Pluto Transits







Pluto packs a punch. When it hits you, you know it. Whatever it contacts in your horoscope gets “transformed”. Pluto is death and rebirth, decay and regeneration. It is very difficult to hold on to something that Pluto is trying to take. Sometimes it is just better to let go. Pluto also rules obsession. An almost insane desire to possess a thing, or a person.

The negative side of this planet is more likely to come out during the stressful aspects. The smooth aspects (trine and sextile) can strengthen whatever they touch.

Pluto is the slowest moving planet in the solar system, so its transits to the planets in your birth chart can take about two years or more to pass completely. It can take over 12 years, however, to transit through each of the houses of your horoscope.

Pluto’s effect, as always, is to clean things out. Yes, things get reborn wherever Pluto goes, but they have to decay and die first. See which house in your horoscope that

Pluto  is transiting through to find out which area of your life needs attention.

This is important because the processes of Pluto are usually hidden at first.  It works something like a volcano with pressure building up for years until it explodes. On the negative side, Pluto rules the “underworld” and illegal activities. Beware of temptation to go this route when Pluto hits.

Pluto Transits Through Your First House: This starts with Pluto making a conjunction with your Ascendant (see Pluto Transits in Aspect to Your Natal Ascendant) , but the effect can last for years. Usually, you will become more assertive. This is the “Nobody better mess with me” transit. It also can bring suppressed feelings and desires up to the surface, things that you don’t want to face. Some tend to become more domineering with Pluto. Others try to suppress this, but find instead that they seem to attract people who try to push them around. Pluto transiting your first house can also make you more aware of things around you, as well as the motivations of the people with whom you come into contact. No, everything hasn’t changed. You are just more sensitive to things under a Pluto transit of your first house.

Pluto Transits Through Your Second House: Watch your money and possessions, especially if transiting Pluto makes stress aspects (conjunction, square and opposition) with any of your natal planets while it is going through this house. Stressful aspects from Pluto tend to destroy things. Sure they can be built back later, but first, they have to hit bottom. Watch out, in particular, for temptation to make money by less than honest means. The Second House rules more than possessions. It also shows what you value, and this includes your sense of self-worth. This transit may not only affect your possessions, but also the very things you value. Get ready to clean house.

Pluto Transits Through Your Third House: During this transit, when you talk, people are more likely to listen, whether you want them to or not. Pluto makes you come on stronger when you speak, but you are not likely to feel anything different, at least until you notice that people are reacting differently to you. The Third House rules siblings and neighbors as well. Pluto transits brings things up from deep inside. If there are stress aspects from transiting Pluto, watch out for trouble here. Any fight or dispute with siblings or neighbors, that develops during this time, could last a long time. On the other hand, if you handle it right, your relationships here could be totally transformed and strengthened. If you are in an occupation such as sales, writing advertising  copy, or even therapist, this transit can help you. Your words seem to have extra power now to influence people.

Pluto Transits Through Your Fourth House: This transit starts with Pluto crossing over the bottom of your horoscope, the Nadir. When Pluto does this, it also is opposite your Mid-Heaven, your career, so that area of your life can undergo changes as well for the one or two years that Pluto makes the exact opposition. Be careful of power struggles both at work and home, with bosses, spouses, or parents. Pluto tends to bury resentments, letting them build until they explode .  After Pluto passes your Nadir, it will no longer affect career, just your home. Make sure your insurance is paid up. Pluto can break things. However, it is a great time to fix up the house, or even move. If you buy a new house during this Pluto transit, make sure it’s a fixer-upper, a place that needs work. Pluto transits are great for rehabilitation. Be extra careful, though, if the home seems to need little or no work. Pluto rules problems that lurk beneath the surface, such as bad plumbing or termite infestation.

