In this contemplative exploration, we sit with the potent square between Mars in Scorpio and Pluto in Aquarius.
I guide you through an understanding of this archetypal combination not as a mere event, but as a profound cosmological process of severing and regeneration.
We will explore five key manifestations of this Mars-Pluto dynamic, reflecting on how this energy moves through the internal psyche, relationships, career, and the deep roots of home and family.
This is an invitation to understand the first principles of these planetary forces, much as the ancient Hellenistic astrologers did, to find meaning and conscious engagement with the transformative cycles of life.
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Transcript
Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology [https://nightlightastrology.com/].
Today we're going to take a look at Mars squaring Pluto. Mars has just entered the sign of Scorpio, where it is making an immediate square to Pluto in the sign of Aquarius.
So today I'm going to give you a list of things to watch for tomorrow we will do horoscopes. So what I want to do today is just take some time getting to know the combination of Mars and Pluto, and I'm going to give you a list of five things to watch for, and I'm also going to take that list through four different major areas of life, reflected by the angular houses of a birth chart.
So we're going to look at five things to watch for, given the combination of Mars and Pluto, with respect to the internal psychological sphere relationships, workplace or career and home or family, some of the areas of life that we most commonly see the manifestation of astrological symbolism, and this will also give you a much more well rounded understanding of the archetypal combination.
So I hope that you will enjoy this, and hopefully it will help us prep and then again, like I said, Tomorrow we'll do some tomorrow we'll do some horoscopes. All right, that's our agenda for today.
Before we get into it, remember to like and subscribe. Turn on the notification bell so that you get notified when new episodes come around. There's something called a hype button now, so hype us if you feel like it, but drop a comment it. All of this really helps the algorithm find us, and we're trying to grow our channel. Obviously, our goal is to get to 100,000 subscribers by next summer.
You can find transcripts of many of these daily talks on my website, which is Nightlight astrology.com when you are over there, the first thing that I want to turn you on to is I'm giving a talk this Thursday night. Click on live talks and you will see that I'm giving a talk on Mercury.
This is a new series that I'm doing through my monthly webinars called the pairings of the planets. If you are an astrologer or a student of astrology, or someone who's curious about your own birth chart, going back to the archive or the philosophical first principles of the planets from ancient astrology, and learning what it means when they combine is a super valuable skill, because it's going to teach you how to create interpretations on your own, rather than just relying on lists, you'll understand the first principles and the pairings of the first principles of the planets, which allows you to become a much more fluid and intuitive astrologer.
So in this particular talk, on Thursday night, we're going to be talking about mercury as an archive or philosophical first principle and how it pairs with every other planet on the level of first principles. This is going to be really fun. Don't sleep on this one. And if you can't attend live Thursday night, of course, you'll get the recording later.
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Okay, on that note, let's turn our attention to the real time clock, and let's take a look at Mars and Pluto All right. So here is the real time clock and Mars in the sign of Aquarius. Or, excuse me, Mars in Scorpio squaring Pluto in the sign of Aquarius.
Now today is September 23 if you are wondering about the opposition between the sun and Neptune, or the trines between the sun and Pluto, or the sun and Uranus, which are also taking place today. Go back to yesterday's video, where I talk about those aspects at length. You'll get some really nice coverage of how to interpret the sun aspects that are finalizing today.
We're going to get out in front of the Mars Pluto dynamic, because it's very potent, and it's going to take us through the end of the week. I think this is the one that we should spend more time with. If you're missing that content again, just go back to yesterday. You'll see me covering it.
So Mars squaring Pluto. Now let's take this forward just a little bit, and what we're going to see is that the two planets get together tomorrow, Wednesday, September 24 that will be the day that Mars squares Pluto Exactly. But if we give it three degrees of separation, which is always a wise range of degrees that ancient astrologers use, that you can still, you know, typically notice the archetypal symbolism within.
Take that forward another day or two. You get all the way to Sunday, September 28 before Mars and Pluto have fully separated, and that's why I think it's important to be spending more time with this combination this week, because it's a major aspect. These combinations are quite potent, and it's going to last all the way through the end of the week.
So on that note, what I want to do today is give you my list of five things to watch for, given the combination of Mars and Pluto. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you, and I've actually, by the way, I've made banners for all of them today. Some of you have complained that when I've done my list of five things to watch for in the four different areas of life. I haven't included banners, but today I have. So you'll get a little list, if it helps you to stay more organized.
