In the early 1990s while working in a bank, it was common on Monday morning to have phone calls from disgruntled weekend customers who had an unpleasant experience at the bank over the weekend and a day and a half to stew in their grievances.

The calls would be fielded by the administrative assistants, most of whom were female. The calls would take a long time, as people call to vent frustration as much as solve problems. Bringing a lengthy session of complaint to an end could be difficult, especially when bank protocol had been followed and the caller would not have the resolution they desired (i.e., you overdrew your account, accept it).

How did we get them off the phone?

As my experienced female colleague advised, send them to a man. Male is the voice of authority, she said, and the caller will accept a negative judgment much more easily.

The Sign of Authority

The astrological sign that represents authority is Capricorn. Capricorn is ruled by the planet Saturn.

Capricorn is ambitious and embraces hard work and responsibility to achieve the success it desires. The ultimate need of Capricorn is respect. Failure and humiliation are its worst nightmares.

In its most negative, Capricorn is known to claw its way to the top using others with complete lack of feeling (i.e., the end justifies the means). In its most positive, Capricorn is willing to do the difficult work others avoid to achieve a goal like the American “self-made man.”

When Pluto entered Capricorn in late 2007, this planet of evolution began its re-molding of our relationship to authority and social structures. First thing Pluto did was to destroy the financial system. You might think this hyperbole but that’s exactly what happened. It was the governments of the world that patched up the gaping holes and told us that everything was back to normal.

It’s interesting to watch humanity in these trying times where solutions to global problems must cross nations. While we could all list a thousand things we’d like to see change in our world, when there is a shift we seem to want a return to normal, to the way “it was.”

Pluto evolves so the “normal’ we want to return to no longer exists.

The Way We Were

From the time we are born into this earth, we are taught to respect and idolize male authority ¬- religious figures, historical figures, war heroes, sports heroes. Bold statement, I know, but I believe it covers most of the globe except for small, moribund cultures that are able to exist as pockets within a larger, global culture.

When I say we idolize male authority, I don’t mean this as a “man against woman” type of thing. We all share in the culture. While women might feel devalued because of this, it also puts undue pressure on males to be superheroes and a host of other male authority figures. Any gender preference is bad for both genders.

Siri and Alexa, our digital assistants, both have female voice. Can we imagine our personal, digital assistants with male voice?

In 2008, the United States elected its first African-American president, a great cultural shift, yet still within the realm of male authority. In 2016, the pendulum swung the other way and any gains made from 2008-2016 appear to be temporarily if not irreparably lost. The maleness we returned to was from the Western movies of the 1950s – bold, daring, fearless and unapologetic.

As we go into the 2020 election season, we have a great mix of candidates in age, gender, sexual preference and heritage. Yet for all the options, the top candidates are older males – current Republican president Donald Trump at 73 and Democratic contender Joe Biden at 76 (soon to be 77).

Some Democratic candidate runners up include female contender Elizabeth Warren age 70 and the ever-present Bernie Sanders at 77 (soon to be 78).

The 2020 Democratic candidate pool is full of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed youngsters who want the torch to be passed, who want to change the world and who have fire in the belly.

Why don’t we want them?

Authority and age also have a relationship as aging could and should make us wise. There was a time, not long ago in human history, when most did not live into their 70s.

That a digital world focused on the growth and maturity of millennials would choose a leader from a generation that normally would be in retirement says something for the staying power of traditional authority – male (mostly), older and experienced.

Pluto is challenging us to evolve our social structures. Pluto is associated with destruction because that is usually the only way that humans let go of dysfunctional and decaying patterns. We haven’t let go of the old ideas of authority. They are still with us.

Do we really want the change we claim to want?

Traditionally younger presidential contenders were faced with criticisms of inexperience. But post Trump, experience shouldn’t matter.

Female Authority

Although many want to see a female in the White House, I’ve been betting against females since 2008 and winning. I will bet against a female presidential candidate in 2020. Unless we embrace Pluto and truly become open to change, a female president ain’t gonna happen.

Researching females in power (Venus in Power), I was surprised to find how few are truly elected to become heads of state. Women are losing ground, not gaining ground in the global political arena as several female leaders have been deposed in recent years such as Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff  (in 2016). Brazil now has the Trump-like Jair Bolsonaro (age 64) as leader.

Pluto in Capricorn is challenging the traditional authority. Yet our choices in reaction to this challenge seem to be bringing the old guard back, not the new, fresh faces that want to direct the course of our future.

What will we do when our aging authority passes on? Then what?

Pluto in Capricorn until 2025

Pluto will be in Capricorn until 2024 – 2025 (in its last phase, it will bounce between Capricorn and Aquarius for a while). At the end of this year (2019), Jupiter will pass into Capricorn and join Saturn in Capricorn for its last year of Capricorn transit. Jupiter and Saturn transiting together create social changes. Add Pluto and those changes become more intense and forced.

That means, my friends, we will have to face the challenges of authority whether we want to or not. As Pluto enters Aquarius in 2025 we may see cultural changes involving egalitarianism. In the past century and a half, any talk of egalitarianism was branded socialism or communism which meant we couldn’t talk about it.

When Pluto enters Aquarius, we will be talking about how to create a more ideal society. The young leaders waiting at the gates will bust t