Eight
The Eighth House
House of Scorpio Element: Water
Ruling Planet: Pluto and Mars
Area of Consciousness Relating
Emotional regeneration and the development of compassion

Sun in Eighth House 8

The Sun in the 8th House indicates that consciousness is opening up to compassion, and the agents in the process are emotional suffering and refinement of desire. This may be a relatively advanced stage of development because people with the Sun in the 8th House do have the feel of ‘old souls’. There is a gravity and maturity conferred by this placement, which is evident even in very young children.

The suffering experienced by 8th House people, is always at the hands of people with whom they have a close personal relationship, and although there may be physical cruelty also, it is at the emotional level that the pain is registered. The pain is nearly always that of rejection and the knowledge that the intensity of their feelings is neither understood nor valued.

People with this placement of the Sun tend to experience the transforming energy of Pluto, the ruling planet of this house, as a force used by others against them. They do not readily use it themselves even in retaliation. People born with the Sun in the 8th House are usually born to parents unable to or unwilling to recognise the child's needs. Usually they have problems of their own and expect the child to be supportive and understanding.

As the result of the early experience of having the emotional needs ignored the 8th House person grows up expecting little of the partners around whom he is prepared to build his life. In consequence his relationships are characterised by inequality. Whether it is emotional support, money or forgiveness - more than one 8th House person has discovered that he has married a person engaged in criminal activities - it is the person with the Sun in H8 doing the giving. The lack of reciprocity tends to be accepted without recrimination, and he will not easily give up on a relationship. People with the Sun in H8 demonstrate a great acceptance of things as they are and this becomes the source of the peace of mind they are capable of attaining in their later years. This acceptance may also account for their characteristic willingness to work with people whom society has condemned or rejected. A person with the Sun in the 8th House does not readily judge; he is more likely to respond to the humanness of the offender.

Eighth House people are found in the prison service, and as social workers, nurses and counselors. In helping others they are often able to make sense of and redeem their suffering.

This placement of the Sun tends to confer an interest in the astral plane and in channeling in particular.

Mercury in Eighth House 8

When Mercury is in the 8th House and the Sun in H7 or H8, perceptions and communication are highly sensitive to mood. This placement of Mercury confers intensity in conversation and in ease dealing with the emotional states of others. It is a common placement amongst bereavement counselors. When Mercury is in H8 and the Sun in H9, then spiritual solutions are frequently sought to emotional situations and there is likely to be a particular interest in channeled wisdom.

Venus in Eighth House 8

Venus in the 8th House indicates that the outworking of karma arising from emo­tional and sexual associations in other lifetimes is central to the current incarnation. This placement of Venus gives great depth to the emotions and makes a person capable of unconditional and unreciprocated love. People with Venus in H8 tend not to respond to physical attraction alone and frequently have long periods of celibacy. The attraction is to people who embody the energies their souls remember and retain a yearning for. There is no guarantee that the other party experiences the same sense of yearning or can match the intensity of the Venusian's feelings. It is the inequality of the situations which people with Venus in H8 are drawn which make them so prone to abusive treatment. Yet despite the lack of  emotional reciprocity people with Venus in H8 frequently benefit from legacies

Mars in Eighth House 8

When Mars is in the 8th House a person’s will is constrained by the wishes of those with whom he has a relationship, be they family, lovers or business associates. This placement is an indication of karma incurred by selfish and self-interested behaviour. Although the constraint may take the form of physical violence, it is more likely to be emotional pressure, which the person with Mars in H8 feels unable to withstand. Owing to the difficulty experienced in acting in support of his own interests this placement of Mars disadvantages a person in any disputatious situation, especially when he knows the adversaries.

Jupiter in Eighth House 8

With Jupiter in the 8th House a person experiences little difficulty in opening up to and trusting others. This placement of Jupiter is favourable for partnership matters of all kinds, including those of inheritance, although in the matter of intimate relationships, Jupiter in H8 is more likely to have a number of associations of significance rather than one long lasting commitment.

