Pluto: The Planet of Generational Trauma

How Pluto can help us understand the differences between Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z, and so on.

In my first article, Pluto and the Beheading of John the Baptist, I briefly covered the symbolism of Pluto being the planet of beheading. For simplicity’s sake, I will reuse the same Chris Gabriel quote from the article:

He is the god of death and the Underworld, the chthonic masculine. His symbol is the bident, a two pronged fork with a circle. I read it as an Acéphale, a headless figure. The head is the conscious ego, and the body is the unconscious. In many ways decapitation is a perfect reading of Pluto’s effect in astrology, the violent introduction of the irrational base drives. The Headless Man is operating solely on his lowest drives. The consciousness that mankind reveres is undone by our true nature. Consider the denial of Pluto the planet as a mirror to the rejection of the Freudian Unconscious. Pluto undoes our seemingly perfect, rational structures and systems with a swift coup de grâce.

Pluto as a planet represents very dark forces that lie underneath the surface. Fun fact: did you know that scientists believe there may be a massive super volcano on Pluto that erupts frozen liquid methane and ammonia? I find this fact incredibly fitting for Pluto’s symbolism. Methane and ammonia are both chemical byproducts of bodily decomposition; these chemicals are the smells of death and decay. Just like how these chemicals are suppressed and frozen underneath the planet’s surface, we as a society collectively suppress the deathly elements of civilization underneath the surface of our conscious egos.

Pluto represents all the ugly and dark elements of life we refuse to shed light on, it is the dark underbelly of the mind where all repressed psychic contents sink down to. It is the dark cave system that runs through the lowest depths of our collective unconscious, the underworld crypt where the dead are ignored and left to fester. But just like the physical volcano on the planet’s surface, Pluto is also the astrological force that causes this psychic slurry of decay to violently erupt and become impossible to ignore. Every time Pluto enters a zodiac sign, the psychic volcano erupts and the societal ‘elephant in the room’ is forced to be confronted. This is why modern astrologers assign Pluto to Scorpio as its home sign, Scorpio representing transformation through rebirth and the deep vital drives of our animal instincts.

Pluto takes approximately 248 years to orbit around the Sun. When I discovered this fact, I immediately made a connection to a very distinct memory I have from high school history class: my history teacher told the class that many historians measure a nation’s rise and fall as a global superpower in lifespans of 250 years. Pluto’s solar cycle almost perfectly corresponds to the death and rebirth cycles of civilizations. Interestingly enough, Pluto just recently entered Aquarius this past year; the last time Pluto was in Aquarius was the American Revolution.

Due to its abnormal elliptical orbit, the length of time Pluto spends in each sign is extremely inconsistent and ranges anywhere from 11 to 32 years per sign. For example, Pluto spent 14 years in Gemini (1900-1914) and then 23 years in Cancer (1914-1937). Whatever zodiac sign Pluto occupies will personify the crisis that civilization faces throughout the course of the transit. For example, Capricorn is the sign of career and material prosperity through sustained effort. When Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008, the economic recession happened.

However, while the ‘death’ caused by Pluto is occuring, the seeds of rebirth are also being sown. The placement of Pluto in one’s birth chart determines which generation they are a part of and how that generation will rebuild the zodiacal aspect of society which has crumbled apart. The Plutonian trauma everyone experiences during the time of their birth shapes these individuals into who they are and what kind of world they are coming into. For example, the Great Depression happened while Pluto was in Cancer (1914-1937), but out of the Great Depression arose the Greatest Generation; “hard times create strong men” as the saying goes.

This brief overview of Pluto in astrology will serve as an intro to a series of articles I plan on writing which will explore each generation and how Pluto defines their identity through struggle. Stay tuned!