“THROUGH me you pass into the city of woe:

Through me you pass into eternal pain:

Through me among the people lost for aye.

Justice the founder of my fabric moved:

To rear me was the task of Power divine,

Supremest Wisdom, and primeval Love.

Before me things create were none, save things

Eternal, and eternal I endure.

All hope abandon, ye who enter here.”

                                --Inscription above the entrance to Hell,

                                   from Dante’s Inferno

        Hoarders and Wasters in the 4th Circle of Hell

                We can see Pluto’s transit through the signs or houses as similar to the journey taken by Dante in his Inferno. In this epic poem, Dante plays the principal character who is lead through 9 layers of Hell by the guide, Virgil. Dante was forced to acknowledge sin and the consequence of it.  When Pluto transits a sign, or a particular house of a chart, it serves also to guide us through the Hell associated with that sign or house. Pluto is like a full-body scan seeking out disease in the body. The scan itself is not enough—we also then have to acknowledge the disease once it has been found, we have to know (or learn) how to rid ourselves/heal ourselves of that disease (we must also learn to discern in whose healing power we can trust), and then we have to have the will to act on this healing knowledge. While Pluto may seem cruel, the Pluto experience is necessary for our soul growth. Mythologically, Pluto is associated with death and wealth. There is tremendous power in both, but this is a power that has to be used for transcendence, not for degeneration.

                Right now Pluto is in the sign of Capricorn, and we’ve seen how the ingress into that sign has forced us to acknowledge misuse of power and wealth and how that power/wealth has been used to build structures/foundations/systems/rules/regulations. The banking system has come under speculation at the beginning of this transit. Are banks safeguarding our money, or are they creating wealth for themselves by creating debt for others? Our individual material excess has come under scrutiny as well. Should we just blame banks and predatory lenders, or should we examine our individual inability to use Capricorn energy in its most positive manifestation, which is to recognize that in many ways, limits and boundaries are very useful and necessary. Though opening a credit card (or taking on other forms of debt) may allow us to stretch our material boundaries momentarily, Capricorn reminds us that when we don’t build our material wealth in a way that is based in the REALITY of our financial situations, the wealth we have created will not last. Flimsily built structures collapse. Pluto in Capricorn asks us to examine the motives of banks/corporations who are misusing their power to acquire wealth, as well as to examine our own motives that allow that misuse to exist in the first place. Are we greedy? Are we impatient? Are we unwilling to be dedicated, long-suffering, and persistent in our efforts to build something of real value?