Resurrection

Pluto's transit into Aquarius and the joy of shamanic self-immolation

“When there’s nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.” ― Stars, “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”

This painting of a smoking skeleton is the work of Vincent Van Gogh, a painting he called “Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette”. I first encountered this image on the streets of Paris many, many years ago, with prints being offered by vendors along the Seine. A year later, I encountered it again on the cover of David Sedaris’ incredible collection of essays about his mid-life crisis titled: When You Are Engulfed In Flames.

And I think there’s a reason this image of a devil-may-care skeleton smoking a hand-rolled cigarette seems to enthrall and enrapture our attention: we are all dying all of the time.

Like, literally.

We’re all dying all the time

According to Medical News Today, 50 billion cells in our bodies die and are replaced by new cells every day of our human life. According to Live Science, the human body basically replaces itself on a cellular level every seven years.

And this is just our physical bodies.

What about our energy bodies? Our shamanic soul parts? Our ideas and paradigms and politics and beliefs and behaviors? Our collective zeitgeist as an interconnected, hyper-social super-organism?

Well, bits and bobs of that need to die all the time, too. If it doesn’t die, it can’t be replaced by newer, more resilient and relevant stuff that keeps us healthy. After all: if our body’s cells don’t die and get replaced in their natural rhythm, they stagnate and overgrow and turn, quite literally, into cancer.

An acquired taste

Perhaps it is an innate acceptance of this biological reality that informs the shamanic attitude towards death and destruction. We shamans regularly self-immolate so that we can rise, alchemically transformed, from the proverbial ashes. We like having our old, outdated paradigms destroyed by better, newer data. We shed our 1.0 skins and step into bright, shiny new 2.0 ones, effectively setting fire to our previous selves and lives, down to the cellular level, so that we can survive and thrive moving forward.

In short: it’s a near-constant cycle of self-destruction and resurrection.

And no, shamans aren’t great at small talk at dinner parties.

We’re a bit of an acquired taste, like smokey scotch or listening to death metal. In fact, this whole shaman/ death/ destruction thing can perhaps be best expressed by lyrics from the German death metal band Rammstein:

“Weiter, Weiter ins Verderben!” (English translation: “Onwards, Onwards into Destruction!”)

I actually met Rammstein once when I was 12 years old. It’s a long story, but I found myself backstage at their concert, totally unaware of who they were or what kind of music they made. The band members were dressed in these incredible flesh-colored, Trent Reznor-style full-body bondage corsets, fitted out with large firehouses emerging from their genital area. The guitarist came over to me, looked at the stage in his INSANE outfit, and said in a German accent, “Stage is big. Good for fire,” while smiling like a crazy person.

Then they went out and set the whole stage on fire.

The flesh-toned phallic firehouses made a lot more sense all of a sudden, as they used them to put out the fire. I mean, try to put out the fire. They got there eventually, but not without a few “touch and go” moments.

The God of Death

Rammstein’s fiery performance is kind of the vibe right now, courtesy of Pluto’s transit out of the sign of Capricorn and into the sign Aquarius on March 23rd.

With this celestial shift, we have all just entered an intense time of large-scale death, rebirth, and resurrection, making the spiritual system of shamanism the tool du jour for anyone seeking to surf— and survive— these turbulent waters.

Those of us that take the shamanic approach, looking out at this chaos and thinking, “Stage is big. Good for fire,” are probably going to have an easier time than those that scream, “Holy shit! The stage is on fire! We need to get out of here!”

Why?

Well, there’s no getting out of “here”. We can’t escape the objective reality of this particular experience. It’s quite literally planetary in its scale impacting our whole solar system.

And don’t forget the most important part: while we’re all stuck here, staring at the fire tearing through the metaphorical stage, we might as well enjoy the show.

After all: Pluto, aka Hades and the ancient Greco-Roman God of the Underworld, is the ultimate teacher of release, surrender, and the inevitable forces of life and death.

And there’s a big silver lining! Pluto is now moving from the zero-based budgeting, bean-counting, commoditizing sign of Capricorn into innovative, human-oriented, expansive-minded Aquarius. This is a shift that’s ultimately good for our species and our home planet, so why not greet the God of Death with a very Age of Aquarius hug?

I mean…at least a fist bump?

He’s not so bad. He’s just intense. Like a Scorpio that smokes and has some childhood trauma. And, you know, lives in the underworld and manages death and stuff.

