(The article below is by James Han/Ganymede and includes part of a research paper written by James Han. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE this page in any way, shape, or form. Thank you in advance!

Also, if you haven't done so yet, please THOROUGHLY read my mythology and astrology page for Setsuna/Pluto and my mythology/astrology page for Hotaru/Saturn. Unless you're pretty well-versed in classical mythology and astrology, you'll need the background information that each page gives you in order to understand most of this page. ^_^)

The Great Pluto/Saturn Mix-Up Controversy

(by James Han/Ganymede - written 13 January 2003, with excerpts from material written in 1999 and an essay from 2001)

The following excerpt comes from both my mythology and astrology page for Setsuna/Pluto and my mythology/astrology page for Hotaru/Saturn:

"Takeuchi Naoko confuses me because Hotaru (Sailor Saturn) and Setsuna (Sailor Pluto) got the wrong zodiac signs; let me try to explain that below...

"First off, you probably know that the Inner and Outer Senshi are named after the ruling planet of their zodiac sign; for example, Makoto is a Sagittarius, Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, and Makoto is Sailor Jupiter. What you need to know therefore is that the sign of Scorpio is ruled by the planet Pluto while Capricorn is ruled by Saturn.

"With that said, Hotaru (Sailor Saturn) is a Capricorn, not a Scorpio, but her powers of revolution, death, and rebirth are all VERY much traits embodied by Scorpio and Pluto; even her change from a twelve-year-old to a baby in Sailormoon Super and then her rapid changes of age in SailorStars are perfect examples of Scorpio's/Pluto's trademark qualities of rebirth, regeneration, and massive change. Hotaru is not at all like the Capricorn she is supposed to be. And as for Setsuna, her powers related to time and her role as the Guardian of Time is a Capricorn thing, not a Scorpio thing, since the zodiac sign of Capricorn is ruled by Cronus, Greek god of time (Saturn is Cronus's Roman name). Also, Capricorn is associated with solitude and solitary living, and while Hotaru certainly has had her share of friendless and solitary living, Setsuna's lonely life guarding the Time Gate for centuries on end is more Capricorn than Hotaru's life is.

"In other words, when Sailor Pluto/Setsuna first appeared at the Time Gate in Sailormoon Romance, she should have been called Sailor Saturn instead and she should have had Capricorn as her zodiac sign; and when Saturn/Hotaru appeared as the Senshi of death and destruction and rebirth in Sailormoon Super, she really should have been called Sailor Pluto, with the zodiac sign of Scorpio." [end of excerpt]

Some people have flamed me, saying that I'm wrong, that Saturn is indeed a death/rebirth god, and how dare I criticize Takeuchi Naoko's decisions, blah blah blah. And yes, it's true that Cronus/Saturn is a death/rebirth god in that Saturn rules over the harvest cycle. Saturn became associated with the harvest cycle of sowing and reaping, growing and cutting, strictly because of the fact that the Greek Cronus deposed his own father in order to become ruler (see? death and rebirth: "the king is dead, long live the king" and all that...), using a scythe/sickle to cut off his father's genitals... and the scythe is a harvesting tool, to boot! By such evidence, naysayers claim that Sailor Saturn has every right to be the Senshi of death, destruction and rebirth.

Yet why is it then that the Greek god associated with Sailor Pluto is Hades (Roman name: Pluto), THE GOD who is DIRECTLY associated with death and revolution? Why does Sailor Pluto guard the Time Gate and have the ability to stop time when it is Cronus and not Hades who has dominion over such things? At least Cronus has some association with time, while Hades has none... unless you want to make a few cognitive leaps and try to claim that because death deals with the passage of time, Hades is associated with time. :p

Also, consider the mythology behind the zodiac signs of both Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn, as given at my mythology and astrology page for Setsuna/Pluto and my mythology/astrology page for Hotaru/Saturn. The mythology behind Capricorn, Sailor Saturn's zodiac sign, is all about Amalthea, a divine she-goat that took care of Zeus when Zeus was a baby. However, the Orion/Scorpio mythology behind the zodiac sign of Scorpio has many, many connections to the concept of death and rebirth, and even has associations with the harvest cycle itself. Consider the following, which is excerpted from an essay I wrote on the history and mythology behind the zodiac sign of Scorpio - reading it will show you why I think it is Hotaru and not Setsuna who should be a Scorpio and be called Sailor Pluto:

"It is interesting to note that during the time the constellation of Scorpio rises in the night sky, the constellation of Orion fades and sinks below the horizon.

"Many versions of the Orion-Scorpion myth exist across various cultures. In ancient Egypt, people mourned the death of Osiris, Orion's Egyptian counterpart, when the sun entered the sign of the Scorpion. In Babylonian mythology, Girtablili was a scorpion man who guarded the gateway that separated the world of darkness and the world of light. In other words, Girtablili guarded the gates to the underworld, which is the original reason why the sign of Scorpio became connected with death. Girtablili would sting the "sacred heel" of any ruler or hero who happened to cross his path. The significance of Girtablili's scorpion nature was that it made him an opponent of light and all that was good:

"Mythologically, a sacred heel is that part of the sun or moon that at setting touches earth or sea. The bruise it receives is poisonous in that it causes the whole body to collapse or sink. Since these early times this hole-and-corner [scorpion,] with a sting out of all proportion to its small body, which thrives in cold dampness and treats sunlight as if it were a natural enemy, has been a symbol of darkness, torture, treachery, and evil in general. (Jobes and Jobes 239)

