Pluto & War

Sometimes, the news feels like it goes in cycles that cover a lifetime. In October 1962, the world went through the Cuban Missile Crisis, a period of 13 days when the world looked to be on the brink of nuclear war. It started when an American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on Cuba.

According to the JFK library, “President Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles. He met in secret with his advisors for several days to discuss the problem. After many long and difficult meetings, Kennedy decided to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba. The aim of this “quarantine,” as he called it, was to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites. On October 22, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis in a televised address.

“No one was sure how Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev would respond to the naval blockade and US demands. But the leaders of both superpowers recognized the devastating possibility of a nuclear war and publicly agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would dismantle the weapon sites in exchange for a pledge from the United States not to invade Cuba. In a separate deal, which remained secret for more than twenty-five years, the United States also agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey. Although the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba, they escalated the building of their military arsenal; the missile crisis was over, the arms race was not.”

So, in October 1962, I was in boarding school in Massachusetts, my parents and sister were still in Venezuela. Boarding school was something my dad’s employer paid for, a perk. That employer was Creole, a subsidiary of what’s now Exxon Mobile.

I vividly recall air raid drills, where we were taught to scramble under our desks in case a nuke was headed our way. Yeah, under our desks. This time around, the war is televised. Social media brings clips of what’s happening on the ground, news channels interview Ukranians who have stayed behind, hiding out in subways with their kids and pets or with Ukranians who have fled for the border.

Any border.

Most of the world is against Putin and this war. Televised scenes are heartbreaking. Putin is invariably seen at the end of a long table, isolated from everyone.

Would Hitler have gotten as far as he did if that war had been televised? If we’d had Internet and social media and gmail and cell phones?

In the end, these things may not make an ultimate difference for Ukraine or for any of us if Putin is nuts enough to use nukes. But these scenarios probably qualify as events under the Pluto return for the U.S.

Pluto is about irrevocable change and transformation. Pluto is about power, the underworld, nukes, darkness, the subconscious, death and rebirth. It rules Scorpio. The Pluto return of the U.S. at 27 degrees Capricorn was exact on February 22, 2022. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 , 2022. So apparently Russia is part of this country’s Pluto return.

And Putin, this oligarch with his huge yacht, the dictator who raised the nuclear alert, the guy who doesn’t give a shit about anyone except himself, is the dude trump called “a genius” for invading Ukraine.

That should tell us everything we ever need to know about either of them.