“Hard times create strong men, strong men create peaceful times, peaceful times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
G. Michael Hopf, in his novel Those Who Remain
Sometimes, you might hear an astrologer say, “This person is very Plutonian”…
Often, this label is used to describe someone with a lot of Scorpio in their birth chart, a heavily developed 8th House, or an angular Pluto conjunct the luminaries or the chart ruler. In short, it refers to various techniques used to establish that Pluto is strongly emphasized in the birth dominants.
Yet, we all have our own Pluto placed somewhere in our birth chart, thereby touching specific areas of life or planetary functions (see Pluto in the birth chart).
Therefore, we all possess a certain Plutonian expression that will modulate our lives and require us to purge or purify the matters associated with it.
The alchemical process of Calcinatio, which represents psychological pressure and intense heat (moving from the outside in), inevitably applies itself to certain areas of our lives to help cleanse them (to varying degrees depending on the individual).
Moreover, the Plutonian dominance is not only expressed in this regard within the birth chart structure, but can also manifest more subtly through our predictive cycles !
For example, some individuals will experience numerous and major Pluto Transits throughout their lives, which may form successive conjunctions, oppositions, or squares to many natal planets…
Or, as another example, we might find Secondary progressions significantly activating the Plutonian Calcinatio, such as a progressed Sun forming a 3-year conjunction to natal Pluto ! (or other progressed personal planets forming an exact aspect to it in various ways)
These are highly specific and quite rare progressed configurations that not everyone will experience in their lifetime, thus forming a significant signature of individuality and destiny…
In reality, in these two subtle examples, it is major Plutonian experiences that will bring a highly Plutonian tone to the individuality and incarnation, and this must clearly not be overlooked (even if the person is not particularly or massively Plutonian in their birth chart).
There is also yet another subtle way to consider the Plutonian influence and the nature of the Plutonian we are, which is based on what has already been traversed through lived experience and individuality…
In other words, this seeks to define: where are we personally in our Calcinatio process at this exact moment ?
Have we already gone through numerous purges and purifications, and are we now reaching sublimation, digestion, and integration ?
Or, conversely, are we still at the foot of the mountain, with everything left to do ? (along with a certain lack of awareness and compulsivity regarding it)
Or are we still right in the middle of long processes, in full combustion, actively fighting our old demons, sorting things out amid the violence of the inner storm ?
I have frequently noticed that we can actually categorize people based precisely on the state of the Calcinatio process they have to undergo, have undergone, or will undergo…
The individuality will not be the same, neither in its form nor its goals, not only depending on the nature of the struggle it has to face, but also on the temporality in which it finds itself regarding this struggle.
This can actually form a very important nuance to analyze in synastry, because two people might very well have Plutonian dominants that resonate in the birth chart, yet have a present lived experience that is completely different regarding this (which will skew their mutual understanding).
This applies perfectly well to the various alchemical processes (Solutio, Sublimatio, Coagulatio), but it is even more profoundly marked with Calcinatio, because this process is ultra-violent, extreme, powerful, and definitive. It can produce very radical “before and after” shifts in terms of personality change, so it necessarily remains something to analyze closely and keep in the back of your mind…
Once you have lived through this process, you are no longer the same; you no longer have the same outlook on life, you understand the world differently, and you can immediately discern whether the person in front of you has already experienced this process or not (there are things you simply cannot fake).
Calcinatio reduces the ego to ashes not to destroy, but to reveal the indestructible essence of the person, to bring out their strength, their galvanization, their antifragility (their strengthening in the face of destruction).
Ultimately, perhaps “being Plutonian” is not just a simple natal label, but an entire art of psychological metamorphosis, and as Michael Hopf’s quote at the beginning of the article suggests, it is often at the heart of this inner storm that true, lasting strength is forged !
It is useless to desperately seek “easy times” to avoid suffering (which is impossible with Pluto); the main goal should be to cultivate the necessary strength and resilience to embrace all trials…
Illustration image “Mandala Combustion”, Elina Yves, https://mandalyna.com/