Hope for the Holidays: Pluto in Aquarius through the lens of Human Design & the I'Ching

Hey y’all!

I felt like writing a little bonus transmission about Pluto, because he’s the talk of the town these days now that he’s entered Aquarius and the people-led revolutions are popping off like wildfire.

Pluto is the lord of the underworld, and his transits through any sign shine a light on the skeletons hiding in the basements and closets that live there. In Capricorn, where Pluto just traveled through for 16 years, Pluto shone the light on the corruption of the sea-goat’s institutions, like government, corporations, and celebrities. At the end of that chapter, with so many underbellies exposed, the world’s 99% are waking up, realizing nobody is coming to save them, and taking matters into their own hands- on TikTok and on the streets. This aligns with Aquarian themes, as the water-bearer represents networks, technology, and systems that return the power from a centralized channel to the collective.

The last time Pluto entered Aquarius was from 1778 to 1798. This was a period of major historical events, including: The American Revolution, The French Revolution, The Haitian Revolution, and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution- driven by the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment.

Pluto just entered Aquarius on November 19, 2024, and will stay there until March 8, 2043. Needless to say, we’re already seeing widespread examples of the new revolutionary background frequency. Right now (December 9, 2024), Venus is conjunct Pluto in Aquarius and they are both opposite Mars in Leo. This configuration reveals a dramatic mirroring about what we value, how we act on our values, and how this will transform society.

Pluto art print by Franz von Stuck.

"It's time to evolve. That's why we're troubled. You know why our institutions are failing us, the church, the state, everything's failing? It's because they're no longer relevant."

-Bill Hicks

Cases in point from the past week alone:

• South Korean conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on December 3, and 5 hours later it was overturned by the National Assembly. He faces impeachment, and protests against the government are swelling. (Deeper story: Yoon’s wife is being investigated for stock price manipulation).

• Syrian President/Dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled by opposition forces and fled to Moscow, as prisoners across Syria are freed.

• France’s government collapsed after far-right and leftist lawmakers joined forces to topple the Prime Minister Michel Barnier only three months after he took office.

• The country of Georgia is in its 2nd week of mass protests and police brutality, spurred by their government’s decision to suspend talks of joining the EU until 2028. This decision came after the EU parliament rejected Georgia’s election results, citing ‘significant irregularities’.

• Romania’s top court annulled the recent presidential election result, which was narrowly won by far-right ultranationalist candidate Calin Georgescu, amid allegations of Russian interference.

• Drones/UFOs/Plasmoid Orbs over New Jersey & the overall shift to governments being more candid about the existence of UAPs

• Deny. Defend. Depose. United Healthcare executive Thompson assassinated in broad daylight in NYC by Luigi Mangione( apparently), who was found eating McDonalds with a manifesto on his person after leaving a backpack full of monopoly money in Central Park. The attractive fellow has since become America’s ideal boyfriend, uniting the right and the left. (Deeper story: Thompson dumped more than $15 million in stock right before the Department of Justice re-opened an anti-monopoly investigation against United, erasing $25 billion in shareholder value. Other senior executives in the company did the same (dumped up to $100 million worth of stock). Before the assassination, there were whispers that he may have been preparing to cooperate with authorities in exchange for a plea deal.)

Red herrings and scandals abound, and even us Americans- who have long drunk the kool aid of believing that our media is actually open and free and our politicians are ultimately morally sound- aren’t buying it anymore. The public has been so overjoyed about the justice of a bad healthcare CEO being assassinated - there was even a shooter-lookalike contest in NYC during the manhunt.

(I’m a little bit taken in by the murder-mystery playing out at the moment, if you can’t tell… but let’s get back to Pluto!)

In the wheel of the Zodiac, Pluto has entered Aquarius for the next 20 years.

…how is this reflected in Human Design?

