Olga Rozzell
Astrology,
Health and Wellness Coaching
Pluto in a horoscope
Scientists may debate whether Pluto is a planet or not, but modern astrologers know too well that Pluto is a powerful celestial body, whether he is officially a planet or not. When the current position of Pluto in the sky resonates with the positions of the planets in your birth horoscope, you better prepare for a rough ride, be ready to give up something that you held dear, and to transform a part of your life that you did not plan to change. The influence of Pluto lasts for years, hits below the belt, and makes you evolve and transform in the ways you never thought you could.
Pluto is now considered to be a dwarf planet: it has been debated whether Pluto should be named a planet, an asteroid, a dwarf planet, or whether a new category should be created – plutoids. The problem is that Pluto is much smaller than other planets of the Solar system are. However, it is spherical, orbits the Sun, and has five moons, which makes it similar to other planets. Pluto’s orbit is highly elliptical (unlike the circular orbits of other planets) and it is tilted in relation to the plane of the orbits of other planets of the Solar system. The unusual orbit results in Pluto being the farthest planet from the Sun most of the time, but second farthest other times (when Pluto comes inside Neptune’s orbit, and Neptune becomes the farthest as shown in the picture).
One revolution of Pluto around the Sun takes 248 Earth years, which makes it stay ~21 years in each sign of the Zodiac on the average. However, because of the elliptical nature of the orbit and the tilt of the orbit, Pluto stays longer in some signs but flies through other signs much faster (~12 to ~31 years per sign).
Astronomers don’t know much about Pluto because of its distance form Earth and form the Sun: the New Horizons sent to Pluto ten years ago is scheduled to approach Pluto in July of 2015 and will uncover more facts about Pluto’s composition, weather, moons, and other features. Astrologers don’t know everything they would like to know about Pluto as an astrological entity, because Pluto was discovered in 1930 and has not moved through all the Zodiac signs during 85 years since its discovery. Although astrologers can gain some insights into Pluto’s significance in a horoscope by examining the lives and horoscopes of people who lived before the discovery of Pluto (although the planet was unknown, it might have affected the lives of people living then), nothing compares to observing a planet’s effects in the lives of living persons.
Another consideration is that, due to the general synchronicity of the events in the Universe, planets become known (discovered) when their significations and energies become important in our lives. In other words, Pluto was unknown earlier, because its energy might not been very significant in the lives of people who lived before its discovery, or it was discovered because the corresponding energy emerged in human society and became very important.
Pluto represents the power and the atomic power (it was discovered during the efforts to bridle the atomic energy in order to use it in the society’s interests, which resulted in the first artificial atomic reaction that was achieved in 1932, just two years after the discovery of Pluto). It represents destruction, abuse, death, power struggle, manipulation, crime, and underworld. However, it also represents rebirth, regeneration, transformation, deep exploration, survival, subconscious, and intensity. In classical mythology, Pluto was the ruler of the Underworld, the one who abducted Persephone and took her to his Underworld Kingdom (Pluto may represent abduction in a horoscope as well). The nature of the atomic reaction represents the nature of Pluto in a horoscope very literally: going deep into unseen, destroying the existing structures and creating a new reality, meanwhile releasing energy and producing power that may become deadly if used unwisely.
When Pluto’s current position resonates with our planets in a birth horoscope, an area of life is explored deeply, is destroyed, re-shuffled transformed, and regenerated, and the transformation empowers us beyond anything we experienced in this area of life before. Your astrologer would be able to point to an area of life that is currently under Pluto’s influence and can give an idea how much your life can be affected (the impact is different for everyone, depending on the birth horoscope).
Pluto is very powerful and does not tolerate any resistance. If you don’t embrace the change and don’t give up everything old that does not serve you anymore in the affected area of life, Pluto will crash you and force you to make the changes the hard way. This is why it is very important to know where Pluto is in your birth horoscope now and what planets and parts of your life it is trying to transform at this point in time. When you find out, you will know what to do about your problems in these areas, how to let Pluto transform them and not get bulldozed in the process.
Probably even more important, the Pluto transit from one Zodiac sign to another defines the borders between generations and reflects changes in shared generational values. People with the same Pluto sign belong to the same generation, even if the difference in their age is as large as 10-15 years, while people whose age difference is only 1 or two years may feel that they are from different generations if Pluto in their birth horoscopes happens to be in different signs. The official table of the generations developed by sociologists is very similar to the table of Pluto positions in the Zodiac signs. For example, the Generation Z (New Silent Generation, the Internet Generation) is defined as anyone who was born between 1996 and 2007. Guess what? Pluto remained in Sagittarius without leaving the sign (Pluto may travel from back and forth from one sign to another at the borders of signs, shortly after it enters a sign for the first time) between November 1995 and January 2008… The Generation Y (Millennials) includes individuals born roughly between 1982 and 1994, and Pluto remained in Scorpio between August 1984 and January 1995… This generation is jokingly referred to as Generation “Why?”, and this is a perfect reflection of the sign of Scorpio ruled by Pluto – going deep, seeking understanding, questioning and transforming. When you know the path of Pluto through the signs, it does not surprise you that its presence in the sign of Leo (the sign of procreation, partying, lovers and performers) between 1937 and 1958 translated into a generation of baby boomers (defined by sociologists as born roughly between 1946 and 1964), who transformed the music and entertainment, who were the result of increased number of births (procreation), who partied hard and redefined rules and borders of sexual explorations.
The move of Pluto into the sign of Virgo (the sign of virginity, purity, health consciousness, efficiency and service), where it stayed between 1958 and 1972, coincided with the decrease in birth rate (from the sign of procreation and sex Leo into the barren sign of Virgo) and the birth of a generation of people concerned about the health hazards, obsessed with self-improvement, working long hours and setting their life goals on being efficient and serving the society.
Other than a curious facts of correlation between the Pluto’s moves through the signs and generational values and expressions, what can we get out of knowing our Pluto sign in a birth horoscope or its current influence on our lives?
We can find solace in understanding why our partners and friends, who are only one year older or younger than we are, behave like someone from a different generation and refuse to understand our life values.
We can plan our dating strategy: if your age is at an older border of a Pluto generation, date someone younger; if it is at a younger border of a Pluto generation, date someone older – you will find more in common with them than with the people who are closer to you in age but have their birth Pluto in a different sign! Below is the table of Pluto’s stay in signs. It does not include the border periods of time when Pluto was going back and forth between the two adjacent signs; if you happened to be born during these times, ask your astrologer to determine your Pluto sign correctly. I will be happy to find out your Pluto sign for you of you contact me on my website www.AdoAstrology.com through “AdoAstrology Q&A” feature or on Facebook @AdoAstrology.
Gemini before 1900 – September 1912
Cancer May 1914 – October 1937
Leo June 1939 – October 1956
Virgo June 1958 – October 1971
Libra July 1972 – November 1983
Scorpio August 1984 – January 1995
Sagittarius November 1995 – January 2008
Capricorn November 2008 - now
We can also understand why we may be going through drastic changes in one area of our life (which may be affected by Pluto during the present period of time) and how we can better handle the transformation to come out of the process undamaged.
Remember – Pluto is all about the power and the power struggles.
Image: NASA