“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
— William Shakespeare,
The Tempest
In my previous investigation, The Eye as a Map of the Underworld, I established a mathematical similarity between the satellite system of Pluto and the concentric structures of the human iris. Through connecting Pluto's five moons and their corresponding mythological rivers, I explored the pupil as the entrance to the realm of the dead.
The implications of this discovery extend far beyond the anatomy of the eye. It has fundamentally changed the way I understand our solar system, its planetary order, and the evolution of consciousness.
We have always been taught to view our solar system from the Sun outward. The Sun occupies the center, the planets are numbered according to their distance from it, and Earth is situated at just the right distance to sustain life. Our entire astronomical perspective is built around the Sun as the starting point.
But my discovery presents an entirely different perspective.
If Pluto represents the entrance to the Underworld, and the human eye reflects its architecture, then we are already inside the Underworld.
We are already dead, looking outward through its entrance. Our conscious human experience is the view from within.
Shakespeare's words take on an entirely different meaning in this context.
The counterpart of Hades is Persephone, Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld. Her mythology describes a cyclical existence between two worlds. She descends into the Underworld for part of the year and returns to the living world for the other, bringing the renewal of nature with her.
Her story is the story of death and rebirth, of consciousness moving between states of existence. This cyclical relationship mirrors the journey of the reincarnating soul: a consciousness that moves between death and life, descending into one state of existence before emerging into another.
And this is where my discovery begins to change our understanding of the solar system.
Rather than viewing the planets as an outward progression from the Sun, I believe their order reveals an inward journey: a progression from Pluto toward the Sun, through the different stages of existence and consciousness, ultimately culminating in the reunification of the soul.
Pluto
Pluto is the entrance.
As established in my previous investigation, its five satellite orbits correspond mathematically to the concentric structures of the human iris, while their mythological names connect them to the five rivers of the Underworld.
The pupil represents the central opening, the gateway through which light and perception enter the eye. In this cosmology, it is also the entrance through which consciousness enters the realm of embodied existence.
Pluto therefore marks the beginning of the journey: death, the Underworld, and the threshold between states of being.
We are not traveling toward the Underworld. We are beginning there.
Neptune
The first stage beyond Pluto is Neptune, named after the God of the Sea.
Neptune represents the realm of dreams, imagination, illusion, and spirituality. It is a world of intangible experiences, where consciousness exists beyond the limitations of physical form.
Dreams and nightmares both belong to this domain. It encompasses the highest expressions of spiritual love, divine connection, and idealized existence, as well as the darkest manifestations of fear, deception, and illusion.
In the journey of the soul, Neptune represents the first passage beyond death: an existence in which the boundaries of material reality have dissolved, leaving consciousness to navigate the waters of the unseen.
Uranus
Beyond Neptune comes Uranus, the primordial God of the Heavens and the first King in Greek mythology.
Where Neptune represents the depths of dreams and the subconscious, Uranus represents the heavens: a higher realm of existence associated with celestial order and the divine.
The naming of Uranus's moons offers another layer to this interpretation. Many are named after figures from mythology, including fairies, sylphs, and other supernatural beings. Neptune's moons similarly draw from mythological figures associated with the sea and its fantastical inhabitants.
These beings belong to a world that exists outside ordinary physical reality. They are creatures of mythology, imagination, and the unseen.
Their placement in the planetary sequence is significant to my theory. These mythological beings appear before Saturn, the next King to rule in Greek cosmology.
They belong to the realms of heaven and hell, dreams and nightmares, before existence takes on its material form.
Saturn
Saturn is the next King to take power. His Greek counterpart, Cronus, is the Titan who overthrows Uranus and establishes a new order.
Astrologically, Saturn represents time, structure, boundaries, and material form. He establishes the conditions through which existence becomes tangible.
Time gives things duration. Matter gives them form. Boundaries establish the distinction between one thing and another.
This inward progression changes the way I previously interpreted mythological creatures associated with Uranus and Neptune. They do not belong to an evolutionary stage that comes after material existence. They belong to what came before it.
They are ephemeral beings, preceding the material world that Saturn establishes.
Jupiter
In the next step of the evolutionary process, Jupiter overthrows Saturn and becomes King of the Gods.
