played out for centuries upon centuries). Even today, tensions between the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches remain.
However, we see a second major shift in political and social nature originating from the Christian church, here the Catholic version of it: and this shift is actually the one that shapes our Western world today, at least culturally.
Let’s start with the aforementioned posthumously ex-communicated Pope Leo IX: he started his papacy by refusing the authorization of the elites that elected him into the papacy, unless both the common folk and low-level clergy in Rome elected him as well (which is very Aquarian and highly unusual at the time). He was a revolutionary too and started a movement that demanded that the clergy, from the high-ranking popes and patriarchs to the low-ranking village priests, hold themselves in a manner that reflects their belief and station, as well as receive a more specialized education than others had access to. Part of this was enforced celibacy as a way of keeping a priest’s focus on the parish instead of their personal life and stronger rules around simony (which is the act of buying sacraments – which was always considered taboo) as well as other behaviors that have to do with piety. The real headway of this movement comes under Pluto in Pisces, this is the work that Gregory VII builds on when declaring celibacy of all Catholic priests. But the movement started here – and the way we understand the roles and responsibilities of leaders of thought/faith (regardless of affiliation to a specific religion etc.) is due to the social change that was pushed during this timeframe.
Obviously, “the clergy is doing something” sounds like an isolated event with very little implication to life in general. However, this is not so – and that is because of the reason behind the change. For one, the belief that those who represented the church should act in a certain way (a.k.a., walk their talk and become role models) fueled the push towards a disciplined clergy. However, the much bigger factor was the desire for a consolidation of power by creating a separation between the “lay people of the faith” and the church-appointed clergy.
Essentially, at the time, the church had a tiny problem with Bob and Barbra down the street thinking they held just as much authority on matters of the faith as their local priest. Depending on the region, the common folk in Europe were pretty convinced that their faith did not require a church’s authority or participation.
So, to consolidate the church’s power, the Catholic church decided to separate their officials from the “normal believers” by imposing an education that included things like law, mathematics, etc. so that they were smarter and better able to be in leadership positions (with the added side effect that they could do more for the church’s worldly rule, too), and by imposing rules that would make the clergy appear more holy, and therefore consolidate their authority in the eyes of “normal human beings.” This would also lay the groundwork for policing normal believers on how they lived out their Christian faith/non-believers in Christian countries and therefore, allow the church to change focus toward the “enemy from within” in future passes of Pluto in Aquarius. Because now, people couldn’t cry hypocrisy as easily as they had before. Both the church’s work against so-called heresies and their fight against “enemies from within,” and even the Inquisition would build on this development of forcibly separating the clergy from the laypeople. Also, this development is the reason why we have higher ethical standards for clergy regardless of religious affiliation than for other people – this set our standard.
Beyond that, the time frame of 1041-1063 saw a lot of (Christian) figures that were of high religious-political importance, such as Edward the Confessor (King of England). However, Europe – and Christianity – weren’t the only ones affected by this time frame. In the Middle East, Seljuk Turks captured Baghdad once again and solidified the Abbasid Caliphate, which gave them more power in the Islamic world. The Zirid Dynasty (in today’s Algeria) rejected Shi’ite obedience and Fatimid domination and recognized the authority of the Abbasid Caliphate over them (who are Sunnite).
Other significant events during this time frame were the end of the Viking age, which was the time of Viking raids, Viking trade expansion, conquest, and exploration of Europe and even North America. This period of time lasted from ca. 800 to 1050 A.D., and I’m sure specifically the English were very happy to see it end (as it meant they stopped being harassed, to put it mildly).
Also, the first movable type was invented in China under the Song dynasty – this is the first technology that uses movable components (such as numbers, punctuation marks, etc.) to print something, which means you could use the same basic tools to print a range of different texts when that wasn’t possible before. The first money was printed as well under this dynasty as well.
