The major Pluto cycles of the year are now off and running. The daunting conjunctions of January have launched.
Up until this year, we were in the waning phases of overlapping cycles. The Saturn-Pluto and Jupiter-Pluto cycles (1) had lost their defining power. The world was awash in that peculiar fog that descends when energy systems are all played out.
Then on January 12th, the fated Saturn-Pluto conjunction arrived. The C-virus was the shot heard round the world, as was the 1918 iteration of this same conjunction: the one that brought us the Spanish Flu.
Then came the Jupiter- Pluto conjunction (see “Acts of God”), exact last month.
Now things are moving very fast.
Starting guns
The first part of a cycle carries the drama of pent-up power released. But it keeps going once the two planets are
out of orb. Like the starting gun of a race, the conjunction is just the beginning.
There is no slacking off of intensity over the months ahead. Every month of 2020 brings us new opportunities to offer our respects to the universal principles involved.
This month, there are three retrograde stations:
Saturn on 5/10, at 2° Aquarius: Light a candle to the god of caution and self-containment.
Venus on 5/12, at 22° Gemini: Give thanks for the pleasure of reading, writing and thinking.
Jupiter on 5/14 at 27° Capricorn: Honor the role you play as a responsible citizen.
Hot spots
May also brings us two transpersonal squares, to nudge us into refining our understanding. They’re like a pinch that wakes us up. They needn’t be difficult, but if they are, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re doing something 
wrong.
The Venus-Neptune square, especially strong when Mercury conjoins Venus on 5/22, is palpable all month because of Venus’ retrograde around Neptune’s degree (20° mutable). The tension here is between personal affection and spiritual love.
Mercury’s square to Mars on 5/11 tests our ability to make our mind and ego work together: to be firm without being stubborn. The hot spot here is 28° of the fixed signs.
Know thy transits
In a column for general readership, we cannot know the specific form this lesson is taking for each reader. This depends on where the planets are in your particular chart. Stay on top of the unfolding lessons by tracking your transits, or have an astrologer give you a reading.
Use what you learn to access the power of these beginnings. Take advantage of this moment in your life.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Note
(1) The Jupiter-Saturn cycle is still waning; it launches in December 2020. For the USA, the Pluto-Pluto cycle is also still waning; it launches in 2022.