While Pluto in Aquarius is already here to stay for a couple decades, in the Human Design wheel of time, Pluto hasn’t changed gates- not yet. It is still in the same Gate that it’s been in since 2022, but that will all change in January of Next Year as Pluto enters the first full gate of Aquarius.

This current gate that Pluto is in, which spans the last degrees of Capricorn and the first degrees of Aquarius, is Gate 60: The Gate of Acceptance or “Limitations”. He has been in Gate 60 since November 11, 2022, and remains there until January 30, 2025. On that date at the end of January, Pluto will enter Gate 41: The Gate of Contraction, also known as “The Originator”. While Pluto will stay in Aquarius for a full 20 years, he will hang out in this first full Aquarius Gate (41) until February 24, 2028.

Pluto remains in Human Design Gate 60, the Gate of Limitations, until January 30, 2025. This is the gate that spans the end of Capricorn and the beginning of Aquarius.

So although Pluto has officially entered Aquarius in the Zodiac wheel of time, in the Human Design wheel (based on the ancient I’Ching’s Fuxi sequence), Pluto is still in the gate that provides the link between the signs of Capricorn and Aquarius. This gate centers on the energy of maintaining inner harmony in the mist of crisis, instead of becoming agitated when we are confronted with external limitations.

Gate 60: The link between where Pluto’s been (Capricorn) and where he’s going (Aquarius)

The energy of Gate 60 , the Gate of Acceptance, is all about how we accept the blocks and limitations that are self-imposed-or imposed by others-in our lives.

In the I’Ching, hexagram 60 is also known as “Limitation”. The hexagram is a combination of the trigrams Water over Lake. “Just like a shoreline gives shape to a lake, so do limits and boundaries give shape to your life” (iFate). In many interpretations, Gate 60 is about considering the regulations of government enacted for the guidance and control of the people. An important point is made that these regulations must be adapted to the circumstances and not made too strict and severe. This gate asks us to get honest about our conditioned habits, patterns, beliefs, and behaviors surrounding limitations and boundaries, and asks us how we choose to navigate challenge & change.

Cafe au Soul writes of Hexagram 60: “Limitations can resemble an obstacle to forward progress but the obstacle is really an opportunity to change how we view obstacles. Seedlings encounter rocks in the soil but the rocks keep the soil at the root where it is needed. Rather than opening to what is inexhaustible we now must focus on containment. You may have to work with the idea of ‘no’ to discover how to make changes in your approach. You may need to clarify something prior to gaining the support you are seeking from others. The greatest lesson Limitation teaches us is that while we might fight against the flow in terms of disappointment, we would do far better to recognize the reason for the limitations we face and how they serve our well being. In fact it may just be your preconceived ideas that leads you to experience walls.”

As the Capricorn power structure crumbles around us, Gate 60 asks: how reactionary are you being? How centered are you on your own light, within your own body?

The Dawning of a New Era: On January 30, 2025, Pluto enters Aquarius Gate 41: The Gate of Contraction

In Human Design, the New Year/ a new solar cycle is not celebrated in the beginning of Aries season with the Spring Equinox, like it is in Astrological thought. Instead, the Human Design New Year is rung in when the sun hits the early degrees of Aquarius (02°0’0” to 07°37’30”): This is Gate 41: The Gate of Contraction.

Pluto will be in the first full gate of Aquarius, Gate 41, from January 2025 to February 2028. Gate 41 is a gate of new possibility, known as the Gate of Contraction.

Like the contractions that happen leading up to giving birth, Gate 41 is a time of untapped possibility and a sign that a new beginning is immanent. A planet activating this gate indicates “a time when things might look bleak, but in that space comes about this possibility to imagine, to have a look at where things might go. To ask ourselves how we can rearrange things in the world.” (quote from evolutionaryhumandesign.com)

If we think about 41 as the contractions before birth, it makes the previous Gate of Limitation make more sense- in the womb, we are limited in our motions and our freedoms by being contained by another body- a body that is of an older generation, one with established rules, patterns, and behaviors. If we accept this as the nature of things, and also know that our first breath of life is just at the other side of that birth canal, we can accept “limitation” with a new perspective!

