Mars & Pluto Face-Off Looming

By Alex Miller

Mars and Pluto are preparing for their biennial opposition (180 degrees), staring each other down from across the zodiac, with Mars in Leo and Pluto in Aquarius.  Caught in their crosshairs is Venus in Scorpio, squared (90 degrees) to each, perhaps offering a bit of celestial intervention, hopefully ameliorating some of the worst effects of the fireworks between them.

Mars is aggressive action, bold and assertive, focused on its Will and how to achieve it.  Pluto is raw power:  overwhelming, steamrolling, take-no-prisoners destruction and transformation.  Sparks fly when these two come together, and the conflagration can easily take hold and spread.

But Venus is the mediatrix – comforting, soothing, pouring oil on troubled waters, always seeking compromise and accommodation.  For this round of Mars/Pluto fisticuffs, which becomes exact on October 3^rd, Venus finds herself powerfully embedded at station (1), turning retrograde on the same day, in the Sign of Scorpio, co-ruled by the pugilists.  Venus isn’t happy in Scorpio, where she finds herself in detriment and at a disadvantage, but at station, she’s still a force to be reckoned with.  And she has an ally in deliberative Mercury (4 Scorpio), offering the potential for diplomacy (Venus) and discussion (Mercury) to resolve some conflicts (Mars) before they become uncontrollable (Pluto).

The drumbeat of the opposition has been audible for weeks, as the combatants jockeyed for position.  On 15 September, US Representative Thomas Massey (R-TN), a fellow Republican, filed articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, alleging he committed high crimes and misdemeanors (Pluto also rules criminal activity) in violation of the War (Mars) Powers (Pluto) Act, in prosecuting the war against Iran without Congressional authorization.

On 22 September, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao issued a report to Congress detailing eight instances of attempted suicide by sailors in the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, deployed on a mission lasting more than 300 days, including the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.  Only one such attempt had been publicized previously.  Mars rules the armed services; and suicide, as an act of self-destruction, is attributed in part to Pluto.

On 26 September, US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal for a temporary ceasefire and a reopening of the Hormuz Strait, essentially a rehash of the prior Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran, agreed in June, but lasting mere weeks before hostilities resumed.  War and destruction are signaled by Mars and Pluto, and the failure of this initiative doesn’t augur well for the resolution of that conflict in the near term, but Venus had not yet reached its station degree, and was still flailing in early Scorpio, getting accustomed to its intrinsically inimical vibe.

All these incidents highlight what’s likely on the menu for the upcoming Mars/Pluto opposition – aggression and conflict, failed attempts at compromise, extreme responses to negative stimuli, and efforts to provide accountability in military matters. 

As always, asteroids provide detail.  Asteroid Thomas (16 Virgo) opposed asteroid Peter (14 Pisces) mirrors Representative Tom Massey’s impeachment resolution against Secretary Pete Hegseth (which was deferred when House Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home early to avoid a vote, but will return when Congress resumes after the Midterm Elections).

The focus on the USS Lincoln suicide attempts is seen as asteroid Lincoln (5 Cancer) in square to the spotlighting Sun (10 Libra) conjunct asteroid America (7 Libra), which is also trine (120 degrees) to a stationary asteroid Navi (for “navy”).  Navi (7 Gemini) conjoins Uranus (5 Gemini), another planet associated with suicide and going to extremes, and squares Damocles (2 Pisces), imaging a looming threat or peril hanging unseen overhead fie US (America) sailors and seamen (Navi).

Notes:  (1) Stations are periods when, from our perspective on Earth, a planet appears to slow its movement, come to a standstill, and reverse course.  This is an optical illusion created by the triangulation between the sun, Earth, and any third celestial body; astrologically, it represents a focusing of the energies associated with that point, and often coincides with major life events or a radical recalibration of how that point has functioned previously.

Sources:  reporting from Reuters, CBS News, CNN; chart data from serennu.com

Title Image Credit:  drawn by ChatGPT