Pluto Transits Through Your Fifth House: This is the house of romance, creativity, and children, as well as gambling and speculation. Pluto is the planet of extremes and obsessions. If you like to gamble, watch out for this one. It can lead to gambling fever, which usually leads to big losses. The same is true of the stock market. Astrology aside, it’s usually a good idea to keep the bulk of your retirement somewhere safe. That is especially true during a transit like this, especially if Pluto is making stress aspects (conjunction, square, or opposition) while going through this house.  You may become obsessed with gambling during this time, but the same is true for other Fifth House matters, like sports, games, or hobbies. Enjoy, but be careful about going overboard. If you are in the creative arts, however, what the heck. Pull out all the stops. You may do something really great. Of course, the 5th House rules Romance. Any love affairs at this time are less likely to be light flings. More like obsessions. Watch out for jealousy, which is another Pluto problem. Relationships can have a therapeutic effect on you during this transit. Or they can drive you to therapy. Pluto rules extremes, after all. Be careful of power struggles with children (yes, that happens). And try not to drive them too hard while Pluto is around.

Pluto Transits Through Your Sixth House: This is the house of both day-to-day work and health. What most books don’t tell you is that Transits of slow moving planets through this house can begin a long term health problem, but you don’t notice the results until years later, sometimes until the planet is ready to transit into the next house. Well it’s always a good idea to get regular check-ups anyway.  Pluto is also Rehabilitation, and you are more likely to want to fix your body up at this time. But remember that Pluto rules Obsession too. Watch out for a tendency to overdo it. You know, like that special diet to loose weight fast. Just starve yourself for 6 months. If you are going to be extreme at all, try being extremely moderate.  Be careful of office politics and strains with co-workers and subordinates during this transit. Pluto rules large scale forces beyond our control, such as the higher-ups in your company deciding to downsize your department. Even if you’re self-employed, you will have to watch out for changes in your industry that can force you to the unemployment line. You are best off if your job involves something Plutonian, such as wreaking or re-building, therapy or re-habilitation.

Pluto Transits Through Your Seventh House: Be careful of entering into any partnership when Pluto transits your 7th House. On the negative side, Pluto rules power struggles and underhanded behavior. No, this does Not mean that every partner is going to turn on you or that every person you interact with is going to try to do you in. But there is a tendency for things like that to happen during this transit. Make an extra effort to keep communications with partners open. Resentments tend to be unexpressed at this time. They will just build and blow up later, so take early action to keep this from happening.  In a marriage, the passions can increase. Either you or your spouse may want to do it more. Make sure you’re in good shape.

Pluto Transits Through Your Eighth House: Wow! The planet of sex in the house of sex! Keep your pants on. This is also the house of other people’s money. Be careful not to get overextended with debt during this transit or you’ll wind up in bankruptcy. On the plus side, if your business requires large amounts of borrowed money, you can pull off deals bigger than you ever have before. Watch out, though, for that downside potential. Make sure that creditors can’t pull the rug out from under you.  This transit is also a good time to fix things up. Anything from your house to your body. Be careful, however, when Pluto makes stressful aspects (conjunction, square, and opposition) to other planets in your horoscope.  

Pluto Transits Through Your Ninth House: This is the house of religion, philosophy, “higher mind”, the principles we live by. Pluto is extremes and obsessions. When Pluto hits, everything Feels differently. During this transit, you may become more fanatical about beliefs you already hold. Or you may junk them entirely and devoutly believe something totally different. There will be a tendency to engage in debates involving general principles. Be careful not to pull out all the stops when discussing gun control of same sex marriages. It’s only a discussion, not a matter of life and death.   The 9th House is also the house of higher education and long journeys. This is a good time to take a course, especially if it is about a Pluto subject, such as psychology, biology, archeology, sociology, anthropology, paleontology. If that’s not your cup of tea, start reading mystery stories. Any knowledge or information concerned with the mysterious or death and rebirth will tend to appeal now.  Any long trip you take should be to someplace a bit mysterious. Perhaps a place with archeological ruins. But watch out if Pluto makes a stressful aspect to a planet in your chart. That could cause danger on long trips from people who are not so nice.

