Divided by Pluto: Virgo through Capricorn
I started writing about Pluto generations with the intention of keeping these summaries short and letting the pictures tell part of the story. These were meant to be ready references to spark off ideas. Then the subject ballooned out of control, and I had to stop for a bit. Now I’ve cut back and again and decided to publish these summaries and return to writing about the generations in greater detail later.
Just to reiterate. There are a couple of interesting periods to look for each generation: when they come of age in their 20s and when they come to power in their 50s.
1956/7/8 -1971 Pluto in Virgo
Michelle Obama exemplifies her generation. She had her first child at 32. One of her first acts in the White House was to plant an organic garden, and here she is serving up lettuce. Pluto-Uranus in Virgo
Coming of age during the late 70s, 80s, early 90s. “Generation X”.
“After you’re dead and buried and floating around whatever place we go to, what’s going to be your best memory of earth? What one moment for you defines what it’s like to be alive on this planet. What’s your takeaway? Fake yuppie experiences that you had to spend money on, like white water rafting or elephant rides in Thailand don’t count. I want to hear some small moment from your life that proves you’re really alive.”
― Douglas Coupland, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Critical, analytical, pharmaceutical, environmental. Virgo is the sign associated with the body and with the earth herself. Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Medecins sans Frontieres were all started while Pluto was in Virgo — but by older generations, of course.
Execution by Yue Min (Pluto in Virgo) was inspired by the massacre in Tiananmen
Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture, the North American novel that labelled this dazed & confused generation, was all about slacking. The McJob, a sort of do-for-now, money earning waste of time, is Virgo at its lowest. But in Europe this was the generation that finally tore down the Berlin Wall in 1989, and in China, it was Generation X that stood in front of the tanks in Tiananmen. That picture of one anonymous man standing in front of a huge tank is Pluto in Virgo at its most powerful. An average person doing something small and extraordinary.
Naomi Klein’s book No Logo is a classic Pluto in Virgo dissection of capitalism and the power of personal choices.
One of the most obvious differences in the West — especially Britain and America — between this generation and all previous ones is the age at which women are having children. Pluto in Virgo women have chosen to become mothers much later. They have also pioneered the use of IVF.
In general, Pluto in Virgo seem interested in what goes in the body, whether that’s pure or impure, organic or chemical. It’s a generation of junkies and foodies. It’s no accident that one of Pluto in Virgo Barack Obama’s most important pieces of legislation is the Affordable Care Act. Pluto in Virgo Melinda Gates has used a ton of her husband’s money to rid the world of malaria and tackle AIDS. In fact, when this generation came of age, the AIDS scare was at its height (Pluto was in Scorpio) in the developed world, driving home the message that the Pluto in Leo’s party was well and truly over, but also that pleasure can kill you.
Food as medicine, yoga (meditation as exercise), eating disorders, angst.
Cold Remedies – Damien Hirst (Pluto in Virgo)
It’s important to note that this generation not only had the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the mid-60s, but also a Chiron and Lilith opposition to Pluto. This Chiron is now having a Return. This seems to have been a generation that has taken time to find itself. Coming after all the drama of Pluto in Leo, Pluto in Virgo had to reflect and critique. There’s an edgy dissatisfaction about Pluto in Virgo.
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, dead by 27, Uranus-Pluto opposite Chiron in Pisces. Nirvana summed up so much of the angst of Pluto in Virgo.
Carrie Bradshaw writing about sex — how Pluto in Virgo is that. Played by Sarah Jessica Parker (Pluto in Virgo). Sex in the City — anxious, witty, eternally asking questions.
It looked, before the 2008 meltdown and Great Recession, as if this generation might actually make a difference to the environment when it got into power. In fact, the only country on the planet to enshrine the “Rights of Nature” in law is Ecuador, run by the fascinating Pluto in Virgo Rafael Correa since 2007. However, we’re still waiting for some real progress on climate change. Come on Virgos, pull your fingers out in Paris next month.
It’s been interesting watching Obama in power. He has been so hampered by the Republican opposition, yet he has achieved a lot. This is through careful Virgoan choices and attention to detail. He’s focused on the things he can achieve and followed through with force — Obamacare, the treaty with Iran, the stimulus.
Pluto in Virgo seems to understand that perfection is a process, change is continuous. This may be because it’s a mutable placement.
Power of serving. The power of inquiry.
1971 – 1983/4 Pluto in Libra
Coming of age during the 90s and noughts. Generation Y.
Mitch and Cam at their wedding in Modern Family — the Pluto in Libra sit-com.
