Pluto in Astrology

Pluto Overview:

In astrology, Pluto is the planet of death, and regeneration. It is associated with violence and revenge but also power and healing and also penetrating insight. Pluto is transformative and brings about a metamorphosis that is necessary for survival, overcoming and moving past deep tragedy and painful emotions. Pluto is intense but introspective. It calls for solitude and secrecy and conceals its weakness and vulnerability from those who would exploit it. Pluto possesses martial energy like Mars, but much of it is sublimated into less overt and public ways. It operates in a more clandestine manner cloaked in darkness from which it can observe but not be observed. Pluto desires to wield power and control but unlike Aries, it is more subtle and psychological in how it goes about attaining it.

Furthermore, Pluto is the ruler of Scorpio and the 8th house which is the house of debts and other people’s money. Pluto can be associated with a lot of negative things like divorce, assassinations, riots, fights, gambling and debts. However, some of its positive qualities include inherited money, tremendous will power, psychic-like intuition and powers of perception. Pluto is all or nothing and can engender extreme attitudes and dogmatism. It carries an indomitable inner drive that refuses to just roll over and die. Pluto’s instinct is to look death in the eye and defy it. Pluto refuses to relinquish its soul power which is eternal and cannot be destroyed, only reincarnated in another form.

Pluto Rulership: Scorpio
Pluto Detriment: Taurus
Pluto Exaltation: Aries
Pluto Fall: Libra

Pluto Key Traits:

Rebirth
transformation
Construction
submission
wisdom
illumination
annihilation
destruction
intensity
instincts
obsession
Karma

The Pluto Symbol:

Like Uranus, Pluto has two versions of its symbol. One is a monogram composed of the letters ‘P’ and ‘L’ which are the initials of Percival Lowell, the American businessman and astronomer credited with Initiating the effort that led to Pluto’s discovery. The second version is a combination of a circle which represents the spirit, a crescent which represents the mind and a cross which represents the material realm.

Pluto in the Natal Chart:

Because Pluto’s placement takes many years to change, its significance and influence in the birth chart will vary very little from person to person. There is less individualized information that can be derived from In the natal chart, Pluto’s placement can indicate a certain depth and intensity to which one applies themselves to gain understanding, power and control in a given area of the chart. This may also be accompanied with shrewdness and natural insight that allows the individual to understand something about the unconscious drives that motivate themselves and those around them. This can be used for good or bad, it depends on the person and circumstance. Furthermore, In some ways, Pluto’s influence can be equated with what Swiss psychologist Carl Jung referred to as the Shadow. The shadow encompasses the hidden and unconscious parts of the psyche which can often harbor destructive and powerful emotions we try to contain or distance ourselves from.

Pluto as a Transit:

Because of its eccentric orbit, the amount of time Pluto spends in each zodiac sign can vary from 13 to 32 years. Therefore, its influence is generational and is signified by dramatic and seismic disasters and power struggles that punctuate or define an era. Pluto represents beginnings and ends triggered by sometimes cataclysmic events with effects both positive and negative. Pluto signifies a need to wipe the slate clean and start over as a result of something unexpected and unfortunate. It could also be precipitated by a revelation or realization that prompts us to change direction and chart a new course. It the energy to reinvent oneself and transform your plight in one way or another. Taking lemons and making lemonade is a fitting expression to describe what Pluto can often foist onto us. Depending on its placement, however, Pluto can also signify a rise to power and prominence of some sort, often seemingly from out of nowhere.

Pluto Mythology:

Pluto is the Roman god of the Underworld but has more positive connotations than Hades, its Greek equivalent. Pluto is more comparable to Dis Pater but was also conflated with Pluoton, a Greek god of mineral wealth like diamonds and gems and other natural resources found underground. Pluto is one of the offspring of Cronus and is siblings with Jupiter, Neptune, Juno, Ceres, and Vesta. Pluto was part of a myth that Romans used to explain the seasons. Pluto is said to have abducted Proserpina, the daughter of his sister Ceres to take as his wife in the underworld. In her grief, Ceres ceased all plants from growing. Jupiter intervened and worked out a deal allowing Pluto to keep Proserperina for 6 months only, during which no plants could grow and it would be winter. When Pluto returned Proserpina to her mother, plants would grow once again and it would be summer.

Pluto in Astronomy:

The existence of Pluto was first documented in 1914 by Percieval Lowell who postulated the existence of an unknown planet beyond Neptune based on disturbances he observed in Uranus’ orbit. It was first discovered with a telescope by Clyde W. Tombaugh. Pluto was once regarded as the 9th planet in the solar system until its orbit was discovered to be part of the Kuiper asteroid belt. It was then demoted to a dwarf planet. Pluto is roughly 3.6 billion miles away from the sun which is about 50 times farther from the sun than earth is. Pluto has an eccentric orbit which allows it to sometimes get closer to earth than Neptune. Additionally, it had the longest orbital period of all planets, taking roughly 250 earth years to complete one trip around the sun. Pluto is tiny and its size is less than half that of Mercury.

Want to know your astrology placements? You can generate your astrology chart here with our free birth chart generator tool.

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Jetta Moon

Jetta Moon is an artist, writer and astrology blogger. This site gives him an excuse to explore, learn and write about the world of psychology, astrology and various personality type systems.

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