Pluto

There will come a day when Pluto - will stagger through the Universe,
with his crystal Palaces in ruins.
[Privately received communication from a Druid Priestess.]
***
Pluto has two fields of operation in the Sacred Tarot: As the Plutonic Archetype of Arcanum 22: and then as co-ruler with Mars of Scorpio, in ARCANUM 4.
PLUTO IN THE SACRED TAROT. ARCANUM 22.

SCORPIO IN THE SACRED TAROT. ARCANUM 4.

GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD

See: ALCHEMY
All considerations of Alchemy, under the auspices of PLUTO.
Under the great Archetype of Pluto we can situate the Alchemical Work. In the Hermetic methodology, this is obvious, as the metals are underground, and therefore within the Realm of the Lord of the Underworld - PLUTO.
Starting from one perspective, we have seen that the word 'Alchemy' was linked to Egypt, and The Black - therefore unseen and interior, like the underground metals.
There is a great amount of associated material on PLUTO alone, that one is at a loss where to begin. Following the Hermetic paradigm of 'As Above, So Below' let us begin with the Outer associations of Pluto, that is, the Celestial, or Heavenly Pluto where Pluto manifests as the astrological Ruler of the sign Scorpio, in association with the Planet MARS.
The astrologers of ancient and modern times describe Scorpio as the House of Death, giving this sign its qualifications with Pluto, Lord of Death. Both the Scorpion and the Eagle are symbols of Scorpio indicating the actual heights and depths which we could call the perimeters of experience which are ruled by Pluto in Scorpio. This is due to the heights and depth which the Planet Pluto rises and falls in its orbit around the sun at the outer edges of the Solar System.
Pluto's orbit has a steep inclination to the eclipse of 17 degrees. A twin in size to Mars.
St John, who wrote The Book of Revelation is always shown with an Eagle - the depths of mystic experience suitable contained within the Scorpio/Pluto relationship. These polarities are shown by the scorpion, representing the mystical dark night of the soul, while the Eagle symbolizes the ascent to higher reaches of thought.
The Earth sign, VIRGO, as VEILED ISIS in the Tarot - Lunar - is kept apart from the Plutonic and Martian Scorpio by the Balance of Libra - which contains a series of deeper mysteries which will be unfolded in Time.
The Heart of Scorpio is the great Star known as ANTARES, its name conveys gleaming as well: ant - against Aries. With Pluto, the predominating influence in Scorpio is Mars - but because of the powerful influence of Antares - the power of Mars is very different to that in Aries. This is also because Scorpio is eight houses away from Aries, the eighth note is the beginning of another octave, whether higher or lower.
In the C.C.Zain Egyptian system of the Tarot:
Scorpio (containing Pluto) vibrates to Low C;
Mars (Arcana 16) to Middle C; and
Aries (Arcana 13) to High C - all eight notes apart.

