Capricorn 17-18 The Union Jack

Since early March 2016, Pluto has been going back and forth over this symbol, getting into everyone's affairs and revealing the personality of this symbol. While it has meant lessons for some, pain for others and a happy ending for a few more, I feel that Pluto has taught me that bad or good (false dichotomy but it serves a narrative purpose lol) there is always a time for things, which is why there really is no bad or good, because all things have their purpose. At the moment, it seems to be the time for asserting/defending boundaries or borders; delineating what is yours and what is mine; or the change (Pluto) of whatever line is in the shifting sand.

There are a few people who helped me understand this degree, by revealing their stories: a divorcee, a friend, an ex-colleague and myself.

To start, you may already know my at-the-time-it-was-a-drama story about getting the mother-in-law to stop dropping by in the mornings. Since then she has stayed away and my mornings have been great, life has been more joyful and I realised I hadn't understood how much of a negative effect she'd had on my days.

During this time, an acquaintance wanted to drop by and discuss their astronarrative with me - something I do for fun because I want to learn what people's experience of their symbols are - so we got together and, instead of discussing the astronarrative, we did oracle cards, pendulums and other fun stuff instead. We spoke about her difficult divorce and her narcissistic husband, and how for the longest time she never knew about narcissism, and had thought all the problems in the marriage were all her and that she was crazy. Things became even uglier when she started the divorce proceedings, and she was hoping to emigrate herself and her girls to Germany to get away from him. I am no psychologist or expert on anything, but to me, when someone hates you and sends you hateful letters and texts and is so arrogant that they believe the family law judge will feel inferior to them, then that person literally gives you rope to hang themselves with. I told this acquaintance about my painter friend who had recently been to court and the judge called him out on his games and lies in front of everyone. Judges and lawyers are not necessarily the humblest of people, and if 'civilians' bring their arrogance to court (narcisissists anyone?) then let's just say the Ones-on-the-Other-Side-watching-us-for-positive-change are breaking out the popcorn cos it's gonna be a good show...
I felt that my friend's experience was meant to be shared with this divorcee lady so she could see his every ugly act as reason to remain divorced and reason to feel hopeful that the family court would use this as proof to grant her and her children leave to emigrate (A Union Jack). At the time I wasn't looking at transits but I see now that Pluto was conjunct her Earth of A Hidden Choir Singing (Capricorn 19-20).
The next day she said she got another horrible letter from him that made her cry, but as she read she felt stronger because this very letter would be her ticket to leave the country...Hmmm, I think those will be the last tears she cries over him!!

A week later I am speaking to a friend that lives locally, and we have a lot in common. Our husbands are friends, we both have an Asian background and we are the newcomers in this town where our husbands grew up. We have often felt surrounded by the in-laws and isolated as there are not many people in this small town that we have felt understood us. My friend is having a very similar experience to me regarding boundaries and the in-laws, except she has a lot of cultural blocks (Korean background that demands a lot of respect for elders and parents) that stop her from asserting herself to family that trespass her boundaries. When I last visited her, she told me that her in-laws had organised to have a party for themselves at her house! Her in-laws and husband had thought it was fine, nobody had bothered to ask if it was fine with her. It was the straw that broke the stoic, resilient camel-of-sh!!tty-relationships' back. When she and her husband argued about this, her husband called his mother to let her know that from now on, his wife would be included in the decisions. His mother's response? "Well she is Korean and they are supposed to respect their elders and that is what I expect". So he took exception to the fact that his mother just admitted she expects his wife to be a doormat, having very little understanding of Korean culture, and she became very angry at being put in her place.

On the very day that I am visiting my Korean friend and talking about asserting boundaries with mothers-in-law, my phone rings twice from an ex-colleague who lives interstate. I haven't heard from her in two years, though I send Christmas cards and I think of her fondly. Now it seemed she needed to talk to me urgently! Of course this intrigues me so when I leave my Korean friend I am straight on the blower to find out what's going on (I am such a nosy parker, clearly the boundaries issues goes both ways lol!).
My ex-colleague - let's call her Rocky - is calling me for 'no reason', just bored, sitting in her trackies counting out her welfare money! She tells me she's been made redundant four times in the last 9 years and even joining the Army Reserves isn't helping because the budget has been cut at her unit and they are trying to cut down on man-hours so she can't even do that! When weird pattern-like stuff comes up in conversations, I just have to dig a little and find out if there's something in the astronarrative. Yep, girl got Chiron on An Industrial Strike (Gemini 7-8), Midheaven on A Large Disappointed Audience (Aries 27-28) and Earth on A Sleigh Without Snow (Taurus 7-8) - this last one making me think, with all her qualifications and hard work - that she is 'in her element' in situations where she is not exactly useful? - gonna have to work on wording that one more diplomatically!!
But the point of this story is not those symbols but the fact that her natal Mars is on A Union Jack. So while I was telling my Korean friend "Pluto is on A Union Jack, so it's the time to tell your in-laws where the boundaries are", the Union Jack was literally calling! (Probably a confirmation sign - must report back to my Korean friend about that).
Anyhoo, Rocky's North Node is A Woman Pursued By Mature Romance (Taurus 27-28), and with Pluto on her natal Mars I mentioned that she must be very good at boundaries and delineating 'what is your stuff, what is my stuff'. She said that she never lets her boyfriend do anything for her or help her out with money, and I mentioned that clearly the path of spiritual progression was to let go a little bit and be pursued by romance. It is so interesting how a conversation can kick off so many connections - we spoke about the honeyeaters in her garden (which symbolise shields - what you allow in and what you won't allow in are enforced - which is a good sign if boundaries are an issue, because it means you've arrived at learning that lesson!) and her grandma who had been independent her whole life but now she was old, she was struggling with losing the independence and was at risk of stroke with her hypertension. Looking at The Body is the Barometer of Your Soul by Annette Noontil, the emotional reasons for the hypertension and stroke were about the inability to just 'be', and impatience with the self for not performing like the self 'should'. Rocky could see that herself and her grandma had a lot in common regarding this issue, and with Pluto on her natal Mars, Rocky needed to soften the boundaries a little to grow, for her in order to allow herself to 'give in' to her romance, and be taken care of by another - something her independent grandma was struggling with right in front of her eyes.
I never thought I would be telling someone that sitting around and collecting the dole was exactly where they needed to be, but I had a lot of fun saying it and we both had a laugh.

So there you go - three different experiences of Pluto on this symbol!

Does any part of the symbol resonate with you?

Share your experiences of this Capricorn karma!

Do any of the astrological bodies (Venus, Jupiter, Chiron etc) fall on this symbol for you? What has it meant in your life?

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Many thanks!