Pluto transiting the 1st House: The Food Grinder of Life into Rebirth

Every week, there's a new business email request for advice: "Mitch, help! My life is under so much pressure! I'm not myself anymore! What's going on--and how long will this last?" 

Well, when the origin of this kind of stress is Pluto, all I can say is "A long time." And when it's placed by transit in the client's first house of Personality, Public Image, and Outward Expression of the psyche, all I can offer is the advice that "Yes, you're hurting--because you're being Transformed, Re-designed, and Rebuilt in ways that you can't yet understand--but the results will be amazing when the process is over. It's the Phoenix Principle all over again--but now you're getting it from up-down-forwards-backwards." It's what I call "Being thrown into the Food Grinder of Life": what comes out is a whole new look of the psyche and someone's physical being as well.

This transit, especially as it's Plutonian, will last for years--and if there's an interception in the first house, MANY years--and possibly for two decades or so. It also impacts (as the first house is an angular house, or area of Major Life Experience and Emphasis), the other three angular houses: the 4th (Home Environment), the 7th (Personal and Business Relationships), and the 10th (Career and Status).

I also consider a Pluto 1st house transit to be the quintessential "metamorphic" energy dynamic. Then again, if one desires diamonds, then there's got to be pressure applied to a lump of coal. In this case, it's the individual client who is now finding him or herself to be made of carbon. Hopefully, he or she will find themselves shining with brilliant value from within and externally as a "new person" when the transit has long passed.
With Pluto in the 1^st, into the grinder of Transformation, Change, Regeneration, Rebuilding, and Reconstruction we—or you--go!  The way you feel about yourself, and the image you project to the outer world will change radically. Your need to be in control of yourself and of your environment will also change, and you may find that your lifestyle alters considerably under this transit.

I would think of this transit as being caught in a vise, or slowly sanding off the rough edges on a huge carved statue—this definitely impacts the physical form; the body (human, or redesigning a corporate image if this is a business entity—a logo modification or new design?). What the world perceives about us is transformed as our appearance undergoes a change. 

Plastic surgery, having growths removed, applying artistic designs such as tattoos—and mental endeavors such as adapting a new persona and way of presenting oneself are potential 1^st house Pluto activities. This is also a time when ‘animal magnetism’ and sexual energy becomes stronger because Pluto will enhance a sense of radiant power.  No matter how it personally is internalized, on an outward manifestation, a 1^st house Pluto transit will “remodel” the receiver in some long-term fashion or manner.  An awareness of dynamic potential surrounds the individual like an aura.  I like to think of the caterpillar shedding its skin, or even snakes—and they’re Plutonian for that reason. 

This gives greater control over unconscious drives that have instigated compulsions and irrational impulses.  An individual will gradually become aware of the circumstances that have shaped him or herself.  As noted above, personality traits are more in line and there is greater opportunity to “remake” one’s image.  Actors or actresses who take on new and different roles would be a good visual image.  Physical practices may be undertaken to transform the body, such as yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, or other movement forms.  Reiki sessions, massage, shiatsu, and Jin Shin Jyutsu are excellent therapies to consider.

Power trips and control can become more open and noticeable during a Pluto-1^st transit regarding your personality and how you approach the world. The possibilities for change are open: the choices are for greater or lesser, for better or worse. 

Pluto transiting the 10th House of Career Changes Everything Planned

"How safe is my career, and what can I do to keep it that way?" is a question I field almost every week. When the client's chart shows transiting Pluto, Indicator of Change, Transformation, Regeneration, and Rebuilding in the 10th house, my response is usually along the line of "Whatever you're doing now will NOT likely be your pattern of work in the long-term future. Be prepared for modifications that are vastly different from what you expected." This is an especially difficult message for me to deliver to someone who is very business-minded, or who has status and achievement as their focus.

As a second influence, I've already noted the economic and social impact of Pluto in Capricorn. But here's what Robert Hand has to say about the transit of Pluto in the 10th house. Also, take note of the last paragraph below: most astrologers assign the 10th house to the parent of the opposite sex of the client (although I think it depends also on whether the Sun or Moon is placed there by birth): 

Pluto in the 10th house of Career and Status achievements

This is a most important time in your life, for you will strive to achieve more now than you ever have before.  You aim to make the greatest possible mark upon the world, and now is the time to do it—but only if you have truly found out who you are and what your life is about.  If you haven’t found out yet, now is the time to do so.  Pluto gives you either the power to achieve your life goals or the insight to find out what they truly are.  Consequently, if you are secure and know about yourself, you have the opportunity for great success as long as you heed certain warnings.  If you do not know your goals, you will probably change your path.  You may change jobs rather often and spend several years apparently quite lost while you find out what you are supposed to be doing.

However, in regards to your striving for success and realization, Pluto arouses your ambitions; the desire to take control and dominate.  Its action can be quite ruthless, like a force of nature that has no regard for human standards of morality and ethics.  But people who act like this under the influence of Pluto are often quite tragic.  Having thrown away their humanity, they discover that they can expect no quarter from others who unite to oppose them, and they are brought down.  It is essential that you avoid wreaking havoc or even bending the standards of ethics with this transit, for Pluto’s energies are too powerful to play games with.  Play the game fairly and according to the rules, but continue to pursue your goals.  Do not take shortcuts.

If you experience the other side of this transit as altering your life direction, the important idea is not to get discouraged.  You may undergo considerable changes during this transit, and you may feel that you have become a different person, which is probably true.  Take all the time you need to find the right course.  If you hurry, you will only get into another wrong place, and your life will be much less than it could have been if you had taken enough time to find yourself.

The 10th house also has connections to one parent.  You may find a relationship with one of them dramatically changing now: perhaps in the capacity that you find yourself becoming the adult provider and being a caretaker for them in a “child is father to the man” type of role.  They may now require medical or other care service needs, such as assisted living.

Uranus & Pluto: Unexpected Huge Change in social and personal ways

   If you're 21 years old, this should be a great time in your Life Cycle. You're at the 3rd leg of Saturn's 7-year phase (you passed the Square at 7, and then the Opposition at 14), and now you're in the Trine. So what's here to greet you? Pluto conjunct Uranus.
   Now, don't mistake this for the transiting phase of Uranus squaring Pluto on a global (mundane) level. What I'm talking about here is a natal union to your position of Uranus from "Wasn't such a good idea to demote me, eh?" Pluto. (The mundane global impact affects everyone; the natal conjunction is another matter--and it's personal IF you're 21, etc.) So what does it mean and how does it work?
   Uranus indicates the Roller-coaster of Life Events & Activity. Where it sits in your chart, expect surprises, explosions of some sort, upside-down, and out-of-nowhere. Think of the Tower in the tarot deck. Your legs are knocked out from under you: it can be an emotional, mental, physical, financial, educational, inter-personal, professional juggling session that totally surprises you. In some manner or form, it's where you release your Inner Rebellious Nature--which is part of your own unique creative power. 
   Pluto is pure volcanic process: molten melting power to totally change anything it touches (including Life Experiences above); huge shifts of personal response. Expect cross-country moves; deaths, inheritances, closing off personal doors and roles, but always, the end of one phase and the beginning of another. Think of a lump of carbon being compressed by pressure over time and weight until its atoms are packed so tight they become...crystalline. A diamond. Your character and soul fabric are being built anew--and you have been transformed in some way. You walked through the Threshold. 

    
     Says Robert Hand, "This transit affects us in our formative years when we are most vulnerable to long-term Life Challenges that affect us years later. The combination of these two planets signifies that you want to break away from limiting-restraining circumstances. You may feel that if things aren’t going the way you want, you may impatiently make changes in order to get your way. Don’t count on discipline either. (This is like an anti-Saturn moment.) And a self-righteous nature may be more open in public matters.

     However, it would be a shame to waste this energy in challenging everyone around you or blindly rebelling against all restriction. You can learn a great deal about matters that are really important through this transit’s influence. Both planets are profound and powerfully explosive: spend time learning how to know and understand as much as you can about their potentials. You should not ask yet how you can bring about change because you won’t understand it until this transit is well completed.

     The outcome may very well be that you become wise beyond your years in your depth of understanding, and through this wisdom you will be in a better position to make either conservative or quite revolutionary changes later on. Even if you do not feel inclined to rebel or push for changes in your immediate environment, you may find that very tremendous changes are taking place within you. This may be quite upsetting, but try to remain calm and see what is really happening. Here again you have an opportunity to gain an understanding that is considerably beyond your years."

Pluto transits (movement in the chart)

The scientists and astronomers may have banned Pluto from the ranks of planets in our solar system, but astrology has not, and for good reason:  nothing can stop the impact and power of a Pluto transit in our chart.  It is a relentless bulldozer effect that clears away and changes everything in its path over a number of years, moving slowly but effectively in its purpose and plans. 

In my life, when Pluto crossed my 4th house of the home environment, I found myself moving from one coast to the other, then back and forth once more, and in between all this, also to to Alabama for two years, and finally, to the state of Washington.  Being that it will remain in this position for some time, I keep myself flexibly regarding travel plans.  Robert Hand discusses the meaning of Pluto's impact in his Planets in Transit:

Significance of transiting Pluto

The nature of Pluto is similar to that of the Hindu god Shiva, the creator and destroyer.  Pluto usually begins by breaking down a structure; then it creates a new one in its place.  This entire cycle of death, destruction, and renovation is accompanied by tremendous powers, for Pluto is not a mid or even very subtle planetary influence.  You can always see its effects very clearly—ranging from machines breaking down and needing repair to full-scale destruction or death.  Decay at one level or another, followed by new life from the old is the typical Plutonian process.

Characteristically, Plutonian people are those who seek to change, transform, and take control of everything around them.  Often a Pluto transit will signify the arrival of a person who transforms your life, either for good or evil.  Or it can symbolize an event or circumstance that has the same effect.

Pluto also rules those energies inside you that lead inevitably to change.  It rules the death and regeneration of the self, as old features of your life pass away and are replaced by new ones that could not otherwise have come into being.  Pluto does not signify death in the literal sense; instead, it refers to a metaphorical death, something that ceases to be.

The energies of the planet that Pluto is transiting become a source of change and transformation in your life.  You may get involved in serious power struggles with others about changes in the areas of your life associated with that planet.

As Pluto transits your houses, it signifies the areas of your life that are due for radical transformation.  In the area ruled by the transited house, structures in your life have built up to the point that it is no longer possible to patch up whatever is wrong.  It is time for a full-scale reconstruction, preceded if necessary by destruction of the old change-resistance patterns.

It is extremely important that you recognize the inevitability of Plutonian change, which is built into the very structure of things and cannot be prevented.  And you should not try to prevent it, because it is a necessary stage in your evolution.  All that you will do is force the energies to build up until they are explosive.  Then the inevitable changes come about disastrously.

Not only should you go along with the Plutonian energy of destruction by letting go of whatever must depart, you should also assist the rebuilding process that follows, for this is the equally inevitable consequence of the Plutonian breakdown.

For reasons that are not entirely understood, Pluto also has to do with secretive and subversive elements of society—revolutionary groups, organized crime, and the like.  A Pluto transit may bring such elements into your life, although it is often quite dangerous to allow this during a Pluto transit.