Dorothy Height - Mars Pluto courage

Barack Obama has delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Dorothy Height, calling her 'Godmother' of the American civil rights movement. She was one of the few women leaders during the struggles of the 1950s and 60s and stood alongside Martin Luther King when he made his ‘I have a dream’ speech. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton in 1994 and died a few days ago aged 98.

She was born on 24 March 1912 so was a feisty Sun Aries in a sextile to pioneering Uranus in Aquarius; with a chatty, restless Gemini Moon. She had a courageous and very determined Mars Pluto conjunction in Gemini. Her Pluto was square her Sun and Mars which is a very strong aspect, not easy. Though her Mars was also in an adventurous opposition to Jupiter in crusading Sagittarius.

It’s interesting to see how a ‘trapped’ Mars Pluto can play out. Clearly she’d be enraged and frustrated by the way she and others were treated but she turned that round to fight the good fight against the forces of reaction and suppression. Her Mercury in upfront Aries was conjunct a North Node in Aries. The Aries North Node often indicates a challenging life where the need to stand alone and rely on oneself is a necessary lesson along the way. Both her Mercury and North Node squared Neptune in Cancer. She’d be vague at times but also carry a strong sense of vision. Her stalwart Saturn in Taurus sextile her Neptune would help to anchor down some of her fly away Neptunian tendencies.

To make a difference you need really strong energies in a chart, which in certain individuals does good. In other individuals the same very strong energies do bad. The underside of Mars Pluto is criminal and ruthless. But when directed positively, Mars Pluto gives an ability to cope in crisis, to stand firm in the face of ruthless or brutal attacks.