Were you born in the mid-1950s, approximately 1954-1957? If so, you are having a once-in-a-lifetime transit called Pluto square Neptune — and a few others at the same time. This reading is offered to paid subscribers to this Substack. If you hold a valid Backstage Pass and want to hear it, please reply to this email and I’ll make it available. —efc
Dear Friend and Reader:
This week doing a Chart Keys Reading, I discovered a challenging transit pattern from the mid-1950s (which will soon extend in another form into the early 1960s).
The transit is transiting Pluto square natal Neptune. Those born in the early 1950s have gone through this recently and may still be experiencing the effects of this important personal development event. But it’s especially potent now in birth charts from about 1954 through 1956.
This transit conveys a spiritual urgency, though it may be arriving in a subdued form, as a sense of emptiness, darnkess or a feeling of not knowing what you want or what would really be fulfilling. It’s happening to people who are well above median age, in a world that is very different from the one we grew up in. It’s a reminder that consciousness of mortality (Pluto) must be a factor in any true psychology or mysticism (represented here by Neptune). Dark feelings would be a natural expression of this transit.
Yet Pluto also represents desire and passion. We take seriously the “evolutionary impulse” and “death and transformation” qualities of Pluto, and tend to forget the Dionycian vibe of Pluto — a little like Jim Morrison or Janis Joplin.
It may be difficult to get a grasp on what you’re really feeling.
With Neptune involved, there may be deep and nameless questions; difficult to describe fears; and it may be difficult to get a grasp on just what your situation calls for. However, Neptune transits also benefit from being discussed openly. Then they emerge from the background and become more tangible.
This reading focuses Pluto square Neptune and several closely related events that will be influencing charts from the mid-1950s era. This is a special feature for Planet Waves subscribers on Substack, and for Backsgage Pass holders. If you have a Backstage Pass and would like access, please reply to this email.
I’ve made a very simplified chart below of the aspect pattern. There are several simultaneous Pluto transits involved, though the bold blue line is the main one I am describing. Eris is also in the picture, adding a sense of spiritual chaos brought on by digital conditions.
This recording studies the relationships. It will apply to a broad sub-population of births for a seven year period and ride forward like a wave.
I love this method of doing readings — not just for one person but for fairly large cohorts. With some positive encouragement I will do more of it.
Chart Keys Readings
If you want to know about how this applies to your chart personally, I offer affordable custom readings in two options.
One is the Standard Chart Keys reading, and the other is the Extended Chart Keys reading with Chiron transits and minor planets. Standard comes with your charts send digitally; extended comes with them sent as a Chart Set, on paper.
I consider Chart Keys readings to be my most efficient custom astrology product. This is a tailored reading of your chart, including transits and even some salient progressions — it’s not a consultation. It’s “pure astrology.”
In the extended reading, I provide your Chiron transit dates for journaling, and go in-depth on minor planets. But my readings are always comprehensible to those who know little-to-no astrology.
Your subscription includes Planets in Motion 2022, my e-book of planetary transits. It will be right below the paywall.
Thank you for your business and your trust.
PLANETS IN MOTION 2022 IS RIGHT BELOW THE PAYWALL
Great reading, one of your best. Thank you! I loved the Bucky Fuller reading, and this was another step. My chart is 10 days after this one (October 10, 1956) where also Mercury is in the mix at 29 and the Moon at 0) but mainly as you describe in the Bucky Fuller reading, the nodes are at 29 deg Scorpio-Taurus (conjunct Saturn square Pluto—there again, as I write, but reversed). But what really got me, really, was the discussion of Eris. We have an 18-year-old whose Iphone is attached almost as a physical part of his body. He lives—lives—in digital, as do his friends. Thank you, again! PS: My response to this transit is writing —as much as possible as honest journaling—and I’m doing it on paper, not typing on a screen, not that that matters so much, but like you I draw figures on charts. ( When I started doing charts, I calculated by hand with the Table of Houses, Time Changes in the US, and my Rosicrucian ephemerides) Now I like to put in the minor planets, thanks to you. Your Chart Key readings, by the way, are your most unique—and possibly best—stand alone service. ❤️🙏
I am so glad I listened to this - you gave enticing reasons for all I am going through and have been since late 2022. I felt like God slapped me in the head to "wake up" and what followed has been an excruciating and enlightening life review coupled with a very hands on approach (not digital) to find a way to proceed all based on a return to the religion I was originally exposed to, not the one I converted to in my early 40's. As I wait for your interpretation of my chart request, this recording has offered up, thankfully, many answers. The gifts you share are multi-faceted and I hope you know how valuable they are.
This does hit many key points for me, born at the tail end (December) of 1957. Where to begin? I flash to a quote attributed to Goethe" "Do not hurrry; do not rest". It hung on the wall of my evil x's office, a boomer born in 1953. While I tried to raise the kids, he sat out there or sometimes slept, having fallen to the floor in a drunken stupor. I would like to say that I don't generally write personal things on the digital, unless they are couched in hidden language. But I like the idea of unraveling some of this astrology, as it pertains to my ilk. My mixed experiences in search of inner peace and the "never hurry" narrative (ha - not meant for me, now I know that), slogged me across many new age swamps, from Omega, to Steiner mystery schools, in and out of Sikh guru meditation which I could never master (no pun intended), but never extinguishing my gushing poet-musician brain. As a single mother trying to do all of the above, I certainly could "never rest". Now I could say other things about where I sit, or stand or run, right now. The more I feel the pressure to finally relax into something resembling "a good life", the more I squirm. I've found myself, however, a wonderful back porch to ruminate from, often with a smoke, and a fermented beverage. Then each day it's off to the races again. Can't catch up with myself, can't stop manifesting creative projects, in quantity. I am restless, and digital, which I have mastered beyond most of my friends, as I run websites and a recording studio and a blog, with social media satellites, is almost too much to bear, now. I want to read books again, clip grass with scissors, and just be, if ever such a state of simplicity were possible. In my spare time, I read maps compulsively, especially about places I can't get to.
As one born in 1956 I found this to be most revealing. After an extremely trying second Saturn Return, it has been quite evident that things will never be the same. And of course 2020 to present has certainly enforced that for us all.
Hearing about this client that could not define what was troubling them is certainly relatable. Ol' Neptune can be a real trickster when you're not willing to open the many doors of the subconscious. At least for me.
Thanks for this perceptive discussion Eric. I really enjoyed this.
This is a pretty dense reading. The things that ring true for me, as somebody who has recently experienced transiting Pluto square natal Neptune, are the struggle to cope with the existential void, the desire to change consciousness through substances, seeking a spiritual path, finding transcendence through music, contemplating the new digital world order, preparing for death. Woot.
Thank you! As a Hermit (9) who is active and content to live in the Foundry of the Soul, I appreciate the extra encouragement to actually make moves on the issues that self reflection, and your reflections, bring to light. Peace and Wonder to you!