6 Things You May Not Know about Pluto

At a conference banquet years ago, Bil Tierney conducted a mini-roast and dubbed me Our
Lady of Pluto. Healing Pluto Problems may be my best-selling book of all time. First
published in 1986, the hardcopy version remains in print in English and several other
languages. People are still writing and calling to say that the insights it gave affected them
profoundly and put them on a path to transformation. (Its available
through redwheelweiser.com at 1-800-423-7087.)
Im glad the book is still helping people, but I wish I had the stamina to update it and put out
a new edition. It would have much more information about the healing tools Ive learned in
the 23 years since it was publishedtools like flower remedies, homeopathy, and lightwork
that can accelerate the process of insight and releasing old psychological scars.
It would give you more of a longitudinal picture of what Plutonian people are capable of as
they mature and grow. Ive learned a great deal more myself over the past 23 years, livin la
vida Pluto. Some of what Ive learned is shared in my ebooks (available at Moon Maven
Publications), and to give you a taste of the new insights, here are a few excerpts:
From a Chapter about Pluto in the career houses (2nd, 6th, or 10th) in The Outer Planets
as Vocational Indicators (The Outer Planets and Inner Life, v.1):
The house Pluto occupies in the birth chart can represent areas of life where we fail for
spite. That is, we may chronically set ourselves up to fail in those areas in ways that are
painful, frustrating, and mystifying to us on a conscious level. On the unconscious level, the
motive is often to get back at potent childhood figures who considered that area crucial. The
behavior is self-destructive, like the scorpions sting. For some Plutonians, however,
extracting vengeance is more important than doing well.
With Pluto in the vocational houses, failing in the career can embarrass the parent or other
authority figure, a form of revenge. (You said Id never make anything of myself. Well, Ill
show you.) Parents cant control whether their offspring succeed or not, and the more
parents demand success, the greater the sting when their offspring fail.
From a chapter about Venus-Pluto aspects in Outer Planet Aspects to Venus and Mars.
(The Outer Planets and Inner Life, v.2)
In lists of famous people with Venus-Pluto aspects, you find many who married well in
order to do some dynasty building. In researching the charts of the wives of presidents and
politicians, I was fascinated to see how many of them had Venus in combination with Pluto
so many that I dubbed it the First Lady Aspect.
Those who have it include Pat Nixon and Betty Ford with the trine and Eleanor Roosevelt,
Hillary Clinton, and Maria Shriverfirst lady of Californiawith the square. Many British
Royals share the aspectElizabeth II, Charles, Philip, Sarah, Duchess of York, and Prince
Edwards wife, Sophie Rhys-Jones. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has the trine, and by all
accounts his wife has been an excellent support in his career.
One superb use of a Venus-Pluto aspect is as a heart healer on a professional level. Selfhelp guru John Bradshaw, who taught so eloquently of the shame that comes from growing
up in an alcoholic household, had Venus and Pluto conjunct in Cancer in the 3 rd house.
Psychologist Arthur Janov, who also had the conjunction in Cancer in the 3 rd, the house of
communication, developed a technique called The Primal Screama quite literal expression
of the aspect. Betty Fords dedication to helping people recover from addiction can be seen in
her close trine between Pluto in Cancer and an exalted Venus in Pisces.

For all of us, love can be a healing vital force in transforming ourselves, so there are those
with Venus-Pluto aspects whose loving hearts help heal those who are fortunate enough to
encounter them. That possibility is realized when love heals rather than rescuesempowers
rather than enslaves. People who are able to do that are the Venus-Pluto folks who love you
and then let you goit is those who love and then take hostages that represent the more
troubled side of these aspects.
From Aspects between the Outer Planets: (The Outer Planets and Inner Life, v.3):
The generation born with Pluto in Libra during parts of 1971-84 was the first to experience
widespread fragmentation of the family. As they grew up, divorce statistics gradually reached
as high as 50% in some areas of the U.S. With Libra as a keynote, many of those with Pluto
prominent labored to keep peace between their warring parents. They were often caught in
the middle in a bitter aftermath, suffering through stressful situations such as dual custody,
their parents serial marriages, multiple step-parents, and fathers who moved away and lost
contact following the divorce.
Even if their own families remained intact, they had friends, classmates, and cousins who
suffered such losses and who struggled to adjust to a divided family. Their expectations about
commitment were shaped by this climate. Those with the Saturn-Pluto conjunction were
among the youngest and thus could have been affected at an earlier stage of development
stage by a family breakup, Many of them were grief-stricken, and, as a result, fearful of
getting involved in adult partnerships.
For the Pluto in Libra generation, attractiveness, even physical perfection, is a talisman
against romantic woes. Though this particular talisman works no better than most, these
people can be obsessed with looks and with costly, ever-changing fashion. The incidence of
anorexia and bulimia continues to rise, and breast implants are a growth industry, even among
teens. From childhood on, the media has bombarded them with the message that the only way
to find love and social acceptance is to be beautiful. For those who fall short of this ideal, the
cost in self-esteem is immense.

10 Things You May Not Know about Solar Returns

Today is my 68th birthday, but yesterday was my solar return. Its apparently a tradition
among astrology bloggers to write a piece about solar returns on their birthday. Thats what I
discovered when I used the handy WordPress internal search engine to see who had written
about this tropic.
In the hopes of, just this once, being socially and politically correct, I decided to follow suit
with this miscellany of little-known acts about our annual birthday charts.
Why your solar return may or may not be on your actual birthday: In a 4-year cycle, the
date and time of the solar return chart may occur anywhere from a day before to a day after
your calendar birthday. Thats for the same reason we have The Leap Year and Leap Day
February 29 every 4 years. The year is not really 365 days but 365 .
For many people, the SR Ascendant and house cusps are also on a 4-year cycle in which
the Rising sign in the natal chart is regularly repeated. I dont understand the math on that,
but I do interpret any repetition of the degrees, houses placements, and features of the natal
chart as significant intervals. Theyre like a highlighter pen that calls our attention to those
particular features and the patterns in our lives they represent.
It is said that your solar return starts taking effect 3 months before your birthday. The
older astrologers taught us that you could feel the vibe of the solar return coming in way

