I just wanted to summarize the observations of the very kind contributors to this thread, and see if i can rope it all together...:
transiting pluto recently moved from 1st to 2nd
transiting north node conjunct natal pluto, square natal vertex, and sextile natal neptune
transiting mars square mc/ic axis
pr moon about to enter 8th house, moon rules 8th
pr venus opposed pr saturn and pr pluto by declination
pr saturn opposed pr venus
pr saturn trine pr chiron
so if we think of the transits influencing the external events, we have the north node acting on pluto, vertex and neptune, challenging the way that pluto operates (with neptunes support), and asking pluto to evolve through a fated (vertex) encounter. both north node and vertex can indicate a meeting with another person who exercises an important influence on the native. the quncunx from natal pluto to natal moon indicates that moon/emotions will ultimately be changed. as moon is ruled by neptune, the support from neptune is strong and helpful in smoothing out the "jarringness" of pluto.
mars is the trigger, activating the mc/ic axis and bringing the event into reality.
the internal changes are indicated by the progressions, so emotionally (moon), the focus is about to change to a deeper level of interaction with others (8th). then we have pr saturn and pr pluto conjunct by declination, indicating a purposefulness, a paring down to the essentials, and this is opposed by venus. so this conjunction by declination is asking venus to pare down its focus and refine itself. venus is natally in the 2nd of values, and pluto has just moved into the second by transit, so we could say that an internal shift may occur about how one will value ones self.
the trine from pr chiron to pr saturn acts as the spigot in this case (or could have been a stopper)... but in my case i feel that i was able to heal myself quickly and easily. thanks chiron!