I'm going to give you five things to watch for on an internal or psychological level, which is almost like the first house. We're going to talk about it in terms of love and relationships, like the seventh, we're going to talk about it in terms of work or public, professional sphere of life, like the 10th. We'll talk about it in terms of home, family, karma, like the fourth.
These four major areas of life are typically the ones in which we engage with these symbols. But again, we'll do horoscopes tomorrow to really fill things out anyway, let's talk briefly about Mars and Pluto and again, I did some of this yesterday, so a little bit of review. But it's important to mention that we're, I was just talking about the archive the philosophical first principles.
And part of what life is doing in the cosmos, according to ancient astrologers, is coming together and splitting apart. There is a way in which, if you even just look at like waves in the ocean, you know, they they come together, they crest, and then they break and fall apart.
And so where Venus, for example, is thought of as the philosophical, one of the philosophical first principles of unity, especially in the material sense, things coming together on the level of feelings or tastes or textures or colors, Venus is about that sensual, embodied sense of harmony and unity.
Well, in the same embodied, material sense, Mars has to do with cutting things or separating things. You could think about Venus like the well arranged components of someone with, you know, having put on their makeup. And it's like, all nice, all the colors, the shading, it all works together.
And you can think about Mars in contrast, as you know, if you have some food you're going to cook, you might have to chop it up into pieces and then throw it on a burner. And there's something about that that, you know, it's just like that's such a contrasting image.
Well, think about the fact that, in reality, things are constantly coming together and splitting apart in cycles, and they are connected to one another. They're inseparable. This is a very basic way of thinking about Mars as a philosophical first principle of cutting, severing, separating, dividing, and we have to do that by the from the moment we're born, the umbilical cord is cut and we individuate from the mother.
The manifest cosmos is oneness, severed and split into many parts. So Mars, there's nothing good or bad about Mars. Mars is just a description of like a metaphysical property of reality from the ancient philosophical standpoint. This is again, by the way, why I hope that people really will take seriously the pairings of the Planet series.
Because when you learn those philosophical first principles, they teach you how to think about planets in a way that makes you a more intuitive astrologer. But anyway, also why it's important to study ancient astrology in general, because the philosophical roots will give you so much more than you know, memorizing things that are all derived from those roots in the first place.
So with it, when it comes to Pluto, we're talking about really the elemental reality of depth and death and the underworld as a kind of instinctual force that is within the material universe. It's funny because we don't often remember that within the circle of life, think like the Lion King, death, darkness, decay, rot, are all part of the cycle of life.
And so it's misleading to say that Death and life are opposed when they are moving in and out of circles and cycles with one another in the manifest cosmos. So when we think about Pluto, we're thinking about the living presence of death like Halloween or the Day of the Dead or your ancestral altar.
We're thinking about the deep things that exist, benef the soil, that, on one level, are sort of scary and hidden, but also rich, fertile and regenerative. And so when Mars and Pluto get together, we're talking about a force that cuts, that individuates, that Severs, that confronts, that divides, but it does so with a really deep, regenerative and ultimately very creative and fertile force that's transformative, and it can be explosive because of the tendency for both Pluto And Mars to represent things like cutting and death and intensity.
Heat is a Mars thing. Depth and intensity is a Pluto thing. You put the two together, and you get this very kind of intense alchemical burn of transformation. That's purpose is, in some ways, to further something's individuality, its will, its power, its own separate nature, apart from other things, and it does so through the catharsis of death and the transformative process of death that is ultimately in this great circle of life regenerative.
So put those two things together again, and you have a very powerful kind of cathartic force that confronts, that compels, that burns, that consumes, that utilizes the will and confrontation and even conflict. But it can also be about powerful action that it furthers something's process of becoming more of what it is, apart from what other things are. So really fascinating combination.
Well, that being said, a little introduction. Let's now get into my list of five things to watch for. We're going to start with internal and psychological dynamics. Everything on this list assumes that you may experience any of these things inside of yourself, inside of your own mind, inside of your own body, your psychology, your sense of identity and selfhood.
This could be something you're processing as an element within and so on that level, the first thing to watch for notice. I've got my lists for you. You asked and I supplied it, compulsion and obsession, very common Mars Pluto dynamics, the compulsion to act, the feeling of being, that single pointedness of Mars, and the propensity to become consumed or obsessed, Which Pluto often provides us with.
The two together internally, can create a feeling of compulsion and obsession that may be very constructive and creative right now. It could also be destructive. And so you want to pay careful attention to how intensely compulsive ideas and actions and thoughts or obsessive qualities emotionally are sort of taking over? Are they driving you in a creative, positive direction, or are they taking the wheel in a destructive way? Paying attention to that right now is important.
