Pluto, Eros, and Thanatos

The Nature of Pluto

Like Saturn, Pluto frightens and even terrifies, but he also fascinates all those who are interested in Astrology. He is the planet which stands for death, sexuality, eroticism (Eros and Thanatos), and serious explosive crises after which everything needs to be reconstructed on a brand new basis.

Pluto represents the raw force of our deepest instincts and the hidden unconscious violence which may be unleashed inside us, with unbelievable intensity, before being thrown into our actions. In itself, this influence is not negative. It is a potent energy which can be channelled and grow beyond inconceivable strength. Sometimes, it precisely constitutes our only possibility to overcome inner blocks or to get rid of situations which have become totally impossible to solve.

Pluto symbolises an energy which is indispensable and useful because it destroys problematic issues once and for all, and not because it is linked to the negative aspect of things or to perversity. It enables to rebuild or to regenerate parts of our personality or a whole chapter of our life, provided that we succeed in channelling such a wild energy and that we keep things into perspective. Owing to its essence, it is obviously impossible to tame this force. Nevertheless, it is possible to direct it towards a precise goal if a part of us somehow identifies itself temporarily with Pluto, which may make us evolve or TRANSFORM us forever.

The sexual function is very marked with this planet which is also well-known for its capacity to deepen and impassion all nascent emotions owing to its analogy with Scorpio, which is ruled by Pluto.

It is not possible to address the nature of Pluto without saying a few words about the Freudian duality of Eros and Thanatos, i.e. the life and death drives which live in us.

Eros (from the Greek erôs, meaning "love", and the god of Love) refers to the entire group of sexual impulses and their ensuing amorous desires. Eros is usually opposed to philia ("friendship", "tenderness") and agapê ("devotion") because of its sexual connotation, especially in Christian terminology.

In The Banquet, Plato describes Eros as a desire for wholeness which is proper to our human species and which prompts us to unite with a person of the opposite gender. He explains his theory with the myth of the Androgynous, a human being with two bodies, a feminine one and a masculine one. He writes that Zeus cut the Androgynous in two and that each half yearns to unite with the other one. "When they meet, they embrace and hug so tightly that, totally wrapped up in their desire to fuse again, they let themselves die out of hunger and inertia because they do not want to undertake anything without the other one. (Plato, The Banquet or Love)

For Sigmund Freud, from 1920, Eros represents life drives, the purpose of which is to constantly create more links between living beings. Eros is the force "which ensures the unity and cohesion of everything existing in the world". The energy of this principle is the libido.

Thanatos (Greek word meaning "Death") is defined in psychoanalysis as the entire group of death drives. In his last theory on impulses, Sigmund Freud opposes the life drive, which aims at creating increasingly big units, to the death drive which, on the contrary, tends to destroy connections and eliminate tensions (the principle of Nirvana) and consists in bringing back the living being to an earlier inorganic state, which is also that of the absolute rest. The libido can cancel the harm of the death drive and get rid of it mainly by shunting it to the outer world.

This impulse, which is partially oriented towards the destruction of an object, is referred to as "instinct of aggression". When it is put at the service of the sexual function, it might lead to sadism. Likewise, when the destruction impulse is inwardly directed and linked to the libido, it might result in masochism.

In astrology, even though he is not linked with Venus or a luminary (The Sun or the Moon), Pluto has a marked sexual and passionate character and perfectly represents the potential for of our emotions and our senses to get exacerbated.

It is common knowledge that, when he is connected with Venus, Pluto brings about an exceedingly powerful amorous passion which is practically impossible to control and which is experienced more or less harmoniously according to the aspects the two planets form. When Pluto is linked with Mars, the former may bring about a passionate action-oriented fury which targets other people. Pluto may also be specifically at the root of sadism if these two planets are in harsh aspect (mainly square), and if the rest of the natal chart provides no safety valve.

Along with his destruction-regeneration functions, his sexual connotation, his violence and the unconscious, Pluto represents the capacity to create a vacuum, according to some authors. Pluto is also Nothingness, contrary to the Sun who is Life. Nothingness is the compulsory stage towards the re-creation of a new structure, and not nothingness as such.

Thus, in addition to the meanings previously mentioned, the place where Pluto is posited in the natal chart is a sort of shadow zone, an area of life particularly laden with intensity which may paradoxically lead to the "cleansing" of the symbols of the house Pluto dwells in, depending on the other aspects in the natal chart. It is paradoxical of course since sometimes, the topic which Pluto points to may become an obsession.

This is one of the interesting modern interpretations which must not be overlooked.

These paragraphs on the nature of Pluto would be incomplete if the following last point is not underlined. On the psychological plane, Pluto brings about a desire for domination, and an innate, instinctive, and unconscious authority. When this planet is part of the dominants, the person is always strong-willed, authoritarian, and above all, he tends to hold sway over other people.

In synastry, i.e. the comparison of two charts, high attention is paid when Pluto in one chart is conjunct one of the angles of the other chart. The Pluto person tends to control the other person, at first in covert ways since the planet is in analogy with Scorpio, a secretive and mighty sign incapable of fighting openly. Then, the Pluto person wields power gradually more and more openly.

This desire for domination of one of the partner by the other one is particularly obvious when one of the partners' Pluto is on the Ascendant or the Sun of the other person, or to a lesser extent on the Moon, in which case the emotional area is disrupted. In the case of Mercury, the intellect is stirred up. With Venus, Pluto's influence is similar to that of Mars and may bring about a passionate "complementarity", which is an excellent omen for the couple. In the case of Mars and his insubordinate nature, Pluto's need for domination clashes with Mars' combative energy, and sooner or later, a conflict is bound to break out on the initiative of the Mars person.

You can instantly get the position of your Pluto in sign and in house. All you need to do is locate the red glyph of Pluto in the house area outside the zodiacal wheel. Then you can check the accurateness or the resemblance between your personality traits and the relevant text in the paragraphs below.

Pluto in House

Reminder: indications provided here are more or less noticeable depending on whether Pluto is linked to personal points in your natal chart such as personal planets, angles, or whether he is part of a special pattern.

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Pluto in the 1st House

Your close friends are aware that your underlying tension may break open as soon as you feel threatened or when your honour is tarnished by ambiguous actions or talks. You have an innate taste for power, and you exude a strong form of magnetism and authority.

Your need to transform both your environment and your personality may prompt you to display aggressiveness. But more often than not, it remains a form of blackmail in order to dominate others, something similar to the chess principle that "threat is better than implementation.

You are interested in new experiences that may not be respectful of proprieties or moral standards, just for fun and due to a certain degree of carelessness... You feel that you are beyond the law and rules, and your emotionalism may take you too far.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 1st House or Ascendant.

Pluto in the 2nd House

This configuration may equally indicate an extreme greed for material gains or, on the contrary, a complete lack of interest in them. Your relationship to money may be secretive and obsessive.

You may earn huge amounts of money, with stubbornness and harshness, in a concealed but actual way, or in the darkness of risky speculations; in all cases, your attitude towards your earnings is… passionate, although you do not acknowledge it. The danger is that you may lose a lot. However, it is only when one is prepared to lose that one has a chance to gain a lot, and you certainly know it.

On a more symbolical plane, your sensuality and your possessiveness may be particularly strong. It is advisable that you step back, in order to become able to retain only the best of this configuration.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 2nd House.

Pluto in the 3rd House

Your mind is particularly clear-sighted and, if you are so inclined, you can show creativity in literature because your vision is extremely deep and intuitive.

Your clear-sightedness may be a source of troubles within your entourage or your siblings. Indeed, your penetrating mind may prompt you to say things that you should never utter. You may also show a form of authority that lacks diplomacy when you deal with others.

Your short trips may be surrounded with mystery. In a few rare instances, they may bring about turmoil or on the contrary, happy disruptions.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 3rd House.

Pluto in the 4th House

In general, your childhood was under stress, for many different reasons. Your early life was not very easy, and you probably felt a deep anxiety for reasons that were not always real.

In your intimate and private sphere, when you feel in confidence, you may be domineering and authoritarian, whereas in public, you never show this facet of your personality.

Your sensitivity is acute, and you may be affected by trivial things without ever displaying your hurt feelings. But as you mature, your finesse becomes an asset instead of an element of vulnerability.

Symbolically, according to the Tradition, your father was authoritarian or domineering. This is not always true, but this is how you perceived him when you were a child.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 4th House.

Pluto in the 5th House

Your sentimental life and the way you approach leisure are intense, even obsessive. You are willing to experience amorous passions where love and hatred closely cohabit!

You are creative, and you want to influence your children and your love conquests. You never take things lightly and, sooner or later, your love games and your entertainments may take a worrisome turn because you commit yourself too deeply.

Your sentimental relationships may be tinted with sadomasochism. If you are careful to keep it light, there is no reason why you should get into trouble.

Happy gambling is part of the possible characteristics of this quite pleasant configuration. You must step back in order to be able to handle it properly.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 5th House.

Pluto in the 6th House

Your relationships with your subordinates and your colleagues are marked with passion and may create domineering/dominated connections conducive to conflicts, unless you use your authority to stabilize the situation.

You do not accept your superiors' authority, and you continuously strive to reverse your relationships with them in order to eventually take the domineering role that better fits your nature.

In a few rare instances, severe health conditions may strike you down, but in principle, you overcome them like the phoenix that is reborn from its ashes.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 6th House.

Pluto in the 7th House

You have a natural strong authority as soon as you are with other people, and you tend to consider relationships as fights that allow you to display your might and your influence, insidiously but obviously, particularly for... the others!