In the ancient Chinese I’Ching, the contractions of Gate 41 are known as “Decrease” and “Mountain over Lake”. Like a reservoir or lake created by a valley or ‘decrease’ within a mountain, the water collected there can be is used to irrigate the fields for future bounty. When a proud mountain can learn to accept a decrease as a positive reservoir, rather than a missing piece, it will realize that the decrease is actually prepareing the way for an increase in the future.

In genetics, out of the 64 codons of DNA, codon 41 is known as the start codon. It is symbolized by the bases AUG, which codes for Methonine, an amino acid that initiates the sequencing of our literal genes and signals the beginning of protein translation. Likewise, the Aquarius Gate 41 in the Human Design wheel is the initiator for a new cycle of time, too.

Each hexagram or gate can be split into 6 lines, micro-seasons of the micro-season. This is especially important to note with slower-moving outer planets like Pluto, since they stay in each gate for a long period of time. The first line of Gate 41 that we’ll enter in January 2025 is called "The Power of Giving" This is a time to be unselfish. Current relationship problems can be alleviated by sharing, giving, teaching and helping in whatever ways you can. Give time, energy, and love. They will come back to you a hundredfold down the road.

This reminds me of a beautiful video of a dahlia blooming that was going around social media that highlights growth as a process of expansion and contraction- in order for a flower to bloom, it must first contract. Growth isn’t linear, and growth comes after a period of contraction, just like gate 41.

Gate 41 gives classic “Age of Aquarius” vibes when it looks at decrease as a positive, an open vessel for new beginnings. It’s the gate of fantasy, dreams, and hope, and is best used to regroup in preparation for expansion.

The Aquarian gates that Pluto will transit through over the next 20 years are:

41: The Gate of Contraction: A still lake on a mountain fills up with water as a resource for the future

19: The Gate of Approach/Connection: A quest for unity

13: The Gate of the Listener: Creating spaces to share and understand each other

49: The Gate of Revolution: A time for justice and standing up for your principles

30: The Gate of Desires: Feeling deeply and compassionately

The unifying line between all the gates of Aquarius that Pluto will transit through over the next 20 years? Emotionality. Unity. Connection to others. Justice. Collective values and collective expression. A new mythos for humanity.

We might not be in the Age of Aquarius quite yet, but Pluto in Aquarius is definitely hinting at the themes to come. Once Pluto transits through all of these gates, he will enter the emotional realm of Pisces…. but that’s a story for another day.

Pluto in Aquarius this time around: A new kind of revolution… a revolution in Emotional Awareness

For the past 16 years, Pluto was transiting through Capricorn. In the Human Design bodygraph, most of the Capricorn gates are located in the Root Center, with connections to the Spleen Center. The Root is a motor center associated with the adrenal system and stress hormones, bringing forth a pressure to work in order to be out of stress. The spleen is a center focused on physical survival and well-being, so together the energies of the past decade and a half have been about a pressure around hard work and gut-level decision making.

In Aquarius, the first couple of gates are also in the root, but connecting with the solar plexus (41 and 19), and the 2 last Aquarius gates (49 and 30) are in the solar plexus itself. (Gate 13 is in the middle of Aquarius, and is located in the G/Identity center). In the change from Pluto in Capricorn to Pluto in Aquarius, the overall energy is shifting from the Root/Spleen to the Root/Solar Plexus. We maintain the pressure to work/move so we can get out of stressful situations, which feels aligned to me with Saturn, the structured big daddy of the Zodiac, ruling BOTH Capricorn and Aquarius. But in Aquarius, we are shifting away from in the primitive fear-based responses of the Spleen and into the emotionally-aware responses of the Solar Plexus.

