Dim All the Lights - Some Musings on Saturn-Pluto, the Most Feared Combination in Astrology

by Frank C. Clifford

Some of us shudder when we think of Saturn transits … or panic when Pluto inches towards a major area of our chart. Both planets have dark, fearsome reputations and this year we’ve seen how their conjunction in Capricorn in mid January coincided with the start of a prolonged period in many societies of personal and economic hardship (Saturn) amid an atmosphere of fear (Saturn), suspicion, and panic (Pluto). We’ve witnessed an enforced (Pluto) pause (Saturn) to everyday life — a lockdown (a great Saturn–Pluto word) with much of the world “temporarily closed for renovation.”

With the pair conjunct this year, it’s the start of a new era that will culminate in 2036–7 when they oppose each other and end with the next conjunction in Pisces in 2053–4. The 22 months around the conjunction (from February 2019 to November 2020) have also been the most extreme time of Pluto’s sojourn (January 2008 to November 2024) in Capricorn.

Much has been written by mundane astrologers on the current planetary climate and its connection to previous Saturn–Pluto cycles and international events, but in this article, I’d like to focus more on the energies of these two planets.

We astrologers are taught that Saturn is the planet associated with (among many other things): responsibilities, commitments, structures, boundaries, limits, delays, law and order, and society in general. Pluto has dominion over the major social issues and taboos that dominate an era or generation, as well as anything seismic encountered in the life that feels humbling, non-negotiable, or irreversible. Whereas Saturn is linked to fear, finality, and mortality, Pluto is more about terror (i.e., extreme fear) and what happens after something or someone in our life has died. Pluto symbolises the aftermath of an event, and the processes of rebirth, rejuvenation, and reinvention. With Saturn, the road ends. But with Pluto, the terrain has changed irrevocably — we couldn’t have avoided it, and now there’s no turning back.

In a birth chart, the combination of Saturn–Pluto suggests issues around control, power, authority, and respect. At best, it represents expertise, self-mastery, and power accumulated over time and experience — surviving life’s trials and tribulations and rites of passage (Saturn). Ideally, surviving and thriving. Or “coming into your own personal power,” as the self-help books promise. With Saturn–Pluto, we are reminded of the quote attributed to Gloria Steinem:

Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.1

And of course, this takes time and maturity (the Saturn process).

Keywords can provide a springboard for astrological learning and synthesis, and Saturn–Pluto suggests privacy, endurance, indefatigability, fortress-like defences, deep personal reserve, and deep reserves in general. Here are some phrases and ideas that communicate the message of Saturn and Pluto:

• Foundations of power; reinforcement of power
• Demolition and reconstruction of structures/society
• Compulsion to control
• Mistrust of power bases; paranoia about “The System” (imposed authority)
• Terror of responsibility; extreme caution; sabotaging authority
• Fear of power/annihilation/persecution; impotence
• Transforming personal and collective authority
• Profound life lessons around self-control and self-mastery
• Powerfully committed to the transformation of the self

We’re all witnessing Saturn–Pluto in 2020, but what if we have an aspect between these two planets in our natal chart, too? What’s fascinating is that if we were born under a planetary combination (particularly one involving the social and outer planets), we are automatically connected to periods in the future when these two planets aspect one another. This has been labelled a “recurrence” or “resonant” transit. For instance, if we’re born under the Jupiter–Saturn conjunction that happens every 20 years, we will find that major chapters of our life will begin, shift gear, or end when these two planets aspect each other during our lifetime.

Using roughly a 5° orb from the first to final hit, here’s a list of dates when Saturn and Pluto were in aspect (conjunction, square, opposition) with one other. The conjunction represents the merging of the planetary principles and the start of a new cycle; the square shows challenges to existing structures and obstacles necessary to move things forward; while the opposition (the aspect of relationship) brings the awareness/negotiation of others’ Saturn–Pluto needs/behaviours into the mix.

Table: Saturn–Pluto Aspect Dates

These recurrence/resonant transits can coincide with impactful times in our life even if the combination doesn’t make an aspect to our natal chart. But when the new pairing locks into a sensitive part of our horoscope by degree, it can suggest a time that is significant and deeply personal to us.

Here’s an example of a dramatic event in the life of the actress Eileen Brennan, but please do not deduce that all examples of Saturn–Pluto are anywhere near as catastrophic. Brennan was born with a grand cross involving Saturn and Pluto (see chart, inner wheel), tied in with the combustible, provocative, or accident-prone planets Mars and Uranus (shared by legendary singer Patsy Cline, born five days later). Brassy and perky, Brennan achieved fame by lending her comedic genius and distinctive, smoky voice to a series of supporting roles (The Last Picture Show, The Sting, and Private Benjamin) of characters who were world-weary, caustic, gruff, or deeply sardonic.

