to spend a third of the year with Pluto. Thus, the winter when the Earth is cold and
barren is the time Persephone resides in the underworld and Demeter travels the
Earth alone and yearning for her only daughter. At Persephone’s release in the spring,
the Earth begins to grow and flower again.
In ancient Mesopotamia, the ruler of the dead and the underworld was the
goddess Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Great Below. Unlike her Roman and Greek
counterparts, Ereshkigal was an unhappy figure who resented her exclusion from the
divinities of the upper world and agonized over the fate of those souls unlucky enough
to die in early childhood. Ereshkigal had a sister Ianna who was goddess of the sky and
heavens. After Ereshkigal’s husband died, Ianna attended the funeral in the under-
world. However, Ianna was not welcomed by her sister. Instead, Ereshkigal forced
Ianna to meet the same tests that all souls encounter when they enter the underworld.
When traveling to the underworld, there are seven doors. At each door, each
soul must give up a garment or jewel to pass through it. Ianna did the same thing and
thus as she passes through the seventh door, she is completely naked. Upon her entrance
into the underworld, she is forced to bow to Ereshkigal, who then kills Ianna and places
her on a meat hook to rot. However, Ianna was prepared in case of any problems. Before
leaving, she requested the help from two small men called mourners. Hearing that Ianna
is in trouble, they go to the underworld to seek out Ereshkigal. When they arrive, they
find the Queen of the Great Below in great pain not only from losing her husband, but
also from the process of giving birth. The two men provide her with their company and
the needed space to cry, moan, scream, and complain. Ereshkigal, grateful for the com-
fort the men offered, offered them the choice of a gift. They chose the freedom of Ianna,
who was then brought back to life and permitted to return to her kingdom.
The myths of Ereshkigal and Persephone cover many aspects of Pluto—strip-
ping away things one identifies with, forcing vulnerability, and understanding one’s
shadow or dark side. It allows a transition beyond areas of habit where one becomes
stuck in life. It helps to understand that the attitudes, people, or things once so strong-
ly attached to are not part of one’s our true self. Pluto is ultimately about life-changing
transformation from something old into something beautiful and new like the cater-
pillar transitioning into the butterfly, never to be the same again. One must die to the
old to be transformed into the new.
Death and rebirth are Pluto’s primary associations. This powerful planet repre-
sents the ultimate threat to the ego because it obliterates the ego’s facade by penetrating
deeply into the true self and exposing the shadows and pain that must be dealt with.
Pluto characterizes the will, or a person’s inclinations or disposition in the sense of what
drives them in life. Pluto’s sign in the natal chart describes how the person expresses these
drives. Its house placement indicates where there is a tendency to control and dominate.
The reason for this association is it is human nature to fear life-altering
changes, so there is an attempt to hold on tighter, to control the process and outcome.
However, when undergoing a Plutoian experience, it becomes impossible to maintain
this control because it is only by letting go that the transformation process can take
place. Ultimately, Pluto’s placement in the natal chart exposes the areas of life where
the individual is learning to surrender control and let go of old patterning. If a personPluto
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