Venus square Pluto

Venus square Pluto is the ninety-degree angle between the planet of love and pleasure and the planet of deep change and power.

Venus describes what draws a person to others and what makes them feel close, loved and appreciated. It covers attraction, the enjoyment of beauty, and the give and take of affection. Its gift is union that is not forced. Its harder face is self-indulgence, emotional demands, affection held back, or a wish to be loved that outruns the wish to love. In the kabbalistic reading Venus sits at Netzah, Victory, where the senses tempt a person to possess and try whatever they desire.

Pluto describes transformation: the clearing away of what is worn out so that something renewed can come through, and the question of power. It gives the courage to face one's deepest desires and compulsions and change them. It also gives compulsive cravings, manipulation and a fascination with power. It was found in 1930, so the old books say nothing of it, and this pairing is read through modern practice and Astrocábala.

A square usually joins two planets in signs whose elements do not agree. Astrology reads it as two drives at cross purposes, where pursuing the aim of one hinders the other. Here, Venus seeks ease, pleasure and harmony, while Pluto pushes towards the core of experience and leaves nothing on the surface. This is why the combination is felt so strongly. Attraction meets a demand for depth, and affection can take on an intensity that tips into possessiveness, jealousy or a struggle over who holds power in a bond. A close square involving a personal planet such as Venus is counted a major challenge. When it is fought or pushed down, the same pattern in love tends to come back.

Worked with, the same friction gives great force. The two energies limit each other, and in doing so each becomes more distinctly itself. Affection grows honest and deep, and desire can be looked at squarely and changed. Modern practice suggests giving the intensity a commitment or a piece of work large enough to absorb it, and moving with the limits the square shows rather than forcing through them. Astrocábala asks for a love turned towards the sublime that raises the instincts without denying them. It also asks that Pluto's two movements, collapse and reconstruction, stop working against each other.

In a birth chart the square is a lasting pattern in how a person loves and desires. In the sky it passes quickly. Venus moves fast, while Pluto holds a sign for twelve to thirty-three years, so the contact lasts a matter of days. It can stretch to a few months when Venus turns retrograde near the degree and crosses it three times.