Mercury in aspect to Pluto

You should have a powerful, penetrating and incisive mind, which is attracted towards delving deeply behind appearances. Whether these are social facades or intellectual theories or philosophies, your innate curiosity will enable you to look beneath the surface. As you tend to see your mind as a resource which you can utilize, you often collect many fragments of information on your searches, which you attempt to collate together into a workable source.

You feel 'at home' in your mind, enjoying applying it to a multitude of challenges and problems, confident in your ability to resolve them or make some kind of sense out of them. Following your natural investigative ability, you have an inner process occurring whereby you attempt to extract meaning from your studies and experience, hidden meanings that are mostly relevant only to yourself, although some may be of value to a wider audience too. There is a purist streak in your mind which prompts you to take quite an impersonal attitude to people and events, especially attaching a high value to 'truth' over the social games that people play; your directness is likely to stimulate reactions from others.

As usual with the Pluto energy, there will be an unknowable depth and dimension to your mind, with a tendency towards powerfully expressed extremism and assertiveness as your proceed to manifest your objectives. Your ability to concentrate your willpower and sustain it for as long as necessary will aid you in achieving your dreams. Your beliefs and opinions will tend to be fixed; and you will be difficult to shake from any position that you have decided to take, preferring a vigorous expression of your standpoint against any opponents. As you hate to be seen to have a weaker or fallacious argument, you tend to be well-prepared and confident upon any theme that you may be challenged upon; otherwise you have already prepared some way to evade a confrontation if you feel that you could be defeated. There may be a tendency to hold a grudge against any who have opposed you, or who stand in your way; and you will remember them, waiting for a suitable time to settle the scores.

Unnecessary social problems and suffering for people will draw out a sense of aggrieved anger in you, as will social and political hypocrisy. You will tend to respond to these feelings by becoming more involved in reorienting your energies into channels which directly oppose those who appear to be creating or amplifying such problems. You feel that you can contribute towards changing things for the better; and this can lead you towards involvement with radical politics. The nature of your political views will depend on your personal analysis of causes; but in extreme cases may tend towards anarchism. Any tactics of subversion will appeal to the Pluto energy, as will the emphasis upon change and transformation. If the social emphasis of Pluto dominates, then much of your life will be directed by the theme of transformation, social and political.

You will tend to be demanding in your personal relationships, expecting a high quality and strength from any partner. But even though you may attempt to force him or her to submit to you psychologically, it will be much better for you if you fail, for a good relationship needs equality and mutual respect. You often tend to use your persuasive power to influence others to agree with you; but you have to learn more tolerance and a broader understanding of the freedom and rights of others to hold their own views. Ideally your long-term partner should be similar to you in outlook, motivation and interests, because you may tend to turn the relationship into a form of intellectual power struggle, which would probably turn it sour before long if you did not have these in common. The obsessive tone of Pluto may cause some difficulties, both in your mental preoccupations, and in your relationship, especially if you are unaware of this aspect to yourself, which can easily turn you towards being excessively self-centered if unmoderated. The positive side of a relationship is that it can break down such tendencies, and open up the awareness of 'the other'; certainly you should learn to appreciate any relationship as bringing a more expansive quality into your life.

Mercury conjunct Pluto: The conjunction of Mercury and Pluto shows that your mind is deep, penetrating, and inclined to extremes. You interpret your experiences like a detective reconstructing a crime, looking for hidden meaning in obscure detail. You evaluate matters subjectively, and your psychic sense often reveals clues that are hidden from less sensitive observers. Curious almost to a fault, you go to extremes in gathering the information you need to solve your problems.

You have a genius for asserting yourself persuasively whenever it seems the only way to accomplish something. You are fearless in pursuing your objective, and others admire your determination and persistence. Once your mind is made up, you don't change it unless the evidence is overwhelming. But because you defend your views so vehemently, people may find your attitude offensive.

You are fascinated by the mysterious and the occult. With your quick observation of details and understanding of their value, you could succeed as an analyst or investigator. Such fields as crime detection, chemistry, research, pathology, or surgery would enable you to apply your skills and potentials constructively. You could become an explorer or a financial analyst and advisor.

You should moderate your anarchistic inclination. Even when you are not actively vindictive toward those who defy you, you nevertheless think revenge. Social injustices are a particular irritant to you, and you could vent your hidden anger by directing your talents toward correcting them. You know how to dramatize situations to gain the attention of people in power so that changes can be made. You could easily become the spokesman for those who lack the courage to speak for themselves. Perhaps politics would give you the leverage to accomplish many worthwhile objectives for yourself and others. In personal relationships, you are demanding and sometimes extremely intolerant of weaknesses.

Although you seek out those who will submit to you, then you are contemptuous of them for doing do. This is the paradox of this planetary combination, and accounts for the difficulty others have in relating to you. The fact is, you admire strength and respect authority, so you challenge others to demonstrate these qualities. Ideally, your mate should be strong and be able to take a position with you so that you could contribute to each other's development and objectives. Sharing goals and motivation would produce a permanent bond between you.

Mercury conjunct Pluto: A need to make contacts, to communicate, to reflect and analyze, and an ability to give factual descriptions (Mercury) is greatly intensified by Pluto. Not only do these people have a compulsive need to get in touch with people, but they may be dogmatic when talking to them. The unconscious power of Pluto builds up such a charge that they impress others as being forcible, and the effect of words is often greater than they can foresee and may create problems within the circle of acquaintances.

Thinking is concentrated too. If they want to know something, they set themselves to research it thoroughly. The same intensity is seen in the way they regard and analyze facts, although here the unconscious power of Pluto may have a distorting effect. Once they make some discovery or form some opinion, they fail to examine it further in the light of reality. It forms their reality, and any facts and figures they gather are intended to support it. They present ideas trenchantly, and can be obstinate and inclined to use their reasoning to 'disprove' every counter-argument.

The forcefulness and intensity of this conjunction can lead to quarrels and differences of opinion. These people hold their ground against all-comers, and actually meet with a great deal of opposition. A sharp tongue is dreaded: they never shrink from confrontations or their consequences. Because of great powers of penetration (Pluto), they often put their finger on an opponent's weak point.

This is an outstanding combination for research work, especially in unexplored fields or in fields which have long been taboo; all Pluto's aspects have something defiant about them. These natives cannot tolerate being balked, and will not stop until they have bulldozed a road to any matter in which they are interested. With Pluto aspecting Mercury, they persevere until they completely understand (or completely demolish) some topic.

Mercury conjunct Pluto: If Pluto can be called the symbol of the collective unconscious in the chart - Jung's definition of the intuitive history of the species since time began; that part of ourselves which transmits knowledge over generations; that part of ourselves which combines instincts with conscious development - then this aspect can understandably be a powerful one.

In everyday activities, the person with this aspects doesn't always know what he is talking about, for the words come out before he knows what he is saying. If he uses this energy constructively, he has the beginnings of a great writer, a great social commentator. The childhood experience with the family may be an overwhelming one in terms of communication; words are controlled, or words are used to control others. the power parent is the most controlling influence, unless the aspects indicate otherwise.

For example, when a child is born into a mother-dominated household and Mercury conjuncts Pluto, it can indicate that the father attempts to stay in control, but from a passive controlling point. Passive control can be called the tyranny of the weak, and, if this is the case, the conjunction will have strong or hard aspects to the Sun or Saturn. If so, the child will attempt to control from a passive point as well. The child with this conjunction is controlled and manipulated by his parents, and his investigation of new ideas may be suppressed. When the child becomes an adult, this energy will place limits on relationships because his conversation may not be spontaneous. Manipulation via words can be used in career; copy editors often have this aspect.

