Natal Wheel › Guides › Aspects › Mars and Pluto
Mars and Pluto · drive and power
Mars in aspect to Pluto
Mars is the ordinary capacity to act; Pluto concentrates whatever it touches and adds the dimension of power. Their contact produces formidable force of will. Effort can be sustained past the point where most people stop, obstacles are treated as things to be removed, and the person recovers from setbacks that would end other projects. Surgery, investigation, crisis work, elite sport and rebuilding of any kind suit the pairing. The theme running through it is control: over circumstances, over the self, and occasionally in contests with others who wanted the same thing. Half-effort is not really available.
What each planet brings
| Mars | drive, desire, conflict |
|---|---|
| Pluto | power, depth, regeneration |
The soft aspects (trine or sextile)
A trine or a sextile gives power that is available without being demanding. Stamina is exceptional, difficult work is undertaken calmly, and the person can apply real pressure without the situation becoming personal. Recovery from injury or reverse is quick. The intensity is easy enough to live with that it often goes undirected, and a capacity of this size does better aimed at something deliberately.
The hard aspects (square or opposition)
The square and the opposition put force in contention. Anger runs deep and can be slow to surface and slower to release, power struggles recur at work and at home, and effort sometimes exceeds what the situation required. This is developmental rather than fated. The contact builds genuine self-command, and the same intensity that made the early conflicts becomes, later, the reason difficult things get finished.
The conjunction
Conjunct, drive and power are one. Determination is close to absolute, focus is total on whatever has been taken up, and the person is at their most capable in circumstances other people find unmanageable. Rest is difficult and matters. The placement is often described in dramatic terms; in practice it usually looks like someone quiet who does not stop, and who rebuilds after each reverse.
Reading it in a chart
The orb settles how strongly this shows: a contact within a degree is a defining feature of a chart, one at the edge of the orb is a colouring. The signs the two planets occupy change the manner, the houses change the arena, and a third planet touching either of them can change the reading entirely.