The Gift of Pluto; Finding the Power in Your Pain

Astrological Pluto, ‘God of the Underworld’—
Finding the Power in your Pain

Pluto—ruthless planet of change or master teacher? Could the place of your deepest wounds also be the gateway to your power and sense of meaningfulness? Yes! Pluto, the astrological ‘god of the underworld’ seeks to find the meaning and purpose of our lives, but it does so with such an uncontrollable intensity that we want to bury or hide its experience.
Where you find Pluto in your birth chart is where you’ve had experiences of shame, sacrifice or loss—yet it’s there that Pluto dares us to look deeper into the opportunities disguised as loss, and to find our hard-earned wisdom there. It calls us to learn from our darkest experiences, and by understanding it, we transform that pain into power. No easy task! But this master teacher of the zodiac is also the greatest gift giver.
So how do you find where Pluto is in your birth chart? If you’ve ever had your astrology chart done, and can find a copy of it, this article will tell you how to find what area, or ‘house’ Pluto is in your life. This is the area where you have a distorting wound and also a high calling; a destiny. Like the abused child who grows up to become a loving parent, and maybe a ‘child-advocate’ instead of an abuser, you too can turn the pain in your past into compassion and power.
If you’re looking at your chart now, look to find the glyph that looks like the capital letter P with an extra little bottom line under it, or a tiny circle encased in a half circle on top of a cross. (Astrologers use one or the other to signify Pluto.) It will be in one of the 12 sections of the chart’s circle and will have a number next to it. Don’t worry about the numbers—you can ask your astrologer to explain the sign and aspects of Pluto, but for now we’re just going to locate it.
Your chart is a circle that is divided into 12 sections. Each section represents a different sphere of your life and Pluto is hiding in one of those sections. Now if you will imagine your chart to be a clock, put your pen at the section of the circle that would be the hour between 8:00 and 9:00. This is the section called the “first house.” The second house is in the next section, going counter-clockwise—between the hours of 7:00 and 8:00. Now write in the numbers of each section from 1 to 12 going counter-clock-wise in your circle and note where your Pluto is…it’s like a map, and you’ve just found the buried treasure!
Here’s a short translation of what Pluto in each area, or ‘house’ represents:

1st House: Pluto here shows you have charisma and the ability to be a leader, and a healer as well—that is, if you are willing to come out of hiding and dare to tell the whole Truth. Having once been shamed for your truth telling (‘Uncle Joe, why are you so fat?’) you now need to temper your honesty with compassion and tact, and to face your own cynicism and anger. Helping others find ways to deeply express the truth of their lives would be rewarding for you.

2nd House: You build self-confidence from using your many resources and talents. As you move away from scarcity consciousness and give money less power in your life, you understand what is your true wealth and value. Having once been shamed and blamed for your ways of handling your resources and money, you may wish to prove yourself capable, again and again.

3rd House: Misunderstandings and miscommunications may have you seeing thorns and missing the roses in your life. Your attitude or voice may conceal old angers…yet if you turn it around and let your keen perceptions and ability to communicate well (when you want to) you can tell a powerful story and reclaim your voice. Be a teacher and truth-sayer.

4th House: As you choose to build deep bondedness and connections with others you build a strong emotional foundation for your life. There may have been something unsettling in your early home life which is now buried deep in your subconscious. You heal that by learning ‘interdependence’ with others. Also, spend time nurturing children, animals, a garden…be lovingly in control of your home and let your roots grow deep and rich.

5th House: Your spontaneous fun-loving child-self was told to “keep a lid on it” and now its hard to find a balance between the urges of pleasure and creativity and the need to do your work. Take the time to uncover the creative playful side of yourself again and master the skills necessary to bring it out into the world. Let your work be your pleasure. Dare to be dramatic at times.

6th House: The delicate balance between responsibility for yourself vs responsibility towards others is off. Having been either over or under-protected when young, you weren’t taught some life skills (or given extra advantages) and later felt ashamed. Now you have the chance to build your skills and competency and can give your gift to the world through the work or service you do.

7th House: Too much self-protection prevents trust from developing in relationships. Avoid power struggles and create relationships based on equality. Sometime earlier in your life you may have had to deal with hidden agendas, manipulation and hurt with too much “truth.” Now it’s time for true intimacy, and less interpersonal drama.

8th House: Having had to experience some of the darker sides of life alone, you now have the ability to sit with strong emotions in yourself and with others, making you a gifted counselor, healer, or trusting friend. Don’t allow obsessions around sexuality, trust, and shared resources to limit your ability to be intimate. By not isolating yourself and using your healing gifts, you can be of great help to others in times of crisis.

9th House: Instead of adopting doubt and cynicism as your religion, make a point to travel, read, and educate yourself towards new ways of thinking. As you stretch the boundaries of your world you move beyond the religious hypocrisy you once experienced. Now its time to see your life as a spiritual quest and grand adventure.

10th House: Limitation and impossibility may have been conveyed to you growing up and your ambition may not have been properly supported. Fear of failure must be recognized as now you can dare to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’! Work on developing a strong career and getting paid/appreciated for your true value. Take a leadership role, and dare to be a force for good in the world.

11th house: Somewhere in your past you may have lost yourself in friendships and in dealing with odd groups of people—now it’s time to find what your really believe in and find others who feel the same. In these new groups and friendships you’ll have the ability to be the truth-sayer and heal the group experience. You can greatly inspire others, so don’t waste time with the wrong crowd.

12th House: When you’ve felt overwhelmed and burnt-out by the pain and suffering you’ve seen, you may have shut down or numbed out so as not to feel it. Yet by compassionately opening your heart to others now you heal yourself as well as them. You have the ability to touch people’s lives in an intimate inspiring way—don’t neglect your gifts for the sake of false comfort.

Elizabeth Spring MA has a degree in counseling psychology with an emphasis in Jungian psychology. She has been a professional astrologer since 1992 and has studied astrology and the work of Carl Jung in England, Switzerland and California. She has written numerous articles for newspapers and magazines which can be read on-line, and does astrology readings in person and by phone. To read other articles or inquire go to her web site at: www.elizabethspring.com or email: elizabethspring@aol.com

South Node First House, North Node Seventh House

First House South Node, Seventh House North Node

The first house is all about YOU—your personality, your way of seeing the world, the way the world sees you, and the nuts and bolts and nuances of how you would describe yourself, and how others would describe you. The first house always correlates with Aries and it ruled by the planet Mars. With the South Node here it describes a pattern you probably followed early in life, and what you didn’t get right in your last life. By the time of the first Saturn Return at approximately 29 years old you are ready to truly move beyond this and come into your own as an adult reaching towards the heights of your North Node in Libra. The Nodes are always opposite each other, so if you know one you house placement you know the other is 180 degrees away.

South Node in the first house is about the independent Aries-like hero/heroine who is on a quest to know itself and to move assertively into the world. Some people liken the Aries archetype to the warrior—the spiritual warrior or the hero in the story that begins: “Once upon a time there was a …….” Now fill in your story! Besides suggesting this hero/warrior myth, it also can be played out as the martyr, the one who sacrifices Self, or the Wanderer, the one who flees from Self, or the Magician, the one who transforms the Self.

When we look at any of the South Nodes we read them negatively, as to the nature of the unfinished business in a previous life, and what were the habits and mind-set that was needed to be finished or improved upon. Otherwise we would not be taking an incarnation at all. So, we look to the lack of Selfhood here with this placement, or an exaggerated sense of independence or excessive fear or worry. Perhaps all. This doesn’t mean that some courage and wonderful assertive action and thought wasn’t accomplished, it just implies that this is the “gold in the shadow” and to get this gold you need to be aware of the underside or shadow first, and work through the leaden unfinished business before grabbing the golden fleece of Aries.

