The Major Shadow of Pluto in Aquarius

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology, and today we are going to continue our exploration of Pluto's upcoming entrance into the sign of Aquarius. We're going to talk today about why the sign of Aquarius is sometimes associated with perfectionism and we're going to talk about five different ways that perfectionism may sneak in on us over the next couple of decades as Pluto is moving through the sign of Aquarius, and also how we can sort of counter some of those perfectionist tendencies that come with this sign.

I think this is going to be a really good way of prepping us for one of the subtler and more long-term effects of this transit. That's not going to maybe appear like right away but consent in slowly over the years to come. So that is our agenda for today. As always, before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe if you want; you can find a transcript of today's talk on the website nightlightastrology.com. If you have a story to share this week or from earlier this month, as Saturn entered Pisces or Pluto enters Aquarius, use the hashtag grab, tell us which transit you're referring to, and then share your story. I'm going to be collecting some of those and doing a storytelling episode soon. So I'm really trying to make sure that we get a bunch of people's stories in and have a really nice storytelling episode to share with you shortly.

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I hope to see some of you in class soon; we'll be promoting the spring program starting in April. So it's just a little flash sale before that begins. Okay, well, I am. As you guys know, on the 23rd of March, Pluto enters the sign of Aquarius, and so we have been talking about this from a number of different angles. Recently I read a long section from the Astrology of Fate. And there was one part of it that we opened up as a way of talking about the sign of Aquarius, and it had to do with perfectionism. Like Ouranos, the heavenly daimon of perfectionism, suffers eventually at the hands of that which it is cast out but is redeemed and other more ambiguous forms.

There is a way in which the sign of Aquarius seeks progress and perfection, whether that's through societal Utopia societal, I didn't say that the word. Aquarius can seek for perfection on the social level or the personal level. And sometimes, in doing so, there is a sense of disgust with the animal body nature the, the earthly dimension of things, the material dimension of things. Aquarius can become so focused on our angelic potential that it can cast the judgmental eye toward the earthly reality, and that's just part of what Aquarius brings. That's its gift. The gift, in some ways, is that of progress, idealism, and perfecting ourselves as people as a collective, but it's also the weakness insofar as a sense of the condemnation.

One of what makes us actually human is what goes along with it. This is that joke that I mentioned in another video, you know, Aquarians love humanity but hate people. There's a sense of impatience or intolerance toward the way that things are the messiness of human life. That comes along with the sense that there is some greater potential we could all realize. So we talked a lot about we've talked a lot about the paradox of that of the archetype of Aquarius this week, progress and judgment, and so forth.

Today, I want to talk about five different ways that perfectionism can sneak in on us over the next couple of decades while Pluto is going through Aquarius, and the shadow of perfectionism can grow and potentially become a real stumbling block for some of us. But nonetheless, something that we can learn a great deal from, I think it's good to bring awareness to these things.

So today, here are five ways that perfectionism could sneak in on us during the next couple of decades of Pluto and Aquarius, and how we might counteract that, that that perfectionist shadow now wanting to improve ourselves, there's nothing wrong with that perfectionism. Were the way defining perfectionism today would be the kind of progress that constantly looked down upon or even judges things in the way that they are. And so the spirit of perfectionism that I'm trying to address today is the problematic shadow dimension of Aquarius that Pluto in Aquarius could bring up. So how does it sneak in five ways.

Number one, what I have seen or experienced makes me more evolved, you know, whether that's, I remember when I got back from drinking Ayahuasca for a while, and just trying to be honest, even though it's not a fun thing to admit, you know, I thought that I, what I had seen and experienced made me better than other people.

Now, I wouldn't have walked around consciously thinking I'm better than other people. But I thought, well, I know and see and have understood a lot of things about the nature of reality and consciousness that, like, other people haven't. And so that makes me more evolved and sort of sophisticated.

The same goes for trauma; sometimes the trauma that we see and experience, it does set us aside and apart from other people, it for many people who've experienced trauma, you know, it's like the veil is thin. And you can see through into spirit. You become much more sensitive because of trauma in ways that other people may not know. So there's a reality to having mystical experiences, traumatic experiences, traveling into different parts of the world, having different forms of education available too. Many of which are, you know, terrible things that happen, and some of which are real privileged things that could happen to us. But we get the sense that, well, what I've seen are experience that somehow sets me apart for others means that I'm more evolved.

