On August 29, 2025, Pluto went out of bounds. It’s a cosmic feature that will intermittently mark the next decade, and one that will profoundly change the shape of the world in ways we cannot foresee – or maybe in the wildest ways we can imagine! Whenever I think of Out of Bounds planets, I have the image of the Trickster in mind – not inherently good or bad but certainly an energy that is hard to fathom.
Out of Bounds is a term related to declination. Declination tells us how far above or below the celestial equator a planet lies. The celestial equator is just the equator of the Earth projected out into space. The Sun’s path (called the ecliptic) lies at an angle to the celestial equator, but it never travels more than 23.26.22 degrees above or below it. From Earth’s perspective, normally, the planets in our solar system will also follow this similar path but every now and then, one goes off the playing field, so to speak, moving much higher or lower than the Sun’s path. Now it’s in no man’s land, the place where the rules don’t apply, the area beyond the king’s reach. Devoid of rules or reason to curb behaviour the planet, the archetype, the character, is free to explore its full range of expression, hence ‘genius or criminal’ a descriptor of extremes.
Pluto is already a planet connected with extremes. After all, he is the Lord of the Underworld, the God who presides over death – both physical and metaphorical. Pluto eradicates what is unnecessary, empowers (or disempowers), razes to the ground (and builds back a thousand times stronger), transmutes, alchemises. Pluto energy is the crow who died quietly of old age, decomposing, smelly then picked clean by bugs so nothing goes to waste, white bones, a delicate skull placed with reverence on my altar. Pluto is the secrets I keep, sometimes even from myself, to hold trauma at bay. He’s also the potent riches that come from facing my shadows. Pluto is within all of us and for the next ten years, there will be periods of time when we’ll get Pluto working in even more extreme ways to push us towards the transformation we don’t think is possible.
A way to tap into the vibe of OOB planets is to consider, what would you do if there were literally no rules, no inhibitions, no threat of consequences, no law, no prison, no imposed moral compass? Think too what the world might be like if we sought to emulate savants like artist Steven Wiltshire who can perfectly recreate pictures seen once with absolute precision, or Daniel Tammet who can calculate in his head faster than a calculator. People with these kinds of extraordinary abilities often show us that humans are capable of so much more than we think. We have barely scraped the surface of our potential and Pluto in Aquarius thinks it’s high time we deepened our understanding of how powerful the human mind really is.
For a reference point, the last time Pluto went through periods of OOB action was 1938 to 1953. It just so happens to be one of the most turbulent points in history. We had World War 2, the holocaust, splitting the atom and the rise of the nuclear age, the beginnings of the cold war, the discovery of DNA’s double helix. Astrologically Pluto can speak of our inheritance passed on through our genetics as well as soul history. Alan Turing also started us on the road to technology with his vast contribution to the creation of the modern computer we know and love/hate today! This was also the period that saw the rise of depth psychology, spear-headed by the works of Carl Jung and moody film noir was the entertainment of choice. Musical taste were also Pluto infused, from the beginnings of rock and roll with it’s clear sexual energy, along with big band/swing – reminiscent of soldier’s marching and of course sentimental ballads inspired by loss and loneliness in a time of war. Existentialism too, saw a rise in interest, perhaps a natural response to the horrors of war. Hitler rose to power on the back of Pluto’s OOB placement in bold, charismatic Leo – the sign of stars and kings.
Now as Trump decorates The White House with gold (he has 29 Leo rising!) and fascism and authoritarianism are on the rise, Pluto once again goes out of bounds. It’s likely that there will be echoes of this earlier period, but with one major difference – Pluto is now in Aquarius, the sign of the people. Whereas Leo makes one star the centre of attention, Aquarius says, no one is above the group. So, whilst we can clearly see the beginnings of similar themes that characterised the last Pluto OOB period, this time, it will be different. Transformation and rebirth will not come due to one man, but to a group – a society of people. As I said at the beginning of Pluto in Aquarius, this transit is all about ‘power to the people.’ I guess either way we look at it though, Pluto out of bounds is likely to be a time of significant turbulence, but this wild ride into the shadows may also generate incredible contrasting periods of light. Note that the Sabian symbol of this initial OOB period is ‘An Unexpected Thunderstorm.’ Yes, a storm is coming but one that will clear away the tension and return us to calm…eventually.
Out of interest, I cast this chart for this first period of Pluto out of bounds. Pluto just recently returned to being out of bounds again on August 12, 2026. All dates for the next decade are below.