The astrological take

From an Astrological perspective, the great Kate Waldwick of Cronos Astrology helps us navigate this planetary underworld:

“Pluto is moving into Aquarius on March 23, 2023. Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008 and only changes signs every 13-30 years, so this move is a big astrological deal. Any time Pluto changes signs, it brings a big shift in the collective energy. Pluto will be in Aquarius during the following time frames:

• March 23, 2023 - June 11, 2023

• January 20, 2024 - September 1, 2024

• November 19, 2024 - March 8, 2043

• August 31, 2043 - January 19, 2044

Pluto as an Archetype

Pluto is associated with death, rebirth, power, wealth, the taboo, mysteries, and ultimately transformation. Wherever Pluto is, it asks us as the collective to go on an underworld journey. It asks us to go into the dark (especially if we’re uncomfortable) and take a good, hard look at what is there. No BS. No pretense. Pluto calls out ‘the emperor has no clothes,’ even when it would be much easier to keep pretending he did.

Confronting difficult truths requires courage. But you can’t fix something if you live in denial that there’s even a problem. Avoidance rarely solves problems. It’s only when you’ve had an honest look at a situation that you can make any meaningful change.

Pluto in Aquarius

Pluto was last in Aquarius from 1777 - 1798. This was a time marked by major revolutions for independence in the US, France, and Haiti, as well as technological breakthroughs. The hydraulic press, cotton gin, and power loom were all invented during this time, providing the innovation that ushered in the industrial revolution. When Pluto is in Aquarius, this transformative energy will be brought to Aquarian topics like System Dynamics, Technology, and our role as people in the Collective.

Systems

Since 2008 until now, Pluto has been in Capricorn, a sign associated with structure, the establishment, authority figures, and material security. During Pluto’s time here, we’ve seen the role of these in society challenged, undermined, and faults highlighted

Now that we’ve seen all the flaws, Pluto in Aquarius is giving the collective an opportunity to assess how we want to respond. We’ve seen what happens when power is too concentrated among the ruling class. There is an opportunity to restructure our systems to be more equitable and humane.

Technology

Aquarius is often associated with science and technology due to its logical, objective approach and knack for innovation and disruption.

Technological developments and breakthroughs will inevitably occur. But Pluto beckons us to question who will hold the power of these breakthroughs and who these technologies ultimately serve. Will they work to further entrench the power of the powerful? Or will society, disillusioned by the lessons from Pluto in Capricorn, insist on a more egalitarian division of power?

As technological innovation continues to accelerate, more and more human livelihoods will be rendered obsolete. A potential shadow side of Aquarius is being cold and detached from the “human” in humanity. Just because we can do something doesn’t always mean we should (ala Dr. Frankentstein and his monster). We will have to think about not only the ethics of what technologies are developed, but also how those technologies are used.

Our Collective Humanity

Ultimately, Pluto in Aquarius will ask us as a society what it means to be human, and what is our role in the larger collective.

On an individual level, it will be important to ask ourselves who we are, what our values are, and how we want to show up in the world. Without doing this critical, self-reflective work, it is far too easy to fall into groupthink and mob mentality.

Changing systemic issues can seem futile as an individual. And while one person may not be able to change everything on their own, it’s important to remember we aren’t powerless. Think about who benefits when every day people are convinced they have no power. We have an opportunity to think about what we care about, and take action to create the society we want to see. As Margaret Mead once said:

‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’

Pluto moving into Aquarius is giving us an opportunity to think about what type of person we want to be, what type of society we want to be a part of, and what transformations need to occur to get there.”

The Tower of Babel

Sure, it’s going to be a bumpy ride, but this will also be a powerful cycle of rebirth. One that, in my opinion, heralds the resurrection of our true nature: a human species rooted in its own divinity, creativity, and spiritual expansion.

The next several years will bring the archetypal energy of the Tower Tarot Card: the chaos and destruction of what is corrupt and inept, ultimately saving what is essential and most noble in us as individuals and as a collective. This is the breaking down of old, outdated machines that serve no one except the few moral criminals and psychopaths at the very tippy top, ultimately freeing the rest of us from the bondage of debt and the cycles of spiritual slavery.

Sound kind of abstract and crazy? Well, let me put it another way:

When was the last time a visit to the doctor felt seamless and pleasant? Did you feel cared for by another human? Comforted in your moment of sickness and suffering? Did you get the impression they were concerned for your wellbeing and invested in your healing? Did you get diagnosed properly and given medicine quickly, without a fight with the pharmacy or your insurance company? Did your insurance company cover anything from your visit or the cost of your medicine? When you had problems and had to call to resolve them, did you find a human invested in helping you and taking personal accountability for solving the problem?

