Pluto-in-Virgo Generation: Transforming the Work Environment

Back in the day (i.e., December 1999), I published my first astrology article, "The Astrology of Generation X," in Dell Horoscope. That month, I regularly walked to my friendly neighborhood news stand, Gem Spa, which also made the best egg creams in New York City, to see my name featured on Dell Horoscope's final cover of the twentieth century. I was 29 years old and had every reason to believe that I was on the verge, that my thirties in the "aughts" (as I somewhat pretentiously referred to the '00s) would bring me over the threshold. To be sure, my upcoming Saturn Return chart looked ominous, with a pileup of planets in Taurus squaring Uranus in Aquarius. Yet I was still hopeful. It helped that the magazine almost immediately accepted another article and that I landed my first telecommuting job that winter (organizing a database for an online business dictionary), which necessitated my first desktop (a Compaq) with internet capability. To be sure, it was a gig (meaning the hours were just shy of making me eligible for benefits), but the hourly wage was decent, and my landlords at that time were my parents. The ruler of my 6th house, Uranus, was in my 1st house, so I was born to be my own boss, to freelance. If I was a patchwork worker, I figured I could cover myself enough to have a patchwork blanket.

In that first article, I wrote that the Pluto-in-Virgo group, born between 1956-57 and 1971-72, may have "bad job karma." This was in part a reaction to what the early Gen-Xers (and late Boomers) experienced in the workplace during the 1990s, trailing the Pluto-in-Leo mainline Boomers like Cinderella picking up after her diva stepsisters: we were either snubbed or bullied. The media painted us as apathetic slackers or stupid jocks; the smarter ones were nerds before geek was chic.

As the "aughts" wore on, however, the slacker image wore out like an artfully ripped flannel shirt. Pluto-in-Virgo workers got busy as transiting Pluto burned through Sagittarius. By the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, with Pluto entering Capricorn, the so-called Great Recession hit the United States, and most downsized Pluto-in-Virgo individuals had the misfortune of being on the wrong side of forty while also being left out of the fledgling Boomer-Millennial debate/pity party/pissing contest. Virtually every industry was cut to the bone; it was a "jobless recovery" that mainly benefited corporations and banks (Pluto in Capricorn) as well as people who were already rich (the so-called 1 percent). Freelancing and gig work became more common, with many people having to cobble two or three jobs together just to survive. (The only reason I was able to stay afloat as a freelancer in publishing for as long as I did was because I had worked "in house" for a few years.) Now, with the Covid-19 pandemic leading to unemployment levels in the United States not seen since the Great Depression, it will fall to the Pluto-in-Virgo group to transform the work environment.

It will be a tough task, as the Pluto-in-Leo generation isn't going anywhere, and they are far more likely to be at the top of the pyramid in terms of position and power. But in the decade leading up to this global health crisis, the younger Millennial generation (born with Pluto in Scorpio and Sagittarius) has been far more likely than their Boomer bosses to view white-collar office or "knowledge" work more as a thing than a place, thanks to the technological advances that occurred during Uranus and Neptune transiting Aquarius, from the World Wide Web and Windows 95 through smartphones. It is therefore up to the Pluto-in-Virgo group to transform the work environment, even if it means jamming the gears with our bodies.

For office workers, this will entail Pluto-in-Virgo managers convincing Boomer top dogs that health concerns (Virgo) matter more than face time and that actual productivity (Virgo again) matters more than the appearance of busyness. As all 50 states have reopened in varying degrees for business despite the warnings of epidemiologists, this is the optimal time to jettison the one-size-fits-all approach to work in favor of flexible arrangements that will suit everyone's different and often unexpected needs, including the most control-freaky Pluto-in-Leo bosses (when they consider how much money they will save on office space while still being able to monitor their employees' output via tracking software). The "essential" workers in the service industry who are grossly underpaid while risking their health face an even tougher battle for a living wage plus sick live, as well as the millions of Americans who will remain unemployed and, consequently, uninsured and at risk for all sorts of health issues, including malnutrition. I am hoping against hope that some Pluto-in-Virgo individuals will come out of the woodwork to engineer a pragmatic (Virgo) plan (Virgo again) that will clean up (yep, Virgo once again) the mess we are in.

At its worst, Virgo is myopic and pays so much attention to detail that it can't see the forest for the trees, but at its best, there is a purity of purpose that cares more about what works and less about ideology. It is worth noting that the US natal chart has Neptune in Virgo square Mars in Gemini, which can lead to poor judgment as well as erratic energy, lies, and scandal. Transiting Neptune in Pisces is within range of opposing America's Neptune, and in part this is manifesting as the United States being #1 in infections and deaths from a pandemic.

Pluto has an extreme nature; it transforms or kills all matters relating to the sign it transits. The "tune in, turn on, drop out" credo of the late 1960s was born during the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo. Divorce peaked with Pluto transiting the marriage sign of Libra, while AIDS peaked during the Pluto in Scorpio transit, effectively ending the sexual revolution. Organized religion, higher education, travel, and zealots were all spotlighted during Pluto's transit of Sagittarius (9/11 occurred on the heels of the Saturn-Pluto opposition). Now, with Pluto in the last decanate of Capricorn, edging up to the US's Pluto's Return, individuals born between 1969 and 1972 are best positioned to work with this often frightening, harsh energy. Since Virgo excels at finding the perfect words for each situation, perhaps it is time to come up with 95 memes for a new reformation.