You don't usually consciously think that way. Because you're smart enough not to let a voice running around in your head going like I'm better than everyone else, but subtly, will, will be thinking and taking that posture in the unconscious. And so one of the things that we can do to replace this idea that what I've seen or experienced makes me more evolved than other people is to replace that sentiment with this. Replace that sentiment of what I've seen makes me different with, if I've had experiences that feel maybe different, or they feel like they've set me apart from others; then maybe I can replace that with the desire to share that experience with other people.

Which does not mean preach to other people, convert other people proselytize to other people or take some kind of high horse. Let me show you what I've seen. It's so special. I think about it a little bit more like rather than saying, Well, I'm thinking to ourselves, or I've had an experience that makes me better, or sets me apart, that we could say something like, I've seen something really interesting. And I just really want to know, I want to share with other people what I've seen. And by that, I don't mean like a testimonial. I mean, is there some way to find communities of people.

For example, that have had similar experiences, then you don't feel so alone and it can kind of normalize what you've seen or experienced a little bit more, bring you into community and give you empathy and compassion for maybe people who, you know, maybe they've never had anything super traumatic happened, that doesn't give them the same insight.

Or maybe they've never had a mystical experience or whatever. Rather than feeling better and needing to convert people, I find communities of like-minded friends or people who have had similar experiences. And that just helps me feel like at least in one part of my life, I have a sense of belonging through that identity rather than constantly being set apart because it's the feeling that it sets me apart. That can lead to a very subtle like hubris. So finding some community can be a really nice way to make sure that we don't develop hubris around those kinds of experiences that help set us apart from others in some way, which is a very Aquarian thing.

So I want to share with others, I want to find communities of like-minded people that have had similar experiences, and that can help be normalized that this is, it's like going to a zoo. You know, it's like, if, if my daughter sees the monkeys, you know, one of the first things that she does is go, yeah, come over here, come over here, look at this, look at this, I want to show you can you see, look, and then she wants to share in seeing the monkeys, it would be really strange if she came back and was like, I saw the monkeys, you know? So I'm just saying I'm a little bit better than you.

It's like, well, it's really that simple. It's like, you know, reality is sort of like a wild zoo, you know, or it's not a zoo. Well, it is a zoo. Okay, I've lost my thread, whatever. We all want to it's like the experience itself or like, you know, wild, beautiful animals, just walking around reality. And the idea is, can we move from thinking that what we've seen or experienced in this beautiful garden of life sets us apart from others in terms of a value hierarchy of who's better or worse? And instead, just be like, Hey, have you seen that peacock? You know, like, or you haven't? Oh, and you're like you're getting weird about the fact that I'm really excited to show you a peacock. Okay, I'll just try to find other people who have seen the peacock going up the rails. Alright.

Number two, I have so many gifts, or, on the other hand, sometimes people I have so many flaws. Now, I mean, obviously, I think that there is, it's more obvious when someone's like, I'm so gifted, I have so many gifts to offer, I just have to find out the best way to offer them and then make a living doing it. Like all of that. Not a lot of people are like that. I think a lot of people are more modest than that. But like to walk around being like, I'm so gifted, you know, that would be an obvious example of it's not just walking around saying I'm so gifted, that would be Aquarian, it's the feeling that I'm so gifted but also misunderstood, and I'm not getting the right opportunities, and I can't find a way to you know, integrate some of the gifts that I have and realize their potential or, you know, whatever it is. But the opposite thing is also true.

I think that people who struggle with perfectionism will sometimes think to themselves, well, look, I'm not going to be I'm not a perfectionist. So what I'm going to do is to admit, you know, very openly and you know, but with no shame, I have lots of flaws. Oh my god, the flaws I have, you know, but it's actually in some ways, isn't it just, the same kind of perfectionism coming in? There's a weird way in which being like, I have so many gifts, or I have so many flaws, can, in equal measure can, be a sign of people who are who have their captured by the spirit of perfectionism. That's like, well, you know, and how can we counter that? We can replace with? I have a few gifts, you know, maybe I have a few, but not so many, you know, but I have some gifts, probably not so much more or less than anyone else. And we can kind of make ourselves bring ourselves back to being a common citizen of reality.