"Indeed, all the legends related to the scorpion deal in some way with the waning and dying of the sun's light and the growing power of darkness and evil during the year from the summer solstice to the winter solstice. One must not forget that the sign of Scorpio rules over the time of year when fall is at its peak and winter is approaching [late October to Late November]. Moreover, although the zodiac sign of Libra begins its yearly rulership on the day of the fall equinox, at the time the zodiac signs were devised many centuries earlier it was during Scorpio's rulership that the fall equinox occurred (Jobes and Jobes 240). This is evidenced by the fact that the sigil used in ancient times to symbolize fall was derived from the sigil that stood for Scorpio and not the sigil that stood for Libra (González-Wippler xiv); Scorpio therefore is synonymous with autumn. In autumn the days are growing darker and the weather colder, and the fact that Scorpio is the sign that governs this change casts it in a negative light; for instance, to ancient Egyptians the time the sun entered the sign of Scorpio marked the beginning of the rulership of Seth, the god of darkness who killed Osiris/Orion. In fact:

"All these legends appear to be dramatizations of seasonal peculiarities. When the sun enters the region of the zodiac dominated by Scorpio, diseases incident to the fruit season naturally prevail, inasmuch as autumn, which abounds in fruit may bring with it fevers or a variety of diseases quite fittingly attributed to a venomous creature, who, as it recedes, wounds with a stinger in its tail. Then too, the ancients saw changes from light to darkness or from warmth to cold as a struggle for control. This strife was personified when star groups were organized. Orion and the Scorpio simply continue their battle in the boundless realm of space. There, when the ugly beast appears in the east, Orion, in fear of this foe of fertility and light, sinks into the western horizon out of Scorpio's range of vision. (Jobes and Jobes 240)

"Again, the themes of death and rebirth run strong in the myths connected to the sign of Scorpio. Indeed, perhaps Scorpio's connection to death and rebirth is most vividly illustrated by Selket, the Egyptian scorpion goddess who not only governed childbirth but also protected the mummified corpses of the dead during burial (Willis 49)." [end of excerpt]

This concept of a constant struggle between darkness and light or between good and evil, personified in the Greek Orion/Scorpio struggle and in the Egyptian Osiris/Seth opposition, is very much a Scorpio trait. Typical Scorpios are said to be eternally undergoing an internal battle between their light and dark sides - in fact, in addition to the main animal symbol of the scorpion, Scorpio's light side is represented by the eagle and its dark side is represented by the serpent, and these two sides are constantly at battle. The light/dark, eagle/snake theme is found all over the world, such as in Hindu mythology where Vishnu has a divine snake-killing eagle called Garuda, and even on the Mexican flag, which depicts an eagle battling a serpent. As such Scorpio would be the PERFECT sign for Hotaru, who has to battle with the dark side within her: the good, eagle side of her is her Sailor Saturn personality, while the dark serpent side of her is evidenced by Mistress Nine, the Messiah of Silence that lies within her.

And now that I've bombarded you with all this information, *rofl* let me summarize it for you and clarify my stance:

1. Hotaru is a Capricorn, and is also Sailor Saturn.

2. Setsuna is a Scorpio, and is also Sailor Pluto.

3. Scorpio is the sign of death, destruction, rebirth, and regeneration. Its ruling planet is Pluto, planet of death and silence.

4. Capricorn is the sign of career, public standing, hard work, and inescapable limitations (such as time, aging, fate, debts, and death). Its ruling planet is Saturn.

5. Sailor Saturn is the Soldier of Death, Destruction, and Rebirth, and nothing else. Her attack phrases mention death and silence.

6. Although Sailor Pluto indeed has a "dead scream" attack, when she first appears in Sailormoon Romance she is first and foremost the Soldier who is the Guardian of Time and the Time Gate. She carries the Time Key as her staff, and she has the power to stop time. As the Guardian of Time she knows what's going to happen, and for this reason she is forbidden to interfere in events except for on rare occasions.

7. Although in mythology Cronus/Saturn is connected to death and rebirth in that he is a harvest god and thus tied to the harvest cycle, Hades/Pluto is DIRECTLY connected to such concepts as the god of the dead and of the underworld.

8. The mythology behind the zodiac sign of Capricorn has to do with a she-goat and has nothing to do with death and rebirth. The mythology behind the sign of Scorpio, however, has MUCH to do with death and rebirth (this theme is probably THE trademark of Scorpio). It is also associated with the concept of a struggle between light and dark or good and evil, something that is another trademark of Scorpio and something which dominates Hotaru's life in Sailormoon Super.

MY CONCLUSION:

When Sailor Pluto/Setsuna first appeared at the Time Gate in Sailormoon Romance, she should have been called Sailor Saturn instead and she should have had Capricorn as her zodiac sign; and when Saturn/Hotaru appeared as the Senshi of death and destruction and rebirth in Sailormoon Super, she really should have been called Sailor Pluto, with the zodiac sign of Scorpio. While the case can be argued both ways, I personally think that all the evidence favors the idea that it would be more appropriate for Setsuna and Hotaru to have their birthdates and Senshi names switched. ^_^

- by Ganymede/James Han

Sources Used in the Excerpted Essay

González-Wippler, Migene. Introduction. The Complete Book of Amulets and Talismans.
By González-Wippler. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1991. xiv.

Jobes, Gertrude and James Jobes. Outer Space: Myths, Name Meanings, Calendars.
New York: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1964.

Willis, Roy, ed. World Mythology. 1993.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996.