Q. I have never fully understood why the 8th house in the birthchart is a house of money, of sex, death and of transformation all at the same time. What has going to a bank for a loan got to do with sex and death? 

A. It’s worthwhile considering that the 8th is a house of great cycles, a great karmic waterwheel driven by, as Liz Greene put it, a deep subterranean river that is deeply emotional, psychological and an expression of the pure life-force which contain within it the seeds of its death. All the symbolism of the 8th is Plutonic, not the masculine Hades but the union of Shiva and Kali, enormously powerful and at times necessarily destructive, as part of the great cycles of birth, transformation and death. And so this is a place of great primal power within us, some of which we can harness and some of which is thankfully beyond our ability to control and manipulate, given that few people on the planet can do so without causing great destruction and great karmic debts……click ‘Read More’ to continue…

Any time we take on a loan, have sex with someone, initiate any healing or transformative process, we step up in empowerment and surrender at the same time, and we step into the 8th House. Each of these, in small and big ways, transforms us and invites a relationship with these primal forces within us, which is why they can get so scary and bring up such deep emotion. Issues of survival and trust are invoked. And there are power issues as well, with the bank, with a partner, with the ATO, and with these primal forces that are a part of us. How much can we trust life, trust that we will be looked after, trust that the money will come, trust that we won’t fail and that we will not lose it all.

The confrontation with these fears is also the key to true freedom and true empowerment, freedom from fear, that says that while death and destruction exist, there is a benevolent universe you can trust, because you can trust the essence of the life-force within your own body. This includes the freedom to let go when its necessary, as the same forces that can destroy can also transform your life for the better.

Put in this context, going to see the bank manager is an act of great power as well as an initiation into a greater life cycle.