Whether this is a birth placement or transit: Pluto in your house of values, money, finances, what you own, and more causes a massive overhaul. Let’s jump right in!
Introduction
If you'd like to skip this part and get to the main part of the article, click here.
What is Pluto?
Pluto is a (dwarf) planet on the outer edge of our solar system that stands for transformation, renewal, the treasures underneath the earth, death, power, rebirth, great changes, and everything shadowy, hidden, or dark underneath the Sun. However, Pluto also has a very interesting bright side: where this planet lies, we generate resiliency and the capacity to not just survive but develop a great zest for life even in horrible circumstances. Therefore, Pluto is a very double-edged sword, and articles like this become helpful for navigating its positive and negative impact on our lives.
What’s the 2nd house?
Houses are, in a nutshell, areas of the sky that correlate with different life areas. The second house rules (among fringe themes) our money, the things we own, and where those things originally came from. It also rules what we find valuable – both in terms of where we spend our earnings and in the form of psychological values or guiding principles in our lives. The second house also rules food and other things we put into our bodies, as well as pretty much anything we own (under the size of a car or house, that is).
Lastly, the second house also talks about skills we have or gain that we can monetize. This also means that our body’s capacity to carry out specific functions lies in this house (specifically those necessary to f.e. fulfill the tasks of a specific job you may gain money from).
Birth chart or astrological event?
Being born with Pluto in the second house means that the themes described in this article will be ones that you live into throughout your entire life. They may be more important at some times, less so at others, but they’re always there. The area of life described by this house will remain the main stage for your journey of total personal reinvention and life changes. You can see your birth placement in your natal chart (feel free to come to say Hi in a consulting session with me & figure out not just where your Pluto lies, but also what it means and how to work with it).
However, as Pluto wanders through the sky in real-time, the planetary player may also enter your second house for a temporary stay. That’s called a transit.
Pluto transits differ in length: the shortest is 12 years, and the longest is 32 years. So, as you can see, we’re talking about long frames of time – but ones that are still fractals of our lives rather than life sentences.
When does Pluto move into my 2nd house?
If you’re wondering whether Pluto is in your 11th house currently, here’s a list of time frames for you! The overlaps between timeframes are due to something called planetary retrograde. In plain English, this means that Pluto “moves back and forth” as per our perspective from Earth.
Caution: This list ONLY works for your Rising Sign, it does not work for Sun Sign or Pluto Signs.
Capricorn Rising: With this Rising/Ascendant, you’ll have a Pluto 2nd house transit from May to June 2023, January to September 2024, November 2024 to March 2043, and September 2043 to January 2044.
Sagittarius Rising: With this Rising/Ascendant, you’ve had this event from January to June 2008, then from November 2008 to March 2023, and finally from September to November 2024. (For you, Pluto is currently here).
Other Rising Signs:
Past:
Scorpio Rising: Jan-Apr 1995, Nov 1995-Jan 2008, Jun-Nov 2008.
Libra Rising: Nov 1983-May 1984, Aug 1984-Jan 1995, Apr-Nov 1995.
Virgo Rising: Oct 1971-Apr 1972, Jul 1972. Nov 1983, May-Aug 1984.
Leo Rising: Oct 1956-Jan 1957, Aug 1957-Apr 1958, Jun 1958-Oct 1971, Apr-Jul 1972.
Cancer Rising: Oct-Nov 1937, Aug 1938-Feb 1939, June 1939-Oct 1956, Jan-Aug 1957, Apr-Jun 1958.
Future:
Aquarius Rising: Mar-Sept 2043, Jan 2044-Jun 2066, Jul 2066-Apr 2067, Sept 2067-Feb 2068.
Pisces Rising: Jun-Jul 2066, Apr-Sept 2067, Feb 2068-Jun 2095, Sept 2095-Apr 2098, Nov 2096-Mar 2097.
Aries Rising: Jun-Sept 2095, Apr-Nov 2096, Mar 2097-Jun 2127, Nov 2127-May 2128, Jan-Mar 2129.
(Taurus Rising: Jun-Nov 2127, May 2128-Jan 2129, Mar 2129-Aug 2157, Nov 2157-Jun2158, Jan-May 2159
(Gemini Rising: Aug-Nov 2157, Jun 2158-Jan2159, May 2159-Aug 2183, Jan-Jun 2184, Apr 2185.)
And then, it’s Cancer Rising’s turn, then Leo's, Virgo's, and so on.
If your Rising sign is on these lists, you can find an article for the Pluto transit going on right now here.
Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty stuff.