Yah. That’s what I thought.

Want a different experience that doesn’t feel like a slow-death-by-uncaring-and-unaccountable-bureaucracy?

So do I.

And this requires the Tower Tarot Card energy, which ushers in an era of decentralization of systems and supply chains, connecting us more palpably to our local communities and ecosystems and bringing humanity and personal accountability back into business. Companies and individuals generating services or goods of value will thrive, while the fakers and parasites that feed on complicated systems, debt bondage, confusion, opacity, slave labor and community-killing outsourcing models will dwindle, starved of the suffering and inequity they require to function at a margin.

And our time with Pluto in Capricorn has been all about the margin.

What’s more: the Tower Tarot Card is meant to be the biblical Tower of Babel, the structure described in the Book of Genesis: a towering structure that forced the world’s populations into decoherence and near-constant misunderstanding and war. Before the Tower of Babel, humans could communicate with each other, the animal kingdom, and with God telepathically, so the destruction of the Tower represents true emancipation and spiritual ascension…and psychic abilities.

My vote? In the words of the Bloodhound Gang: “We don’t need no water, let the motherf*cker burn.”

Hanging out with Set

In this energetic environment, it’s helpful to take another look at the “user manual” for the Tower Tarot Card. In our TOTEM Tarot Deck, we transformed the Tower Tarot Card into the Ancient Egyptian God of Chaos: Set.

In our TOTEM Tarot Deck, Set brings the energetic shock necessary to destroy the structures, governments, systems, currencies and paradigms that evil relies upon to keep us in a never-ending parasitic cycle of oppression, manipulation, and exploitation. If sunlight is the best disinfectant, then structures and the long shadows they cast are the only place where corruption can germinate and thrive.

In Egyptian mythology, Set was the only God powerful enough to take down Apep, the gigantic, evil alligator demon of the fiery pit. So, even though Set’s a bit of a devil himself—he was, after all, the God that dismembered Osiris, scattering his body parts and accidentally creating the Egyptian funerary rites—he is a necessary boogeyman, a kind of antihero that pops in to eradicate bullshit.

Sort of like how John Wick’s nickname is “Baba Yaga”, which translates into the “Boogeyman”. And he’s not a bad guy in the story. I mean, he’s a professional murderer…but someone killed his dog, right?!? Who kills a dog? So, totally understandable that he went on a four-movie killing spree.

Just saying.

Set’s also a bit like the Hindu goddess Kali-Ma, who’s name means “The Destroyer Who Saves”.

Now, when the old guard comes crashing down, the waters of life will naturally get a bit more wavy, but there is a silver lining. Chaos is also a gift: a moment filled with pure, unmitigated opportunity. After all: nothing levels the playing field quite like the punch of pure chaos.

Set is the contagious anarchy that topples civilizations, financial systems, government structures, cultural paradigms, organized religions, corporations, and individual egos. When the system no longer serves the people and the balance of power overwhelmingly favors a few, it’s time for Set to whistle in and lay some whoop-ass on the bad guys.

Think of Set as control+alt+delete on reality.

Set’s wind whispers the rallying cry of revolution. Listen carefully and take note. This could be your window of opportunity to create something disruptive or real or awesome, a lasting torch that burns long into the future- especially if it aligns with the human-oriented, innovative energy of Aquarius.

When Set appers in a tarot reading, chaos is imminent. Expect the unexpected. Everything gets turned upside down. It may feel like you’re losing everything you’ve been working so hard to achieve and accumulate…but you’re actually being sprung from your cosmic prison cell.

Besides, Set is here to show you that you never needed these things in the first place. In fact, your job or relationship or mortgage or obligation or amassed wealth or whatever may have actually become a horrible burden, spiritually suffocating you and keeping you locked, stagnating in a prison of your own creation.

What happens when you lose everything but rise the next morning to find yourself alive and breathing? Emancipation. If you surrender to this process and try to see this silver lining- instead of fighting tooth and nail to hold onto things you cannot keep- you’ll come out the other side a better, truer version of yourself. You’ll find that Set teaches his lessons as lightly or as hard as you require, and he doesn’t go anywhere until the lesson is fully learned.