By the end of this timeframe, William the Conqueror starts his first expedition and prepares for the Battle of Hastings. Funnily enough, this time frame saw the historic figure Macbeth as King of Scotland (who would eventually become unflatteringly immortalized by William Shakespeare).
So far, so good: let’s look at the next timeframe so we can start to see if a pattern appears (given that there are a lot more historical documents and therefore, information on worldwide historical events at the time, I can skip the in-depth explanation and cover more events – including worldwide ones).
1286-1308: The Rise and Fall of Giants.
This window in time saw some big changes in the world, including but not limited to the foundation of the Ottoman Empire (which would last until after World War I in the 20th century and was one of the major key players in worldwide history). In this time frame, the Ottoman Empire would also win Byzantine and expand further.
And apropos major key player: Let’s talk about the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in history – ever. Most people don’t know this, but this Empire was so big that it basically spanned from the Pacific Ocean to the Persian Gulf. It’s said that every fourth Eastern European alive today has a Mongol in their ancestry.
At the time frame we’re looking at, the Mongol Empire saw a shift from decades of civil war between the different khanates to accepting nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty, a branch of the Mongols that ruled China. This supremacy differed from the “one absolute leader and all others bow down and obey” type of power structures that were done previously. Rather, the other khanates paid tribute and accepted some form of rulership but were allowed to function separately and independently in most things. This led to the first real peace since the death of Ghengis Khan and continued further cultural expansion and trade routes. Peace was also made with Vietnam. A switch in rulers at that time period also marked the beginning of the Mongol Empire’s fall.
Another huge historical shift was the fall of the last two Crusader states – states established as Roman Catholic strongholds in the region of Jerusalem in the First Crusade. In this time frame, the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem fell to Egypt, which effectively ended the striving to recover the “Holy Land” from the Christian side. While other crusades did happen eventually, they had different goals than getting back land, so this era of history ended for good.
We also see the end of the Canmore Dynasty in Scotland and its dependence on England until 1314, as well as the first Scottish War of Independence. The King of Germany was elected and the Arpad Dynasty in Hungary died. Countries were formed: the Lan Na kingdom, the Kutai Kartanegara Sultanate (that existed until 1949, when it became part of Indonesia), the Old Swiss Confederation (precursor to modern-day Switzerland), and the Majapahit kingdom (one of the greatest and most powerful empires in Indonesian and Southeast Asian history).
The Edict of Expulsion by Edward I of England ordered Jews to leave England until 1656. France follows suit and there’s much antisemitic violence in middle Europe. The Mazor Consegio, the Great Council of Venice in the Venetian Republic, changed its membership from open to new people to established families only … which changed the political reality of Venice with long-lasting effects. The Trials of the Knights of Templar began, and the Mongol leader of Persia converted from Buddhism to Islam, and Islam was established in the Aceh region. England and France began to develop highly individualized national identities that would eventually lead to the Hundred Years War, though that took some more time.
Scientifically, this time also led to many changes. The Neo-Aramaic languages began to develop and the apothecary was invented, changing medicine and the healing trade in drastic ways. The first university, Cambridge, was founded just a year or so before this time frame and revolutionized education in a way that was only fully seen in this time frame. Watermills were invented in Berlin, and hard coal was found in Germany (which made the production of hard, durable metal possible and would change military history). Cannons were used in naval warfare for the first time which changed the way the navy operated worldwide.
Culturally, a way of writing sheet music was invented, Marco Polo began to write about his travels (which would change the world), and the Italian Renaissance began. Fun fact: in this time frame, Dante Alighieri began writing some of his biggest works, and Michelangelo was appointed head architect of the Sistine Chapel.
1532-1553: Science and the Church.
Part of this timeframe overlaps with Neptune in Aries 1533-48). To learn about the history of that, click here.
