This Year's Pluto Retrograde Is In Capricorn, And You're Definitely Going To Feel Its Effects

Buckle up buttercups because Pluto Retrograde began April 22 and this baby planet is going to shake up everything related to power, obsession, taboos, sex, and secrets. If you didn't even know Pluto was part of the retrograde cosmic kerfuffle, and you're wondering: What does Pluto Retrograde in Capricorn mean? Change is on the horizon, whether you're ready for it or not. "Where Pluto is transiting is the area of life that is do for radical transformation. Resistance is futile. Let go and go with the flow of changes," Astrologer Kelley Rosano explained on her website. "Jealousy, guilt, shame, [and] hidden agendas are the dark side of Pluto."

However, when you feel like you're stuck in a dark and twisty tunnel, it's important to remember that there is light on both sides. "Keep your mind engaged and focused on inspired action. Focus on the cure. Focus on solutions," Rosano advised. "You can not bring into manifestation what you want when you are focused on the opposite. Invest your energy in healing yourself and introducing innovations into your life wherever you are ready for expansion and fulfillment." This is basically the premise of the book The Secret, which is based on the law of attraction. If you focus on what you don't want, that's exactly what you'll attract. When you focus on what you do want, you're more likely to get it. It's long been rumored that Lady Gaga used the principles of The Secret to manifest her success.

What's more, Pluto is as slow as molasses when it comes to transiting the solar system. It's been in Capricorn since 2008 where it will remain until 2024, and it's in its retrograde cycle for half of 2018. Because of this, the best way to get through Pluto Retrograde intact is to surrender. "The only way to walk with Pluto is to hand over everything you have," Astrology.com explained. "Like magma rising from below, Pluto will burn through everything within you, scrubbing your soul from the inside out with his special brand of chthonic firepower, leaving only the essentials." Basically, Pluto Retrograde is a cosmic house cleaning that will eventually leave you feeling all bright and shiny like a brand-new baby. But, much like being born, the process can be painful.

"On the personal level, Pluto retrogrades in Capricorn punctuate the slow, gradual process of release," Astrology.com noted. "If you’re carrying anything unnecessary, particularly anything that’s unnecessarily Capricornian (traditions, responsibility, burdens, emotional austerity, torturous goals, achievement needs, authority complexes) it may be time for a psychic yard sale." Coupled with Saturn Retrograde through the beginning of September, it will be almost impossible to resist some kind of personal transformation. Think of the next five months as a time to tear down and rebuild.

"Trust in your spirit guides and think of the extremes your ancestors endured to have their genes expressed in you," Astrology King advised on its website. "Destroying things which have control over you will increase your spiritual power and lead to personal mastery." While shedding an old skin can be uncomfortable AF — like getting an aggressive scrub down at a Korean spa — it allows you to take back your power. And, once it's over, you'll be glad you went through it. Because, after all, it's your life, and you should be the one who decides how you're going to live it.

"Because Pluto Retrograde imparts an intense power for investigation, we should use this time to assess what reoccurring patterns in our lives make us feel out of control, where and why do we continually give our power away, and under what circumstances do we react so defensively that we elicit attacks from others," Astrologer Lynn Koiner explained on her website. All human beings have a tendency to distract themselves from dealing with things they'd rather avoid, and this especially true when it comes to examining ourselves. However, Pluto won't let you avoid it any longer. "Under any Pluto transit, we feel pressured to eliminate and release the old, outworn, outdated, and obsolete in our lives."

"When Pluto is transiting retrograde, we are urged to let go of attitudes, thinking or communication patterns, security drives, rigid emotions; a time to undergo an internal form of house cleaning," Koiner noted. Pluto Retrograde is an ideal time to commit to a meditation practice, which can help with that whole self-examination thing. It can also help you feel less anxious during the process. Pluto in Capricorn also offers some insights into some of the upheaval society has been experiencing since 2008. "Capricorn is the sign that rules the patriarchy — and with oft-sinister Pluto here, we are seeing the worst of that rear up," the Astro Twins noted on Astro Style.

"But we are also essentially at the halfway point of Pluto’s tour of Capricorn, a pivot point for change. In order to transform something, we must see the whole picture: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Pluto certainly revealed the patriarchal stronghold that was simmering below the surface." And, now that more and more people are acknowledging the pitfalls of our patriarchal society, we're starting to tear it down. This is what Pluto does — kills and recreates. While your own personal transformation won't be as daunting as dismantling the patriarchy, it's still not going to be easy. As long as you know that going in you can surrender yourself to the process, and eventually you'll see that light at the end of the tunnel. Run — don't walk — toward it, and embrace your bright future.