Number two would be power struggles, within whose voice on the inner committee has the most say, is it a bully? Is it someone who's reasonable and kind? Is it a voice of reason? Is it a voice of paying more attention to our emotions? The power struggles within typically occur when different voices that have different priorities, different perceptions, different agendas, different desires, different motives within us are struggling with one another, for whose will or way is going to be most dominant or important or featured within some something that's happening in your life right now. So that's another way to look at Mars Pluto.
Number three would be breakthroughs or momentum shifts where you have felt stuck or stagnant or afraid or insecure. This is a combination in Mars Pluto that can facilitate a breakthrough. I'm stepping forward, I'm doing something, I'm finding the courage, I'm finding the will, I'm gaining or gathering the momentum or the resources to go and act on something. And that can be very, very helpful.
The creative force an impetus to act with Mars Pluto is strong, and again, can facilitate breakthroughs and shifts of momentum, the intensity of will. However, number four is something to also be aware of. Where there's a will, there's a way, is a very Mars Pluto kind of statement, but this is. Is the kind of willpower that can become again in obsessive compulsive and the intensity behind my will, my way, my power, my right, my sovereignty, all of that kind of language can become problematic.
There can be a lot of ego in this. And so something to watch for is, am I am I open and willing to compromise? Am I considering the reality of other people around me? Am I getting tempted to just bulldoze other people? Gotta stay, really stay. Pay close attention to that. The intensity of will can also be a good thing. I'm finding the willpower to do something that's hard for me to do, but I'm just, I'm going to do it. Notice how all of these are about things we may face or deal with psychologically or within, and then finally, just explosive emotions.
This is Mars in a water sign, meeting Aquarius and an air sign. The combination of thoughts and feelings and the need to say something about the convictions or beliefs that you have can be quite strong, but it can also lead to overwhelming emotions or emotional outbursts. They can be creative and destructive simultaneously. So keep a close eye on all of these things.
All right, next we're going to go into love and relationships. So within the interpersonal sphere of life, we could be talking about a close friendship, anyone that's closer, more intimate sphere of contact, is what I had in mind when I made this list. Lovers would often, would obviously fit the bill, or marriage partners, or someone you're dating, whatever. But let's get into it.
Number one would be control dynamics. Mars Pluto within the sphere of relationships is like, who's got the power, who's got the control? That might be a hot topic this week, given the Mars Pluto exchange, if it happens to show up in your relationships, number two would be sexual tension.
Look, what I love about this combination is that, insofar as Mars represents desire, the desire to penetrate and be penetrated, mentally, emotionally, sexually, that's a very strong component of Mars and Pluto that could be at the heart of getting closer to someone or allowing for more intense exchanges of emotion and feeling to drive a connection.
Let's get deeper. Let's get more intimate with one another. There's a very powerful, eruptive, cathartic force of sexuality coming through. It's something you know you channeling it in the right way is important, but also honoring it and letting it be a creative presence.
Number three, trust issues, especially Mars in Scorpio, can struggle at times with, can I trust you? You know what? What's really going on? Benefic the surface. So let's call it investigating things, unconscious things being faced or dealt with shadows or secrets being faced or dealt with betrayal, trust and jealousy, issues, possessiveness, all of these kinds of things can get amplified with Mars square Pluto.
Number four would be conflict escalation, where, if there's existing tensions in a relationship, this combination can simply escalate them to a level of, okay, now we have to face it and deal with it. Simple. Number five would be any kind of highly transformative, creative, powerful, moving, kind of core, rattling experiences with other people, intimate, intense showdowns of will, you know, so just watch for the experience of how We as individual beings with stake in our own individual power, pride and self determination are meeting other people in ways that are very powerful, creative, but maybe a little tense.
All right, let's move on to career or work. This would be, broadly speaking, like a 10th house sphere of activity, and you're going to see some very unique ways that Mars Pluto shows up in the workplace. One would be issues with authority. Just clashes with authority, how it's how authority is wielded, whose authority is featured, how authority is being distributed, how responsibility and power is being doled out, problems within hierarchies that exist within companies.
Number two would be ambition, and the workplace Mars Pluto can be very ambitious, and that might be a great thing, fueling new projects, fueling new ideas, creating breakthroughs with respect to your work. Momentum behind projects can build or grow. So I love this as a very ambitious, hard working, go get 'em. Kind of combination at the same time, the dark side of ambition, power, work, fame, success, wealth, prestige, popularity can also become a shadow within the workplace. Under this transit number three would be hidden agendas.