Your contacts and your associations require so much emotional intensity that people who consider that relationships should be light and flowing may be frightened or disconcerted.

If you are a male, your marriage is probably the all-or-nothing type. It is a passionate and intensely close relationship, an agent for your couple's transformation, with you in the domineering role. It may also lead to disintegration before it starts afresh towards new horizons.

If you are a female, there is a strong possibility that you marry a powerful and secretive man with whom you form a whole unit and on whom you totally rely in confidence. Should it not be the case, it is very unlikely that he accepts that you retain a lot of personal freedom.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 7th House.

Pluto in the 8th House

In the sexuality area, you are very creative and you fear nothing. You are willing to experience your fantasies to the very end because you need to understand life's most secretive and mysterious aspects.

You are usually interested in occultism and in all topics that go beyond the everyday life framework: death and after-death, parapsychical researches, etc. You have a strong sixth sense, and you intuitively understand at once things that are usually hidden and private.

Your material life may be disrupted by inheritances and gains stemming from happy speculations. In the most negative cases, you undergo huge losses that are difficult to understand. In all cases, these upheavals are meant to transform your personality and your approach to life.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 8th House.

Pluto in the 9th House

Your capacity for concentration and your mental power are your major assets for the study of higher knowledge and ideological concepts. You also tend to get away from your usual geographical cocoon! You are inhabited by passion and persistence, and you do not resist the temptation to explore foreign lands or to thoroughly explore ideas.

Besides, once you enter those attractive fields, it is most likely that you become deeply transformed and shattered. Nothing is any more what it used to be, and this is precisely what your unconscious suspected when you were magnetically drawn towards these remote realms.

Sometimes, these transformations may deeply hurt you, but isn't it the only way to change and evolve? Otherwise, all the benefits are yours: adrenaline increased by the passion and creativity of the moment, along with the happiness to be spiritually enriched, later on.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 9th House.

Pluto in the 10th House

Your career, and more generally, your entire destiny, is challenged in many instances. You are individualistic, and you do not hesitate to forcefully provoke events, but often, external facts, totally beyond your will, are the causes of major disruptions in your life.

Your strong ambition prompts you to use your instinct of domination over people and over things... Towards that aim, you cannot help it, you have to trigger crises that invariably bring about transformations around you and within you. And this is exactly what you unconsciously wish for.

In your professional world, you are respected and even feared. It is up to you to be careful not to overstep boundaries, if you do not want to bear the consequences of this transforming agent that is inherent to your destiny.

Symbolically, the Tradition indicates that your mother is very probably domineering and authoritarian... at least, in your opinion - particularly during your childhood.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 10th House.

Pluto in the 11th House

In most cases, all is well, as long as your friends' character puts up with a relationship that may appear as burdensome, or even threatening, due to your desire for domination. You tend to influence your friends and to show your might. When they resist you or antagonize you, it is hard for you to remain cool.

Your approach to friendship is peculiar, and your affective tendency is to commit yourself in an intense and passionate way. In other words, you do not want to, or you cannot be satisfied with a light and superficial friendship where you lose sight of your friends or meet with them sporadically. It is all or nothing, with you. Preferably all, of course, with the potential for evolution and transformation for both you and your friends.

Passion and friendship certainly get along well and, more generally, you may exercise your influence and play a major role in team works, within collective projects.

Your friendships, as well as the supports and protections granted to you, are likely to bring about both the better and the worse. If you are aware of that, you may become able to choose only the better.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 11th House.

Pluto in the 12th House

You have an unconscious desire to experience your ordeals to the bitter end, regardless of their consequences for your future.

Your clear-sightedness and your investigative capacity enable you to solve mysteries in a deep and intuitive way. But they may also lead you into conflicts, crises and confrontations with enemies who are ruthless, at least in your opinion; having said this, you precisely have the ability to cope with them and to deeply evolve in the process.

You are predisposed to go through ordeals, on the human plane or in the area of health. The pains thus triggered contribute to transform you more rapidly than the majority of people. Your destiny is certainly to progress forward and, above all, to consider such ordeals as stepping-stones instead of signs of some unhealthy fatality.

The Tradition indicates that you may be prompted to take action in humanitarian causes, all the more so, because your personal ordeals incite you to readily help others, even though this tendency is not at once visible.

Some examples of celebrities:

Here is a selection of thousands of horoscopes having Pluto in the 12th House.

Pluto in Sign

We deal with generational factors here. Beware! Pluto may remain in a sign during more than 20 years, and therefore, the meaning of his position in sign taken as such has NO personal effect. Pluto only TINGES some of your personality features and is taken into account only IF he is highlighted through aspects or rulership of an individual point of your natal chart. Otherwise, the indications provided below do NOT apply.

Of course, should Pluto be conjunct an angle, the Ascendant ruler, a luminary, or a fast-moving planet, his effects are meaningful, and the hue described here becomes an additional element to be reckoned with.