Positive Perfectionism versus Pernicious Perfectionism

©3-24-2014 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

We’ve had a lively and productive discussion in the comment section of the recent post about Pluto in Capricorn and pernicious perfectionism. I’d like to share some of our insights with those of you who missed it. One reader described it vividly when she wrote that the level of snobbery and rushing to judgment in the world at large is soul-killing. Several noted that their own surge of perfectionism has their work stalled.

Others thought I was focusing on the negative qualities of Pluto and Capricorn to the exclusion of such positive ones as transformation, healing, and regeneration. It’s true that my frustration at the pain this is causing in the world at large might not have been balanced. (What rant is? Show me someone who can rant and be fair at the same time, and I’ll bow to their superiority.)

My aim–when I’m not on a soapbox–is usually to describe both the positive and the less constructive traits of a planet’s placement so that people know that, given conscious awareness, they can make wise choices. Below are the pluses and minuses we can find in combining Pluto with Capricorn. Mix and match the qualities of the sign and planet to see how you might be using it.

 

Traits of Capricorn:

Traits of Pluto:

Capricorn’s Roles:   planner, supervisor, authority, parent, troubleshooter, organizer, manager,   mentor. Possible Constructive   traits: hard working, able to delay gratification, businesslike, serious,   realistic, disciplined, organized, reliable, responsible, high standards,   foresightful, cautious, resourceful. Possible Difficult   Traits: bossy, conservative, stuck in the past, rigid, over-ambitious,   insecure, anxious, unimaginative, opportunistic, inhibited, snobbish,   skeptical, pessimistic, gloomy, workaholic.

Pluto’s roles: psychologist, healer,   occultist, magician, renovator, analyst, hospice worker, genealogist, banker,   financier, medium, magician, shaman, seer, researcher, detective.Possible   Constructive traits: deep, perceptive, psychologically astute,   insightful, empathic, transformative, persevering, resilient. Possible Difficult   Traits: suspicious, mistrustful, loner, resentful, vengeful, unforgiving,   possessive, obsessive, compulsive, spiteful, enmeshed in power struggles,   manipulative

 

(The mix of traits for Saturn in Scorpio would be fairly similar, since Pluto rules Scorpio and Saturn rules Capricorn. The two planets will spend a total of about two years in what is called mutual reception, meaning each planet in the pair is in the sign ruled by the other planet. Read more about mutual receptions here: Planets in Mutual Reception—Join our Online Research.)

There’s no doubt that some of us are using Pluto in Capricorn to transform and regenerate ourselves. Using Pluto that way requires insight, self awareness, humility, motivation for self-improvement, and lots of persistent work. People who lack those qualities are more likely to look at and dwell on other people’s faults rather than their own.  I do find that Capricorn planets can make less-evolved people  snobbish and judgmental because they over-emphasize success and status at the expense of the finer qualities that don’t show on the outside.

For some of my readers, this transit (and the related one of Saturn in Scorpio) has brought a healthy surge of discontent with your work as it stands now, wanting more out of yourself and yearning for a breakthrough.

That can be called a POSITIVE PERFECTIONISM. There’s a difference between that kind of striving for perfection, and the painful self-doubt that keeps many talented and creative people from finishing their work or sharing it with the world.

The  helpful effect of this transit in career-oriented Capricorn can be an increased professionalism in the way we pursue and showcase our work. What used to be good enough isn’t good enough any more—we’re all being challenged to raise the bar. Maybe it’s coming from an inner hunger for growth, or maybe it’s coming from increased demands in your field to step your work up a notch. But the pressure is there.

Many of you are finding new mountaintops to surmount, like the mountain goat of Capricorn. Me, too, which is why I’ve revised and updated most of my ebooks over the past couple of months. Not fun, but needed and at least the Saturn/Capricorn influence has given me the patience and persistence to do it.

The word professionalism often has negative connotations today, and yet wouldn’t we all want our doctors and other helping people to be extremely professional in their work–and to be state of the art in it? Professionalism can be a good thing, but it does ask us to be more exacting in our expectations of ourselves. And that’s a Pluto in Capricorn type of transformation, since Capricorn aspires to high standards that lead us to be more professional.

What about you, Readers? Looking past the stresses of this transit, can you see yourself raising the bar on your performance in the areas of life Pluto is touching? Share your process with us in the comment section.

 See the original post here: Transiting Pluto in Capricorn—Is Pernicious Perfectionism Holding You Back?

Other Posts about Pluto on Skywriter:

• Pluto in the Career Houses–The Power to Manifest or Fail for Spite
• How Strong is your Pluto? Here’s the Score!
• Healing Tools For Plutonians: Transforming The Self And Others
• Pluto and Bullying: How to Recognize and Deal with It
• Purge Yourself of Pluto’s Negativity—Get Free of Bitterness
• What to Tell Astrology Clients about Pluto in Capricorn
• Career Challenges for the Pluto-Uranus in Virgo Generation