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Pluto in Aquarius
Pluto symbolizes a dimension of life that is deep, somewhat mysterious, and complex. When it moves signs, as it is about to do over 2023 and 2024 from Capricorn to Aquarius, there will be a slow ramp up to a significant energy shift lasting the next 20 or so years. There are some things about Pluto that may surprise you - things that you should know to truly understand what the Archetype of Pluto is going to mean for you as transformations happen your life.
Pluto the Unseen
Everything with Pluto is somewhat hidden, and the demonization of Pluto as Hades, AKA the christian devil, adds a layer of baggage, or perhaps sewage is a better term considering the topic at hand - you know underworld type stuff.
Looking deeper at the evidence, Pluto in astrology, and Mythology, is much more complex and nuanced than any single word can encapsulate. Do Pluto experiences challenge people? Yeah, they do. They are concerned with the death and destruction of old, which is necessary to make way for the new. Humans do not always appreciate this. I mean some people never even change their hair dos for their entire life, so people can be stubborn as heck. (picture of the teacher same shirt every year)
Sometimes, powerful transformative things have to happen to us in order to force this change, which would not have happened if we are left to our own devices. Human beings are creatures of habit, and resist change, which in these cases, increases the pressure and tension. I like comfort as much as the next human, so I’m not saying it’s fun, but I am saying there may be unseen positive results behind the push.
Pluto is the Roman name for the God of the underworld, and the Greek version of this god, is Hades of course, and in Ancient Greek this name “᾽Αιδης”, derives from the word for “unseen”. Hades is to the Immortals as Jan is to the Brady Bunch. That may be too old of a reference, but Jan was the middle sister in her family, and felt totally invisible. Hades helped his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, to overthrow the monstrous Titan Kronos (also known as Saturn) in the epic battle for control of the cosmos. After the battle, the world was divided amongst the brothers. Zeus was given the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades got the Underworld.
Homer’s Odyssey (Book 11, lines 488-490), Achilles states,
“βουλοίμην κ᾿ ἐπάρουρος ἐὼν θητευέμεν ἄλλῳ,
ἀνδρὶ παρ᾿ ἀκλήρῳ, ᾧ μὴ βίοτος πολὺς εἴη,
ἢ πᾶσιν νεκύεσσι καταφθιμένοισιν ἀνάσσειν.”
“I’d rather slave on earth for another man –
Some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive –
Than rule down here over all the breathless dead.”
So, not the best job, or real estate to be gifted.
Hades doesn’t get the title of ‘Olympian’ - Hades has the title ‘Chthonic’, which roughly translates as ‘things relating to the underground’, further setting him at the fringes apart from everyone else. There is no sacred place for Hades on Olympus, and he is confined to his domain in the Underworld. And yet, he doesn’t try to get a different gig.
In Ancient Greece, there were not many shrines to Hades compared to other gods, just one significant group in Thesprotia, where there was an Oracle of the Dead. Few Hades statues have been excavated from the underground, so either there weren't many made, or they are WAY WAY underground which makes a lot of sense. Other gods, like Aphrodite, AKA Venus, are famous for becoming angry and violent if they are not worshiped enough, and yet, Hades is not recorded in any myth as being vengeful on mortals for their ignorance.
Pluto - Impartial and Fair
IN fact, Pluto/Hades in both mythology and astrology is actually impartial and fair.
Hades was known as nearly impossible to bribe, and being the Lord of the Underworld, Hades appeared to be cold-hearted because many people pleaded for their lost loved ones to be returned to life. The job requirement was to judge the dead, and part of this job meant Hades had to keep the order of nature and maintain the cycle of life. Punishment was not out of bitterness, jealousy, or revenge, but simply because the person had upset the balance of life and death.
Steven Arroyo says, “Pluto transits always bring some kind of ‘separation’ from people, things, or activities…but Pluto acts on a level that is far deeper than that of mere transitory phenomena. Whether or not they are obvious external changes at that time, the meaning of the experience is never starkly obvious, for the changes at the deep-set psychic level are so long lasting and profound that the analytical mind cannot grasp their true purpose.”
Have you heard of Sisyphus? That guy who has to push a massive rock up a hill for eternity? You know how he got stuck doing that? Well, Sisyphus died, but argued that he wasn’t buried properly, so Hades allowed him to leave the Underworld to fix this. Then, Sisyphus trapped “Death” when he came to take him back to the Underworld, which caused chaos because nothing could die with Death being held captive - dude couldn't do his job. So Sisyphus was punished with the rock and the hill for eternity, but it wasn’t Hades to punish him, but Zeus, as an override of Hades.
