Sixty degrees and a five degree orb
We allow five degrees for a sextile, which is tighter than the seven we give a square or trine and the eight for a conjunction. That narrower allowance is deliberate, since the aspect is considered weaker and a wide one adds nothing.
The Moon reaches a sextile to any fixed point twice per circuit. Pluto travels well under a degree a day, so it holds still while the Moon does thirteen degrees a day across a ten degree band. Each window lasts under a day, and the tight versions last a couple of hours.
Two people born the same day can therefore differ on whether they have this at all. The birth time decides it, and it decides the houses, which is where the reading becomes specific rather than generic.
What is being connected
The Moon stands for the automatic part of a person: how they settle, what they return to, the shape of early life. Pluto stands for what carries weight, what stays hidden and what cannot be approached lightly.
A sextile links two bodies in signs of compatible elements without merging them and without forcing anything. The usual description is a facility that has to be used to exist. Applied here that reads as an easy tolerance for serious material, an interest in what is under the surface of things, and a capacity to be useful to other people in bad moments.
Compatible elements here means earth with water, or fire with air, so the two bodies have something in common without sharing a sign. That is the structural reason the aspect is described as cooperative rather than fused.
The honest note is that a sextile does not press. Where a square keeps raising itself, a sextile can sit unused for a whole life, and nothing in the chart will complain. That is why older texts describe it as opportunity, a word that is doing real work rather than being decorative.
Orb, house and what raises or lowers it
Pluto stays in one sign for between twelve and thirty years, so the sign of this sextile is shared very widely and carries little personal information. The houses do carry it, and they need a birth time. A sextile from the fourth to the sixth reads through home and daily routine. From the ninth to the eleventh it reads through belief and the people around you.
Because the orb is only five degrees to begin with, the difference between a one degree sextile and a four degree one is proportionally large. Inside a degree it is a feature worth mentioning. At four it is barely present.
Pluto is retrograde for something close to half of each year, so a natal retrograde Pluto here is the normal case and does not modify the reading in any way worth writing down.
Where it sits in a whole chart
A sextile is a minor aspect made major only by context. If it forms part of a larger pattern, or if either body sits on an angle, it is worth reading closely. On its own, wide, with nothing else touching either end, it is background and should be described as background.
That is not a failure of the aspect. Most of any chart is background, and a reading that treats every contact as significant ends up saying nothing. Naming the quiet parts as quiet is what leaves room for the loud ones to mean something.
The widget above returns the exact orb, the two houses and the elements involved, so you can see which of those two categories your own sextile falls into.
Questions people ask about this
How many degrees is a sextile?
Sixty degrees, a sixth of the circle. We treat it as active within five degrees, which is a narrower allowance than for conjunctions, squares, trines or oppositions because the aspect is considered weaker.
Is Moon sextile Pluto worth reading at all?
It depends on the orb and the context. Inside a degree or two, or where either body is angular or part of a larger pattern, yes. Wide and unconnected, it is a minor feature and honest readings say so.
How is it different from a trine?
Both are described as easy, but a trine is stronger and more automatic while a sextile is usually framed as something available if taken up. The narrower orb reflects that difference in weight.
Does my birth time change whether I have it?
Yes. The Moon moves about half a degree an hour, so with only five degrees of orb the aspect can appear or disappear over the course of a morning.
Is retrograde Pluto significant here?
Not really. Pluto spends close to half of each year retrograde, which makes a retrograde natal Pluto the common case rather than something that alters this aspect.
What would make this aspect stand out?
A tight orb, an angular house for either body, or a third planet completing a pattern with both. Any of those lifts it from background detail to something with a place in the reading.