This is a time that’s pretty much governed by one thing: religious wars. To give you some background, Protestantism was brought to life in 1517 and took its time to spread. By 1532-1553, Europe was on fire. The entire worldview of Christians far and wide was turned on its head as suddenly, the bible became accessible and readable… to anybody who was (or could become) literate. And those who didn’t could hear the original be read out to them by their peers. This meant that all sorts of people could intellectually question the things their priests told them and everything else they’d been taught about how the world worked. Suddenly, there was this religion that encouraged questioning – while another branch of Christianity claimed that questioning the church meant being a heathen.
On top of that, rulers in Christian countries at the time explained their right to rule through religion – to be precise, through papal approval. So, all of a sudden, people questioned why their kings had a right to be their kings. And not just that: the pope’s place as a political figure of authority was challenged by many countries and the entire political balance of power was turned on its head.
In England, this culminated in the establishment of the Church of England that put not the pope, but England’s ruler, Henry VIII as the religious authority of the nation. Henry broke with the papal church and introduced Protestantism, effectively forcing the entire population to change with him or risk prosecution. Established religious orders in England were dismantled by force and the result was dire: the general population lost access to medicine, healthcare, safe places to sleep when traveling (as traveling was really dangerous and took a long time), and social services such as help for the poor or elderly, etc., as all these things were exclusively done by church orders. Nunneries and monasteries were also the equivalent of today’s hospitals and schools and their inhabitants, the teachers, healers for the general population, and keepers of records, were either driven out of the country or killed on sight. (Many people who chose to leave the country ended up as settlers in America). Sympathy or disagreement led to a swift execution, as religion was now directly tied to the king and protests meant treason to the crown.
But that wasn’t all: at the time, Henry VIII broke with the church to divorce a queen, Katherine of Aragon. Divorce in and of itself was unheard of in Christian countries (there were annulments if the pope was petitioned and agreed, but that was pretty much for the ruling class or highly extreme and rare cases, only). But further, queens were considered sacred: not even her guards could touch her without losing their head, even in a medical emergency. If a queen, who was so sacred, could be discarded and thrown into poverty, what could your husband do to you without consequence? Women’s rights took a massive hit as the security of an unending marriage was taken away (which would mean your husband had to at least financially provide or face social consequences). As women couldn’t hold property or have money of their own, they could lose everything from one moment to another, and so could their children. Then, Henry VIII beheaded his second wife, Anne Boleyn, so things did not get better.
To skip to the end of the time frame: Henry VIII had died and had become “the guy with the six wives” (Katherine of Aragon – divorced, Anne Boleyn – beheaded, Jane Seymore – died, Anna of Cleves – divorced, Catherine Howard – beheaded, Catherine Parr – survived). He had changed his religious beliefs from Protestantism to Catholicism about every two minutes and had ruined his country by forcing his people to follow suit each time he made the religious change. People who struggled to convert in time were executed, people who weren’t enthusiastic enough about the religion were also executed or faced other serious consequences, and those who wanted favor with the King persecuted alleged or real dissenters competitively. By the end of this time frame, Mary I of Tudor was crowned, the first queen regent of England in centuries and the one you’ll remember as Bloody Mary or Mary the Catholic. Her reign, as was the case with Henry VIII, was a major reason why waves of people left Britain to find a home elsewhere, many of which would end up in North America – in the hopes of a country in which religious persecution wouldn’t happen to them again.
But England wasn’t the only country by far that had issues with the new religion: many rulers faced serious problems with budding Protestantism and more passionate (read violent) religious disagreements. Foreign countries realized quickly that funding the Protestant rebellions in other countries could help their cause in sabotaging their enemies (especially against the House of Habsburg, the richest and most powerful ruling family at that time that basically had both all the richest regions in the world under control, and enough countries under their belt that “the sun never set” for them). Europe was raked by civil wars, countries decided to suppress one religion in favor of the other, which would result in even more wars later on.
