Welcome to Part 2 of my series on Pluto generations! In case you missed the previous installments, check out Intro to Pluto and Part 1: Pluto in Cancer.
This month we turn the spotlight on the generation that lives for that kind of thing. Okay, Boomers: it’s your turn to shine. (Hi Mom and Dad!)
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The Generation That Invented Everything
Pluto was in Leo from approximately 1937-19581, a period that roughly coincides with what demographers categorize as the Baby Boomer generational cohort, born from 1946-1964. And this generational name is an apt one, capturing a period of rising fertility during the post-World War II baby boom.
Even accounting for the inexact overlap between the astrological and demographic periods, we know that this Pluto generation is a large one. It’s still one of the largest generational cohorts, in fact, though they’ve been overshadowed by the Pluto in Scorpio Millennials, many of whom are their children or grandchildren.
Pluto in Leo is, of course, ruled by the sun, which puts an interesting spin on this generation. Everyone born with Pluto in Leo has their sun, wherever it is in their chart, in whatever sign, ruling Pluto in their chart.
Just as the previous Pluto in Cancer generation had their moons as the ruler of Pluto in their charts, pulling Pluto’s intensity into their emotional make-up, this Leo cohort incorporates Pluto’s drive, magnetism, and tendency to overdo into the very make-up of their higher selves.
This is, to use an overused plutonian descriptor, intense.
The sun represents the spirit, the higher mind, the expression of self. Leo is a fixed fire sign with a steady and unchanging passionate nature, the one and only domicile of the sun, where it has absolute authority.
The positive qualities of Leo are many: expressiveness, magnetism, a flair for the dramatic, unwavering energy, an ability to be in the moment. “Be here now,” as Ram Dass wrote in 1971 to an audience of Pluto in Leos, who were already there, then, tuned in to it all.
On the other hand, Leo’s shadow sides are quite obvious: a tendency towards self-absorption or even narcissism, flashes of willfulness or even authoritarianism (from Leo’s association with royalty), stubbornness, and an inability to adapt or change.
Speaking of Leo’s affinity with rulers and royalty, it’s worth noting that the Pluto in Leo period, particularly the early part which coincided with World War II, featured the rise and fall (in various scenarios) of a number of charismatic leaders — Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Hirohito, Roosevelt, Churchill. (Note that none of them had Pluto in Leo natally; they’re, rather, examples of when an earlier generation comes into its full powers, which in this case was during the Pluto in Leo era.)
Remember, Pluto’s placement shows us both where a generation shines (an apt word for this Leo cohort), and also where it can be corrupted, where it goes too far.
For Pluto in Leo, the answer to both is the same: they rise and fall through their expression of self.
I think it’s stating the obvious to say that this is a generation whose very expression of self has had a sort of archetypal drama to it, as though they are the first generation to experience — you name it: childhood, adolescence, sex-drugs-and-rock-n’-roll, rebellion, parenthood, self-discovery, career, and, more recently, aging, retirement, and grandparenthood.
Frank Sinatra (Pluto in Cancer) sang about getting a kick out of cocaine in the early 1950’s, when many Pluto in Leos were still in diapers; the Pluto in Gemini cohort, born from 1882-1914, was marching for women’s sufferage and then partying in the Roaring 20s decades before Pluto in Leo’s protest movements and epic parties.
None of this matters to Pluto in Leos. It’s as if they arrived in an ahistorical period, discovering each phase of life anew.
I Won’t Grow Up
This is also the generation that grew up singing along with Mary Martin as the iconic forever-boy Peter Pan in the 1954 musical about not growing up. Leo is a sign that celebrates youth and the prime of life, unlike Saturn, which delights in old age. And, let’s face it, it’s hard for Leos, as fixed signs, to stop whatever they’re doing, or even change directions.
To put it differently: this is a generation that has sometimes had trouble accepting that time moves on, that age weakens us, that younger generations will step in (and are quite capable, in fact).
Look, I may be a cynical Pluto in Libra Gen Xer, but I feel like I understand that youth passes into adulthood and then into old age. This isn’t a new concept for most of us.
Yet, even as they head towards their octogenarian years, Pluto in Leo seems to be having a hard time leaving the stage (which, to be honest, is every Leo’s worst nightmare), as we can see in the current political era.
President Biden, former President Trump (a Leo rising with Mars and Pluto on the Ascendant, no less [remember what I said last week about people with Mars and Pluto on the Ascendant?]), Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Bill & Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders are all Pluto in Leos. Not to mention Prince Charles, still waiting to become king. (Boris Johnson is a Pluto in Virgo early Gen Xer, in case you’re wondering, and Emmanuel Macron a later Gen X Pluto in Libra, so maybe Europe, or what’s left of it, will save us, after all).
(Also, it’s not great, in terms of world peace, with all of these Pluto in Leos still in power, that Kim Jong Un, born in 1984, is a Mars-ruled Pluto in Scorpio, since these Pluto signs form a harsh square, as anyone who’s been to a family reunion can attest. But, I digress.)
Like a Candle in the Wind
On the other hand, it’s easy to see the the magnetism and creativity of Pluto in Leo: Steve Jobs, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, all of the Beatles, Prince, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Morrison, Bruce Lee, Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meryl Streep, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Willis, Robert De Niro, Bob Marley, Tom Hanks, Muhammad Ali, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tina Turner, Steven King, Elton John, Joan Baez, Alan Rickman, Richard Gere, Janis Joplin, Catherine Deneuve, Cher, Harrison Ford, John Travolta, and Bob Dylan. Honestly, I could keep going on and on; there are so many celebrated, talented Pluto in Leos.
Here’s Pluto in Leo torch bearer Bob Dylan (with Pluto forming an energizing sextile within one degree of his Gemini bard sun), singing this generation’s anthem on David Letterman when he’s, well, not so young anymore (and this was almost 30 years ago — and, yes, the 90s were fresh!).
It’s all some kind of metaphor for Pluto in Leos. Keep on being fabulous forever!
If you’re looking at a birth date on either edge of this range, be sure to double check Pluto’s placement using an ephemeris or by generating a chart, since Pluto can move back and forth a bit between signs when changing from one to the next.