Pluto, the slowest of the planets, hardly moves daily. Its total displacement is less than 2 minutes per day and even then it is very variable due to its orbit. The star takes approximately 248 years to make a complete circle around the Zodiac and as it has an eccentric orbit (once a year it retrogrades for about 5 months), the number of years spent in each sign varies from 12 to 32. House 8 is associated with Pluto, who is also co-ruler of Scorpio, a sign that has Mars as its ruler.

Pluto's glyph looks a bit like Neptune's, however, with the circle of spirit within the ascending crescent. In astrology, Pluto indicates receptivity to other realities, the unconscious desire for ego transformation being passed from the personal level to a group or society level. It is one that applies great powers to change paradigms, whether in the macro or in our lives.

Pluto is Hades in Greek mythology, lords of the underworld. In astrology, it destroys to transform and regenerate what has been destroyed, being generally linked to those drastic changes that shake the structures and generate permanent alterations in the world. It is linked to the sexual act itself, mysteries, secrets, taboos, investments, loans, debts, and the power of banks. It deals with great powers and also symbolizes some personas, such as party members, police, violent groups, criminals, torturers, spies, black magicians, secret societies, as well as therapists, occultists of some degree, and psychoanalysts.

In terms of balance, if the cross trumps the crescent, we run the risk of losing sight of the purpose of these transforming energies, becoming selfish, power-obsessed people. If the ascending crescent and circle exceed the cross, we run the risk of becoming disconnected from reality and having bouts of stress or psychotic and obsessive disorders.

Pluto is the planet of rebirth and transformation. The force behind it can be seen as a powerful cleansing impulse that changes profoundly wherever it goes. Its influence brings anything to the surface, whether it comes from the depths (instincts) or from the beyond (spirit). It is different from Mars (in fact it is considered to be a Mars three times stronger), whose focus is the pursuit of survival and personal fulfillment. It is in the service of a greater force, moved by a higher purpose. It is no longer the individual that generates force and energy, these are now universal and express themselves through the being. Instead of fighting and conquering for themselves, the individual becomes part of a way that acts through the collective, fighting for common goals. Will and desire are shared by everyone, although each responds to these cosmic properties in different ways.

As with Uranus and Neptune, the meaning of Pluto's position in the signs has more to do with the marks that each generation leaves, revealing fundamental revolutions and causing drastic transformations in the areas of human life and civilization as a whole. Such changes can be regenerative or degenerative, but generally, both effects are felt as it passes through each sign, resulting in extremes of transformation. Its passage generates slow but permanent changes, symbolizing the collective unconscious of a generation.

Pluto's influences on the birth chart

The people who have Pluto more prominently in their birth chart tend to be more controlling, intense, sensual, and deep, but they can also become lonelier. The house occupied by Pluto can show a part of a person's life that is subject to change, as well as areas of life where they want more power and control - and where situations will occur aimed at the individual's transformation.

The planet also deals with forces and energies that help the individual to overcome taboos and emotional complexes, breaking the bonds of the ego, activating energies that are locked in the unconscious, recovering old and instinctual forces, and totally renewing the being.

The positive side of Pluto makes it possible to have control over oneself, to delve into and understand our inner self. Through its influence, we control behaviors that are born of instinct, we gain enormous willpower and endurance, as well as the capacity for healing, regeneration, and transformation, both physical and mental.

Its disharmonious side can promote destructive behaviors, feelings of guilt, recklessness, obsessive desires, resistance, rejection, and emotional distance. Individuals tend to isolate themselves, be full of secrets, and be more reticent, feeling fragile and vulnerable, and may even become terrified, paranoid, and with a mania for persecution. The person can also become possessive, domineering, and manipulative, use emotional blackmail, play the victim, and become intolerant and cruel. Compulsive and obsessive ambitions, thoughts, and actions become part of the personality, as well as the attraction to the macabre and the bizarre. There may also be a greater thirst for power or a desire to be omnipotent.

The dark side of Pluto still represents the ego having control over the forces of chaos, the world of darkness, the powers coming from the underworld, the raw material of the dark side that, because it was rejected by us, never evolved into more luminous qualities. Although seen as dangerous, these automatic forces move our sexuality, our instincts, and the creative and unconscious expression of our body, with its organic and automatic processes, allowing the survival, development, and affirmation of the individual. It stirs the depths of our mind, with the memories of the past, revealing everything until it brings full awareness to the surface. It is a symbol of power and leads us to use it to promote a transformation of our Being and the world around us.

When Pluto is passing...

One thing is for sure: when Pluto passes, it is best to be prepared for radical changes, as chances are nothing will ever be the same. Because it represents, in its essence, the transformation, the rotten structures, in whatever area of life it is, things will collapse.

Everything that is in disuse or that is dead is usually transformed and banned from the person's life (or the world) the moment Pluto begins to transit through some sector of the chart and form aspects with other planets. This applies to relationships, work, family, or ideas that must leave - often in a resounding and painful way - but necessary so that what has died is transmuted, sprouting hope from a new cycle. The sector Pluto is passing through or the aspects it makes with other planets can attract deep transformations, crises, endings, and beginnings, always with the purpose of renewal, healing, and transcendence.

When it comes to death, usually the idea we have is something negative and destructive. But, this is not the only truth of Pluto. Like the Lord of the Underworld, Pluto comes to close big cycles, complete tricky issues, change systems on a grand scale, and remove situations that have already died, but for some reason, people still persist in pursuing them.

Thus, this planet also represents the Phoenix, a mythological bird that is reborn from its own ashes, refreshed and ready to start a new cycle, burying addictive behaviors. And of course, all of this is considered a difficult period, because it often messes with our structures and invites us to step out of our comfort zone or even confront inner fears and demons.

In each transit, Pluto reminds us that we are nothing, that everything we have is borrowed: whether material or immaterial things, such as beliefs and intellectual attributes. The fact is that Pluto can represent both physical death and symbolic death, which forces us to see how ephemeral everything is, including life.

Another theme to be reviewed with the passing of the planet is the detachment. As soon as people realize that they have nothing, that everything in life comes on loan, they also start not belonging to things, becoming free. Thus, both material goods and relationships are transient, and therefore, if they are “dead”, stagnant, Pluto will take them with it.

And it is essential that this happens so that everything can flow and renew itself. To better digest this issue, it is necessary to have the self-knowledge to discern what is part of our essence and what is temporary. So it is important to let Pluto act because it comes with a clear mission: cutting only what is necessary, dropping weights that no longer belong where they are, regenerating processes. In place of what was buried, events, people, or things will arise that will aggregate and align with the current moment.