before the birthday. In years of observation, it does seem true, but this may be entirely
subjectivity/suggestibility. OR it may be related to the fact that solar return aspects are related
to slower-moving transits.
The Solar Return is a frozen slice of the transits you have around your birthday. In this
chart, you are highly likely to see aspects that mirror the themes of transiting planets,
especially the slower-moving outer planets that may not move more than 2-3 in a year. This
is especially true of aspects to the Sun, but since Venus and Mercury are always close to the
Sun, theyre likely to repeat as well.
In my view, transits are a better predictive tool than Solar Returns, so I seldom did them
for clients unless they specifically asked. Nothing happens by a solar return, progression,
eclipse or other variation that is not promised in the natal chart and confirmed by
transits, so dont get freaked out about your solar return.
Solar Returns arent based on your place of birth, but your location, though there are
purists who only calculate it for the birthplace. Purists are always troubleanother bone of
contention is about something called a precessed SR vs. the usual SR. One reader wrote to
ask if Id ever used the geocentric precessed chart, which Id never heard of.
I think it really doesnt matter WHICH solar return you use. What I believe is that whatever
the astrologer believes works, works. Were really just tuning into the planetary energies, and
theyre talking to us. The piece of paper called an astrology chart is merely a sort of mandala
that gets us there. Hmm. Thats a radical belief that Ive just articulated for the first time.
Its kind of like the Tarot and all the scads of more modern decks. They all work too, if you
believe in them and use them as a tool to attune to the person.
Entire astrology practices are based on telling clients where to travel in order to get the best
solar return chart. Dont like that Pluto in the 10 th in your solar return? Find a better house
placement and go there. In order for that chart to take effect, you need to stay a day and a half
before through a day and a half after, so pack for 3 days.
Does it work or is it only a placebo effect? Is it just high astrological drama of a most selfindulgent nature? Well, Ive done it any number of times when there were owies in mission
critical houses, and it made a big difference in the outcome. I chalk it up to the power of
intention and of manifestation through commitment. (If youre interested in using this
technique, Continuum has a list of certified Astro*Carto*Graphy practitioners and a library of
over 50 articles about relocation techniques here: Relocation Astrology Information and
Practitioners.)
If there were ever a reason to want to travel to a better location for the SR, this would be it:
All Solar Returns between June and September this year contain the Cardinal t-square
of Pluto, Saturn, and Uranus. If your solar return looks terrible, it may be some comfort to
know that you arent being singled out for some Cosmic Pigeon Poop.
Were all being buffeted by the current social, economic, political and environmental crises to
some degree, but the extent it affects us personally is based on our individual charts. The
houses that are involved in the t-square natally and in the SR chart can show us where we
need to take action.
You can progress the Solar Return to find out the periods of peak activity between
birthdays. Move the 4 angles of the SR chart (Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant, and IC)
forward in the zodiac 1 per day to find the approximate intervals when issues suggested by
solar return aspects will heat up and become important to deal with.

Thus, a particular sticking point in the solar return will peak in importance about 4 times in
the yearbut so will a lucky or promising feature.
(The quick and dirty version would
be to move the angle ahead one sign per month since the birthday+3 months=3 signs
forward.)
Way more Cancerians and Leos will celebrate their solar return this year than
Capricorns and Aquarians.
Is that because we Crabs are such sentimental slobs and Leos love to be the life of the party?
Nope, its a statistical fact I happened across in dry, dull Census Bureau publications. They
tracked a pattern of birth rate highs and lows that had marked peaks in the summer months
and marked valleys in the winter months[1]. These findings have been consistent for at least a
century.
The result is that there are far more Taureans, Geminis, Cancers, and Leos than there are
Sagittarians, Capricorns, Aquarians, and Pisces. So if youre marketing zodiac jewelry, tshirts, birthday cards, or other merchandise, adjust your stock accordingly.

10 Things You May not Know about Uranus

In 40 years of observing life through the lens of astrology, Ive learned many valuable things
about human beings. Some of what Ive learned is shared in my ebooks (available at Moon
Maven Publications), and to give you a taste of the new insights, here are a few brief excerpts
focused on the planet Uranus and what it means in the birth chart.
From An Astrological Guide to Self-Awareness, a thoroughly updated 2004 Edition of my
classic text, now in ebook form:
How dull our lives would be without Uranus! It is the planetary force in our horoscopes that
blasts us out of a rut when were too apathetic or fearful to make a needed change.
Astrologers say about Uranus transits that you should expect the unexpected, for you can
almost count on unusual and unforeseen events. It is also the planet of individuality, the force
that keeps us from being monotonous clones of one another.
.Like Saturn and Mars, Uranus has the reputation of being a malefic; no doubt because its
human to fear change and to suspect those who are different. As we will discover, however,
Uranus is the much-needed urge within the human soul to keep moving forward to new and
ever-higher levels of consciousness, rather than to stagnate. It is the planet of scientific
discovery and of inventions. Without that part of our psyches, humanity would have remained
in the Stone Age!
Individuation is the process of becoming progressively an individual in our own right. Its
inevitable to some degree in every life, however involuntary it may be. Many of us are afraid
to leave our personal wombsincluding the safe but confining family circle, the secure but
boring job, or the familiar but limited patterns of thought. Uranian people (and people under
Uranus transits) have little choice but to strike out on their ownthey are impelled to action
by restlessness, a creative itch, and a discomfort with the status quo.
.They are pushed to greater and greater individuation, through increasingly ethereal but no
less difficult birth canals. The greater the degree of individuation, however, the more starkly
such people stand out against the conforming masses, and the more vulnerable they become
to societys fear of people who are different. It is an achingly lonely position. Fromm says

