photo © 2010 Mike Baird | more info (via: Wylio)Jeffrey: Mars square Pluto (exact on April 11) is arguably one of the most confrontational, aggressive, potentially violent and explosive planetary combinations there is.
Michelle: Both Mars and Pluto govern power and how you use it. And I’m referring to human power as opposed to energy sources such as nuclear and electric power. But if you really want to get a feel for how these two bad boy planets interact, it might be useful to imagine yourself as a type of nuclear plant just for the moment. Because this week in particular you need to stay conscious in order to avoid melting down or exploding. That can happen when Mars and Pluto get into this type of alignment with each other.
About Mars and Pluto
Jeffrey: To break these archetypes down a little bit for those who may not be as familiar with them: Mars is an inner planet and it’s archetypally associated with the Roman god of war. This is really the mundane planet of aggression and desire and initiative. Pluto—which is an outer planet that was discovered around 1930s—is this very deep, powerful, underground, chthonic energy. It’s an evolutionary, “survival of the fittest,” biological type of power (death, sex and destruction). So it’s difficult as human beings to really integrate it easily into our lives because it’s really transpersonal. It’s beyond something that we are in touch with in our daily lives but depending on what transits you have—or if it’s closely integrated into your own chart—you may be much more familiar with its energies.
When these two planets head off in this 90-degrees angle, it’s like they’re amping each other up. Pluto intensifies the aggressive urges of Mars, especially as it’s in its own sign of Aries. More conflict in the mid-East would not be surprising during this transit.
Michelle: Pluto is said to be the higher octave of Mars, meaning that it utilizes the Mars impulse to gain greater power and tries to elevate it into spiritual power or evolution, especially so that you can contribute something back to the collective, something that benefits others beyond yourself. Now that’s the ideal, but of course we are humans and we have always been living in times where there have been conflicts. It is really easy to misuse Mars and Pluto energy because the Pluto part of ourselves is quite unconscious. You can feel your Mars energy, you’re quite aware of it anytime you’re feeling a little competitive or a little angry. Wherever you want to make your mark on the world, you feel it in your Mars side. It’s really easy to get in touch with that, but Pluto is an energy coming from the depths of the Earth, and it comes from the depths within you, and it’s much harder to be aware of the hidden forces within you.
Do You Have to Be the Boss?
If you’re the kind of person that needs to be the boss all the time or if you need to be in control, it is especially important for you to remember that the Mars and Pluto energy that is coming about now can really trigger this compulsive urge for you to go against the grain, even if you know in your head that you’re being purely contrarian for the sake of being the alpha or the dominant one. So if you relate to that and that feels like you, then it may be more helpful for you to ask how important is it really for you to be the big boss in this moment. Whom do you risk alienating that you’re going to still need as time goes by, or what bridge might you be burning that you’ll never be able to build across again? Because it feels like the stakes are so high in this current planetary environment. And that’s something for people to think about, like, “Is this as big as I’m making it?”
When “No” Means “No
There is also something else that we need to touch on when we’re talking about Mars and Pluto, because both of these planets are involved in human sexuality. And their intense alignment can really intensify the longing to get your own sexual needs met—sometimes at the expense of someone else’s welfare. There’s so much more militant Aries energy in play now, it really can be easy to imagine that my needs are way more important than your needs.
Jeffrey: That touches on something that may happen often with people who have a combination like this in their natal charts: they may be either the victim or the perpetrator of sexual aggression. That’s an ugly part of humans that unfortunately still happens all too often: nonconsensuality.
Get Your Kink On
Michelle: So just check in with whomever you’re with and see that you’re both really on the same page. This energy can be really effective if you’re somebody that enjoys exploring your sexuality. This energy can add an element of danger to roleplay. If you think about it, we also have Saturn and Uranus in this square with Pluto as well.
Jeffrey: So we are talking kinky sadomasochism.
Michelle: Totally. Uranus thrives on kink, and Saturn wants to play with objects of restraint, so we don’t need to paint too detailed a picture of what that looks like.
Jeffrey: But you should use a “safe” word in your bedroom.
Michelle: That’s exactly it. That’s very important advice: find a safe word, use it, and tune in to the enjoyable energy of Neptune in Pisces, which really helps us get in touch with our imaginative side. And I think that that could be a really healthy outlet for the Mars-Pluto square so that it doesn’t build up inside you and you feel this awful frustration that can’t be released.