Pluto and Persephone in Synastry: Far From the Shallow

(TW: Sexual Assault)

I've been a huge fan of Lady Gaga since I was about 14 years old (in fact, just recently I went to see her residency show, "Enigma," in Las Vegas -- well worth the price! If you have the opportunity to see it, go!), so, naturally, I adored A Star is Born and all the press/recognition it generated. I was also, like so many others, transfixed by the chemistry between Gaga and her director and co-star, Bradley Cooper, both onscreen and off. So, I did what any other astrology junkie would do: I pulled up their synastry chart! I've included it down below if you're interested:

Apart from the intensity, the genuine, extremely-apparent love the two have for each other, the rumors of an affair and everything in between, there was one particular video I saw a while back that really cemented my desire to look into the stars' astrological compatibility. In the video, filmed at the American Cinematheque Gala, where Cooper was being honored, Gaga gives an intense and emotional speech directly addressed to her on-screen husband. She describes how, through his directing process, he challenged her to confront her inner demons and bring them to light, both for the sake of her character, and in their friendship.

"Sometimes you call me Gaga, but we both know that you call me [by my real name]: Stefani," she tells Cooper tearfully. "I ran from Stefani for a long time, and I put on a superhero cape and called myself Lady Gaga. And you challenged me to deep-dive into a place where I had to see [Stefani] again."

It was this particular quote that made me think, "Oh, they definitely have some Pluto-Persephone energy between them." And after a quick search, turns out that they do: his Pluto is conjunct her Persephone.

Why is this significant? Because the myth of Pluto and Persephone (or Death and the Maiden, as it's referred to in literary analysis), is all about power, control, loss of innocence, and transformation of self through intense sexual experiences. 

Pluto/Hades was the god of the Underworld, who spotted Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Goddess of nature, picking flowers in a field. He instantly fell in love with her, rose up from the Underworld, and kidnapped her, taking her into the world below and forcing her to be his Queen. She was, initially, unhappy with him, and so a deal was struck with Demeter that allowed her to spend six months with her husband and six months above ground, with her mother. When Persephone is underground, we have Winter. When she is above ground, we have Spring.

Through this story, we can ascertain how Pluto and Persephone would function as archetypes in a birth chart. Think of Pluto as the personification of the ultimate "sexy vampire" trope: he's brooding, he's sexual, he lives in the Underworld, and he deals in matters of the dark; all things of a very Scorpionic nature, given that he rules the sign of Scorpio and, by extension, the 8th House.

In film and literature, Pluto/"Death" usually shows up as the Byronic Hero archetype: dark, brooding, sexy bad boys with a troubled past who ultimately sacrifice their "edginess" for the love of an innocent, beautiful young woman. Some familiar iterations of this trope include: Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, The Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera, Tony Stark from the Avengers series, and Kylo Ren from the recent Star Wars movies. These characters all follow a similar storyline: hot-but-edgy aristocrat becomes obsessed with an innocent, kind-hearted young woman (his "Persephone"), and through this obsession with her, both parties experience intense emotions and transformation. If your partner's Pluto makes contact with the asteroids Persephone (399) or Proserpina (26), or vice versa, then the relationship will play out in very much the same fashion.

I've had Pluto-Persephone contacts with all but one of the men I've dated. It's fairly common for people with Scorpio placed in one of their romantic/"feminine" planets (Venus, or -- in the case of myself and Gaga -- Moon) to experience this energy. Part of their soul's journey is to develop emotional strength and stability, and one of the most effective ways to do so is through living out the Pluto-Persephone story.

As the myth would suggest, these relationships are intense. The Persephone person views the Pluto person as mysterious, sexy and powerful. That being said, she is always innately intimidated by him. This could be because he's older, more experienced, or somehow naturally commands the respect and reverence of others; but it's this push-and-pull of "I know he's no good for me, but God, do I want him anyway" that creates her attraction.

In turn, the Pluto person views the Persephone person as a speck of light in his world of darkness. He is obsessed with her. Every time she moves, breathes, or even flips her hair, he is fascinated. Problematically, he sees her as less of a fully-capable, fully-autonomous woman and more of a an object that he feels the compulsive need to possess and ravage -- like a porcelain doll he wants to keep on the shelf, afraid someone might break it. But this is ultimately the natural cycle that both parties must endure in order to attain spiritual development. Pluto is searching for relief from the dark through Persephone, just as she is subconsciously looking to shed her innocence and transition into "adulthood" through him.

In my own life, one of the most sexually-intense relationships I've had to date played out in very much the same fashion. We had a Persephone-Pluto contact, with I being the Persephone person. My Pluto partner and I had met briefly once before, went on a few dates, and then didn't see each other again for about two years. When he contacted me out of the blue one day and I agreed to go out with him again, I was shocked to learn that he remembered everything I'd divulged about myself within the span of, say, five dates that had taken place two years ago. He even recounted to me what I'd been wearing on the night we met, which restaurant we went to on our first date, and how I'd been late because I wasn't able to find parking. 

Though the relationship was very casual, he was prone to jealousy and possessiveness. Going to his apartment every other day really did feel like going into the Underworld, only because I was just as mind-numbingly attracted to him as I was intimidated by his power (he worked in an executive position and, at the time, I was still a college student) and his mood swings. He also helped me work through a lot of the issues I have surrounding sex as a result of an assault that happened to me as a teenager, in a way that previous partners hadn't.

In the case of Cooper and Gaga, he pushes her to look within herself to confront and fix what's broken. In this case, her broken pieces come from her rejection of self, which in turn could be a defense mechanism fostered in the aftermath of her own experience with sexual assault. Pluto is intensely attracted to the vulnerable, and those with vulnerabilities surrounding sex particularly intrigue him; this is where his compulsive need for transformation and inclination towards possessiveness can run rampant. Persephone is both spellbound and intimidated by this, and Pluto thrives on the subtle power he exerts through these interactions.

For this reason, Cooper seems to react to Gaga with blind, intense fascination; watch any interview or interaction between the two of them and you'll see it. He's magnetized by what he perceives as her innocence, her openness, her femininity. I once had a conversation with a friend about how you can even see it in the way ASIB is shot; we were wondering what it was that made her look so stunning in this particular movie, more so than usual. And the answer is in the directing: lots of close, lingering shots of Gaga's face and body that frame her in an ultra-flattering light. Her unconventional beauty is glorified in each and every still, as though Cooper is bewitched by what he's seeing and can't look away.

Now, whether or not anything happened between these two off-camera remains to be seen (my guess is that if it hasn't already, they'll get together within a year), but the energy is there, it's intense, and we can all feel it between them. The thing that they (or anyone else with a Pluto-Persephone contact with their partner) should watch out for is co-dependency. If this energy crops up in your life, keep the message of the Devil tarot card in mind, which pretty much sums up this pairing: powerful sexual attraction, restrictions, and obsession that can lead to potentially damaging attachments. Enjoy the fun, sexy romp, but practice healthy detachment if need be. Allow the natural cycle of transformation to take place, but once it happens, make sure that you're autonomous enough that you don't need your partner to follow you into Spring.

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