Power, Persecution, and Preservation of Knowledge
Top-Down and Bottom-Up
In an earlier series, I explored how knowledge was preserved and destroyed during previous Ages of Air. If you’re unfamiliar with astrological Ages, I explained that in "AI and Big Data, Historical Cycles & What to Expect Next: An Astrologer's Take". We saw in "Theme One--Zealots and Princes: A Question of Alignment," of that series that across these cyclical 200-year periods, a consistent pattern emerged: whenever knowledge was centralized in the hands of the powerful, it became vulnerable; when it was distributed across communities, it endured.
In "Theme Two--Innovation Begets Rebuilding," we saw that preservation depended not only on methods and materials, but on individual stewardship and collective ingenuity. Finally, in “Theme Three--Knowledge is Power,” both the monetary and spiritual value of knowledge made it powerful enough to burn, ban, or banish. Yet again and again, those who sought to control knowledge for private gain ultimately weakened their own authority.
These themes echo strongly in our present knowledge economy. The first article in this series examined how AI intensifies centralization even as it promises universal access. To understand the deeper power dynamics at work, we now turn to a recurring astrological pattern within Ages of Air that illuminates this tension: Pluto’s transit through the Leo–Aquarius axis.
Archetypally, Pluto governs secrecy, anything that operates underground or through coercion, immense wealth and “plutocracy,” and processes of transformation. It also “compels, empowers, and intensifies whatever it touches,” as Richard Tarnas put it.(1) Its transit through a sign reveals how power, control, and transformation express themselves in a given era.
In March of 2023, Pluto made its first ingress into Aquarius—an Air sign associated with decentralization, technology, ideology, humanitarianism, and systems of distribution. Leo, its opposite, emphasizes singular authority, charisma, hierarchy, and centralized will. Depending on which side of the axis dominates while Pluto is present, we see either individuals exerting power over the many, or collectives exerting pressure on individuals. Together, Leo and Aquarius describe an enduring tension between top-down control and bottom-up empowerment.(2)
The power dynamics of our current Age of Air were almost immediately crystallized in a striking image that circulated within 24 hours of Pluto’s second ingress into Aquarius: a lineup of tech CEOs seated in the front row at President Trump’s second inauguration, captioned, “Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words and trillions of dollars.”(3)
To understand how plutocratic moments like this arise and what they tend to precipitate, we need to look more closely at Pluto’s movement through Leo and Aquarius within earlier Ages of Air.
The Multiplication of Air
Within a relatively short historical window, we have now entered both a 200-year Age of Air and a 20-year transit of Pluto in Aquarius. This effectively doubles the Air element, channeling the archetype of power and control through themes of communication, ideology, relationships, and information systems—while also intensifying Aquarian concerns such as group-think and resistance to new ideas, scientific and technological breakthroughs, intellectual advances or the suppression of them, as well as the Aquarian paradox of ‘loving humanity but disliking humans.’
When we zoom in on Pluto’s 15-20 year transits through either Leo or Aquarius4 during Ages of Air,(5) a distinctive pattern of human behavior reliably emerges.
Age of Air: 463-165 BCE
Pluto in Aquarius: 429-404 BCE
This period aligns closely with Socrates, the Peloponnesian War with Sparta, and the eventual collapse of Athens’ Golden Age. The city endured plague, military catastrophe, and political upheaval driven in part by the oligarchic rise of the Demagogues. Through emotional appeals, polarization, and public shaming, they weaponized groupthink to consolidate power. Let me give you an example.
During the Mytilenean revolt, the Demagogues persuaded the Athenian Assembly to vote to massacre all adult men and enslave women and children as a warning against dissent. Though the decision was narrowly overturned, it exemplified how fear and moral absolutism were used to silence opposition.
Socrates, while refusing political office, openly challenged the Demagogues’ emotionally driven rhetoric. Though not anti-democratic himself, his students’ involvement in politics made him a convenient scapegoat. Accused of corrupting youth and undermining the state, he was tried and executed in 399 BCE—just after Pluto exited Aquarius.
His death marked a profound shift in Athens’ intellectual climate. Plato, deeply affected by his teacher’s execution, concluded that democracy unguided by philosophical reasoning could become unjust. This insight eventually led to the founding of the Academy—the first Western institution devoted to systematic philosophical education.
