Astrology of the Week: Zeus and Hades are Unstoppable
Jupiter and Pluto are creating a beneficial trine on June 2nd. It has the power to change your entire life.
What is happening?!
Let’s be honest; April and May astrology kind of sucked balls. Eclipse season was extra hurtful for many of us due to the inclusion of Chiron, who likes to poke us in our tender wounds like a crotchety E.R. nurse. (You know the kind. They side-eye every pain declaration as suspicious while prodding you on behalf of ruthless numerical masters. They are handmaidens of cruelty beholden only to the digits between 1 and 10. I always have to restrain myself from grunting, “Who cares about the numeric equivalent of this!? Four hundred, okay? I don’t know, bitch, it HURTS.”)
Taurus season felt weighted and gooey, as though we were all bugs in tree sap. We got hip to some individual truth and collective issues, but the weight of our revelations prevented forward momentum and forced us to deal with internal transitions before moving on to the external world (This is fancy talk for navel gazing.) We had to decipher what we wanted to change and why we wanted to change it before any action was commenced, leaving most of us sobbing on the couch and doing dreaded ‘inner work’.
Whelp, sequester yourselves no longer! The energy shift from personal hedonism to collective animation is palpable this week as we all manifest the buzzy, inquisitive nature of Mercury. Our biggest, most influential aspect of will not perfect until Saturday, but the build-up and come-down contains massive, expansive power. You see, Pluto and Jupiter will be forming a degree trine in the element of air, perfecting between June 2nd and 3rd. This is a rare, fertile aspect that facilitates the expansion of new ideas, new forms of wealth, and a healthy dose of chaos.
When our lucky duck planet (Jupiter) makes this helpful shape with our underworld planet (Pluto), weird, hidden possibilities can become uncanny, improbable reality. As this coming weekend wears into next week, we could find traction with projects that we previously abandoned as too ‘out there’ or radical for success. Long shelved aspirations could creep out of the dust and prove viable, and we may feel energized in a way that has been sorely lacking these past few years. Pluto is extremely slow moving, of course, and his stroll through galaxy-brained Aquarius only commenced this winter; he’ll be introducing us to major paradigm shifts over the next couple of decades. Jupiter changes signs every year or so, which means we’ll have time to take advantage of this new cosmic success route until he enters the house of Pisces in 2025. This is the weekend, however, to lay the foundation for achieving our deep-seated desires, as Zeus moves into a perfect angle with his dour brother Hades.
Why would this affect me?
Zeus and Hades are powerful archetypes that can usher massive change - sometimes gently, but other times quixotically, leaving us stunned at both our good fortune and the burdens that can accompany it. This is the sort of aspect that might suck your house up in a massive tornado, leading the insurance company to cover the purchase of a bigger, better house in a more appealing location…next to snobby neighbors. Due to the communicative nature of air signs, it’s also the sort of astrology that foments someone posting an innocuous comment online late at night, only to wake up the next morning internet-famous., which is always a mixed bag. We long for fame or other forms of overnight success, but can find ourselves tongue-tied and unsure of ourselves when they actually occur. Abrupt, shocking transitions that catalyze dramatic growth are fun in movie montages, but even happy, generative change can be unnerving when it comes at breakneck speed. This mercurial efficiency is down to Jupiter himself, who is currently chilling in the house of Gemini as he moves through the sky; privy to all manner of wacky conversations, philosophical debates, and restaurant critiques.
This is how I like to think of the planets - as plucky weirdos who couch surf across the sky. They all affect a different part of our life, and the ways in which they affect us change based on the zodiacal house in which they crash. Pluto is currently occupying yet another air house, the house of Aquarius, completing the angle of this weekends beneficial aspect and really turning up our space brain.
For more digestible context, consider the following archetypes and the things we might deal with when they are active in our lives:
The Gods as Planets: The planets were agents of fate and avatars of the gods in the ancient world.
Jupiter/Zeus: This lucky lightening bolt thrower, ruler of the Olympians, lover of hierarchy and social order, enjoys blowing things out of proportion. He rules current affairs, philosophy, politics, and social hierarchies, as well as everything expansive, like education. Thus, Jupiter influences the risks and rewards we encounter throughout our living narrative, and he often has outsized influence on the dynamics of modern power.
Pluto/Hades: Hades drew the short stick after defeating Kronos and was given the Underworld, which he turned into an oddly tranquil and just sort of anti-paradise. His planetary representative plays the long game while leaving the pomp and circumstance to his brother. Pluto is focused on serious, generational shit - punishments, hidden karma, hidden wealth, ancestral trauma, and massive societal change.
