Moon-Pluto
Overview: Moon-Pluto in tense alignments joins the emotional side of life associated with the Moon archetype with the depth, mystery, and instinctual drives associated with the Pluto archetype.
The challenges: the desire to feed and or be fed (Moon) that is driven by powerful instinctual drives (Pluto), possibly even obsession (Pluto), that can sometimes involve power struggles (Pluto). The mother figure (Moon), or childhood (Moon), that we feel was taken away from us and hid in the shadowy realms of the metaphorical underworld (Pluto). Emotions and needs around mothering (Moon) that are so overwhelmingly powerful (Pluto) as to be scary.
The strengths: an ability to experience overwhelmingly powerful (Pluto) emotions (Moon) that are like transformational forces of nature (Pluto) that can make us feel we are going through a rebirth process. comfort and emotional intimacy (Moon) with animals and nature (Pluto).
Below are examples of well-known individuals born with this combination in their natal charts (an astrological birth chart is a symbolic map of the sky at the moment of birth). Observing how this combination appears in their lives can help us recognize it in our own. The more consciously we engage with these astrological alignments—or “aspects”—the more their underlying tensions can be integrated, allowing their strengths to emerge.
Please note: the expression of this archetypal tension, as seen in the lives and work of the people below, may reflect varying levels of integration.
The comfort (Moon) with the instinctual and animal (Pluto) of the Moon/Pluto combination in the chart of singer Bruno Mars can be seen in a skit he acted in during a Saturday Night Live episode in which a character going through family (Moon) drama (Pluto) dresses as a mouse and cannot not make an emotional connection (Moon) with any humans until he meets another human dressed as an animal (Pluto): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSDBWIECtbA
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay exhibits his Moon-Pluto by expressing creative obsession (Pluto) through cooking and nourishing (Moon).
The Moon-Pluto combination in the birth chart of actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan can be seen in her role as “Devi,” the main character in the comedy/drama “Never Have I Ever.” The series follows “Devi” through her teenage years as emotional bonds (Moon) with friends and family are tested by her libidinal desires (Pluto), creating the situations of emotional (Moon) drama (Pluto) upon which the series centers, and resulting in emotional (Moon) catharses (Pluto) and deep (Pluto) emotional bonds (Moon). Here is a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=con9nh01JNk
The Moon-Pluto combination in the birth chart of Mata Amritanandamayi, otherwise known as “Mother Amma” or “the hugging saint,” can be seen in the way people who come to her for emotional healing often times experience an emotional (Moon) cleansing or transformation (Pluto) by receiving one of her very nurturing and maternal (Moon) hugs.
An entertaining example of the Moon-Pluto combination can be seen in the song, Santa Baby, by singer Eartha Kitt, who was born with this combination in her birth chart. The song is an impassioned seductive plea that blends the deep instinctual sexual taboo association with Pluto with the folkloric innocent childhood story (Moon) of Santa Claus.