Pluto brings integrity and power when we face our shadow self and deal with our dark side, and transmutes the hidden power, libido, and traumatic events into wisdom and empowerment.
Pluto reveals our shadow side. With the discovery of Pluto the dwarf planet, in 1930 the world was caught in a dark place. There was a severe depression in the US, dictators started to rise along with criminal networks like the Mafia. This was also when humanity was in the process of studying themselves through the psychoanalytical process, to name a few, famous psychoanalysts Adler, Freud, and Jung. Each aligned with a different Plutonian explanation of the human psyche, power, sexuality, and transformation.
Pluto in mythology, was swallowed by his father Cronus along with Zeus, and he became the ruler of the underworld, while Neptune became the ruler of the ocean, after they were freed. This tiny planetary body is so far from the Sun that it does not reflect the light, and this may be a reason why it reveals a dark character. When we have Pluto transit, we probe that dark side of ourselves.
When we encounter a crisis or a traumatic event, someone close to us dying, or something of value has been taken away, it leaves us in a dark place. We feel vulnerable, frightened, lonely, and depressed. Our light has been darkened by this experience, and once we emerge, we are different in some way. We sometimes only realize this after the fact.
Venus, Aphrodite, or Ishtar descended into the realms of the underworld of their own accord to retrieve what was lost and Persephone was abducted and taken by Pluto. These goddesses left everything familiar and dear to realize their power in the underworld and came back transformed.
Liz Green likens this dark power of the underworld to Kali the Hindu Goddess that embodies the power of creation and destruction in one entity. She transcends good and evil, and she is the goddess of death, terrifying and amazing because she nurtures and devours at the same time.
Pluto is also linked to the dark side of sexuality. It is said that Pluto abducted and sexually violated Persephone. How do we react, when faced with that part? Can we be like Persephone and turn our traumatic experiences into wisdom and empower ourselves? I have seen many, many people do this.
Upon the traumatic experience, we enter the river Styx which is filled with the poison of deep-buried resentment, unforgiving bitterness, and vengeance. There is no compassion here, no empathy, either for oneself or the transgressor. There is no healing in this bottomless pit of hatred. Liz Green says in her book The Astrology of Fate: that to discover and face one’s own poison is the only way to confront Pluto. When we emerge, we must not look back, so that we can have the courage to face the future.
According to Kay Taylor, https://www.kaytaylor.com/ the benefits of the transformation of Pluto are gaining integrity and inner power. We leave behind old patterns coloured with, fear, shame, and rage. Shedding the old to the very core, and facing fears bring about personal development. We learn to surrender, accept loss, and deal with core wounds and repressed issues. We can harness the energy to purge things in our lives that no longer serve us.
Pluto touches on the core issues that we ignore, and through transits brings them to light so that we can through the power of transformation and transmutation face our shadow self. It is then, when we stand within our power that we can detoxify and purge the old through Kundalini yoga, following an elimination diet, and doing shamanic or ancestral work. We need to cut the cord to those parts through forgiveness ceremonies.
Sources
Mythic Astrology – Ariel Guttman & Kenneth Johnson
The Astrology of Fate – Liz Green
Kay Taylor https://www.kaytaylor.com/
Photo by Julio Perez: https://www.pexels.com/photo/round-brown-and-black-ornament-2239914/
