Ask the Astrologer Weekly Question: Pluto’s role in cancer diagnosis?

By Christopher Renstrom

I was born January 26, 1960. I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer (Stage 2) right as Pluto was passing over Venus in 2007. I’m doing well now, but am apprehensive knowing that Pluto will be hitting several other planets, all in the first house, in a few years. What’s your take on this? —Karen

If you were diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer (Stage 2) when Pluto was passing over your Venus in 2007 (you were born with Venus at 28 Sagittarius 32) then it looks like this happened around February 21 or December 17, 2007. If so, this is good news, because it means you received the diagnosis in a Jupiter month. Jupiter rules the signs of Pisces (February 18–March 19) and Sagittarius (November 21-December 20) so any event that takes place during these dates falls under Jupiter’s influence. Jupiter makes any good event better and any bad event will be made less severe. But let’s say you didn’t receive the diagnosis in a Jupiter month. It’s still not bad because you were under Jupiter’s influence throughout 2007. Jupiter was in its own sign, Sagittarius, when you were born on January 26, 1960 and Jupiter was once again in Sagittarius in 2007. This is called a Jupiter return and it’s good because it means that Jupiter was taking on a powerfully protective role in your horoscope.

Pluto passing over your Venus in 2007 was certainly a cause for concern. But what really spelled trouble was that one of your Ruling Planets, Saturn, was forming a conjunction to your other Ruling Planet, Uranus, in Leo. From an astrologer’s perspective this is what exposed you to the malevolent rays of Pluto. Leo sits exactly opposite your sign Aquarius on the zodiacal wheel and the conjunction of Saturn in the sky in 2007 with Uranus in your birth horoscope shows that you were “out of season” and vulnerable. It’s another way of saying that your deflector shields were down. Thankfully Saturn has moved on and will exert a more protective influence when it enters Libra on July 21, 2010 and begins to trine your Sun in Aquarius. Your other Ruling Planet, Uranus, has also moved into a better place. Uranus is in Aries and is now forming a sextile to your Sun in Aquarius. Trines and sextiles bring protective energies and so your Ruling Planets will work together to counteract all of that Pluto energy. But Pluto isn’t all bad. Pluto is the planet of ordeals and the transformations that arise from those ordeals. This is why Pluto is called the planet of re-birth in Astrology. It isn’t easy putting your anxieties on the back shelf when you’re a cancer survivor. You’re going to have your good days and your bad days. But Pluto energy is also about reconnecting to your will to live and that reconnection often comes from brushes with death. You may never live a fear free life, but Pluto energy can give you the courage and ferocity to live life on your terms and that’s how Pluto energy can compel you to live life to the fullest. You really can’t ask for anything more empowering than that.

This article was originally published on June 18, 2010.