In the long drawn out hostilities following the Brad-Angelina doomed marriage, volcanic bubbles of lava surface from time to time stoked up by the media into headline events – either arguments over the Provence vineyard or as now an outburst from one of the adopted children. The price of fame in the celebrity bear pit.
The latest is a rage-filled vent against Brad by Pax Jolie Pitt, 29 November 2003, born to a heroin addict mother in Vietnam, who spent his first three years in an orphanage, before coming across to the Jolie blended tribe – three biological, three adopted children. He is a Sun Sagittarius with Mars in Pisces opposition Jupiter square Pluto Mercury in Sagittarius. A focal point Mutable Pluto is a malcontent with hair-trigger, deeply defensive responses with an inclination to tear apart and destroy what he feels stands in his way. It can lead to high levels of nervous stress though will ultimately be creative if handled with maturity.
His Pluto Mercury conjunct square Mars in particular will give rise to eruptions of intense anger. With his background it is hardly surprising, poor kid, and one wonders how much these ever-so-caring mothers know about the effects of early damage, attachment theory and all the rest. Love is not enough. Even trained professions who adopt children from this kind of background struggle to cope.
What strikes me from the astrology is that he along with the other children carry the Mars Pluto stamp which echoes both parents’ charts even the ones with no biological connection.
Angelina has the most prominent version with an Aries Moon Mars opposition Pluto. Brad has Mars in Capricorn trine Pluto (Uranus) in Virgo. Their relationship chart has a composite Mars inconjunct Pluto.
Of the biological children Shiloh has a Mars inconjunct Pluto and the twins Mars Saturn trine Pluto. Maddox, adopted from early months in a Cambodia orphanage, has a Mars Pluto conjunction. Zahara also from an orphanage in Ethiopia has Mars and Pluto in Sagittarius, not conjunct.
Brad and Pax are a particularly tricky combination since Pax’s Pluto Mercury are conjunct Brad’s Sagittarius Sun so he will focus his highly-strung hostility onto him and Brad’s cool Saturn in Aquarius may be conjunct Pax’s Moon blocking warmth.
On the other hand Pax’s connection with Angelina is highly Neptunian with each Sun tied into the others Neptune. What can happen in dysfunctional families is that children ‘split’ – one parent is seen as all bountiful and the other becomes the hated one. Sometimes that is merited but it is often easier than facing up to the unpalatable truth that both parents are flawed human beings.
Mars Pluto in essence is strong willed, competitive, keen to get the upper hand, forceful and manipulative, has an urge to control others (sometimes as a defensive measure) which can lead to power struggles. The plus side is super-determined which can bring results, an ability to cope well in crises; it engenders courage. The downside is a tendency to be attracted to or actively create crises and melodramas and/or be addicted to danger and risk. It is a high-octane energy which needs a constructive outlet otherwise a conflagrations follows.
The atmosphere in that family must have been a pressure cooker ready to blow at the slightest provocation. Add drink and drugs and it lit the touch paper.
Mars Pluto hates letting go so splits are always rancorous and long drawn out. Mars Pluto views allowing the other side to win as an abject, life-diminishing prospect. In the dominate-and-submit battle, giving in means the annihilation of identity which brings a shame more painful to experience than physical death.
The Brad Angelina relationship chart has another three years at least of wrangle before transiting Neptune manages to undermine the controlling/possessive Pluto and Uranus elbows the composite Mars into agreement. Poor kids.
Add On: Another Mars Pluto is Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of Bumble, the dating app, the youngest self-made female billionaire in history. Her aim was to give women more autonomy in meeting men, as a first step towards a more egalitarian world. She grew up in Mormon-dominated Salt Lake City, Utah, where men called all the shots, was in an abusive relationship in her teens, co-founded the dating app Tinder, but left suing the company for “atrocious sexual harassment and sex discrimination”. Three bills that Bumble pushed for have been passed, in Texas, California and Virginia, making the unsolicited sending of nude pictures a crime. It’s lobbying for a similar bill in the UK.
Born 1 July 1989, she is a Sun and Chiron in Cancer opposition Neptune, Saturn Uranus in Capricorn with her Mars in Leo square Pluto. She was bullied and has turned her anger and frustration into a pro-active campaign to stop others being harassed.
“ Mars Pluto hates letting go …allowing the other side to win is an abject, life-diminishing prospect. In the dominate-and-submit battle, giving in means the annihilation of identity which brings a shame more painful to experience than physical death. “
I’ll be chewing on this long after the turkey has been picked to the bone
The earliest emotion is shame which appears before guilt. Shame at this deep level is an annihilating feeling. Not only do I not exist as me, as the self whatever you want to call it, I am ashamed – the word does not even do the experience justice – at being a non-entity. Sun Pluto makes you feel you are being controlled, not a being with agency and the ability to choose, but a pawn on someone else’s chessboard, a puppet whose strings are being continually pulled.
