Hello Reader!
Astrology is full of inner conflicts, and sex is an emotionally charged affair. The astrology of sexuality should be a happy topic, but…
A big battle between modern versus traditional astrologers is about the association of sex and the eighth house.
I have read books by Deborah Houlding and John Frawley, both fiercely opposed to some modern notions. Maybe it's a coincidence, but both are horary astrologers. You know horary? It’s the weird beast in astrology. Someone asks a question and the astrologer casts a chart for the moment they receive the question, or the moment they decide to answer it.
Moderns are, in general, focused on natal astrology, often with an evolutionary and/or psychological bend.
Deborah Houlding, in her otherwise excellent book, ‘Houses, Temples of the Sky’, illustrates her position with the example of people casting a chart to determine the best possible time to have sex. Ironically she imagines them choosing a time with a strong eighth house focus. They shouldn't: the eighth house is a house of low energy, of anguish of mind and their little party is not likely to take them to heaven!
(Choosing the best time to start something is called electional astrology. Horary is about answering questions. These two branches of astrology have in common to be very practical.)
If you really need astrology to know when to make love, of course, it's safer to look for a strong fifth house focus. It's the house of fun, creativity, self-expression and possibly children, so, sure, go for it.
But if you're a compassionate modern astrologer focused on helping people understand themselves and their evolutionary challenges, and you come across a heavy natal eighth house, you won't necessarily jump to sexual conclusions, as you remember other possible interpretations, but you'll think of it.
You'll certainly remember that this house is traditionally associated with "anguish of mind", and you don't need a PhD to know that a lot of our human anxieties are directly connected with our simultaneous desire and fear to connect intimately. We want to see and be seen, and valued, by at least one valued partner.
Our sense of self worth is at stake especially in the context of being naked, body and soul, with someone whose opinion of us matters. The issue is as mythically old as Adam and Eve.
How could sexuality belong to one house only?
The need for simple and clear definitions of the houses is squared by the complexity of reality; the fifth house of fun and children is squared by the eighth of death, anguish of mind and other people's money.
Psychological astrologers know that there is more to "money" than bank accounts. When you ‘pay someone back in their own coin’, the money is transactional, but not literal.
The second house has to do with self-worth, and it is opposed by the eighth - what you are worth in other people's accounts. You can't push sexuality out of this arena.
Nota Bene: Sexuality involves much more than intercourse.
Another point:
In her book, Deborah Houlding takes issue with the modern view, supported especially by Howard Sasportas, that the twelve houses describe a developmental pattern, in the order of their numbering.
She is right when she describes the origin of the meaning of the houses with the primary motion of the Sun, from East to West, above the horizon. This clockwise movement goes through the houses in the reverse order of their numbering.
(For Beginners: in a chart, the Ascendant (AC) is East, the Descendant (DC) is West, all planets rise in the East, go up, culminate at the MC (Medium Coeli, or Midheaven) and set in the West. This is the ‘primary motion’, due to the rotation of the earth on its axis, at the speed of days. But planets travel through the zodiac in the opposite direction, anticlockwise, each one at their own speed: it takes one year for the Sun to go through the whole zodiac. )
However, to deny the importance of following the cycle of the houses from first to twelfth, you need to forget that all transits and progressions go through the houses in that order. A transit or a progression through the eighth house will always follow a transit through the seventh.
In the seventh, we meet another and become partners. As soon as two people meet up and get involved together into something, be it for a day, a night, a couple of months or for life, it's a seventh house matter. What happens next happens in the eighth.
If a psychological, evolutionary, modern astrologer like me comes across a natal chart with a busy eighth house, I won't think that this person's life will be spent having sex. But I'll think there is a need to explore what's going on deep inside and more often than not, sexuality has something to do with it.
A tactful, non intrusive approach is necessary. Boundaries and defense mechanisms must be respected.
Have a good day! Don’t hesitate to comment, share, ask questions if you have.
Jean-Marc
I do readings, I offer affordable tasters, I teach astrology, I offer also active listening. Visit my website and tell me what you think of my presentation. Feedback welcome, thank you!
I could see sex in the 8th in the sense that other people's bodies, experiences and "skills" are a "resource" that belongs to them and that they might "share" with us.
I could see how a sex/8th house connection might be especially important for sex workers and their clients. I could also see how sex/sexual attention, could function in marriage as something "owed' or even offered as a kind of alms. This is a sad thing but it is a real thing.
I think if I saw a busy 8th in relation to sex or sexuality I might look at some other areas of life for a deeper sense of why.
This is an interesting thing to think about.
I have long held a theory that people’s relationship to money is mirrored in their relationship to sex. And vice versa. Going beyond just having sex or not, what is the quality behind it? Is there passion, intimacy, trust, etc? Is it a space of true creation and bond? Similarly, money and one’s experience of it comes down to the same questions for me. Maybe that’s the interconnectedness of the 8H that speaks to the psychological dynamics and the 5H ability to create with passion, creativity, authenticity.