Pluto in the second house: The Power of Money
“Money makes the world go round.” – Paul van der Merwe.
“It’s a rich man’s world.” – Abba.
“Havin’ money’s not everything, but not havin’ it is.” – Kanye West.
There are a thousand quotes and truisms about money, and there’s a reason for that. Money, as annoying as it is, holds a lot of power over people. With Pluto in the second house, that fact of life is something you are or become aware of… because it plays a bigger role in your life or awareness than in that of other people.
Money can be used as a way for others to exert power over you. Money can be a set of chains. Money can be the temptation that makes you betray who you are at your core and betray the people you love, too. Money can be your ticket to freedom, self-empowerment, and status in the world – and it’s the currency with which we pay for the basics of life, the things we truly need to make it through tomorrow.
Money is neither good nor bad – it’s a tool for people to do either.
Whether this is a birth placement, or a temporary astrological event for you: Pluto in the second house shows you quite intimately what that power looks like in all of its facets and how you and others around you use it.
Depending on you as a person, you might encounter other people who try to exert power over you through financial means or might want to tempt you to go against your nature to gain something. You may also be in a situation where the power that money holds becomes necessary enough that you do things you didn’t expect to ever do in order to have it.
However, there’s another facet of this here: having money causes you to change. Not having money causes you to change. And making money also causes you to transform on a personal, psychological level. With Pluto traveling through this house (or being there from birth on), part of your growth as a human being consists of being transformed in one way or another through the almighty Dollar. This doesn’t mean that you will necessarily get the astrological version of a lobotomy and change your entire inner landscape just because you have more/less – you can never change at a true soul level – but your values, relationships, worldviews, and typical actions may change because of this over time. So can your life direction.
Some people with a transit like this also become much more materialistic throughout this event. (Obviously, the same can not be said for people who have this in their birth chart, as the birth chart stays for life). This could be due to changing circumstances that make the necessity of money more profound for you, or, of course, a personal choice that you make.
Lastly, the skills you have to make money, the ways that you may make money in the world, and/or your desire to find skills/ways to make money, as well as your income itself, may be up for some changes under this event… or keep transforming over the course of your life (if this is a birth placement) at a much more intense frequency than for other people.
Money Makes Magnetic
Fortunately, this next part of Pluto in the second house is only a possible theme for people with this transit or birth placement and is not present for everyone. However, it is still important to mention.
Part of why people change with having/not having money is the reactions of others. Unfortunately, many people do care about their friends’, partners’, or acquaintances’ money – and in ways that are less than nice. Not only that, but the desire to make more profit or avoid spending even one dime has made inter-human relationships difficult since the dawn of time – or at least, since the dawn of the coin.
With Pluto in the second house by birth or via transit, the magnetism that money brings people is something to be aware of – both if/how you’re affected by this (magnets can repel or draw in), and also by how people may use this against others.
Think of the banker who tries to woo prospective partners by showing off any wealth they have – or like to pretend they have. Think of the mother who holds the threat of cutting off her kids over their heads like a sword. Think of the fortune hunter conning heiresses out of their money, or the young women who decide that only a millionaire spouse will do, or the CEOs who underpay their staff in order to make more profit.
Money makes people do stupid things – so be aware of whether you’re liked by others for who you are, or what you have. Be aware of what behavior is acceptable by others, and what isn’t. Don’t let money fool you into thinking someone else is better than they are, or into working yourself to an early grave for an unfair paycheck.
It’s Not Just Money: What You Have or Don’t Have
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, do we realize that we can’t eat money.” – Cree Indian Prophecy
Now that we’ve talked about money, let’s move further. In a food shortage, people will spend millions for a loaf of bread and in times of sickness, go into debt for the basic medical supplies we usually take for granted. So, money isn’t and has never been the focal point of the second house: that title belongs to the things we have/need to survive. With Pluto, the planet of power, survival, and transformation here, the question of what you really need and what’s just nice to have becomes critical.
Where do you invest in things that aren’t necessary – and, more critically, keep you from investing in what’s necessary? What’s your relationship to the stuff you own? What’s your relationship to the stuff you don’t own?
Under this event/birth placement, the questions above become massively important throughout life (and the answers may often change). Your material situation may also call for more personal responsibility, or change dramatically.
This also brings up the question of envy. Part of Pluto in the 2nd house is also the question of how we deal with what we want to own, but don’t have. Things, people, places, and so on: do we let our desires for what we don’t have motivate us into doing something to get it? Can we learn to accept when/where we can’t get something, no matter how hard we try? Do we become bitter and resentful, or obsessive with our lack?