Our TOTEM Tarot Deck image of Set features the ears of the Salah Wa, the Set Animal of antiquity. Egyptologists believe the Salah Wa is now extinct, but others argue that it’s the mythical werewolf, still roaming the sugar cane fields running along the Nile River. The ears of the Salah Wa form the architecture of the tower in our card’s image, representing the structure that Set is here to decimate.

If you want to learn more or purchase a copy of our self-published TOTEM Tarot Deck, head over to Amazon HERE.

And, in case you were wondering, the Set Tarot Card has been showing up in the vast majority of clients’ readings lately. And my readings. And my dreams.

So….

Letting the wheels come off

When I was in corporate America, we used to have a saying: “Let the wheels come off.”

This was a way to let bad dynamics melt down just enough in a controlled setting to spark the impetus for necessary change. In other words: if you always had a team member that underperformed and caused drama and required saving at the 11th hour of every project, it may become necessary to eventually stop saving them and let them fail. This, in turn, would create what we called “pain in the system”, arming us with leadership’s blessing to, well, “fix the glitch”.

Permanently.

So, as we enter this Pluto in Aquarius moment, it’s important to “laisser tomber” as the French say- i.e. “let it fall”. Do not white-knuckle and leave claw marks in things that are dying or receding. Do not kill yourself to save the individuals, groups or systems that are failing because of their poor choices or bad behavior. Stop fighting gravity. Stop swimming against the current. Right now, we all need to release and surrender whenever and wherever possible…and let those damn wheels come off.

After all: what if you’re interfering with someone’s ability to learn crucial life lessons or grow by always riding in to save them? How do you know you’re not getting in the way of their karma?

And, while I’m stoked about us finally bringing down the machines of our own undoing, I know it’s going to be rough. In the last few days, I’ve had a business-critical product photoshoot fall apart at the last minute, Etsy didn’t pay me on time because their bank, Silicon Valley Bank, went under, and literally all of my freelance writing client contacts have been laid off of their jobs in the corporate real estate (CRE) industry.

That’s just within the last five days.

I woke up this morning to see that Meta laid off another 10,000 employees, taking their total up to 20,000 employees cut from the roster.

More banks are failing and the stock market is in a free fall.

And this is just the beginning.

Mortgage bonds are quickly becoming worthless. More banks are going to fail. More layoffs are coming. And the pain is going hit the system in a major way.

Which is why letting the small (and sometimes big) stuff go and practicing release and surrender is going to be crucial in the coming weeks and months. I’m endlessly grateful that I spent the last three years hyper-focused on TOTEM’s business fundamentals and making necessary investments of money and sweat equity to diversify and build resiliency in my business model. Now, when shit goes sideways, I have the infrastructure in place and the mindset ready to pivot, going with the flow and improvising instead of crashing and burning.

Is it going to be fun? Probably not. But it’s necessary and, more importantly, inevitable. Might as well roll with the punches.

Hilariously, I wrote about resilience vs. scale and planting powerful seeds very recently in our Virgo Full Moon Deep Dive HERE if you want more details. I had no idea how immediately relevant everything I wrote for the March 7th Virgo Full Moon was going to be in the first few days of this larger planetary transit.

We put a lot of thought and effort into our posts for paid subscribers here on Substack, focusing our content on the month’s Full Moon energy and deep diving into the esoteric waters, even providing a monthly preview TOTEM Tarot Reading. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to get the often very timely and relevant goods we’re cooking up every month.

What to expect when you’re expecting death

I think the best way to drive all of this abstraction home and put it into a usable form for you lovely readers is to provide a human-scaled example of this Pluto transit’s impact.

One of my absolutely favorite people and current TOTEM Spiritual Transformation Coaching clients, Holly Brodt, has hit this Pluto transit energy head on in recent days and weeks. Holly is the owner of Resiliency Power Education, providing stress management services with a focus on first responders and trauma survivors. Holly is a retired police officer, so she knows a thing or two about stress. She’s also a Buddhist, so she also knows about cultivating peace and perspective.

Holly gave me permission to share her uncanny experience with Pluto’s transit energy:

“Pluto wasn’t discovered until 1930 and given that it’s a grim, dead planet, it was named for the Roman God of Death and the Underworld. Astrologically, Pluto represents death, rebirth, and transformation. Pluto orbits around our sun every 248-years, meaning Pluto can spend 11.5 to 30.5 years in any sign. So why is Pluto moving into Aquarius such a big deal? Because the last time Pluto moved into Aquarius was between 1778 to 1798.

