For five months, it seemed like nothing was progressing. On the night of Thursday to Friday, at exactly 3:36 AM Vienna time, Pluto in Aquarius stops at 3°04′ and begins moving forward again after 162 days. What is actually happening there, why won’t anyone in Vienna be able to see it with the naked eye, and why should it interest you anyway?
If it seemed to you since May that everything that should have been completed was resurfacing, then this is not happening to you alone. Old conflicts returned. Jobs suddenly lost their meaning, and relationships seemed empty. Plans came to a standstill without a clear reason. Astrologers associate this feeling with Pluto, which stopped and turned retrograde on May 6th at 5°30′ in Aquarius.
Pluto is not a planet for minor repairs. He is the god of the underworld, the lord of what must decay in order for something new to emerge. When he is retrograde, he does this work internally, quietly and without an audience. When he moves forward again, what has been simmering beneath the surface for five months gets a direction. This does not happen overnight, but it is irreversible.
Pluto will become direct again on Friday. Finally.
If this summer felt strange to you, there is a reason for it. Pluto has been retrograde since the beginning of May. On the night of Thursday to Friday, October 16th, he stops at 3:36 AM Vienna time and begins moving forward again. Five months of digging into old things are slowly coming to an end.
Why it is retrograde
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To be clear: Pluto never actually moves backward; it only appears that way from Earth. We orbit the sun much faster than he does, and we overtake him once a year. While we overtake him, it appears in the sky as if he is moving backward. It’s like when you pass a slower train and for a moment you think it’s moving backward.
Astrology is not so much interested in how it looks through a telescope, but in how it feels. And this summer felt like digging.
How it felt
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Pluto is the planet of great changes, the ones you don’t choose. When he is retrograde, these changes do not come from the outside, but from the inside. Many people felt like they were standing still this summer. Old stories, people from the past, and old questions returned. What seemed certain suddenly became questionable: job, relationship, apartment, friendship. Nothing had to break down, but everything demanded that you look at it again.
The direct movement doesn’t mean that everything will be easier tomorrow. Pluto is slow and will remain almost in the same position for a few more weeks. But the direction is changing. What became clear to you this summer, you can now gradually transform into decisions.
Pluto in Aquarius: Aquarius, community, and who holds the power
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Pluto has been in Aquarius since the end of 2024 and will remain there until 2043. Aquarius is the sign of community, equality, technology, and the internet. That’s why so much is changing in these years, especially in terms of who holds power, who has a voice, and who makes decisions. Pluto in Aquarius is slowly taking power away from those who held it alone and giving it to people who come together. For us at iks.haus, whose motto is ALL&EQUAL, this is a transit that we feel very strongly.
Pluto comes to a standstill at the very beginning of Aquarius. Old astrologers associated this part of the sign with Mercury and Saturn, i.e., with ideas and structure. Ideas that arose this summer now need a plan, deadlines, and people to carry them out. Without that, they will remain just beautiful thoughts.
Interestingly, Indian, Vedic astrology views this differently. They calculate based on the actual stars, so according to them, Pluto is not in Aquarius, but in Capricorn. If you look at the celestial chart, Pluto is actually in the constellation Capricorn. Capricorn is the sign of work, responsibility, and long-term plans. Both schools of thought ultimately say the same thing: Now is the time to build something.
Old alchemists had a simple rule for such moments: First, you break everything down, then you put something new together from what remains. Summer was the breakdown. Autumn is the putting together.
Can it be seen from Vienna?
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No, at least not with the naked eye. Pluto is so far away that its light takes almost five hours to reach us, and it shines thousands of times weaker than the faintest star you see in the sky. A large telescope is needed to observe it. If you are really interested, the Kuffner Observatory in Ottakring is a good place to inquire.
What now?
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The next three weeks will not be entirely calm. Starting on October 24th, Mercury will be retrograde, so expect delays and messages that are misunderstood. People from the past may also reappear, as we have written about here. On October 26th, the Sun and Pluto will form a tense aspect, which could lead to conflicts about who is in charge, or the feeling that someone is putting pressure on you. It’s nothing terrible if you know it’s coming.
What can you do? Sit down and write down what has changed since May, and avoid judging anyone, especially yourself. Then, choose one thing you want to build upon from that. It could be a project, a new goal, or a conversation you’ve been putting off for months. Start now, slowly. Postpone major decisions that depend on other people until mid-November, when Mercury will also have calmed down.
Pluto doesn’t like things being forced, but it also doesn’t like people running away. Those who are most successful are those who look at what remains after the dust has settled and move forward from there. Starting this Friday, things will move forward again.
You can read about how everything began in May in our article about the retrograde Pluto in 2026.