Making money, wealth, and the birth chart in astrology
How i interpret questions around money or wealth:
I start with the Second House - this house describes our experiences in life that deal with material resources and material security. I look at both the tenants and the ruler of the 2H, and I also loop in where the sign of Taurus lands in an individual chart, and I check the planets Venus, Jupiter and Pluto. Below is a breakdown:
eighth house
8H: money that comes from others and is only available when you follow certain rules or a power differential is maintained. aka, loans, co-signed money, trust funds, conservatorships, allowance, inheritance, gifts with strings attached, one spouse works and the other doesn’t, etc.
A lot of times 8H doesn’t mean actual money like inheritance or taxes. 8H is more about intimacy, the intense parts of human life like loss, betrayal, forces that are bigger than you, power, and renewal. So, I’m mentioning it to say, I don’t think it’s a big factor, but take every chart case by case.
second house
2H: experiences and areas of life that deal with themes around Earth resources: material resource, security, worth, beauty/attractiveness, adequate food, housing, adequate ability to demand or attract love based on your physicality (usually AFAB if we’re being honest about the influence of gender binary thinking) or the attractiveness of your resources (usually AMAB). A sense of sufficiency and security around material resources.
planets in the 2H
Tenanted 2H: there are planets in the 2H
These planets are trying to achieve their natural goal state and go after their inherent motives. That doesn’t change. But they’re doing it through 2H experiences and areas in life. Or they’re trying to achieve their goal state using 2H means (aka money or beauty).
This might look like Pluto trying to feel safe (a goal state for Pluto) through accumulating money. This could explain why a fair amount of billionaires have Pluto in the 2H - it’s hard to feel sufficient with Pluto in the 2H unless you do deep work around your fear brain. Or - you just stockpile endlessly and STILL never feel safe. Hello, billionaires.
Or the goal state of Mercury is being “plugged in” to the network and to the flow of information, so someone with Mercury in the 2H might splurge on courses, books, TV networks, satellite radio, the newest phone, etc.
Pluto
Pluto in the 2nd house - the goal state is safety, empowerment, intensity, and feeling resourced to survive. But as Pluto is pursuing this goal state, anything involving physical resources will feel like life or death, or very activating for the nervous system, or something to obsess over.
VENUS
Venus in the 2H. Venus wants to feel attractive and attract what is attractive. 2H will have something to say about what Venus finds attractive, in the same what that 2H will have something to say about what Pluto deeply desires, what activates Plutonic fear, and what merits Plutonic fixation. So having material resources feels both attractive and is what attracts a 2H Venus. A 2H Venus may be labeled superficial but it is self-appropriate for a 2H Venus to both attract with and be attracted by physical beauty and a certain materialism.
mercury
Mercury in the 2H. Mercury wants to learn, share info, and be of practical use. 2H will have something to say around what Mercury is interested in learning about, and what Mercury wants to analyze and improve. A 2H Mercury may be draw to learning about resource management, money, and might include economics as part of the framework for understanding self and world. A 2H Mercury may also want to improve or continually tweak areas of life having to do with resource or money - including the resources of body, beauty and youth. Any resources having to do with health or wealth or tangible earthy material stuff belongs in the 2H, in my opinion. Mercury in the 2H might be very open to the digital evolution of currency - crypto currency, and new advances in all types of resources and resource management. This placement could feel very bleeding edge and experimental instead of conservative and fixed.
mars
Mars in the 2H. Assertion through resource. Mars is linked to survival just like Pluto. Mars might feel enlivened and energized by the active pursuit of Earth resources. Generally Mars indicates where we expend energy - so procuring and stewarding Earth resources. Mars also reflects how we assert ourselves - a 2H Mars might assert through a display of Earth resources, or through deploying Earth resources. When Mars feels threatened, Mars might protect and defend through stockpiling or hoarding.
jupiter
Jupiter in the 2H. Money and beauty feel good. They’re fun! It’s not about the money or beauty. It’s about how fun they feel. Jupiter is generous and optimistic - this can have both positive and negative repercussions for resource accumulation and stewardship. Jupiter can also give a sense of entitlement or privilege, that, especially in this sphere of life, might be activating. For example, it may feel like money should be easier to come by than it actually is.