Pluto Transits Through Your Tenth House: This transit begins when Pluto passes over the top of your horoscope, your Mid-Heaven (example: Pluto Transits in Aspect to your Natal Mid-Heaven). This can produce major changes in career. One client had a business that was ripe for franchising and Pluto hitting his 10th House would have been the perfect time to expand. He wanted things to stay as they were. Shortly after Pluto hit, his lease was up and the landlord decided to more than double the rent. He couldn’t pay so he had to close. With Pluto, you grow or die.  Be careful of any desire to succeed at “all costs”. With this transit, there are frequently increased temptations to “cut corners” and break rules. And laws. Remember Pluto is extremes. The highest and the lowest.

Pluto Transits Through Your Eleventh House: This is the house of friends, hopes, and wishes. What most books don’t tell you is that this house also rules groups of people. During this transit, there is a possibility of being strongly attracted to a group. Pluto rules obsessions. Watch out for cults. On the other hand, you may become affiliated with a group that has positive goals and devote a lot of time to them. Even then, however, be careful of overdoing it.  Friendships tend to change under this transit. You will find that some old friends just don’t appeal to you any more. Other friendships intensify. If Pluto makes stress aspects to planets in your birth horoscope while transiting this house, you will have to be careful of betrayal by a friend, or what you view as a betrayal. Your hopes and wishes will be affected as well. Some of them will no longer seem attractive and you will let them die. And you may become fanatic about other goals. Pluto transits give the energy and focus to really achieve things. Just be careful not to overdo it. Few goals are worth putting yourself in intensive care.

Pluto Transits Through Your Twelfth House: This is the house of “self-undoing”, the dustbin of the horoscope where we throw things that we don’t want to deal with. Pluto loves to go through dustbins and dumpsters. During this transit, old psychological problems, that you thought you had dealt with years earlier, come up again and demand to be heard. Don’t panic. Just face them (easier said than done, but you have to do it).  This is also the house of hidden enemies. No, you are not standing there minding your own business and these nasty people come at you. Check your own behavior to make sure that you are not doing something to irritate them and set them off.

Pluto Transits in Aspect to the Natal Sun: When transiting Pluto makes a stressful aspect to your natal Sun (a conjunction, opposition, or square) the first thing you notice is that you feel very drained. I remember when this one first hit me. To be certain that it was Pluto, I called someone whom I knew had this transit a few years earlier. “Oh yes” she said. “That was the year I thought I was being pursued by demons”! Pluto is a slow moving planet, so its effects will last about two years. Little things that you would normally ignore will suddenly seem extremely significant and overwhelming. Yes, you can feel drained, sometimes very drained. But the worse this gets, the more people around you will say how wonderful you look. That’s Pluto. Makes you look great on the outside while feeling terrible inside. It’s not called the planet of extremes for nothing. I’ve also noticed that in about a third of the cases, there is an attack of insomnia. Pluto doesn’t want to be unconscious and vulnerable. So what do you do when this hits you? Take everything with that proverbial grain of salt. Just remember that it’s pretty much the same world as before the Pluto came around. It’s you that has changed. If anything gets to you, ask yourself if it would have irritated you a few years earlier. If the answer is no, then you know that it is just Pluto having some fun. Another thing you can do is to fix things up or throw them out. Pluto “energy” is great for rehabilitation or elimination. As for the insomnia, as W.C. Fields once said, the best thing is to “get plenty of sleep”.  The transiting sextile and trine aspects are totally different. They can make you feel energized, stronger, less fearful. Like all “good” aspects though, they tend towards laziness. Things are going your way, so why push. But this is the best time to make that extra effort because the “good” aspects open doors for you. Take advantage of that new found energy.  One more thing. Resist the sudden urge you may get to dominate others, even if “they are asking for it”. If you are normally passive, Pluto can easily bring people into your life who will try to dominate you. Or you may suddenly have the desire to be very aggressive. See if you can transmute that into assertiveness instead.

