Pluto through the 8th house (advice and general discussion)

I wondered if I could get some advice about how to approach "integrating" Pluto's transit through the 8th house, or where to look next, so to speak.

When Pluto entered my 8th house a few years ago, a relative passed away and I received an "inheritance" - a few heirlooms. I helped to clear out her belongings. She had crammed her small living space with so much stuff there was literally almost no floor or even wall visible. I felt like I had no right to touch her things. It impressed on me heavily this burden of material possessions that still affects me.

Pluto is nearing the end of the journey through the 8th. I just bought a house, and I'm trying to clear out my storage unit to prepare for moving. I've been putting it off and avoiding it and anguishing over it, and then I realized that I've not always been like this. I had never been this freaked out about moving or sorting things. On the contrary, I've always been very good at it! And I should be excited - I finally have a place to put all my things, a house to house them. Space of my own.

That triggered this realization that the paralysis of dealing with my relative's possessions has colored how I interact with my own - even simple things, like cleaning out the fridge or sorting mail, has become a task that requires a great deal of emotional and mental energy. I feel like I've fallen apart in this respect.

How do I get out from under the spectre of my relative's death? Will this new house, that has come at a time of the end of this transit, be a part of shedding this fear of stuff? Where should I look to see how I can overcome it?

Thank you for any insights. Natal chart is attached for reference.

I'd be happy to hear anyone else's experiences of 8th house Pluto for this thread, too, or even general advice for dealing with 8th house Pluto transit.

Hi- what was the date of the loss of this relative, and how close was she and how old was she? Did you successfully distribute/sell/give away the things she had or have you kept a lot of it.....which is now part of your problem?

Assuming you took only what was too valuable or very sentimental, and gave away or sold the rest, then the things you have to move are YOURS.

Was there any argument from other relatives at this time? Assuming no, we can go on.

There are some transits which are activated now which could be part of your dilemma. First, when did you notice this issue with not being able to sort the mail, for instance?

Saturn is now in Capricorn, early, like your Neptune. Fear of getting rid of something you may need later is possible. Again: a transit which will pass.
But yu have the Cancer-Cap full moon issue. This is always about the emotional vs the practical.

Pluto where it sits now in Capricorn may be making you anxious about getting rid of things from the past.

The moon partially represents things you 'have' that are connected to home and security.

So why are you seemingly irrationally resistant to cleaning out a refrigerator?
Well, Neptune represents your 11th house of ''future'' and ''goals.'' Saturn is conjunct Neptune now. It's confusing you. You may think you are ''going too fast''. And if you act quickly you can make mistakes.
Possibly your mind is exaggerating this possibility. ok....so why?

PART of the reason can be Neptune conj your Uranus in the 7rh. Not trusting your intuition. Unreasonable fear, esp. when it comes to the mundane chores.

But transit Mars is retrogade and has been for weeks; opposed your Mercury... and will continue till Aug 27 when it is opposing your Sun....then as it moves forward it opposes your Mercury AGAIN and needs to go thru Aquarius (a sign in which it RARELY retrogrades). It will then square your PLUTO and as it moves cross your midheaven and finally land in Pisces. This particular transit of Mars may have caused anxiety, fear, confusion, etc esp. because of so many other planets retrograding at the same time.

Merc retrograde can also have this affect on you.....losing things, fear of making wrong choices, etc. but after the retrograde passes these things usually go back to normal.

You have Uranus square Jupiter natally and that might make you second guess your judgement. Neptune in Pisces now is not helping. So you need to separate out the things you want to get rid of and put them let's say, in bins in a room or space just for that. Then in a couple of weeks (or however long you have) go to that bin and begin to make the decisions again. That gives you two different times (transits) to judge what to get rid of. Its highly unlikely that you could make the same wrong decision twice.

If necessary, write down each thing of note, and put a sticker next to it for sale, for donation, for distribution or to save. Then just do it. By that time most of these retrograde planets will have passed.

As for the issue with the small stuff....sorting the mail. Obviously this is a Merc retrograde or Mars retrograde problem....if not it is something ELSE....these small things are a substitute for a big decision you are making.
YOu need to know what that IS.

I am not sure (unless the relative was a parent) that THAT situation has any real bearing on what is happening now....because that was as you said, ''a few years ago.''

Read my post, think about it and let me know what you are thinking about this. Try to provide the dates I asked for. I am sure there is an explanation (astrological of course).
LIN

then as it moves forward it opposes your Mercury AGAIN and needs to go thru Aquarius (a sign in which it RARELY retrogrades).

