Pluto transited through Virgo between 1956 and 1972. It was during this time that the contraceptive pill was introduced, representing the power of the feminine (Virgo) and sexual freedom (Uranus-Pluto). However, it also brought more health concerns about sexually transmitted diseases. It became more important to understand the relationship between the mind, body and environment.

 Pluto changed attitudes to all Virgo spheres - work, health and everyday habits, and the transit helped to heal past abuse of the earth's resources. Psychological growth occurred in areas of purification, health, and self-improvement. Society learned new techniques and methods to improve life, and this whole generational cycle dredged up inadequate services and systems. In the area of health and by 1956 a new drug to fight Polio was used, it is a viral disease that affects the nervous system and causes complete paralysis and death. A major environmental  disaster struck on March 18, 1967, the super tanker Torrey Canyon, carrying 120,000 tons of oil, smashed into a rock in England. Instantly, its 31 million gallons oil began to leak out into the sea, destroying (Pluto) the majority of marine life, contaminating the water and creating a major environmental (Virgo) hazard.

“The people of the 1960’s weren’t yet aware of what the “Atom Bomb” had really done, what pollution would mean, what a disgusting world was being created. They were too busy watching everything beautiful. It was foretaste, according to Nostradamus, of what would come again much later. In addition, there was a most interesting and unusual planetary conjunction in the heavens of the 1960’s, a Uranus/Pluto conjunction in Virgo, the sign of daily life, natural law, and the cycles of nature. This conjunction reflected a period of radical change in thinking about the quality of daily life and certainly can be tied with the whole concept of “flower-power”.

Black People on the Buses

In 1956, when Pluto had entered Virgo at 0 degrees (sign of service), federal ruling ended segregation on public buses. It took a great deal of organization, since most black people (Pluto) depended on the bus service to get them to work, and the white city officials did everything in their power to make it difficult, including prosecuting the black cab services that had begun to charge a 10-cent-fare (the same as bus fare). There were several acts of violence and various attempts at negotiation that amounted to nothing. During the time of this racial conflict, transiting Jupiter was in the sign of Libra at 0 degrees (growth through justice and equality) and Neptune (erosion of boundaries) was transiting in Scorpio (Pluto’s sign).

Social Unrest

In 1963, when Uranus formed a conjunction to Pluto in Virgo, the U.S President, John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a gunman as he travelled in his car from the Airport to downtown, Dallas, Texas. Everything from the environment, civil rights and politics in general became open to reform. Uranus rules political figures, anarchy, and sudden events and Pluto is the planet of destruction and endings. John had represented vibrant hope and progress (Uranus) to a new generation of American’s, so his death (Pluto) struck a terrible grief to the nation. Martin Luther King, Civil Rights Activist (Uranus) was also shot dead on the balcony of his motel.

New Wave of Astrologers

However, it was was during the late 1960's and 70's during the Uranus-Pluto conjunction that a new wave of astrologers such as Liz Greene, Stephen Arroyo, Robert Hand and many more revolutionised astrology through psychological and modernised  writings. This coupled with the early use of astrological programmes written for the general public. Stephen Arroyo in his best book: Astrology, Karma & Transformation stated that he started his astrological studies under the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo closely aspecting natal Uranus.

The great changes that occurred under the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the 1960s and the emergence of ‘NewAge’ thought. Rudhyar coined the term ‘transpersonal astrology’, injecting judiciously selected elements of Jungian psychology into what is essentially Alice Bailey’s Theosophical framework of the evolution of the soul, and emphasising the possibility of spiritual freedom from what he calls the ‘socio-cultural patterns of the past’. This is a quasi-psychological, quasi-spiritual astrology expressed in the 20th century language of New Age culture, which still proves inspirational to a great many astrologers, particularly in America. By Liz Greene

Further Reading: Three Conjunctions of Uranus-Pluto by Dane Rudhyar