that the higher the pinnacle of individuation we reach, the greater the corresponding urge to
blend back into the safe and comforting crowd.
From Astrological Analysis: Selected Topics in Chart Interpretation
In the house where Uranus is located, people show their unconventional side by frequently
doing things that fly in the face of convention in matters related to that house. With Uranus in
the 3rd house, for instance, such people often embrace and speak or write about
unconventional, modern, or even radical points of view, though their viewpoint would tend to
shift dramatically from time to time. With Uranus in the 11th, they would have friendships
with unusual, eccentric, or even rebellious types, with new people coming and going
frequently.
. People with VenusUranus aspects usually have a unique sense of style, to put it mildly.
They are in no sense part of the mainstream, though the mainstream often winds up following
their trend-setting creations. Examples include Richard Simmons, Carrot Top, Elton John,
Princess Diana, Queen Latifah, and Michael Jackson. (Astrological Analysis: Selected Topics
in Chart Interpretation)
From The Outer Planets as Vocational IndicatorsThe Outer Planets and Inner Life, v.1
The career track would seldom be traditional when the 10 th house features Uranus, Neptune,
or Pluto or the signs those planets ruleAquarius, Pisces, or Scorpio. Typically, it takes
people with these chart placements longer to find their true vocation, since they are
challenged to integrate the energy of that outer planet into the workplace, merging the
transpersonal with the vocational. For instance, people with Uranus near the Midheaven
might gain recognition by shocking us and shaking up the status quo. People with Neptune
near the Midheavensay within 10 of it, might yearn for a career that is artistic and
creative.
. Uranians resumes tend to be full of mysterious gaps that give job interviewers the
willies, and their references tend to be friends or colleagues rather than past employers. They
tend to change jobs frequently and suddenly, particularly when bosses clamp down on them.
Transiting Uranus is often the impetus for their vocational shifts, for it increases the
restlessness and the need to adhere to their own authority rather than rather than former
supervisors. However, theyre seldom jobless for long unless they want to be, because theyre
usually so bright at what they do that they dazzle potential employers into ignoring the
personnel officers red flags of warning. (Theyre also inventive enough to come up with
plausible reasons for their spotty job history.)
Over time, they tend to change careers as well, when they no longer find their old field
challenging enough or when technology evolves in interesting new directions. They get bored
with what theyre doing and move on. Alternately, the trend changes and their fifteen minutes
of fame are up, and theyre back on the path of exploration and experimentation that
characterizes their work life.
From Outer Planet Aspects to Venus and MarsThe Outer Planets and Inner Life, v.2:
Uranian types are often gifted with flair and popular appeal. They tend to be unusual,
unpredictable, unconventional, inventive, avant-garde, and even brilliant. You may wonder
what Mars adds to the picture. When a Mars-Uranus aspect is in high focus, the native would
work to blend Mars issues into the mix such as energy, drive, leadership, initiative,
competitiveness, sexuality, interpersonal conflict, and anger.

.Gifted Uranians are ahead of their times in their work, beliefs, and visions, but Mars
Uranus types are more driven to convert others to their point of view or way of doing things
or to do battle with those who disagree. VenusUranus individuals like Princess Diana,
Angelina Jolie, and Susan Sarandon can win converts through exceptional charm and
unusual, luminous beauty, but MarsUranus individuals like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck
Norris, and Jesse Ventura are more likely to flex their (literal or figurative) muscles and
growl.
From Aspects between the Outer PlanetsThe Outer Planets and Inner Life, v.3:
In trying to understand the charts of young people born between 1988-98 with Uranus and
Neptune conjunct, it helps to take a longer view of their potential. The same aspects that are
problematic in the life of a child often wind up being exactly what theyll need as adults
Uranian traits like independence and thinking outside the box, or Neptunian traits like
empathy and imagination. In particular, the Capricorn phase of the Uranus-Neptune
conjunction seems to give them an adult awareness of our severe global problems, coupled
with feeling overwhelmed and powerless to take action. As adults, theyll have the skills to
make a difference.

Things You May Not Know about the 3rd and 12th Houses
You could study the houses of the horoscope for a lifetime and still not know all there is to
know about them. Theyre an endless source of information about yourself and anyone whose
chart youre examining. Today Id like to share some secrets Ive learned over the years
about two of the cadent houses, the 3rd and 12th.
Cadent houses (3, 6, 9, and 12) lend themselves to secrets. Theyre not like the angular
houses (1, 4, 7, and 10), which represent the external factors that jump out at you right away.
Theyre what you find out about a person in a five minute conversation at a party. Youd
notice what they look like and how they come across (1 st), check out the ring finger to see if
theyre married (7th), and ask where they live(4th) and what they do for a living (10th).
The qualities of the cadent houses are more inward and not so noticeable. Youd have to
study a person for a while before you added the things those houses represent to your mental
file about them. But are they less important in forming who we are? I think not. Here are
some surprising things Ive learned about two of the houses, the 3rd and the 12th.
The Third House and Jack Nicholsons Family Secret

The 3rd house represents communication patterns, thinking and learning style, siblings and
near relatives, neighbors, basic coursework, commuting. My jobs in social work involved
taking a family history, and my astrological consultations often brought up problems with
brothers and sisters. Thus, I tended to note how the influence of siblings was reflected in the
3rd house.
The Moon in the 3rd house always turned out to be highly significant. With this placement,
siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins may have taken on parental roles, often due to the mothers
immaturity. If you have it, sometimes its you who acted as a parent surrogate to younger
sibs; sometimes an older might have acted as Mom to you. At any rate, it results in a powerful
and influential tie that lasts well into adulthood.
Whether the tie was essentially positive or not depends on the Moons sign and aspects. With
Moon in Aries, there was likely to be a strong sibling rivalry and incessant conflict. With
Moon in Libra, it was likely to be a very loving connection. At best, you are likely to have the
equivalent of two Moms, one much younger and longer-lived, and you are likely to have a
strong and supportive extended family.
I enjoy watching the biographies on A&E on Sunday morning, and often Ill drag out the
persons chart and compare it to the early years they describe. One morning the bio was about
that irrepressible bad boy, Jack Nicholson. Right away I noted his 3 rd house Moon and
wondered how that played out in his family life.
(He was born April 22, 1937 at 11:20 AM, from his memory. His place of birth was
NEPTUNENew Jersey, that is. (You can see his birth chart and biography here Nicholson,
Jack, but if you do that, youll miss out on the secrets of the 12th. Ill repeat the link later.)
Theyre great storytellers, the writers for these biographies, and so they gave one little clue
after another about a secret in Jacks background. They stressed how much he loved his older
sister Jean, and how much he missed her when she went to Hollywood and became a
showgirl. When he decided to become an actor, he went to Hollywood and lived with her
until he started getting enough roles to support himself.
They continued to be close until her death, which devastated him. It wasnt until his mother
died, when he was 37 that he discovered the truththat Jean was actually his mother! She
was only 17 when she had him, so they concealed the pregnancy and claimed Jeans mother
had given birth to him.
In this case, then, the 3rd house Moon meant that his sister literally WAS his mother. If you
know any other cases where this is true, Id love to hear about them.A Not-So-Secret Sector
of the 12th House
My readers evidently cant get enough about the 12 th house. One of the top 5 posts of all time
on this blog is 7 Secrets You May not Know about the 12th House, and my other articles
about the 12th continue to do well, too. This tricky house represents matters that are repressed
or hidden, self-defeating behavior, chronic illness, chronic illness and care facilities, selfless
service, retreats, and the quest to learn secret spiritual and mystical truths.

Recently, a reader wrote to ask about a Pluto transit to her Uranus in the 12 th and why so
many secrets were coming to light. I told her that a 12 th house Uranus represents parts of
yourself that are so different that you believe it wouldnt be social acceptable if you showed it
to othersthat it would either get you in trouble with authorities or else youd be a social
outcast.
What I can imagine happening during a transit to a 12th house Uranus would be that you no
longer feel like you have to keep the real you hidden from the world. Under a transit from
Pluto to Uranus, youd just no longer care what people thoughtor you would, but you
wouldnt be able to suppress your truth any more.
Another thing shown by 12th house planets is secrets youve kept even from yourself. Early
on, most likely in adolescence since thats one of the more Uranian periods of development,
you found those thoughts or urges so unacceptable that you pushed them down into the
unconscious and didnt allow yourself to know they were part of you. With transits,
especially from the probing eye of Pluto, those secrets come and stare you in the face, and
denial is stripped away.
An especially interesting sector of the 12th house is the 10 or so just before the Ascendant
any planet there is actually conjunct the Ascendant. Whats difficult about having any planet
there, but especially Uranus, is that the person tries desperately to hide the part of themselves
that planet represents.
Alas, its no secret at allit pops up strongly in moments of self-sabotage, and then the truth
is glaringly obvious to the world at large. People cut you even less slack than if you were
open about yourself because those revelations make you look like a hypocrite or sneak for
hiding the information in the first place. If youre famous, you have to go to rehab for it.
No doubt youre wondering about the other two cadent houses, the 6 th and the 9th. Oh, Ill
write about them sometime, but not today. Until then, theyll remain my little secret. What
about you readers? What do you know thats interesting about the 3 rd or 12th houses? Tell us
in the comment section.
You could study the houses of the horoscope for a lifetime and still not know all there is to
know about them. Theyre an endless source of information about yourself and anyone whose
chart youre examining. Today Id like to share some secrets Ive learned over the years
about two of the cadent houses, the 3rd and 12th.
Cadent houses (3, 6, 9, and 12) lend themselves to secrets. Theyre not like the angular
houses (1, 4, 7, and 10), which represent the external factors that jump out at you right away.
Theyre what you find out about a person in a five minute conversation at a party. Youd
notice what they look like and how they come across (1 st), check out the ring finger to see if
theyre married (7th), and ask where they live(4th) and what they do for a living (10th).

The qualities of the cadent houses are more inward and not so noticeable. Youd have to
study a person for a while before you added the things those houses represent to your mental
file about them. But are they less important in forming who we are? I think not. Here are
some surprising things Ive learned about two of the houses, the 3rd and the 12th.
The Third House and Jack Nicholsons Family Secret

The 3rd house represents communication patterns, thinking and learning style, siblings and
near relatives, neighbors, basic coursework, commuting. My jobs in social work involved
taking a family history, and my astrological consultations often brought up problems with
brothers and sisters. Thus, I tended to note how the influence of siblings was reflected in the
3rd house.
The Moon in the 3rd house always turned out to be highly significant. With this placement,
siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins may have taken on parental roles, often due to the mothers
immaturity. If you have it, sometimes its you who acted as a parent surrogate to younger
sibs; sometimes an older might have acted as Mom to you. At any rate, it results in a powerful
and influential tie that lasts well into adulthood.
Whether the tie was essentially positive or not depends on the Moons sign and aspects. With
Moon in Aries, there was likely to be a strong sibling rivalry and incessant conflict. With
Moon in Libra, it was likely to be a very loving connection. At best, you are likely to have the
equivalent of two Moms, one much younger and longer-lived, and you are likely to have a
strong and supportive extended family.
I enjoy watching the biographies on A&E on Sunday morning, and often Ill drag out the
persons chart and compare it to the early years they describe. One morning the bio was about
that irrepressible bad boy, Jack Nicholson. Right away I noted his 3 rd house Moon and
wondered how that played out in his family life.
(He was born April 22, 1937 at 11:20 AM, from his memory. His place of birth was
NEPTUNENew Jersey, that is. (You can see his birth chart and biography here Nicholson,
Jack, but if you do that, youll miss out on the secrets of the 12th. Ill repeat the link later.)
Theyre great storytellers, the writers for these biographies, and so they gave one little clue
after another about a secret in Jacks background. They stressed how much he loved his older
sister Jean, and how much he missed her when she went to Hollywood and became a
showgirl. When he decided to become an actor, he went to Hollywood and lived with her
until he started getting enough roles to support himself.
They continued to be close until her death, which devastated him. It wasnt until his mother
died, when he was 37 that he discovered the truththat Jean was actually his mother! She
was only 17 when she had him, so they concealed the pregnancy and claimed Jeans mother
had given birth to him.

In this case, then, the 3rd house Moon meant that his sister literally WAS his mother. If you
know any other cases where this is true, Id love to hear about them.A Not-So-Secret Sector
of the 12th House
My readers evidently cant get enough about the 12 th house. One of the top 5 posts of all time
on this blog is 7 Secrets You May not Know about the 12th House, and my other articles
about the 12th continue to do well, too. This tricky house represents matters that are repressed
or hidden, self-defeating behavior, chronic illness, chronic illness and care facilities, selfless
service, retreats, and the quest to learn secret spiritual and mystical truths.

Recently, a reader wrote to ask about a Pluto transit to her Uranus in the 12 th and why so
many secrets were coming to light. I told her that a 12 th house Uranus represents parts of
yourself that are so different that you believe it wouldnt be social acceptable if you showed it
to othersthat it would either get you in trouble with authorities or else youd be a social
outcast.
What I can imagine happening during a transit to a 12th house Uranus would be that you no
longer feel like you have to keep the real you hidden from the world. Under a transit from
Pluto to Uranus, youd just no longer care what people thoughtor you would, but you
wouldnt be able to suppress your truth any more.
Another thing shown by 12th house planets is secrets youve kept even from yourself. Early
on, most likely in adolescence since thats one of the more Uranian periods of development,
you found those thoughts or urges so unacceptable that you pushed them down into the
unconscious and didnt allow yourself to know they were part of you. With transits,
especially from the probing eye of Pluto, those secrets come and stare you in the face, and
denial is stripped away.
An especially interesting sector of the 12th house is the 10 or so just before the Ascendant
any planet there is actually conjunct the Ascendant. Whats difficult about having any
planet there, but especially Uranus, is that the person tries desperately to hide the part of
themselves that planet represents.
Alas, its no secret at allit pops up strongly in moments of self-sabotage, and then the truth
is glaringly obvious to the world at large. People cut you even less slack than if you were
open about yourself because those revelations make you look like a hypocrite or sneak for
hiding the information in the first place. If youre famous, you have to go to rehab for it.
No doubt youre wondering about the other two cadent houses, the 6 th and the 9th. Oh, Ill
write about them sometime, but not today. Until then, theyll remain my little secret. What
about you readers? What do you know thats interesting about the 3 rd or 12th houses? Tell us
in the comment section.

Note: Thanks to Mimi Boothby, whose suggestion of articles on the 5th house won honorable

mention in our contest to find new series topics.

Among an array of pleasurable things, the 5th house is your children. The planets, signs, and
aspects in that house describe your children as well as your relationship with them.
If you have more than one child, it still shows ALL your children and whats going on
with them. For instance, my mother had Moon in Aquarius in the 5th (a full Moon with her
Leo Sun) and had three children, all described by Aquarius or Uranus:

My brother had Sun, Venus, and Mercury conjunct in Aquarius

My sister had Aquarius Rising
Im an astrologer, thus a Uranian type, with Uranus semisquare the Moon and
Midheaven

Whats important to understand, however, is that the relationship is the crux of the
matterthe 5th house planet doesnt so much describe the child in totality as a human
being as it does how the parent perceives/receives the child.

Over the years, Ive often had occasion to look at the charts of people who belong to the
same family. Ive come to believe that many families have a ruling planetone that is

prominent in all their charts and that describes the family composition and history in a
nutshell.
My familys ruling planet is Uranus. Youve read about the childrens charts above. My
mother not only had an Aquarian Moon but had a Yod with Uranus in Pisces at the peak. My
father had Jupiter, Uranus, and the Midheaven in Aquarius all within 1 of one another. Were
we a conventional family? Not on your life!
You may suspect what that ruling planet is if several members of your family share a
particular gift like musicor a particular affliction like dyslexia.
Still, your children are different from one another in important ways, so how does that
show up in your chart?
For one thing, if you have more than one planet in the 5th, it can indicate more than one
child and may even indicate each childs gender and nature. Lets say the earliest planet is the
Moon and the second is Marsmost likely the earlier one is a girl and the second is a boy.
However, that combination might instead indicate that the older is a Cancer and the second is
an Aries. Or it might describe their temperamentsone being lunar and the other like
Mars. You may even discover, as you follow your chart over time, that transits to the first
planet represent one child and transits to the second represent the other.
(If youd like to look back at past transits to your 5th, download my handy Transit Tracking
Table for 1990-2012.)
However, the elaborateand confusingsystem of derivative houses holds that the 1 st
child is represented by the 5th house, the 2nd child is shown by the 7th house, and so on:
Children are thought to be a 5 th house issue. These would be natural children of the body
(kids) or the mind (creativity). The oldest child is also described by the 5 th. The second child
would be the 7th house along with the 5th. This 7th house child would be most like your spouse.
The third child would be the 9th house along with the 5th, and so forth around the chart. If
you were to have 5 children, the 5th child would be most like you because that child would be
represented by the 5th and the 1st houses. Children of your spouse, adopted children, fostering
of children are each represented by your 11th house. Marilyn Muir in The Family The
People of the Astrological Houses
(For more information about this system, see Derivative house Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia.)
What if the 5th house is empty? Will you be childless?
An empty house doesnt mean youll never have what it represents, it just means that its not
your priority in life. Our energy and attention goes to the houses that have planets in them,
especially any that have two or more. When a planet transits an empty house, then events
tend to happen related to that house.
So if you have transits to the 5th, you MIGHT have a child OR children might become
important in some other way. For instance you might become an aunt and fall head over heels
crazy about the baby. Or you might get a job where service to children is involved.

Heres something Ive wondered about. What does the 5th house look like if you have
an only child? Saturn in the 5th? Anybody? I know that traditionally, Saturn in the 5th may
indicate children coming late in life or difficulty in having children.

What about Grandchildren?

I would even go so far as to say that the 5th house shows your childrens children, at least
during 5th house transits. Saturn transits often show new roles you assume. When traveling
through the 5th, it can show you taking on the role of grandparent, especially at the birth of
first or significant grandchildren.
Outer planet transits to one of your 5th house planets may show a grandchild, especially one
you wind up being deeply involved with. (Again, the derivative house setup is different,
according to Muir, and places grandchildren in your 9th house.)

What does a 5th house Sun indicate?

Though this is by no means universally true, Ive known any number of 5th house Suns who
were the favored child, especially with male offspring. Unless there are difficult aspects, they
were the adored child, the one who could do no wrong, and unfortunately they were never
encouraged to grow up.
Men with this placement may expect their wives and sweethearts to spoil them like Mama
did, and so it may be hard for them to adjust to adult responsibilities.
(Spoiled children generally grow up to be spoiled adults, expecting the world to indulge
them like their doting parents and grandparents did, and throwing tantrums when they dont
get their way. Its never a favor to spoil a child.)
Careers involving children like daycare or pediatric nursing can be seen in the 5 th house,
especially where:

the Midheaven (10th house) ruler is placed in the 5th

a planet that aspects the Midheaven is placed in the 5th or
the 5th house ruler is placed in the 10th.

A Saturn transit to the 5th can show taking on responsibility for children, in this instance a
professional responsibility. I babysat constantly during my teen years while Saturn transited
my 5th. I then had nothing to do with children until Saturn again transited my 5th, a two-year
period when I worked with schoolchildren in a psychiatric clinic.
Doing writers charts has been one of my specialtiesand my joys. Any number of them
published childrens books during a Jupiter transit to their 5th.

