Passion of the Western Mind

In episode 336 astrologer Richard Tarnas joins the show to talk about the meaning of the planet Pluto in astrology. In astrology Pluto is generally associated with power, control, manipulation, intensity, the underworld, taboos, transformations, destruction and regeneration, death and rebirth, making big things small and small things big. Richard is the author of the 2006 book Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, and he previously appeared on episode 84 of The Astrology Podcast in 2016 to talk about the book on its 10 year anniversary. At the beginning of the episode we talked a bit about the recent conjunction of Saturn and Pluto in 2020, how it coincided with the beginning of the pandemic, and how Richard felt about having discussed that cycle in Cosmos and Psyche in retrospect. Some of this was tied into a discussion in episode 254 titled Misconceptions About Mundane Astrology in the Media. Later we get into the discovery of Pluto, discuss how astrologers establish the meaning of new planets, and then read through some passages from different astrologers that talk about the meaning of Pluto. Later in the episode we also touch on how to deal with skeptics of astrology, and how to demonstrate the validity of astrology in general. We also discuss a new astrology documentary series based on Richard's work titled Changing of the Gods, which will be released next month. Find out more about Changing of the Gods series at: https://changingofthegodsseries.com This episode is available in both audio and video versions below. Timestamps Timestamps for when we discuss different topics in the episode: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:25 Welcoming Richard + Changing of the Gods series 00:08:25 Uranus-Pluto alignments 00:11:10 Reflections on the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of 2020 00:32:07 How do astrologers establish the meaning of new planets? 00:57:00 Pluto significations in Reinhold Ebertin 01:05:09 Robert Hand's Pluto significations 01:12:48 Richard Tarnas' Pluto significations 01:31:30 World events coinciding with Pluto's discovery 01:38:45 Pluto return of the United States 01:46:40 Depth psychology and Pluto 02:05:47 Pluto makes big things small and small things big 02:11:02 Venus-Pluto aspects 02:25:05 Jupiter-Pluto aspects 02:33:25 Orbs and Archetypal Explorer 02:43:04 Dealing with skeptics of astrology 02:57:35 The goal of Cosmos and Psyche 03:08:10 Experience vs. intellectual argument for convincing skeptics 03:15:30 Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet 03:30:46 Astrology as a gift from the cosmos 03:36:09 Changing of the Gods documentary 03:39:16 Concluding remarks, patrons, and sponsors Watch the Video Version of This Episode Watch the video version of this episode on the meaning of Pluto on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyRJGctu_zc - Transcript A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 336 transcript Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode You can play the audio version of this episode of the podcast directly from the website or download it as an MP3 to your device by using the buttons below: