You read astrology blogs, you read about these things called “aspects” like sextiles and square and oppositions. But what do they mean?

Astrology like a lot of news focuses on the rich, powerful and famous simply because they are on the collective screen playing out their dramas. I can tell you about my chart and my experiences, but that doesn’t mean anything to you because you can’t see me and I’ve done nothing to warrant your attention.

A drama playing out currently is that of the Greek economy and the potential for Greece to leave the Eurozone. In this drama, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is struggling with leaders of the Eurozone. One of the most powerful of those leaders is German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In novels, the hero is called the protagonist and those that oppose him or her, the antagonist. In the current Greek drama, some may call Tsipras the protagonist and Merkel the antagonist. But then again, you might have a different view and assign them the opposite roles.

Regardless of who is the hero in this drama, the characters oppose each other for both tension and development as in a good novel. Hopefully the Eurozone will have a happy ending.

Oppositions represent the energy outside of us with which we push and pull and become transformed beings. While some astrologers think of the opposition as a negative aspect, the benefit of the opposition as opposed to the square is that your problem is right in front of your eyes. Hidden or secret problems can be much more insidious.

Angela Merkel’s Pluto Opposition

Merkel has Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus and sun all in the sign of Cancer. By the way, if you haven’t sent Merkel her birthday card, you have about a week to get it to Germany.

In 2013 Pluto made a tight opposition with her Mercury and has recently passed opposition with her Jupiter. In 2021, Pluto will oppose her sun.

What’s Pluto about?

Pluto is the planet of evolution and transformation. It often transforms through destruction, but won’t if you truly plan to change your deeply-ingrained self-destructive habits, which is so easy to do . . .

Folks with Pluto (or Scorpio) prominent in their charts are powerful individuals. While Saturn is authority, Pluto is power. Pluto might wear the uniform of authority as with a police officer; or it might not, like the head of organized crime. It’s powerful with or without the uniform.

You often find Pluto types where there is a power over others such as in religion or medicine. Pluto has the capacity to handle this type of responsibility where peoples’ souls and bodies are at risk. Pluto is willing to take on the unseemly sides of life that others avoid.

If the astrological gods gave Venus (and its sign Libra) charm so she could do her mating, the gods gave Pluto (and its sign Scorpio) charisma with which to capture the concentration of others. Charisma is power.

The planet Pluto in Merkel’s horoscope is in the sign of Leo. Funny, transiting Jupiter is in Leo and will make an exact conjunction to Merkel’s natal Pluto this weekend.

So, Merkel has transiting Pluto (in Capricorn) opposite natal Jupiter (in Cancer) and transiting Jupiter (in Leo) transiting natal Pluto (in Leo).

Let’s look at Pluto oppositions with our friend Robert Hand.

Pluto transit in opposition to Jupiter is described by Hand in Planets in Transit in the first paragraph as:

The transit will make you drive yourself and others around you to attain success, excellence or preeminence in some way. It represents the drive to actualize an ideal you hold about how the world ought to be. The danger of this transit is that you may become arrogant and domineering toward those around you, as if you were a kind of superman, above all morality and law except your own. Admittedly, that is a rather extreme manifestation, but that is the danger this transit brings.

If you read about Pluto transit in trine (120 degrees considered harmonious) you also see theme of drive, but with a more positive manifestation. The first sentence reads:

At this time you will seek to make many positive reforms and changes in the world around you.

In the opposition, there is just that – an opposing force. With the trine, the forces are with you, not against you. With a trine you may want to reform people that so desire it. With an opposition you may want to reform people that prefer to stay on their present course.

Now if we look at the signs in which this is playing, it gets even more symbolic of the current situation. Cancer is a sign of belonging, associated with mothering, home, nurturing and personal consciousness. Capricorn, its opposite, is about authority, structure and law. When Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008, we had a global economic collapse (which we lightly call a “recession”).

Cancer wants to belong and Capricorn wants to control and be boss. You can have only so many cooks in the kitchen. The Eurozone is struggling with Capricorn power and who belongs and what they need to do to belong.

Now for transiting Jupiter conjunct Pluto, we have the same two planets but now Jupiter is adding its energy to Pluto’s energy (called a conjunction) in the sign of Leo. Jupiter expands what it finds. In this country, the Pluto in Leo generation is the “Me Generation” of Baby Boomers that re-invented family and social life. They watched TV then formed a rebellion.

According to Hand this transiting Jupiter conjunct natal Pluto aspect brings:

. . . the urge to achieve to the forefront of your life. You will make great, even extraordinary, efforts to gain success as you personally define it. You work harder and strive to gain your objective with every ounce of energy at your disposal. Consequently, this transit often occurs just at the moment when some tremendous effort in your life bears fruit.

It sounds like it’s going to be a nice weekend for Merkel!

Hand goes on to describe this transit as a “tremendous drive to gain power.” Again, with Pluto involved, power is important. With the sign of Leo, the power revolves around pride and dignity.

Does Merkel’s Pluto opposition now make a little more sense?

Interestingly, Merkel was once the “opposition party” (is it still called that?). Now she’s the party being opposed. The tension is the same, the protagonists and antagonists shifting like a game of musical chairs.

In 2013 Pluto began its opposition of Merkel’s Mercury (which rules communication). That was the time of the last German election and the year Merkel learned her phone was tapped by the US government’s NSA. This year Pluto opposed Jupiter. In 2021, it will oppose the sun.

When Pluto moves into orb of opposing Merkel’s sun (traditionally about five degrees) in 2021, I suspect the opposition will be to Merkel’s own person, as the sun rules the self. She’ll be 67 at that time, a time when some US workers get to relax and spend all that Social Security money they saved up. Maybe Merkel will be ready for a more relaxed life after the Pluto oppositions.

I hope so. If you don’t follow Pluto’s advice, it has this way of forcing you to change.