But there’s more. Large parts of Central and South America are colonized by Spain and Portugal, including the Inca Empire. Canada is claimed as part of France, inland America sees its first permanent settlements. There was even a debate concerning the human rights of indigenous people in the Americas, which unfortunately didn’t result in much. The Nanban trade period began after the Portuguese made contact with Japan while the Chinese Ming dynasty banns all foreign trade and closes down all seaports. In the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire expands, the Suri Empire is founded, the Shiite sect of Islam gains popularity, and the Jesuits are brought to life with the approval of Pope Paul III.
But, to make matters worse, even more stuff was up in the air. Copernicus introduced the idea of the heliocentric universe (a.k.a., the idea that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun) which directly challenged the “known fact” that Earth was the center of the universe: furthermore turning the world on its head (this eventually led to Galileo Galilei’s work in another century). The first book on public international law was published which suggested a divide between the secular and the canon law/Catholic theology, which further weakened the church.
Science as a whole was revolutionized as the Renaissance led to the invention of political science and accounting. The work of Gerolamo Cardano of Italy results in the use of imaginary numbers and binominal coefficients, which is the reason our mathematical understanding of the world today is what it is. Gunpowder is invented and firearms are used for the first time, which changes the ways wars are waged in a way that can’t be taken back. Also, Timbuktu established public libraries, a trend we will see repeated in the next cycle of Pluto in Aquarius.
Lastly, there’s one big change in world history that would impact generations to come: the Inquisition was founded in Portugal, which was the beginning of a war and genocide of healers, scientists, women, and whomever else was considered undesirable at the time.
1777-1798: Age of Revolution.
The Age of Enlightenment and revolution, the birth of modern-day democracy, the biggest rebellions seen thus far.
While the United States of America declared their independence a year before the time frame, the time of Pluto in Aquarius sees the war for America’s independence, its ending, and the foundation of its democratic political system as well as the election and eventual retirement of its first president. The New York Stock & Exchange Board is established, and the Northwest Indian War against Native Americans started, which leads to a genocide of Native Americans.
The American Revolutionary War has ripple effects on the entire world. It led to a massive blow to the power position of Great Britain, as they lost part of their main colonies due to both the revolution and the combined Franco-Spanish Navy. Australia was colonized in part to replace what was lost; the native population was beaten into submission. But the revolution also had ripple effects on the way the general population in Europe interacted with and saw the nobility and ruling class.
The structures of privileges such as education, status, and positions of power were before only given to people from specific families (nobility, princes, etc.). Now, this was questioned and rejected, which as a larger consequence would lead to a different way of structing the military (merit-based power positions, rather than titles) and more available education for men, specifically. This was the age of public libraries and universities when many things were simplified academically so the common folk could join in. It also led to the French Revolution with the ideals of liberté, égalité, fraternité. (Which are quintessential Aquarian ideals, I might add.)
During this time period, the civil unrest in France led to one of the biggest and most famous rebellions in modern-day history. The movement, in part driven by ideals, in part driven by lack of food, and so on, was first successful, and then led to a bloodbath. The nobility and ruling class were systematically beheaded, no matter how young, innocent, or sympathetic they were (even the French King was actually on the side of the revolutionaries – they killed him anyway). Branches of “undesirable” revolutionaries were beheaded (like Olympe de Gouche, who wanted the ideals of the French Revolution for women, too). Eventually, the extremism got so bad that the time was only known as the Terreur. It ended in Napoleon reestablishing the monarchy and all European nations suppressing any and all revolutionary attempts to abolish or change the political system until 1848.
This time also marked the rise of nationalist identities. Suddenly, the place you lived in wasn’t a place anymore, it was something that made you who you were. Ideals and prejudice were prescribed to countries and patriotism rose in a way it never previously had. This changed motivations for war (World War I, for instance, wouldn’t have happened without nationalist ideology being this strong) and international relations, such as hereditary enmities between nations.