Mercury conjunct Pluto: Clark 0, G.W. Bush 1, Lina 1, Shiloh 2, Madonna Ciccone 4, Mick Jagger 4, Robin Williams 4, Elroy 4, Sky 4, Bill Clinton 5, Vincent van Gogh 6, Michael Jackson 7, OmNi 7, Jesse Ventura 7, David Rockefeller 8, William Randolph Hearst 9, George Orwell 9

Mercury sextile Pluto

The nature of your mind will be biased towards intellectualism, and you will be attracted towards the realm of ideas, expressing a creative and questioning curiosity plus the ability to understand the variety of answers that you discover from various sources. Your mind will tend to be analytical; and you are likely to be attracted towards work which involves enquiry, research or teaching. You have the ability to intuit an underlying, synthesizing cohesive meaning within the varied knowledge you acquire; and this can be shared with others. Your enthusiastic enquiring nature can stimulate others to search for answers themselves, without total reliance upon 'authorities'. You also tend to acquire considerable information about a large variety of subjects quite easily, retaining it in your memory, so that you can be a repository of entertaining or even important knowledge for the benefit of others.

Your mind will be penetrative and perceptive, often seeing through the appearances of things into their essential components; and new ideas and thinking will certainly hold fascination for you. The fact that you also have a vivid and creative imagination can help you to make new and interesting connections linking your knowledge into new patterns implying new understanding, perceptions and directions.

In your personal relationships, you tend to be straight and direct; and apart from expecting the same form others, you are unlikely to forget any who seem to live by lower standards and choose to be less honest in their contacts with you. Trust and honesty are very important to you; and you require both in any partnership. Basically, you will feel inwardly quite self-assured and secure; and your stability can be used as a support for others in times of trouble. You have an ability to mix naturally with a wide range of people, and value this broadening of contacts, as it serves to increase your storehouse of information. Usually, you are competent in dealing with your personal resources in an effective way, and should have no real difficulty in achieving a reasonable standard of living.

You may have to be wary of the tendency to believe that you are always right in your beliefs, opinions and knowledge; after all, nobody ever is, and you can blind yourself to this as you are quite an effective and fluent communicator who can often dominate an audience. You tend to back up your arguments by what appear to be unassailable facts and evidence, but you should be aware that in today's world, there is often a store of evidence and facts that contradicts your argument. As in most personal expressions, especially of opinions and beliefs, one should leave space within them to allow for change or alteration, to be ready to acknowledge other views and to be less dogmatic or obsessed by the personal need to be always right.

Mercury sextile Pluto: The sextile between Mercury and Pluto shows that you have an analytical intellect and can understand the most elusive and obscure subjects. Your comprehension is deep, your perception keen, and you derive more meaning from your experiences than others do. Your pronounced psychic ability is used more often than you are aware. You will gradually become conscious of this faculty and learn to take advantage of it. It is easy for you to find logical explanations for most seemingly mysterious events.

There are many professions in which you could use your abilities. Criminal detection, research, psychological analysis, medicine, chemistry, and teaching are some of the fields suitable to your mental chemistry. In teaching, you would help others to seek the truth and to develop their own perception. As a researcher, you would solve problems readily because you perceive the solution psychically long before you deduce it mechanically. You have an important contribution to make in guiding people, both individually and collectively, as they search for answers.

Courageous in exploring new ideas, you assemble a wealth of information about any subject that interests you. You are reasonably self-disciplined in using your resources effectively. You can easily gain financial assistance for developing your ideas because you present them sincerely and honestly.

Your fertile imagination is especially useful to those in your immediate environment. Social problems that seem to defy solution are suddenly easy to resolve when you examine them and offer your suggestions.

In personal relationships, you expect others to be as sincere as you are. If you find that someone is deceiving you or misrepresenting the facts, you quickly bring it to their attention. You never forget such incidents. Though you are eager to form relationships with others, when your trust is violated you can break it off forever without a single backward glance.

You will look for a partner who can provide mutual trust, sincerity, and open discussion of any problem that develops. The partner must have self-confidence and the ambition to succeed. Handling joint finances is not difficult for you, because you understand the value of money and how to get by on a modest income.

Mercury sextile Pluto: Milton William Cooper 1, Paulo 1, Tara 1, Bruce Springsteen 2, Prabhuta 2, Princess Diana 3, Helen Keller 3, Nicole Kidman 3, Carl Lewis 3, Marie 3, SFor 3, VinCar 3

Mercury square Pluto

The square can give you a harshness of temperament and expression, where your direct, blunt style can often create conflict and confrontation between yourself and others. Even though you prefer to reflect yourself as one capable of handling the 'real situation', you tend to lack a sensitivity towards possible reactions to your potentially penetrating insights. You rarely 'wrap' them up in socially acceptable packages for consumption, but offer them raw.

Your approach to life has a tendency to be extreme, a little suspicious of others' motives and intentions, secretive about your own, and basically pessimistic in tone. Your behavior can often be unpredictable and erratic, making it difficult for others to take you for granted, and encouraging them to keep a certain distance away from you. You are a little uneasy with close contact in relationships, taking considerable time to develop a feeling of trust and relative relaxation with partner. There is a tendency to try to manipulate and mould any partner so that he or she conforms to your point of view; and often your views become intolerant and fixed, allowing little space for flexibility or change to occur naturally.

Sometimes, in an effort to achieve your own will, you rely upon your strong will-power to dominate others. Sometimes this can succeed, but you are equally liable to apply it incorrectly through a lack of proportion and through insensitivity, creating more damage to your aims and others than you intended. Similarly, whilst your choice of expressive style is straight and direct, you often devote much time towards scheming and plotting, which, again, often works to your disadvantage.

In many ways, you project your own shadow qualities onto others, finding it hard to trust them, yet laying plots yourself; it is unlikely that you have any special ability to motivate others or to become a spokesperson for any group, as you are more of a loner. Towards authority you are ambivalent, making use of any power and authority that you may possess at home or work, yet being quite anti-authoritarian if you hold a low opinion of those responsible positions, particularly disliking a role under any domination by others.

Mentally, you require more self-discipline and understanding to make more positive use of your abilities of penetrative insight; in particular, the way in which you present yourself to others may need to be moderated. More control regarding your thoughts and words can help to avoid any controversy and unnecessary conflict with others, and help a redirection of your powers of insight inward, so that you can observe how you are projecting those negative shadow qualities out onto others in the world when these qualities should be being internally transformed and the energies released for positive applications. Potentially, you have the sort of mind to absorb a variety of positive views and arrive at a new synthesis of the essential values hidden within each of them, and then to express a unifying point or common ground from which dialogue can arise to resolve the apparent divisions. Such a talent could be extremely effective and important if the necessary inner changes are undergone and a redirection of your life results; a temporary phase which you may experience is the adoption of whichever view / belief system is currently in the forefront of your attention, but that at least can reveal flexibility and potential attitude change in you. Dissolving fixed barriers is possible; and the potential for change in your lifestyle and relationships sit he main challenge with which Pluto is facing you.

Mercury square Pluto: The square from Mercury to Pluto indicates that you must learn to concentrate and apply self-discipline in mental pursuits. You find prolonged study painful and demanding, so you may resent anyone who forces you to persist. This was probably more apparent in your early years when schoolwork seemed so laborious. In spite of this, you have the self-determination to accept responsibility, although not under the watchful eye of someone else.

Your manner of speech is penetrating, and you express yourself so harshly that you seem almost insensitive. This arouses bitterness in others. You are undeniably bright and keenly perceptive, but you rarely feel obligated to other people. You are inclined to pessimism. Your behavior is extreme; at one moment you will criticize others with brutal frankness, and the next moment you will show amazing skill in maintaining your poise under pressure. It is truly difficult for people to know how you will react, so some may avoid getting close to you.

Though you are fearless by nature, you demonstrate an incredible lack of common sense in dangerous situations. You take unnecessary risks just to prove to others how courageous you really are. Because of this, you may seek occupations that involve hazards. You are prone to accidents from equipment that uses or contains pressure, such as heating systems and boilers. Observe all safety precautions in handling them.

Before you decide on any profession, you must develop self-control and responsibility. You are more inclined to make errors in judgment than the average person, especially in handling large sums of money. Avoid getting into debt unless it is absolutely necessary.

You might be interested in such fields as crime detection, research and development, chemistry, pathology or medicine, but you must be prepared to yield to the authority of your teachers. It is essential that you pay attention to detail and work hard to gain the expertise required. Although you prefer to avoid reality, you must live with it. When you realize this, you will begin to grow and develop.

In your immediate environment, you can make enormous contributions to the socially disadvantaged. You are not afraid to speak up and challenge authorities when you learn they have abused their positions of trust. Just be certain you have all the necessary supporting evidence in order to avoid being ridiculed. This would bring out the worst in you and could result in violence.

Although you certainly know better, you sometimes have an obsession to shape other people's lives. You use cunning schemes to gain their submission. Because of your intolerant attitude, you should study human nature and learn how to effectively motivate others.

Mercury square Pluto: Suzanne Somers 0, Arine 0, Gina 0, Mother Teresa 2, BarryKl 2, Kim Basinger 3, Bette Davis 3, Arnold Palmer 3, Dunja 3, Jamie 3, Marybeth 3, Yarrow 4, John Lennon 5, John Malkovich 5, Joni Mitchell 5, Vaslav Nijinsky 5, Babe Ruth 5, Donny 5, Jude 5, Mickey Mantle 6, MarieBr 6, Willie Nelson 7, Swami Vivekananda 7, Gore Vidal 8

Mercury trine Pluto

The energy of the trine aspect can often be too 'rarified' to be fully used, as it is too subtle to be correctly grasped and applied by many people. Its natural affinity tends to be towards higher science or metaphysics, where the interface between mind and reality is explored and understood in terms of consciousness and energy. It relates more to a trained intellect working in spheres of abstract contemplation, or the connection between the intuitive flash of direct 'knowing' and the grounding through intellectual earthing in a pragmatic application.

In the everyday world, you will find that your main preoccupation will be with developing the ability to concentrate, to improve the use of your mind and ways of expressing yourself. Unless you are able to achieve the higher flights of this aspect, you will have to ground the energy in more mundane concerns, endeavoring to channel it by determined concentration. Otherwise, it tends to fly high and make you a little scatterbrained and mentally undisciplined.

The unknown will fascinate you though, and you will be curious to explore more; but ensure that you are fully grounded before commencing. You are likely to be quite inventive in your ideas, potentially quite creative if you have enough control over your mind to exploit them fully and effectively. The Mercury energy will give you analytical and investigative skills which can be turned to your advantage; but you will have to guard against the tendency to believe that you know it all.

You enjoy the challenge of competition; and you always intend to win. Failure leads you to brood and to scheme your next move; and here the Pluto energy implies manipulation to undermine your challengers; mentally, you can have a ruthless streak that people may not expect. You prefer full involvement and participation in things; you need to be interested enough so that a process of absorption can occur for a full experience; and if this is not happening, then your contribution rapidly dwindles to being less than zero, even becoming negative as you begin to look for ways out to find a new, more promising area to explore. You find it hard to motivate yourself in such a situation.

In personal relationships, you can be a little authoritarian, especially as you believe that you have a clear sense of 'right and wrong' and can become fixed in your attitudes. You are able to penetrate through social appearances into people, to sense their true attitudes and motives. this guides you in life, both to be wary of some, and to work with others whose genuine potential you are able to stimulate. This can lead to an involvement with coordinating groups where your energy serves both to stimulate new thinking and to open it out to new insights entering the group, or new ways of applying current ideas in practical application. You can be a little too mentally self-absorbed, and lack the sense of social concern and responsibility that the Pluto energy amplifies in most people who are responding to its lighter side.

