Auntie Moon

There may be some debate about Pluto or Neptune being the ruler of our obsessions. There’s not so much debate about fatal attractions. I have no doubt that Pluto, Scorpio’s monarch, is the title character in the film noir aspects of life so I’m placing this topic under the Scorpio heading. Neptune is sure to win an Oscar in its role of Best Supporting Actor or Actress to Pluto in this dark mystery. Venus, of course, is our leading lady. The patsy in this ill-fated ménage à trois? Who else…the moon…the poor sap who’s getting the wool pulled over their eyes.

Neptune as the lord or lady of obsession is a bit of a no-brainer. Here’s a real contender. In it’s negative state, it’s the poster child for addictions of all kinds ~ drink, drug, food, tv, sex, shopping, falling in love, any kind of escapism from the hard knocks or everyday routines of life. Calgon…or should I say Neptune…take me away. Neptune has its lovely points, but not when it comes to the topic du jour. In this scenario, Neptune is completely obsessed with the one object of desire that can turn something obviously dangerous into the most wonderful, beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. Pure illusion.

When do obsession and the desire to control ~ or obsession and allowing yourself to be controlled ~ pass from Neptune’s realm to Pluto’s? When fear, loss, or anger enter the picture? Maybe someone becomes afraid ~ afraid of the dark, afraid of the pain, afraid of losing the thing that has become so important, when the realizatiaon of being duped becomes obviously apparent? 

When Pluto operates dysfunctionally, it destroys without rebuilding and penetrates without mercy. . .too forceful to be humane. ~ Gail Fairfield, Choice Centered Astrology

Pluto and Venus in aspect can be quite a sexy combo, and someone with these placements in their natal chart is probably going to have a great deal of sex appeal. If it’s not sex appeal, it’s certainly going to be some kind of magnetism that can be used to get what they want. Money or position are excellent lures.

Here’s a typical definition of Pluto transiting Venus:

By Pluto’s hard transit to your natal Venus, you need to keep your head and not relinquish your own power to reason. If transiting Pluto is squaring or opposing your natal Venus, you might find yourself very attracted to someone who is going to wreak havoc in your life. This smacks of “fatal attraction.” Word on the street is that these relationships don’t work out very well. If you find yourself obsessively attracted to someone during a transit of this kind, be absolutely sure that you know what you’re getting into and that you’re willing to walk down that road. Look into your future. Is this an affair you are willing to live with forever?

Do your homework. Look at the obvious. Hire a dectective if you have to.

Well, that wasn’t the result in my case, but I know there was such a case in Venezuela ~ meaning that it does happen. 

During my own tr. Pluto square Venus, I left the banking industry to manage a notable dance school in New York City. Venus in her guise as the arts was my lure, backed up by Neptune in Libra which Pluto was about to smooch by conjunction. I didn’t know a thing about dance, but I had a pretty good head for how to run it as a business. Working in the arts gave me a sense of prestige that corporate America could not. There’s that Pluto/Venus magnetism at work. It didn’t last. Frankly, it wore me out. Looking back on it now, it has a kind of “affair” feel to it. Lots of very famous people walked through those doors and that appealed to my ego a lot more than statistics and routine number crunching.

A recurring issue during those years at the dance school had to do with another Pluto issue ~ sanitation. There was disagreement among sanitation companies as to which one would be picking up the garbage. That’s an important issue in NYC and involved some very Plutonian characters. 

A third Pluto/Venus event during that time was the discovery of rampant endometriosis during surgery to remove a grapefruit sized cyst from my ovary. Venus is in my 6th house (health) in Cancer (the womb/ovaries). Coincidence? Am I grabbing at straws to find a correlation here?

Typical of the “it won’t work out” messages written for Pluto/Venus transits, my involvement with the dance world came to a close. I ended it. We weren’t really made for each other, after all. It wore me out, and I didn’t really love it. It was just so dang appealing and gave me a sense of position that banking could not.

But back to a more film noir type of Pluto/Venus transit.

We usually think of women being taken advantage of by men under a transit of this type, but that’s limited thinking. Women do it to men. Men do it to men, and women do it to other women. Someone takes control of another person’s actions and it’s all downhill from there.

Barbara Stanwyck used sex appeal to control Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity. This movie is about a murder/insurance fraud. Murder and insurance are associated with Pluto and the 8th house earmarking this film with Scorpionic traits. MacMurray really went the distance for Stanwyck, losing everything and taking a bullet. Gloria Swanson lured William Holden with money and a career boost in Sunset Boulevard and he he wound up face down in the pool of her Hollywood mansion. He also took a bullet. Both of those guys took their bullets while trying to escape a fatal attraction. 

Please understand that this is not to say that you’ll actually get shot during a transit of Pluto to Venus. I didn’t. Most of us don’t. As a warning, though, you might have to take the metaphorical bullet somewhere in your personal life ~ your bank account, your marriage, your career, your ego ~ if you get caught up in this web. If your personal life is in some kind of crisis, you might be more susceptible to someone who you believe can save you. That’s Neptune in full costume doing a number on you. Don’t get sucked in.

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Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.