The Eighth House in Astrology

The eighth house is ruled by Scorpio and the planet Pluto (in astrology, Pluto is still a planet). The eighth house is a mysterious sector that rules birth, death, sex, transformation, mysteries, merged energies, and bonding at the deepest level. The eighth house also rules other people’s property and money include real estate, inheritances, and investments. Traditionally, it's been called the house of sex, death, and taxes.

Houses in Astrology

There are 12 signs of the zodiac. Setup similar to a clock, the zodiac is divided into 12 parts on a wheel. Each of the 12 parts of the wheel is called a house. At the moment you were born, the planets were all in specific signs and houses. In astrology, the locations of the planets as it corresponds to the houses and the zodiac signs can help predict or map some of your obstacles or gifts you may face in life.

The Mysteries of This House

For a snapshot of this house, the major themes surrounding this house include sexuality, secrets, taxes, inheritance, the occult, shadows of the psyche, emotional intensity, transformation, intuition, joint finances, death, and healing.

House of Regeneration

The eighth house is one of the hidden mysteries, the biggest of which is the final transformation, death. This house is where you find intense emotional wells, the secrets of the soul that unfold over a lifetime. Often we fear what lies in the eighth house, partly because of its power to end our old way of being.

The eighth house involves the soul-level change we go through in a lifetime. Your many deaths of transformation are colored by the sign on the cusp and the planetary action here. Critical turning points in your life mark the old you, and the new you. That is the kind of change this house represents.

Compulsions, obsessions, primal entanglements—these all require serious grappling with the core to untangle. The eighth house concerns those life issues that we are often at the mercy of, that feel fated, and therefore, hard to resolve.

Sexuality

This house rules the area of sexuality. Achieving orgasm is often called the "little death" because it is a surrender to the primal energies. Merging with another person in the sex act is a transformation and a release of energy. 

Finances

The eight house also deals with another kind of merging, such as finances. You discover how a partner's wealth adds to or undermines your own resources. Things like inheritance, possessions, or money fall in this category. Taxes are symbolically the price you pay or the cost for the ride of life. 

Growth and Healing

What's dangerously unconscious plays out in the eighth house, and that can include power struggles with others. It's the life sphere of emotional-soul stability, and that takes courage. It comes from facing fears, like getting to the bottom of control issues. The healing comes from deep probing into the underlying currents that feed a personal demon and being liberated from it.

The Occult

This house is associated with the occult, which simply means what's hidden. This includes things like dark psychology, crime, bad karma, dirty tricks, revenge, jealousy, and control. It is the house of the shadow's power and the transformation of that deep complexity at the bedrock of your character.