SALON

Friday, Aug 25, 2006 10:44 AM UTC

Pluto’s retreat

Sure, Pluto's demotion to non-planet status has startling implications for the astronomy lab. But what about predicting our romantic and financial futures?

By

Topics: Astrology,

Even celestial bodies can be found wanting. The International Astronomical Union voted yesterday to shut Pluto out of the planets, the cliquish, newly eight-member group that took the petite wallflower under its wing in 1930. More than 70 years later, astronomers have rethought Pluto’s status, alleging that the now ex-planet is too much of a “dwarf” to travel in the same circle as giants like Jupiter and the lavishly bemooned Saturn. The new rules, established this week at the IAU meeting in Prague, define a planet as “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a … nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.” It’s this last test that Pluto fails, since its orbit overlaps with Neptune’s.

The IAU’s vote has rendered astronomy textbooks obsolete; seven decades’ worth of science projects are suddenly off the mark. But the consequences of this new classification don’t merely affect labs and classrooms, but stargazing astrologers the world over. Now that Pluto’s just a marginalized ball of ice, will our luck change for the better — or worse? Will the IAU’s decision redirect our love lives? To find out, Salon phoned Cheryl Lee Terry, who writes the “Planet Terry” horoscope column for Time Out New York.

How will Pluto’s demotion affect astrology?

It really doesn’t matter, because there are a lot of heavenly bodies floating around that we count in our equations. Astronomers give names to planets — we just consider them heavenly bodies that we interact with. If the astronomers want to say it’s not a planet, that’s great, but it’s not going to change Pluto’s influence. So we believe in Pluto. It’s really been active. This has been a pretty bad month, and Pluto has been one of the instigators.

So Pluto helped bring about its own demise?

There’s a bad aspect to Aug. 31 that comes around once every 48 years — let me look at my calendar. Oh, that’s Saturn. We’ve had some very bad asteroid hits in the past month. On the 17th, when the peace talks were happening, Pluto had a good meeting with the sun. But the war isn’t over. [Laughs] It doesn’t take an astrologer to figure that out.

It’s a new moon for me today. You’re the third phone call I’ve gotten that’s good for my career. Right now for you, there are a lot of financial concerns.

Actually, that’s true. My apartment was robbed on Tuesday.

Everything’s all about money now. In September, you’ll be feeling better about things. Security’s a big issue right now for all Cancers. If I were to tell you something — because you’re young — you want to let go of relationships small and big. Just relax your grip. How old are you?

I’m 25.

You’re going into your Saturn return. You’re coming into this huge change in your life. I don’t know if you’re leaving your job —

It’s my last day interning at Salon.

You’ve got a really hard year ahead of you, but in a good way. It will be big challenge. It’s really kind of exciting.

Wow, thanks. Getting back to Pluto, does the planet have a personality that you could describe?

He — we call Pluto a he — is manipulation. His personality is Machiavellian. Obsessions, compulsions, influence peddling. And the big one is transformation. When you get into a heavy Pluto stage, you’re transforming your life. Pluto when he’s bad is compulsive and obsessive. When he’s good, he’s there to transform you and push you along. He takes no prisoners. When he comes in contact with your sign, you either transform your life or learn a hard lesson.

Basically, they’re changing the label, and that doesn’t matter to me. Just like if you change your name, you’re still the same person. We love him too much — they can’t take Pluto away from us.

Lamar Clarkson is an editorial fellow at Salon. More Lamar Clarkson.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 94 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations