Here’s some unedited notes on Pluto speculation/diving from the past couple of days. Stream of consciousness with some gold nugs in there. Thanks for reading:
Pluto on the chart indicates where shadow work needs to be done/what the shadow is/how it is integrated.
Trines with Pluto may indicate a well integrated shadow/ability to dive into shadow/transmute safely.
Conjunctions indicate just what and where the shadow is.
Oppositions… hmmm.
I want to simply say discordant aspects indicate poor harmony with shadow or lack of integration?
Pluto transits indicate shadow journeys? And its significator of transformation perhaps is a natural result of what happens when one faces shadow?
Shadow means absolutely unconscious behaviors that have ability to destroy. The unconscious wild within, perhaps.
That which will bring death and destruction, unless we allow it to die and be destroyed.
Can reduce us to little more than our animal nature…
Powerlessness due to our most primal impulses that are impossible to overcome, except through (spiritual) dying. Can be used to control others for this reason lest you become a Christ and become Spirit, overcoming the vile body.
Pluto has rulership over both hedonists and ascetics, the full spectrum. This is why Shiva, god of destruction, is also the lord of asceticism. It is the theme of dying, but to the material world, or body. Hedonists die, but to the spiritual self. Ascetics die, too, but to the physical self.
So Pluto is almost like original sin, in this sense. The ego itself, perhaps the id. The animal and lower nature that we must die to. Here lies the plutonic power that is only power when it is purified and overcome. To use it selfishly is to be at its mercy, unconscious, subject to carnal life and lower self.
There is a reason why it’s the same symbol as alchemical antimony, representing man’s wild and free nature. But is it free? Are you free if you are prisoner to your impulsive, animal self?
Pluto has associations with repression as well, for this reason, as we are taught to repress this aspect of self — the animal self.
But then during times of catharsis and shadow purge, we see what people have been hiding, and how animalistic and selfish we really are. In times of survival, in times of great fear, this is what is activated. The force of shadow and of fear, as fear is directly correlated to the primal body. Only the mortal, animal self which truly does die can fear; our true Minds — or Spirits — cannot die.
So if you fear, you give in to the animal self. The animal self is the evil self, the unconscious self. This is what is used to control us. When survival needs are threatened, this force becomes active within.
To overcome shadow is to step through Pluto.
Harmonious Pluto aspects can mean consciousness of shadow, ability to dive into it and use it, and make the unconscious conscious.
Probably a major part of where Jung’s work was.
How can one fully overcome this force?
That is the absolute purpose of spiritual awakening, true awakening. To overcome the animal self and reunite with God, AKA mind, AKA that force which does not die, AKA that which is antithetical to Pluto.
Until you fully face your fears — and die — you are subject to Pluto, and you are Persephone, and only when you die unto your mortal, fearing self can you leave the underworld into the true source of light.
Perhaps it is this process which truly yields the treasures of Hades — or, when we succumb to our animal selves, we hoard resources and worldly riches, trading the spiritual wealth of the true father, for the earthly wealth of the dark king of the material world.
Pluto is the tyrant king that can control, because he has dominion over the material world — therefore, he can threaten our material bodies, causing fear, which can control mankind, and again, fear is only a result of the physical, mortal body. To overcome this is true Plutonic power, as no one can hold your survival needs over your head and force you to comply with their wishes. This is the ability to die for a belief; this is the ability to be burned alive willingly in protest; this is the ability to endure torture and death for something you Love and not give in. What we will call “false Plutonic power” is holding this power over someone’s head, creating fear to control; What we will call “true” Plutonic power is overcoming your fear and being free so you cannot be controlled in this way.
It is the deepest someone can go in total transformation of self. Can prove fatal.
False plutonic power is invoking mortal fear in another to control, or any other means of incentive that appeals to the animal within.
True plutonic power, that represents full enlightenment and mastery of the self — the most true power anyone can ever step into — is overcoming the animal self, and overcoming mortality itself, that we may never be controlled by fear or any survival impulse. It is to be fully liberated from fear, from darkness, to have fully mastered all levels of self. To be unable to be controlled by any survival impulse — sex, power, fear, food, water. This is what it means to fully become Spirit, a fully-conscious and awakened being. You either fully control your Pluto and become its master, or it fully controls you and is your master. This is the Plutonic theme and key phrase of the power struggle, in the form of the eons-old battle for power between light and dark.
Pluto can represent anyone along this spectrum — those absolutely slave to their fears and animalistic mortal impulses, those being controlled (or controlling!) in this way, or those who have graduated and mastered the darkness.
