I wanted to talk a little bit about an upcoming astrological influence that some of you are probably already feeling.

But it’s going to intensify at the end of June and then continue having powerful effect on everyone over the next five years.

What’s happening is that two of the heavy hitters of the zodiac, Pluto and Uranus, are coming into a very charged relationship with each other.

Both of these planets are involved in the process of transformation. And they approach transformation in different ways. But the thing they have in common is their passion for radical transformation. Neither one of them is interested in half measures. And because of this they scare people.

It’s true that anything that involves either one of these planets can be very intense and the two of them operating together can bring that intensity to a fever pitch. But intensity is just another word for being incredibly alive. And at the core, that’s all these planetary energies want for us. Our full and glorious aliveness.

Pluto is the harbinger of the death-rebirth process.

It wants to clear away anything from your life that is keeping you stuck in old unconscious patterns of repression, denial and resistance. And it is the death part of the process that gives folks the heebie-jeebies.

But the important thing to remember is that Pluto only strips away those things from your life that are already dead. It’s like the great cosmic janitor. It will sweep away anything that is sucking your lifeblood and your precious energy into a black hole of despair or hopelessness or powerlessness in order to make way for a more powerfully dynamic and richly meaningful life. It just does that sweeping with unapologetic ruthlessness.

It’s in the sign of Capricorn which means that it will be honing in on old structures in your life that you are holding onto out of fear. So maybe that job you hate will suddenly disappear or the toxic relationship you have been reluctant to end because you don’t want to be alone will blow up in technicolor drama!

Capricorn is also related to issues of who’s in charge so Pluto is going to demand that we give up our dependence on letting outer influences run our lives.

It is time to reclaim our own inner authority.To recognize that we are the experts when it comes to our own needs and challenges and that it’s not going to work to keep looking for someone else to tell us what to do.

Pluto in Capricorn is going to put pressure on us to stand tall in our full sovereignty and develop the moxie to say YES to what we DO want and NO to what isn’t in our best interests. Pluto is saying that any allegiance to an external authority, especially one that is repressive and limiting and controlling, needs to die and be transformed.

Uranus is the liberator. The freedom fighter. The revolutionary.

Uranus wants you to live your life on your own terms without being constrained by oppressive, conventional and institutionalized, social expectations. It wants you to be completely and utterly and wholly yourself. To trust in your weirdness and in what makes you different and unique. To make choices from your own sense of authenticity and individuality. And to never make excuses for who you are.

It’s in the sign of Aries the Adventurer. And Aries is related to the need to develop the courage of a warrior and the boldness of a daredevil. So one question Uranus in Aries asks is ” Can we trust that following our most audacious dreams and desires can lead to our most heart felt liberation?”

And finally, what makes this configuration doubly intense is that it is affecting everyone on the planet.

So these themes of old structures dying and that intense desire for freedom at all costs is going to be lighting a flame under our collective butt. In fact the last time that these two planets came this close together it was the 1960’s. And that was certainly not an easygoing time!!

All this change as well as things breaking down so new things can be born can lead to feelings of anxiousness as we maneuver our way through a season of instability and stepping into the unknown. Which is why I wrote this month’s article about some tips for dealing with anxiety.

It’s also important to remember that destruction and dismantling is a natural part of the cycle of creation. When we are remodeling our home or even making a fabulous dinner, we have to be willing to hang out in the mess and chaos and tear down phase before we end up with the fabulous NEW creation!