Ideally, your personal partners should be basically similar in mind and attitude to yourself. This is because your energy qualities do not mix easily with the opposite and conflicting views, and if you do enter into a relationship with someone of dissimilar views, then much time will be spent in direct confrontation, generally leading to its collapse. You will be willing to pour a lot of energy into a positive partnership, but you will also have high standards and expectations of your mate; choosing wisely is the key, through awareness of your own nature and knowledge of what is compatible with it.

Mercury trine Pluto: The trine from Mercury to Pluto indicates your ability to concentrate, a fascination for the unknown, creativity, and depth of understanding. These intellectual assets merely need to be developed realistically and used effectively. Your understanding of cause and effect will give you an advantage others lack when you apply your talents to the profession you choose. Your wealth of creative ideas is some guarantee of success, if you exploit it.

Crime detection, medicine, research and development, engineering, analysis, chemistry, pathology, and surgery are some of the occupations that are suitable to your talents. Your financial management skills are excellent. You enjoy the challenge of competition and can take on a heavy burden of responsibility without tiring because you become absorbed by whatever interests you. You always choose a subject that requires complete participation. As a writer, you might write technical papers or mystery stories.

Your capabilities are so wide-ranging that you can discuss corporate finances as easily as the mysteries of the occult.

In a personal relationship, you expect a lot from the other person, but you are willing to make a substantial contribution too. You have the inner perception to 'see through' appearances and understand what motivates people. You are alert to the potentials of others, and can stimulate them to use their talents better. You speak with persuasion and authority, and both unschooled and learned people are fascinated by your delivery. You focus on people's needs and their level of comprehension.

Be watchful, though, that you don't provoke resentment by seeming to know all the answers. Give others the chance to demonstrate their understanding.

Your greatest problem is apathy and lack of interest in important environmental and social issues, where your talents would be of great use. You could be extremely useful in organizing group enterprises. The success of their efforts would be assured, for you can co-ordinate individual talents to meet the most demanding objectives of any group endeavor.

Your methods of pursuing goals are generally within the guidelines of sound personal convictions and ethical standards. You must know that you are capable of many accomplishments and that in realizing them you sweep others along to their goals.

As an avocation, you could indulge in market speculation. In your free time, you might also contribute your talent to youth programs, in which you could offer sound guidelines in marketing, finance, and investment. Without much effort, you can offer your services in many ways to produce substantial benefits.

Mercury trine Pluto: Edouard de Rothschild 0, Cathy O’Brien 1, Jack Parsons 1, Zeno 1, Brad Pitt 2, Lori 2, Michelle 3, Shakura 3, Uri Geller 4, Albert Schweitzer 4, Bobbie 4, Geoff 4, Jimi Hendrix 5, Groucho Marx 5, H.G. Wells 5, JRosh 5, Michael 6, Robert 6, Suzie 6

Mercury quincunx Pluto

Your Mercury inconjunct Pluto denotes an overwhelming sense of responsibility. You have been conditioned to accept all duties that are assigned to you as important tasks for your total development. In your early years, you might have been bitter at times when it seemed you were always selected to perform tasks others would not do. This established a pattern of reaction, and now you unconsciously respond to duties with an obsessive determination to get them finished and out of the way. You may also take on duties assigned to others because you can't differentiate between their responsibilities and your own.

Although you are well qualified to work well in many occupations, you must avoid becoming involved in your co-workers' tasks and learn to mind your own business. With this planetary combination, you are likely to get into disputes if you attempt to interfere with the way others perform their jobs. You have a genius for implicating yourself without realizing it.

Your intellectual capabilities could successfully be used in such endeavors as medicine, research, analysis, chemistry, or crime detection. You have the persistence and determination to stay with a task until every detail has been examined and evaluated, a quality these professions require. Your deductive ability is uncanny, and it is certain that you derive many answers through your psychic sensitivity.