Pluto in the second house confronts us with those realities as easily as the realities of getting, or having, what we truly want. It’s up to us to let those experiences shape us in ways we’re proud of.
Know Your Worth
This one includes but isn’t limited to money and physical things. Our worth determines who we hang out with, how we let others treat us, where we intend to go in life, and how we relate to ourselves (and needless to say, whether we ask for a promotion or a fairer pay). Every human being has an inherent worth that’s untouchable and irreplaceable, but some of us determine that their worth is more or less than that of others.
Under Pluto in the second house (by birth or astrological event), the worth you feel you have is going to change – sometimes, all at once, at others, by sporadic events that make you refine how you see yourself. But in the end, the result is the same: the foundation of your self-worth is going to have shifted… considerably.
Because Pluto deals with truth, it’s important to always check your internal belief system about yourself against reality. The goal isn’t to cripple yourself by making yourself small, but neither is the goal to go into hubris.
Values
One of the arguably most important parts of the second house is that it rules our values. What we value determines our life direction and who we become as people – provided that we stick to our guns. With Pluto going through this house (natally or by transit), your values are about to be transformed. But, more importantly, you’re going to be asked to live those values in a much more challenging way than is normal for others (or yourself, if your Pluto placement is in a different house).
Pluto is about integrity. It can also stand for whether/how we stand against abuse – of power, of the people we love, of ourselves, of truth, of lots of things. With Pluto going through the second, standing up and defending our beliefs and values will ultimately be one of the most challenging and personality-shaping, transformative, and evolutionary experiences that we have.
Values are often born out of culture, but the values that matter the most are ones born out of life-changing realizations or experiences – specifically the ones that seem to touch us on a soul level. Under this event or birth placement, you’re up to experience more events that affect you enough to update your values or strengthen them. You may also see where a value that’s lived out too extremely, or falsely, could become damaging to yourself and others.
As an example, let’s look at valuing health (which is a wonderful thing to value!). If done the wrong way, this value could cause a person to become obsessive about food and exercise in a way that visibly damages their mental health. In today's world, it could also make someone wake up in the middle of the night, sweaty and afraid, because they’re so used to worrying about getting sick that they can’t shut off the fear and train their bodies in constant fight-or-flight… which, actually, has a negative effect on your health. Similarly, this value could cause someone to cut off social contact with others when it’s not necessary to do so… even though social contact is necessary for human beings to be healthy in mind, body, and soul (obviously, there are instances where avoidance of social contact in general or of specific people is HIGHLY recommended for your health, f.e. if you have a compromised immune system. This is specifically for when it’s not necessary).
Lastly, some people may define a value that they have in a way that’s contrary to said value – and then cause damage to themselves and/or others. Let’s keep talking about “health” here with an example most of you will know intimately: size, weight, food, dieting. Health in today’s society constantly gets confused with the desire to become skinnier and lose body fat, specifically in women. And yes, with a specific amount of body fat upwards, losing pounds is healthy – sometimes even vitally so. But health doesn’t EQUAL getting skinner and skinnier and skinnier all the time. As a matter of fact, there is a point where the body is so stressed by the lack of body fat that it shuts down functions or produces more cortisol because it thinks you’re going to starve by the next winter. So, a good value like “health,” if misdefined, can get people to lose weight or attempt to lose weight while their body is in a state or season where such a thing would get damaging for you. It can also cause you to damage other people if you push your definition of “health equals no body fat” onto others in a mean or damaging way.
All that being said, health is a wonderful value to have. But, the value of health, if defined by body fat alone, can also increase the risk of developing eating disorders for people with Pluto in the 2nd by birth chart or astrological event. (Obviously, an increased risk doesn’t mean you WILL develop one – but it’s something to watch out for). Please bear all this in mind and take care of yourself. You deserve better, and so does your body.
Under Pluto in this house, misdefining values is a big deal – not just about health or food, but in general. So please be mindful of what it is you value, how you choose to live it, and whether method or value in itself is good for you.
Conclusion
Pluto in the second house is an interesting thing to live and experience, be it in the birth chart or via astrological events. I hope that this article brought you a bit of clarity and helped you prepare for this astrological event/resonates with you for your birth chart.
As always, if you’d like to book a reading with me to go deeper, you can do so here. Also, I’d really appreciate it if you could send this to a friend or consider leaving a donation so I can keep doing the work I'm doing here, for free.
So much love to you all, and see you soon in my next article.
Stay bright,
Alexandra
Recommended reading: