Ripley, Daenerys, Cersei, Skyler: the Matriarchs of Moon-Pluto
Unraveling the archetypal thread that connects these iconic film and television performances
As an enthusiast of both archetypal astrology and the cinematic arts, I am often struck by how mutually enriching these interests are to each other. Film theory and criticism, as they currently stand, are impoverished by the lack of an astrological perspective that would help to illuminate, and give validation to, the mythic-archetypal dimensions that pervade cinema as an art form.
When we watch a film with knowledge of the world transits that accompanied its release, as well as the personal transits that were in play for its cast and crew during production, we stand to glean invaluable insights into those transits as they are expressed in the film’s major themes, performances and stylistic choices; the same is true of television, or any form of artistic expression for that matter. As students of astrology, our understanding of the archetypes can be enriched through a deep engagement with popular culture. By the same token, astrologers could benefit from integrating classic films and television shows into their repertoire of archetypal reference points, as a way of making astrology more accessible and vivid to pop culture enthusiasts.
It is in this spirit that I present the following: an exploration of Moon-Pluto alignments as they have been expressed in iconic film and television performances over the past few decades. I hope that you will be familiar with at least a few of these examples, which will each reveal a different facet of the Moon-Pluto drama, and that reading about them in sequence will help in understanding the subtle but potent interplay between these planetary archetypes.
Aliens (1986)
Sigourney Weaver's performance of the character Ellen Ripley in the science fiction sequel Aliens provides a useful point of entry towards thinking about the Moon-Pluto complex. Throughout the film's production, Weaver was experiencing the once-in-a-lifetime transit of Pluto in opposition to her natal Moon,1 and this archetypal complex is clearly rendered in the film's major themes, particularly in Weaver's performance of Ripley. A further indication of the film’s archetypal signature can be discerned from the night sky of its theatrical premiere on July 14, 1986, where the transiting Moon made its monthly conjunction with Pluto.
The film is set 57 years after the original Alien, following Ripley’s awakening from a prolonged stasis. At the film's outset, Ripley is tasked with returning to the exomoon mining colony, where the aliens were first encountered, as part of a mission to destroy the remaining creatures. Upon their arrival at the colony, the crew encounters a traumatized young girl called Newt who seems to be the sole survivor of an alien incursion into the colony, her family apparently slaughtered.
Ripley's maternal instincts are activated through her relationship with Newt, and she naturally finds herself falling into the role of Newt’s guardian. In astrology, the Moon is understood to represent the emotional side of life, it is connected with moods and feelings, as well as notions of femininity, domesticity and comfort. The Moon finds its quintessential embodiment in the mother-child relationship. The gentleness and care that Ripley conveys in her interactions with Newt are core expressions of the lunar archetype, and Newt responds to these qualities by slowly opening up to Ripley, overcoming her muteness, and allowing herself to be vulnerable.
As the story progresses, Newt and Ripley once again find themselves in the path of danger as the aliens close in on their location. These nightmarish creatures, based on the designs of artist H.R. Giger, are unmistakably plutonic in nature: driven by blind instinct, Geiger's beastly creations embody the plutonic cycle of creation and destruction, as well as the sense of power and menace that Pluto can conjure.
Pluto is the archetype of evolution and transformation, it signifies the messy biological realities of birth, sex, and death. The alien lifecycle, from ovulation to sexual maturity, represents these processes with grotesque and ruthless efficiency. The strange metamorphosis of this creature—with all of its face-hugging, chest-bursting gore—stands as a grim caricature of nature’s most violent and disturbing processes, replete with dark sexual innuendo.
In this sense, the alien is a symbol for life itself, in both its destructive and regenerative aspects; the alien’s will to survive and reproduce is entirely natural; it appears demonic because these processes are unconstrained by any moral or rational considerations—there is nonetheless a ruthless Darwinian logic to these monsters.
In response to these threatening external forces, Ripley's maternal instincts are further intensified, and she increasingly finds herself willing to risk her life to defend Newt. Pluto is associated with situations of life and death intensity, and with the struggle to survive at all costs. This struggle for existence is part of the evolutionary dynamism that underlies the Pluto archetype, and is the driving force of all transformation.
Pluto is always inclined towards extremes. When Pluto forms an aspect to another planet, it tends to intensify the archetypal impulse connected with that planet to an extreme form. In Weaver’s performance, and in the film more generally, we can see that the maternal impulse connected with the archetypal Moon is intensified to a violent and vengeful extreme in response to a life-threatening situation.
Despite Ripley's best efforts, the crew is eventually ambushed by aliens, and Newt is abducted amidst the carnage. The film’s final act sees a heavily armed Ripley descend into the subterranean alien hive in single-minded pursuit of her surrogate child—this brings another plutonic motif into the mix, that of descent into the underworld. The successful resolution of any Pluto transit invariably requires that we journey downwards, either literally or figuratively, into the murky abyss that lies below the threshold of ordinary life, so that we might confront the darker forces that reside therein, including those repressed elements of the psyche that demand further integration.
