Pluto, Volume I: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul

by Jeffrey Wolf Green, Alan Oken (Foreword by)

If you have ever asked "Why am I here?" or "What are my lessons?" this book will help you to objectively learn the answers from an astrological point of view. Green shows you how the planet Pluto relates to the evolutionary and karmic lessons in this life and how past lives can be understood through the position of Pluto in your chart.

Beyond presenting key principles and ideas about the nature of the evolutionary journey of the Soul, this book supplies practical, concise and specific astrological methods and techniques that pinpoint the answers to the above questions. If you are a professional counselor or astrologer, this book is indispensable to your practice. The reader who studies this material carefully and applies it to his or her own chart will discover an objective vehicle to uncover the essence of his or her own state of being. The understanding that this promotes can help you cooperate with, instead of resist, the evolutionary and karmic lessons in your life. Green describes the position of Pluto through all of the signs and houses, explains the aspects and transits of Pluto, discusses Pluto in aspect to the Moon’s Nodes, and gives sample charts and readings. It is the most complete look at this "new" planet ever.

Genres: Astrology, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Occult, Reference, Psychology, Philosophy

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 1985

About the author

Jeffrey Wolf Green has been called the founder of Evolutionary Astrology because he first started to lecture on the revolutionary astrological paradigm in 1977 after receiving a dream from the spiritual master Swami Sri Yukteswar, Paramahansa Yogananda’s guru. In that dream the entire paradigm of Evolutionary Astrology was conveyed to Jeffrey.

This was the first time in astrology’s long history that a specific paradigm was realized that allowed for an understanding of the evolutionary progression of a Soul from life to life. Jeffrey lectured all over the world on Evolutionary Astrology from 1977 to 2001. He established Evolutionary Astrology schools in a number of countries and wrote books on Evolutionary Astrology.

The first of these, Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul, Volume I was published in 1984. It has been in continuous print ever since and has become one of the all-time best selling astrology books. Translations have been made into French, German, Dutch, Chinese, Bulgarian, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Serbian and other languages.

Volume II, Pluto: The Soul’s Evolution through Relationships was published in 1998 and has been in continuous print.

A third volume, Essays in Evolutionary Astrology: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul, was published in 2010. Essays was compiled by his daughter, Deva Green, from transcriptions of workshops Jeffrey gave over the years. It covers topics that are part of Jeffrey’s Evolutionary Astrology paradigm that were either not covered in depth or in some cases at all in his original two volumes.

Deva also compiled many other books by him based on his teachings over the years which include Neptune: Whispers From Eternity, The Structure Of The Soul, Relationships: Our Essential Needs, Medical Astrology, Lucifer: The Influence Of Evil In The Horoscope, and Uranus: Freedom From The Known.

Since starting his original Pluto School in 1994, Jeffrey had many EA students, a number of whom are now professional EA astrologers. He personally counseled over 30,000 clients in his lengthy career. This exposure to so many Souls from so many different backgrounds and orientations allowed him to come to the deepest possible understandings of the nature of the Soul. He communicated these insights through all of his teachings.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I've never read about Pluto much, but apparently mine is in Libra in the 10th house, which means in this lifetime I'm learning how to create balance in my relationships with other people and what my place is in the larger socio-economic system in which I live. It actually was pretty darn accurate in describing my relationship dynamics and issues I'm working through, not to mention my ex-girlfriend's issues (jeez that's the last time I'm dating someone whose Pluto is in the 4th house!). Heh. So it goes like this: your soul travels through all the houses in it's journey. And another interesting thing is that being in Libra (which corresponds to the 7th house, so you kind of get two to look up), means that over the course of things I've recently switched genders. Which is something that another psychic told me, that this is my first lifetime as a woman. Of course, she also said it was my first lifetime on this planet and before that I was a telepathic computerized alien creature on an entirely different kind of planet for a long time. Which kind of made sense too. I mean, I have always felt like I was maybe from a different planet from everyone else. =)

This book doesn't discuss the interplanetary dimension. So I don't know how that factors in with Pluto. But anyway, it's interesting. I'm trying to figure out the whole way that souls evolve through time--the big picture of what the hell is going on here anyway. The mechanics of karma and reincarnation and all of that.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a bad book. On the contrary, it’s one of the most original examples of its genre. But despite glowing reviews from eminent peers, some of whom write better, it’s not well written, even if you accept its main premise (which I’ll get to). And so, in almost the opposite way to pop texts like Linda Goodman’s, it’s the kind of book that gives astrology a bad name. Here’s a sample of Jeff Green’s ponderous style:

By following the taboo of pornography he got in touch with the basis of his desires and motivations of a separating nature. In other words, by actually following these kinds of experiences the necessary self-knowledge occurred because of them. By contrasting these experiences with the experiences that occurred because of his spiritual direction, he finally became free of the compulsive attraction to this negative taboo. He did this by exercising discrimination and applying his will to cancel the negative temptations when they occurred. In addition, he went on to become a psychological counselor for others who had deviant sexual desires and problems. In this way, he purged the negative desires, temptations and taboos from his Soul (p. 37).