Transits to 5th house planets can also show events in the lives of offspring.
Clients 5th house transits often coincided with a shift in one of their adult childrens lives. A
trine to a 5th house planet may occur when one of your adult children gets a promotion or
other positive career development. A difficult outer planet transit to one of your 5 th house
planets may reflect a difficult passage in their livesfor instance, a divorce under a Uranus
transit.
Tough 5th House Transits may coincide with difficult passages in your relationship with
a son or daughter.
Almost any time a client or advice column reader asks about a change for the worse in their
relationship with their children or an estrangement, it shows up in the 5 th house. This is true
regardless of their agesanything from teenage turbulence to a feud between a senior citizen
and a grown children.
The transiting planets pinpoint the major issues, although naturally I then do a chart
comparison to find out more about the stresses in their connection.

Want more insights into parent-child relationships? Sign up for a subscription, and get
a FREE EBOOKLET for Skywriter Subscribers Only: Mothers, Daughters, and the
Moon, a 50-page excerpt from The Moon in your Life. If youre already a subscriber and
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up for a subscription, go to the top right hand corner of the blog and click on Subscribe.

Then send me an email with your subscription confirmation or an email post with a request
for the booklet in the subject line.
Readers, do you have children, and what does your 5 th house show about them and
about your relationship with them? If you have more than one, does the derivative
house system describe how they are different? Share your observations with us in the
comment section.

Everything You Ever Wondered about the 8th House

We had a contest in December to come up with new series ideas, and todays topic was
suggested by one of the winners, VR.
I wrote a post about the 12th house right away, because so many people are fearful of their
placements there. (Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the 12th Housebut Were
Afraid to Ask.) )
Theres really only one other house that scares the bejayzus out of astrology loversthe 8 th.
Thats the house of sex, death, taxes, debts, and money that rightfully belongs to other people
and they only part with it if youre really, really nice to them.
And, yes, it can show rebirth, as well as transformation, regeneration, and healingnone of
which generally are required unless you go through some sort of horror story in the first
place.
So today,were talking about the 8th. Im really well qualified to discuss it because my South
Node is there. That means that Ive spent many, many lives hanging out in that house and,
hopefully, at age 68, have learned not to go there.
Humor alert: some of you may not know me well, so be advised not to take everything I
say in humor posts literally. When Im in a devilish mood, Ive been known to exaggerate and
even, occasionally, to make things up for a better story. Im in one of those moods today.
If I seem to focus on the darker side of the 8 th today, its to provide a balance to those
terminally positive astrologers who avert their eyes from any of the more difficult life
passages that the chart can portray.
To them, the 2nd is never about money, only about values, and the 8 th is never about death or
debts, only about transformation. And then when one of the tougher expressions of a transit
comes up, their clients are blindsided. (If youre one of them, see Astrologers Hang-ups

about MoneyHow they Hurt our Clients .)

Questionable Questions about the 8th House
Here are some questions about the 8 th that clients and advice column readers may or may not
have asked me over the years, with answers I may or may not have had the guts to give
them.

Who are the players in the 8th house?

Sexual partners. Gynecologists. People you share joint finances and resources with, like a
mate or business partner. Other sources of support like investors, trust fund executors, Social
Security or grant providers. Your CPA or investment counselor.
Dead people who stay in touch. People who put you in the willthen threaten to disinherit
you if you dont do what they say. Family members or sugar daddies who dole out money to
you, then make you pay, pay, pay.
Staff of institutions you owe money to, like banks, credit card companies, collection agencies,
or the IRS. Insurance agents. (I dont know about you, but I could do without most of these
individuals!)
I believe my about-to-be Ex is concealing assets so he wont have to pay so much
alimony. Can astrology tell me if my suspicions are correct?
A horary question could give you a yes or no answer, but wouldnt show such crucial details
as how much money is involved and where its hidden. For that, you wouldnt want an
astrologer, youd want a private investigator.
My brother-in-law has Neptune in the 8th natally, and hes pushing me to invest a lotta
bucks in what sounds like a sure-fire winner. My wife likes the idea, too. Should I do
it?
Whats his track record on sure-fire winners? Im guessing thereve been quite a few
almosts, and zip as far as winners. Check out his chart and your chart, but most of all, get
advice on the investment from someone who knows the field well. Send away for his credit
score. And be sure to get everything in writing and limit your liability for the business.

I happen to be well off, and my fianc has Mars

conjunct Pluto in the 8th. Is he a gold digger, is he hot for my body, or does he love me
for myself?
With any luck, he loves you for yourself AND is hot for your body. Still, youre advised to
see an astrologer for a chart comparison and a lawyer for a prenup.
I have Venus and Pluto conjunct, straddling the 7 th -8th house cusps. Could I marry a
millionaire?
I call that the First Lady aspect, as so many politicians wives either have Venus-Pluto or
Mars-Pluto
aspects
or
both:

Theyre also seen in the charts of other political wives like Maria Shriver and among the
British RoyalsElizabeth II, Sarah, Duchess of York, and Sophie Rhys-Jones. So, yeah, you
might marry upscale.

Be advised, however, that political husbands and the rich and powerful have very poor track
record on fidelity, and part of staying married to them is closing your eyes to that.

Transiting Pluto just entered my 8th and will be there for 160 years. Well, okay, 16. Will
I ever get out of debt?
How deep in debt are you, and how long did it take to get that far in? You can manage it,
absolutely, but it will doubtlessly requireas many Pluto transits doa radical shift in your
lifestyle and how you manage money.
And that radical shift, over the 16 years when Pluto is in the 8th will bring about a huge
transformation in your orientation toward the material plane. Pluto is in Capricorn now, and if
you have Capricorn on that house, youve probably got champagne tastes on a beer income
and decided years ago that going into debt was the way to live large.
I have natal Pluto in Libra in the 8th with transiting Saturn crossing it. How long do I
have?
No ethical western astrologer predicts death, but at your age (circa first Saturn Return), Id be
looking at other 8th house issues very closely. Have you been irresponsible about your sex
life, debts, your income tax, or taking money from family rather than being self-sustaining? If
so, its time to clean up your act before Saturn cleans your clock.

Can I cheat on my income tax and

get away with it?