Pluto Transits in Aspect to the Natal Moon: The Moon rules your emotions, the “sub-conscious”, home, and women in the life. Pluto is extremes, death and rebirth, power struggles, getting rid of things (and people). The harmonious aspects (sextile and trine) simply bring a desire for change and a deeper awareness of the emotional level in your relationships. The stressful aspects (conjunction, square, and opposition) are, well, stressful.  Stressful Pluto-to-Moon transiting aspects rip open the trap door to the “subconscious” mind and let all the little demons out to play. Fears and angry emotions you repressed since childhood come rushing to the surface. This is a good time to enter psychotherapy since you are wide open and can make great progress at this time. If you can’t do therapy when this hits, at least start throwing things out. Clean up your house. Transform yourself.  

Pluto Transits in Aspect to Natal Mercury: Pluto likes things that are deep, significant. Shallowness turns you off with this transit, no matter what the aspect. This is a great time to get interested in new ideas, to start studying seriously. Especially the subjects ruled by Pluto. Psychology, sociology, biology, paleontology, archeology. Pluto governs anything that has to do with death and rebirth. When this transit hits, you will find that you have new insight into ideas and are better able to see what’s behind them and what they imply. Pluto is very good at getting secrets. Words have a greater impact now, in both directions. Your words can have an effect on others like they never have before. And the words you hear or read can affect you more strongly as well.   If Pluto is making a stress aspect, watch what you say. Your speech can be a lot more caustic at this time. You won’t notice anything different but those around you will. A remark that seems totally innocent to you can hit the one you’re talking to really hard. Pluto knows just where to wound.  

Pluto Transits in Aspect to Natal Venus: Pluto intensifies everything it touches. Hopefully, you will have a decent relationship going when this one hits. If you don’t have any, then this could be a frustrating period because this tends to increase your sex drive. A lot. Pluto rules the deep subconscious and all your inner desires, frustrations, and hang-ups start to come to the surface during the stressful transiting aspects. This time, they can affect your love life. Pluto can’t stand anything shallow. It wants depth and intensity. Even obsession. If you have a stressful aspect, watch out for power struggles. Your partners may try to dominate or manipulate you during this time. You might try to do the same to them.  If you are an artist or work at something creative, you will start to feel a need to produce something more significant, more intense. Go with that feeling. The smooth aspects (sextile and trine) tend to produce the intensity without most of the stress. Don’t forget to look at the House that Venus occupies in you birth chart. If it is in your 4th House, for instance, this transit may manifest as a desire to fix up your house, or even to move. Also, check the houses that have either Libra or Taurus on the cusp (beginning). They can be affected as well. For example, if you have Libra on the cusp of the 9th House (long journeys and higher education) you may have a desire to travel to some far-off, exotic, and mysterious place. Or you could want to take an art course. Several of these could manifest at once.

Pluto Transits in Aspect to Natal Mars: Pluto brings things to the surface from deep inside. Just a few days before I wrote this, I had a client who was meek and mild. Pluto was going right over her Mars and she was very upset because, all of a sudden, she wanted to tell people off. Even her friends. No, Pluto didn’t make her angry. It simply brought up emotions that had been repressed for years. A couple of years before this, I had Pluto going over my Mars. A guy in a pizza parlor tried to short change me and I yelled so loud they could have heard me across the street. Mars is energy and Pluto supercharges it, for better or worse. The stressful aspects can bring up long suppressed anger, that’s true. But any aspect that transiting Pluto makes to your Mars increases your Energy. Make certain that you give it a constructive outlet, otherwise…well, Pluto does rule volcanoes. It could be you who is exploding, or, if you hold that energy down too much, you could attract aggressive and shady people into your life. Avoid dark alleys even more than you usually do.

