As one ages, it’s common to hear the cliché “age is just a number.” If someone says this to you, you know that you – or the person you’re involved with – is old or age inappropriate in some way . . . It’s one of those “reverse” statements that intends to support by calling out the problem.

Amongst the cliches of my times, this one is particularly onerous to me. Age, in my experience, is not a number.

It’s a reality.

You’re allowed to have temper tantrum at the library when you are age 4. Try that at age 34. It’s not allowed. It’s not a number.

At some ages, you are planning a future. At other ages, wondering how long the body will last.

In youth, hormones are functioning properly and often others are wildly appealing. Later you wonder why you didn’t see that rehab rather than marriage was a better choice for the beloved.

It’s an entire reality.

When we enter a new reality, we often forgot or don’t care about prior realities. A visit to Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame taught me that I must have had a lot of time while young because some of the clothes I saw there were etched in my mind – think Andy Gibb in white on the cover of Young Miss. If you don’t know who/what I’m talking about, point made.

A pre-teen reality from the pre-digital age.

Which brings me to my reality at this age.

The Age of Aquarius

The age of choosing your pronouns – deciding if you wanted to be “he” or “she” based on how you defined internally – was short. It began at the end of Pluto in Capricorn and seems to have been paused or interrupted as Pluto began moving toward Aquarius where it currently resides. Pluto in Aquarius may not be the “Age of Aquarius” to some astrologers, but all the signs are there which began with Uranus then Neptune in Aquarius in the 1990s – information in the “cloud,” increased usage of frequencies, and migration from physical to digital.

Uranus inspiration and Neptune glamorization in Aquarius are now facing Pluto’s transformation. If you believe the astronomers that Pluto is not a relevant planet, you will learn during a Pluto transit the power of small – think nuclear energy which comes from splitting or fusing atoms.

That’s small – and extremely powerful.

We’re in the age of “air;” Aquarius the water bearer is a fixed air sign, not water as can be misunderstood by those not studying this ancient art. Air is about thoughts and ideas and in the fixed Aquarius is about making those thoughts into three-dimensional reality (spiritually called “manifestation”).

One of the ideas that has taken hold is that birth gender is not always how an individual self-defines – air is known for defining and categorizing. And in rebellious Aquarius said, “Sorry, just ‘cause I was born into this gender doesn’t mean I’m going to follow the social mandate for that gender!”

My own mental Saturday Night Live skit involves Bruce Jenner coming out as Caitlyn Jenner and being handed an infant and asked to change its diaper.

Welcome, my friend, to the female gender. Can you do my laundry?

My Pronoun

Picking pronouns informs others of how one sees oneself in terms of gender regardless of birth. While there are two genders available as a human, “non-binary” means not identifying solely with one gender. In addition to he/she, him/her, individuals were choosing “they/them.”

My first thoughts were, “Youth!” “Identity!”

Very much air sign qualities.

Yet one day I realized that if I were male, I would not be expected to attend shopping parties; you know (if you’re female): Tupperware and expensive candles and costume jewelry at crown jewel prices. Yeah, pretend I’m a dude when sending out those invites. My dislike is gender related as it’s assumed I will shop based on social pressure and that I’m willing to pay stupid prices for common goods (although I believe Tupperware superior for the record).

Yes, I understand. We are all “they” in some way, facing gender social roles and finding some, if not all, unpalatable. I considered applying a new pronoun but decided it could confuse in as many ways as it clarifies.

And just as I experienced my pronoun awakening, pronouns seemed to be eradicated by the forces of Pluto. Pluto in Capricorn from 2007 – 2024 transformed governments. Empowered with new technologies of which we all walked into (and are now forced into) innocently, governments have more power than ever over individual.

Today’s authoritarians are not your grandmother’s authoritarians.

Pronoun picking has faded, quietly in the midst of chaos, as though being eradicated by a pesticide or natural gas.

Why’s that?

Pluto in Leo vs Pluto in Aquarius

The leaders of the three superpowers – United States, Russia, and China all have Pluto in Leo. Leo is the sign opposite of Aquarius, the fixed fire sign associated with personal self-expression, being center of attention (now it makes sense, right?), romance, and creativity.

Aquarius as polarity is group consciousness, social groups, utopian societies, and technology (now it makes sense, right?).

Leo dresses up for work with beautiful and unique attire meant to impress or shock or have some other impression. That’s personal consciousness. Aquarius puts on the band T-shirt for the concert or medieval costume for the Renaissance festival. That’s social consciousness.

Leo is not “old fashioned;” it’s passionate and romantic. Our images of romance stem from “men being men” and “women being women” which has a 2,000-year history.

How can male-male and female-female (or they-they) romances catch up?

The global leaders are seeking traditional gender roles syncing with Leo passion: the dashing swashbuckler saving the damsel in distress. China bans effeminate men on television. The United States Department of Homeland Security in 2025 displayed images of “Homeland Heritage” which are 19^th century images of wagon trains and settlers chasing Indians off their land. Russia considers LGBT movements extremist.

American women – regardless of political persuasion – probably aren’t interested in breast feeding a child on a wagon in a bonnet while crossing Kansas. Images evoke emotion. The reality is different and kinda sucks.

The Pluto-in-Leo generation are some of the oldest on the planet as the Pluto-in-Cancer generation, older even, is passing. At a collective level, the Pluto-in-Leo ideas are passing as well yet these leaders – one actually chosen by vote – are trying to force the energy of a time that has passed.

Energies are polarities. Pluto in Leo brought hippies which were very Aquarian in nature. Now Pluto in Aquarius is bringing extreme individualism in the face of collective challenges. Leo is not gone; we are just on the other side of it balancing personal and collective expression.

Those attempting to force a mythical Pluto-in-Leo past are working against the energies of the times. They could, you know, try to attain the Pluto-in-Cancer past of families living together listening to the radio on Saturday nights. But they are recreating their youth, not their parents’ youth – very Leo centered.

They don’t want Leo to evolve into Aquarius.

Evolutionary Pluto – Androgyny Interrupted

The thing about Pluto is you have no choice.

When I see a Pluto transit coming in a horoscope there’s no way to know or warn about how it will manifest. All I do know from experience is you will be a different person after it occurs. And you won’t see that during the transit – you’re too busy evolving. But one day you wake or look in the mirror or receive feedback from the world that you are not the same.

In the three-dimensional world we are born male or female. In spirit – air – we are neither. Aquarius is androgynous. It’s friendship which in pure form exists between spirits, not genders trying to possess each other.

Pluto in Aquarius may have been interrupted. But it – or “they” – will return.

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