Warriors and Goddesses: What the World Soul Is Dreaming Right Now

Mars-Pluto and Venus-Jupiter make their appearance in the news.

Jun 07, 2026

You're reading WOODRUFF. I cover the convergence of pop culture, psychology, and astrology—now joined by archetypal astrologer Robert Anderson as a contributing writer.

ASTROLOGY TEACHES US to think symbolically. Whenever a particular image bubbles to the surface of the zeitgeist, it always does so for a reason; it points to something beyond its face value appearance. It alerts us to a particular condition of the world soul. When we learn to interpret symbols, we become fluent in the language of archetypes.

Let me illustrate this with a few recent examples:

Last week, the Cerne Abbas Giant featured prominently in UK news coverage due to restoration efforts by the National Trust. This chalk giant—which was sculpted into the hillside above the village of Cerne Abbas over 1000 years ago—is a totemic figure in the British cultural landscape.

Stretching over 180 feet, he is depicted with an erect penis and brandishing a club, a potent symbol of libidinal energy, sexual prowess, and pagan fierceness. The giant’s fresh burst of publicity coincided with a square between Mars and Pluto, the former having recently ingressed into the earth sign Taurus.

The Mars-Pluto energy is primal, aggressive, and darkly erotic. Its emergence in the zeitgeist is often accompanied by phallic imagery and symbolism. Who could forget when, during an exact Mars-Pluto opposition in 2021, Jeff Bezos announced to the world that he was heading into space aboard a penis-shaped rocket?

What are you trying to compensate for, Jeffrey?

Dick jokes aside, it’s no accident that the Cerne Abbas Giant has become the focus of renewed attention at this moment. Through the conjuring of such a symbol in global media, the archetypal psyche is cluing us into the deeper currents that are at work in the collective unconscious. The larger pattern of life is being disclosed to us in symbolic form.

A snapshot of what's making news right now provides ample evidence that the Mars-Pluto dynamic is powerfully present at this time:

In France, football celebrations turned violent, resulting in hundreds of injuries and one death; Mars-Pluto transits tend to accentuate the shadow of the Mars archetype—exposing the darker side of the archetypal athlete-warrior.
In the UK, feelings of intense anger and revulsion have been triggered by the release of police body-cam footage that showed a murder victim being handcuffed in his dying moments. The far right have, in turn, exploited this incident to inflame racial tensions and incite rioting.
Russia is hammering Ukraine in one of the most brutal assaults since the war began (during a Mars-Pluto conjunction, incidentally).
The animal kingdom is not exempt from this influence either: The Guardian reports that a new front has opened in the battle between swimming snakes and Balearic lizards, a cause of great concern to wildlife experts. Mars-Pluto transits have a way of showcasing Mother Nature at her gnarliest; bloody claws and fangs galore!

Beyond the dramatic headlines, we have likely felt these energies at work in more subtle ways in our lives. Mars-Pluto transits correlate with a greater incidence of cuts, bruises, and minor injuries. We may also find ourselves needing to manage intense aggression and erotic impulses, either in ourselves or those around us.

He-Man

On a cultural level, this transit coincides with the release of Masters of the Universe. I haven’t seen the film, but the poster conveys the Mars-Pluto energy in an unmistakable way.

Clearly designed to project an impression of red-blooded hyper-masculinity, this image features He-Man gripping a sword too large to fit inside the frame, looking poised to vigorously master... the universe.

This is the Cerne Abbas Giant reimagined for modern audiences: a primal warrior rising to the occasion, ready to vanquish his enemies. And there’s another echo—Nicholas Galitzine, the film’s lead actor, has an exact Mars-Pluto trine in his chart that is being activated by transiting Uranus.

Do you sense the archetypal resonance between these symbolically charged images?

That they are both prominent in the zeitgeist is no coincidence; it’s a synchronicity that reveals an archetypal truth. The primal-warrior archetype of Mars-Pluto is running riot in the collective unconscious, compelling us to act in ways that are more instinctive and assertive than usual.

The Goddess Victoria

Scanning the news, we find other images impacting our awareness. For instance, the image of a rare golden ring that was recently acquired by the South West Heritage Trust following its discovery by an amateur metal detectorist. The ring dates to ancient Rome and contains a gemstone depicting Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory, driving a two-horse chariot.

The news of this incredible find broke on June 2, just as Venus began a conjunction with Jupiter that will extend into the second half of June. Victoria is, in many ways, the feminine counterpart to Jupiter, as they are both associated with victory and good fortune.

Victoria is the perfect symbol of a Venus-Jupiter conjunction, as she combines these Jupiterian attributes with the feminine nature of Venus. Her present-day reemergence reflects the convergence of the Venus and Jupiter archetypes into a singular deity that will preside over mid-June.

This discovery is Victoria’s way of announcing her return to the world; a wink from the cosmos telling us that the Venus-Jupiter conjunction is now in effect.

Enjoy this transit while it unfolds and pay attention to all the ways that love and beauty are celebrated over the coming weeks. This confluence has the potential to enhance your social life and presents opportunities for cultural, taste-related, and artistic indulgences!

Whenever a striking image appears in your life or succeeds in capturing public attention, ask yourself: what does this image evoke, and why has it appeared at this moment?

The spirit of the times is always converging around symbols in much the same way that our nightly dreams do: the Cerne Abbas Giant, He-Man, the goddess Victoria. They appear and disappear in accordance with the fluctuating moods of the world soul, which are in turn reflected by the movements of the planets in the night sky.

Cheers,

Robert Anderson is the creator of Archetypal Outlook, where he explores news and culture through the lens of archetypal astrology. Drawing on the work of Richard Tarnas, his writing blends in-depth research with up-to-the-minute insights into current affairs.

Image credits: Cerne Abas Giant via Wiki Commons, Blue Origin rocket via Spacecraft Wiki, Masters of the Universe poster via Wikipedia, Ilminster ring via CBS News.

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