We all have difficult times. Everything seemed to go on as usual, everything was calm, and suddenly — bang! Pandemonium begins, difficulties arise, the mood is negative or zero, and off we go. What, from the point of view of astrology, can cause various personality crises?
Pluto Crises
Crises caused by Pluto transits or directions are the most obvious and the most dramatic. They occur when transiting or directional Pluto aspects any of the planets of the horoscope by conjunction, square or opposition. A crisis also occurs with a similar impact on the corners of the chart — ASC, MC, IC and DSC, Lilith and the Nodes of the Moon.
How Pluto Works
Pluto in astrology governs the collective energies that unite separate individuals into a structure of a larger scale. This force, which unites the disparate into a single whole at the moment of its action, concerns those aspects of our life that were originally socialized — given to us for a while at our disposal and not fully belonging to us. Its integrating effect is rather watery in nature and similar in quality to the energies ruled by the sign of Scorpio.
Under the influence of Pluto, we need to refuse, cut off communication with traces, signs, things, and ideas that we no longer need or that do not belong to us — things that have arisen as a result of interaction and relationships with other individuals. The goal is to join the collective structure of a larger scale and enter into interactions of a deeper level of development than the previous one.
Pluto is a mutation. The moments of Pluto’s influence are the critical points of our development — the moments of transition from one stage of development to another. In these moments, active Pluto requires us to leave what we held on to in the previous stage. Instead, it integrates us into more developed structures, giving us greater resources.
The Nature of Attachments: What We Lose
The problem here lies in our attachment to those things and objects that we need to leave. We get used to them; moreover, they were signs — perhaps even key points — that kept us in the collective structure of the previous stage of our development. Therefore, they seemed important to us, and our attachment to them was strong.
As a rule, such objects are not large, noticeable, or easily distinguishable. In most cases, they are small, iconic details. Once they had great meaning for us and were clearly distinguishable, but as we developed, they lost their meaning and energy saturation, leaving only the fact of holding on to them — anchoring, attachment. At the time of Plutonic impact, such objects are typically low in energy, have outlived their usefulness, and can be poorly distinguishable by consciousness.
The Mechanics of Crisis
At the moments of Pluto’s activation, the following happens. We grew, developed, and at some point the prerequisites for inclusion in the structure of the next stage of development matured. At the moment of Pluto’s transit or direction, this structure turns towards us and its unifying internal energy begins to attract us, gradually including us in its order.
This process is irreversible: given the necessary objects in our subtle bodies, they will be included in the collective reality of a higher level. At the same time, the lower-level structure holds us by the very remnants of its elements within us. But the newer structure has greater energy saturation and its elements are stronger. If we do not let go of those anchors that hold us in the past, these anchors begin to be torn out of us by force — along with what we hold on to them with.
With a strong attachment to the old, this process can be very painful. It seems that fate has come to destroy everything that is important to us — that life, familiar and well-established, is collapsing. In fact, this is true, but what is collapsing is only what is already obsolete, what we really no longer need. A personality crisis arises. To overcome it or reduce its negative emotional impact, it is important to see those anchors that need to be released — and let them go.
Transits and Directions: External and Internal
These situations arise, I repeat, at the moments of Pluto’s transits or directions. Transits are external forces that «find» us in the process of their development. We find ourselves in demand by the collective reality that has grown to a certain level, and it calls us. Directions are our internal evolution — the same growth during which old collective structures lose energy and new ones activate. We reach a point in development where we are ready to move to a new level, and at this moment a structure emerges that includes us.
Impact on the Angles of the Chart
These things happen most strongly at the time of Pluto conjunctions with personality points.
Ascendant — Total Personality Transformation
Everything is subject to change. The personality changes; a major and fateful move is possible; entry into a new stage of life occurs.
IC — Home and Roots
Our attitude to home and family undergoes transformation. Moving is also possible here, but it is much more important that at such moments a person leaves their old home — symbolically or in fact — and for some time finds themselves homeless. A new feeling of home arrives at a new level. The correct approach here is to expand the concept of «home» — the feeling of home — to a larger territory.
DSC — Relationships
Relationships undergo transformation. There is a high chance of divorce, as well as entering into new relationships. The signal for the correct development of events is the appearance of a new partner — a person connected to a larger collective reality.
