Mars Square Pluto: Wrestling with the Force That Holds You Down

Mars and Pluto butt heads. What you want to do keeps meeting heavy resistance or pressure from those in power, and you hold a fierce energy inside. Once tempered, it becomes exceptional endurance. 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 square makes the two interact, how it tends to show up in everyday life, its strengths and blind spots, and some advice for it.

Mars Square 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 Square Pluto

Mars wants to act freely, while Pluto holds a deeper and heavier power. The square puts the two in conflict, and your actions keep colliding with something stronger than you: strict parents, an unreasonable boss, a rule that cannot be defied, or an obsession of your own that insists on winning. This experience of being blocked shows up very early and makes you acutely sensitive to power. You can see at a glance who is in charge and who is trying to push you down.

The tension here is great, and of all the aspects between Mars and Pluto this is the one that most compels action. People with the conjunction are born holding the power. People with the square build it through being thwarted again and again. When you are young the energy is often misdirected: you fight to the bitter end out of sheer refusal to lose, or press the anger down until one day it all erupts. With age you learn that power does not have to be used against anyone; it can be spent on accomplishing something very hard. By then, few people can match your endurance and resolve.

How it feels inside

There is often a feeling of being pressed down inside you. When things go wrong, anger comes fast and heavy, and yet it cannot always get out, so it becomes a resentment lodged in your chest. You dread being powerless, so you double your effort when you meet an obstacle, sometimes pushing so hard you cannot stop. You may also be harsh with yourself, refusing to let yourself off when you miss the mark. Once you see that this energy comes from those early moments when you could do nothing, it gets easier to stop when it is time to stop.

In love and relationships

In love, the question of who gives in to whom comes up easily. You dislike being managed, and you may try to manage your partner without realizing it. The two of you dig in over small things. On the surface the argument is about the schedule or the spending, and underneath it is about who is in charge. Your desire and your emotions are both intense, and when you are jealous it is hard to act as if nothing is wrong. What helps is leaving the room before the emotion peaks, going for a walk so your body can burn off the charge, and coming back to discuss the issue itself.

At work and in getting things done

At work, your relationship with authority is a course of study in itself. Faced with a heavy-handed boss, you either confront them head-on or comply on the surface while competing inside, and both are draining. On the other hand, your fighting strength under high pressure is great, and you will grit your teeth and finish the project others could not get through. Many self-made people have this aspect, having turned their refusal to be beaten into a career. Finding a position where you hold the reins beats wrestling under someone else indefinitely.

Strengths

• Stronger with every setback: Resistance does not make you back down. It rouses your fight, and on sheer grit you often pull off what others had written off as impossible.
• Reading power: You are very alert to who holds influence and who is applying pressure behind the scenes. Surface politeness does not fool you, and you know how to protect yourself.
• Exceptional endurance: Years of working under pressure have given you a thick foundation. On tasks that take a long time, you hold out to the end better than most people.

Blind spots

• Meeting force with force: Faced with opposition you want to push harder, turning what could be discussed into a showdown. Even when you win, the price is often higher than expected.
• Anger that builds: You press displeasure down and say nothing until it reaches a certain point and erupts, with a force that startles even you and that damages relationships.
• Obsessions that will not release: Once you decide something must be done, you can hardly judge whether it is worth it. You keep investing past the point of cutting losses.

Advice for Mars Square Pluto

Redirect your fighting strength into something that takes a long campaign to conquer. Weight training, distance running, martial arts, or a project that will take several years are all good containers. When you clash with a boss or partner, first work out whether you are fighting over the issue or over the feeling of not wanting to lose. If it is the second, do not respond right then. Wait for the surge to pass before you speak.

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 square Pluto is tight, the traits on this page will be more noticeable; if it is close to the 7° 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 square are usually in signs of the same modality (both cardinal, both fixed or both mutable), but an aspect is measured by actual distance. In our calculations, 13% of squares 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 square with other planets

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

Pluto: Sun square Pluto, Moon square Pluto, Mercury square Pluto, Venus square Pluto, Jupiter square Pluto, Saturn square Pluto, Uranus square Pluto.

All Mars aspects · All Pluto aspects · Planet aspects overview