Venus and Pluto's Final Conjunction in Capricorn

Venus and Pluto conjoin today on the 27th degree of Capricorn. This is a transit which occurs nearly every calendar year. Sometimes twice! It is not what would be considered a “rare” alignment. However, what has received surprisingly minimal press is that this is Venus and Pluto’s final conjunction in the sign of Capricorn until January 2256. Which for us mere mortals means this is their final conjunction in the sign of Capricorn, ever.

Venus and Pluto’s Capricorn conjunctions are below:

12/27/2009 • 02/09/2011 • 12/01/2011 • 01/16/2013

11/15/2013 • 12/20/2014 • 02/05/2016 • 11/25/2016

01/09/2018 • 02/22/2019 • 12/13/2019 • 01/28/2021

12/11/2021 • 12/25/2021 • 03/03/2022 • 12/31/2022

Consider any personally relevant dates. Note whether any correspond to relationships formed or disbanded, money gained or lost, or cravings sated or transmuted.

Pluto’s transit through Capricorn has reconfigured our relationship to institution and establishment. It has demanded that we recognize our authority divorced from (i.e. not bestowed by) hierarchy or legacy. Pluto reveals the ways in which we embrace influence or deny it out of fear. It gifts us with self-mastery by eliminating the addictive crutches to which we unconsciously surrender our agency.

Pluto transits get a bad rap for this reason. Everyone loves a rebrand until catharsis enters the chat. Assigning Pluto a “negative” slant is reactive, but human. No one enjoys having the thing they want taken away, especially if we believe it is the source of our power.

What We Want is spotlighted when Venus and Pluto meet. This union underscores what we have and what we don’t have. It causes us to question “who already has it?” or “why are we denied it?” It inspires us to devise methods towards obtaining it.

Herein lies the hang-up. Venus is relational by nature: it exists in a state of comparison. We can have strong connections or plentiful resources and still find ourselves judging our own bonds or wealth against our those of our neighbors and friends. We can realize personal milestones but still covet the achievements we watch others reach. We can become obsessed with having something or someone, as if that will be the one thing that completes us. We think life will be easier if we get it. We assume we will be more desirable with it. We will be enviable.

During Venus-Pluto conjunctions, people are brought together for a purpose. They are doing karmic work. This karmic work can be sexy, but more often than not it is challenging. In Capricorn, this purpose could be helping one another meet career goals, propagate a legacy, or revise traditions. We may expect our alliances to grant us protection that we think we cannot provide for ourselves. We may shut out nurturance for the sake of security.

Fortunately, Venus and Pluto’s Capricorn alignments have also allowed us to examine the subconscious stories we tell ourselves about “success”. In a world where social mobility is increasingly determined by influence, establishing unions on the basis of status is NOT an extraordinary story. We may have forged relationships with popular or prosperous people, only to become jealous of their achievements and withdraw support out of resentment. Destroying the thing we once desired because it did not pan out the way we planned is very Venus-Pluto.

It is difficult to grow laterally in the face of change. Harnessing passion and using it for inner, psychological expansion necessitates that we learn how to celebrate others’ wins without becoming covetous of them. The ability to hold two ideas simultaneously (desire and satiety) rather than allowing the impulse of annihilation to dominate has been paramount while Venus and Pluto aligned in Capricorn.

Most importantly, we have learned that proximity to another’s influence DOES NOT grant us power that is already in the hands of its recipient. It is our task to establish our own foundations and share from that place, instead of siphoning off the success that another has earned.   

Partnering with those by virtue of the optics – how one’s appearance, resources or connections can get us ahead – is not going to stop once Venus and Pluto begin aligning in Aquarius. Yet it may mean that passion is found within different and inherently more nuanced desire complexes. Prizing sovereignty over status is just one way to reimagine the evolution of this pairing in the years ahead.