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Pluto in Leo: Working with the Baby Boomer Generation

The motivation for this article is my daily working contact with people of the Baby Boomer (Pluto in Leo) generation. It comes only from my perspective, of course, as a Pluto in Libra. I’m hoping that by making myself and my generation aware of where the Baby Boomers are coming from, the two groups can work together, as needed, with less frustration and more progress beneficial for all involved. Working with this generation has proven to be more difficult that I had hoped, and I’m sure if I’m feeling this way, other people are, too.

First off, some context.

Being an evolutionary astrologer, I consider Pluto to be a major player in the times in which we are living. I use Pluto to differentiate among generations, as Pluto is the generational sign indicating the evolutionary desire for a group of people. It spends 12 - 19 years in each sign, and the Baby Boomer generation corresponds with the time that Pluto was in Leo (June 1939 to June 1958).

There is some cross-over at the beginning and end of generations due to retrogrades, but some rule-of-thumb dates for Pluto generations are as follows:

Pluto in Cancer - May 26, 1914 to June 14, 1939
Pluto in Leo - June 14, 1939 to June 10, 1958
Pluto in Virgo - June 10, 1958 to July 31, 1972
Pluto in Libra - July 31, 1972 to November 5, 1983
Pluto in Scorpio - November 5, 1983 to November 10, 1995
Pluto in Sagittarius - November 10, 1995 to January 25, 2008
Pluto in Capricorn - January 5, 2008 to January 20, 2024

I’m seeing that the younger generations (and right now, this especially applies to my own Pluto in Libra generation) are coming up in the world and stepping into structures built (or continued) by the Baby Boomers. As Pluto enters Capricorn, the sign of business, hierarchy and public role, for a 16-year stint, this is especially apparent in business structures and the ideological structures that support them. As the Pluto in Leo generation nears retirement or semi-retirement, things are shifting. We, the up-and-comers, are expected to make it work in these structures, but at the same time, we have to progress - the structures that worked in the past won’t do in the future, and we know this! We’re finding, however, that rigid structures aren’t the easiest to change, especially, it seems, rigid structures being held by the collective consciousness of Pluto in Leo! Leo is a fixed sign, meaning, once it gets going in a particular direction, it likes to stay in that direction. Change is more difficult for fixed energy than it is for cardinal or mutable. But in order to get to a new world and way of doing things - that work for everyone, not just the few - we have to let go of the old structures and let them evolve. This is always the way…an old cycle falls away so that a new cycle, more attuned to the circumstances of the current moment, can begin and grow. (Astrology illustrates this phenomenon beautifully.) It doesn’t mean that the PEOPLE who are using the old structure fall away or that they become useless or redundant. It means that the WAY THINGS ARE DONE will change and evolve with the times.

So how must things change to evolve with the times? Currently, we’re heading very quickly into the Aquarian Age. Many people use the year 2012 as the official start of this new 2,000-or-so year cycle. What this means, practically, is that that we’re shifting into a world based on true egalitarian principles - not just paying lip service to equality, but using it as a from-the-core guiding principle, one infused in every moment of our lives, every decision we make, action we take and structure we build. Within this context, Pluto in Sagittarius (on the Galactic Centre, no less) is helping us to go beyond cultural, religious, class, sex, ideological, philosophical and any other man-made barriers we’ve used to place people into categories and groups. Too often those barriers and groups have been used to determine who is a winner and who is a loser in our societies. And too often, these categories have reinforced the oppression and exploitation of one group over another. Which group is the oppressor and which is the oppressed has flip-flopped over time, but the dynamics remained the same. These divisions have allowed us to retreat into our cultural safety zones and to identify with old ways of thinking and being - ways that separated us as human beings and justified one group as controller and subjugator and another group as controlled or subjugated. The Aquarian cycle is about going beyond the dynamic of winners and losers to create a world in which we can all win. I win because you win, and you win because I win. We will, first and foremost, identify as human beings, no better or worse, more or less deserving, than any other human being on the planet. We’ll come to understand, and commit to that understanding (a big thing that has not yet fully happened) that we’re all in this together, and we all have to progress together. Hierarchy, oppressed/oppressor dynamics, exploitation for personal/corporate profit, unequal and unjust power dynamics, controlling others and reinforcing powerlessness, taking away the means of others to progress because we see it as a threat to ourselves, hatred and fear based on culture, religion, class, etc. - all these things must be transformed to create a win-win world.

Aquarius is the sign opposite Leo. Both are fixed energies. Leo relates to the way we shine our lights in the world. What makes us special. Personal glory. Personal artistry. Creative expression in the current moment. Being recognized and applauded for who he/she is. Being a joyful child of God with all the world as a playground and having the ego fulfillment of a parent saying, “Excellent! You’re so wonderful! That’s a beautiful finger painting you just did. No one could have done it better!” Aquarius, on the other hand, relates to the transpersonal - the community, friends and comrades working together, a humanitarian vision for the future. Aquarius is about going beyond the personal ego and doing what’s right for the community, the world, the times in which we are living. The motivation here is not ego fulfillment or creating for the glory and delight of the self at that very moment. It’s about objectively taking our places in the evolutionary process by aligning with a direction that will take us where we want to be as a whole. It’s about putting off instant gratification (that Leo loves so much) to focus on the future, whether the personal ego likes it or not.