MC — Career and Calling
The attitude towards one’s place in life, work, and career changes. There is a high probability of changing jobs or even the type of activity. It would be right to start a career in a larger organization (compared to the previous one).
Soft and Hard Scenarios
In the «soft» scenario, a person always has the possibility of a smooth, calm, and planned transition to a new-level structure. Life offers something, and the key is to see opportunities in time and use them — to give up the anchors of old structures in time.
In the hard scenario, a person clings to the old too much, but the energy has already outlived its usefulness. They can no longer perform work as before, nor maintain relationships at the same level, and the old-level structure, sensing this, begins to reject the person.
Many try to avoid the Pluto problem by delaying their development. Intuitively, they understand that development involves the need for change — the need to leave a warm and familiar place — and they resist their own growth. As a result, the energy of old structures is still lost, but the delay in forming the rudiments of new-level structures leaves them in place, in a disintegrating and degenerate context.
Impact on the Planets
Similar to the angles of the chart, Pluto causes changes during transits and directions on the planets, transforming the models of their manifestation and the modes of activity in the areas they control.
Sun and Moon
It should be noted that the negative interaction of Pluto with the Sun and Moon (in terms of incorrect functionality, delays, and anchors) can lead to serious systemic diseases, up to oncology. Such transits cause the most severe consequences, because the energy of the Sun and Moon is basic for us — the processes and structures they form enter our lower subtle bodies very deeply, residing mainly in the unconscious or the non-conscious. A person is forced to change but often does not understand what exactly needs to change, while Plutonic forces literally tear them out of their familiar context. This is a very dramatic and painful process.
Mercury
The interaction of Pluto with Mercury causes a transformation in the way of thinking and in the systems of signs used. The areas ruled by Mercury (houses of the horoscope) are also affected. In a negative scenario, serious thought disorders are possible — up to mental illness. In a positive scenario, a person acquires an unusually deep understanding of what is happening; their intellect begins to penetrate far deeper than before. For the correct passage of this aspect, analysis is necessary — which formulations have become obsolete, which intellectual theories are outdated.
Mars and Venus
The interaction of Pluto with Mars and Venus concerns the sphere of personal relationships. A relationship crisis arises more readily when Pluto affects Venus in the male horoscope and Mars in the female one. Acting in the reverse order — on Mars in the male chart and Venus in the female — Pluto causes personality crises, forcing a person to change their ideas about themselves and their value as a man or woman.
Jupiter
Under Pluto’s influence, our ambitions change — that is, the socially significant goals we set for ourselves. Our understanding of success is transformed; the ideal images we aspire to undergo change. In the negative scenario, a person finds themselves in a situation where their image suffers — either they make mistakes that bring censure and shame, or their ill-wishers become active and discuss their shortcomings. Overall, however, the interaction of Pluto and Jupiter, though painful and crisis-laden, carries fewer risks than the interaction of Pluto with Saturn.
Saturn
In the latter case, Pluto transforms what is most resistant to change — the backbone of habits we have accumulated over many years, our skeletal structures. Under Saturn’s influence, the anchors holding us in old-level structures acquire rigidity and stability, and parting with them, if it happens in an uncontrolled mode, is extremely painful and entails dramatic events bearing the imprint of fatality. In a positive way, for people with a well-developed Saturn, this planet helps focus attention on the essence of the current problem, and the resourcefulness that the new-level structure — activated by Pluto — possesses actually helps accomplish truly great things.
Neptune
The interactions of Pluto with Neptune are very unpleasant, especially for water signs or romantic natures prone to dreaminess and subtle feelings. Pluto in this case transforms the system of idealized, ideal representations of a person — forcing them to abandon already outdated idealizations and doing so through disappointment in ideals. The collapse of ideals — though, in essence, this process is more the destruction of illusions. In any case, this takes on an almost ideological character, and one cannot do without a loss of strength and a negative mood reaching almost to depression.