Yet this Leonine authority was ultimately no match for Aquarian coordination. Athens’ naval power depended on triremes manned by 30,000 rowers from the lowest social class, the thetes. Their collective labor gave them unprecedented leverage, enabling them to demand full citizenship rights.(6)
While the Spartans could afford elite armor and temporarily seize control, this small warrior group could not maintain dominance without acknowledging the political power of the masses. The Demagogues may have been able to silence one thought leader, but they could not silence 30,000 voices. Democracy was eventually restored—not through charismatic rulers, but through coordinated collective agency.
Pluto in Leo: 271-256 BCE
This period coincided with a burst of scientific creativity centered around the decentralized scholarship of Alexandria. Rather than suppressing inquiry, this environment allowed knowledge to flourish through individual brilliance supported by shared institutions.
Archimedes demonstrated how a small, singular force (Leo) could move enormous weights (Aquarius) through leverage. His inventions—from war machines to the Archimedean screw—reshaped engineering, irrigation, and energy generation.(7)
Euclid’s Elements became the foundational geometry text for over two millennia, while Eratosthenes synthesized astronomy, geography, and mathematics to calculate Earth’s circumference and establish latitude–longitude mapping. Exposure to diverse sources made individual innovation possible.
Age of Air: 332-690 CE
Pluto in Leo: 465-481 CE
The fall of Rome in 476 CE brought the destruction of libraries, educational systems, and philosophical inquiry in Western Europe. Centralized Christian orthodoxy increasingly suppressed speculative theology like Origenism and classical science.
Yet knowledge survived through decentralized efforts. Monastic Scriptoria—isolated, labor-intensive, and often peripheral efforts by monks—was the quiet intellectual engine that kept the lights on during the “Dark Ages.”
Pluto in Aquarius: 550-573 CE
Preservation took new forms elsewhere. In 550 CE, Buddhist scholars in Fang Shan, China began carving sutras into cave walls to protect them from censorship and destruction. This decentralized, collective effort preserved sacred texts for centuries.
Meanwhile, the Second Council of Constantinople (553 CE) further narrowed acceptable inquiry, condemning Origenist theology during The Second Origenist Crisis and framing its proponents as dangerously egalitarian “Isochristoi”—those who presumed equality with Christ (equality being an Aquarian ideal).(8)
Amid this repression, a new religious leader was born in 571 CE: the Prophet Muhammad, who would transform Arabian society by unifying decentralized tribal traditions into a monotheistic faith centered on a single written text. Thus, while some decentralized groups successfully preserved intellectual thought, other centralized authorities sought to suppress or consolidate it.
Age of Air: 1185-1425 CE
Pluto in Leo: 1201-1218 CE
Genghis Khan rose to power in 1206 CE, unleashing devastating centralized force. Around the same time, the Albigensian Crusade annihilated the Cathars, whose alternative Christian structure threatened papal authority.
However, there was also accountability of Leonine figures by the people. In 1215 CE, a group of barons wrote the Magna Carta and stated that even the king had to be subject to the law and not above it.
This period also saw the rise of medieval universities in Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Cambridge. These institutions standardized knowledge but tightly controlled acceptable inquiry. This intellectual gatekeeping was seen in particular with the 1210 Papal Condemnation of Amaury of Bène. Amalric was a philosopher who taught pantheism—the belief that God is all things and all things are God (another Aquarian ideal).
Pluto in Aquarius: 1286-1307 CE
William Wallace is an iconic figure of leading a revolt against monarchy. Although he was executed in 1305, his efforts were soon followed by Robert the Bruce’s coronation as King of Scotland in defiance of the English reassertion of rule.
Simultaneously, Pope Boniface VIII’s assertion of absolute papal authority in Unam Sanctam provoked backlash. The Outrage of Anagni (1303) shattered papal moral authority after he was kidnapped and held hostage for three days. King Philip IV then moved to destroy the Knights Templar—an independent, transnational order who answered only to the Pope—using torture and forced confessions to eliminate a powerful Aquarian institution that operated outside of his rule.