As the astrological family of Scorpio and the Mars signs are related to all the myths and laws of Pluto, here is a brief summary of all the salient points.
PLUTO and MARS (with ANTARES) in SCORPIO has the Key Word of REALIZATION, expressed on the physical as the realization of acts, directed by the knowledge of the truth, the love of Justice, the Force of the Will and the works of the organs.
The Planet MARS in ARIES, as the Key Word of TRANSFORMATION, expressing on the physical, natural death, that is to say, the transition through which the soul leaves its physical form to function in an astral form in the astral world.
MARS as a planetary symbol, has as its Key words, ACCIDENT or CATASTROPHE, expressing in the physical world, the ruin of fortune.
Contained within the sign of Scorpio, ruled by Pluto, are three Festivals called: All Saints Day, All Souls Day and Halloween - from the 31st October to the 2nd November. These are situated within the first decanate of Scorpio called: OPHIUCHUS (October 23rd to November 2nd.)
These are 'occult' Festivals, which Edgar Cayce thinks record the cataclysmic changes of the earth during the continental submergence of Atlantis, and the ancient ritual is now termed a day of prayer for the departed saints. The Druids (as direct descendants of the priests of Atlantis) consider All Saints Day (November 1st.)as a day of prayer for the departed. But generally it was seen as a period when the denizens of other worlds were closest to ours and thus it was possible for sensitives to hold discourse with them. Though these dates are associated with witches, goblins, dwarfs and hobgoblins, etc. communications with the denizens of the underworld of Pluto are not necessarily evil
That Pluto and Mars are linked to the Corn Mysteries (i.e. Death as the Reaper with scythe in Arcanum 13)
Leadbeater adds: "The head priest of the Druids, who was usually the King, called together his fellow priests throughout the world, wherever their centres were, by mental telepathy - and held a tremendous festival - the first part being thanksgiving to God, whose symbol was the Sun, for their harvest, the seasons gone before and the life force and strength which had been given them by the Sun. Then the priest blessed all those who were not present in body in the gathering, especially those preparing to incarnate upon this Earth, the departed souls."
Considering now, the mythological aspects of Pluto as co-ruler with Mars, of Scorpio - we find that the Realm of the Underworld, the Subterranean Kingdom of Pluto, Lord of Death &c., plays a large part in the Greek Myths.
It is also in Scorpio, a Water sign where the Four Rivers of Hades are to be found, each named according to a cosmic law involved with the planetary principle of Pluto.
The most well-known river is the STYX, which means 'hateful', by the shores of which the Gods swore their most binding oaths. If the oath was broken, a period of one years silence and nine years exile had to be maintained. The time factor here involves cycles of the planetary movements.
The next river is COCYTUS - "Wailing for the Dead" which links to the three occult Festivals in Scorpio.
The river ACHOS, means "pain", analogous to death, while the fourth river PYRIPHLEGETHON ' burning with the pyre' suggests an interpretation of the Phoenix, which is another Death and Transformation symbol for Scorpio, in that it rises from the ashes, like the ascending eagle of the powers of Scorpio. Perhaps the ashes are the lower powers of the Scorpion?
[See CERATION on this point - the alchemical process of reducing to ASH.]
The proximity of the descent into Hades of Hercules and his subsequent cremation gives enough of a pointer that the Phoenix is linked to the Mysteries of Pluto in Scorpio.
A fifth river LETHE is associated with re-incarnation and the Spring of Memory. Pluto is closely connected to the Moon in mythological terminology. Resurrection is symbolized by Arcanum 20 - and is thus linked to Lunar Cycles, while cremation by Fire seems more linked to Solar Cycles, as indicated by Maier using the Phoenix as the symbol of the Great Sothiac Year of 1,460 years. The cycles of the Moon, as she waxes and wanes, describes the process of Ascension and Resurrection, as seen in the story of Jesus Christ where after a period in the dark world of the Tomb, the Realm of Pluto - the Stone was rolled away and the Resurrection took place. This paradigm reflects down the ages in all Death and Resurrection myths, linked to the Moon/Pluto and the Underworld - where the seeds in order to germinate, need darkness and moisture. In Greek myths, the seeds was stored in underground silos from June to October when it was re-united with Mother Earth in the sowing.
This is by analogy a symbol of the unconscious storage systems, and there are various ways of looking at this, from the very gross to the more subtle persepctives . . .
See: UNDERGROUND TREASURE

THE HISTORY OF THE NAME KHEM.
The Dark Land. Al Khem. Egypt. Pluto.
The old name for Egypt was KHEM, or the Black Land - which came to us as Al Khemia, through the Arabic - the Black Land of Egypt was the soil of the Nile River - and the crocodile as Maier says is "...the sulphur in the Nile." and: "...the sulphur in the blood."
In both G.R.S.Mead and Scott's Hermetica, a reading of Egypt as The Black, is given. Thus by association, the Hidden, the Occult, the Esoteric - that which is interior; the subconscious and the Storage Banks - from which we have to devise and operate systems of retrieval.
Thus the analogy of mining the ores of the metals from the Earth, is one such analogical operation. The crude metals of the seven planets are mined in the Earth - because these mining operations precede the alchemical Work properly - which takes place in the Laboratory.
In later stages I have termed this "An Archeology of Being." for archeology involves esoteric excavation beneath the surface of the Earth, and thus beneath the surface of the conscious mind. Esoteric archeology is merely a materialistic process.

PLUTO AND SUBTERRANEAN SYMBOLIC CLUSTERS OF THE DEEP.

