Transcendental PlutoThings keep their secrets.
–Heraclitus.
The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man.
For light doth seize my brain
With frantic pain.
–William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell and “Mad Song” from Poetical Sketches.
Called or not called, God shall be there.
–Erasmus.
Core meaning:
Pluto is considered the Great Transformer of the cosmos and is epitomized by Einstein’s dictum that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. While the organization of energy is altered, metamorphosed, and transformed into new forms, the energy itself does not perish. Pluto symbolizes this transformative alteration and the process that determines such far-reaching change.
Pluto rules in-depth transformation processes that occur in the psyche. While such processes have an enduring effect on the personality and on the structure of consciousness, they originate at a level far removed from the ego-complex and its ordinary functions and concerns. Pluto symbolizes the archetypal world of the collective unconscious (a terrain first brought to the attention of the contemporary world through the research of Carl Jung). Although each planetary symbol describes an archetypal pattern (typical patterns of perception and behavior that are innate and that transcend the spatial and temporal world), Pluto symbolizes the overall repository of the archetypes. It represents the “underworld” of the collective unconscious and of the collective psychic changes that originate there and that manifest as mass movements in social history.
Pluto also rules psychoanalysis (and the collective aspects of the Freudian subconscious). The date of (astronomical) Pluto’s discovery roughly corresponds to the period of initial research into depth psychology: a field originally termed “deep psychology” and, later, the “depth psychology” of Freud, Adler, Jung, and others. The existence of Pluto was strongly suspected by Percival Lowell and by other astronomers as early as 1905; it was officially discovered by Clyde William Tombaugh in 1930. Besides the exploration of the Freudian subconscious and of the Jungian “collective unconscious,” these dates roughly parallel the era of the First World War and the rise of political mass movements (such as Fascism and National Socialism) that culminated in the Second World War.
Such mass movements reflect a transpersonal dynamic at work within the collective unconscious. Whether on the mundane, intrapsychic, or spiritual level, Pluto symbolizes forces that manifest through broad, deep, and irrevocable change. Such Plutonian effects engender transgenerational repercussions, which reach forward through time (horizontally) and which reach up (vertically) and touch the foremost point of collective consciousness: the focal point round which humanity as a whole is regenerated and reborn (i.e., the Zeitgeist). Since Pluto symbolizes forces that contain a greater potency and range than the ego, the proximity of such energies to consciousness is often experienced as life threatening, fracturing, or overwhelming. When the need for such change is not recognized, Pluto forcibly enacts it in ways that are often experienced as terrifying to the ego, with its limited field of consciousness and its merely personal range of experience and comprehension. It was in this sense that the philosopher Rudolf Otto conceived of God as a terrifying and fascinating force, which he called mysterium tremendum [Pluto] et fascinans [Neptune].1
When such Plutonian energies are not feared and, instead, are “worked through” by means of a conscientious cooperation with the ego, this leads to a positive transformation of consciousness. This is the goal of Pluto as manifested on the human plane. In accordance with its “depth” symbolism, Pluto signifies penetrating depths of awareness. Depth comprehension of the divinity of the higher Self (the god in man) is the ultimate goal of individuation, and it is toward this goal that Pluto constantly (often imperceptibly) moves. In its extroverted form, this includes a “reaching in-depth” into the divine Self of another person and achieving a spiritual understanding that transcends all mundane forms of comprehension and explication.
Improper manifestation of the energy:
•The attempt to transform another person against his will.
•Widespread destructive transformations that affect people, places, or things and the psychic inflation that results in channeling such destructive energy.
Just as Pluto is the mythic god of the underworld, the contemporary use of the term “underworld” signifies marginal forces in society, such as organized crime, that eat away at society in a manner that remains invisible to the ordinary person. This exemplifies the hidden or invisible nature of the Pluto principle; the most powerful and mysterious forces in the world remain beyond our capacity to perceive or to understand. When someone is unconsciously identified with Pluto, rather than assisting Pluto in its transformation of consciousness, they may act-out processes that reflect negative, destructive transformations (either personal or social in nature). Pluto will then manifest as a need to control another person or situation, often in an “invisible” or “behind the scenes” fashion, e.g., executives of corporations who control processes of mass consumption. Leaders of crime syndicates personify yet another aspect of Pluto, especially in their seizing of “mass control” through negative forms: murder of enemies; corruption, on a global scale, of social-collective institutions etc. The phenomenon of “deep politics” or of the hidden agendas of the “powers that be” (sometimes referred to as the “invisible” government) also falls under the Plutonian rulership. In its most negative form, we have instances of mass surveillance and control; incarceration; and liquidation. Other negative keynotes include psychotherapists who misuse their knowledge of the “collective” unconscious and physicists whose research into subatomic particles results in the use of weapons of mass-destruction and control (e.g., the critical “mass” of an atom bomb).
