Decoding Pluto Through Generations Of Programming And The Onset Of The Hunger Games

It all starts here.

On yesterdays show, I riffed on the “Hunger Games” which is dominating youth lit and is being made into a feature film. “Hunger Games” is set in the future in a post-apocalyptic U.S. which is named “Panem.” Panem is divided up into 13 districts. Thirteen is the Death card in the major arcana. Death and sacrifice and is exactly what the Hunger Games are–ritual sacrifice. Before we get into the Hunger Games, let’s look at how generations are influenced and even programmed via Pluto.

On yesterdays show, I explored generational programming via modern fairy tales, myth, TV and cinema. Each generation has psychic driving memes that deeply influence their thinking, attitudes and cultural ingress.

I started with the Pluto in Leo generation (1938 to 1956) and their cultural myth-matrix; “The Wizard of Oz.” Frank Baum’s tale of displacement, discovery, exploration, self-actualization and ultimately dis-enchantment is the collective narrative for the boomers, a generation in search of itself, navigating through a surreal landscape in place of the once familiar heartland they had been used to.

But ultimately, the goal is to arrive at Nirvana, aka The Emerald Kingdom, and once they arrive there, they pull the curtain back on the emperor and have achieved completion . . . sort of. The unmasking of the emperor is the core of the boomer’s fairy tale. The emperor is “the man,” “the system,” and authority in general. The emperor is parents, the dean of the campus, the president. Leo is the sign of monarchs (Project Monarch/Leo anyone?) and dictators. Pluto is the relentless force of transformation that wears down the opposition to change with power.

During the turbulence of the sixties, especially from 61 to 64 when Saturn in Aquarius was in opposition to their Pluto, we see the social turbulence of the decade kicked off by the death/ritual assassination of the Sun King, America’s Apollo/Arthur, JFK, quickly followed by the rapid rise of Rockefeller funded feminism and the civil rights movement which would yield another sacrificial lamb, the death of a literal and figurative King (Martin Luther).

The death of Kennedy and the rise of the Vietnam war were the psychic accelerants for the boomers to take Oz by storm and pull back the curtain on the man over and over and over again, finally culminating in the impeachment of the Capricornian sacrificial goat, Richard Nixon.

Once Nixon was de-throned, in a symbolic victory, the boomers retreated to the soft contours of the human potential movement, free sex, and buying real estate, firmly entrenched in their anointed golden status as the generation that had the most wealth at its disposal, maybe ever. They even managed to hoist their own emperor onto the throne in the guise of Leo/Sun King, Bill Clinton.

Its “The Wizard of Oz” that drives their legacy and tale.

The Pluto in Virgo generation from 1957 to 1971 are the far less glamorous second sib to the children of the sun. Their astro-mythos? Its really two stories/movies that have in some ways, the same underlying themes. The first is Mary Poppins.

Here we see an average woman that dwells in the realm of service/servants as the nurse maid to children. Its a very non-glamorous job (Virgo) and yet, lo and behold, beneath the surface, Mary Poppins is no mere nanny. Oh no. She’s magical! She’s a freaking witch! And just in case the boys don’t get it, well there’s a chimney sweep (again Virgo, doing all that dirty work) who is a warlock! Menial jobs aren’t drudgery. Oh nooooo, they’re magical! A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. Yep. Open wide and swallow.

Just in case the late Pluto in Virgo kids, circa 1968 to 1971 missed it, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory tells a similar tale in some ways. Here again, we see a boy of humble means say and do the right things, while his peers gorge on media, sweets and instant gratification. Charlie’s a good boy and is rewarded by inheriting the chocolate factory, getting to manage all that slave Oompa labor, making him wealthy beyond his status and dreams.

Willy Wonka is a bridge work between the Pluto Virgo/Pluto Libra generations as Charlie demonstrates Libran courtesy and manners, every step of the way. Charlie is charmed.

Pluto in Virgo have been hypnotized and indoctrinated into the lesser octave of their outer planet assignation; be okay with more is less and find a way to be of service, because service is the most noble thing imaginable. Just ask Pluto in Leo.

Pluto in Libra’s cultural ciphers are not as literary but much more cinematic and television driven. This generation suffered from the greatest divorce rate in history and much of their “programming” can be seen in shows like “Different Strokes” where kids that aren’t even related wind up with a new parent and wouldn’t you know it, a better way of life.

My ex-wife and her sister, both born during Pluto in Libra are very drawn to “The Sound Of Music” made in 1965, which finds a group of children with no mother, finding a new mom and re-stitching the family unit. Guess who plays their future mom? Julie Andrews, who also played Mary Poppins.