To rescue Newt, Ripley must come face to face with the alien queen, the demonic mother who represents the darkest potentials of the Moon-Pluto complex, in an appropriately hideous form. Maternal and terrifying, she is equally as capable of nurturance as she is of violence, guarding her vulnerable eggs with vicious teeth and claws. This vengeful and protective “mama bear” is the dark mirror to Ripley’s own maternal instincts, the image of her repressed shadow, with all its destructive potential. This titanic ‘clash of the mothers’ made for an unforgettable climax to Aliens, providing cinema-goers with an iconic representation of the Moon-Pluto complex on screen.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Another example of a Hollywood blockbuster that emerged from the same archetypal template is the film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the first of many sequels to Spielberg's visually groundbreaking dinosaur thriller, set on a remote island where genetically engineered dinosaurs run wild. The film’s opening weekend in May 1997 coincided with a conjunction between Pluto and the full Moon; this extremely potent conjunction, which connected the full Moon to the primal energies of the Pluto archetype, was unmistakably expressed in the film’s major themes, which strongly echo those of Aliens.
As titans of the primordial past, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park are deeply resonant with the meanings ascribed to the Pluto archetype; they are creatures of elemental power and destruction, driven by carnal appetites and blind instinct. Their dramatic extinction at the hands of an asteroid, approximately 66 million years ago, is akin to an Armageddon myth for the scientific age. For children, dinosaurs are one of the primary images that can evoke the Pluto archetype in their symbolic imagination. The prominent role that dinosaurs occupy in childhood fantasy and imaginative play suggests that we intuitively relate to this archetype from an early age, and that our attempts to integrate, reconcile with and contain the plutonic impulse are part of a lifelong process.
Just like Aliens, The Lost World: Jurassic Park is concerned with the instinctual desire of animals, and humans, to protect their young from harm. The film has its equivalent to the alien queen in the form of a breeding pair of tyrannosaurs who seek to reclaim their infant from captivity by a marauding group of paleontologists and big-game hunters.
This paternal impulse is mirrored in the characters of Ian Malcolm and Sarah Harding, who must protect Ian’s stowaway daughter from becoming dinosaur food. In both films, the lunar principles of childhood and motherhood are inflected by the plutonic impulse toward power struggle and survival. The film’s final act sees an escaped tyrannosaurus, in frenzied pursuit of her hatchling, disrupt a tranquil family scene at a house in suburban San Diego.
This eruption of terror and destruction (Pluto) into the lunar realm of comforting domesticity reflects the Moon-Pluto conjunction that was in the sky upon the release of the film. I hope you are now getting a sense for how these archetypes can merge with and mutually activate one another. If not, the remaining examples should help to further illustrate the point.
Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Emilia Clarke’s portrayal of Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO series Game of Thrones stands as a paradigmatic expression of the Moon-Pluto complex on screen. The character is known to many as The Mother of Dragons, and this title is a succinct evocation of the two planetary archetypes in unison: the lunar archetype of motherhood combined with chthonic Pluto, the archetype of elemental power and destruction—the fearsome dragon of the planetary pantheon. This archetypal fusion is reflected in Clarke’s natal Moon-Pluto trine, as well as the fact that transiting Pluto was in tight opposition to her natal Moon when she was cast in the role.2
In Daenerys, the principle of motherhood (Moon) is intimately entwined with the overwhelming power and the ever-present threat (Pluto) that is represented by her dragons. Daenerys cares for her dragons as if they were her own children, and as her children, they elicit the dragon-like qualities that lay dormant within her, nurturing her own lust for power and domination; correspondingly, their monstrous natures are softened by her maternal presence and care.
Moreover, Daenerys’ entrance into motherhood is initiated by a ritual of death and resurrection, another trope that is strongly connected with Pluto. Having been consumed by purifying fire, Daenerys rises from the ashes, with her newly hatched dragons, and a deeper sense of her own power.
The connection between motherhood and power is also a central theme for one of Daenerys' primary antagonists, Cersei Lannister, portrayed by actress Lena Headey, who was born with her natal Moon in square aspect to Pluto. Cersei shares Daenerys’ lust for power, and while she does not have her own dragons, she compensates for this with sociopathic ruthlessness and a knack for intimidation and emotional manipulation.
Cersei is a thoroughly dionysian character; her emotional life is defined by the extremes of love and hatred, with no room for middle ground. Her passionate and incestuous affair with brother Jaime resulted in their three children, while her relationship with her brother Tyrion is defined more by her repeated attempts to kill him than by any kind of kinship. The Lannister family dynamics—riven by power struggle, betrayal, incest, and murder—are plutonic to the core.
Cersei's only redeeming features are the intense maternal feelings she has towards her children, doing everything within her power to protect them. When these attempts fail, she is prone to acting in vengeful and profoundly destructive ways. Cersei's involvement in the power politics of Westeros is mediated through her role as mother to the royal line, the eldest of whom is the child tyrant Joffrey; her attempts to exert control over him are somewhat analogous to Daenerys’ attempts to control her dragons and the latent power that resides in them.
The link between power and vulnerability is central to the Moon-Pluto complex, and Cersei, more than anyone in Westeros, understands the emotional compromises that are necessary to maintain power.
“The more people you love, the weaker you are. You’ll do things for them that you know you shouldn’t do. You’ll act the fool to make them happy, to keep them safe...Love no one but your children; on that front a mother has no choice.”
Cersei Lannister
Game of Thrones provided audiences with larger-than-life representations of the Moon-Pluto complex, more closely resembling myth than real life. The next example, while still highly dramatized, is more grounded in psychological realism and will hopefully shed further light on this primal and mysterious pairing.
Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
Actress Anna Gunn was born during a Moon-Pluto opposition, and her performance as Skyler White in the show Breaking Bad provided a prime example of how this archetypal complex can define a character’s story. Like Ripley and Daenerys, Skyler is characterized by a powerful maternal instinct that comes to the fore in moments of urgency.
It is through her role as wife and mother that Skyler is drawn into the criminal underworld, as the victim of—and eventual accomplice to—her husband Walt's criminal enterprise. Skyler's maternal instincts are activated in response to the endangerment of her children, brought about by her husband’s participation in the illegal meth trade. Skyler considers running away from Walt but is ultimately unable to do so because of her devotion to their son Walt Jr. For Skyler, motherhood is a journey of descent in which she is drawn into increasing peril through her attachment to her children.
Skyler's relationship with Walt is characterized by an intense clash of wills, emotional manipulation, and betrayal—interpersonal dynamics that emerge at the intersection of power (Pluto) and intimacy (Moon). Skyler reacts to the powerlessness that she feels by attempting to hurt Walt emotionally, by sleeping with her boss, and telling Walt that she hopes his cancer will return. In this way, she asserts a form of power that is inflected by the lunar impulse; a power that is rooted in familiarity and emotional vulnerability.
The poisonous (but entirely justified) well of emotions that builds up in Skyler—viciousness, hatred, resentment—is periodically unleashed through actions that are intended to hurt Walt, as well as taking radical steps to safeguard her children. This kind of emotional catharsis is a core expression of the Moon-Pluto complex.
Volcanic metaphors are often used to evoke the Pluto archetype in the symbolic imagination and it seems appropriate to do so here, as volcanoes can help us to understand the close relationship between power and depth—the two essential qualities of the Pluto archetype. The emotional power that is correlated with Moon-Pluto aspects has its source in the depths of the psyche, in the unreformed instincts—the drives toward power, sex, status and care-giving—that helped our ancestors to survive in a dangerous prehistoric environment.
The residual power of these instincts continues to inform modern human relationships, albeit at a subliminal level that is often denied. As moderns, we are conditioned to repress the more unpalatable of these instincts to ensure the harmonious functioning of society, although they are never far from the surface. For as long as they remain repressed and are not integrated with the rest of the psyche, then they are liable to erupt, from time to time, in a highly destructive fashion.
For the actresses I have been discussing, their ability to tap into this primal well of emotions and thus draw their audience into the intensity of the Moon-Pluto drama is a talent that is reflected in their natal charts, as well as the transits that they were undergoing when they performed these roles. Indeed, the capacity to sense and intuit the darkest recesses of the human psyche, and to work through the shadowy contents that reside there, is one of the gifts that Moon-Pluto natives can tap into in whatever field of activity they find themselves in; from fostering and midwifery to psychotherapy and acting.
By watching these performances, and reflecting on the archetypal themes that they evoke, we may find that we are better equipped to navigate the pitfalls and potentials of a Moon-Pluto transit. At the very least, we will have deepened our understanding of these powerful transits and the spectrum of experience that is correlated with them, as well as their mythic expressions in art and culture. What I have presented here is only a narrow slice of this archetypal complex, and I hope to expand on this thesis in the months to come, so stay tuned for more articles that will delve even deeper into the Moon-Pluto abyss, as well as other planetary pairings.
Pluto transits to a person’s natal Moon (the position of the Moon in their birth chart) last for approximately four years, gradually increasing in intensity as the transit moves closer to exactitude and gradually diminishing thereafter. These transits typically coincide with a diverse array of experiences that all bear the hallmarks of the Moon-Pluto complex, in one way or another.
The exact birth times of most of the people discussed in this article, including Emilia Clarke, are not known, although in all cases transiting Pluto would have been within at least 5° of alignment to their natal Moon, and likely much closer, for all of the dates specified.
Compelling and accurate. As a native by angular conjunction I’m moved and inspired by your treatment and observations.
Epic work, Robert!