When the archetype of transformation directs energy to a new pathway of regeneration and that pathway is blocked, then mental illness may ensue. Pluto will then manifest in a repetitive cycle of symbolic behavior, ideation, or hallucination. Such symptoms contain meaningful symbols that point to rebirth and reconstitution, yet such clues and “hidden meanings” will not always be decipherable to consciousness. This is the meaning behind such complex, highly baroque symbol structures and behind the hermetic nature of neurotic and psychotic behavior and ideation.2 When the hidden meaning contained in such ideation remains unrecognized, the symbols will be acted out in a concrete, literal fashion. Since Pluto symbolizes energies origining at the furthest reaches of the archetypal realm, Pluto’s language, like that of myth, religion, and poetry, is metaphoric: rich in imagery and ideation.
The “death and rebirth” function of Pluto tears away at and destroys outmoded forms of psychic functioning and transforms these into expressions that are more vital. When such regenerating processes are blocked or halted while in this “tearing down” phase,3 however, Pluto will manifest in self-destructive urges. Instead of the regenerating power of “death and rebirth,” destructive behaviors and a fascination with “dark forces” will ensue, minus any positive attempt at regeneration or reconstitution. Another typical form of halted transformation is an obsession with suicide: instead of the rebirth of consciousness, the psyche concretizes the death-and-rebirth symbolism as a literal need to physically perish.4
When Pluto’s positive function of in-depth transformation is blocked, a yearning for inner transformation will haunt the personality, but the means of effecting such a change will remain difficult or impossible to imagine. It will then manifest in a projected guise, e.g., as an unconscious attraction to “shady characters” who embody dark, underworld aspects of the Pluto complex. This represents a dangerous psychic symptom, particularly if it involves a romantic attraction. A fascination for dubious situations or experiences that seem to promise some form of elemental regeneration will result. Yet the surrendering of one’s will to the control of a repressive force is usually the price one must pay (e.g., submitting oneself to analysis with an irresponsible psychotherapist; the offer of lucrative employment with an organized crime figure; agreeing to a quid quo pro arrangement with a powerful yet corrupt politician or political machine etc.). Such dangerous behavior is avoided if the need to “redeem” the unconsciously functioning transformation process is consciously recognized.
Transcendental potential:
One of Pluto’s most peculiar qualities is that, sometimes, even if one is working consciously with psychological transformation processes, the effects of such processes are only dimly perceived at the level of ego-consciousness (particularly when such work is in process). This is a keynote effect of Pluto’s “invisible” quality.5 Many of the effects wrought by Pluto will not be consciously assimilated or fully appreciated until years later, well after Pluto has achieved its metamorphosis.
There may be a function of psychic self-preservation at work here, as certain experiences are, indeed, overwhelming, especially if they are made too apparent to the conscious mind while they are occurring. For example, a person undergoing medical treatment for a life-threatening illness may repress the full implications of such an experience until some time afterward, when the ego will more safely absorb the horrifying details of such an event. Similarly, the astrological (or astrocartographic) enhancement of Pluto as a Transcendental energy will result in transformations that may take years to fully integrate.
Pluto symbolizes the need to comprehend things at a core level: to uncover ultimate truth. Historically, this has manifested in a variety of ways: examples include Sigmund Freud, who studied under Charcot in Paris, in proximity to his Transcendental Pluto; Teilhard de Chardin, who contemplated the evolution of spirit and matter and the processes of creation and change in the universe under his Transcendental Pluto, in China; and the Dalai Lama, born under Transcendental Pluto in Tibet, who served as a figurehead for collective spiritual movements that reaped social change in the world-at-large.
