The past two days I have spoken about the importance of the South Node when reading an astrological chart. Today we switch gears to another valuable karmic marker, Pluto. I know that he is now a dwarf planet, but that little; distant ice ball still packs quite a punch. Because it is so far from the Sun, and moves so slowly, it takes centuries to make a full revolution around the Sun’s ecliptic. By contrast, Mercury makes the journey in 88 days.
Because of its lack of speed, Pluto stays in each constellation for years, often decades. (By contrast, the Moon moves through each one in two and one-half days.) Therefore, Pluto is a generational planet meaning that people within the same 10-25 year cycle are all born while Pluto is in the same constellation. That Plutonian energy sets the “tone” or vibe for the generation and shows us their prominent values and concerns.
For instance, those of us of the Baby Boom Generation were all born when Pluto was in Leo (1939-1957.) Leo, ruled by the Sun, is a very self-centric, self-loving sign. Like the Sun, Leo expects people to bask in his light. Perhaps that is why we are the Me Generation and raised quite the raucous when we were in our youth in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. There is nothing shy about Leo.
From 1913- 1939 Pluto was in Cancer. That is a very long time in any constellation even for Pluto and it bred almost two generations of people concerned with Cancerian issues – preservation of the home and homeland, reverence for the family, patriotism and an emotional attachment to woman as mother-nurturer. These were the people who came of age in a time of a civilization-threatening war, who had to fight to preserve their country. It was a time of patriotic duty.
Ironically, that need to preserve the country took women out of the home and into the factories. The Pluto in Cancer generation was that of Rosie the Riveter. Thousands of women, most lost to history, went to work to replace the men who went off to war. They donned pants and hairnets, took off their jewelry and frills and like the iconic poster of the time stated, they shouted, “We can do it!” And they did.
Cancer, ruled by the Moon and tied closely to emotions, is a Cardinal sign. In Astrology, there are cardinal signs, the leaders, the doers; fixed signs, the tenacious ones; and the mutable signs, the peacemakers who go along to get along. “We can do it” is a motto of a cardinal sign. The times demanded toughness and the Rosie’s answered the call. Many were surprised at just how strong women can be – the underestimate the cardinal quality of Cancer.
With the war won, society expected women to go back to the more traditional Cancer roles of mother and helpmate. Most did quietly but many simmered only to erupt in the 1960’s when their Pluto Leo children began to agitate the world.
In my cookbook, “Signs of the Tines: The Ultimate Astrological Cookbook” I offer my recipe for Comfort Polenta in the Cancer section. Like these woman it is warm and comforting but has at its core, the hearty, all-American grain, corn.
Joan Porte is the author of “Signs of the Tines: The Ultimate Astrological Cookbook.” It is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and www.signsofthetines.com. For karmic soul chart readings contact Joan at Joansastrology@gmail.com or visit her blog at www.joansastrology.blogspot.com.
Download her podcast Astrological Cooking at http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/astrological-cook/.
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