Pluto is no longer called a planet, but that makes no difference to astrology and how it is interpreted in the horoscope. This small heavenly body is the farthest from the sun, and the slowest to orbit it. Pluto takes 248 years to pass through the whole Zodiac - a quarter of a millennium. Because of its elliptic orbit, it stays between 11 years (in Scorpio) and 32 years (in Taurus) in each Zodiac sign.


Pluto's speed through the Zodiac signs.

     Its slow progress makes its position in the Zodiac shared by a whole generation. Still, other ingredients in the horoscope can make its effect differ considerably from one person to the next.
     Pluto is quite invisible to the naked eye. It was not discovered until 1930, so we still haven't experienced more than its passing through half of the Zodiac. In 1930 it was in Cancer, and in 2008 it entered Capricorn.
     In the horoscope, Pluto represents drastic change, the metamorphosis from one situation into something utterly different. Its positon in the horoscope shows how and where such events take place for the person in question.
     In spite of its miniscule size, Pluto is regarded as sort of a big brother to Mars. Where the latter causes sudden draamtic events that don't last long, Pluto causes great changes that can last forever.

Keywords
Here are the twelve Zodiac signs, and keywords for the character they give to Pluto, i.e. your most important and dramatic changes in life:
    Aries   violent
    Taurus   slow
    Gemini   quick
    Cancer   traumatic
    Leo   personal
    Virgo   manageable
    Libra   foreseeable
    Scorpio   incomprehensible
    Sagittarius   revolutionary
    Capricorn   concrete
    Aquarius   unforeseen
    Pisces   chaotic

Ruler
Pluto rules over Scorpio, the sign of dark secrets, which means that it tends to be the most obvious and enforced in this sign. It exalts in Leo. There is really no Zodiac sign where Pluto is weakened, except maybe Aquarius and to a lesser extent Virgo. Also, its effects tend to be less evident in air signs.

The god Pluto abducting Proserpina, bringing her to his realm of death. Statue by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1622.

Planet age
Each of the heavenly bodies represents a period in your life of about seven years. In the case of Pluto it is really the transition from life to death, or the very last phase of life, at whatever time that happens. A change having only one equal in signi­ficance: that of birth, which can also be described as an Plutonian event.

© Stefan Stenudd, 2008