If you’ve ever been lucky enough to stumble upon an astrology forum (my preference is Lindaland), you’ll find a peculiar trend unfold before your eyes.  Some person– a newbie, a regular, a troll, or a seasoned vet will create the infamous thread that gets everyone going.  The Pluto thread.

I don’t know what it is; it must be similar in logic to that of the high school concept.

You have your popular kids (Venus and Jupiter)

Your athletes (Sun and Mars)

Your smart kids (Mercury)

Your weirdos (Uranus)

Your “nice” girls/guys (Moon)

Your super-mature, too-old-for-high-school  kids (Saturn)

Your druggies (Neptune)

And then you’ve got THAT kid.  The one that doesn’t fit in, and doesn’t try to.  But he’s not like the weirdos in that he just stands out on purpose.  No, this kid is different.

He’s different because he could be popular Monday, an athlete by Wednesday, a druggie by Thursday afternoon, and by Saturday morning he’s in a study session with the smart kids.  Regardless of what’s he’s doing, he’s doing it well. He kicks butt at everything, but makes it look so easy.  He’s doing it because he can, and when he’s done.  He’s done. No one messes with him because for a guy that’s THAT good, you can only assume he’s equally as good at beating the crap out of you.

In many ways, it is the stereotypical “bad boy/girl” type.  When they “apply” themselves (I’ve never liked that term, a favorite amongst parents and teachers), they make the earth crumble under the sheer weight of their incredible willpower.  Most often though, they don’t.  Pluto by nature is the farthest removed from the solar system, so its universal awareness is the farthest from our conscious.  In Layman’s terms:   Most people don’t know a thing about Pluto because he does his dirty work so far away from where we function.

It’s like you live in a neighborhood.  Your house is the Sun.  The Moon is your ultimate best friend, she lives next door and is very busy, yet you still make time to hang out. Your other good friends who come over for coffee, gossip, and shopping trips are Mercury and Venus.  Mars is the guy a couple houses down; your husband plays basketball with.  Jupiter is that guy with the biggest house on the street who hosts all the neighborhood-wide barbecues, and lets all the kids swim in his pool.  Saturn is the old couple who has lived there for years and resents all the young people cramping their style.  Uranus is the neighborhood creeper, he can fix all your tools and yard equipment but you’d never invite him over because “you don’t know him like that”.  Neptune is the neighborhood charity case, you don’t know him/her personally, but you’ve heard so much about them in gossip that when you see them, you feel kind of guilty.  And Pluto?

Who the heck is Pluto?  Oh, that burned down house at the end of the road?  That was his. But who was he? And when did his house burn down?  And where did he go? You’ve never met him, or heard much about him.  You know he was there at some point, because his house still stands—destroyed and desolate.  You just don’t know anything else.

And that’s how Pluto works in relation to other planets.  We know that something is there, lying beneath; we just don’t know anything about it.  And most of us, if you’re smart (much unlike me); don’t want to do any digging to find out.

The only time we find out about Pluto is when he comes knocking on your doorstep, or when a personal planet or angle is transited, usually by hard aspect (conjunction, opposition, square).

So why would people then, be dying to affiliate with that guy? You’d think they’d jump to be aligned with Venus, representative of beaut, charm, and wealth. Or Mars, for strength or will. Or even Uranus, for its originality and independence.

I think it’s because deep down people want to know; they want to know Pluto, they want to be able to say “Hey, I knew that guy really well before his house burned down, it’s a pity what happened to him…” they want to understand those forces within us that challenge our will and desire to survive.  Most people aren’t willing to do the dirty work, so by listing off a million Pluto aspects, they think they’ve earned themselves some kind of badge that proclaims their “man/womanhood”. As if to say: “Don’t mess with me, I’ve been there, and I understand something you don’t”.

It annoys me because most of these people say things like “Oh I have Neptune sextile my Pluto in the 9th house, so life has been really hard”.   Fair statement:   but why? Chances are- everyone born within 5 years of you has Neptune sextile Pluto.  And if there are only 12 houses that these planets can fall into, I’m not good at math, but chances are that Pluto in the 9th house isn’t that unique. It becomes unique through life experience, it becomes unique when you’re able to identify this aspect manifesting in real life; THAT is how you use astrology.