Libra is, of course, the sign of marriage, equality, peace and justice. In some ways, the Pluto in Libra generation is lucky. Many people in this generation got to mid-life without seeing any significant economic downturn. In China, this is the generation which has simply seen their country go from strength to strength. In the West, many have been able to establish themselves before house prices got out of hand, jobs disappeared etc.
However, Pluto in Capricorn — as it has been during this whole recession — is at a tough angle to Pluto in Libra. This is a nasty awakening. Things are not quite what they seemed.
Footballer David Beckham is both decorative and decorated. Pluto in Libra – the tattoo generation
In the West, Pluto in Libra are the first generation for whom divorce was normalised as children. People did it before, of course, but it was less common. As a result, making marriage work is important to this generation — for everyone, including same sex couples. There’s a desire to transform marriage, whether that’s through polyamory, a return to Sharia law or most desirably from where I stand, the marriage of true minds.
This seems to be an especially image conscious generation, acutely aware of the power of the surface of things. Celebrity culture, reality TV, throw away fashion.
“I’ll cry at the end of the day…not when I have fresh makeup on.” — Kim Kardashian
Audrey Tautou — the magical, crazy, elusive girl is a theme of Libra in Pluto movies. See also anything starring Zooey Deschanel.
But on the other hand, these people with Pluto in the sign of peace have fought in many wars around the world — Iraq, Afghanistan, former Yugoslavia. In fact, during their early adulthood there seems to have been an explosion of violence — Rwanda, Congo, Sierra Leone, Kashmir — across the globe. The wars, of course, were started by previous generations but the people in the frontline were often Pluto in Libra.
The thirst for equality and justice burst out during the Arab Spring, with help especially from Pluto in Scorpio coming of age. One of the themes of the Arab Spring was the feeling that the governments of the day were just so unfair. Reasonable people had had enough and that was the tipping point. If you remember, the protests started when street vendor Mohammad Bouazizi in Tunisia set himself alight in despair at the crazy system which mean he was continually ripped off by “officials”.
Many Pluto in Libra people have Uranus in Libra or Scorpio, so there’s a lot of intensity here.
And finally they are coming into power. We’ve just had Justin Trudeau elected in Canada, and Alexis Tsipras in Greece. The leader of Podemos in Spain, Pablo Iglesias Turrión is also a member of this generation. The theme is surely equality. Making things nice and even and fair is a high ideal, but surely the world is desperate for this readjustment. It needs to happen soon though, because those Scorps are getting restless…
Power through idealism.
1983/4 – 1995 Pluto in Scorpio
This generation grew up with Harry Potter, a boy scarred as a baby, cursed to redeem wizardry. Daniel Radcliffe (Pluto in Scorpio)
Katniss Everdene in the Hunger Games, a reluctant warrior born into slavery. Played by Jennifer Lawrence (Pluto in Scorpio)
The Guy Fawkes mask used by Anonymous and in the Occupy movement.
Coming of age in the noughts and teens. “Millenials”.
Pluto comes home to its own sign and bam! what an impact this generation is already having. It’s thanks partly to the powerful configuration of the Uranus-Pluto square, which has stirred up Plutonians everywhere.
Occupy everything, the Arab Spring, Anonymous, ISIS.
Pluto in Scorpio have understood early that debt is a form of slavery.
It’s interesting how as the signs follow each other, we see generations clearly reacting against the previous one. For example, Pluto in Libra were image conscious, fashionistas (sweeping generalisation), famous for 15 minutes; Pluto in Scorpio: the Anonymous mask, the Pussy Riot balaclava, hooded ISIS, the niqab, even that Neptune in Pisces beard.
Of course it would be this way. Scorpio keeps secrets. Pluto is the god who wears a helmet of invisibility.
Lady Gaga (Pluto in Scorp) in her infamous meat dress. She is almost unrecognisable behind the series of masks she wears.
And if the Libran lot are fond of decorative tattoos, well the Scorpios like a bit of piercing and gender re-assignment. You have to remember, these are big generalisations. But in the same way that it’s obvious Pluto in Virgo is the first generation to completely shift the age of childbearing, it’s clear that Pluto in Scorpio are completely changing our ideas about sexual identity. Transgender: Pluto in Scorpio.
This Scorpio cutting and stitching of the body is quite disturbing to other generations — except maybe the Virgoan one.
I think people are a scared of this generation, and maybe they should be. When you see footage of Jihadi John, you ought to shudder.
The Twilight Saga — about falling in love with a vampire — went global. This is a poster in Arabic from Dubai.