Worldwide, other historic events also took place:
The first step to abolishing serfdom was taken in Austria while upper Canada outlawed slavery. Russia annexed Crimea and wared with Sweden and then Poland and the Maratha-Mysore war took place. There’s a civil war in Iran, and indigenous rebellions in the colonies (Peru, Xhosa, Inconfidência Mineira in Brazil, Haitian Revolution). There’s furthermore the White Lotus Rebellion against the Manchu dynasty in China, a failed Irish rebellion, and the Quasi-War between the US and France as well as the Liège and the Brabant Revolution.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost independence and got divided between its neighboring states, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Austrian- and Russian Empires. Reason was the lack of robustness of the semi-democratic government, result was an alteration of the political landscape in Europe for the next hundred years.
But scientifically, a lot of things change too. The metric system was invented, as were the first vaccine (against the smallpox), and the guillotine as a “more humane way to execute people.” The steamboat, circular saw, bifocals, argand lamp, power loom, automatic flour mill, threshing machine, and lithographic press were invented, and the first hot air balloon was flown. This marked the beginning of the early stages of industrialization. Also, photosynthesis was discovered, as were Charles’s Law and the Law of Conservation of mass: the latter two are the basis for chemistry and the beginning of modern chemistry, which revolutionized the world.
What’s also interesting is the discovery of Uranus, the first planet in the solar system that can’t be seen with the naked eye. This led to humanity’s realization that space is much more vast than originally thought, which impacted astronomy and sciences worldwide, as well as kindled the desire for space exploration to grow. Also, Uranus is the modern ruler of Aquarius: the fact that the transit of Pluto in Aquarius and the discovery of its ruler, Uranus, coincided, is quite funny.
Now that we have the history of 1,000 years covered… let’s start seeing what patterns emerge.
The Overarching Themes: Analyzing Pluto in Aquarius
Pluto radicalizes Aquarius, an already pretty radical zodiac sign. Aquarius, who deals with large groups of people, ideals, rebellion, revolution, progress, and power structures that go from the bottom up – rather than from the top down – or promote a multitude of influences on power structures, becomes subject of the Plutonian process of: concentrating, radicalizing, and violently expelling energy.
This leads to the birth of Empires (f.e. Ottoman Empire and Majapahit Kingdom in the 13th century, the U.S.A. in the 18th century), but also to the massive re-distribution of power in all 4 timeframes. In the 11th century, the schism sets up 2 poles of power in a Christian-ruled Europe between Constantinople and Rome and separates the East from the West (at least, in Europe etc.). In the 13-14th century, the Crusader Kingdoms fall, ending the Christian stronghold in the entire area (for good), the Mongol Empire is restructured and eventually falls while the Ottoman Empire and Majapahit Kingdom are born. The Council of Venice closes its doors for new members, only families that have already been admitted can be included and Islam spreads. In the 16th century, the stronghold of the pope and the Catholic church is shaken by both science and the new protestant religion: new alliances form and the entire face of Europe is changed. And in the 18th century, a new world power was born (U.S.A.) while Great Britain loses colony after colony and the Kingdom of Prussia starts to rise. The French Revolution led to restructuring the entirety of Europe to avoid revolts in one’s own country (that wasn’t always successful. Fun fact for the history nerds? The revolutions of 1848 coincide with a close Pluto conjunction to Aquarius’s ruler, Uranus in Aries – which means similar themes to this transit, only more radical since the sign of physical warfare, Aries, is included here.)
Fights for liberation turn extreme and all happen from “bottom up.” The means of fighting for one’s ideals turn bloody and fanatic and are usually more violent than necessary (and disconnect from the core of the actual ideal, see: Terreur, or the religious wars over two branches of an overarching religion that centers around compassion, forgiveness, and peace). However, the same goes for suppressing rebellions, as can be seen in the establishments of the Inquisition or the end of the French Revolution, as well as colonialism. Violence also tends to spread out (Aquarius) beyond the boundaries of the actual conflict: the American Revolutionary Wars, though not too extreme in themselves, morph seamlessly into the genocide on the Native American population.