But the real cultural meme, the psychic driver, the matrix mind implanted archetypal template for Pluto in Libra is Star Wars.

You might ask yourself the following; How does Star Wars fit into a generation that has had the family separated and cleaved like the swipe of a light saber right through its nuclear core? Well here it is.

Luke and his twin Leia represent the balance of the male/female polarity that is Libra. That’s for starters. Then we have to reconcile the light and the dark. Again, Libra. Social justice is a big theme in Star Wars. Again, Libran. But Luke and Leia are without parents. Or shall I say, they are without birth parents. Now this wasn’t your normal, Kramer vs Kramer style break up, and in fact people won’t know about Anakin and Padme for well over another decade, but their parents were in essence separated and divorced.

Luke plays the Moses motif raised down river by his aunt and uncle. Leia, raised by royalty. Luke is in search of his father. Let’s face it. Luke Skywalker is from a broken home. And the irony upon irony is that the woman he falls in love with is actually his sister!

I know that Lucas read Campbell, aped Kurosawa, etc, but Star Wars is it, straight down to the relationship fail of Luke and Leia to parents that are lost. The best relationship sinks, even if its due to not wanting to indulge in incest. But keep looking. Keep searching. Fight the right fight, the good cause, bring polarity into balance and voila!

Star Wars is also the departure into space, both physical and transpersonal. Libra is the gateway to the archetypal, transpersonal houses and signs; from cupid to psyche. Which brings us to the next station on our way to the Hunger Games. Harry Potter.

Pluto in Scorpio has two, very dominant works driving its collective identity and programming; Harry Potter and Twilight. Harry Potter was released in June of 1987. By that time, the oldest of the Pluto in Scorp generation would have been around 12-13 years, perhaps slightly older than the young Harry Potter, but not by too much. Potter would wind up influencing the bulk of Pluto in Scorp and even some Pluto in Sag kids. The scorpionic themes in Potter are hardly hidden. Its filled to the sorcerers brim with occult magic, dark spells, demons, life and death. Potter even takes his place amongst “The Order of The Phoenix” in the fifth book, the phoenix being symbolic of Scorpio.

The Potter books are the codex magica for Pluto in Scorpio. They initiated them into the temples of their dark imaginations and now they’re wearing the eye of Horus on baseball caps thanks to Jay-Z.

“Twilight” the other book that I associate most with Pluto in Scorp was released in 2005. By this time, the millenials were in their teens and needed something saltier than Potter and his sexless escapades in other realms. “Twilight” took care of all that, providing romance tales that exalted the taboo and dangerous realms of love and sex with the dead. Right on time for those kickin’ hormones.

“Twilight” also serves as a cipher for the Pluto in Libra generation, Relationships, traditional relationships, are dead. Get over it. Twilight paves the way for any type of relationship. Between Potter and Twilight, the occult formula is complete. A generation can now go gaga over the lurid, despised and debased. If you can love the dead, you can love anything.

Staying with the literary theme here, the final chapter on this group is far from written, but they are about to be asked to step aside for the next installment in the shaping of collective imagination. The Hunger Games.

Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of the Hunger Games trilogy lives in District 12 (The Hanged Man), Panem’s poorest district out of the 13. Panem, the former U.S. is ruled by a sadistic dictator named “Snow.” Each year, every district must pay tribute to Panem by sending a boy and a girl as they engage one another in a fight to the death in the “Hunger Games.” These games are broadcast throughout Panem and everyone is forced to watch. This is done as a form of social trauma and sacrifice, keeping the disparate factions of Panem psychically wounded and disempowered.

The games take part in nature and the bow and arrow is one of the main weapons. In fact the arrow is a key symbol on the cover of the first book in the Hunger Games trilogy. The arrow of course is symbolic of the archer and speaks directly to the Pluto in Sag generation. The message of the Hunger Games is brutal. Its a coming of age novel in a post U.S. totalitarian state. In essence, the bad guys won and are now taking it out on the populace, year-in, year-out.

Hunger Games author, Suzanne Collins was raised in an air force family and moved a lot according to her bio page. She worked for Scholastic Books, which publishes “The Hunger Games” and is funneling it directly into schools. She also worked for Nickelodeon which is notoriously famous for its illuminating childrens programming. Here we see a direct access into the hearts and minds of an athletically inclined, nature loving, philosophical generation that hasn’t even graduated from high school yet. The grab for their mindshare is on.

You can listen to more on this topic and hear me do “live” readings for callers on yesterdays show below.