saturn
Saturn in the 2H - it’s through trials and experiences around Earth resources that Saturn both feels enormous deprivation, shame, guilt, victimization, a sense of failure, futility and defensiveness, but also ultimately comes into ownership of their own authority. Saturn wants to feel successful at 2H things. Saturn may take on more responsibility than is necessary in 2H matters, or feel like the only one competent enough to deal with 2H matters. When 2H matters fail, Saturn takes it extra hard. 2H matters are both important and fraught. Saturn might either overcompensate, throw up a peacock facade, pretend it doesn’t care at all (repression) or steadily and steadfastly continue to trek up the mountain of Earth resources achievement.
chiron
Chiron in the 2H - Earth resources as a collective wound/issue/pain point, one that is experienced personally with a sense of both impotence and acceptance and sometimes leads to alliance with a related social justice cause or work/efforts to help others with a similar wound. This wound will be something where we can’t blame someone, it’s more a condition of living in the world that we’re in, it’s a collective issue that we have personally been affected by, aka, capitalism, poverty, caste/class, etc.
uranus
Uranus in the 2H - channeling Uranian energy through 2H experiences. Unconventional choices and viewpoints around Earth resources. Rebellion and utopian vision when it comes to Earth resources. Doesn’t necessary mean unstable income, but money might come to you in a non-normative way.
neptune
Neptune in the 2H - Neptune’s goal state is flow or uroboric oneness, a dissolving of self either way. Neptune will try to achieve this goal state in and through 2H themes - this might mean being very escapist around Earth resource stuff, or wishing it was in better reflection and resonance with ideals of universal love, no conflict, and lovely feelings. It might mean a spirituality that involves materialism, or it might be using Earthly resources to seek a lovely feeling, spending money on retreats, music or art. There may be issues around deservedness or sacrifice. There may be an unconscious bargain that involves limits, access, stewardship or proper usage of Earth resources in exchange for a feeling of redemption or transcendence or “goodness.” The script may be that artists who honor authenticity are not capitalist sell-outs or that it’s only ok to have X amount of money IF you donate Y percent. There may also be a script like, people with good karma get rewarded with abundance, but if there is poverty it means there’s bad karma. Neptune in the 2H can make 2H experiences feel slippery, confusing, or fuzzy. It can feel hard to “figure out” Earth resources or it can feel like there is a large chasm between the “ideal” around Earth resources and the reality, so much so that there is avoidance or escapism. Resource management can be hard, with disorganization, overspending, and a reluctance to track or budget.
aspects + chart synthesis
No matter what planets you have in the 2H, it’s important to check the aspects to the planets, and also how the rest of the chart can either support or compensate for a 2H planet. This is why nothing replaces working with a professional astroanalyst (shameless plug for my services).
no planets in the 2H
Untenanted 2H - in the case of an untenanted 2H (and still relevant for a tenanted 2H), we can look to the ruler. What sign is on the cusp of the 2H? What planet naturally rules that sign? That’s the ruler. We find where that planet is in the chart. This planet, even though it’s not there, actually considers the 2H home. Wherever the ruling planet is in the natal chart, it’s acting in the interests of the 2H and influenced by 2H themes.
Using my chart as an example:
I have an untenanted 2H, and Virgo on the cusp. The natural ruler of Virgo is Mercury, and in my chart Mercury is in the 6H in Capricorn. Mercury is trining Chiron in Taurus in the 10H, squaring a 9H Aries Moon, and squaring Libra Pluto on the IC. So there’s a possible story here around using Mercury functions (like thinking, communicating, analyzing, learning, sharing info, and improving/perfecting) in my everyday life, work, and with the end goal of being of practical service.
The trine to 10H Chiron indicates the Mercury “work” might have a bit of a wounded healer aspect to it, I may be working with Taurean 10H wounds in my work and I might be encountering my own Taurean 10H wounding through my 6H Mercury work. It’s a trine so even though it’s Chiron my tendency is to accept the wounding activation and the wounding themes in my work willingly.
There are 2 squares - a square to my Moon, which means that Mercury’s health also involves a creative partnership (my euphemism for the tension of a square) with my Aries Moon in the 9H - if the Moon is feeling “off” it will affect Mercury - it’s in my best interest to nurture my Moon’s needs so I can feel emotionally even keeled. Another way of saying that, is if I’m not feeling emotionally secure and baseline nourished, it will affect Mercury’s ability to reach its goal state.
It looks like there might be a connection with my own memories and feelings maybe inspiring or being part of what I write about or learn about or influencing what and how I communicate.
And my lunar placement indicates making meaning, synthesizing, and teaching (9H) feels comforting and nurturing to my Moon, and my Moon also likes the feeling of starting new projects and frequent new challenges (Aries). If Mercury can facilitate Moon satisfaction and satiation, all the better, and if Moon is not satiated/satisfied, the repercussions go all the way back to the health of my 2H, because Mercury is directly affected.