There is a more extreme focus on what makes people different, which is a key aspect of Aquarius. Where co-existence was possible under one banner before and compromise happened, the church split and one head of faith excommunicated the other (Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in 1054). People with different belief systems are persecuted (Jews, Protestants/Catholics, people against the revolutions, etc.). Colonialism spread in the fifteen hundreds and indigenous people were suppressed, which coincides with belief systems that rationalize atrocities. People of different religious beliefs were executed and murdered, and structures that support those beliefs were destroyed even at the cost of a country’s social security and healthcare. In the 18th century, nationalism and patriotism were born and spread in ways that ultimately resulted in World War I in the 20th century. The “us vs. them” mentality also resulted in the genocide of Native Americans, the systematic murder of the nobility in France, and the executions of other rebels in the Terreur that unfortunately didn’t rebel quite the ways Robespierre & Co wanted. This also coincides with the theme of helping specific groups rise to power through/while violently suppressing others.
But differences aren’t just punished but also embraced within oneself and one’s own ingroup. People lean into their difference of faith and strive to become distinct from one another, even if that means radicalization: the Catholic church pushes for the discipline of its clergy in the 11th century pass of Pluto in Aquarius mainly to separate clergy from the “normal” believer and thus solidify the authority of the church – from the low-level priest to the highest level of the papacy. (Some sources also claim that this is the start of the Catholic church using universities to educate their priests so they can both better understand and use the powers of f.e. law to further the church’s interests, as well as argue the church’s positions in all areas of life). The same principle of leaning into differences is seen in the 16th century pass of Pluto in Aquarius during matters of Protestants and Catholics as groups radicalize to show their own members that “they truly are of the faith en vogue!” – which often involves violence. We see that same theme beyond religion as well: England and France develop highly individualized identities in the 13-14th century, which later facilitates the Hundred Year War, and the U.S. builds its own identity in the 18th century after becoming a nation. The French still embrace the values of “liberté, égalité, fraterinté” and understand themselves as highly revolutionary – in a major part because of the events of the last pass of Pluto through Aquarius.
Another main theme bridging the 4 passages of Pluto through Aquarius is social change. Separating the believers of one faith into “normal people” and “clergy that are supposed to be purer than the rest,” as happened in the 11th century, has widespread implications for life overall. In the 16th century, science changed people’s worldviews in massive ways that were hard to deal with. The first divorce in a Christian nation shook women in all of Europe, as did the execution of a queen (women’s rights suffered after that). Protestantism and the fact that “God’s word” was readable by all changed Europe at large and the role of the church and the pope, as well as the role of the country’s rulers. Since Europe was the center of power at the time, it had huge implications for the entire world. Plus, colonialism changed the countries involved, as did the violence done on indigenous revolutionaries. In the 18th century, the ideals of the revolutions obviously led to much social change in and after that specific time period.
Other pretty prevalent changes are in the distribution of knowledge. In all four eras, knowledge suddenly became more accessible to the general population. The first movable type was invented in the Song Dynasty in China in the 11th century pass, bringing tools to print multiple different documents with the same metal pieces. The age of universities in the 13th century, the separation of sciences from the Catholic doctrines, ability to read the Bible, and beginning of the Italian Renaissance in the 16th century, and the age of public libraries and opening up educational paths for people based on merit, rather than family and titles in the 18th century.
Which leads me to democracy or democratic ways of government. Aquarius deals with large groups of people coming together in such a way that the individual genius of the singular people affects the whole, and vice versa. In our nowadays world, this looks like elections and democracy – but there are other structures in politics that can speak to the same effect. F.e., the Mongol Empire having one nominal leading khanate with three separate largely self-reliant khanates; or having a council (Council of the Venice Republic), or a king who was elected (Germany). With Pluto in this sign, these structures are introduced to a pre-existing political system, transformed, or destroyed. Sometimes all of the above: it depends on how power is used by those structures and how effective they are. Because Pluto tends to dig up the skeletons in the closet, secrets, and the misuse of power, whatever is not working will be obvious pretty quickly.