The I’Ching resource iFate describes gate 41, the first full gate Pluto will transit through in Aquarius, as follows: “Like a roller coaster at the end of its ride, this is a time of decreased momentum. If you have been on a high of energy or emotion, you will soon find yourself on an even keel. You may even find yourself waffling over someone or sitting on the fence. This could be a time of decreased motivation and lethargy. However, if handled wisely, the future will bring you much to smile about. Simplicity and integrity are the keys here. If you strategize carefully and simplify your schedule, you will have time to assimilate the emotional ride you've been on. Reducing your immediate work load may be a necessary step toward better relationships and fulfillment of your aspirations. This is a time to mend wounds, mend your heart, and go slow. Spend some time in nature reflecting on your role in relationships. It will be time well spent. Do not be concerned with a drop in energy — it is a very necessary event.”

Looking Back: The last time Pluto was in Aquarius Gate 41…

Pluto’s entrance to Gate 41 completes a 248-year cycle of the outer planetoid. Pluto was last in Gate 41 when the planet Uranus was discovered, back in 1781. The discovery of a planet beyond Saturn coincided with the Enlightenment and an era of revolutionary thought and action. (It takes Pluto 248 years to complete a full cycle around the sun and on 15 February 2027, Pluto will enter the same position it was the moment William Herschel discovered Uranus- (Gate 41, Line 5)

Kim Gould of Loving Your Design writes: “The Enlightenment brought about the overthrow of hereditary monarchy, seeded democratic ideals, and championed the new science and rationality. It also gave birth to something entirely new – the idea that there was such a thing as a natural right to be an individual.As Pluto approaches the position it was in when Uranus was discovered – Gate 41 line 5 – we find ourselves in another Age of Revolution.

We could call this one the ‘Endarkenment’, not because we are heading into dark times, but because we are reclaiming the yin polarity, the feminine qualities, the capacity for receptivity, that were all severed from the yang extremities of the Enlightenment…. The extreme yang polarity of the Enlightenment still wants to use force to create the revolution. But the true revolution is already underway within you. It sits in your not-knowing. It weaves into your questions. It seeks to express it’s essence in your days. The timing lay in it’s cosmic perfection.”

What makes this revolutionary era different than the last time Pluto was here - in the 1700s?

While Pluto in Aquarius will always bring this shift from survival/fear based awareness to socio-emotional awareness, the configuration of the other outer planets at the time of Pluto in Aquarius makes a big difference in how this emotional awareness will play out.

This is because a cycle of time, aka a revolution, is not actually a circle. It is a spiral, an evolution through spacetime. This time around, Pluto’s outer-planetary buddies Neptune and Uranus are in a friendly, flowing, harmonious aspect to the Lord of the Underworld. (This is REALLY good news, IMO!)

Last time Pluto was in Aquarius/Gate 41, the cosmic dance was not nearly as cooperative or harmonious. In the late 1700s, as Pluto entered Aquarius, it was making a quincunx or inconjunct angle (150 degrees) to Uranus in Cancer. Neptune in Libra was square Uranus at that time. Both of these were harsh aspects that indicate tension and the need for constant adjustment. (The quincunx aspect itself is inherently awkward and calls for consistent adjustment, necessitating continued efforts towards balance between stability (Pluto) and innovation (Uranus). This transit brought a powerful undercurrent of change that did not align smoothly with realities or expectations of the current moment.

[An example of this adjustment was the Revolutionary War. The initial birth of the country of the United States is often marked by a date on an entry in George Washington's diary: October 19, 1781. It is proposed that the nation of the USA was born when the English surrendered, since this was the time when the US was separated from its mother, Great Britain. (Prior to then, only France recognized the USA as an independent entity.) The surrender by the British in the Revolutionary War at Yorktown that was noted in Washington’s diary entry was, at the least, a military action of independence. However, even after the British surrender, the war continued on until 1783, due to ongoing negotiations between the involved parties to finalize peace terms.