Click to expand...

Why is that so?

Flapjacks: I'm trying to clear out my storage unit to prepare for moving [on?]

Click to expand...

This could mean more than simply clearing out a storage unit. What about the memory bank within you that stores and/or (does not wish to) remember(s) situations, through which accumulation of particular objects occur?

If your Cap. Moon works as mine used to, I didn't want to remember the past because the memories of its events hurt too much. Encapsulating them within a wall was the best way to deal with them. Whatever happened afterwards happened, I didn't hold on to memories, except through photographs of special events.
But I'm not a Sun in Cancer, which does have a reputation of hoarding by holding on to the past through accumulation of objects associated with it.

Your relative was, for whatever reason, obviously 'a hoarder'. Seeing all the stuff she accumulated may have triggered the Sun in Cancer side of your Sun-Moon in Capricorn opposition. A few years ago you would have gone through the Saturn opposition, the completion of which differentiates between 'end of youth' and 'the maturity of adulthood'.

A Sun-Moon-PlutoT-square, albeit it out of sign. can create phobic tendencies , which an irrational fear within active thought (Mercury -Neptune) can over-exaggerate (Sun-Jupiter). What to hold onto, what to clear out as no longer necessary in the future?

A spot of advice might be to have someone with no attachment to your accumulation of objects with you when you clear out the storage unit. You may find that there are objects you feel you want to keep that are personal to you. Yet others that no longer have an 'emotional' effect upon you. Is this perhaps what you fear?

From personal experience.
My eldest sister is a Sun in Cancer. Her home was so crammed with stuff that it was hard to find a surface to set down a cup and saucer. She moved from a 4 bedroomed house to a one bedroom senior appartment!
She was brave, taking impersonal stuff to the dump that nobody wanted and she couldn't give away.
Then it came to clearing the garage!! No room for the car, of course. We went to clear it with 3rd sister.
I: 'Do you want to keep this?
Sis: Yes. ( Set aside).
I: Do you want to keep this?
Sis: Ummmmmmm.
I could almost hear her mind ticking over. The memory item was put in the large disposal garbage bag because the fact that she had to think about whether she still wanted to keep it showed that it no longer belonged, and was no longer a part of her priority of feeling.
My Gemini Sun/Moon Pisces sister called me hard and callous (Taurus Sun), yet Cancer sis later thanked me for my practicality.

Pluto through Capricorn represents the necessity to let the old ways 'die' for what they were, and prepare for the new yet to unfold.

Neptune saps one's energy to get on with things - and it's currently transiting sextile to your Mars (planet of action) in the 8th house. Once this transit is over you could get your mojo back.

You also have a very strong Cancer theme going on. IC or 4th house cusp representing your home is ruled by Sun. Sun is in Cancer, and opposite its own ruler, the Moon. Both of them are in a t-square with Pluto, the planet that can take things to extremes (all or nothing). Pluto is in Scorpio, the sign that naturally corresponds to 8th house matters. I think the tendency to hoard stuff may also be a pattern that lies in your psyche and could appear from time to time. The hoarding is about preserving the family line, about memories and sentimental attachments, I'd suggest. Perhaps there is a subliminal feeling that once the 'stuff' is gone, the relative is well and truly gone too?..... though memories remain that need not have 'stuff' to trigger them.

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Re: Pluto through the 8th house (advice and general discussion)
Quote:
"then as it moves forward it opposes your Mercury AGAIN and needs to go thru Aquarius (a sign in which it RARELY retrogrades)."

Why is that so?

You know, I had to look this up myself when it was brought to my attention. I usually don't notice Mars retrogrades unless it is affecting me or a client has this issue.
When I checked the ephemeris I had to go back a LONG way to find the last time Mars retrograded in Aquarius. BUT....this is the first time in my long life that I actually am affected personal and physically by this retrograde.

I think Mars must be a sign of ''short ascension.'' It's fast. It's just the astrophysics of the planet.

Most often Mars will retrograde in the following sign it did the past 2 years previously.

So in general, with all these retrogrades at this time in this year is representative of some of the really total **** going on in the world right now.

LIN

FlapJacks,

very interesting and it correlated with my experiences as well.

Our charts are similar. I have the moon and Mars in the 8th, in Capricorn.

Pluto transit has been quite transformative.


My mother is 88, and was recently widowed. I helped her clear out her 5 bedroom home and move into an assisted living condo.