Lilith
Interacting with Lilith, Pluto punishes a person. Those things that previously seemed to go unpunished are now revised by Pluto to meet the needs of a new stage of development. And its verdict here can be very severe — the objects and processes that arose under Lilith’s influence are weakly connected with reality and can be completely canceled by Pluto. Simultaneously. In a positive way, such interaction gives an extremely deep perspective — penetration almost into the very underside of life and an understanding of the global and subtle mechanisms that control large-scale events.
Lunar Nodes
North Node (Rahu). Pluto’s impact on the Upper Node of the Moon clears us of obsolete, outlived plans, while simultaneously giving us the opportunity to plan from the standpoint of new realities. The resourcefulness of new levels of development here gives a feeling of omnipotence — and many get burned on this, trying once again to drive old-level plans into implementation. All these plans are headed for a collapse. Because of this, people in such situations often develop pessimism: «Everything I plan falls through.» Yes — if a person continues stubbornly trying to prolong the life of what is already dying.
South Node (Ketu). Interacting with the Lower Node of the Moon, Pluto cleans out the Augean stables of our reality. The function of the South Node is to distribute to those closest to us what we no longer need, what we have outlived. Here, too, all sorts of hooks, anchors, and the like arise. We become overgrown with the mundane, the habitual, the routine — which arises solely from our unwillingness to give something away. And here Pluto is perfectly placed. Though its thoroughly useful activity here is also extremely painful — it drives us out of our familiar warm places into the cold and darkness of the unknown.
Types of Pluto Aspects
Conjunctions with Pluto act directly — the new-level structure offers new material directly to the aspected point and directly cancels the old. Squares force us to correct old bindings, combining them with the new while refusing part of them. The opposition directly cancels old anchors but does not offer new ones — or offers them in a particularly perverse way: from the opposite. «No, don’t do that — do something completely different, and then you will realize it was the same thing.» Though Pluto here acts as if from afar, without directly invading the area controlled by the planet or point, the opposition causes more irreparable damage than any other aspect — to a lesser extent than the conjunction and in a somewhat less intense form.
Trines and sextiles of Pluto lead to a mild, rather calm transformation — we easily sacrifice obsolete things we do not need. As a rule, such aspects do not lead to personality crises.
Fear as a Symptom of Pluto’s Activation
A characteristic feature of Pluto’s activation is fear. Fear of loss and parting with the familiar. Often there is a reassessment of possible risks, because the outworn anchors — weakly saturated with energy — glow faintly and are hard to see. Not distinguishing them, not understanding what Pluto and the situation require of us, we tend to exaggerate possible losses. It seems we are losing everything — up to life and destiny itself. Panic arises, which can reach physical manifestations: fainting, loss of consciousness, thought disorders. Panic attacks.
Fear causes panic and hysteria. A person with a pronounced Pluto in the natal chart is prone to panic and hysteria. Fear gives rise to a strategy of flight — avoidance of the new and avoidance of development.
The connection of new, more resourceful systems under Pluto’s influence can give a person a sense of strength. And here another behavioral mistake arises: sometimes, feeling resourcefulness and power, the desire emerges to use it. If this is Pluto’s transit through the 7th house, we try to influence, to pressure — sometimes to the point of hysteria — our partners. In the 10th house — on subordinates. In the 1st house — we try to push through the situation in general, imagining we are in a tank.
Strategy for Correct Behavior
The key to solving Pluto’s problems is calmness. You need to calm down and let events take their course. With proper concentration, an almost instantaneous resolution of Pluto-activated problems is possible, and then a characteristic feeling of bliss arises: «Phew… it let go…»
Ideas that help solve Pluto’s problems:
«What is happening only deprives you of things you no longer need or that never belonged to you. Pluto never touches the main, vital things — on the contrary, it supports them. Look and you will see this for yourself.»
«The fear you feel comes from overestimating possible losses and risks. Yes, in a Pluto situation losses are inevitable, but you need to soberly and calmly assess them — understand the size of the expected risk.»
«The Pluto situation is a situation of loss. Losing in small and insignificant things, but winning in larger ones. Do not try to win at any cost — it is more profitable for you to lose, to retreat.»
The strategy for correct behavior under Pluto’s influence is a strategy of tactical retreat — losing in small things, but ultimately winning in more.
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Updated: July 2026
Personality Crises: Pluto | Crises of Hades (Part 2, Russian)