Pluto is Steadfast and Loyal
The house position of your natal Pluto placement is where you will find a clue to where you may be living out an old desire or pattern of behavior that could lead to some pain and suffering. This is a place where we are meeting our old selves, and past desires. This can reveal where we have some work to do at deeper levels of our being. The power of the past is there, but over time, Pluto experiences reveal that the time has come to use that power in a new way. How can we evolve when we are chained to the old? It is scary to let go, and trust these experiences, and the hidden veil of meaning that won’t be revealed possibly for years or decades. Most of us just cannot see with that much distance and perspective.
In the description below, there is a link to the natal Pluto House placements and you can find your own to get more insight on where you may be transforming over your lifetime.
But Pluto will stick with us, over a lifetime, chipping away loyally, on those personal pain points through tranists, and activations to our natal Pluto position.
Zeus and Poseidon were both widely known for their affairs, but Hades was loyal to his wife
Persephone. There are two points in which Hades’ loyalty could be questioned: Minthe and Leuce. But there is no explicit timeline for these affairs, so they can likely be placed before Hades’ marriage to Persephone.
Hades fell in love with Leuce, an Ocean nymph, who he took to the Underworld. When she died, Hades changed her into a poplar tree in Elysium. The poplar tree became a sacred symbol to Hades, showing that Hades honored his relationship with her.
Minthe, it seems, was a past lover of Hades. Apparently, when Hades married Persephone, Minthe became jealous. She started bragging all around that she would win back Hades as a lover. Hades doesn’t respond to her at all, but Persephone, is taking none of Minthe’s crap, and retaliates by turning her into a mint plant. And any gardener that accidentally plants mint in the ground will tell you, it can be incredibly annoying and difficult to get rid of!
Pluto can help us become heroes of our own lives.
If you think of your life as a journey - and why not, this is a esoteric fringy channel, so I will enact the Hero’s Journey trademark Joseph Campbell as is my right, there will be times of great struggle, times of ease, times of pain, times of pleasure, and so on. Underlying this entire journey is a consistent tune, played by Pluto, bringing your back to the point of the path you are on. Pushing you to enact will power, and if you accept the terms, complete regeneration and transformation over time. This is not a cheap ticket- it requires high level integration. Arroyo says, “This regeneration changes willfulness, compulsiveness, and ruthlessness in to a consciously usable power with great intensity which then manifest a penetrating insight understanding of subtle forces, (often resulting in knowledge years ahead of its time) and the use of the will to promote creative actions. The Pluto energy can also be directed into healing channels.”
Lightning round - 3 times Pluto/Hades Helped Heroes in the Old Myths:
For one of his Twelve Labours, Hercules was challenged to take Hades’ three headed watchdog out of the underworld, to the land of the living. Hades allows Hercules to take the dog for a ‘walk’ as long as he is returned safely and unharmed.
Perseus, who defeated Medusa, was allowed to use Hades’ Helm of Darkness, a helmet to turn him invisible so he could easily slaughter the monsters on his quest.
Orpheus’ wife died, and he went to the Underworld to try and get her back. Through the Underworld, Orpheus sang a sorrowful melody, as he played his lyre. Hades was moved by the sad song of Orpheus and cried an iron tear. Orpheus was allowed to take his wife back to the land of the living, but there was only one condition, which Hades warned Orpheus about - he was not allowed to look back at his wife until he had stepped out of the Underworld, or he would lose her once again to the underworld. Orpheus looked - she was lost, but it was not Hades fault Orpheus didn’t listen…
And one last thing about Hades/Pluto and heroes - after a hero dies, he is the guardian of their souls, and rewards heroes with Elysium, the final resting place for those who lived good, honorable lives.
Pluto experiences are ones that break things down in order for some form of renewal, for healing, for transformation - a symbolic death, a journey through the underworld searching for the answer, then being reborn into the living world, but new, different in some way. Pluto is hard to sway, Based on your personal natal chart, maybe you will be getting aspects to personal planets, or through houses that are angular, and the curriculum or fate dealt out to you could get very challenging, and that may not be pleasant. But if you understand that holding on to old forms, outdated ways, feelings, or relationships that have run their course - good or bad - is something that may be part of your experience, then perhaps you could have more grace for the Pluto experience over all.
Astrologer Carl Payne Tobey said, “ Never fear chaos because out of chaos something is always born. Instead of worrying about a chaotic situation, I await the birth. When your mind becomes chaotic, or even when my mind is, it is because it is impossible to see the whole.”
We are culturally conditioned to fear chaos, and change. Pluto is not easy to sway. If the decision has been made, and your old foundations are ripe for release, one way to ride through is to learn to adapt yourself to whatever situations may arise, because this is a transition period, and destruction leads to new creation.
Pluto/Hades gets a bad reputation because it is related to fear - fear of change, death, the unknown, the beyond, chaos, uncertainty, darkness. But the archetype of Pluto is one of management, guidance through the underworld, a fair judge when seen through the longer lens of a longer Pluto timescale.
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