Inventions on how to better kill people were also prevalent: the use of cannons on ships, gunpowder and firearms, and the guillotine changed things, as were the use of religious rebellions (16th century) and patriotism (18th century) to further one’s own political agenda. Other technical and scientific progress was also huge: development of Neo-Abrahamic languages, apothecaries, watermills, (13-14th century), the heliocentric universe, the type of mathematics that we know today, separation of the law from the church (16th century), the beginning of the industrialization, steamboats, vaccines, and the dawn of chemistry (18th century), etc.
But there’s one more theme many of you might be curious about: major change in the (Christian/Catholic) church. The East-West Schism and a social movement separating clergy from common folk in the 11th century, the end of the crusader states and thereby the end of the era of crusades in the 13th-14th century, and the establishment of the inquisition slash church crisis with Copernicus and Galileo publishing scientific theories that challenged church authority in the 16th century lead us to one pretty distinct theme. The question here is if this is due to the fact that Eurocentric history at the time had Catholicism as a) a major world power, therefore subject to Pluto in Aquarius’s revolutionizing ways (and challenge to the church’s power), and b) as the most prominent iteration of belief systems that was deeply entrenched in culture… which is then also affected by Pluto in Aquarius as Pluto in Aquarius revolutionizes what people believe.
This leads us to the last section of this analysis: taking the patterns we see and applying them to our future.
What We Can Take From This For Our Future?
We can learn from the recurring themes that happened in past iterations of an astrological event and see the overarching patterns… which allows us to make references to our present time/future – this 2023-2044 pass of Pluto through Aquarius.
Belief Systems
Let’s circle back towards the church. The Christian-centric history covered here was in large part an example of faith-based and ideological-based social and political change that has the power to separate ourselves from each other once again. Whatever you and the people around you believe, be it religious, political, or else, can become a theme of more dissent than we’re used to and separate where compromise used to be possible. This goes beyond religion: and it covers any belief that’s tied to one or more institutions, be it in science, politics, philosophy, or else.
However, the lesson for those institutions is that change is coming (which includes the Catholic church). There is no staying the same under Pluto in Aquarius, not if you’re intrinsically built on belief rather than tangible worldly power (and even then… change is coming, just on a less extreme level). They get to decide how and why they’ll change and while the power of the people is strong under this event, history has proven that it won’t always win.
Realignment of Power
On a political level, it's highly likely that this timeframe of 2023-2044 will see a major re-distribution of power on the global level as well as internal changes in countries/institutions holding global power that include massive social change. There will be no holding onto what was: they will be changed top-down, or events will come that change them bottom-up. But the result will echo throughout the next centuries and affect life as we know it: since this, too, is one of the overarching themes of the Pluto in Aquarius events: implications for centuries. Democracies are born under this event and un-resilient bodies of power fall apart (even if they are democracies – which pains me). Uncheckable institutions will be checked and held accountable (as happened through holding clergy accountable in the 11th, bringing different bodies of power into the mix in the 11th, and 16th, and various revolutions in the 15th and 18th century).
Beliefs about what’s good and right also lead countries to abolish patterns that were long-held (for reasons of power and profit) that harmed people and were, as we’d say today, against human rights (abolishment of serfdom and slavery 18th century, discussions on such in 16th century).
Alliances on a personal, political, institutional, or faith-based level that were made on a basis of tolerating major differences and choosing “live and let live” may break as the differences between parties become insurmountable, or – even though they’re slight – aren’t subject to compromise anymore. Similarly, new alliances are forged that are more aligned by belief (as belief is what starts to matter more than profit or other tangible things).