Whatever planets you have in the 8th natally, you also need to look to transits and
progressions for the span of your working life. The answer is probably not, not over the long
haul, as Saturn eventually transits the 8th for all of us, and the I.R.S. doesnt play.
And even if you do, since the 8 th is also the house of Social Security, pensions, and other
entitlements, when the time comes to retire, youll have less of an income base. (See Living
Off the Booksan 8th House Quicksand .)
Jupiter in Aries is traveling through my 8th. Im applying for a grant to establish a
program for preschool boys to prepare them for the military. How are my chances?
What an appalling thought! Since you asked, the potentials of Jupiter transiting the 8 th
include a grant, scholarship, legal settlement, or advance on royalties. Id wish you well, but I
dont.
My baby boy has a stellium of planets in the 8th. Will he grow up to be a sex maniac?
None of your business. No childs 8th house and future sex life is his mothers business.
Concentrate on imparting a healthy attitude toward sexuality and a great respect for women.
Thats the best you can do.

I see dead people. Whats up with that?

The 8th house is a haunted house. Like it or not, youre a medium, or as theyre calling it
now, a ghost whisperer.
Astrologically, the charts of people with mediumship abilities most often have Pluto or the 8 th
house or both strong in their charts.
The ability usually opens up when someone important to you dies and provides an anchor on
the other side. Theres no opt out button for that, so you need to educate yourself on how to
shield and protect yourself as well as how to use this ability. Look for books on the internet
about mediumship and for spiritualist churches in your area. Watching Jennifer Love
Hewitt on Ghost Whisperer and Patricia Arquette on Medium does NOT count as training.
Readers, is it just me, or is there a decided sleaze factor to these 8th house questions? A
better title for this piece would have been. Everything youve wanted to ask your astrologer
about the 8th house but were too embarassed.
Okay, I confess, nobody really ever asked me questions quite like these. But Ill bet they
thought them all the same. Here are the real questions Readers asked when we had an open
Q&A session about this house: Readers Ask: Q&A about the 8th House.

7 Secrets You May not Know about the 12th House

The 12th house is one of the more mysterious territories of the birth chart, and possibly the
least understood. As you probe its secrets, you may find hidden gold. Or, as well see with the
chart of former senator John Edwards, you may find dirty laundryor both. For people on a
path of self-discovery, pondering your 12th produces important insights into your shadow side
and into the ways you shoot yourself in the foot.
As an astrologer, counselor, or healer, the clients 12th may shed a great deal of light on
sources of compulsive behaviors and self-sabotage that your work together can address.
Probing it sensitively when a client is ready for change can result in a deep healing.
However, you should never, ever force such revelations on clients who resist them, for you
can force their secrets even deeper into hiding and increase their resistance to going for help
in the future. Trust that their resistance is the psyches wise way of protecting itself until all

the ingredients are present for a healing.

The 12th house reveals a Rising Signs hidden agendas. My early mentor, Rod Chase used
a technique of studying the 12 signs in which he placed each one in turn on the 1 st house and
the following signs in turn around the 2 nd, 3rd, and so on. The 12th house sign would be the
one immediately before the sign on the first.
For instance, with Sagittarius Rising, Scorpio would be on the 12 th. Thus you might discern
that Sagittarius preaching about morality, ethics, or religion may conceal a desire to control
others or the self. Leo Rising puts Cancer on the 12th, and behind the show of seeming
confidence and even conceit lies a great deal of shyness and insecuritythats why they need
so much applause. You can learn a great deal about any Rising sign by using his technique.
The 12th house is the house of secrets. In your birth chart, this house shows what you keep
hidden from the worldthe things youd rather people didnt know about you. If theres
nothing placed in the 12th, you probably dont have any major secrets, just some of the less
wonderful traits of the sign on the cusp that you try to keep from showing others. However,
any planets in that houseincluding their sign and aspectscan show major sources of diffi

culty. There can be a good deal of shame attached to matters

depicted by that house, and thats why youd rather not reveal them.
There lie the secrets you hide from yourself. Along with the Moon and the planet Neptune,
the 12th shows things about yourself that are unconscious and thus not readily dealt with. In
these unconscious urges, emotions, and memories lie the seeds of neurosis.
Your Secrets can be the source of self-undoing. When it comes to shooting yourself in foot,
the 12th house should be #1 on your suspect list. Whenever you get to the point of asking
yourself, WHY, WHY, WHY do I keep doing that to myself, thats the time when you need
someone wise and knowledgeable about astrologyand human natureto take an unbiased
look at your chart. We can seldom be that objective about our own charts and especially
about the 12th house.
The closer a 12th house planet is to the Ascendant, the less of a secret it really is! A 12th
house planet that is conjunct the Ascendant within 10 is much more apparent to people
around you and the world at large than you believe. Youre probably not fooling anyone but
yourself, even if they dont call you on it. An example would be the flamboyantly gay but
closeted person who believes that if they dont talk about it no one will know.
During a transit to 12th house planets, the secret will come out. When politicians dirty
secrets are revealed, their careers usually go down in flames. A recent example was Senator
John Edwards, a promising Democratic candidate in the 2008 presidential campaignI was
all prepared to vote for him in the primary. The AstroDatabank Record for Edwards, John
notes that he was born June 10, 1953, in Seneca, SC. His mother gave his time of birth to a
campaign staffer as 7:02 AM EST, but his wife later gave it as 7:23 AM. In either case, the
resulting chart shows a 12th house trio of planetsthe Sun and Mars conjunct in late Gemini
and Mercury in Cancer.

He withdrew from the presidential race on January 30, 2008. That summer, when the
National Enquirer began publishing rumors of an illegitimate child, he finally revealed (on
8/8/08) an affair he had 2 years earlier. His 12 th house Gemini Sun and Mars were
prominently featured in transits in that two-year intervalas Pluto went through late
Sagittariusand continue to be prominent in the aftermath, as the transiting Uranus-Saturn

oppositio
n from Pisces and Virgo square them. As
of March, 2010, details of his affairs continue to surface and to make tabloid television news.
Probing your secrets is a good thing. In the 12-step programs, they say, youre only as
sick as your secrets. One of the major sources of healing and reclamation for a person in
recovery from an addiction is the process of writing it all out in an inventory and telling that
inventory to a trusted person like a sponsor. Secrets can fuel addiction like nothing else! In
the case of John Edwards 12th house Sun-Mars conjunction, the secrecy of the affair(s?)
apparently added extra thrills to the sexual compulsion. However, dealing with hidden issues
can be a huge release and relief for anyone with a strong12th house.

