What does Pluto mean in astrology? Your guide to the petite power planet

Come on down to the underworld, folks — we’re talking about Pluto.

Named for the maiden-snatching, shadow-dwelling god of the underworld, the small but mighty planet Pluto is associated with destruction, subversion, depth, intensity, primal urges, the taboo, the criminal, the subterranean, subconscious forces, and the dark and dangerous heart that beats below the veneer of civilization and the crust of the Earth itself.

Sunny stuff, it ain’t.

Planet Pluto in astrology

Petite but potent, Pluto was discovered in 1930.

As the final planet in our solar system, Pluto is rightly linked to endings and downfall. As a master of ceremonies for death, Pluto teaches us that destruction is the wheel grease of creation.

Apropos of this, Pluto is the planetary ruler of the fixed waters of Scorpio, a sign associated with transformational trauma, shadow work, mind control, power struggles and other people’s resources.

As the planet farthest from the sun, Pluto’s orbit is an arduously long one, with the planet changing signs once every 12 to 30 years. Because of that, Pluto is considered an outer planet whose signature through the zodiac signs applies to the ideals and energies of an entire generation.

Pluto meaning

The discovery of Pluto coincided with the planet’s move through the maternal sign of Cancer and, with it, the birth of nuclear power, fascism and prohibition — all forces that express a kind of civic “care” that is ultimately a dark form of control.

Prohibition specifically initiated a new kind of criminal archetype and an illicit underworld that continues to color our country, feeding into and upon our illicit needs. This era also gave rise to psychology, and specifically psychoanalysis, as a means to access the subconscious.

Thematically, Pluto is akin to the Hindu deity Kali, the mother goddess of nature and destruction, and this crossover is never more apparent than in the sign of Cancer.

Pluto transits

In terms of Pluto as a generational signature, and as the brilliant astrologer David Odyssey observes, “the Boomers were born with Pluto in Leo (1939–1958), which saw the rise of deified world leaders, and the elevated ideal of so-called American “greatness.”

Pluto in Virgo from 1958 to 1971 is the signature of early Gen Xers. Virgo is the sign of ritual purification, and in kind, this generation values authenticity, identifying and reviling the concept of “selling out.” Virgo is associated with agriculture, and this era saw the rise of over-cultivation, factory farming and tabletop microwaves, creating a general culture of convenience and profits over substance

“Pluto in Libra (1971 to 1983) brought forth Gen X, who sought to tear down the Libran ideal of suburban stucco bliss; millennials came alive during Pluto’s transit through Scorpio (1983 to 1995), a period in which AIDS unleashed conservative cruelty and activist revolution, VHS pornography changed sex forever, and atomic terror thawed to new possibilities of liberation,” Odyssey continues. “Of course, Gen Z could only be born to Pluto in Sagittarius (1995 to 2009), and will reckon for years to come with the sign’s extreme ideals, spiritual curiosity, and conspiratorial thinking.”

Pluto planet

If lucky duck planet Jupiter expands all that it touches, Pluto empowers, intensifies and takes it to shocking extremes. If Jupiter is Midas, Pluto is the grim reaper coming correct for his pound of flesh.

Think Khalesi in the funeral pyre and other trials by fire, feeling alive by getting felt up by death, revolution, upheaval and the kind of cultural catharsis that’s born from righteous, karmic retribution.

And just because Pluto is devastating does not mean it is nefarious. When it comes to Pluto, destruction is only wrought in the name of evolution, and often, the planet “tests” the mettle of its children in order to cast out what holds them back.

Through Pluto, what dies becomes the necessary compost for the new, and what has been exiled will be exhumed.

In terms of cinematic archetypes, Pluto is Professor Snape, whose brutal methods belie benevolent intentions.

How to find your Pluto sign

Use a birth chart calculator like this one to find your Pluto sign. Once you’ve added your details, your Pluto sign will populate within the zodiac wheel.

The symbol for Pluto is a circle over a crescent and cross; as per Cafe Astrology, the symbol represents the rise of the psyche over the material: “This glyph suggests spiritual receptivity … or the superconscious, placed above the physical world.”

Due to the slow movement of the planet, the sign that Pluto falls in will be shared by others of the same generation. On a more personal level, Pluto’s house position within the birth chart indicates the areas of life where deeper meaning will be sought.

Pluto’s position can also reflect where change, power struggles, control, obsession, secrets and turmoil abound — or are bound to bubble up.

Pluto direct in Capricorn 2024

Pluto has spent the past 15 years in the hardscrabble sign of Capricorn, where he’s been busy in the dark arts, showing off the shadow side of financial systems, patriarchal structures, capitalism, racial inequity, abusive power dynamics and authority figures.

It’s no coincidence that both the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements came to light and power during this transit and that HRH Britney Spears got free from her paternal overlord.

This final push, which will play out over the next few weeks, marks the end of an era for Pluto.

At 29 degrees of Capricorn, Pluto will be at the final or anaretic degree of the sign, the point of the ultimate expression of its energy. At this degree, Pluto can’t help but push the button, scream the truth, force a deathbed confession and strike the match that lights the powder keg.

Interestingly, in the Major Arcana of the tarot, Capricorn is represented by the devil card, and, of course, Pluto is named for the overlord of the underworld.

In tandem, we can view this transit as the highway to hell for those who deserve the commute.

When does Pluto enter Aquarius?

As of Nov. 19, 2024, Pluto will be setting up shop in Aquarius, where it will remain until March 8, 2043.

The last time planet Pluto marched through Aquarius was 1778 to 1798, a span of years that saw the French, American, Haitian and Industrial revolutions, as well as the Age of Enlightenment, which, in true Aquarian form, favored reason over reaction and abstraction over intimacy.

Inventions from this era include the hot air balloon, sewing machine, smallpox vaccine and the parachute.

The last go-round of Pluto in Aquarius included the dismantling of social hierarchies, resistance to the powers that be, the revaluation of labor, violent responses to economic disparity and the wild application of the imagination leading to technological breath-throughs.

These themes will no doubt resurface when Pluto returns to the visionary vapors of Aquarius.

The structures of old and the perches of the elite will be eyed with fresh contempt and the “good for a few of us” modality of capitalism will no longer suffice.

The ultimate lesson of Pluto? It’s painful to let go but impossible to hold on.

Change is at hand, folks, and while rebirth is miraculous, it is also violent and volatile, and the moments that precede it are deep, dark and terrifying.

Here’s to the ashes — and the aftermath.

Astrology 101: Your guide to the star

Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.