We don't need no stinkin' astrology :D

Pluto, Devas of Creation, Cilla Conway 

Well, it just keeps getting better and better with the Devas of Creation this week. But I have to admit, I have been feeling pretty bleak. Apparently, this card depicts Pluto and its moon or 'satellite', Charon. Conway says that Pluto is Hades and Charon is the Ferryman (their namesakes), and that Pluto 'rules over the collective as well as the personal, particularly in relation to power and its misuse. It challenges stagnant systems and brings about change, death and rebirth.'

You know what, I get a little tired of every card in every oracle deck being about 'transformation and rebirth'. And I don't see how this particular planet could be about either of those. I mean, I know that in astrology, Pluto represents the decay and transformation part of the life cycle, but seriously, what doesn't?

The scale shown between Charon and Pluto is about right, as Charon is said to be half the diameter of Pluto, but they bear very little resemblance to one another. Pluto has the reddish colour, but Charon has a lighter colour, and their compositions are different. Though scientist believe they were born in a collision billions of years ago, 'in many ways they seem more like strangers than siblings', according to NASA:

'A high-contrast array of bright and dark features covers Pluto’s surface, while on Charon, only a dark polar region interrupts a generally more uniform light gray terrain. The reddish materials that color Pluto are absent on Charon. Pluto has a significant atmosphere; Charon does not. On Pluto, exotic ices like frozen nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide have been found, while Charon’s surface is made of frozen water and ammonia compounds. The interior of Pluto is mostly rock, while Charon contains equal measures of rock and water ice.'

So if we wanted to be more literal in interpreting this card (and I'm growing to believe that literal analysis of a card generally leads to more accurate figurative interpretations), we need to think about the distance Pluto is from the sun, and its tiny size, and the controversy surrounding its classification, and its lengthy orbital period of 248 Earth years, and the 'chaos and pandemonium' of the orbits of its moons, which scientists call 'beyond disorganised -- it's unexplainable.' Pluto's gravitational pull seems to have no influence on them. There's certainly a story there, don't you think? 

See, it's so much more exciting and filled with possibility to consider the literal meanings of things, rather than turning to esoteric or traditional associations. And you get to possibilities beyond the usual, 'change is ahead, something dies and is reborn' trope. Well, duh. That's the only thing we ever knew on Earth -- birth, life and death. Of course we interpret everything as ultimately meaning that. But it makes for a predictable and ho-hum reading. What if your reader pulled this card and said to you -- 'Wow, you feel really isolated and like the things going on around you just don't make any sense, everything's chaotic, isn't it?' You could even then go on to look at the crazy behaviour of individual Pluto moons and see what the sitter relates those to in his or her life. Wouldn't that be a better springboard than 'Hmm, I see an opportunity for death and rebirth here. What's dying and what's trying to be reborn, do you think?' Ugh, it's so old hat. It's so blah blah blah. 

Sure, it means that the reader needs to have a good general knowledge of lots of things, and willing to do some research. But I'd rather read about the real Pluto than memorise a bunch of esoteric meanings, personally. I've done the esoteric thing, but astrology never was a favourite of mine, and I've been unable to beat it into my head. Now I'm realising I don't really have to. It's useful sometimes, but it's not the only way. 

Ah, I'd like to keep rambling, but I've run out of blogging time -- gotta get ready for work. 

Today's the day to think about being way out there, far from the sun, and surrounded by truly bizarre events, which for you are so familiar they seem normal. What is the sun you are far from? What are these truly bizarre events? You'll have to look at them from a different perspective to see them for what they are -- really weird! Pluto's stuck with its weirdnesses, but we're not planets, so we're not stuck. But maybe we like it there. Think about it! How can we make it work for us, rather than against us? Or is it working against us? Is it all just a matter of point of view? Think on, boys and girls!