Horoscope Houses in Astrology
In this continuing series about the Horoscopes Houses in Astrology, we come to the Eighth House. The Eighth House is ruled by the zodiac sign Scorpio. If you are a Premium Member and have your birth chart, you can see at a glance which planets, asteroids, Nodes or angles are in either house. If you have a stellium in Scorpio, it is the Eighth House of sex and money, which shapes your life.
Even if you don’t have your natal chart (personal birth horoscope) with all the 34 factors of modern astrology, you can still find out a great deal about predicting the future, from watching the Seventh House and Eighth House in your ‘public’ horoscope. This is your Sun Sign horoscope or Solar Sign chart. It’s a different system but it works to show you what the world in general knows about you. What the world sees. (Your personal chart shows the huge, sweeping, back story).
The Eighth House can also show your personality. This is where it becomes complicated, but interesting. The patterns (aspects) made involving factors in these houses can show how difficult or easy it is for you to ‘do’ the sexual agreements of the Eighth House!
Horoscope Houses in Astrology – The Eighth House
Howard Sasportas, writing in The Twelve Houses (Thorsons 1985) gets closer, writing “The Elizabethans referred to the orgasm as ‘the little death.” This is very true of the scorpion itself, from which Scorpio takes its symbol.
Naturally, sex is at the heart of the usual marriage/mortgage combination upon which all banks depend. The phrase ‘until debt tear us apart’ (below) is a wry comment on that. I am sure you know about the famous scorpion mating dance called the ‘promenade’ when two scorpions risk death from a lethally venomous sting – or cannibalism. Ancient astrologers had a sense of humour. The truth is, two people who commit to sex, and possibly children, are usually on the road to marriage, with its famous vow – ‘Until death do us part.’
The Eighth House, centuries ago, before no-fault divorce arrived in the 1970’s, was very much about sexual union that meant death was the only way out. An unhappy marriage, particularly for a woman – who before she obtained the vote, or The Pill, had no power to leave – could lead all the way to the end.
Have you ever seen those Scorpio zodiac signs hidden away under columns in churches and cathedrals? Every other sign is on proud display but using ancient astrological knowledge, Christian builders always put the scorpion where we see it in nature – hidden, partly revealed, concealed in the shadows. You can see one in Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England. This may be why after Pluto was discovered in 1930, this planet was given rulership over Scorpio and the Eighth House.
Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld, who lived in darkness and was only seen once, fully revealed – when he abducted his future wife, Proserpina. In nature, I am sure you know that a scorpion can be lethal, because it is hidden. Scorpions tend to hide under ledges or rocks.
This brings us to the dark side of the Eighth House, and Scorpio itself, which is reflected in the hidden side of sexual union. The question of the legacy, or last will and testament, is never far behind. When Pluto himself passed through Scorpio for the first time in around 250 years, from November 1983, the world had to adjust to the pain of the HIV virus and AIDS. By 1987 when alarmed governments were promoting safe sex and condoms, it was clear to us all, that intercourse could kill.
From the Eighth House and Scorpio we have the familiar image of the vampire, who has become an erotic symbol to all the people who were born when Pluto was in that zodiac sign and house, from November 1983 to November 1995. Vampires – technically dead – have sex with the living – who then become the undead. Inevitably, the vampire in question has a castle, oil paintings, gold rings and an impressive fortune. It honestly doesn’t get more Eighth House than that!
Yet, although our recent experiences with the Pluto in Scorpio generation, with their Goth fixation and Twilight fandom have given the Eighth House a rather cliched association with the dark side of sexuality – all the way to their curiosity about auto-asphyxiation and bondage (Fifty Shades of Grey) – there is far more to it than that.
The highest expression of the Eighth House is the marriage which is based on the usual pledge of ‘Until death do us part’ that unites both partners in the pursuit of a legacy that goes beyond mere money. Scorpio Bill Gates and his partner Melinda Gates are a good example of that. No vampires here. When they both pass, their astonishing fortune will pass with them, to help their fellow human beings in life-or-death situations.
However you play it, the Eighth House is always about sex, death and money in one pattern or another. It may be your former girlfriend who is building the house which she may/may not inherit from you, if you are to get back together and change your will. It may be the male sex worker who knows your secrets, who you pay to cover them up.
One final point. I sometimes hear from readers who believe astrology can predict death (wrong) and who think the Eighth House transits or natal placements show the time one will die. Wrong again. For the true nature of the Eighth House, ask yourself what is in your will, or why you have not yet made one. Ask yourself who is likely to leave you a bequest. That’s the Eighth House. The first thing couples do upon divorce is change their wills. That is also the Eighth House. The first thing couples do when they marry, is also change their wills. Again – that’s the Eighth House. Wills are never spoken of and seldom revealed. Like the scorpion’s back half, tucked away under columns in churches and cathedrals, it’s in shadow. That’s the Eighth!