They have a lot to be angry about. Capitalism is creaking and the people who may end up carrying the burden of debt are this generation of Pluto in Scorpio. The wars started by Pluto in Leo and Pluto in Cancer(!) are still rumbling on, and look like having wider repercussions. If the Virgoans and Librans can’t make peace happen fast — which is part of their role surely — then Pluto in Scorpio will be in trouble. This is a militant super-powered placement and they aren’t going to take this lying down.
Power through transformation (and not being afraid of dying).
1995 – 2008 Pluto in Sagittarius
No need to say more really. If you want to support the Malala fund, you can start here.
Coming of age from 2015 -2030. “Digital Natives”
Sagittarius is the sign of publishing, religious institutions and the dissemination of knowledge. Pluto in Sagittarius revolutionised how we communicate — with a little help from Uranus and Neptune. Suddenly everyone is a publisher now. These people will know how to use it. Right now it’s selfies, Minecraft, Instagram, but in the not too distant future they’ll be making bigger, better things.
Note that many of the American and French revolutionaries had Pluto in Sag.
2008-2023 Pluto in Capricorn
Obviously it’s too soon to tell how this generation, born in the midst of the banking crisis and subsequent recession, responds to the world. But we can guess that it may be something to do with corporate power, working together to make change. These children may grow up to revolutionise how the world is governed. If you look back to the previous Pluto in Capricorn generation, you’ll find them storming the Bastille in 1789.
Fascinating reading,thanks. May get back to you for a follow up Reading soon.
I look forward to it.
Some copy which I’d removed stayed in here. I hope it hasn’t confused anyone.
Neptune is sextiling Pluto not trining (obviously) but I removed it completely because I wanted to be sure of my dates.
Thanks for the post! I always find these generational analyses interesting. But, I was born in ’73 and consider myself Gen X. Actually, the group from 71~80 doesn’t really have a name. Some call this group “The Devil’s Children” Generation, because of the popular movie theme of the time. Also, the economics were not so rosy for this group. 1973 was the turning point when wages stopped keeping up with inflation. The late Gen X group (early Libra Pluto ) is kind of a lost generation, without the hype of the Baby Boomers and Millenials.
Oh, I know the marketing people lump everyone together, and indeed have a variety of ways to parse the generations. X can go right up to the early 80s, but astrologically it’s obvious there’s a clearcut difference — and that is actually very useful.
These are fabulous, Christina! I can really relate to the Pluto in Virgo – I have Venus conjoined Pluto and also conjunct Mercury in early Virgo, with a Virgo Sun to boot. Born in 1958 within the usual Baby Boom parameters, I’ve never felt like a Baby Boomer. My older friends got to bum around for awhile after college, things were cheap and life was easy going. Then rents skyrocketed just before I graduated. I had to work – not quite McJobs, but close! – before finding my niche. My older friends are also retiring now with much more than I will have, and I’ll likely have to work for longer. I’m not grumbling, just saying there was a big shift after Pluto in Leo.
Since I was at the very early end, 1958, some of us had Uranus (rather than Pluto) opposite Chiron. Some people link Chiron and Virgo, especially with health, so there’s also that.
Anyway, these write-ups on the Pluto generations are so interesting, so spot on. Thanks for doing this.
[…] through the signs, as reflected in the generations it influenced. You can find the posts here and here (in two […]
Fascinating posts Christina, thank you. Such an interesting topic. I can understand how it must have been hard to keep it succinct! It’s hard to consider the influence of one outer planet alone.
I had put the expansion of the right to marry to include the gay community, to the Pluto in Libra generation – what are your thoughts? Your comments about the Scorpio generation have me wondering.
I’m slightly off topic here as this isn’t about the children of this generation as such – although I hope they might be the ones to effect lasting change as they’ll be shaped by this discourse. Something I’m noticing with Pluto in Capricorn is how the issue of gun control but also a public exposure of and reaction to hunting has risen to consciousness. The power of the hunting lobby and their ‘conservation’ spin. Our cold violence to other species, which seems to be escalating (or do we just hear about it more?) and a growing public challenge to that. (I wonder too if it’s a joint Neptune-in-Pisces effect).
I am currently reading a book called Sapiens, which is a history of our species. It’s really depressing me — even though it’s also funny. One of the things he writes about is the cruelty of our domestication of animals. The only ones that have an OK time are cats and maybe dogs.
As for hunting, I had not thought of that but I think you may well be right. The personal use of guns is very much in the news. Americans seem to be being held hostage by the gun lobby.