Beings in reality, are all pretty magical. And they all have gifts, that so many are, you know, moving from the extreme of either I'm, I have a bank account full of gifts, or I'm totally bankrupt and I have so many flaws, you know, both extremes of feeling like; I just have so many I'm so flawed, right. We don't want to take pride in our flaws any more than we want to take some kind of excessive pride in how special or unique we are. Both are traps of perfectionism.

So I'm conscious of this, I remember, you know, and I studied memoir writing in graduate school, and I read a lot of confessional memoirs. And just like, you know, it's very attractive and appealing to read someone who's just pouring out how imperfect they are. And probably more so than reading someone who's just navel-gazing and celebrating themselves in some, like super arrogant, like self-centered way. But after a while of reading tons of memoirs and seeing that that confessional style of, like, look how broken and flawed and how like there's a perfectionism and an arrogance in that too. So how can we be common? You know, beings have some flaws; they have some gifts. It's pretty normal. Normalizing doesn't mean taking away our dignity or our uniqueness. It just means that uniqueness is a common feature of life, rather than, you know, I'm uniquely flawed or I'm uniquely gifted.

Number three, I want to realize my potential. The Age of Aquarius in the new age, also sometimes associated with the human potential movement. I want to realize my potential. I mean, one of the most common things I hear when people come in for readings. I just want to know how to realize my potential. Like that phrase I have heard hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times, And I know I understand where it's coming from, you know, there's a sense that we have something in us that wants to express itself and grow, in this life a daimon, a soul guide, a sense of being on a journey, all of that's very real to me too. And I think we can use astrology to help people find that. But there's also this. There's this sense of, if we're always focusing on how to grow and how to evolve and how to get better, that, you know, A, we lose curiosity with the present moment, and where we are already and we forget how to relish where we are right now.

So, you know, I think there's always a season for feeling like I have some potential that needs to be realized that I need to take the next step; I think it's a very real thing. But if you're constantly focused, if you find yourself for the next couple of decades, as Pluto is going through Aquarius constantly focused on how to realize my potential, what's my next step toward my potential replaced with I'm curious, I don't know what my potential is; I don't presume to know that I even have some big potential that needs to be realized.

I'm curious, I'm interested in who I am and where my life is going. But I'm open about it. I'm open and curious about who I'm becoming. And I'm relishing each step. This is where I am right now. And I'm also going to stay curious and interested in here and what I'm doing now. And as long as we have that working, if that muscles working, then when it's time to take a big step and move into our potential, you know, it's not going to be, I think it's less likely that it becomes a kind of compulsive and neurotic thing.

Number four, I know I can do better. Now this might not be so much realizing my potential as much as it is correcting faults and flaws. And overcoming shadows and bad negative shadow characteristics of ourselves. I know I can do better than what I'm doing right now. I'm being eaten alive by my shadows, so I need to do better.

Well, again, isn't that true? I mean, we can all relate to that. For all of us. There are times where you know you can do better, and you ought to do better, and you shouldn't. So you do, where you try, you fail as you try whatever. But insofar as this becomes a compulsive sense of guilt and missing the mark, which is another way of describing what the word sin originally meant, insofar as we feel ashamed constantly, and though we're not doing as good as we can or ought to do, whether it's as a parent, or a worker, or a creative or whatever it is, we might replace that with, I don't know who or what I am, what I need, or what I shouldn't, or should or shouldn't be doing.

Now, I know that like as a mantra, that might sound like a pretty crappy mantra because it sounds like being stuck in some place, some kind of goopy, uncertainty, or it sounds like directionless or rudderless, or can't see the stars that are on you know, on the ocean and your ship, and you can't navigate if you just live by these mantras. But to me, that's not true. Because it's all in the spirit of how we use these mantras. I don't know who or what I am doesn't mean that I have a negative opinion about myself. It means that I'm not going to form assumptions and judgments and static positions and ideas about who or what I am. I'm going to stay open. I don't know exactly who we're what I am. Think I'm a spirit soul, I'd you know, my name is Adam. I was given that name. I think I'm an astrologer, you know, like, I guess I'm a husband, and I'm a father and whatever. And we have ideas, you know, but it's, it's like, can we, whenever that spirit of, like, I just need to do better comes up.

We can sometimes just counter that by saying, Look, I don't know exactly what I'm doing. I don't know exactly what I need or what I should or ought to be doing with my life. And then I'm, I'm trying my best but I'm okay to not know exactly what my nature is.

