Pluto

Back in my day, Pluto was a planet.

Amateur astrologers and neo pagans seem to think that this is some major blow to astrology. After all, what about all those poor people whose charts are really affected by Pluto? The consequences will never be the same!

First of all - chill. Let’s not conflate astrology and astronomy.

Pluto is no longer a planet in astronomy. That doesn’t mean that astrology needs to follow suit and diminish Pluto’s importance. Look at how important the moon is to one’s chart, and it’s certainly not a planet. It’s not like Pluto changed size or got destroyed. It’s still the same lump of space rock it’s always been. And if astrologers want to still consider it a planet, why not? This is an issue of taxonomy, not physical change. 50 years from now scientists might reinstate its planethood because they’re using some other method of classification.

The only issue I foresee is that Pluto’s demotion would mean a change of perception in the collective unconscious. But would this affect astrology? Well, only if astrology is based on people’s perceptions and preconceived notions of heavenly bodies’ attributes rather than something more mathematical and independent.