To begin Das Rheingold, the first opera of Wagner’s incomparable four-opera music drama, Der Ring des Niebelungen, the composer wrote 136 consecutive measures in unchanging presentation of an E-flat chordal arpeggio!
Unrelenting, unceasing: the sound of E-flat. His purpose here is to bring us deep into the Rhein river . and the lush tonality repeated for so long does just that. It is quite an experience! –Additionally, that’s all there is to begin with: Wagner dictates that the curtain opens on the drama only after some 128 measures!
Whew!
We all know the sound of bagpipes, and we easily imagine some hundreds of pipers at the early light of dawn marching across a meadow, streaming horrendous sounds into the air, to lay siege upon an enemy camp. –What do we hear from the bagpipes?
We hear a constant reservoir of air playing a note unceasingly through a drone; that fundamental note drones into our senses, even as melody chants squeal two octaves above it all.
These are backdrops –Wagner’s river-tapestry of E-Flat, the bagpipes droning insistence of a sound– backdrops to stabilize a scene, to lift the curtain on life drama, to fortify awareness of development.
All too easily, because of its very slow movement, we overlook the backdrop of transiting Pluto within our development, as Pluto changes from House to House to House.
What a simple observation: tr Pluto ever so slowly and insistently droning significances over groups of years in our development.
As simply as we can, let’s think through backdrop significances established by tr Pluto in each of the Houses. For the most part, these significances will be obvious, but we can gain refreshed respect for them if we inspect our life-years in terms of the insistent Plutonic backdrop for groups of years in our development.
Pluto transiting the 1st House: personal projection; physical appearance, personal environment, self-awareness; potential for revolutionary self-development.
Pluto transiting the 2nd House: personal worth, material security, earning power; fluctuation of security; attention to sources of income.
Pluto transiting the 3rd House: the perspective of the thought processes, perception, communications; alterations in style of communication; research, study; the perspective of relationship within the family, neighborhood; critical value system.
Pluto transiting the 4th House: changes of residence, new beginning, new vistas of self-projection; the alteration of unconscious strength; revelation; parental relationships.
Pluto transiting the 5th House: children, education, teaching, loving; hobbies can become professions; perspective is altered in tyerms of speculation about personal creativity; the value of drama, sports, learning to transform creative perspective into productive work.
Pluto transiting the 6th House: perspectives of service to others; critical abilities; work perspectives; diet, hygiene, and health.
Pluto transiting the 7th House: alteration of the perspectives of relationships; the self’s awareness of personal projection meets the trials of others’ realities; relationships end for new ones to begin; public awareness is heightened.
Pluto transiting the 8th House: the support provided by others to personal perspectives , often financial; management of deaths in the environment; heightened interest in the occult; the higher mind is pressed to expand and broaden its perspective.
Pluto transiting the 9th House: voyages of the mind or body later philosophical perspectives, ethical concerns, religious tenets; the higher mind is pressed to expand and broaden its perspective.
Pluto transiting the 10th House: the perspective of personal excellence is intensified for better or worse; alterations of professional application to afford fulfillment; ascendancy through responsibility; parental concerns; self-assertion at its highest.
Pluto transiting the 11th House: life’s hopes and goals are given more meaningful perspective; friendships become extremely significant; one’s children’s marriages; the love received from others.
Pluto transiting the 12th House: psychic perspective is pressed for growth and change; healthy concerns as the spirit works to transform the body; past mistakes press for correction; a cycle prepares to change as Pluto approaches the Ascendant.
Nixon provides us an historical and vivid example: when tr Pluto was working through his 12th House from 1950 through 1967, this backdrop marked his election to the Senate, his two terms as Vice President, then his losses of elections for the national presidency and California governorship. As Pluto crossed his Ascendant into the first House, Nixon re-emerged as the “new Nixon,” possessing a whole new personal projection.
Remember: Pluto in this analytical view is a backdrop, the scenery supporting life action, the droning base upon which we will hear more.
In our experience with this transiting backdrop, it is reasonable that other measurements occurring in the developing horoscope will take on color and tone consonant with the Pluto-signified potentials.
It is extremely easy to take these simple life-development constructs into consideration instantly in any horoscope. –For President Obama, the ephemeris shows that tr Pluto crossed his eleventh cusp in 2005: he was recognized in that year as a serious political force, featured in the TIME 100. –We can be aware that in 2017 (as his second(!) term of Office ends), tr Pluto will be entering his 12th House for 17 years, coloring his life as a rest-and regroup backdrop suggests.
As tr Pluto entered Pope Benedict XVI’s 10th House (crossing his Midheaven), he took his Church’s stand on Islam, Israel relations, China, and Abortion . and much more to establish his tenancy as Pope. This statement of stature will be the backdrop for the Pope’s development until 2014 (aged 87), when tr Pluto will enter his 11th House and simultaneously oppose his natal Pluto!
For Prince Charles: when tr Pluto entered the 4th, he completed his work with the Royal Navy and prepared for his marriage with Diana four years later. In 1992, when tr Pluto entered his 5th, Charles and Diana divorced. When tr Pluto entered his 6th in 2009, Charles took a strong position within the Green Movement, serving the environment.
**Of course, there are many more signal occurrences following this general transit timing. The backdrop development is best appreciated when you know the development of your client’s life over a period of 40 to 70 years. You do see it all. –Remember: it took Wagner 136 measures to lift the curtain!