The Cycles of Change Transits Series: Pluto

I am sure you have heard a thing or two about Pluto transiting your natal chart, especially if you have been reading my other blog posts! 😂 Pluto is the slowest of all of the outer planets in astrology, and its entrance into Aquarius has likely been an astrological topic you’ve been hearing a lot about in the last year or so. I wrote about the collective energy of Pluto in this post. And if you were born in January, particularly from the 20th – the 23rd, you can read about how this could be affecting your chart in this post.

But today, we are talking about Pluto transits in general, about the energies of a Pluto transit, for anyone who may be experiencing one, now or in the future. Pluto is the energy of death, of the underworld, and the deep layers of the subconscious. Death can, of course, mean the day that our soul decided to depart this third-dimensional reality. But it doesn’t have to mean a literal death; it can also mean an ego death. The death of an identity or attachment, or of a job or a relationship, or of an old way of being.

Pluto carries us into the undercurrents of our psyche; it excavates deeply and shows us the places that require attention. It essentially brings the parts of ourselves that we are unaware of or ignore into conscious awareness. Now it would be great if all we had to do was get a phone call from Pluto, where he tells us exactly what needs to be addressed and why. But unfortunately, that is not how this planet works. Instead, external life events will churn up these realizations from within you. And speaking from personal experience, it’s not necessarily easy or light work. It’s the deep work you have been avoiding. It’s a spotlight that shows you exactly what needs to die within you, and what parts of your ego identity need to be eradicated. It shows you where you have given away your power and where you’ve been power-hungry.

The point of all of this, I would venture to say, Pluto would tell us, is that we get too wrapped up in our ego identity. And it limits our capacity for growth and expansion because we are limiting ourselves to the narrow ego identities we’ve established throughout life. Pluto arrives to excavate to depths far beyond the ego identities we have for ourselves, making room for new energy and potentials to come through. Sounds fun, right? 😶‍🌫️

What a Pluto Transit in Your Natal Chart Is Preparing You For

As with everything in astrology, where this shows up depends on many factors. Particularly, the natal planet Pluto is transiting and the houses that planet rules and occupies. All of this is very layered, and we won’t dissect this in this post because it’s far too layered for one post. But if you have an idea of the houses being affected, you can derive a general area of life where this may show up. I put a guide to the house significations at the end of this section; you can use this to match the house the natal planet Pluto is transiting occupies and the house(s) it rules to understand where this could manifest in life.

For example, if this shows up in the area of relationships, you could come face-to-face with some decisions about what needs to be done in the relationship. If you’ve been dragging your feet about leaving a relationship you know you need to leave, Pluto will bring life experiences that make it a necessity. It could also render you the one who needs to be left in the relationship scenario. It will show you where power dynamics have been uneven and where you’ve given away your power, or where you’re contending with power dynamics with another person.

When it comes to your ego identity, Pluto is really good about making sure you see beyond the limited potential these identities create. Maybe you are always “the smart one,” and you created that ego identity in order to be acknowledged early in life by your caretakers/parents. Maybe it was the only way you received praise growing up. So it carried into your adulthood, where you identified with it to such an extent that you always overachieved in life. Everything is meticulously planned and perfected. Every moment, every move you make is done to the level of perfection that you now hold this ego identity to. Pluto will come in and completely dissolve this ego identity by putting you in scenarios where you can no longer cling to this identity. It strips you naked of your previous abilities and puts you on your knees while you sit in an utter state of confusion, asking, “Who even am I in this life?”

We all have these identities we cling to, being the funny one, or the pretty one, or the one who everyone hates. They are all stories we tell ourselves for one reason or another that limit our capacity to blossom into our fullest potential. Pluto comes around to show us what needs to be dissolved, but first, you must contend with the very reason that identity was formed in the first place. This involves a look into the truth of who we are, which for 100% of us is not easy. We all have ideas about who we think we are, said ideas allow us to see ourselves in ways that are digestible. Seeing yourself beyond this protective identity layer is an ego death, to say the least.