Green is nothing if not idiosyncratic. Take this excerpt from the chapter on Pluto in the ninth house:

These visions simply reflect the individual’s highly developed intuition into the nature of things, and the future. Again, they may not know why they know or “see” these things, they just do. Problems occur because others often do not want to know about the vision, or do not understand how the person’s vision may concern them. Jesus of Nazareth had a Ninth House Pluto in Virgo. He knew the truth of his visions, yet others were confused or did not want to know about them because of the effect they would have on their own lives (p. 170).

Did I mention that Green has a ninth house Pluto, too? Yet, who knows for sure when Christ was born? Green omits chart data, just citing sources (some of them ‘private’). He takes Christ’s data (1 March, 7 BC, 1.21 am, Bethlehem) from Donald Jacobs – who, like his exhaustively researched subject, also has a Pisces Sun, Moon, Jupiter and Uranus.

Cue laughter.

So why not stick to example charts with less contested data? House positions depend on an accurate time, not just a date. Yet Green’s work is revered by professionals, not just amateurs.

In general, most astrology texts for students and practitioners more or less fit one of three categories:

mystical
psychological
mechanistic

Type #1 authors resemble preachers in style and hierarchic bias; the second type sound more like therapists, storytellers or life coaches; and the third type write like researchers or scientists. While these tendencies can, of course, overlap in varying proportions, Green’s solemn, prescriptive, oracular text neatly fits the first category. And, much as I’ve done above, Green tends to neatly classify all phenomena (not just planets, signs, houses and aspects): e.g., ‘Pluto and the Four Natural Evolutionary Conditions’; ‘The Three Reactions to the Evolutionary Impulse’; ‘The Four Ways Pluto Affects Evolution in Our Lives’.

Though it might sound simplistic, this organising device gives the reader, who typically wants to gauge their own status, ample scope to reflect on past and present patterns. And here, ‘past’ means as far back as you can imagine. Like most of his peers, Green takes karma and reincarnation for granted. Any reader who doesn’t may find his logic outlandish:

With Uranus in the Twelfth House retrograde in Libra, square the South Node, opposed Mercury (itself square the South Node) and Uranus sesquiquadrate Pluto, it also seems that [Hitler] must have experienced lifetimes of persecution because his ideas were considered crazy or too radical. It would not be unlikely that he had been incarcerated in an insane asylum (p. 252).

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's rather ironic that he thanks Eileen Naumann for teaching him to be concise when this book is easily far too long. There are some good ideas in here but the presentation is off putting so unless you reading carefully you may miss it. The last section can be easily ignored.

[daemyra, the realm's delight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must-read for students of Evolutionary Astrology! A resource to flip through. Love the birth charts of famous people to review.

[- Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hits differently for a Plutonian, I found myself sobbing at certain points.

[Malika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-read for those interested understand Pluto's role in your evolutionary journey. I'm not an astrologer, I just really wanted to understand myself and life more. Timothy from Rasa Lila Healing. Suggested this book and I can't understand why it's not more widely referenced in astrology. I'm so glad I found him because I wanted to move beyond popular astrology and get into the deeper meanings. I am currently reading volume two. Also, you may get emotional or triggered reading this book. I've read the sections related to my Pluto house several times. Great book to keep on hand for reference.

[Mindy Tillery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be very informative in ways that I wasn't even expecting. The descriptions and chart examples were well documented with many years of research. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to delve deeper into soul personal matter. From the perspective of Pluto the lord of the underworld in Greek Mythology it is truly the unseen where your eternal soul resides.

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that the author has a very structured viewpoint on the subject which helps the reader navigate with a sense of clarity, direction and purpose.

However, his ideas and samples are far-fetched, abstract and vague. The author goes into very radical conclusions and seems to spread his viewpoint as the only truth.

[Marianne Mersereau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This text is highly regarded by those in the astrology community and while I found it interesting, I think it is more suited to professionals and not hobbyists like myself. I did learn some things, but would need a guide or teacher to really comprehend the teachings.

[Shakti444]

This is a very thought provoking book and resonates with me then and still does today. I bought the book back in the late 80's, falling apart now, and decided to download it onto my Kindle Fire to refer to again and again with it falling apart.

[Dar A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book about Pluto

Im still reading this book and I will for a long time. It is exactly what I was looking for to understand the "Why's" of Pluto position.

[Carol Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential Reading

This is a challenging book that I will need to reread many times to take in all the incredible depth in this subject matter. The very best kind of book!

[Suzanne Deneuve Hall]

A must read.

[Sesh · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author means well, but the book is really bad. When I first read it I thought it was alright. But after several years of reading many other astrology books, learning a lot more and practising astrology a lot more, I went back to this book and could not even get past the first ten pages.

[Dorothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The" introduction to Evolutionary Astrology, using Pluto and its polarity point as a guide. I found immersing myself Jeff Green's material to be a Plutonian experience in and of itself: rich, deep, encompassing, revealing, and transformative.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

long before Pluto's discovery astrologers studied soul in the chart

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I continue to dip into this book because it has so much to glean and absorb.

[Min · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder if it will be any different if I had read this book a year ago? Maybe it is fate... after all.

[Christine Granados · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another astrologer I love.

[Stargazer · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE book on Pluto, packed full of original perceptions too meaty to digest even over years of study. Indispensable.

[Cassandra Thiesing · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best astrological books on Pluto. Very informative.