Saturn in Eighth House 8

Saturn in the 8thI House indicates a karma arising from an insufficiently responsible attitude to the well being of partners or close associates. The sign, which Saturn occupies, together with the sign and house placement of the Moon will reveal the reality, which underpinned this lack of regard. People with Saturn in H8 are made to feel acutely vulnerable in situations of emotional and sexual intimacy and they are inclined to attract controlling, even bullying partners who remind them of their lack of responsibility. Co-dependent relationships which protract the cruelty and abuse are very common with this placement.

This placement of Saturn can make the lower astral plane very intrusive in a person's life through nightmares and even poltergeist experience.

Uranus in Eighth House 8

With Uranus in the 8th House there is a developmental need to be freed up from emotional dependency, and when this placement is present in a chart it frequently means the loss of a loved one early in life. Whatever the scenario, emotional security will be denied. In adult life there is a tendency for partners to die, to leave, or to make themselves emotionally inaccessible, thereby forcing the Uranian onto his own resources. Uranus in H8 produces a fascination for the astral plane, most commonly in the power-conferring forms of witchcraft and magic.

Neptune in Eighth House 8

Neptune in the 8th House gives an attunement to the emotional states of others and gives understanding and compassion. Mediumistic ability is often present with this placement, although Neptune, unlike Uranus, is more likely to be concerned with the astral plane as a source of healing and instruction rather than power.

Pluto in Eighth House 8

When Pluto is in the 8th House the soul is engaged in the transformation of emotional energies, in ‘penetrating the darkness of himself to take out the light’ (Samael Aun Weor). This process in the intensity, which it is given by Pluto in H8, may go on for many lifetimes and requires those with this placement to face the Human Shadow manifesting both through self and other. Pluto in the 8th House tends to create a fascination for taboo subjects and psychotic people. The Plutonian himself may be the victim of compulsions and obsessions (his own or those of others) and intrusions from the lower astral. Nightmares and visitations are common with this placement. The astral plane may be used purposefully as a source of power, in which case the interest will be in witchcraft and magic, which may include the Black Arts. In personal relationships a person with Pluto in the 8th House transforms the lives of his partners but in circumstances usually viewed as destructive by all concerned. Violence, whether physical, emotional or sexual, is common when Pluto is in H8, including within the relationship with one or both parents.

Moon in Eighth House 8

The Moon in the 8th House is an indication that in past lives the emotional needs of others were denied as a result of an overly self-centered, materialistic, or cerebral reality. The sign of the Moon will indicate which. People with the Moon in 8th House are commonly born to parents who cannot function at an emotional level. With other planetary factors, this placement of the Moon can indicate the loss of a parent early in life in which the child is burdened by the bereaved parent’s emotional needs. Although acutely sensitive to the emotional states of others, people with the Moon in H8, who have had little practice in emotional expression early in their lives, tend to be inhibited and emotionally insecure in adult life. Unlike the Sun in this House, the Moon in H8 does not feel at ease in emotionally charged situations and although he may drive his own ill-defined needs underground and focus on those of partners and associates, he is more likely to attempt to evade emotional confrontation by concentrating on impersonal, outer-directed activities and go through life with his own emotional needs unrecognised and unacknowledged.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Like the other Water houses, the 8th house is not well understood. Some of astrology's bleakest commentaries have the 8th House as their subject and indeed, without a belief system which makes sense of suffering and the transformative function of life on Earth, then the experiences manifested by the 8th House seem very unfortunate indeed. Even so there are compensations available to people with emphasised 8th House and these are usually evident in their middle years. They are rarely short of friends and when Venus and Jupiter are present there is the possibility of inheritances given in acknowledgement of their supportiveness.

In terms of spiritual development the compensations for 8th House experiences are very considerable. It is a karmic clearinghouse, which offers many opportunities for redressing imbalances and a certain protection against creating others. When the inner planets are working through the 8th House, they are rarely used in support of selfish interest. The outer planets, however, are a very different matter and only the pattern of the chart as whole will indicate how a person is likely to use the psychic power made available to him, by these planets.

Traditionally, the 8th House is the house of Death. Since the discovery of Pluto it seems, in natal astrology at least, that the deaths, which occur as a result of planets in H8, are likely to take place at an emotional rather than a physical level. It should be noted though that although planets in H8 may not weaken the constitution they can create an attraction to situations which are life threatening. This is especially true of Pluto.