Winter Solstice 2008 -- Sun and Pluto Conjunction

When a great planet conjoins the Sun at the time of the Winter Solstice, astrologers regard this as a definite omen for the year ahead. This year, for the first time in over two centuries, Pluto and the Sun were at the zero degree of Capricorn, which marks the center of our Galaxy, on December 22nd, 2008.
The Winter Solstice is the day of the year that lines up the Earth, the Sun and the center of our solar system, the first degree of Capricorn, the Galactic Center. The Winter Solstice can be traced as a definite point in the awareness of every culture that has occupied our earth. It is more noticeable than the Summer Solstice, because the winter light is so absolutely dim, that the dwindling of daylight and its following increase are dramatic. Practices of capturing light and fire are legion in the rituals used at this moment in our earthly calendar. This annual return of the Sun (or Son) has been a basis for much religious teaching and fervor for thousands of years.
The faster planets, Venus and Mercury, are never far from the sun, and several times a year will occupy the same degree as the sun. They are not often conjoined though at the solstice. The winter solstice marks a very specific place, so more than the planet's orbit plays into its probable meeting on the Winter or the Summer Solstice. The mathematics of planet/sun conjunctions are simple in terms of planet cycles and the sun's yearly travel through the Zodiac. But using a certain degree in the 360 circle to match a planet and the sun, requires additional considerations. The most predictable conjunctions are the rarest ones, and those are with the century planets, the outer three: Uranus (84 years) Neptune (164 years) and Pluto (248 years). In the rare times when one of the outer, slower planets makes this conjunction, great and all-encompassing occurrences are expected. How great will be according to the nature of the planet conjoining the sun. In 1988 the planet of communication, electricity and epidemics, Uranus, was at its closest sun conjuction on December 20th. The epidemic of AIDS was recognized and the world wide web of communication began. Neptune, the planet of chemistry and spiritual awareness made a solstice/sun conjunction in 1983. Not again until 2147. A rise in fundamentalism in world religions has been observed, as well as a few of our fossil fuel dilemmas, notice also, changes in genetic engineering and agriculture.
The outer three planets have been oddly close to each other in these times of ours, and that in itself is the making of a grand marker of destiny to live through such a concentration of such mighty forces. Electricity, Chemistry, and Atomic Energy were discovered as each of these planets were "discovered" in the recent centuries. So in 2008, as we look forward to our great year ahead, no less than Pluto the God of death and rebirth is our talisman and our icon.

The nature of Greek Hades, or Roman Pluto was to be the God of the Underworld. This power is the one that understands death, and the most revolutionary kind of change. We found Pluto the year we smashed the first atom, in 1933. Pluto has ushered in the atomic age. In watching this planet of transformation through history, or in my lifetime, I have seen it travel over each degree of the sky bringing experiences of complete change. Whether it is a solar degree, representing a self, or a Mars degree representing a car, or a Moon degree representing your mother, the effect of this planet is to destroy the old form and bring in a new one. Well, yes. It is a matter of degree, after all. So interesting, isn't it? that the by-word for 08 was Change. The same universe informs us all. The idea of "Change" certainly is cosmically delineated by Pluto's position this year. In the chart of the USA this degree is the cusp of our 8th House, the house of other people's money. Or the power of money as it is shared, traded, and connected. What are the odds, we wonder, that such a grand degree of the Zodiac, the Galactic Center would live in the nativity of the US, on the place of playing with money. Think back to the last time Pluto was here--December 18, 1760--fun times in the colonies, and mad about taxes.
Pluto's conjunction with the Sun this past Winter Solstice of 2008, represents a financial remaking of world equity. What backs the currencies has changed, often in a thousand years, but recently we have seen gold, silver and oil be our security.
That is over now, and we are watching the chaos as the new power to finance the whole world, is found. We are sure that everyone will agree and cooperate. Hades would want us to.