Exactly what I need, exactly what my faults or flaws are, exactly why they tend to possess me in the way that they do. It's just that where there's a voice of, of judgment, saying like, you're not doing good enough, and you can be doing better. Sometimes it's good to just counter that voice with a little bit of the dose of humble uncertainty, like, well, thank you for informing me that I'm getting a C minus in life. And I really appreciate your evaluation. There's this other part of me that wants you to know that I don't know what grade I deserve. You know, and I don't know what standard by which standard A versus a C is actually measured. I just don't know. So if we can counter that voice, that's giving us a c minus with some of this sacred uncertainty. It can take the weight off us and it can, at the very least, provide us with a little space in which to breathe and content played. What maybe can or should I be doing differently? If anything? Or do I just need to be a little less hard on myself? How could you even know the difference if you can't quiet that voice of judgment enough to, you know, relax? So and that's kind of why I use these monitors myself.

Number five is you, or we can all do better. Now, this is just the opposite of what I mean. This is just the social judgment version, rather than the personal judgment version. Rather than saying, I know I can do better; it's, well, I think you can do better my spouse or my kid, or I know we can do better some collective, you know, so. And this is exactly the same thing. But you know, that replace that with? Well, I don't know what you need, you know, because I don't know exactly who you are. And I don't know why these gifts and faults and flaws are here in your life. I don't know to what ultimate ends or purpose they serve because I'm not the master and director of fate or destiny. I am not the orchestrator of the cosmos; I am not the Universal Intelligence. You know, all in all, I'm a part of it, but I'm not; I can't, my mind can't circumscribe it. I am not the judge and jury, and executioner. I don't know what you need. And I don't know what we all need.

Now, that doesn't mean you can't share, like with a spouse, like if they're, if they're, you know, if you if they need to hear some feedback, or, you know, if you want to offer some thoughts about how we could get better, it doesn't mean that some critique or feedback, or thoughts or reflections on how things or other people could improve is never warranted. It's just that where we find ourselves compulsively drawn into criticizing other people or criticizing the world, communities and groups and politics and the news, and whatever else. Can we just step back from time to time and say, you know, what? I don't know what everyone needs? I don't know what everyone's faults or flaws are or why they're there, or where they came from. I don't know where it's all going and what we all need in the end.

None of these little mantras need to invalidate some of the very same impulses that Pluto in Aquarius will bring. Such as, you know, what world we can do better, you know what I can grow, you know what I can realize my potential, I can evolve, I can move up toward the stars, the airy sphere of Aquarius. I have so many gifts, you know; I have flaws that I'm so aware of the heightened intelligence like a divine architect that can see the inner workings of the mind and the psyche and be a wise judge.

That's part of Aquarius; you can think sometimes one time I had a dream, sometimes I have crazy dream images that helped me understand signs. And there was this beautiful it was the judges, you know, the what do they call that? Like the not the is that the judge's bench. It's the thing that they sit behind, right, it's the judge's bench. And it was really, really, really extraordinarily tall. And it was you just totally it was going way up into the clouds and then up into the stars. And there was a judge sitting on it with angelic white hair full of stars flowing down over the top of the judges bench. The tower of the judge was also like a skyscraper, which was very like human architectural design.

Then it extended into the sort of ethereal dimension; there was this judge, and I could only see the judge's hair like angelic white hair falling over it. And in the dream, I knew that that was Aquarius. It's like, wow, it was such a crazy dream image. But I've always thought about that, that Aquarius does offer us this 20,000-foot oversee oversight. And there's a lot in that that can offer us like, you know, feedback, here's your potential, here's how you can become more evolved. You know, here are your gifts or flaws.

Its a Saturn ruled Air sign, you know. But we do have to be careful because Pluto puts us in touch with the unconscious and what is the unconscious of any given sign. So Pluto Aquarius, one of the unconscious portions of Pluto and Aquarius, will be the perfectionism that is not so healthy.

Hopefully today, this has been a good exercise in sort of making ourselves aware of that tendency. And just remembering some of these mantras that we can work with as antidotes to those to those voices of judgment and critique and perfectionism when they grow too strong. So anyway, I hope you're having a great week and that this serves you and your experience of Pluto entering the sign of Aquarius we will talk again soon. Bye, everyone.