Initially, none of the above information carried much significance for me. However, it started to become significant in January of this year. I was living with my mother, 450 miles from my home, for nearly a month, caring for her as she recovered from a bad fall, when a Wild Turkey appeared outside my window during a conversation with Rachel. Spiritually, Turkey’s symbolism and meaning is closely tied to Earth Mother: gifts, nourishment, harvests, and abundance. Naturally, I am excited and intrigued to have the appearance of such a positive omen.

Only this particular Turkey was surprisingly persistent and perhaps more sinister than at first glance. The next day I was awakened by a constant and loud tapping on my bedroom window. Opening the window blinds I came face to face with a huge Wild Tom Turkey. The Tom didn’t shy away from me. In fact, he moved closer and continued rapping on the window. A not so subtle, “Pay Attention!”

Two weeks later, while on a shamanic journey meditation to the lower realm, I sat down on the right side of my spirit animal the Bear. I thanked Bear for her presence, though she was usually silent I asked: “What is your name?” This time she answers “Ursula.” Before I could ask my next question, I heard a tapping to my right. When I look to find its source, I saw the Totem Animal Turkey, and yes, he bore a resemblance to my persistent Tom. He was tapping on a clear barrier between us (like a window) to gain my attention, before he passed through the barrier on his own power and sat down on my right side. I thanked Turkey for his presence and ask: “What is your name?” He answered “Mortis.”

I sit with the Bear to my left and the Turkey to my right, balanced female and male, between two powerful medicine spirits. I was surprised by Turkey’s name, which I had always affiliated with Mortis the God of Death, dying, and endings. As the God of Death, Mortis presides over the passage of mortal souls into Death, in route to the God Pluto (a.k.a. Hades), God of Death and the Underworld.

Once over my initial shock, I ask the Bear and Turkey: “What am I here to learn?” In unison they answer “Peace.”

I asked: “What form of peace shall I learn? Personal, spiritual, or community peace?”

Neither answered me. We sat together quietly in silence, watching the ebb and flow of the tide. When Bear and Turkey began to stir, I rose, thanked them for their presence and counsel, and returned to the Middle World the way I came.

So, how fabulous is it to know that I have not one, but two Gods of Death in my orbit! Well, it’s not what you think. You see, “death”, destruction, and renewal doesn’t necessarily translate to a physical state of death. In my case the death and destruction and the beginning of renewal came a mere week later with the death and destruction of my relationship with my mother.

It manifested itself with the slow death of her cognitive functions (undiagnosed dementia/Alzheimer’s), and when I tried to gently challenge her thinking in the context of her care, she responded with a paranoid explosion, ultimately legally disowning me and ending all contact and communication with me. To say that it was a surprise to get what amounts to a break-up call after dedicating so much time and energy to her care would be an understatement. It was a lightening bolt. A gut punch. Total ego death.

But, as I’ve reflected on it, I think it’s ultimately a gift.

The violent death and abject destruction of my relationship with my mother, while painful, is also a spiritual and emotional gift. I may not see all the details just yet, but I believe that Pluto and Mortis are helping me find peace, renewal, and abundance within my own life, regardless of family dynamics or the fallout of my mother’s psychological and medical condition.

I didn’t cause it. I don’t deserve it. And, while it’s painful and unfair, I persist and thrive. With this death comes a rebirth, and I’m optimistic about what’s to come.

Like so many visions, readings, shamanic journeys and messages, the message is not always literal. Instead, we must look for the real-life revelations as they unfold and be willing to see the symbolism within the message. Namaste.”

Our bad ideas have to die so we don’t have to

Holly’s story provides a map of how to survive and thrive during this mashup of Pluto, Set, chaos, death-turkeys and rebirth. The key to unlocking the inherent potential in this opportunity to embrace a better version of you and your life? To finding peace and meaning in the eye of the storm?

Well, it all starts with letting our bad ideas melt away as we take in new information. Or, as Jungian psychologist Jordan Peterson puts it:

“The healthy, dynamic, and above all else truthful personality will admit to error. It will voluntarily shed—let die—outdated perceptions, thoughts, and habits, as impediments to its further success and growth. This is the soul that will let its old beliefs burn away, often painfully, so that it can live again, and move forward, renewed. This is also the soul that will transmit what it has learned during that process of death and rebirth, so that others can be reborn along with it.”