Heavy Mars Pluto adds another even darker dimension – literally in fear of death, not just physical death but even more frightening psychic death. Mars even more than the Sun says ‘I am, I want, I will do’ but with Pluto getting in the way all that is completely walled off leading to acute frustration, boiling resentment, a volcanic reservoir of blocked off anger.
Mars Pluto is not the only reason for the ‘I do not exist’ shame – 10th house Suns and narcissistic personalities also have this black void of emptiness inside themselves. The deep-rooted shame of not-being is why they defend with such hostility any attempts to get them to dismantle their defences. Falling into that shame risks psychic implosion.
That all sounds melodramatic but it is why you get certain hard-to-understand responses from those who have had damaged beginnings in life. How you build up a sense of being-me is positive mirroring from mother or the primary carer. If that is not available then the empty centre is walled off but the deep shame remains.
Yes, this makes sense. I was never allowed to make my own choices, my own decisions, I was deemed ‘not capable’. It was emotionally crippling. In the end I couldn’t, even though I knew what I wanted, somehow it was always denied to me and indeed shame at being so helpless, so ineffectual, losing the belief that I even have a right to exist. The first therapist commented that she had never encountered such a depth of self loathing before. It came as a shock to me but also helped to explain the feeling I always had that I was ‘hiding’ from life, from other people. Even now after all the programs and therapy and self analysis, I still struggle to see who I am and if what I contribute has any value. Creatively I struggle hugely but seem to have the ability to empower and encourage others which gives me hope.
This is very powerful
Again a very articulate reading Marjorie. I don’t comment a lot but I come here since a very long time. I really appreciate your work and happily read all the comments.
I am a Scorpio rising with Tsquare Pluto opposing sun/moon/mercury square Mars cancer in 8th house (9th in whole house). I have been physically abused by my mother from before the age of 3 years old till I don’t remember maybe 18, with both parents very controlling and manipulative. Exposed to violence at a very young age, I was also bullied at school but threatened with a chopper knife just under my throat by my mother, I was just indifferent to it because it was familiar. But again, social network didn’t exist at that time, so it was not as bad as it can be now. Mastering the opposition between Pluto and personal planets (I am not totally there yet) demands a lot of very very painful experiences, a lot of anger and as you said Marjorie, Pluto mars wants to exist. Pluto wants to burn everything until there’s nothing left, so the ego can reborn. But sometimes accepting the power of Pluto is also recognizing that some fights cannot be win and that it’s better to leave. So I feel that Pluto in opposition moon/sun really asks to cut off the roots and to put a lot of distance between moon-mother and sun-father to protect myself and to grow alone with a new ego and without anger (not totally without but controlled anger). As a scorpio, I cannot forget but I can forgive so I forgave my parents because I knew they would never recognize and I moved on (but again venus pisces). Mars even in a malefic square with Pluto has helped me with resilience. Maybe it’s easier in a tsquare, I don’t know? I feel it really depends of the placements of the planets. With my sun aries in 5th house, my sun is stronger than pluto and mars in 8th is “I can”. Now to be frank, I still struggle with authority mostly when I feel that it is unfair and not respectful (pluto libra), but it was often more detrimental to me than the other so I have to let it go because I can’t win but I am more clever I guess. Subjectively, I have very little patience with the washy-washa-entitled person complaining with full pockets (aka Harry), I always side with the weakest or the outsiders and very very unsettled with inequity. Hope it wasn’t too long but shortly just wanted to say that Pluto with personal planets is very dark but there is a way. It’s not doom bleak and nothing, it takes a lot, it also gives power. Last word, thank you very much again for your work Marjorie. Always enlightening
I have a Pluto, Mercury, Mars conjunction in Virgo trine Saturn in Taurus.
I love to swear, I can’t quite help myself. I would have described my anger as volcanic. My husband gave me an ultimation, get therapy, sort yourself out or I’m leaving and taking the kids.
Therapy uncovered the years of physical and verbal abuse from my Dad. I was raging, honestly you’d have heard my therapy sessions from down the street. It was so good to get it all out.
Now, I have disengaged from family members and old friends who triggered that side of me. I’ve set boundaries in my relationships, very Saturnian, and I’m all the happier for it. I play tennis and lift weights now instead to let off steam.
Bless my husband, he stuck around because I changed. He said I used to be terrifying. What a thought.
A very satisfying astro read, Marjorie!
That said, the rant from Pax was posted on Father’s Day in 2020 to his private Instagram account when he was 16. So it was a teenage rant from three years ago. Outlets should not have been dressing it up as “news”. Especially with so many other things going on.
A Thanksgiving Special for all us family strifers. Great intell on how the Pax rant was sourced – thankfully whatever I was saying abt my parents when I was 16 just vaped into the actual clouds.
@*A*Fan lol right?