Pluto transiting your houses:

1st House: You, appearance, first impressions, head/face, style, body

2nd House: Money, possessions, income, assets, self-worth

3rd House: Siblings, school, short trips, neighborhood, communication

4th House: Past, father, home and family, lineage, private life

5th House: Children, creativity, pleasure, romance, good fortune, sex for fun

6th House: Health, wellness, routines, work, pets

7th House: Relationships, marriage, partner, “the other”

8th House: Death, debt, taxes, couple money, inheritance, psyche, sex for intimacy

9th House: Travel, study, religion, international, faith, divine, god, publishing

10th House: Career, fame, reputation, profession, public

11th House: Hopes and wishes, community, good spirit, friendship, groups, luck

12th House: Retreat, escape, hidden, release, unconscious

How Pluto Moves Through the Body, Not Just the Mind

I was recently reading about Pluto in a book by Howard Sasportas, where he talks about how Pluto transits can excavate into the actual body. People going through these transits may be experiencing the physical detoxification of toxins and microbes from the body. And I can attest that this is indeed accurate, as Pluto is transiting my natal Sun, which also rules my 1st house of body, and I am indeed going through a multi-month, multi-phase program that slowly eradicates toxins that have been taking up shop in my body for many years. Not only is it a physical eradication, but the attached and equal ego identities and old experiences that match the frequency of the toxins are also being churned up in me. I have been forced to shine the light on many fears and traumas, decipher how they exist in the body, and set them free.

Deep meditation has been a huge component of moving through a Pluto transit. Movement of the body and of energy simultaneously is likely to be something that really helps you move through the intense pressure this transit can inflict upon the body. It’s not that you are actually under any kind of physical pressure, but the sensation of emotional pressure. A kind of pressure from within that feels like the moment of peak energy, right when a volcano is about to erupt. The split second before all of the lava starts shooting into the sky. That moment, right before that, is what a body can feel like during one of these transits.

It’s not because something terrible is about to happen, or is happening, or even because there will be an actual explosion. (Although if Mars is involved, this is possible). It’s more like the literal regeneration and transformation is taking place in your life in such a way that even the cells within your body feel this transformative vibration, and they are adjusting to the changes. Movement helps with this, meditation, and a lot of releasing. If you need to cry, shake it out, and beat your pillow, do it. Let it all happen. Maybe you go to a breath work retreat, or a meditation retreat (as I did and I write about here). During said retreat, I made connections with levels of my intuition I didn’t even know existed. I met my guides, and I understood (as much as one human can) that my soul is pure love, and everything in life I have ever fought about was so ridiculously funny and unnecessary.

You may not know exactly what to do with your body during this time, but having a foundation for listening to it, and going with the flow will be really helpful. I had a lot of body work done during the most intense times of Pluto transiting my natal Sun. From actual somatic bodywork to surgery to remove unwanted visitors in my body to energy work. I learned how to go into my body in meditation and be present with the oldest, most fearful parts of myself that were born in my early childhood, formed from trauma. The main point of this section is to tell you to have support and go with the flow of what life brings you. I never would have thought to have somatic body work done in my life, until it was put right in front of me, and I knew that it was what my body needed in that moment.

Moving Through Your Pluto Transit With Support

None of this is “light” conversation, and I do understand that it can seem very off-putting for anyone who is about to experience a Pluto transit. But please know that if you do experience a Pluto transit, it is because your soul and the cosmos are sending you new levels and layers of consciousness. Think of these like “upgrades” of your current programming. Even a computer must be updated to the newer version, as the older antiquated programming would become obsolete over time. Your soul does the same for you. Pluto comes in to show us our true power and potential, far outside the confines of the limited identities we created for ourselves. As humans, we tend to forget why we came here and who we really are at our core, in our soul. This is simply a time for you to get put back on track, onto the path where you thrive, and where you come into contact with the highest version of yourself.

If you know you will be experiencing a Pluto transit soon, I offer 20-minute recorded astrology readings where we can deep dive into where and how this might show up in your life. If you prefer a live, longer session, I also offer live 60-minute transit readings that dive into all of the important transits coming your way in the year ahead.

If you aren’t sure which is right for you, contact me anytime! Or leave a comment in the thread below. If you want to share stories of your own Pluto transit, I’d love to hear them!

This is part of a larger series, The Cycles of Change, that covers the outer planet transits (And Saturn). See below for the full series:

Saturn Transit in Your Natal Chart: What It Feels Like, Looks Like, and Does to a Life

Uranus Transit in Your Natal Chart: What It Feels Like, Looks Like, and Does to a Life

Neptune Transit in Your Natal Chart: What It Feels Like, Looks Like, and Does to a Life