This material on Pluto and the Underground/Unconscious symbolism can be extensively amplified.
What do we mean when we say "It is a very deep subject?"
A denial of the deep roots results in fruits not being produced. Eventually the whole tree will die.We say it is deep, because it is not accessible on the surface of things, that is to say, a certain amount of earth-moving is necessary to enter the deep strata. But earth-moving is unecological and rapes the substance of Mother Earth, Gaia, etc. Hence the injunction against mining in Tibet.
Natural fissures and entrances, such as caves, we considered more organic and natural entrances to the Depths. There are countless examples of these caves in mythology. Orpheus seemed to have a relationship with one of these openings.
THE ROSICRUCIAN VAULT
Underground vaults are of some vital significance to the Rosicrucian Mysteries as shown by F.A. Yates in her book 'The Rosicrucian Enlightenment' where the Tomb of R.C. is discovered containing the Book "M". That this discovery coincided with the appearance of new stars in the Constellations of CYGNUS and SERPENTIUS, and that this date also synchronizes with the beginning g of a New Great Sothic Year - is all food for further research. (See: PHOENIX for Sirius Cycles.)
If we are now entering an appreciation of Pluto as symbolic of the "unconscious Storage System" - then I feel there is a deeper word than unconscious that could be applied to this process, and one such word is: CHTHONIC - which leans/pertains to the Earth, or dwelling in or beneath the Earth. Or, belonging to the Underworld or the Divinities of the Subterranean Regions preceding the Olympian System. (Which is the strata on which our present "civilization" is based.)
In the kabalistic analysis of Names through Numbers, it is interesting to see that the word CHTHONIC adds up to 100 exactly, which is QUOPH - Q - which means in the Hebrew alphabet "back of the head'. The back of the head is the seat of the Old Reptilian Brain, which we could say was the region of our 'Chthonic' memory - and 100 is also the Number 1 - ONE - and therefore also MERCURY/HERMES/THOTH.
The chthonic/reptilian link with the back of the head in shown in the symbols of Mercury as the CADUCEUS, with two serpents coiled around a central staff - obviously the spinal column which rises out of the back of the head. Another, even deeper symbol is the UROBOROS - the Serpent Belt shown in Arcanum 1 - The Magus and other profound sites within Hermetic visual literature. UROBOROS is an extremely chthonic symbol and well represented by Mercury/Pluto as the ALEPH and TAU of the Tarot.
The Egyptian TAU - "...as a Deus Terminus, topped with a human head..." King, p. 299.
PLUTO = TAU.

King, Charles W. 'The Gnostics and Their Remains, Ancient and Mediæval.' 2nd Edition, David Nutt, London 1887.

The question is whether we find this underground treasure in the actual Earth or in the Ground of our Being/s, is of no concern. Both exist as so beautifully expressed in the Tibetan teachings on the gTerma Texts. gTerma is a subtle form of all that has been discussed above. As in the West, there are many different forms of gTerma - e.g. ground gTerma or Earth Treasures; water gTerma; air gTerma and deepest of all "Mind gTerma", which could be a chthonic retrieval from the deepest strata of consciousness of pre-programmed knowledge. In all of these operations there is a sense of "timing" - the Treasure, whether mental or physical is not released unless the conditions are right.

Perhaps it would be better to say: the deep strata of the "Mind" and leave aside considerations of whether it is conscious or unconscious. Though it is, obviously, by virtue of the "depth" at which this "material" is buried - as yet not "conscious". Here so much material is available which, from a Jungian influence - associates the unconscious, subconscious or collective unconsciousness, call it what you will - with the Ocean. As we have to attend to the information termed the:

JOURNEYS OF DESCENT into THE UNDERWORLD OF PLUTO

into the Mind Treasures; we have to realize that there are two traditional approaches and associated material which are basically:

THE DESCENT INTO THE EARTH, and :

THE DESCENT INTO THE WATER:

with the associative material being, the manner in which the Elements of Water and Earth coincide in these operations, with Fire also featuring as an Element of this process.

On the opposite pole of the Great Solar Centre of the Sun, is the dark outer edge of the Solar System, the realm of Plutonic experience.

In Alchemical terms, this is also the BLACK EARTH, corresponding to the chaos of the primal state, the NIGREDO, the blackness of the earth from which growth (germination) and movement proceed. This CARBON\BLACK - sub-consciousness progresses towards the Golden Apex - or, in other words - the Diamond Citadel. Both GOLD and DIAMOND have luminous qualities.