She had boxes and boxes of my childhood stuff. School work and pictures and writings etc. I took some of it and gave some to my kids. But they live in small homes and aren't really interested in too many more things to store.


She had boxes and boxes of pictures of her long dead family members. Again, I kept a few things, but we have downsized from our larger home into a small cottage too. So I really have no place to put large boxes of old pictures. But it was difficult to pass on them. Like I was denying my ancestors or something...


There were a lot of things she couldn't let go of. My Mom is a Pisces with a Scorpio Moon and Cancer rising.

So I helped her rent a storage space. So I am not done with letting go of those belongings yet either. At some point I will have to deal with them again.

When Pluto first hit my Moon, my mom was diagnosed with early stage 1 colon cancer. When Pluto made a retro pass, she had a successful surgery and they took everything out, and she is clear right now.

Thank you for all your replies. I apologize I'm so late to respond to them.

Lin said:

Hi- what was the date of the loss of this relative, and how close was she and how old was she?

Click to expand...

She died 11/21/13. She was 69. We were not close – exactly – I had began a relationship with her a year before she was diagnosed with an illness. That side of my family is not close in general; relationships are strained. I didn't really know her until well into adulthood because of a feud. Her passing is like an open wound in our family because no one ever admits that they care about each other. I wish I could explain why we weren't close and yet we were – there was a spiritual connection that I can't account for.

Lin said:

There are some transits which are activated now which could be part of your dilemma. First, when did you notice this issue with not being able to sort the mail, for instance?

Saturn is now in Capricorn, early, like your Neptune. Fear of getting rid of something you may need later is possible. Again: a transit which will pass.
But yu have the Cancer-Cap full moon issue. This is always about the emotional vs the practical.

Pluto where it sits now in Capricorn may be making you anxious about getting rid of things from the past.

The moon partially represents things you 'have' that are connected to home and security.

Click to expand...

I didn't want to make the issue complicated, or perhaps I was putting it out of my mind when I wrote that original post, but the storage unit isn't just my stuff. I'd say about 70% of the storage unit was occupied by my fiance's things. However, that never bothered me before the experience with going into my relative's apartment. After her passing, his hoarding tendencies became a weight on me, not really my relationship with my own things. I don't know why it's been so hard for me to realize that.

When I wrote that post, I was thinking about just going through my own stuff and leaving his things alone, but I also wanted to sort his things (similar to the bin ideas you give later), and that was probably more paralyzing subconsciously. All the closets are full of boxes of stuff he won't go through. We moved all this **** to the house that he wouldn't even look at. Some of the boxes haven't been opened in 20 years.

It's interesting. His father's profession concerned historical artifacts. His parents restored a house that was built in the 1840's. He has a very deep concern about how resources are accumulated and spent. He carries around with him letters written to his grandfather.

Then here I am, I was raised with plastic forks and disposable drawers, and lived 14 places through childhood. Only one box of mementos remains from my childhood. I was happy when I had nothing but a backpack of clothes and a few precious items, a freedom to move unencumbered.

So that's another layer...

Lin said:

So why are you seemingly irrationally resistant to cleaning out a refrigerator?
Well, Neptune represents your 11th house of ''future'' and ''goals.'' Saturn is conjunct Neptune now. It's confusing you. You may think you are ''going too fast''. And if you act quickly you can make mistakes.
Possibly your mind is exaggerating this possibility. ok....so why?

PART of the reason can be Neptune conj your Uranus in the 7rh. Not trusting your intuition. Unreasonable fear, esp. when it comes to the mundane chores.

But transit Mars is retrogade and has been for weeks; opposed your Mercury... and will continue till Aug 27 when it is opposing your Sun....then as it moves forward it opposes your Mercury AGAIN and needs to go thru Aquarius (a sign in which it RARELY retrogrades). It will then square your PLUTO and as it moves cross your midheaven and finally land in Pisces. This particular transit of Mars may have caused anxiety, fear, confusion, etc esp. because of so many other planets retrograding at the same time.

Merc retrograde can also have this affect on you.....losing things, fear of making wrong choices, etc. but after the retrograde passes these things usually go back to normal.

You have Uranus square Jupiter natally and that might make you second guess your judgement. Neptune in Pisces now is not helping. So you need to separate out the things you want to get rid of and put them let's say, in bins in a room or space just for that. Then in a couple of weeks (or however long you have) go to that bin and begin to make the decisions again. That gives you two different times (transits) to judge what to get rid of. Its highly unlikely that you could make the same wrong decision twice.