You relate well to other dedicated people, especially if they serve the needs of society. When someone does you a favor, you are appreciative and never fail to return it. You are sincere in your dealings and expect honesty from others. But you are callous and critical to anyone who fails you, and vindictive if your efforts are not appreciated. You are difficult to work for, since you expect nothing less than perfection on the job.

In your ambition to succeed, you should avoid driving yourself too hard. You disregard safe levels of physical effort, which results in nervous irritability. It would be wise to get away periodically from your professional interests to restore the physical resources drained by job demands. You need vitality in order to function efficiently and co-operatively with fellow workers.

To help you unwind, it is advised that you take up an avocation such as a craft, social programs, or working with young people. Direct your abundant energy where it will serve worthwhile goals and be most appreciated. Regardless of what you do, it is essential to have at least one hobby that captures your imagination and uses your enormous creative potential. The important thing is to 'get away', at least in spirit, from your daily routine.

Mercury quincunx Pluto: Whenever we think about facts or discuss them, or make contacts (Mercury), there is a Plutonian tension within us. The need for power and a desire to get to the bottom of everything keep affecting our behavior, and sometimes we act as forcefully as if we had one of the hard aspects. Therefore contacts are likely to prove difficult and we meet with opposition. But on other occasions we are cautious and do not speak our minds for (an unconscious) fear of something terrible happening (confrontation anxiety). As an overcompensation, we can indulge in manipulation and intrigue from time to time. Also, we do not always tell the facts exactly as they are; a fault due mainly to a deep-rooted lack of understanding of our power needs.

With the inconjunct, we need to be careful what we say and do. What we think and say (Mercury) may not correspond to what we do (Pluto); and because neutral and friendly Mercury is so very different from dark, unfathomable, burrowing, wary, power-hungry Pluto, we are liable to sow confusion wherever we go. Folk do not know what to make of us and may even regard us as dishonest or manipulative, failing to see our own inability to understand ourselves.

Unperceived, we acquire considerable authority, and in our contacts we try to hold the reins in our own hands. Probably we are hard workers, making our presence felt in the personal environment and tending to identify with this environment to some extent. However, the strain in this aspects means that confrontations and hypertension will make their presence felt if we do not slow down in good time. Frequently, with this aspect, we pass through an intense inner change which improves our perception of reality.

Mercury quincunx Pluto: With this aspect, the unconscious energies work against the mental functions; the mind is not as free to be productive as one might wish. Will the mind be free to explore new ideas or not? Is it ok to be undisciplined? Can one be spontaneously creative? Does one have to maintain control over conversations, or is one weak for not doing so?

The strain or tension caused by this aspect is not as profound as that of the square or opposition, but it can create an atmosphere of mistrust, and the mistrust may be of the self. The energies of the two planets need to be understood so they can merge in order to release the strain, and the energies of the signs involve need to be melded to solve the problem.

Mercury quincunx Pluto: Judin 0, Ayn Rand 1, LucJr 1, Merrill 1, Helena Blavatsky 2, Carlos Castaneda 2, Elton John 2, Alicia 2, JudyPl 2, Mitt Romney 3, Medwick 3, Joy 4

Mercury opposite Pluto

The energy of the opposition aspect creates considerable inner pressure and tension, mentally and emotionally, and can be difficult to deal with constructively, as a considerable inner change is required before the energy can come under the control of an integrated personality.

Due to the inner agitation and anxiety, your perception of the world and your feelings response to events will be strongly colored by its activity. This is not necessarily to imply that your interpretation is wrong, but that your experience of it will affect you more deeply and influentially than it would most other people, who could possibly give it more sense of proportion than you can. Basically, the tone of your insight will be pessimistic and essentially depressive, and you will see the world as a place where disorder, pain and problems are rapidly multiplying. Social problems feel personal and real to you, even if your own circumstances do not bring you into personal contact with them. Your sensitivity (or inner receptivity) leads you to see a world in crisis, makes you feel responsible for its problems, and offers little way out for you unless you become involved in efforts to improve matters. It is a 'social conscience writ large and painfully'. The frustrating thing for you is that however effective you are, so much work still needs to be done in the world. You have to accept the fact that you cannot change anything, and that your role is to make your own contribution but not everyone else's.

