I have four tattoos. The stories behind them range from paradigm-shifting people and experiences that had a profound impact on my psyche, to the now-objectively hilarious “rebellion” of a privileged 18-year-old white girl against the perceived slights of her father.

In a few weeks, I will be getting my fifth — a Latin saying I came across last summer that I haven't been able to stop thinking about ... 

Or, “The stars incline us, they do not bind us.”

It doesn’t matter if you believe in a single god, multiple deities, some sort of greater universal energy, or nothing more than an absolute and unforgiving cosmic void that gave birth to our thoroughly improbable existence entirely by accident. The principle of this saying remains the same.

Each of us will experience moments in our lives where kismet, the universe, fate, destiny, a higher power, or pure chance will knock on our door and present us with a choice.

These choices take many forms.

A great and passionate love, a higher calling or purpose, a new and unexpected path, a way to go back and right a past wrong, the chance to start over, the radical illumination of a deep truth, a terrifying risk with an even greater reward, the opportunity to say what’s lived in our hearts but has remained unsaid, the ability to say goodbye once and for all to the people, places, and things we know we should have dropped a long time ago.

These are choices, however. So, while “the stars” will present them to us, they will not bind us toward a specific course of action. In fact, “the stars” don’t really care what you do at all.

If you want to know what I mean, just look at Pluto.

Pluto was discovered in 1930 and given its name by an 11-year-old English girl named Venetia Burney … and it’s been a crazy ride for Pluto ever since.

For example, I grew up in a world where Pluto was a planet. Admittedly, a planet that looked like little more than a speck of dust on a camera lens, but an honest-to-goodness planet nonetheless. Then it got downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006, which caused an outrage — particularly among Gen Xers and Millennials who, understandably, have developed a few trust issues over the years.

In astrology circles, Pluto has a positively wild reputation. It embodies the spirit of its Roman underworld namesake; a life-altering energetic force associated with dark secrets, death, sex, revolution, destruction, rebirth, and other irrevocable transformations. Later this year, Pluto will enter Aquarius for the first time in centuries. The last time that happened, we saw the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and much more.

As an added bonus for me personally, Pluto is also one of the ruling planets of Scorpio. That means I can lay the blame for my secretive, passionate, obsessive, aggressive, menace-to-society tendencies entirely at its feet. “Sorry I was an emotional terrorist last week. Pluto is the worst.”

Outstanding.

But you know who doesn’t give a fuck about any of these narratives? Pluto.

Planet. Not a planet. Gatekeeper of all things sex, death, rock-n-roll, and revolution. Completely inconsequential dwarf planet with absolutely no impact on our lives whatsoever. Speck of dust on a camera lens …

… diabolically beautiful little space marble, spinning away, just on the outskirts of our solar system.

You can project whatever story or belief structure you want onto Pluto. You can demote it, promote it, shame it, blame it, you name it.

Pluto does not care.

Pluto is going to Pluto. And right now, all it’s trying to do is complete the same single rotation around the sun it’s been trying to finish since we discovered it in 1930 …. because a year on Pluto lasts around 248 years.

The stars will incline you toward potent choices, opportunities, and chances that have the potential to change the course of your entire life ... but what comes next is up to you.

You must choose the great and passionate love. You must choose to see, accept, and integrate a newly illuminated truth, and then allow it to inform your actions going forward. You must choose to slam the door shut on people who no longer serve you. 

You must choose to jump into the unknown because the cost of inaction is too steep. You must choose to finally stop running and confront your fears. You must choose to say what’s in your heart before it’s too late, because you will never, ever have as much time as you think.

The stars in your sky are screaming at you right now. They're showing you the way. They're pointing directly to the things you need to do, the words you need to say, and the actions you need to take. 

What are you waiting for? Do something about it.

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