On the evening of October 27, 1982, in Venice, California,2 she waved goodbye after dinner to her Benjamin co-star Goldie Hawn, crossed the street, and was run down by a driver. Her legs were snapped, her nose, jaw, and bones in her face broken (Saturn). At the time, Saturn and Pluto were conjunct at 26–27° Libra, both within a degree of her Ascendant and square to her natal Saturn. It was a non-negotiable, Pluto-type trauma enforced upon her that necessitated a reconstruction (Saturn–Pluto) of her body and life.

Brennan fought her injuries with rage.

Anger is a powerful emotion. It increased my determination not to go under.3

Healing took a long time and she became addicted to the pills prescribed by her doctor (Neptune was also conjunct the Ascendant by Solar Arc direction). (Charts not shown.) While Solar Arc Mars was conjunct her Virgo Sun, and Solar Arc Chiron conjunct Mars, Brennan checked in to the Betty Ford Center in late August 1984 to break the addiction stranglehold. (Some years later, she fought cancer and also broke her leg falling off stage.)

True to her challenging chart and her ability to survive all that had been thrown her way, Brennan said in 1999:

I’m here, aren’t I? What else can they do to me? … Some of us just have to learn it the hard way.4

It’s apt astrologically that Eileen Brennan’s accident occurred in part because the boulevard she crossed that night had been darkened by a temporary power outage. Saturn–Pluto can dim the lights and prompt major introspection and a reevaluation of our passage. The planetary pairing “forces” us to pause and reflect on our “living karma”: how our intentions and actions affect the world around us, our very perceptions of this world, and our role in it. In Saturn–Pluto style, we can either remain imprisoned by the conditioning and habits we’ve created, or we can deconstruct these and rebuild our path. But it often takes a demolition of these edifices — and numerous inconsequential things — that no longer serve us to prompt such searing self-examination and reconstruction. Brennan told L.A. Times,

Everyone hits bottom in their own way. Mine came through my accident, which led to my pill addiction, which led to my birth. I say ‘birth’ rather than ‘rebirth’ because I feel born new. I reestablished a spiritual connection that is lost when you are taking any kind of drug. Strangely enough I wouldn’t have missed my accident. It just knocks me out to say that, but I mean it.5

In an interview with the Ladies Home Journal6, she said,

We get addicted to dull the pain of life, but once we accept that life is tough and painful, we can move on and grow and evolve.

Perhaps life doesn’t get easier, we simply grow into ways of managing it better. And that’s another Saturn–Pluto lesson.

Sometimes Saturn–Pluto (to the natal chart or in the current planetary climate of 2020) coincides with events that humble us or strip things back to the bare essentials — leaving us little comfort or reassurance. These events can remove an anchor in our life and force us to face stark realities, but there is always the invitation to self-heal through the chaos surrounding us, and to become conscious of and respect the foremost treasures we have in our life: our life spark, talents, and relationships to others and the cosmos.

Chart data and source:
Eileen Brennan, September 3, 1932; 9:12 a.m. PST; Los Angeles, California, USA (34°N03^, 118°W15^); AA: birth certificate obtained by FCC; copy on file.

References and notes:
1. https://womenyoushouldknow.net/empowering-quotes-gloria-steinem/
2. 11:00 p.m. PDT is the speculative time used for the accident.
3. https://www.gtffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/31/eileen-brennan-private-benjamin-goldie-hawn_n_3681208.html
4. https://www.s.times.com/local/obituaries/la-me-eileen-brennan-20130731-story.html
5. https://peopm/acom/archive/out-of-her-horrid-accident-and-the-drug-addiction-that-followed-eileen-brennan-finds-a-prescription-for-life-vol-23-no-16/
6. See note 3.

Images:
Closed shop: Image by Queven from Pixabay
Chain: Image by Shameer Pk from Pixabay
Eileen Brennan: photo by Alan Light / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

First published in: The Mountain Astrologer, Aug/Sep 2020.

Author:
Frank Clifford is the author of The Solar Arc Handbook (2018) as well as Getting to the Heart of Your Chart and Palmistry 4 Today. Frank’s new online school (teaching both astrology, tarot, and palmistry) and many free articles and videos can be found at http://www.londonschoolofastrology.com

© 2020 - Frank C. Clifford

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