Pluto is the planet of radical transformation, power, taboo themes and deep metamorphosis. Its position in your natal chart — by sign, house and aspects — reveals: where you are called to the deepest transformation in life, your relationship with power and control, areas where you experience the most intense crises and regeneration, and your generational transformation theme. The analysis also covers Pluto transits and their transformative impact on your current life period.
Where it comes from
Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and reclassified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, a decision astrologers generally ignored on the grounds that astrological use does not depend on the category. Its interpretation was built in the decades after discovery, and the events of that era — the rise of totalitarian states, the atom, depth psychology — shaped it. It is the outermost of the bodies in common use and the slowest, taking around two hundred and forty-eight years to circle the zodiac.
How the method works
Pluto is read for power, for what is hidden and for processes that cannot be reversed. In a natal chart its house shows the area of life where things are taken down to the foundations rather than adjusted, and its aspects to the personal planets show which parts of the personality are subject to that. Because its orbit is highly elliptical it spends between twelve and thirty years in a sign, so its sign position is generational rather than personal — everyone born within a decade shares it, and what individualises it is the house and the aspects.
What a reading covers
A reading gives the house and sign placement, the aspects to the personal planets, what the placement suggests about where control and its loss are a recurring theme, and the transits Pluto is currently making to your chart, which are the slowest and longest of any.
Common questions
- Does it still count if it is not a planet?
- Astrological practice kept it. The 2006 decision was about a definition in astronomy, and astrologers use asteroids and calculated points that were never planets anyway.
- Why is my Pluto sign the same as everyone my age?
- Because it moves so slowly. The sign describes a generation; the house and the aspects are what make the placement yours.
- Is a Pluto transit always difficult?
- It is described as long and as not reversible rather than as simply bad. Transits last one to three years and are typically read afterwards rather than during.