If necessary, write down each thing of note, and put a sticker next to it for sale, for donation, for distribution or to save. Then just do it. By that time most of these retrograde planets will have passed.

As for the issue with the small stuff....sorting the mail. Obviously this is a Merc retrograde or Mars retrograde problem....if not it is something ELSE....these small things are a substitute for a big decision you are making.
YOu need to know what that IS.

Click to expand...

Happily, I can sort mail again, hahaha. The retrogrades makes sense for that time period. Biding time.

Lin said:

Read my post, think about it and let me know what you are thinking about this. Try to provide the dates I asked for. I am sure there is an explanation (astrological of course).
LIN

Click to expand...

Thank you for your help, Lin!

Frisiangal said:

This could mean more than simply clearing out a storage unit. What about the memory bank within you that stores and/or (does not wish to) remember(s) situations, through which accumulation of particular objects occur?

If your Cap. Moon works as mine used to, I didn't want to remember the past because the memories of its events hurt too much. Encapsulating them within a wall was the best way to deal with them. Whatever happened afterwards happened, I didn't hold on to memories, except through photographs of special events.
But I'm not a Sun in Cancer, which does have a reputation of hoarding by holding on to the past through accumulation of objects associated with it.

Your relative was, for whatever reason, obviously 'a hoarder'. Seeing all the stuff she accumulated may have triggered the Sun in Cancer side of your Sun-Moon in Capricorn opposition. A few years ago you would have gone through the Saturn opposition, the completion of which differentiates between 'end of youth' and 'the maturity of adulthood'.

A Sun-Moon-PlutoT-square, albeit it out of sign. can create phobic tendencies , which an irrational fear within active thought (Mercury -Neptune) can over-exaggerate (Sun-Jupiter). What to hold onto, what to clear out as no longer necessary in the future?

A spot of advice might be to have someone with no attachment to your accumulation of objects with you when you clear out the storage unit. You may find that there are objects you feel you want to keep that are personal to you. Yet others that no longer have an 'emotional' effect upon you. Is this perhaps what you fear?

From personal experience.
My eldest sister is a Sun in Cancer. Her home was so crammed with stuff that it was hard to find a surface to set down a cup and saucer. She moved from a 4 bedroomed house to a one bedroom senior appartment!
She was brave, taking impersonal stuff to the dump that nobody wanted and she couldn't give away.
Then it came to clearing the garage!! No room for the car, of course. We went to clear it with 3rd sister.
I: 'Do you want to keep this?
Sis: Yes. ( Set aside).
I: Do you want to keep this?
Sis: Ummmmmmm.
I could almost hear her mind ticking over. The memory item was put in the large disposal garbage bag because the fact that she had to think about whether she still wanted to keep it showed that it no longer belonged, and was no longer a part of her priority of feeling.
My Gemini Sun/Moon Pisces sister called me hard and callous (Taurus Sun), yet Cancer sis later thanked me for my practicality.

Pluto through Capricorn represents the necessity to let the old ways 'die' for what they were, and prepare for the new yet to unfold.

Click to expand...

The idea of “encapsulate it behind a wall” resonates. Must be a Moon Cap thing, right?

See, I feel like I need to be that person with my fiancé. It's an uphill battle.

katydid said:

FlapJacks,

very interesting and it correlated with my experiences as well.

Our charts are similar. I have the moon and Mars in the 8th, in Capricorn.

Pluto transit has been quite transformative.


My mother is 88, and was recently widowed. I helped her clear out her 5 bedroom home and move into an assisted living condo.

She had boxes and boxes of my childhood stuff. School work and pictures and writings etc. I took some of it and gave some to my kids. But they live in small homes and aren't really interested in too many more things to store.


She had boxes and boxes of pictures of her long dead family members. Again, I kept a few things, but we have downsized from our larger home into a small cottage too. So I really have no place to put large boxes of old pictures. But it was difficult to pass on them. Like I was denying my ancestors or something...


There were a lot of things she couldn't let go of. My Mom is a Pisces with a Scorpio Moon and Cancer rising.

So I helped her rent a storage space. So I am not done with letting go of those belongings yet either. At some point I will have to deal with them again.

When Pluto first hit my Moon, my mom was diagnosed with early stage 1 colon cancer. When Pluto made a retro pass, she had a successful surgery and they took everything out, and she is clear right now.

Click to expand...

That is a lot of water placements. I'm glad she is doing well now! Pluto is going to hit my moon within the next year or so. I'm a bit worried about what that may bring, so thanks for the scary story!