The last square to Mercury is Libra Pluto on the IC from the 3H side. It looks like something about families and relationships in families, or emotional security and foundational emotional needs, and something Plutonic - transformative, death/rebirth, doing light-work around taboos, working with unconscious patterns or compulsions, alchemizing and negredo.
It could also mean that Mercury is intense, and likes to dig deep, and not just analyze, but psycho-analyze. Pluto also has resonance with our deepest personal soul-level desires, and it looks like mine is related to both 4H and 3H matters - aka foundational intellectual and emotional needs - learning and sharing what I learn and being nurtured and nurturing.
So if Mercury is happy, 2H is well supported. And it looks like the way to make my Mercury happy is through all of what I described above: my daily work or where I want to serve involving writing, communicating, thinking, in a way that makes my Moon happy so meaning-making and frequent novelty and challenge, potentially having to do with healing wounds, and/or deep transformational work with families and relationships.
Oh yeah, Capricorn Mercury likes to be bossy. It likes to delineate. It likes to be its own authority (aka self taught). It likes others to let it lead. Ideally this is in service of the 2H.
the difference between having ample material resource and feeling sufficiently resourced
One might think that if all of these boxes are checked, the resources are flooding in. That’s not necessarily the case. But if the boxes are checked, it looks like the relationship to and stewardship of existing resources is optimized and bolstered.
For me - I’m making very little money currently, but I’m stewarding my existing material resources more carefully and attentively than ever and I’m happier than I’ve ever been. My relationship to sufficiency is more clear, trusting, and directly because of my feeling of sufficiency I’m more content than when I had lots of money but my Mercury wasn’t being tended to or allowed to express.
Saturn is the dispositor of Mercury, so in the same way that Mercury is in the service of the 2H, Saturn is in the service of Mercury. Saturn is in Scorpio on the IC in the 4H, and this underscores both the need to feel success and authority in 4H matters and also underlines the Pluto work I mentioned above - because of the 4H and Scorpio placements, this Saturn wants to dig deep (Scorpio) into family dynamics, roles, structural issues, and reality. This could also include roles around emotional expression, domestic labor, emotional labor, etc.
the sign of taurus motivates the planets in it
Also looking at the sign of Taurus - any Taurus placements will be motivated by feeling well resourced materially, amongst other things. Taurus placements may impel you to make money or they may love pleasure, rest and physical satisfaction - or a mix of all of the above. Taurean placements will also go about trying to reach their goal state in a Taurean way - again, this may involve the accumulation and use of material resources - but to what end? That will be determined by the planet.
venus
Also looking at Venus - this planet governs attraction. Venus will give us some clues around what we feel attracted to and what we attract. If we can make sure our natal Venus, no matter what its sign, house, and aspects are, is feeling taken care of in a way that is appropriate to her, we can increase our ability to attract what we’d like to attract. However, this is also where we get into shadow work around money, deservedness, limiting beliefs, etc.
jupiter
Also looking at Jupiter - Jupiter is a great place to start with feeling sufficiency and abundance. Jupiter is the stuff that’s so pleasing to us, we’d do it for free. Beware however, it can also make feel entitled and like things should come easily and magically to us. But if we decouple Jupiter from conventional wealth, we can use it to get into a feeling of “wealth” and generosity that will help shift our energetics around the flow of resources.
Pluto
Why Pluto? Pluto has a lot to do with feeling safe and also with our deepest soul-level desire. If we can work with Pluto and our attachments and fear brain, we will feel a lot more stable, trusting of ourselves and life, and less compulsive, fearful, and power-starved. This can help us with feeling sufficient and safe, which can help with issues around money and material resources. Pluto can either cause us to repel the thing we most desire, or we can do the work to alchemize where we feel most fearful into where we feel empowered and our greatest resource becomes ourself.
conclusion
To have the best relationship to material sufficiency, work on making sure both the ruler and the tenants of the 2H are integrated and being healthily expressed (vs being repressed or being expressed in shadow or reluctantly). Getting very creative (another place to consider working with an astroanalyst) around working with challenging aspects or placements so it feels like they are working with you instead of against you. Making sure Venus is nurtured, Jupiter is utilized for a feeling of abundance and joy vs. entitlement and greed, and the constant alchemization of Plutonic fear into empowerment and Plutonic desire into a clean expression of desire.
sated + sufficient
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