In Roman mythology, Jupiter is the supreme deity, associated with the heavens, thunder, lightning, and divine authority. If Saturn represents the introduction to material form, Jupiter represents its expansion.
His mythology is filled with creation, multiplication, conquest, and the establishment of kingdoms. He takes the order established by Saturn and expands it into something much greater.
Even the astronomical placement of Jupiter offers an interesting parallel. Between it and Mars lies the asteroid belt, an enormous population of smaller bodies. Jupiter's immense gravitational influence created a proliferation of beings, an establishment of subjects which he could rule over.
The earlier realms of possibility have now become a populated material world, governed by the King of the Gods.
Mars
Mars is the son of Jupiter and the God of War.
Unlike Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter, Mars does not become the next King of the Gods. His role is different. He represents a particular expression of material existence: the assertion of individual will.
Mars is action, aggression, competition, strength, and willpower. He is the force that fights to establish and defend its position within the material world.
Earth
Earth is where we are.
Following the establishment of material existence under Saturn, its expansion under Jupiter, and its will to live through Mars, Earth represents the material world itself.
Here, consciousness experiences physical embodiment. We inhabit bodies, interact with one another, form relationships, create civilizations, and experience the consequences of our actions.
Earth is also the realm of Persephone, Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of Spring. As the embodiment of Mother Nature, her dominion connects our world with the realm of the dead.
Through Persephone, Earth and the Underworld are not separate realms, but two aspects of the same domain.
Venus
Beyond Earth comes Venus, the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
The placement of Earth between Mars and Venus is especially significant.
In Roman mythology, Venus and Mars are frequently portrayed as counterparts, representing two distinct expressions of human nature. One is the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility; the other is the god of war, aggression, and conquest.
Within this planetary progression, Venus represents the next stage of consciousness beyond the Martian principle. She is said to be the only one who can tame him.
Mars asserts individual will through force, competition, and conquest. Venus represents the refinement of that will through discernment, value, and the ability to choose what is worthy of acceptance.
Her strength is not defined by aggression, nor is her gentleness a sign of weakness. Venus knows what she values, establishes boundaries around it, and does not compromise her standards for the sake of approval or acceptance. She represents the ability to recognize beauty without being blind to ugliness, and to embrace love without abandoning discernment.
The evolution beyond Mars is not the rejection of strength or the denial of humanity's darker nature. It is the ability to master those forces rather than remain governed by them. Venus represents a higher expression of material existence, in which power is guided by principles, creation is guided by purpose, and love is accompanied by the strength to protect what is valuable.
Love, art, beauty, and harmony are not departures from the material world. They are its next evolutionary expression.
Mercury
Beyond Venus comes Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods.
Mercury occupies a unique position in mythology. More than a messenger between the gods and mortals, he is also a psychopomp, a guide into the Underworld. (Thanks, Chart Ruler!)
He can travel between realms that are otherwise inaccessible to one another.
This makes Mercury the natural connector within the planetary progression.
Having moved through the realms of death, dreams, heaven, material existence, and love, consciousness reaches a stage in which it can move between these different states of being.
Mercury represents communication, understanding, movement, and the ability to bridge separate worlds.
His mythological role as a messenger and guide is especially fitting here. He is capable of navigating the entire journey, connecting the different stages of existence and facilitating the passage toward the final destination.
The Sun
And finally, we arrive at the Sun.
The center.
The soul.
If Pluto represents the entrance into the Underworld, the Sun represents the ultimate destination of the journey. It is the source around which the entire planetary system revolves, and within this interpretation, the point of reunification with the origin of consciousness.
The journey from Pluto to the Sun is a journey through death, dreams, heaven, time, matter, expansion, individual will, physical embodiment, love, and finally, the reunion of the soul.
We begin in the Underworld, experience the many expressions of existence, and ultimately return to the source from which we originated.
This is immortality.
Not an endless repetition of physical existence, but the completion of the reincarnation cycle. The end of separation, the end of individuation, and the return to the whole.
We have traveled from the entrance of the Underworld to the center of the Sun.
The solar system is not simply a map of the planets surrounding our star. It is a map of the soul's journey home.
