In human life each planet’s astral radiation expresses a related range of constructive and destructive behaviors but in Pluto’s case the range is so contrasting that they are classified as Higher and Lower-Pluto.
Behavior that is exceedingly noble, high-principled and morally elevated has Higher-Pluto’s signature and behavior that is low-principled, insidious, callous and villainous has the mark of Lower-Pluto.
And it’s only when you tag a behavior with its astrological marker that you get a crystal clear picture of what’s really going on in the world.
Higher-Pluto – the angel – motivates those dedicated to truth, justice, human welfare and alleviating suffering; and Lower-Pluto – the devil – motivates those committed to coercive control, division and the repression or restriction of human rights and freedoms. And in the 21st-century Pluto’s influence on the international and national stage is ever-present and all-pervasive.
The planet of division has divided the world into two diametrically opposed political camps: The democracies that advocate the election of representatives, human rights, press freedom and freedom of expression and dissent; and the authoritarian dictatorships that are committed to autocratic control, strict obedience to the ruling authority, the suppression of human rights and the control of the media and what people can see, hear, read and learn.
Lower-Pluto’s dictatorships
According to World Population Review there are 52 dictatorship countries in 2022: And a dictator who goes by the title President, Prime Minister, Sheik or Supreme leader is still a dictator.
A dictatorship is a type of government in which a single person – the dictator – or party has absolute power and is usually backed (especially financially) by groups of powerful people. The rights of the people are typically suppressed although some dictatorships are more strict and overbearing than others.
Everyday citizens living in dictatorships have few freedoms, limited autonomy, poor quality of life, and restricted political choice. They are often persecuted for unethical reasons, including their religion, sexual orientation, or economic status; and dictators often employ secret police and violence to silence critics and dissent to their rulings and guidelines.
The people living in long-running dictatorships such as North Korea and Cameroon have never experienced anything that resembles democratic freedom.
In some dictatorships multiple political parties exist, but one dominates the government, makes all the rules, is free to disseminate propaganda, and controls every aspect of every election (which may offer voters only a single candidate), thereby ensuring they always win.
In a military dictatorship (Myanmar) the military takes control (usually through a direct coup), installs the dictator of its choosing (typically the highest-ranking military officer), and uses force of arms to preserve its power.
China’s constitution calls its government a ‘people’s democratic dictatorship’ a stunning bit of Pluto double-speak. President Xi Jinping has absolute power and the government exercises a high degree of censorship and coercive control over its citizens.
In 2022 there are 52 nations with a dictator or authoritarian regime ruling the country: Three in Latin America and South America, 27 in Asia and the Middle East, and 22 in Africa. Some in Africa engage in state-sanctioned kidnappings, torture of prisoners, and unlawful killings and some have been in power for decades.
Democracy is on the decline
According to the Democracy Report 2022 released on March 2, 2022 by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, democracy is on the decline.
That’s based on the largest dataset on democracy involving over 3,700 scholars with over 30 million data points measuring hundreds of different attributes of democracy for 202 countries from 1789 to 2021.
According to the V-Dem report the level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2022 was down to 1989 levels with democratic advances being eradicated.
The report found that dictatorships (Pluto) are on the rise with 70% of the world population – about 5.4 billion human souls – having their freedoms and democratic rights curtailed.
In 2021, 44% of the world’s population – about 3.4 billion people – live in electoral autocracies that after holding elections are run as dictatorship states. Citizens do not enjoy full freedom.
In Russia – an electoral autocracy – the dictator Putin holds elections superficially and then deprives the citizens of their fundamental rights. And in 2020 the V-Dem institute downgraded India to electoral autocracy.
Like most things tagged by Lower-Pluto electoral autocracy is murky. But it defines a country that holds multiparty elections but fails to guarantee minimum ‘democratic standards’.
Only 13% of the world’s population live in a liberal democracy. If you do, think yourself lucky.
The V-Dem report revealed that in 2022 thirty-three countries harboring 2.8 billion people were autocratizing. Democracy was breaking down and anti-pluralist parties in Brazil, Hungary, India, Poland, Serbia, and Turkey were autocratizers. And 6 out of 27 EU member states – more than 20% of the union – were now autocratizing.
According to the V-Dem report, 18 anti-pluralist parties and their leaders lack commitment to the democratic process, disrespect fundamental minority rights, encourage demonization of political opponents, accept political violence, tend to be nationalist-reactionary and use their power to push forward autocratic agendas.
In 2022 autocratization stormed ahead unchallenged.
Pluto
Pluto was discovered February 18, 1930 but the public announcement was delayed till March 13, 1930. It was a sensational astrological event that got a red flag warning. It ushered in the Pluto Period of the Aquarian Age.
Pluto lurks in the outer shadows of our solar system and the discovery of the god of the underworld in 1930 gave the masters of menace and manipulation – the Lower-Pluto forces – the green light to launch their anti-spiritual campaign on Aquarius. Their chief weapons of attack would be of terror, suffering, division, coercive control, atheistic materialism and misinformation.
Sixteen weeks earlier – on October 24, 1929 – Wall Street had crashed and the Great Depression saw dreadful terror, when people without work, food or money struggled to survive. And then, in 1939, came World War 2. After 6 years of terror and brutal suffering the forces of light were victorious.
In 1953 Crick and Watson discovered the secret of life – DNA – and your one fabulous, amazing human life became strictly biological. By now Darwin’s theory of evolution was gaining wide public acceptance. The world was charging at atheistic materialism and Lower-Pluto was pulling the strings.
From 1947 to 1991 the Cold War highlighted the ideological, political and economic tensions between the USSR and Eastern Europe and the USA and Western Europe. The world was gripped by fear and uncertainty and became seriously divided.
In the Aquarian Age chart in May 1986 the equinox moved to form a high discord square aspect with progressed Pluto.
It signposted a precarious chapter in human affairs scripted by drastic global events, international divisions, polarization, inversion, misinformation, the suppression of facts, threats, dictators, coercive control, nuclear weapons, organized crime and atheistic materialism. It reached peak power in October 2013 and ends in May 2043.
And in the Aquarian Age chart in June 2015 progressed Mars moved to form a parallel aspect with birth chart Pluto > peak power date was December 18, 2018; and in April 2018 progressed Mars parallel progressed Pluto started > peak power date was November 2021.
Since May 1986 the influence of Pluto in human affairs has been unrelenting. The master of peril, threat, menace and danger has its fingerprints all over the division, dictatorial control and disinformation that has humanity divided, restrained, confused, fearful, stumbling around in the dark and dumbed-down.
Aquarius forecasts the liberation of the human soul from political, religious and academic tyranny but in the Pluto Period of the Aquarian Age a new Dark Age looms as the democratic forces of light and the autocratic forces of darkness are locked in an apocalyptic contest and in 2023 Lower-Pluto’s dictators and autocrats are winning.
Astrology for Aquarius – sharing our knowledge
