Some Pluto words by Robert Hand

[SteveS]

Pluto operates with extreme power being a force beyond the ego…

…psychotic episodes have been observed in people’s lives when the power of Pluto is strong.

Pluto crises requires detachment.

Plutonians often work quietly behind the scenes manipulating the process.

When you manifest Plutonian energies, you are intended by the universe to fulfill a cosmic purpose.

Often Plutonian people are found in politics.

Pluto is a force of nature that is simply too strong to be contained by the limited capacities of the ego. Any attempt to harness its energy to the ends of the ego results in an overload, as in a circuit that carries more electricity than it was designed for. Hitler could have been a medium for the transmission of historical energies, but he chose to try to take control of them. WW11 was the consequence. Richard Nixon also attempted to use his great Plutonian power for his own purposes.

In politics we see a common response to those who abuse Plutonian power.

People with strong Plutos need to be careful how they manifest their energy, and how others react to it.
As Pluto is connected to breakdown and decay, so it is also connected to those elements of society that reflect breakdown and decay.

Terrorism is a manifestation of Pluto; it comes about because the world is unwilling to deal with certain pressing problems.

In individual life, Plutonian periods are always periods of death, but generally not physical death. Usually an aspect of one’s life passes away making way for something new.

Very often, Plutonian people take on the positive role of assisting others who are going through Plutonian transformations. At one level, then, Pluto is associated with healers and therapists, both psychological and physical, and those who teach techniques of self-transformation. Helping others with their transformations is a constructive way to use Pluto, but it still has its dangers. Insofar as they assist people in transforming their lives, astrologers are Plutonian and also have this responsibility.

[Jim Eshelman]

I love and respect Rob more than just about any other astrologer alive but I really wish he'd dump the Tropical party-line on Pluto resembling Tropical Scorpio.

I agree with some of these individual points, but the fact that he's originating from a theme of power leads hi down several wrong paths.

You might think I'd be happy with this theme. It would even make life easier if the ruler of Sidereal Aries was all about power! But it's entirely the wrong feel, especially since angular Pluto types are so commonly gentle. One of their basic traits is their strong "live and let live" view of life. There is no coercion in Pluto (there may be coercion with Pluto in combination with Mars and perhaps a couple of other planets).

Having just looked at this afresh and from the top, I'm quite comfortable with the summary of the Pluto character when angular:

• Need to live by their own rules, true to themselves (resists control). - This results in a lot of NOT following other people's rules or conventions. - A few draw attention for their disobedience, though most slip through the cracks quietly, almost invisibly.
• Solitary (outsider, anomaly) within the herd. (Only rarely solitary from the herd.) - Needs (enjoys) solitude. - Wanders in the wilderness (physically, psychologically), "black sheep" averse to reflexively conforming to herd expectations (unique, eccentric, odd, contradictory, contrary). A figurative or literal outlier interrupting uniformity, a foreign or alien element disrupting homogenous predictability.
• Offers opinions frankly, without complexity, sometimes incisively.
• Kind, unthreatening, guileless. Only extreme examples are maladapted or antisocial. Most are socially well-adjusted, connect to others well, nearly invisible in their disruption, "live and let live."
• Despite abiding in the social outskirts, most are affected deeply by seeing cruelty or injustice. Even on smaller, everyday matters, they are quick to assist others in need.
• Remarkably respectful of all other people (perhaps more than any other planet type).
• A metaphor: While Moon furthers evolution through adaptation and consequent natural selection, Pluto is mutation (a solitary exception appearing in the gene pool) or an outsider introducing foreign genes, disrupting genetic predictability, literally "writing his own code." Thus, Pluto signifies evolution by disruption from outside the system.
• Innocent but without naivete (except in the very young, who sometimes seem naïve, credulous, and even unworldly).
• Spiritually inquiring, wrestles with existential issues, wants to understand how life works and what is behind it (often holds unconventional ideas about it). Usually agnostic (shying from formalities in religion as in everything else), though many practice a personal religion.
• In romance, does not rush into emotional commitment, unconcerned with legally formalizing a relationship (especially the women).
• Occupations are diverse, with no specific career emerging statistically. The chief requirement is that the vocation fit the character, allowing time for solitude and independence (without excessive, arbitrary oversight). Most notebook examples are independent, self-employed (including several psychotherapists and astrologers), with a general entrepreneurial spirit (some form of "going it alone"), sometimes with an element of changing a prevailing paradigm. Most show unusual competence in most things they undertake.
• Some with angular Pluto severely afflicted are cruel, unfeeling, lacking basic humanity.

[Soft Alpaca]

I didn't take any of those things simply being about power Jim. In fact I'd say those hit the nail on the head. It is saying it is beyond ego, and also beyond society, I think power may be the wrong word and conduit is easily able to fill in for the word.

Pluto operates with extreme conduits forcing beyond the ego

Psychotic episodes .. when the conduits of Pluto are high.

the cosmic purpose is the constant search for the existential

huge negatives are still "powerful" in terms of power of work (that is forces in motion) Hitler wasn't powerful in the sense he is strong or battle hardy like Scorpio (though I believe he was as well) but driven internally like the ego of Aries. It's honestly more polarity too than anything.. You may hate this but it's why I liked The Pluto Gemini exaltation "conspiracy" if you will. I don't see Gemini as inherently chaotic but rather inherently polar.