Zodiacal Houses: What modern astrologers refer to as ‘signs’ are the constellations through which our planets appear to pass. So when someone says, “I’m a Gemini,” what they mean is the sun was transiting Gemini at the time of their birth.
House of Gemini: Gemini is like if Hermes ran a neighborhood bookstore - it’s stuffed with gossipy moms, over-caffeinated students, and professional gadflies sloshing tea around while they talk over each other and listen to NPR. Jupiter is technically in his detriment here, because he doesn’t really dig anarchy or populist information exchanges, so he operates most smoothly in Gemini as an amplifier of ideas that already have some traction. Zeus loves philosophy, but his largesse in Gemini can occasionally turn into dogma, and we should be vigilant about the amplification of rigid ideas that slide effortlessly toward authoritarian oppression.
House of Aquarius: Pluto is currently sauntering through this totally fucking out there space lounge populated by tech bros, yoga gurus, futurists, and those people in Scandinavia who protect seeds for the good of mankind. This is a place of cerebral philanthropy whose inhabitants aim to change human paradigms for the good of the planet. Eternal Pluto oversees generational change in every house, of course, but he gets extra revolutionary in Aquarius because of the take-no-prisoner approach to progress. We have to tread carefully, because Hades can also upend lives (quite literally - The Greek Underworld was often described and depicted as being upside-down) and destroy key paradigms in order to prompt intense transition. Pluto in Aquarius is a big deal, and it means we are going to be wading through heavy shit to achieve our grander, more eternal desires.
When do I have to deal with this?
WED 5.29.24 - Chiron conjuncts Mars in Aries rather perfectly starting here, which reactivates the harrowing solar eclipse and might feel like getting lemon juice in a paper cut. Some admonishment, setback, or critique could set us on our heels despite recent accomplishments, or something that begins on this day is going to gum up the works through Friday. Ugh. Stick with your intention and slog through any hard feelings - by Saturday, Zeus will soften any hard blows.
THURS 5.30.24 - Be on the lookout for weird conversations, as well as something gossip-worthy happening in the news or other community channels. This is the result of a blink-and-you-miss-it conjunction between Mercury and Uranus in Taurus, so the odds are good that we’ll be hearing about finances, security, or resources; who has them, who is sharing them, and possibly who has been hiding them. Mercury + Uranus is an extremely cerebral combo, so this is also good day to dedicate to challenging intellectual pursuits.
SAT/SUN 6.2/6.3 - TRINE WEEKEND! Pluto in Aquarius moves into a trine with Jupiter in Gemini right about 5pm Saturday on the Pacific Coast, and these titans are here to motivate us; to encourage big thinking and wide perspectives when it comes to what we WANT out of life. Take this opportunity to verbalize whatever personal revelations we downloaded during Aries and Taurus season, then harness Jupiterian momentum to make them reality. Mercury joins the trine party on Sunday and gets everybody talking, so business owners, influencers, publicists, and anyone else who benefits from word-of-mouth buzz will receive an enormous boost of goodwill.
Cool, what does the Tarot say about this?
We were already unmoored by Monday, 5.27, when the Hexennacht oracle card encouraged us to keep watering our more radical ideas if we longed to see them flower. This urge to thwart convention continued into Tuesday, 5.28, with the 10 of Cups reversed, indicating friction between close friends and family - possibly because of these new ideas we’ve been seeding.
The 10 of Swords show us what we are losing on Wednesday, 5.29, and that paper cut feeling from Chiron is in full effect. We are beginning to see the full shape of transition; how it requires parts of our personality, our beliefs, and our desires, to die. Thursday, 5.30, is an interesting moment thanks to all this Mercury energy in the air. The reversed Friend pull from Pink Pain Tarot indicates a deception of sorts, but one to which we may be getting wise. Something continues to be a huge struggle on Friday, 5.31, but we are going to have to muddle through it. Strength indicates that we are capable of persuading our naysayers, but the 9 of Wands reversed shows us the struggle and frustration we encounter during the process.
Saturday, 6.1, kicks off the Jupiter/Pluto Trine, and the 4 of Cups is here to remind us of our current discontent; we desire to change things because we are unsatisfied with the status quo, and the status quo is going to be advertising its insufficiency very loudly on this day. By Sunday, 6.2, the Queen of Swords reversed illustrates our deep need for change in the presence of punishing, ruthless attitudes. We are energized by the opposition, and it seems like an authority has their head so far up their own ass that they don’t see our resistance coming at all.
Visit @alectochaos on IG for the full, wordy breakdown and video of each card pull, and to get the jump on the Mon - Wed card pulls. If you are into that sort of thing.