Pluto along Christ’s journey:
– Being tempted by devil with the world during 40 day desert fast (attempted Plutonic control);
– The agony of his death and Crucifixion (allowing the shadow and animal self to die)
– And his Resurrection (fully stepping through and overcoming the shadow, and thus death, and displaying full mastery over the earthly realm of death AKA Pluto).
In this way, all spiritual adepts, alchemists, and those seeking Gnosis must endure this allegorical journey of death to the material world, becoming a Christ in the process. But the only way to do so is to fully die to Plutonic control and master it — and thus, the world.
Interestingly, on the opposite polarity of Christ’s journey, Pluto can also have associations with “selling your soul to the devil.” AKA, giving up Spirit (true father) for the world of earthly delights (false father/tyrant king, and Pluto’s mine, and why he is god of wealth). This is perhaps one of the greatest examples of Pluto’s “all or nothing” mentality — you either choose the spiritual father of Light, or the evil earthly tyrant of darkness. Where “you cannot follow two shepherds at once” or “you cannot have two masters” comes from. I know Saturn is usually associated with the devil, but it works far too well here to ignore Pluto’s potential and apparent association with the devil.
Pluto on the chart is either where we have the power to conquer the world, or where we will be conquered by the world. Paradoxically, what appears outwardly as conquering the world, is truly being conquered by it. The only way to truly conquer the world with true Plutonic power, is to not be bound by it. It is full enlightenment and mastery of the material plane, and to be true king of the material plane.
Part 2:
For those interested:
The symbol for alchemical antimony, representing man’s wild nature, the raw and primal beast/animal within. Exactly the same as the Pluto glyph, except for the circle being attached by a line to the crescent.
Antimony was known to destroy (not sure what the right word is here) all other metals except for Gold. In other words, Pluto can overwhelm all of our other faculties, including our logic, but we can overcome with the courage of the inner Hero, the Sun, the spark of the divine that exists within each of us as the golden Son.
Gold, alchemically being the Sun, is that Divine Spirit that can overcome Pluto. Gold/Sun/Father is the True King; man’s divine, immortal Spirit. Perhaps can be equated with the Logos, though I am unsure. Antimony/Pluto is the false king; man’s dying, damned, ignorant nature (ignorance = evil), it is the animal within doomed to death one day. Quite powerful, and can override all other facets of the psyche (found in antimony’s ability to destroy all other metals) except for the divine Spirit, and inner essence of the immortal Source (found in antimony’s inability to destroy Gold — or destroy God).
This relationship between Gold and Antimony shows us the relationship between our inner hero (Gold) and Pluto (antimony). It gives clues to the Pluto-afflicted on how they may overcome.
This connection between antimony and Pluto also gives us clues on major, and somewhat ignored, significations for Pluto. Those with Pluto heavy are thought of as sexually raw and libidinous; why? It is because the animalistic spirit within them is VERY ACTIVE! Where Pluto is on the chart, you are shown where raw, blind, but POWERFUL animalistic power is available, and a theme. Pluto is associated with fear and paranoia, because it is only the feral animal within that fears.
Pluto, in essence, is our animal self. It is the animal self that can be controlled (Plutonic control); it is the animal self that desires the world (Pluto’s worldly riches); it is the animal self that can be overcome and mastered through the divine spirit of the Sun/Son/Father latent within and accessible to all (transcendence and conquering of Pluto, AKA true Plutonic power, which is not Plutonic power at all, but actually Solar power, as the full and completed journey of the Hero and Spirit within).
Many associate Christ with Neptune. While this is certainly accurate in some ways, I personally find Christ’s journey, at least at its culmination, to have far more significations with Pluto. This is seen in his torture, death, and resurrection (literally death & rebirth, it does not get more Plutonian than that). Christ was also said to have journeyed to Hell/the underworld (Pluto) while he was dead (feel free to fact check me on that though, as I am unsure). While much of the symbolism in the Bible is Neptunian/Piscean in nature, with the ritual washing of feet, symbolism of Baptism, and the unconditional love of Christ, there was also quite a bit of Plutonic (and even Uranian) themes to Christ as well.
Christ represents the journey of the soul in awakening. He embodies the journey of the Sun-Son through the planetary order, culminating with the climax (ahem, Pluto) of his story through Pluto’s death and rebirth. He played the revolutionary (Uranus); he played the forgiver of sins (Neptune); then he sacrificed himself to die and be born again (Pluto).
The Musings of a Blossoming Alchemist 