Recently, I encountered a variation of the symbolism of Pluto. It was suggested that Pluto could represent something as benign as a marriage. This arose some apprehension in my mind.
The Myth Matters
Pluto’s mythological origins were cited, claiming that because Pluto “came out to look at Persephone”, we could interpret planetary Pluto more benevolently.
In my understanding, Pluto didn’t emerge from the underworld for a casual glance—he abducted Persephone, dragging her into his dark realm against her will. While the myth encapsulates the dual nature of existence—life and death, growth and decay, joy and sorrow.
Persephone returns to the underworld for six months because she is bound to Hades, not because she is happy and chooses Hades. She is helpless. Happiness has as much to do with this myth as does unhappiness, methinks.
Psychologically this a story about the abuse of power, force, and the violation of consent— and the price that is asked of both those who abuse and are abused.
I believe that if we make Pluto’s story more palatable, we defeat its purpose, which is to illuminate the dark, difficult and uncomfortable aspects of the human psyche.
The Evidence Problem
It was claimed that Pluto “often appears in solar returns of both partners who are about to get married in a non-malefic way.”
This assertion raises several critical questions that should demand rigorous answers to:
~ How often is “often”?
~ How many solar returns were examined?
~ For how many couples?
~ What was the broader context of these couples’ lives?
~ Were other testimonies for marriage present from the traditional seven planets?
To propose a re-interpretation or an expansion of traditional symbolism I think we would need to examine at least a dozen documented cases with detailed analysis of the context.
Moreover, since paying attention to real life is a good skill to have for any astrologer, we must ask: how many marriages begin without difficulties? Pluto’s prominence might very well explain the challenges couples were entering that year, not the marriage itself.
Marriage, in traditional astrology, is shown by testimonies from the seven inner planets. The outer planets and fixed stars add nuance or reinforce an upcoming theme or themes already present. Is a significator on Spica? Happy times. Is it on Alcyone or Pluto? Not happy, for sure.
When Pluto reinforces a theme, it’s typically the theme of “problems”. If the marriage itself is a problem then Pluto can certainly not only indicate that, but depict the kind of problem too. Such as, becoming a hostage to a relationship in which one or both partners are psychologically weak and vulnerably dependent on the other, or become enablers to each other’s House 12.
Perhaps, finding Pluto frequently prominent in marriage charts is indicative of the sorry state in which many of us jump into each other’s arms, beds, or bank accounts. Perhaps Persephone came to enjoy being the queen of the underworld and the power that came with it, all at the expense of innocence and, more often than not, inner peace.
Context is King
It has been suggested that Pluto could represent “absolute isolation,” given the god’s cave-dwelling habits. That is acceptable to me, as long as context determines meaning.
Again, I would like to see charts where Pluto indicated isolation and nothing else problematic occurred. Did the yogi die of starvation or was dragged into the woods by a bear? Was the monk caught violating his vows by eloping with the abbot? Was the citizen so misbehaved that lost his reputation and was ostracized by the community?
One might also want to consider: what good is there in total isolation? I doubt that is positive or neutral. But prove me wrong. In real life, it is more likely that total isolation is what prompted Pluto to snatch the girl in the first place. Pluto is not a symbol for the true celibate who has overcome his carnal urges and derives spiritual benefit from it. Pluto, like just about every symbol used psychologically, describes human tendencies under certain conditions. To me, Pluto looks like a sociopath full of unfulfilled desires. A celibate gone wrong, perhaps. A rather common social phenomenon, regrettably.
I can imagine scenarios where Pluto might describe cave-dwelling: perhaps someone living in Australia’s underground mining towns, the job of an undertaker, or a gardener’s dismay when their dear radishes are constantly being abducted by Plutonian creatures such as moles and gophers. But even then, we must examine the complete picture. Context, context, context. If we skip this degree of analytical rigor, we risk ending up with modern astrology’s anything-goes interpretation style, where symbols become so flexible they lose their educational and informational meaning.
The Proof is in the Pudding
I’ve examined numerous charts where Pluto played a prominent role. In one particularly disturbing case involving a child girl abuse, Pluto and the abuser’s significator appeared inside the 5th cusp—a textbook example of Pluto’s destructiveness when it comes to matters of sexuality. In relationship horaries, a significator conjunct Pluto can corroborate someone with controlling, domineering tendencies—the type, man or woman, who feels entitled to extract compliance through force or manipulation.
In essence, Pluto drags things down. Good for an undertaker or a well driller; problematic otherwise.
In most cases we can keep it simple—Pluto simply and plainly means *trouble*.
Some propose Pluto to indicate “transformation through crisis”… In Disneyland, perhaps, if we take Pluto’s bone away to make him sit… Otherwise, no transformation. Unless we are talking about transforming something bad into something worse.
Any positive transformation may come because forces opposed to Pluto rise to the occasion. There is no such transformation in Pluto itself, except of becoming more dark, more buried, more psychologically and spiritually weak, more dependent and less free.
Transformative powers do exist, but they will not be shown by Pluto. The Lord of the Ascendant, the Lord of the Geniture, the Moon; or some friendly and enlightening external force may come to the rescue, for external help is a crucial step on the path to freedom from Plutonian forces. Pluto shows the challenge, not the solution.
The Bigger Picture
This debate about Pluto reflects a larger issue in human relations: the tendency to make things nice, to soften hard edges of reality. While being tactful, diplomatic, kind and empathic is important and desirable, an overly soft approach might make the astrologer tolerable but it will not serve the deeper needs from people seeking genuine insight from an astrological consultation.
Symbols of ugliness exist for a reason. They describe real phenomena—difficulty, obstruction, weakness, and genuine evil. Pretending these forces don’t exist or trying to rebrand them as beneficial or neutral doesn’t make them disappear; it blinds us to their operations and the complexities of the process of liberation from them.
When we encounter Pluto prominently placed in a chart, we should pay attention to the essence of the myth: obsession, control, abuse of power, dependence, vulnerability, helplessness, crisis; in extreme cases, psychopathy. If the context does not support that degree of symbolic specificity, *trouble* will do.
Astrology works best when we respect the symbolic language that has developed over time of observation and practice. This doesn’t mean we can’t evolve our understanding and bring in our new conclusions to the mix; in fact, I encourage that. But ideally, we should produce reasoned explanations and evidence for new interpretations.
