Near the end of November, 2008, Pluto will enter the sign of Capricorn, where it will remain for the next fifteen years. The move from Pluto in Sagittarius to the sign of the goat has already started to bring with it a new and startling tone—much more serious and sober. Whatever one thinks of the government’s plan to bail out Wall Street, many of the good times are already over on Main Street. Home foreclosures and joblessness are both rising. Easy financial credit is drying up. There is much less of a celebratory party atmosphere in the U.S. and in the world.

My book, Cosmic Trends, was written between 2004 and 2005. It was published in 2006. An entire section of the book is devoted to Pluto in Capricorn.

In Cosmic Trends, I wrote that when Pluto enters Capricorn, “the astrological symbol of intensity and explosive transformation [Pluto] will be symbolically linked with the planet of structure, boundaries, and security [Saturn, ruler of Capricorn].”

I predicted that Pluto’s entry into Capricorn would begin “ushering in a more serious tone…like a parent coming home early and interrupting the teenage Sagittarius party.” In addition, I noted that “A national or international series of events more severe than the events of September 11, 2001, will create a serious tone…”, although these events need not necessarily be related to terrorism. In all likelihood, the current financial tremors are only foreshocks.

If there is an upside to this darkening, I wrote, it is this: “Capricorn is associated with the hard and rocky mountaintop, the highest earthly plane. It is also the highest point in the natural horoscope, the gateway to heaven—making it, potentially, a very spiritual sign. One of the traits we can forecast for the coming Pluto in Capricorn era is a heightened spirituality attained as the result of hard knocks. Pluto in Capricorn spirituality will come about as a result of stumbling up difficult, rocky terrain into thin air.”