The North Node in the Seventh House, ruled by Libra and the planet Venus, speaks to the desire for harmonious and right relationship with others. It softens the Mars, and it asks that one consider the other person’s opinions and life in a full dialogue of “I and Thou.” North Node placements here encourage one on one relationships in marriage, business, counseling or advising. It also asks that we learn to accept the paradoxical nature of human relationships in which we all have the opposite qualities of light and shadow, good and bad. Accepting the humanness on oneself and others with compassion is an integral part of this placement. (c) elizabeth spring elizabethspring@aol.com http://www.elizabethspring.com/

Since this post is about Me and You; here's a picture of me last year in NYC in front of the fountains by Lincoln Plaza.

Venus Square Neptune

Venus Square Neptune

Tell me, my friend, are we not all beggars

Hungry for love, hungry for more?
Savoring our illusions, do we not
Delight in the delicious longing
of our desires…
Mistaking each other For the Source?

Though I may be a beggar
I ‘m a lover and a listener too—
Though my rhythms may be awkward
My yearning to connect
Brings me to the edge—
Where I wait—
I wait for you.

For hope is the point between us
An aphrodisiac of the Soul
When there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do
We look to where the passion lies—
And call this passion: God.

So increase this fire in my heart!
And go away—you must.
Carve out of my denseness
A hole where through
That Light can shine.

For hope is this space between us
Though some might call her faith
When ego’s pride is burned away
I’ll find your face in every face
The birth will then be mine—

So turn up the flame, my Soul’s turned in—
I’ll take no substitutes.
No false gods stand before me now
I’ve had enough of mere beliefs
To know this fire’s
In my bones.

(c) elizabeth spring Thanks to Pamela at PRRussell for her Fantasies and Earthings photo, so appopriate to this delicious spring....and appropriate too for the longing between Venus and Nepune for beauty and love. This post will end the poetry metaphor for astrological aspects for awhile...I will be moving into the Nodes in the house placements next, for those of you who have been patiently waiting! And how do you find Venus playing out with Neptune in your chart?

Venus Conjunct Pluto

Venus Conjunct Pluto

Tonight—at sunset—I went down
To the bottom of the boat.
Steel doors locking behind me
Descending into his darkness
I boarded this boat, death place of fish—
What did I hope for here?

Enclosed, trapped, dark
Nothing alive survives here—
Why must I play out these feral illusions?
This siren call—
Storm tossed and wild—
Curious—
I’d set the bait myself.
He found my note, frozen in bottom of a barrel.
Come visit, he said, and I did.

He sat me down next to the helm
Overlooking the bay,
Looming large here,
He looked hard, wounded—
A bloodied hand from too much work.
“It’s all I know” he said.

He told me how in a storm he goes slow, drifts—
Rolls with the waves, and likes it.
This I like.
Whereas I go too fast—
Too passionate, I knock myself off course
Making me homesick, seasick—
Losing myself.

Eyeing me now, he wonders why I’ve come
Some flight of fancy he thinks—
Or worse—
Some flight of desperation
I know.

“Our work is similar I say—
We set the bait and hope to catch the fish—“
I pause and smile.
“There’s a difference,” he says
“I go out and net them—
You lure them in.”
“Not true,” I lied.
He smiled through stained teeth.

The light was dimming—
A narrow pink strip of hope
Appeared along the horizon.
“Where’s Venus?” I said
Knowing she was nowhere near here.
Where were the words to hide?
How far off course I’d come….

Silence descended. He shifted in his seat
And looked full-square at me;
He spoke of how a man went down to hell
To save his woman—
“Persephone” I said, “was abducted
Into hell—“

What heroic expectations
Were getting washed out here?
And would I who had come to see—
Too curious—find myself hooked and writhing
On these dank wooden floors?

“Would you like a cookie?” he asked.
Fear.
I must get home before dark, I thought,
I must get home before dark—

(c)Elizabeth Spring