Mars Opposite Pluto: Meeting Power in Other People

Mars and Pluto stand at opposite ends, and your will keeps coming up against forceful people or situations. Through one power struggle after another, you learn to reclaim the strength you handed away. This page starts from what Mars governs (drive, desire, competition and conflict) and what Pluto governs (deep power, crisis and rebirth), then looks at how the opposition makes the two interact, how it tends to show up in everyday life, its strengths and blind spots, and some advice for it.

Mars Opposite Pluto at a glance

Percentages are our own calculation from 8,401 charts of people born in Taipei between 1960 and 2005 with random birth times, using the same orbs as our chart calculator.

The core meaning of Mars Opposite Pluto

Mars speaks of how I want to do things; Pluto holds a deeper control and transformation. The opposition places the two planets at opposite ends of the chart. You seldom feel both together. Mostly you identify with one side, and the other shows up in someone else. A common version is that you feel you just want to do your work well, and yet you keep meeting a dominant partner, a controlling boss, or a rival who presses in at every step. The harder they push, the more you want to resist, and back and forth it becomes a tug-of-war.

With the square, the conflict mostly smolders inside. With the opposition it is face to face, with a clear counterpart. You may feel that all the power is in their hands and you can only respond. Others stand at the other end and become the forceful one, and cannot understand why people are so afraid of them. The turning point of this aspect is seeing that the ferocity the other person stirs up in you was yours to begin with. When you can hold this power yourself, you no longer need an opponent to force it out.

How it feels inside

You react strongly to being steamrolled. Let someone’s tone get a little hard or their stance a little superior, and your whole body goes on alert. Ordinarily you may feel you are not forceful at all, even a bit put-upon, yet the strength that comes out when you are pushed surprises even you. Both of these are you. If you acknowledge only the mild side, the tough side can appear only in conflict. Try feeling it when there is no opponent, for instance during exercise or while finishing something difficult entirely by your own effort.

In love and relationships

Relationships are the main setting for this aspect. You are easily drawn to people with power and strong opinions. In the beginning you admire their decisiveness, and later you feel controlled. In arguments neither side will back down, and a cold war can drag on. Or it may go the other way: they find you too hard, while you feel you are only protecting yourself. Trading “which of us wins” for “what do we do about this” is a very practical switch. When the two of you can put your strength toward the same goal, you make a formidable team.

At work and in getting things done

At work you often find yourself in direct confrontation with authority or competitors. If your boss manages tightly, you want to prove them wrong; if a rival closes in, you double your effort. This kind of contest makes you improve quickly, and it also uses up a good deal of energy. Your strength is that in arenas with a clear opponent, such as negotiation, litigation, competitive sales, and competitive sports, you have exceptional fight and know what the other side is thinking. What to practice is telling which battles are worth fighting, so that not every disagreement escalates into a showdown.

Strengths

• Better against strong rivals: With a clear competitor in view, your focus and fighting spirit are fully roused, and you often perform far better than you do with no pressure.
• Seeing the other side’s intent: After long dealings with forceful people, you are skilled at reading what they really want and where their limit lies. It serves you well in negotiation.
• Not easily cowed: Faced with unfair pressure you hold your ground, and you dare to speak up for those being bullied, which is why the people around you trust you.

Blind spots

• Caught in power struggles: You tend to turn relating into winning and losing, replaying who overpowers whom with a partner, boss, or colleague. Both sides tire, and the problem remains.
• Handing your power away: You feel the other person holds all the control and you can only react, overlooking that you do have room to leave or to change how you go about it.
• Blind to your own hardness: You believe you are defending yourself and do not notice that the other person feels attacked. Each thinks the other struck first, and so the standoff persists.

Advice for Mars Opposite Pluto

The next time you are locked in a standoff, ask yourself silently: right now, do I want to solve this, or do I want to win? If it is the second, ask for a little time, leave the room, and come back. In ordinary life, set up a challenge that needs no opponent, like mountain hiking, long-distance swimming, or finishing a creative work on your own, so that even with nobody pushing you, you can feel your power in your own hands.

What to keep in mind when reading this aspect

1. The tighter the orb, the more it matters. In our calculations, only 13.6% of all major aspects are within 1° of exact, and 41.2% are within 3°. If your Mars opposite Pluto is tight, the traits on this page will be more noticeable; if it is close to the 8° limit, they will be much fainter.

2. Applying and separating. An aspect is applying when the two planets are moving toward the exact angle and separating once they have passed it. Tradition holds that an applying aspect is still taking shape and acts more strongly. Our chart calculator marks which one you have.

3. Watch for out-of-sign aspects. Two planets in opposition are usually in signs directly across from each other, but an aspect is measured by actual distance. In our calculations, 12.9% of oppositions do not match the usual sign relationship (one planet late in a sign, the other early in another). The nature of the aspect is still there; it just shows up in a less typical way.

4. Most people born on the same day share this aspect. Mars and Pluto move only a little in a day. The difference lies in which houses they fall in on your chart, and that depends on your birth time; see Planets in the Houses.

5. Then look at each planet’s own placement. The signs Mars and Pluto are in decide how each one expresses itself; see Planets in the Signs. If either planet has other aspects, read them together. For a complete reading, use the In-Depth Chart Reading.

Other aspects between Mars and Pluto

Conjunction · Sextile · Square · Trine · Opposition

The opposition with other planets

Mars: Sun opposite Mars, Moon opposite Mars, Mercury opposite Mars, Venus opposite Mars, Mars opposite Jupiter, Mars opposite Saturn, Mars opposite Uranus, Mars opposite Neptune.

Pluto: Sun opposite Pluto, Moon opposite Pluto, Mercury opposite Pluto, Venus opposite Pluto, Jupiter opposite Pluto, Saturn opposite Pluto.

All Mars aspects · All Pluto aspects · Planet aspects overview