Pluto's Place In Your Birth Chart Reveals Inner Struggles To Overcome For Personal Growth

When reading your birth chart, focusing only on the personal planets can be easy. This is because the personal planets are the ones people are usually most familiar with. Even non-believers know their sun sign (associated with the month you were born), and most know their moon and rising signs. Outside of the sun and the moon, the personal planets include Venus, Mars, and Mercury. Venus gives insight into your relationships, Mars into conflicts, and Mercury into communication. For example, someone with Mercury in the tenth house (house of career) might be a gifted writer or pursue some form of writing as a career. The personal planets will be unique for everyone based on the time, date, and location of their birth. 

The generational planets are another story. The generational planets include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. These planets are considered generational because it can take them years to rotate through a chart, meaning many people will share similar placements. You've probably heard of your Saturn return which happens for the first time in your late 20s. It's reportedly a time of stress, learning, and change.

One of the least talked about generational planets is Pluto. But if you're trying to understand your birth chart, don't overlook it, because Pluto can shed some serious light on how your generation will shape history and the kind of challenges you can expect going forward.

Pluto is a dark and mysterious generational planet. It takes a long time for it to move through the signs — roughly 12 to 30 years, to be exact. Pluto is often associated with social structures and frameworks. However, to understand Pluto's personal significance, check its house (not its sign) in your chart.

The house changes more frequently than the sign, which should shed some light on what to expect from Pluto. To simplify, Pluto is a planet of intense change. "It destroys what no longer serves us, which isn't a pretty process, but creates space for rebirth and new beginnings," Stephanie Campos told Refinery29. So, if you have Pluto in your tenth house, you might struggle with karmic struggles in your career. Someone with Pluto in the sixth (house of health) might experience illnesses or physical limitations, and someone with Pluto in the seventh (house of relationships) will have power struggles in their relationships. Once you identify the house of your Pluto, you can figure out some of your biggest pain points and how to rise above them. "Pluto's influence and impact is often associated with a phoenix rising from the ashes," Campos adds. Pluto isn't just about your house, though. Pluto also speaks to global change; in some histories, most seismic shifts have happened as Pluto has moved through the signs.

The significance of Pluto for your generation will vary depending on its sign. For example, in March 2023, Pluto moved from Capricorn to Aquarius. The last time Pluto was in Aquarius was during the French Revolution and American Revolution. So if you're feeling social tensions or a sudden urge to change the political hierarchy of your country drastically, then there might be a pattern there, as Aquarius is the sign of social equality and change. "Things that have been hidden in previous generations start to come into the light," astrologer Rachel Lang told Well+Good.

Pluto was in Scorpio from the early 1980s to the mid-'90s and dealt with issues of sex and power — hence the AIDS epidemic and an increased interest in gay rights happening during that time. Next came Sagittarius, which saw an influx in creativity (hello, digital age), then Pluto in Capricorn, which brought changes to your day-to-day life (such as the housing market crash and gig economy).

Pluto in Aquarius is predicted to bring around major societal shifts — which is good because, with a struggling economy and rapidly warming globe, we need some serious changes. After Aquarius, Pluto will enter Pisces, which indicates spiritual changes on a global scale. Not to worry, though; that won't happen until 2043, and if Pluto in Aquarius plays out the way it's supposed to, then life is going to look very different in 2043 anyway.