Recurring Patterns in Ages of Air
Across these periods, we repeatedly see both groups and leaders exerting power over either centralized authority or the people. Some leaders got their way, while others were held accountable. Similarly, some ‘organized’ groups were condemned, while other decentralized groups thrived. Some repeat themes include:
silencing voices or groups outside of centralized power,
dangerous group think and moral absolutism,
technological and democratic innovations empowering the many,
decentralized efforts protecting intellectual life,
genocidal abuses of absolute power,
recurring popular resistance,
and institutional gate-keeping of knowledge.
This is not a clear cut list where Pluto in Leo means power to the king and Pluto and Aquarius means power to the people. It does paint a picture though of the type of environments and efforts that sustained thought leadership and those that didn’t. So, what does this tell us about the quality of the time we are living in now?
In Part Three, we’ll gather these archetypal threads and add a few crucial insights particular to the United States to examine what the current Pluto in Aquarius within an Age of Air may be asking of the government, Silicon Valley, and we the people.
Footnotes:
References:
2025 United States government online resource removals. (2025, December 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_government_online_resource_removals
Andreas, P. (2013). Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America.Oxford University Press.
Archimedes’ screw. (2025, December 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes%27_screw
Brennan, C. & Coppock, A. (Hosts). (2025, December 1). Monthly Astrology Forecasts (No. 514) [Audio podcast episode]. In The Astrology Podcast. https://theastrologypodcast.com/2025/12/01/december-astrology-forecast-2025
Chivers, T. (2025, December 12). Trump signs executive order banning states from regulating AI. Semafor. https://www.semafor.com/article/12/12/2025/trump-signs-executive-order-banning-states-from-regulating-ai
Christopher, J. (2021, November 28). Pluto Ingress: Timeline. Cyclical Dynamics. https://cyclicaldynamics.com/pluto-ingress-timeline/
Evans, B., & Pine, L. (2024). Introduction: Black Markets During the Second World War. Global Food History, 10(3), 267–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/20549547.2024.2400023
Fiveable Content Team. (September 2025). “World history: 1400 to present review—black markets.” Fiveable. Retrieved November 25, 2025. https://fiveable.me/key-terms/world-history-since-1400/black-markets
Goodwin, M. (2006). Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts. Cambridge University Press.
Grasse, R. (2023). Drawing Down the Fire of the Gods - Reflections on the Leo/Aquarius Axis. Astrodienst. https://www.astro.com/astrology/in_rgleoaqu_e.htm
Hatsuda, K. and Sakasai, A. (2016) The Black Market as City: New Research on Alternative Urban Space in Occupied Japan (1945-52) [Online detail summary]. Princeton Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism & the Humanities. https://arc-hum.princeton.edu/black-market
Kelly, W. E. (2021). Black Market in the 1940’s. EBSCO Knowledge Advantage, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/military-history-and-science/black-market-1940s#full-article
Kurbalija, J. (2025, January 21). Tech at Trump’s inauguration: Visible presence, loud absence. Diplo. https://www.diplomacy.edu/blog/tech-at-trumps-inauguration-visible-presence-and-loud-absence/#:~:text=The%20imagery%20was%20striking:%20at,tech%20power%20under%20Trump%202.0
Moss, A. (2025, September 7). Anthropic’s $1.5 billion speeding ticket.Copyright Lately. https://copyrightlately.com/anthropic-settlement/
Mystic Medusa, “Jupiter-Saturn Conjunctions from 2092 BC - 2100 CE.” https://mysticmedusa.com/jupiter-saturn-conjunction-dates/
Okrent, D. (2010). Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Scribner.
Origenist crises. (2025, September 1). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origenist_crises
Oxford English Dictionary. (2011). Black Market. In oed.com Retrieved December 9, 2025. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/black-market_n
Peloponnesian War. (2025, December 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War
The Public Interest Corpus. (2025). Principles and Goals.https://publicinterestcorpus.org/principles-and-goals/
Tarnas, R. (2006). Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View. Plume.
United States Mint. (2025, November 12). United States Mint Hosts Historic Ceremonial Strike for Final Production of the Circulating One-Cent Coin [Press release]. https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/united-states-mint-hosts-historic-ceremonial-strike-for-final-production-of-the-circulating-one-cent-coin