I had nothing positive to say about mine at 16 if I’m honest. I can’t imagine having to read up on what I said years later!
Well I have Mars, Sun, Moon, Pluto all conjunct in Leo, so I guess many of you will have judgements about me. My father was in the military and my mother was undiagnosed bipolar. She would instruct my father to punish us for disobeying her which involved the use of his belt. I lost all respect for him. Even now my brother and I will simultaneously say “just wait till your father gets home” and burst into laughter even though it was no laughing matter.
On balance I think I am not that bad. I can laugh at myself when playfully referred to as a ‘drama queen’ and I have been described by colleagues as ‘intense’ and ‘persevering’. When stirred I can indeed become a pitbull, mostly when dealing with medical insurers generally on behalf of others. Sometimes you have to use verbal force to get people to see sense.
My daughter has Mars opposition Pluto in Sag and suggested I see a psychologist about what she called my ‘anger issues’, so I did. His verdict was that what I suffer from is more frustration than anger. And indeed that’s what I feel, frustration at the limitations society places on women in particular, even now when it’s not safe to walk home alone and many men still view women as property.
My brother also told my daughter that it was ages before he realised that my ‘anger’ was mostly directed towards myself rather than anyone else. So it is essentially a matter of perception. Perhaps the anger and upset you perceive is not about what you think it is. Don’t take it personally when you come across such a person. And indeed maybe they are showing you where you give up too easily and accept a status quo which is not acceptable. There is far more I could say but I just wanted to add some nuance here.
As a Scorpio Mars sextile Pluto and Pluto rising, ypur post really resonated with me. My sister has the conjunction in Virgo, Scorpio rising, Venus/Sun and Neptune in Scorpio and is one of the most lovely women I know, impeccably organised, kind and self-effacing and I’m honoured to have her as a sister. Both she and I were badly bullied as children by other children and I’ve seen this aspect occur in the astrology of victims of violent crimes. There are a multitude of ways the aspect can work in an individual chart.
Every time I write a post on here about a particular placement – at the back of my mind there is always at least one person I can think of who it plays out differently for. Generalities are a good starting place but I always stay flexible in developing my understanding of someone.
Thank you, Marjorie. Such an interesting article. Angelina Jolie is an astro-twin with Russell Brand, isn’t she? I wonder to what extent her marriage to Pitt replays that of her parents. She had an acrimonious relationship with her father, actor Jon Voight and chose to go no contact with him for some years. In fact Voight has Mars in Plutonian Scorpio conjunct his NN and his Moon/Saturn/Ascendant in Aries clashes with Jolie’s Moon/Mars, while her Venus/Ascendant conjuncts his Pluto. Then there’s her father’s Capricorn Sun in square to her Aries Moon/Mars. Ouch! Intense cross-overs there.
I left all off my Mars-Pluto family members behind (for good reason) and I’m enjoying a happy and fulfilling life.
Our relations were so terrible and I was sure they would be just as thrilled to be rid of me, but nope. They seem enraged, even years later, that I walked away and have managed to stay away.
I repeat to myself, “Some people want to be right, some people want to be happy.”
I do have Mars in Scorpio but I can forgive and forget quite easily as long as I have something fun and creative to focus on.
It was astrology that showed me the way out of my nightmare and when I see Mars-Pluto, I run, lock and block. Lol
Had a girlfriend with Aries mars opposite Pluto – she was nuts. She wanted to end the relationship, I said “no, let’s work at it”, she persisted until I was left with no choice but to say “okay let’s end it”. Then she didn’t want to end it. So she hated me for the next decade and would do anything she could to spite and bad mouth me if there was ever contact.
I am very good at jumping off the drama triangle and defusing situations, looking to resolve them fairly, but bloody hell she could pick a fight in a nunnery. The only time she was ever happy was when she managed to rile me enough to get me to set boundaries. I guess that was it – borderline personality disorder or something – needed boundaries set for her whereas I wanted an adult-adult relationship, not to be parenting someone else.
I kind of feel that mars-pluto only respects someone else who is more dominant; yet is always testing that person to see if the dominance will hold. It’s very tedious. Maybe I’m mixing in some saturn issues as she had some of those too.
As for Pitt-Jolie – if it weren’t for my own experience, I wouldn’t believe they’re still going at each other seven years or so after they divorced.
I think that opposition is slightly paranoid (as Mars in Scorpio can be if unchannelled) and I dare say she managed to project all kinds of stuff onto you that in fact belongs to her angry interior. With Plutonic aspects in general, I think it’s important to own one’s shadow and work on it conscientiously.
Spot on VF. Funny that about the projection – she accused me of being controlling. When I asked for examples, the only one she came up with was “you wouldn’t let me have a television in the bedroom”!!
She had a tough chart and a tough childhood so I can see why she was like she was.
I was going through transit Pluto through 8th and progressed moon on my Pluto when we met. So I can see why I got myself into that disaster!!