Libra likability

John Mulaney is unwittingly a really good example of two things simultaneously: Pluto in Libra and a Capricorn south node. Like almost everyone born in 1982, Mulaney has a Saturn-Pluto conjunction, which tends to translate itself into big problems. Sometimes those problems are obvious and sometimes they're hidden, but if/when they come out, it's obvious they are big.

Basically:

• Pluto in Libra desperately wants to be liked, to be nice, and to keep up appearances.

• The south node in Capricorn often finds itself playing roles and doing what's expected of them.

Now combine those and you have Mulaney pre-2020.

Obviously this is oversimplified, and John Mulaney is not someone I know personally, but on the other hand, it's textbook. What happened in 2020? Transiting Pluto was squaring Mulaney's natal Pluto, or his big problem, and squares demand you act in a different way, but Pluto's not pleasant or subtle. In 2020 is he went to rehab very much against his will. After he emerged, he started living in a way that contradicted his public persona, and you can read a variety of people's thoughts an opinions on his behavior elsewhere (and you can also see the other life events in the rest of his chart). I'm willing to posit that pre-2020, Mulaney had the public persona role, the husband role, the friend role, the SNL writer role, and probably some others, and he showed up wherever and played the role that was expected of him, and relieved the pressure that multiple contradicting roles were putting on him with substance abuse. It looked like everything was okay, but it wasn't. Again, textbook.

Everything he's saying in interviews and on his own special supports this: that things looked one way but they were really very different, and the real, authentic person is the one in charge now rather than letting the demands of various roles dictate his actions. His quote, "likability is jail, " perfectly sums up a Saturn-Pluto in Libra & Capricorn south node dilemma.