Pluto Return for the United States
This week as we anticipate the 249th birthday of the United States of America, we are also still somewhat under the influence of our country’s Pluto return. When astrologers talk about a planet’s return, they are referring to the time when the planet completes an entire orbit around the Sun from the moment of an event, such as a date of birth or even the founding of a country. As I noted in a recent blog (blog link here) Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the sun, so people do not experience Pluto returns but countries do, and we did last year.
A Pluto return is typically a hugely transformative astrological event signifying the potential for deep upheaval and regeneration, and the possibility for the collapse and rebirth of systems. For example, the Roman Empire’s Pluto Return is associated with a time marked by political instability, economic turmoil, and external invasions that eventually led to Rome’s transformation into the Byzantine Empire.
So, besides the signing of the Declaration of Independence, what else was going on in the United States when Pluto was in this exact degree of Aquarius? Well, for one thing, we were still deeply engaged in the Revolutionary War against Britain. 1776 also witnessed key ideological and political developments that laid the groundwork for American governance. Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in January, strongly argued for independence from Britain, also helped to shift public opinion.
On the institutional side, several colonies—such as Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey—drafted their own constitutions, reflecting the broader move toward self-governance and republican ideals. These documents began to define rights and the structure of government independently of British rule. Thus, 1776 was a year not only of symbolic declaration but of active military struggle and revolutionary political transformation.
Does this energy seem familiar? Pluto signifies transformation, power, death, and rebirth; it intensifies whatever it touches. In Aquarius, the sign of collective systems, technology, rebellion, and ideals of equality, Pluto brings pressure to dismantle outdated political and social structures, particularly those tied to authoritarianism, technocracy, and systemic inequity. In the U.S. political landscape, this is manifesting as intensifying polarization between centralized control and grassroots populism.
The rising wave of mass protests and resistance movements, especially against perceived overreach by federal institutions or executive authority, echoes Aquarius’s rebellious, anti-tyranny essence. Simultaneously, Pluto's influence draws hidden power dynamics to the surface, such as conflicts between corporate tech elites and public interests, or federal versus state control; all of which forces reckoning and reform. No one knows for sure where all of this goes, but there is one thing for certain: with this Pluto return, change is inevitable for the United States.