I attribute the near-fanatical attachment to gun “rights” here in the US to Uranus in Aries. Although the NRA has been gathering steam since the 1980s, I am amazed at the fever pitch that faction has reached in the past few years. I hope that when Uranus enters Taurus things might get better; while swords might not get beaten into ploughshares, at least a more pragmatic attitude to gun control might emerge from the zeitgeist.
Yes, surely Uranus in Aries has exacerbated it — and it’s transiting opposite the US Saturn in Libra.
An anecdote about inter-generational strife, that has prompted me to wonder about the effect of the inconjunct aspect among these Pluto groups.
My Libra husband has just returned from a weekend conference of university educators. The theme was: the Future of Ethics Education. He was saddened to report that there was a lot of bombastic criticism of the millenial generation. When I asked him what age group the criticism came from, he reported that it was mostly by colleagues in their 60s (Pluto in Leo generation). A sample of the complaints: “These kids aren’t willing to put in 80 hours a week to succeed” “They are addicted to technology” “They come in with a ton of demands for things to change, when they have only been around for 5 minutes.” My husband and other members of the Pluto in Virgo generation rebutted these arguments. “Perhaps they want to re-establish a work/life balance” was my Libra hubby’s input. “Organizations especially need new ideas in this time of rapid change,” protested another Pluto in Virgo cohort. And an emeritus professor in the conference, in his early 80s, commented that he had seen many technological trends come and go, but it is always possible to learn how to communicate with young people if you establish a healthy, mutual respect. Throughout it all, the smattering of millenials who were student representatives to the conference sat in discomforted silence.
With not only the square between Pluto in Leo and Pluto in Scorpio, but also the inconjunct between Pluto in Leo and the Neptune and Uranus in Capricorn that most of these young people possess, it is unsurprising that there is such a disconnect. As a member of the Pluto in Virgo generation, which is a mere sliver in the demographics of the United States, I am a bit apprehensive to see how the dynamic will play out between these twovery different, equally significant demographic groups.
What an interesting point. I also note that there seems to be more sympathy between Pluto in Virgo and Pluto in Scorpio – and they are at the sextile to each other and have an earthy trine going on with the Capricorn planets.
I think there’s a whole book in here. Because each generation’s Neptune, Uranus and Saturn positions are tremendously important too.
I have just noticed this article http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/02/death-rate-middle-aged-white-americans-aids
This is the Pluto in Virgo generation — and apparently the death rate of 45-55 year olds has shot up through drugs, alcohol and suicide. This fits with the self- scrutiny (and interest in drugs) you might expect.
“Case and Deaton found that death rates from drugs, alcohol and suicides had risen for middle-aged white men and women across all educational backgrounds. But Case said the less educated bore the brunt of the trend: for those with a high school degree or a lower level of education, deaths from drug overdoses and alcohol poisoning rose fourfold, suicides by 81%, and deaths from liver disease and cirrhosis by 50%. For this least-educated group, deaths from all causes rose more than a fifth. Only for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher did overall death rates continue to decline.” — according to this article
Cool post, I’m from the Scorpio generation btw and I think it won’t be us who change the economy or laws neither the sagg generation, it will be the goat generation and they will do it young, they already don’t have time for stupidity, at least the libra, Scorpio or Sagg generation’s of today can pretend they like you and we like your fake world, but not the goat generation and believe me they will do it and they will save their missing, absent, fighting and trapped Scorpio Pluto “parents”, astrological parents, we are reaching 30 and the only thing the older generations are allowing us to pay is our spotify subscriptions, cause we are fired from the must stupid jobs not because we are doing a bad job but because they hate us.
!! Nicely said James Dean. Pluto in scorp gen and we definitely look screwed from moment of conception.
I found this article because Virgo is usually so progressive and I wanted to look at the possibilities and hopes in that gen. The problem with caps is they can be the worst of the crooked elite so I’m not placing all my bets there.
Generational wisdom is always intriguing because astrology shows how different they are and yearly shifts can create a different kind of reading. A Gemini baby boomer vs. à Pluto in scorp, libra, or cap gen are all very different. I think the cap and aqua gen will be the most frightening as there tends to be a bent motive for power in these signs.
excellent as always, many thanks. but us Pluto-in-Leo elders? we need insight all the sooner 🙂
best wishes to all
https://www.oxfordastrologer.com/2015/10/divided-by-pluto-gemini-through-leo.html
Here’s the post on Pluto through Leo etc
[…] the main organisers are very young, apparently students between 14 and 20. This is Gen Z — (Pluto in Sagittarius 1995-2008)– the generation that has already given us Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg, Joshua Wong and […]