So you can see the tug-of-war being played out within the Baby Boomers right now. These Aquarian times are playing opposite their evolutionary desire for being special, achieving personal glory and appreciation, being the king/queen of the castle. Being applauded for what they do, who they are, how they express their big, awesome selves in the world. Leo is also a place where the Baby Boomers have felt horribly oppressed (because Pluto oppresses us to the point where we can’t take any more so we choose to evolve, evolve, evolve). They were raised by parents who had been through the Great Depression and World War II. Not exactly fun and games. Their childhood was no place for children. It was serious business. There was always something more important than being a kid. There was little time for silliness or childsplay or for developing special creative talents. They were taught that they would have to fight and work their fingers to the bone for everything they wanted in this life. Basically, their childhood circumstances broke their hearts again and again until they hardened. Their playful and joyful spirits were dampened over and over again. Their creative instinct was suppressed. The playful child’s light in their faces was smacked away by the harshness of reality so many times that it went into hiding. Pluto in Leo people are the children of history. They’re meant to live guided by the spirit of the child they once were, and still are in their hearts. To live in the spirit of love, fun and wonder. To live the lives their hearts yearned and yearn for and to be loved for it. But there is a lot of heaviness and emotional residue that needs to be examined, faced and stripped away (Pluto) from their hearts (Leo) so that they can transform and achieve the evolutionary desire set out for them:

- Rigid ego constraints (ideas about who they are and how the world is/should be)
- Fear that appreciating what’s special about other people will mean that they are less special; taking everyone and everything as a personal ego threat and shutting down
- Bitterness about not receiving the recognition or appreciation they desired so not allowing others to shine, outshining others out of fear or as a form of control
- Oppressing others in the ways they were/are oppressed - breaking people’s hearts just because they can, dampening their joys, denigrating their creative expressions, taking the fun out of life for others
- Withholding love, recognition or kind words out of spite or conditioning
- Fearfulness that others (especially younger generations) will swoop in, take over and get the glory for everything the Pluto in Leos have worked so hard to achieve, stealing and ruining their creations in the process
- Doing things solely for an ego boost and personal recognition
- Holding on to the idea that life has to be hard, painful and not fun
- Wearing their difficult lives as a badge instead of lightening up and staying in the now
- Resenting others who seem to have it easier and get more recognition for doing less
- Going for instant gratification instead of aligning with longer-term, future-based directions
- Resenting the fact that things are changing and power dynamics are shifting and trying to cling to the old
- Cruelty for the sake of personal power - AKA Royal Tyrant Syndrome. I’ve heard a few Pluto in Leos flippantly talking about how consumer capitalism in the business world is just a game they play. This makes me think they’re detached on a heart level from what this system does to people and to the planet. To those on the losing end of capitalism (including Earth itself), it’s far from a game, but this is one illustration of how afflicted Leo can translate into getting a kick out of exerting power and control over others without concern for the effect their actions have on the community/other people. It’s the same way a tyrannical king or queen would play with people’s lives like a cat playing with a mouse.
- Not letting others know what lies in their hearts, staying closed and hard at the heart centre

An important aspect to understand is that the point opposite Pluto in the natal chart is crucial for achieving the evolutionary desire. So in the case of the Pluto in Leo generation, developing the Aquarius energy in themselves is imperative. The way to achieve personal glory and recognition is to align with doing positive things for the community and the world as a whole. When they take the steps to create a better world for everyone, they will be recognized and loved for it. As long as they focus on creating just for themselves and for their own recognition and adulation, they will be stuck. In order to live a lighter, more loving and heart-based life, they must create a world where all people can live that way. As long as one person’s glory is based on the suffering of another, the heart will feel it. And as long as they resent lightness and joy in others and try to stamp it out, the heavy-hearted, unhappiness continues.

For the younger Pluto generations, especially Pluto in Libra (which is taking its adult place in the world right now), it’s important to understand the context in which we’re living, and to understand, in a deeper way, what motivates the Pluto in Leos who seemingly hold the reins right now. Pluto in Libra is a generation that must create fairness, balance and equality in our world. We’re balancing masculine and feminine and bringing them to a level of real equality. Our evolutionary desire is justice, especially creating justice in our relationships and partnerships. We’re transforming unequal and oppressive power dynamics in our interactions and relations with others. Part of transforming the relations we have with those in the Pluto in Leo generation means understanding and honouring where they come from and what their evolutionary intent is…while never losing sight of our own or subjugating our own for anyone else’s. It’s tricky business, but it must be done. I think one of the keys to successfully partnering with the Baby Boomers and moving our structures into Aquarian alignment is to keep our eyes on where we want to go while understanding the challenges that must be dealt with along the way. Yes, our relationship dynamics oppress us in the Pluto in Libra generation! It’s a two steps forward, one step back sort of dynamic, but we’ll get there because we have to.