Say Buh-Bye to These Astrology Myths

Apr 25

There is a lot out there about astrology that can be seen as too doom-and-gloom, or too click-bait-y, or simply too ill-informed. Sometimes knowing a little can make people think they know enough to go spaz (hello Dunning-Kruger!).

But there are definitely some ideas that novices get in their head that just aren’t true, or at least no true in the way that they think. So, let’s review a few of them:

01: An empty 7th house means I’ll never get married.

An empty house in astrology means you have no natal planets located in that house. There are 12 houses and only 10 designated planets, so everyone has at least 2 empty houses (usually 3-5).

People usually see this and think, egads, I’ll never have (whatever that house rules)! But this is one of those areas where the thinking is completely wrong, because empty houses are seen as a GOOD thing in astrology!

Houses that have planets in them are considered areas where we have work to do in this life. That’s why there are planets in those houses, to bring our attention to these areas and work things out. But empty houses are considered areas where we’ve already worked on those areas. We’re not carrying over baggage from past lives or our youth, and we often don’t have lessons to learn like with some of the other houses.

Now, the empty house isn’t *completely* off the hook if it houses your natal Chiron or South Node; they’re not considered planets so the house is still considered an empty house, but they do show areas where you have work to do.

Also, there are over 20,000 asteroids in astrology, so it’s literally impossible to have a TRULY empty house. We just don’t pay attention to all of those asteroids!

02: Mercury retrograde ruins everything.

Mercury retrograde is pretty notorious, and it’s true that it’s for a valid reason. It’s generally not the best time for anything brand new, making major decisions, or committing to anything long-term. But this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.

Mercury retrograde is fantastic for redos, and taking second chances. It might not be great for starting a brand new job, for example, but it can be great if it’s a job you’ve worked before, for an employer you’ve worked before, or that you’ve attempted to get before.

Not all Mercury retrogrades are equal either. If the retrograde is making a lot of hard aspects (conjunctions, square, oppositions) to your natal chart, then it can be very difficult and bring challenges. But if it’s not making many or any at all, then it might come and go without any fanfare, or even potentially bring something positive.

And, if Mercury was retrograde when you were born, then Mercury retrograde is your jam! This is your natural energy, so this can actually be the time when you feel you’re at your best.

So, you can see, it really depends on multiple factors what the impact of a certain Mercury retrograde will have on you.

03: Eighth or twelfth house aspects mean death.

There has long been a debate in astrology world whether or not you can predict death (and an even hotter debate as to whether or not it would even be ethical). So topline, many won’t even touch this.

Putting that to the side, there are areas that are considered “death” areas, like the eighth and twelfth houses. However, they are considered “death” areas figuratively.

The eighth house rules transformation, as we transform from one stage to the next. Meanwhile the twelfth house rules endings, which can in theory indicate the ending of life, and it does govern suicide (since it rules self-undoing), but it’s usually the ending of some part of your life or aspect of yourself.

We all experience “death” of various parts of our lives and parts of ourselves throughout our entire life. And we all experience eighth and twelfth house aspects thousands of times throughout our lives without any literal death.

04: Hard Pluto is complete destruction.

Ah Pluto, yes Pluto can be quite the challenge! But it’s also entirely possible to experience hard Pluto transits and to have nothing bad happen. If you know it’s coming, you can prepare for it and plan to use the energy to your advantage. Work with Pluto, and Pluto will work with you.

As an example, when transit Pluto first entered Capricorn it squared my natal Libra Sun. With the Sun ruling the self and physical body, I committed to improving my physical health and completely revamped my diet (a change that has remained ever since).

Pluto tends to destroy when we’ve been doing things wrong, and it destroys in an effort to force us to rebuild where we’ve been avoiding doing that. If we can tackle the hard stuff in advance, work on our issues and improve ourselves, then there’s usually not anything to worry about with hard Pluto.

I recall doing a reading for someone almost 20 years ago, early in my astrology career, who had 4 hard Pluto aspects going on all at once! Yet they had absolutely nothing bad happening to them. In fact, they got a publishing deal! (this was when Pluto was in Sagittarius and 2 of their planets were in Sagittarius; Sagittarius rules publishing) I remember being concerned about all of the hard Pluto for them, so it was my first IRL lesson that Pluto can absolutely be managed.

That’s a lesson that can be applied to virtually everything in astrology. Yes, some things can show challenges, but you have the choice to do something about it. If you’re smart and dedicated, you can emerge victorious.

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