The world can literally wrench in two as it has in the 11th century (East-West), the 16th century (enemy/ally of Catholic church (Protestant/Catholic, believer/victim of inquisition, etc.), colonialist/colony), and the 18th century (revolutionary/non-revolutionary), and one thing becomes clear: whoever told us that Pluto in Aquarius would be the “Age of Aquarius were humanity will get along and peace will reign” didn’t look at the history of this event.
Social Change & Technology
Every single iteration of Pluto in Aquarius held major social change that went beyond political events and affected everyone: so, what we can expect from this event is that the way we interact with one another changes beyond a level of government, and down to the culture (the 16th and 18th century pass are enough of an example, even though the social change from the Templar trials in the 14th, and the church changes in the 11th century shouldn’t be underestimated).
On top of that, we’ll be seeing a great push for new inventions and technology. The last time saw the beginning of the industrialization (18th century pass). The times before that also saw major inventions with interesting results: it’s hard to say what new themes are going to come other than to say that, with ideas straight out of science fiction and even the subject of space possibly involved, not even the sky’s the limit.
Information and Education
There have been massive breakthroughs in the distribution of information are the norm under Pluto in Aquarius in the past millennium, so it’s highly likely that we’ll see one, if not more, breakthroughs of the same happening this time around (2023-2044). As the ruler of Aquarius, Uranus moves through the sign of education and information from 2025-2033 (Gemini), that likelihood rises another notch during those eight years as the additional planetary transit echoes the inherent potential and amplifies it.
The way we’ll be educating ourselves will change and the ways that news spread will change too. This has the power to become fuel to the fire of social and political change, or it can be hijacked by the common people to incentivize them to free their voices.
A Ray of Hope
Despite the fact that many of the events mentioned here are big, which means that it’s easy to get apprehensive, Pluto in Aquarius is not a bad time per se. Many issues that plagued humanity were solved under Pluto in Aquarius, as for instance the issue of diseases that crippled and killed people every day. With events that held the Powers that Be in check, the groundwork was laid for a more honest and just society and power base. More importantly, Pluto in Aquarius created options where previously, there was only one path.
And not only that: it saw the end of eras that we’re pretty stoked ended – like the age of Crusades, for instance. I’m pretty sure the people who were terrorized by the Viking raids were also just fine with the End of the Viking Age (11th century), and the abolishment of slavery in the 18th century in large parts of the world was also what I’d consider a good development, and on that note: did you know that the U.S. civil war that ended slavery was fought under Neptune in Aries, something that we’ll have from 2025-2039… so coincidental with Pluto in Aquarius? This means that we have two major events that are about setting people free coinciding.
This is an event all about liberation. So, what freedoms are you calling in – and what are you willing to do for them?
Afterword
This is actually not even close to my only article on Pluto in Aquarius. A shorter article on the history (the one I rewrote in 2022 when this one became far too long), you can find here.
But history and the socio-political impact of an astrological event is only one of the things we can look at. Another – and that one is even more important – is how it impacts us as individuals and how we can work with the energies with agency and autonomy. Because each astrological event allows us to mold and shape it: we aren’t victims of the planets, we’re co-creators.
The article that covers that is here, and if you’d like to have a breakdown of the sign of Aquarius and what it means, you can find it here.
And furthermore: I wrote an article for every single Rising Sign on Pluto in Aquarius. The relevant ones are here:
Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra (I, II), Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
And lastly, all my articles on Pluto can be found in this article compilation here.
Further Reading:
In case you liked this article, please consider sending this to a friend you think is interested in it! But also, you can read other cool stuff here:
From 2025 to 2039, Neptune journeys through the sign of Aries (last time that happened, the American Civil War happened, among other things). Read about this event in these three articles or in this compilation here.
From 2025 to 2033, Uranus moves through Gemini: which means that the planet of change and inventions moves through the sign of new ideas, information, and the voice. Read about what that means here: Uranus in Gemini: Winds of Change (2025-2033)
Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe if you’d like.
Thanks for joining me on this wild ride and see you soon,
Alexandra
Astrology from the Soul