This sense of impatience in life creates a corresponding vibration in you that expresses itself as a brusque harshness in relating to others. The contradiction is that whilst you intend to improve life and bring harmony into people's relationships, you often create the opposite reaction to your purpose. An interrogatory style in talking to others will create distance; and under pressure of your 'mission' you often lose sight of co-operative relationship with others. You need to learn more compromise and moderation, paying equal attention to the needs and feelings of co-workers or partners. Gain a truer perspective on the conditions of time, and the slowness of change in the world, and this can help to moderate your impatience at social transformation; it is a long, slow grind against inertia and resistance, often even from those you believe you are helping.

You have high ideals, yet are often lacking in self-confidence over your ability to express them or live up to them; generally, no one can live up to high ideals, so relax a little, create a little space between you and this inner obsession, and devote more time to internalizing this energy to transform yourself. What you are is of the highest importance; and by embodying your ideal more fully in yourself, you will be more of a living demonstration of your purpose, and more effective.

It is a difficult tension to live with, this feeling of interrelatedness with the world, a sense of responsibility and direction that you are 'summoned' to give aid to lighten the burden. You have to lighten your own burden first, which will improve the quality of your own life immensely, and bring clarity and perspective into things.

Mercury opposite Pluto: With your Mercury opposition Pluto, mental and emotional anxiety prevails. You are extremely sensitive to any social problems you observe, and cannot rest until you've made some effort to resolve them. Everything is in a state of crisis, you feel, until you can gather your forces to solve a problem that you sincerely believe is your responsibility. You are impatient with yourself and others to get things done immediately. You are certainly competent, but you need to be constantly reassured of this, so you project crises in your own life and with the people around you. Moderation and compromise are necessary if you wish to prevent others from breaking off with you.

When challenged, you are emotionally and intellectually arrogant, because you fear that your credibility is being questioned. You tend to draw premature conclusions based only on the obvious aspects of a situation. A more penetrating examination might reveal details that would force you to modify your judgment. You will have to cope with this problem before you can successfully handle your professional interests. Many difficulties will persist with your co-workers, who will not tolerate you unless you change your attitude.

You are suited for such fields as medicine, research, analysis, union activities, chemistry, and teaching. However, you must come to grips with the qualities that make it difficult for others to get along with you. You are extremely argumentative when provoked, and this can interfere with realizing your goals. Learn to mind your own business, and learn to respect the feelings of others. This can help greatly in gaining their co-operation and support when you need it, as everyone does on occasion. Others will appreciate your efforts if you compromise a little.

Finding a suitable mate may not be difficult for you, but you are more likely to keep the mate you find if you will meet your partner halfway in compromise. Your strong ambition and desire for financial security may drive a wedge of dissent between you. If you disagree about important matters, it would be wise to seek guidance from someone who is an authority in such things. Resist the desire to project your ideas onto your partner or to make unacceptable demands. This will alienate your mate as surely as it does your associates.

Ideally, your partner's objectives should be consistent with yours; then you could undertake a co-operative program in which you would support each other.

You can enjoy continuing good health if you will try to do everything in moderation. Unwind by getting away from the pressure of competition. Your savings are very important, for they will allow you to be less anxious when unexpected events occur.

Mercury opposite Pluto: Marcy 0, Mark Zuckerberg 1, Paul Newman 2, Q 2, Ty Cobb 3, George Patton 3, Elvis Presley 3, Will Rogers 4, CharlesS 4, Tom 4, TomW 4, George Harrison 5, Pablo Picasso 5, Oprah Winfrey 5, Alford 5, Abbe 6, James Dean 7, Howard Hughes 7, J.Paul Getty 8, Bob Marley 8, Leen 9, Aleister Crowley 10