In astrology, Pluto is the planet everyone fears: a herald of change, destabilization, and the destruction of everything you think you know. The Pluto Returns series follows Lilith as Pluto transforms the existing patriarchal systems within the U.S., while simultaneously upending Lilith's life. In the first book in the Pluto Returns series, Hex the Patriarchy, Lilith contracts pinworms and suffers through an extreme, multi-year case of medical gaslighting. Pinworms are the most common parasite in the U.S. They suck vitamin B12 out of your body. Left untreated, severe B12 deficiencies cause nasty side effects, including delusions, hallucinations, macrocytic anemia, and seizures. Thankfully, pinworms are very treatable-but treatment requires diagnosis. And diagnosis requires medical professionals to listen when you tell them there's a problem.
Over the course of the COVID 19 pandemic and into summer 2023, Lilith is dismissed as crazy by her doctors, her family, and her closest friends. They insist she can't be sick, and that she can't know the things she claims to know. Lilith is told to call a psychiatrist while the parasites multiply and the subsequent B12 deficiency nearly kills her. She begs friends and family for help, only to see her social supports disintegrate around her. Lilith eventually diagnoses herself and confirms the infection at an urgent care center. As she recovers from the B12 deficiency, she battles both shock and rage over how she was treated as her cognition and awareness begin to slowly return.
The sequel, Heal the Patriarchy, traces Lilith's healing process. It begins with her seizures, including "rage blackouts," in which she sends angry emails or makes angry posts on social media about the people who gaslit her and left her to die. She believes her psychic abilities to be blocked and struggles to understand her tarot spreads. Meanwhile, she has disturbing dreams about self immolation and burning at the stake. She finds a lawyer to represent her medical malpractice case, only to discover the case passed the statute of limitations. Lilith learns that rage is intended to be alchemical. She cuts the people who hurt her out of her life, making room for better friends. But first, she must release her anger so she can properly grieve and heal from the damage the gaslighting caused her. Her life finally begins to turn around, and she finds a new life mission in advocating for social justice.