So it's very possible that within the workplace what happens. When Mars meets Pluto, especially Mars and Scorpio, is that hidden or secretive power dynamics get exposed somehow. That could be a little dramatic. It could also be very clarifying.
Number four would be reputation issues, where, again, some concern with how you're seen in the world, whether it's controversial or if you are feeling empowered or you're feeling disempowered, anything around reputation or identity, it's protection, it's sanctity, feeling honored or acknowledged appropriately or not. These kinds of things can spike in importance when Mars and Pluto meet, and they're tapping into your career in some way, and then finally, would be the impetus to change the direction of your work, or how you're doing it, or what specifically roles or departments.
Maybe it's your entire career direction is changing that would be pretty dramatic, I guess, but reinvention or redirection of work public identity, in a broad sense, is very appropriate for Mars Pluto when they express through our careers.
All right, last but not least is family dynamics, which takes us into the fourth house of the birth chart. Many of us will experience Mars Pluto tapping in to this area of life because of all of the various ways that this can happen in a birth chart, you know, it's not just, Well, I have one of these signs in the fourth house, there's many ways that this could tap into family dynamics. One of these planets could be hitting your moon or something else.
Anyway, within family dynamics, one would be buried tensions. There is a way in which, in order to coexist with one another, we often take certain kinds of conflicts, especially those that are pretty deeply seated, and we just bury them. We say we're not looking at those things well, they can come up, especially when Mars Pluto get together and have this kind of eruptive force behind them that can bring pent up things to the surface with eruptive, sometimes destructive, often very creative power.
Number two would be boundaries in home and family. Mars Pluto can be what I want to say as an image is, you know, it's like having a home alarm system or something like that. You know, there's a home protection services that you can buy, and you they'll come out and they'll set it all up in your home and everything like that. And the whole reason you do that is you say, well, we don't want the boundaries of our home, our privacy, our safety violated. I mean, that's the basic idea, right?
But within the home, there are also alarm systems that might be getting triggered because of invasive actions within the constellations that we share with one another. So think about it like that. Sometimes actions are especially in the fourth, fourth house, they're like trespassing. I'm trespassing onto the territory of my sibling, or my mom is trespassing into my wife's territory. Or, do you know what I mean? Like that? It can it can be like that. So watch for the boundary issues and trespassing issues around each other in the family or home, one another one would be ancestral power patterns.
So who has held the authority and how has authority been modeled within the family? For example, if you grow up in a traditional, like masculine, dominant, sort of more patriarchal family model, which a lot of us have, you know, well, the dad carries the authority, or something like that. Or in some homes, maybe it was more mom. Mom was like a kind of a matriarch.
Whatever the case may be, the way that power is distributed, expressed, shared or not shared, may come up in some ways for review, or maybe there's an opportunity to change the way things are being done so that there's a more egalitarian distribution of roles, rights, responsibilities, power, etc. So watch for shifts like that that could come up meaningfully.
Number four would be structural changes to home or family. Mars Pluto may say it's time to move it's time to sell the house. It's time to buy a new piece of land or property. It's time to put an addition on, so any anything that's structural and very physical, or anything surrounding how the home or family is organized or set up in any other way could come to mind.
And then finally, would be, any time that it feels like there's healing or catharsis, or you're facing something or working through something. It's got this kind of power to unpack unconscious stuff at the roots around home, family, ancestry, the past, your living environment, and by unpacking or bringing things up, it has the power to heal or create meaningful positive changes. This is the broadest thing we could say about Mars Pluto impacting home or family.
So as you can see, these are major, major dynamics at play. This is why I'm kind of shifting the focus to Mars Pluto right away this week, because it's got a lot to say. Tomorrow, we're going to look at horoscopes for the actual day of where I'll take you through all 12 whole signs and give you. A feel for how these things are interacting.
So after I sign off right now, there's an informational video about my year one class, the ancient Hellenistic astrology program. I want to say if you guys like the content on my channel, especially if you like the philosophical content and some of the moments where I cover the ancient, historical, philosophical and spiritual roots of the tradition.
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This is a lifelong hobby for you. It's really worth it at some point to invest a little bit more time and focus learning the language from the roots. That's what this program is really good for. So stick around after I sign off, you'll hear more about it, and I hope to see some of you soon.
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