Pluto, Microsoft, and Ruthlessness

I couldn’t resist writing a quick commentary after reading The New York Times article this morning, Yahoo Officially Rejects Microsoft’s Takeover Offer. I see the article’s title has now been changed to Yahoo Bidder Wants A More Aggressive Microsoft by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Let me quote a few phrases from the February 11th article that evoke the mood of Plutonian forces at work here: “… Microsoft’s hostile takeover … perhaps the most audacious effort by a technology company to wrestle control of a competitor … Mr. Liddell, an outsider … to plot the company’s next steps in this bitter battle … reshape Microsoft’s … culture toward making aggressive acquisitions.”

And finally, the most telling of all statements: “You have to be disciplined and ruthless,” Mr. Liddell said by telephone last week, “We should see acquisitions as a way of growth. We should not be embarrassed at all.”

Why am I bringing your attention to this capitalistic scenario, all too common in the good ole USA? After all, Richard Gere made it sexy in the movie ‘Pretty Woman’ as an accomplished hostile takeover kind of guy, right? Well, it’s because this NY Times article is a nice little clue as to what we have to look forward to for many moons to come as Pluto, that cold, dense, icy ball orbiting around our Sun in far outer space, has recently moved it’s residence into old man Saturn’s realm, Capricorn. Except for a brief retreat back into the Sagittarian turf of Zeus from mid-June until late November of this year, we’re going to have to learn to live with Pluto in Capricorn for the next 16 years.

Obviously there’s going to be a great deal of discussion as to what this means by many astrologers. Already there is a good article posted in The Mountain Astrologer by Maurice Lavenant. It’s a long one and only the first of three parts.

On a blog site of this nature, however, I’m able to pick up a piece of news and relay it quickly to you, my readers. Magazine articles have to be written well in advance of publication and thus have a different, less immediate tone to them.

Let’s just pick a few of those choice words from our article of the day and apply them to Pluto in Capricorn: for example, the quote of ex-banker Liddell, who is now the Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft, “You have to be disciplined and ruthless.” Capricorn loves discipline and Pluto? Well, ruthless can describe the darker side of this Lord of the Underworld. Webster’s Dictionary says that ruthless means without ruth. Ruth means feeling, showing or arousing pity. So ruthless is pitiless, cruel. Ah… and nothing beats a Saturn/Pluto combo for cold predatory behavior, unless you throw in a good dose of Uranus with it. That combination is coming, by the way, but not until later in 2012 when the three will do their titanic dance for a while.

Another phrase to unravel is ‘to wrestle control’. Both Pluto and Capricorn, the domain of Saturn, love to control. Together they will bring new meaning to such a term. Yes, there will be many struggles ahead for supremacy and control by those who already hold power. Power grabs for more, and more, and more doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
An old book from the late ’80s comes to mind, Last Waltz of the Tyrants edited by Judi Pope Koteen. It was probably ahead of its time.

Pluto entering Capricorn is also beginning its sojourn through the last three signs of the zodiac, which are collective in nature. This triad is complex and will certainly have global implications as the digital world permeates our lives and AI (Artificial Intelligence) becomes increasingly commonplace. Microsoft has incorporated itself three times. This means, in a sense, that the company has gone through two metamorphoses since it’s inception in 1981 with the launching of its DOS. The final incorporation date on September 22, 1993 is quite telling. The Sun is at 29 degrees of Virgo squaring the Moon at 25 degrees of Sagittarius. Transiting Pluto has nearly completed activating this core strength of the company. This year will be a thrust for control and power of mighty proportions. Watch carefully what takes place starting in June.

My engineer son, Michael, has told me that the internet is like a wild frontier in many ways right now. Pluto can represent the primal urge to survive in its most reptilian form, and the Darwinian principle of evolution that posits the idea of the ‘survival of the fittest’ certainly will apply to the grab for turf and territory that is now taking place in many sectors of this uncharted land. This new frontier, interestingly enough, has no particular substance to stake out claims for. It is a frontier of the mind and truly the astral plane. Who controls the in-put into our mental thoughts and images? This is an important question to ask. Will we really have free access to knowledge, other perspectives, communication of all kinds, and inter-change with each other? Or will there be power grabs to monopolize the potential diversity that makes the whole so vital and pulsing with life?

Pluto is barely inside the gate of Capricorn right now. The Sabian Symbol for this degree is “An Indian Chief claims recognition and power from the assembled tribe.” One such interpretation states that those in positions of authority are staking their ‘claims’, and that there are definite leadership issues going on here. One of the cautions is obviously power tripping and struggles.

Microsoft is just one example to look at right now. Start paying attention to other examples arising from politics, governments, economics, and authority in general. Pick up the clues and connect the dots. It’s sleuthing time.

And, finally, don’t be afraid of the dark. There is much richness to be found in Pluto’s realm. Pluto is neither good nor bad in and of itself. It is symbolic of many things including big money, power, non-procreational sex, death, rebirth, and transformation. Two qualities, however, stand out when working with this energy: extreme and intense. Pluto likes to both push the outer limits, and to strip things down to a hard bone level.

In future posts I will have much more to say about Pluto’s journey through Capricorn and how it may impact your personal life.