On Monday, April 28th, 2025 at about 10:33pm GMT, both Spain and Portugal were hit by massive power outages, subsequently sinking both countries into darkness. Speculations on the cause of this outage, which at the time of this writing are still unknown, have pointed to excessive reliance on solar energy and/or a potential cyberattack. In seemingly unrelated news, just days before, on April 26th, at the funeral of Pope Francis, President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met for an impromptu sit down meeting at the Vatican. While these two events appear to be unrelated, both of them occurred during the recent Mars/Pluto opposition and both events offer striking illustrations of the themes of this tense astrological aspect.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/large-parts-spain-portugal-hit-by-power-outage-2025-04-28
https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraines-zelenskiy-met-trump-rome-zelenskiys-office-says-2025-04-26
Mars, the planet of conflict, aggression, and severings, is currently wandering through the Sun-ruled fire sign of Leo. In opposition to Mars, we have Pluto, which represents power, control, crises, destruction, and the underworld, in the Saturn-ruled air sign of Aquarius. In an opposition aspect, the planets are in direct confrontation with one another and negotiations may prove difficult, especially if malefics are involved.
In the case of the power outage in Spain and Portugal, we have Mars (severing/cutting) in opposition to Pluto (power) in Aquarius and plunging each respective country into darkness (Pluto as God of the Underworld). The fixed air sign of Aquarius brings themes of the collective, technological progress, and social connectivity. As this is a fixed sign, Pluto’s presence brings a destabilizing force to a territory concerned with maintaining stability. So here, we have a very literal cutting of the power grid which provides energy to the collective.
Following the power outage, speculation swirled online as to the cause of the failure. Many have suggested this was part of a cyberattack, which thematically aligns with Pluto in Aquarius and has consistently been one of the threats predicted to occur during this 20-year transit by many astrologers. Pluto, representing destruction and underworld criminal figures, in the air sign of Aquarius (technology/humanity) would appear to align with this theory.
But another more likely, though far more prosaic theory, is that the power outage was due to over reliance upon renewable solar (Mars in the Sun-ruled fire sign of Leo) and wind (air sign of Aquarius) energy. As mentioned previously, Aquarius is a sign concerned with future forward looking technological advances and renewable energy is often promoted as the next step in energy infrastructure. Just a week before, officials in Spain were celebrating the fact that they had reached 100% renewable energy for the day, powering the entire grid using solar and wind energy. Red Electrico (an appropriately titled Mars/Pluto in Aquarius name) has denied these allegations. But, Pluto’s presence here, activated by the Mars transit, suggests there are unseen, hidden dangers to these technologies that are now rising to the surface.
https://stephenheins.substack.com/p/headline-over-reliance-on-renewables
In the case of the Trump/Zelensky meeting, we have President Trump, who natally has Mars in Leo in his 1st house facing off against Zelenskyy. In natal charts, Mars in Leo lends a certain boldness in character, a defiant individualism, and a willingness to speak inconvenient truths, even if it ruffles a few feathers. In Trump’s natal chart, Pluto is transiting through his 7th house of relationships, marriage, and enemies. Pluto’s 20 year transit through this area of Trump’s chart suggests destruction/regeneration, crises, power struggles, paranoia/fear, and the unearthing of buried secrets in one on one relationships. Trump’s stated mission is to uproot the amorphous, hidden, so-called deep state, which, he believes, has infiltrated the world at large and is the hidden power behind President Zelenskyy. Trump has noted that Ukrainian government and the military supporting Zelenskyy is full of theft and corruption, adding further undertones of Plutonian underworld themes.
Also noteworthy is that Zelenskyy, who also has Mars in Leo, has Sun in Aquarius in his natal chart, suggesting a person willing to stand alone or go against the grain. Pluto is currently transiting his natal Sun, which speaks to transformations and crises, both internal and external. Under the previous administration, Zelenskyy enjoyed an almost celebrity-like status and was routinely fawned over by the media. But, as Pluto conjoins his natal Sun, Zelenskyy’s star-like quality has been noticeably dimmed.
In a now famous picture of two men, Trump, who again has Mars in Leo in the first house, sits directly in opposition to Zelenskyy, who is dressed in very Plutonian fashion, all black, outside the funeral of the Pope (further Plutonian undertones). Both men have opposite views on how to end (or if to end) the war in Ukraine and both men have shown an unwillingness to budge from their current stances. This is the nature of an opposition, where both sides are diametrically opposed on a 180 degree angle and unable to reach an agreement.
This summer, we will have a preview of the next few years of astrological weather as a fallen and cranky Saturn conjoins a deceptively illusory Neptune in Aries, supported by sextiles from a generationally transformative Pluto in Aquarius and the unforeseen disruptions of Uranus in Gemini. How this all plays out is uncertain, but the astrological weather ahead suggests the road before us is unstable and built on shifting foundations.