Pluto Transits in Aspect to Natal Jupiter: The stressful aspects can temporarily “kill” your optimism and “luck”. Your religious faith and the philosophy you live by can also be “killed and reborn” under a stressful transit from Pluto. Or, since Pluto rules extremes, you may tend to become a bit fanatical, believing that you have found some great truth. Even if you have, remember that it’s not polite to force it down someone’s throat.  The smooth aspects (sextile and trine) regenerate your “luck” and optimism. They indicate a good time to go forward with major projects (major for you, that is) furthering education, taking long trips, or getting involved in social issues.

Pluto Transits in Aspect to Natal Saturn: The stressful aspects can make you believe that everything you need for safety and security is being destroyed. To some extent, this is true. Mostly though, it just feels that way. Saturn is the planet of fear. Pluto brings it out.  Fortunately, Saturn also rules persistence and discipline and Pluto can activate those things as well. This can be an excellent time to start a long-term program of change. Want to do over your house? How about a weight reduction or work-out program? This can be a great time for things like that. In fact, circumstances may force you in those directions. When it comes to either Pluto or Saturn, don’t wait until they push you.

Pluto Transits in Aspect to Natal Uranus: Both of these planets rule change. Be sure to check out which houses Uranus and Pluto Rule in your birth chart as well as which houses they Occupy. These will be the areas of greatest change. Naturally, the stressful aspects (square and opposition) are naturally more difficult to deal with. Friends can go out of your life now. Be careful though, about new “friends” that come in at this time.  The smooth aspects bring changes with less stress.  

Pluto Transits in Aspect to Natal Neptune: As far as the stressful aspects go (conjunction, square, and opposition) Pluto can “kill” your dreams, faith,  and fantasies. (People born this century don’t have to worry about the opposition though. It won’t happen unless you live to be at least 125!). Under these transits, believers can become atheists and atheists become believers. Pluto doesn’t care. It just makes changes. Once more check the Houses that both Pluto and Neptune Rule and Occupy. Those areas will be the ones to be affected the most. The smooth aspects (sextile and trine) strengthen intuition and imagination.  

Pluto Transits in Aspect to Natal Pluto: Since Pluto is in the fast part of its orbit, it is possible to experience the opposition — if you plan to live to your eighties and nineties. The square happens when you are in your early 40’s. Get ready for the best sex you ever had! Sure, it can turn your life upside down, but who cares. Actually, you had better check out the House that Pluto occupies in your birth chart, as well as the one it is transiting through. And don’t forget the house that has the sign of Scorpio on the cusp (beginning). All of those areas of your life are probably going to be affected as well. Check your health because Pluto rules diseases that stay hidden and build up slowly (not that you will get anything like that, but better safe than sorry). Watch out for sudden anger and obsessions as well. As always with Pluto, utilize this transit for fixing things up (rehabilitation) including yourself, and for throwing things out (elimination). And of course, don’t forget that great sex! The smooth aspects give you the ability to make changes without the stresses, strains, and obsessions of the square.

Pluto Transits in Aspect to the Natal Ascendant: When Pluto crosses over your Ascendant (conjunction), you can become a new person. Make sure it’s someone you like. I call this one the “Nobody better mess with me!” transit. You will tend to become more commanding and domineering. If you try to suppress this, you will attract people who will try to dominate you until you finally assert yourself.  The square and opposition have a similar effect, but the emphasis is more on tumultuous relationships. Watch out for power struggles and manipulation that would even shock a writer for the soap operas.

Pluto Transits in Aspect to the Natal Mid-Heaven: These aspects can transform your career, domestic environment, and relationships with your boss and parents. Watch out for office politics at work, and power struggles both at home and work. This can be a good time to make permanent changes in your home (either fixing it up completely, or moving). It may also be favorable for changing jobs and even careers.  Be very careful that the desire to make these changes is not due to some inner compulsion or obsession that you have yet to work through.