




Charismatic leaders, appalling and otherwise, often have strong Neptune Pluto and/or 8th house energies. Both Hitler and Charles De Gaulle had Neptune Pluto in Gemini in the 8th. Churchill had Neptune and Pluto, not conjunct in the 8th. Mao Tse Tung was another Neptune Pluto in Gemini conjunction – in his 5th; Stalin had Neptune and Pluto not conjunct in Taurus.
Oliver Cromwell interestingly had Neptune trine Pluto Uranus trine his Midheaven. Otto von Bismarck who pulled Germany together was a Neptune square Pluto Mercury. Various super-ambitious 20th Century types also have Neptune and Pluto in aspect to their Suns which seems to heighten their drive for success – Angelina Jolie being one, along with Russell Brand, Marissa Mayer and several others.
Neptune and Pluto has historically been connected with megalomaniac leaders – it oversaw Attila the Hun’s reign of terror in the 5th Century and Tamerlane the Great’s in the 14th century. The late 19th century clearly produced its own horror examples, of Hitler and Mao Tse Tung as well as Cecil Rhodes with his vision of a British colonial super-state in Africa. It’s not all bad being associated with erotic art; scientific advances in such intangibles as electricity, radio and telephone; religious events; and with scandals.
Neptune Pluto is a fey, mystical mix of energies, both wonderful and terrifying. Neptune in its visionary aspect, mixing with Pluto’s power drive, creates a delusional though often devastatingly effective megalomania. In their negative roles both are chillingly inhumane. Neptune puts the dream above reality, writes off human sacrifice as a necessary cost to gain the end. Pluto as the arch controller reduces individual humans to objects, pawns on the chessboard; the puppetmaster reigns supreme.
Neptune or Pluto in the 8th also often occurs with mega-superstars who appear to have an unconscious ability to project an aura that catches mass consciousness.
The other recurring factor with leaders is their connections with their country’s 8th house which is where bonding at the deepest level, compulsions, obsessions and primal entanglements are formed. It is a deep, dark, mysterious realm, often talked of as the house of transformation or sex, death and taxes but it can also encompass crime, bad karma, dirty tricks, revenge, jealousy, and control. What one astrologer called the shadow’s power.
Hitler’s unsubtle but effective, highly enthusiastic Mars Venus in Taurus was conjunct Germany’s 8th house Pluto, within a degree, so he tapped into a dark, power-hungry energy in the country’s psyche. Churchill’s Pluto fell in the UK 8th with his Neptune/Pluto midpoint conjunct the UK’s 8th house Mars as he roused the UK’s fighting spirit. De Gaulle’s Saturn was in the France 8th and Stalin’s Saturn was in the Russia 1917 8th.