In the Transcendental Pluto region, psychic processes that were previously blocked or repressed will break into consciousness in the form of impersonal images that press for conscious recognition and formal expression in life. The “sex, death, and rebirth” theme of Scorpio (traditionally ruled by Pluto) will find formal expression in a broader understanding of sexuality, perhaps as a means of transforming or transcending the personal identity (e.g., la petite mort); an awareness of death as the ultimate transformer of the Self; and a fuller comprehension of the forces that must be channeled to effect a collective rebirth in the global society. Pluto’s transformational energy finds expression in certain classic Pluto professions: a therapist who tears down inhibiting autonomous complexes; an archaeologist who tears through layers of sediment to uncover archaic ruins; a researcher who delves deeper and deeper, burrowing into the essence of his subject; a surgeon who penetrates the body and transforms its functioning.
The search for an ultimate metaphysical truth (and the realization that it will ever elude us) lies at the center of the Plutonian mystery. According to Rudolf Otto:
The truly ‘mysterious’ object is beyond our apprehension and comprehension, not only because our knowledge has certain irremovable limits, but because in it we come upon something inherently ‘wholly other’, whose kind and character are incommensurable with our own, and before which we therefore recoil in a wonder that strikes us chill and numb.6
Or, as succinctly stated by Tersteegen:
A God comprehended is no God.
As Jung has remarked, “Death is a drawing together of two worlds, not an end. We are the bridge.”7 Through Pluto, worlds are drawn together and, through the new incarnation of personality, symbolized by the Sun, the cycle begins once again. In the words of Heraclitus, “The beginning [Sun] is the end [Pluto].”
Personalities with Primary Transcendental Pluto:
Muhammad Ali (world heavy-weight boxing champion renowned for his “destructive” talent); the Dalai-Lama (born near Primary Pluto in Tibet; a spiritual leader who personified a “transformation and metamorphosis of self”; renowned for “catalyzing deep-seated change in the personality” of others); Claude Debussy (musician whose work “revolutionized and transformed” composition in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth century); Benjamin Disraeli (British statesman remembered for “imposing the will” of England on other nations: notably, through the imperialistic policy of his second ministry–a classic Pluto keynote of dictatorial “control of others”); Adolf Eichmann (Nazi and chief-coordinator of the deportation of Jews to the “extermination centers,” whose Secondary Mars / Primary Pluto manifested as “autocratic, willful, aggressive, and violent acts leading to widespread social upheaval”; “enforced collective transformation”; and “energizing the forces of mass destruction”; whose negative use of such energies epitomized the darker qualities inherent in this intense planetary pairing); F. Scott Fitzgerald ([with equally aspected Saturn] author who chronicled “excess and self-destruction” in his autobiography, The Crack-Up, and in his most acclaimed novel, The Great Gatsby (which was written under his Primary Pluto line, in France), and who was a central figure in the “Lost Generation” Paris of the 1920s: a site directly under his Primary Pluto); Sigmund Freud (whose “research” led to the discovery of “depth psychology” and the “unconscious”); Benito Mussolini (“dictator” whose “political activism” led to political upheaval, “mass movements, and social turmoil”); Arthur Rimbaud ([with equally aspected Venus] poet who “revolutionized” creative expression in modern literature); Teilhard de Chardin (“paleontologist” whose “research” near his Primary Pluto line in China led to the discovery of the Peking Man; whose “deeply reflective” writings explore “profound transformation processes in the cosmos” and “ultimate questions concerning cosmological processes”; whose writings were censored and repressed by the Church and which were all published “posthumously” (Pluto rules the “return of the repressed”);8 Luchino Visconti (Italian film director who attempted to “transform social conditions” through the artistic medium of film [with Secondary Venus] and whose later works portray “decadence”).
* * *
Keynote phrases for Pluto:
•Wisdom gained through in-depth transformation processes, often experienced as horrifying, annihilating, and ego fracturing.
•The tripartite archetypal process of: complete breakdown into constituent elements; realignment and metamorphosis; transformation, regeneration, and renewal (rebirth).
•A process whereby the ego or will (Sun) undergoes a thorough change through an intercession of the transpersonal Self (the latter referred to as the Divine Will; the Cosmic Will; the imago Dei; or the god in man).
•The experience of God as a terrifying or insurmountable obstacle upon which the identity is smashed apart and, ultimately, reborn.
•The deus absconditus: the “hidden” or “concealed God,” whose presence is felt during experiences of profound and irrevocable change.
•The final form of yang consciousness in the symbolic solar system.
•Yang energy experienced as a cosmic identity or transpersonal spirit.
1. See his Das Heilige (1923): “These two qualities, the daunting and the fascinating, now combine in a strange harmony of contrasts, and the resultant dual character of the numinous consciousness, to which the entire religious development bears witness, at any rate from the level of the ‘daemonic dread’ onwards, is at once the strangest and most noteworthy phenomenon in the whole history of religion.” The Idea of the Holy, trans. John W. Harvey, p. 31. Or, in the words of Joseph Campbell, “Here is the revelation. And it’s a revelation of what? Of a mysterium. A mystery. And there are two aspects to it: one is the tremendum, the horrific, and the other is the fascinans, the charm.” “[Kant] said that blue eyes are beautiful; dark eyes are sublime. And this indicates the problem. The problem is beauty and the sublime. Beauty invokes; the sublime shatters, overpowers ... It’s the experience of the mysterium tremendum. The beauty is the experience of the mysterium fascinans: that’s the difference.” The Hero’s Journey, pp. 191, 88-89. Yang planets fall under the category of the mysterium tremendum; yin planets describe various stages of fascinans, as noted in my essay, “Summary of Planetary Energetic Evolution.”
2. John Weir Perry, Roots of Renewal in Myth and Madness.
3. See Robert Hand, Horoscope Symbols.
4. See Hillman, Suicide and the Soul. Hillman’s emphasis is on suicide as the unintegrated fantasy of rebirth.
5. Often, this effect is often observed in natives undergoing a Pluto transit, particularly when the native is open to working with the transformative powers of Pluto, rather than fearing change and psychic transformation. (A Pluto transit occurs when Pluto reaches a degree in the zodiac that aligns with a planetary degree in the horoscope.)
6. Otto, “The Analysis of ‘Mysterium’,” The Idea of the Holy, p. 28. (See my essay, “Numinous Consciousness.”) This work, which explores essential aspects of the fascinans et tremendum experience, was published in 1917 (and it appeared in English translation in 1923): the quintessential Pluto epoch, marked by Tombaugh’s discovery of the planet, as well as by the rise of mass movements, fascism, world wars, and research into subatomic physics and the psychology of the collective unconscious–all classic Pluto themes, as previously noted. At the moment of Tombaugh’s discovery of astronomical Pluto, Pluto and Saturn (Pluto’s lesser octave) were the least aspected planets: hence, they were the Primary Transcendentals for the discovery of astronomical Pluto. (See part two: Transcendental Events.)
7. C. G. Jung, Emma Jung, Toni Wolff, p. 95, as cited by Claire Dunne, Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul. An Illustrated Biography, p. 180.
8. Brau, Jean-Louis, Helen Weaver, and Allan Edmands, Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology. Ed. Helen Weaver. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980, p. 220.
Additional Pluto quotes:
What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.
(Don DeLillo, White Noise.)
That which always was, / and is, and will be everlasting fire, / the same for all, the cosmos, / made neither by god nor man, / replenishes in measure / as it burns away.
By cosmic rule, / as day yields night, / so winter summer, / war peace, plenty famine. / All things change. / Fire penetrates the lump / of myrrh, until the joining / bodies die and rise again / in smoke called incense.
What was scattered / gathers. / What was gathered / blows apart.
The living, when the dead / wood of the bow / springs back to life, must die.
Gods live past our meager death. / We die past their ceaseless living.
After death comes / nothing hoped for / nor imagined.
(Heraclitus.)
Even in a wound there is the power to heal.
(Nietzsche, Twilight of the Gods.)
Does anyone know what is in his subconscious? It would not be his subconscious if he did.
(Picasso.)
True philosophers make dying their profession.
(Plato.)
The more one probes, the more one deepens the mystery; it’s always out of reach.
(Georges Braque.)
Lindaland
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posted February 20, 2008 04:38 AM
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