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Mars conjunct Pluto: Sometimes You’re the Bug

windshield-bug-300One morning last week, just as the transiting Mar/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn was rising, I was falling. I had just set down the cat’s food dish, and when I stood up, a violent spasm in my lower back sent me crumpled to the hard, tile kitchen floor. As I lay there writhing in agony, the cats ambled over to investigate. Spike apparently decided that if I was screaming, I was still alive; so he calmly started eating his breakfast a few inches from my ear, in a show of Mars/Pluto ruthlessness and Capricornian pragmatism.

As Mark Knopfler once wrote, “Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.” When Mars and Pluto come together, anything soft and slow is going to get squished against hard, fast-moving reality. Much of what happens during this roughly one week transit seems sudden, like a slap across the face; but the underlying cause has been building for awhile. I’d known for days that I needed to do some yoga to stretch things out and relieve the building tension in my back. Driven by deadlines and obligations, I’d ignored the warning signs and let circumstances twist me into a pretzel. The next thing I knew, I was crawling to the sofa to wait, powerless, for the next spasm.

Transits involving Pluto always reflect our part in a larger, collective struggle with power and control. Struggling for control creates fear and tension that collect deep below the surface until something—say, Mars—sets off volcanic emotions that melt them into hard, unyielding glass.

Even the transits of fast-moving planets like Mars can express themselves potently. When Mars and Pluto, two hard-edged characters, come together in any kind of aspect, little bugs like you and me need to look both ways before we fly across the road. We rarely see the windshield coming until we’re already on the floor.

The solution is to be a smarter bug. Fly higher; the hard, fearful places are down low, and that’s where the danger is. Don’t let yourself get sucked into petty disputes. Fly faster, in the direction of your own choosing. Recognize when you are powerless, and retreat to fly another day.

Upcoming transiting Mars/Pluto aspects: conjunction (Nov. 10, 2014), sextile (Jan. 30, 2015), square (March 11, 2015), trine (April 21, 2015), opposition (July 15, 2015). These are the dates the aspects are exact; the influence of them is usually felt about one week before and after the exact aspect.

12 comments to " Mars conjunct Pluto: Sometimes You’re the Bug "

  • yes, it was a tricky transit for sure – I did heaps of meditation, morning and night, as well as grounding and protecting. It was right on my capricorn midheaven and I did hear some news about my work that had been building for a while now, which may involve me not having that work for much longer. Still…what can a bug do? 🙂

  • Mia

    was totally there on the floor with you! Even had a cat with the same name! The advice is worth gold, thank you! Rested the back and flying high now 🙂

  • Marly K

    I hope you’re feeling better! What I take away from this post is that Mars/Pluto will slap you across the face with what you NEED to do but may be running away from (likely due to fear). And sometimes, that means adding discipline; in other words, carving out 10 to 20 minutes to do the yoga even if you feel like you can’t. Last week I felt so angry and upset that I had this middle-age crisis and finally said to myself, “Fuck this noise. Things can’t go on like this.” By which I mean, I’m being the older sister to waaaaay too many people who can’t or won’t reciprocate. So I decided to start being selfish. I began waking up at 5.30am to write before work; I’m going to start my day with what’s important to me. It’s an easier form of discipline, in a way. It comes easier and I find that momentum has built up, making it easier to be disciplined. This is the kind of thing that I knew I had to do years ago.

  • Wish I’d written this!

  • KE

    Thank you. I have been watching this transit for a while. Tried to be extra careful this week. There was some hiding going on.

  • Iris

    Also the bug here. No disputes in the wing so was a bit puzzled about how it would/was manifesting, but it was this that you describe; been overbusy and then on the day of the conjunction, slammed with a violent, explosive illness. The after-effects continue.
    Thanks for this April. Hope you are emerging.

  • Steve

    Ouch! I don’t know if it’s relevant or helpful, but my mum used to have terrible back problems (recurrent slipped disc), and got very effective and long lasting treatment from an osteopath. Mind, I believe that was in part because, in Taurean fashion, she decided to lay a patio herself 🙂 Anyway, hope you’re doing better now!

  • Jane Ann Lanie

    Well, I congratulated my nephew and his wife about their pregnancy on Facebook and just got a call that they wanted me to take it off Facebook because they didn’t want anybody to know. I’m an Aries with Scorpio Asc. and Moon so thankfully I knew how to delete it.

    You said the conjunction lasted at least a week after so bingo that did happen to me today. Am I the bug on the windshield that got slapped. Oh, well. I’ll see them next week for an early Thanksgiving so I’m sure I’ll hear more or maybe I’ll be deleted as their friend.

    Maybe I’ll tell them to read my book, My Life Among the Angels, so they’ll realize everything is in divine order at all times.

  • Tanene

    Yipes….I must have been in ‘bug soup” I even missed this post. Guess I just surfaced in time to read this delightful bug and windshield tale. I find you, April, to be such a treasure; your writing is a gift to find humor in life’s dilemmas. I can chuckle and smile as I read your post….find it easier than laughing at my situations. Perhaps that’s why we have each other AND your posts!
    From your couch ~ recovering ~ April I hope you revamp your To Do list and mark off anything that is not an ‘A’ priority. Besides the weather is much too sunny/windy to be inside on the couch.
    love…

  • Paula

    That hard edged powerful moving force blindsided my beloved cat, Teddy. A car hit his head while he was happily chasing another cat across the street. It was Nov. 5, Scorpio was rising at 7:15 in the morning, transiting Mars conj Pluto was square his Moon/Venus conj. in 15 Aries. Sometimes this stuff is just really literal.
    And square my Sun in 10 Aries too. So his is the fourth death in less than 2 years that has me so splattered against that windshield that I can hardly stand up. I needed your humor April. Truly.
    And eagerly waiting for your book.

    • Oh, Paula – how horrid. I am so, so sorry. Poor little Teddy. (I’m having a kitty issue here myself that I really don’t want to think about, let alone write about, so I am absolutely there with you.) Having so many deaths close to you in such a short span of time really changes you at a core level; stay conscious and it will ultimately be a positive change, the kind that rewards those who are strong enough to survive hard times with their hearts intact. Sending comforting New Moon wishes your way. xoxo

      • Paula

        Thank You. Kitties just let you love them, don’t they. So it’s hard. I hope for the very best outcome for you too.

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