1n 1781, when the American Revolutionary War was raging and the British surrendered at Yorktown, Pluto in Aquarius was quincunx/inconjunct Uranus in Cancer, and Uranus was square Neptune- much more challenging aspects than the trines and sextiles we have today.

This time around, Pluto in Aquarius is trine Uranus in Gemini. Neptune is at the midpoint, making a sextile to both Pluto and Uranus. These are smooth, flowing energetics in the planetary dance between each of these relatively newly-discovered planets. This is a rare alignment of the outer planets, the first time it has happened since we have known about anything out beyond Saturn… and it’s showing the reason why this revolution may (perhaps) be more harmonious, emotionally attuned, and cooperative. This configuration is called a ‘lesser triangle’,

Astrology chart of August 20, 2025 showing the harmonious sextiles and trine between Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus. At this point, Saturn is also included in the trine, as it is meeting up with Neptune. (Chart from jessicadavidson.com.uk)

The chart of June 6, 2027 shows an exact trine between Pluto and Uranus, with Neptune as the midpoint in Aries… This configuration is long-lasting and will definitely impact how Pluto in Aquarius plays out this time!

Kim Gould of Love Your Design writes on the current Pluto/Uranus trine:

“Trines are friendly creatures, where the two partners draw out the best from each other. The best of Pluto is deep transformation: drawing up to the surface all that’s previously been hidden away. The best of Uranus is collaborating to draw down the highest possible potential from the heavens.

There will be five exact hits on the Uranus-Pluto trines:

• 18 July 2026 – Uranus in Gate 20.5 and Pluto in Gate 41.3

• 29 November 2026 – Uranus in Gate 20.4 and Pluto in Gate 41.2

• 15 June 2027 – Uranus in Gate 16.2 and Pluto in Gate 41.6

• 13 January 2028 – Uranus in Gate 16.1 and Pluto in Gate 41.5

• 10 May 2028 – Uranus in Gate 16.4 and Pluto in Gate 19.2.

Apart from the exact conjunctions, Uranus and Pluto will be in a trine relationship all the way through from 2024 to 2029.”

This so-called “mini-triangle” reaches its closest alignment between 2025 and 2027. This type of outer planet alignment, with Neptune as the midpoint between Pluto and Uranus, is rare- it only happens once every 500 years. The last time we saw this kind of configuration was in the early 1500s at the birth of the modern world (a time when Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were not yet known to the collective human consciousness).

The mini triangle between Pluto-Uranus-Neptune is forming just as the outer planets all change signs at the same time (2024-2025), shifting from ‘feminine’ (earth and water) to ‘masculine’ (air and fire) signs. In modern astrology, Uranus is the planet that rules Aquarius, as the planet and the sign have corresponding themes of innovation, futurism, breakthroughs, and paradigm-shifts. It tracks, then, that this trine between Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus in Gemini (another air sign that is focused on emotional relationality) aligns nicely with the Human Design storyline of our shift from a collective hierarchical survival-based mind to a collective creative & emotionally attuned mind.

Wrapping up:

The major difference between Pluto’s revolution back to Aquarius/Gate 41 now and other times in history is reflected by the trines and sextiles between it and the outer planets Neptune and Uranus. Although we can’t possibly predict exactly how this will play out in comparison, these harmonious aspects give me hope in a time of darkness. Yes, history may repeat itself- revolutions seem quite inevitable- but we have also evolved our collective consciousness (and planetary patterns) since the time of the American/French/Industrial Revolutions!

Only time will tell how we will remember this time in history. As we live through it, it’s helpful to remember that “Pluto in Aquarius” is not a monolith that we must fear. There are many phases within the transit of 20 years through the sign of the water bearer that can be contemplated and embodied through the gates of Human Design/the I’Ching, giving insights into the increased emotional awareness that we can expect in the coming years.

I hope this has given you some extra context for the first part of the next 20 years of Pluto in Aquarius…. how are you feeling about it?

Sending you love (and hope!) during this Solstice and Holiday Season.