I mean, just yesterday someone said to me, “Well, the banks aren’t really going to fail. I mean, that’s not possible.”

Yes. It. Is.

And this is a great example of an outdated myth- and bad f*cking idea- that gets repeated in an echo chamber without evaluation or challenge, putting us at risk as individuals and as a collective.

Have you already started to experience the death of long-held beliefs, assumptions, or ways of looking at the world? Have you recently been humbled or disenchanted or shook up after a revealing of difficult information? Have some of your systems of living or working started to collapse, forcing you to pivot?

Is your life changing in seismic ways? Have you been laid off and now find yourself assessing your career and life’s purpose? Have you recently stopped talking to an abusive parent? Have you released unhealthy and out-of-balance friendships? Have you stopped working with a vendor or freelancer that just can’t seem to pull it together and show up on game day when you need them?

Have you become disenchanted with our supposed thought leaders, social media influencers or politicians? Have you recently discovered that something you considered reliable and real is little more than a mirage?

Are you tired of the zero-based budgeting, bean-counting, commoditized way of the world? Have you started to notice that systems don’t serve their stakeholders, seemingly coming off the rails wherever you look? Are you starting to get the feeling that we are at the end of an empire, with the erosion of our social norms and systems of communication and commerce spinning out into relative chaos?

Well, you’re not the only one. In fact, these transformative shifts are hitting almost all of us right now in ways big and small. And, believe it or not, this process is full of gifts and opportunities for spiritual growth.

We need to let the bad ideas break down and die. We need to converse with one another such that our faulty assumptions and illogical opinions or outdated beliefs and myths and false “true-isms” can crash and burn.

Bob and Steve and the Spider

The example I like to give people of how shamanic thinking works is a bit cartoonish, but I think it gets the point across:

There are two cavemen named Bob and Steve. Bob walks up to Steve and says, “You know that brightly-colored, big spider next to the cave? I’m going to go and pet it.” To which Steve answers, “I’m pretty sure that Rick tried to touch that spider last week…and we haven’t seen him since. Before Rick, it was Dan, and we haven’t seen Dan since he went to touch the spider, have we? What if that spider is dangerous?”

Cavemen Bob and Steve stand there, thinking about this for several minutes. Rick and Dan were good dudes, and Bob reflected on the strange coincidence of their disappearance after hanging out with the giant, brightly-colored spider. Bob decides it’s better to be safe than sorry, and both cavemen go to share their new best practice with the rest of the cavemen and cavewomen, effectively saving everyone’s lives.

You know: because the spider is definitely totally poisonous. And its killing cavemen left, right and center.

See: letting bad ideas die is essential to keeping us alive. And we let bad ideas die when we converse, openly and honestly, with others. We kill other bad ideas when we meditate, go on a shamanic journey, or otherwise allow spontaneous spiritual information into our systems. Instead of having an ego reaction and doubling down on our tribal nonsense, we expand our minds and let new data come in, defeating the mythical monster of cognitive dissonance.

In the weeks and months to come, opening our minds to new possibilities and taking in new data about our shared reality is going to be crucial to our survival and spiritual growth. Some of this could come from our fellow humans and some of it could come via shamanic means: via our dreams, intuition, messages from spirit guides and totem animals and more.

The key? To listen. To take it in. To mull it over and let it take root, choking out the other, inferior ideas and thoughts and concepts inside of us.

And whatever gets killed in the process? Well, let it die.

What’s next: Resurrection

Planet earth is about to get very, very interesting. And, while there are inherent challenges and inevitable pockets of pain- like not getting paid by Etsy because their bank went under- we are getting an incredible opportunity to be reborn and resurrected.

And if you need help navigating this cycle, remember: shamanism is built to handle this kind of stuff. Whether it be Shamanic Journeying Meditation, TOTEM Tarot Card Readings, Energy Work, or our upcoming Spring Forward Virtual Retreat, there are tools available that really take the edge off.

Fighting the inevitable isn’t going to work. Surrendering to this transformation will get you to the other side a lot faster and more whole, so try to release control and see how this planetary transit transforms you for the better.

Remember: spirit sees the whole picture. What we’re resisting or denying might just be the key to our self-actualization and profound happiness.

Give Pluto a fist bump and check out the fiery stage performance with a spirit of adventure.

And, if it gets really dark and hard and bad, just remember that you can use the wise words Charlie Day sang in this episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia:

-Rachel