The eighth house is the zodiac sign that follows after the seventh. It has a superior sextile with the tenth house and is in aversion to the first. It represents the things in life that are too big to handle on your own.

Planets in the eighth house are moving up and toward the top of the sky by planetary motion, but falling down toward the setting sky by the earth's rotation. They fall below the horizon many times before reaching the more visible space of the ninth house. The eighth house is where you often face failure many times before finding success.

In the eighth house, you swim upstream or hurtle toward an uncertain fate. Fear, anxiety, and confusion often accompany this house because it's where you confront the unknown and unexpected. There are forces greater than yourself at work here.

Eighth house people are often involved in social activism, generational conflicts, or multinational corporations. They serve organizations or causes that predate their birth and will likely persist after their deaths.

The eighth house represents flux, thresholds, and rites of passage. It's where you find those making the sometimes perilous transition from one state of being to the next, and those who act as ferrymen guiding others across the threshold. Examples include doulas and midwives supporting the transition from womb to birth, funeral directors and hospice workers watching over the transition from this life to what comes after, or even mortgage brokers facilitating the transition into homeownership.

The eighth house represents controversy and things that lack proper definition. How fitting that it's the house that astrologers debate the meaning of most.