Chapter 9: Taboos

We all have secrets – something we don’t share with anyone else, either because it’s something so unacceptable we are compelled to cover it up, or because it is so sacred we don’t want to tarnish it. These secrets hold power. They are forbidden territory – taboo. We hide them in shadow, stuff them deep within. We put on an innocent face and carry on. Inevitably they surface, rarely gentle, often explosive, frequently to our horror. If they go public they swell into scandal.

This is Pluto in action. Pluto used to be the outer limit of our solar system and represented our psychic boundary. Our boundaries have made a quantum leap in recent decades as more possibilities have emerged. Sedna is now the outer limit, a dwarf planet that symbolizes our spiritual awakening. We will explore Sedna another time. Right now we need to understand Pluto – how it operates in our own lives, what it holds in repression, how much of our power it carries.

We’ve been examining the USA birth chart to get a grasp on the collective psyche because in a few years Pluto will return to its exact spot when our nation was born. It will have traveled 246 years around the Zodiac gathering the fruits of our choices and decisions, the secrets we have hidden, the wounds we have inflicted, the wrongs we must right. This is our collective karma and the due date is looming.

The actual Pluto return occurs on February 21, 2022, according to The New American Ephemeris for the 21^st Century. Pluto isn’t going to dump our karmic harvest on one day. This is a process that has been going on for years. I’d say it started with 9/11 when Pluto was on the USA Ascendant and our twin towers of commerce collapsed. It intensified in 2016 as Pluto got within 10 degrees of home plate. In the last three years we have been steeped in Plutonic upheaval. We are wading into deeper waters every day as scandals erupt, moral outrage mounts and fear dreams up apocalyptic futures.

Let’s look at what Pluto is telling us about ourselves. In the USA chart, Pluto is in the second house in Capricorn. I have outlined the many manifestations of Capricorn energy in Chapter 3: “Looking into Saturn’s Third Eye.” Take another look at the chart. Remembering that Pluto brings intensity to its arena, you might want to ponder the extremes to which Capricorn energies can carry us.

Capricorn is an Earth energy. The second house is an Earth house, associated with money and materialism. On a psycho-spiritual level it represents our values. Pluto creates intensity wherever it resides. In the 2^nd house it has engendered a compulsion for material wealth.

There is no denying our materialism. We chase after the dollar, we consume at an alarming rate, we are addicted to shopping. We’re always looking for a way to get rich quick. Our dreams of freedom and equality have morphed into dreams of winning the lottery, owning a flashy car and a big house, able to spend money with the big boys.

Money is our Idol because we believe that money is power. The irony is that we have relinquished our true power in the process. Our collective welfare is measured by Gross National Product – the goods we produce for profit. The stock market broadcasts our moods, rising and falling with vacillating optimism and doubt. The value of our lives is measured in hours and dollars. We are like greyhounds chasing a fake rabbit, bound to run until we drop never having caught it. We are severely stressed and chronically ill. We are slaves to an idea, a philosophy of life called Capitalism.

As we consume goods and resources, our system is consuming our lives, but do we question it? Those with the temerity to suggest we close the gap in wealth disparity are scorned with accusations meant to shame them into silence. This is taboo at work. Capitalism has subsumed Democracy, but we dare not name it. We are no longer embracing justice and liberty for all. We are instead bowing to the demands of the few, paying the price for their greed, bailing them out when they fail, living with the consequences when they ravage our environment, and holding a futile dream of becoming one of them.

We tacitly agree not to question the system. We know we will be shunned, punished and accused of not being patriotic. We slip into complacency or apathy because the system is so entrenched. But Pluto will have none of it. His job is to root out the truth, uncover the secrets and lies. All our taboos are coming to light. Sexual scandals abound, most shockingly in our clergy. Corruption in business, finance and politics burst into the headlines on a daily basis. Our jails are filling up with white collar crooks.

A perfect example of taboo coming to light is the current exposure of sexual predation upon women. It has been going on for thousands of years, but look what happened when a few women spoke up and denounced their oppressors. The “Me, too” movement was born. Women are claiming their real power. They are no longer willing to trade their silence for scraps at the table. They are no longer willing to be shamed by their abusers. They have broken the taboo that held them in victimhood and power was released with truth.

Our system is unsustainable. We cannot keep raping the Earth for her minerals and oil. We cannot keep poisoning our air, water and soil. We cannot keep going to war to buoy up our economy, or to steal someone else’s wealth, or assassinate heads of state who oppose our policies of expansion. We are like a giant mouth gobbling up everything in sight. This is the essence of compulsion. This is our Pluto complex. Our values have been warped by a pathological devotion to materialism. We are pathetically superficial, we have lost our moral compass, our vision is obscured by glamour.

We have lovely stories about our origin: hard-working, righteous, idealistic souls throwing off the yoke of oppression, yearning to be free. The truth is we made some bad choices. Granted, our ancestors came from a culture of conflict: wars of faith, wars of aggression, wars over resources. Slavery was already established as the means to territorial expansion and economic growth. Capitalism was young but growing more ruthless. Our progenitors also came from a culture of hierarchy – people were not equal. They rebelled against royalty and class distinctions but soon surrendered to a new form of hierarchy, privilege determined by wealth.

We are obsessed with ownership. When the Native Americans welcomed our forefathers with gifts and sustenance, they were slaughtered. We seized what they were willing to share. For two hundred years we stole their land, broke every treaty, wiped out whole tribes. The solemn truth is that we stole this country. We murdered its inhabitants. We bought and sold human beings as beasts of burden. Until we make reparations, we are bound to the wheel of torment. We will never heal as a nation – we will never become the UNITED States, until we make peace with our brothers and sisters. America has its Sun in Cancer. We are children of the Great Mother who need to learn how to get along with one another. A good start is admitting our sins.

You may be thinking, “I didn’t do that.” No, you didn’t. Our predecessors did that. But it’s up to us to heal it. It doesn’t matter who’s to blame. Blame only deflects action and resolution. What matters is taking responsibility to rectify it. We cannot put it behind us until we address it, find a way to heal it. This is what Pluto is asking of us right now. Are we going to defend our innocence or step into our Spiritual Destiny?

I know I have been hard on the U.S. The point is that we have to acknowledge our “sins” if we hope not to repeat them. We have a shining destiny but it isn’t the path of material wealth. Our true wealth lies in our collective spiritual power which we can access once we clear the way.

We have one more Shadow to examine. Next week we return to Saturn and his influence on the American psyche. Then we can head into the Light.