One caution: it isnt wise to confide your secrets to just anyonepick the person and the
timing very carefully. Often a professional counselor or spiritual advisor who is sworn to
confidentiality is the best place to start sorting things out. And, so you know, theres no such
thing as a secret in emails or on the internet.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the 12th

Housebut Were Afraid to Ask
This is the first post in a series suggested by VR, a Grand Prize Winner in Skywriters recent
contest to find new topics for 2011.
When I first began studying astrology in 1968, astrologers did not automatically come
equipped with rose-colored glasses. They were not afraid to forecast personal disasterin
fact, they appeared to relish it. Nowhere was that more true than in the ways the 12 th house
was portrayed to students and clients.
(Note: Slight exaggerations may occurstrictly for your edification. If youve blundered onto
this blog by accident, please dont post indignant diatribes in the comment section. This is
meant as astrological parody. Lighten up! Youll find links to more balanced articles on the
12th below. )
In that pre-Deepak Chopra, pre-Eckart Tolle era, the 12th was described as a veritable House
of Horrors. Those unfortunates who had the Sun or Moon (or, God save us, a STELLIUM)
there left the consultation room quaking, because they now knew they were screwed.

It was the house of prisons, hospitals, asylums, and other institutions. The 12th also ruled
drunk tanks back in the dark ages before they had rehabs and 12-Step programs for darned
near everything.
It was known as the house of secrets, secret vices, and secret enemies. The house of the
unconscious and of self-undoing, which is an antiquated term for shooting yourself in the
foot.
If you were having a transit or progression to a planet in the 12 th, you may even have
concluded that there was no hope or help for you, unless you betook yourself to a monastery,
where they began by shaving your head and then amputated your 8th house.
What I dont get is why they dumped all those disasters into one house. Surely it would have
been fairer to spread them around. The happier houses like the 5th or the 3rd could have
taken up some of the slack.

By now, those of you with planets in that perilous sector must have questions, but youre
probably afraid to ask. Besides, if you did ask, people would know your secrets.
Not to worrybelow are answers to concerns a person in your shoes would probably have.
Youve come to the right place, because with two planets in the 12 th, Ive defin

itely been there, done

that.
Q: Will my secret come out?
A: Are you kidding? In this age when surveillance technology, a.k.a. snoopology, is readily
available to anyone, there ARE no secrets! Its not a question of whether, but when.
Thats where your astrologer comes in handy, giving you timing of 12 th house transits that
might Reveal All so that you can work on damage control in advance. One secret I cant
fathom is why politicians and other news figures think that the sleazy things they do wont
come out and that theyll get away with it!
Q: Worst-case scenario, will I go to prison for what Ive done?

A: I hear from quite a number of prisoners in my

Dell Advice column, but they mostly want to know when theyll get out. (Watch for transits
to the Midheaven, involving planets that cross from the 3rd to the 4th, the 12th to the 1st or
the 9th to the 10th.)
There was one instance in which I unknowingly was hired to do a day of readings for a flock
of felons who hadnt been caught yet. It took naive old me most of the day to figure out why
every one of them asked whether I saw any legal problems in their future.
But, as it turns out, I was quite accurate in my predictions for several of the gang, who were
subsequently put away. It was a matter of the 12th house AND the 9th being activated at once.
Several had Pluto or Neptune transits to 11th house planets as well, and my warning that a
friend might betray them turned out to be all too true. One of the Bros flipped on the others!
Q: Do I have any secret enemies? Is __________ conspiring against me?
A: If youre really worried about that, look at rulershipswhat house the ruler of the 12 th is
in, and what houses are ruled by planets in the 12 th. Then read A Whos Who of your
Horoscopethe Players in all 12 Houses to find out who to worry about. (Update:
Apparently many of you ARE worried about secret enemies. 239 of you have read that
article in just 3 days!)
Okay, heres a serious thought for you to ponder, given that the 12 th is also the house of selfundoing. IF you do have secret enemies, its usually because of:
1. things youre doing that you THINK are secret but really are apparent to everyone
around you, as is commonly the case when a 12 th house planet is within a 10
conjunction of the Ascendant.
2. Or secrets youre keeping from yourself that cause you to behave in ways that alienate
other people. When they cant raise the issue openly with you because you deny that
youre doing any such thing, they wind up feeling like they have no recourse but to go
behind your back.

Q:

What

secrets

AM

keeping

from

myself?

A: Im not so sure I want to answer thatand especially not here on the internetbecause if
I did, then youd have to kill me.
But you can figure it out for yourself by a thorough examination of the signs in the 12 th and
especially by analyzing each planet in that houseincluding its sign and aspects.
Think about ways youre disowning that planets energy and needs and how you might be
projecting its undesirable qualities onto others (like those secret enemies you think youve
identified in other houses of the chart). And then shock yourself by accepting that just
maybe, deep down inside, youre a lot like Those People.
Q: How can I stop shooting myself in the foot?
A: See above. Awareness in and of itself is a deterrent, especially if there are future transits
that look like trouble.
Use my transit tracker to look at past aspects to the 12th or a 12th house planet. This
handy one-page reference summarizes the transits of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto
from 1990-2012. Download it to look back on past transits and to look forward for the next
few years: Transit Tracking Table for 1990-2012.
Then find healing tools like those in the category METAPHYSICS/HEALING/SELF-HELP
on the right hand side of this blog to help you turn the energies of those planets around. If its
a long-standing pattern and the accumulated emotions are tough to work through, find
qualified people to help you.
When you see a transit coming, reflect on past meltdowns during transits to that part of your
12th and how you contributed to the situation by things you did or didnt do. If you own up to
your own part in the situation and change the ways you use those energies, you need not go
though a replay of the earlier transits.
Readers, as we head toward 1-1-11, heres a chance to start the new year on a better
track. Look at back at past 12th house meltdowns and see what ways you contributed to
the situation. What natal and what transiting planets were involved? What did you
learn, and what helped? Share what you can in the comment section.
Coming next in this series: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the 8 th House but
Were Afraid to Ask. (Relax, Readers, there wont be 12 of these grim visions!)