Here is the chart for Pluto’s first trek out into the wild. I’ve already talked about Pluto being part of a Talent Triangle along with Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Sedna in previous posts. My August 2025 forecast on YouTube also contained information about this if you need a refresher. So, we begin this period then with an incredible spiritual pattern that speaks of a new world in creation as the old is taken down, and everything is connected to new ideas, new technology, new understanding of the mind itself. Even more astounding is that Pluto is conjunct asteroid DNA. It’s incredible because it was in the last year of Pluto being out of bounds previously, 1953, that the double helix was discovered which then laid the groundwork for understanding how genetic material is passed down. And here we are again, with asteroid DNA amplified by Pluto as it goes out of Bounds. Asteroid DNA by the way, is number 55555 – what an extraordinary numerological signature! Five x five is rooted in the war by the way, a way of saying ‘I hear you loud and clear’. Maybe our DNA has some more hidden surprises for us, after all, Pluto is excellent at breaking codes!
Opposite Pluto sits asteroid Iris, alongside Venus. The Venus-Pluto struggle may mean that part of our struggle during this out of bounds period may be connected to our financial systems. The difference between rich and poor is likely to be an ongoing story that eventually will enforce change – probably in ways we have not yet thought of. Iris is the goddess of the rainbow so there is a sense that what begins now is a bridge-building exercise to the next level of our development.
But Iris is also associated with the eye, and my first immediate thought was that Pluto conjunct DNA and opposite Iris speaks of eye scanners – biometric authentication. In a world where AI is currently under little to no regulation and now out in the wild, where it’s already becoming difficult to differentiate between what is real and what is fake, where criminality too has been allowed to run amok, we are going to need something (says the authorities) that will ensure we are who we say we are. But perhaps too, we could say that asteroid Iris and DNA reiterates the story I’d already intuited, that we are changing how we see ourselves, and in the change of perspective, all manner of possibilities become available to us. A rainbow occurs as light is put through a prism. Is there also something here about ‘shattering’ light in such a way that we see a host of colours that we never saw before? Or is it literally the power of light? The possibilities here are mind boggling!
One final point to note is that, once Pluto comes back in bounds in 2035, we will not see another period of Pluto out of bounds for perhaps thousands of years. My astrology program only goes up to the year 3000 but that’s far enough to tell us that this decade, this period of time we are living in, is going to be one of the most tumultuous and yet transformative periods in the history of humanity. When Pluto first began its journey through Aquarius, I noted that by the time this transit has finished, our idea of humanity itself will likely have significantly transformed. Right now, I think we have a general idea of what it is to be human. Pluto will challenge this, right down to the hidden code within. Our evolutionary journey is about to intensify. Buckle up.
Reference and Resource
For visual learners, check out this illustration of out of bounds planets on the Astrology University website.
Dan Waites has a video all about Pluto out of Bounds on his fabulous YouTube Channel, World Astrology Report.
Painting – Angel with the Flaming Sword by Franz Stuck
PLUTO OUT OF BOUNDS DATES
Enters 29/08/2025 – 14:02:25 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 22/11/2025 – 07:09:33 – (UT +0:00)
Enters 12/08/2026 – 11:51:23 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 10/12/2026 – 06:27:49 – (UT +0:00)
Enters 02/08/2027 – 21:43:50 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 20/12/2027 – 16:52:21 – (UT +0:00)
Enters 27/07/2028 – 19:43:34 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 25/12/2028 – 15:19:33 – (UT +0:00)
Enters 26/07/2029 – 05:09:53 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 28/12/2029 – 05:58:11 – (BST -1:00)
Enters 27/07/2030 – 12:45:07 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 28/12/2030 – 00:26:22 – (BST -1:00)
Enters 31/07/2031 – 11:29:31 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 25/12/2031 – 08:54:47 – (BST -1:00)
Enters 05/08/2032 – 21:04:08 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 19/12/2032 – 11:43:06 – (BST -1:00)
Enters 14/08/2033 – 17:55:24 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 12/12/2033 – 07:44:15 – (BST -1:00)
Enters 26/08/2034 – 13:39:09 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 02/12/2034 – 08:42:59 – (BST -1:00)
Enters 12/09/2035 – 06:56:29 – (BST -1:00)
Leaves 17/11/2035 – 15:07:53 – (BST -1:00)
This article first appeared on my Substack
