I got an email from William a few days ago – it was an unexpected pleasure.
He’s an old friend of mine.
That is to say, we’ve been friends for many decades now, although our paths cross much less frequently now than they used to many years ago.
And, thanks to the inexorable passage of time, we’re both a good bit older now, too. So he’s an old friend in both senses of the word.
At any rate, I was pleased to get his email – not just because it was wonderful hearing from him again, but also because of what he wrote to me about.
He had been going through some old journals, he told me, and had been re-reading the notes he had taken following a conversation we had had about the significance of Pluto penetrating Neptune’s orbit.
Esoteric Studies
In the context of our mutual esoteric studies at the time, that was clearly an important event – but, he said, his notes were a little sketchy and it was no longer clear to him what this cosmic alignemtn meant for us today.
So here’s the story.
When we had our original conversation some years ago, Pluto was still officially a planet. It hadn’t yet been relegated to “dwarf planet” status, and it was commonly accepted as a legitimate part of the solar system.
But, as was clearly understood both then and now, Pluto has an extremely strange orbit compared to the other planets orbiting around the Sun.
It zips through some parts of the zodiac at a frantic pace, but lingers to the point of tedium in other sections of the zodiacal band.
It also operates on a distinctly different orbital plane, slicing through the plane of the other planets at an angle of 17 degrees.
Strange Effects
This angle of inclination creates some strange effects, including the periodic phenomenon of Pluto being closer to the Sun than Neptune, effectively moving within Neptune’s orbit in apparent violation of the natural order of the planets.
The last time this happened was on February 7, 1979. Since Pluto has an orbital period of approximately 248 years, the previous time that has happened was back in the 1700s.
Pluto remained closer to the Sun than Neptune until February 11, 1999. And that 20-year period proved to be extremely important at a social and geopolitical level, as well as in a more personal context in the lives of many individuals.
For occultists, spiritual astrologers, and seekers on the path of the Ancient Wisdom, however, this rare proximity of Pluto signaled a truly remarkable opportunity for personal growth and conscious evolution.
During the closing years of the twentieth century, we could accelerate our spiritual growth and the expansion of our consciousness in dramatic ways – all we had to do was choose to make it happen
The Close of A Century
This notion of the closing years of a century having a special impact is extremely interesting, especially in the light of the occult traditions emanating from Tibetan Buddhism.
Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the great reformer of the Tibetan Buddhist dispensation, is said to have established a cycle of the centuries in the closing years of his life. Through his connections with the venerable Bodhisattvas who pledged themselves to the enlightenment of all sentient beings on this planet, he designated the closing 25-year period of each century to come as a time of special grace, an exceptional opportunity for all beings to accelerate their individual evolution and move more decisively toward complete self-realization and the bliss of true enlightenment.
Tsongkhapa didn’t know about the remarkable spiritual influence of Pluto being inside the orbit of Neptune. Or did he?
Thus it has been apparent as each successive century draws to a close that human consciousness has moved toward greater and greater fulfillment. The closing years of the 18th century brought huge social restructuring, highlighted by revolutions in America and France. The final 25 years of the 19th century saw the seeds of New Thought being planted, with the founding of the Theosophical Society and the beginnings of fertile East-West connections spreading across the globe.
And, as the 20th century came to a close, with psychedelic visions of new paradigms for transcendent connections and the beginnings of a new global consciousness through the foundations of the internet, there was yet another opportunity for spiritual breakthroughs on a colossal scale.
The Pluto Difference
But what was different about those final years of the 20th century was, of course, the rare proximity of Pluto, with its visit inside the orbit of Neptune.
In many ways, it was the ultimate fulfillment of the legacy of Tsongkhapa – an extraordinary cosmic acceleration of the once-in -a-century opportunity that was being offered to humanity.
As we look back on those years, we can see how profound those transformations really were.
So Where Are We Now?
Be we need to do more than look back at the transformations of the past.
After all, we are now in the midst of the first quarter of a new century.
We’ve been given the spiritual gifts of Pluto and Tsongkhapa’s cycle of the centuries, and now we have a new responsibility.
It’s our job now to bring those spiritual impulses into material manifestation. ncial a
That mean a relentless push toward more fulfilling relationships, personally, in our communities, and across the globe.
It also means a dedication toward the creation of new economic paradigms, empowering each individual to find the fullest expression of the kind of material abundance that reflects a divinely perfect spiritual state.
That’s why I have such a strong personal commitment to teaching others how to master financial astrology and astro-trading.
It’s all about economic empowerment, of course.
But for me it’s also a profoundly important spiritual mission.
