Think you’re not creative? Think again!
Everyone has the capacity to be creative, you just need to know where to look in your birth chart. We will continue our discussion of astrology and creativity, exploring the role the astrological houses play. In Part I, we explored the creativity of the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 12th houses. Here we will continue that discussion.
Venus in the 2nd house is often thought of as a natural in the visual arts or singing – but can that also be applied to Venus in the 11th house? It can, but the art and music will take a different tone. The 2nd house has a feeling of the primitive as well as the conventionally pleasing.
Landscapes and portraits would be art forms appropriate to the 2nd house, as would folk songs and classical music.
The 11th house, with its futuristic focus and desires to engage people on a more sustainable course, would make Venus seek out more eccentric and original forms, push an artist to be more of a trailblazer or to express a different take on reality that is decidedly unconventional.
Venus in the 11th house might also be more aware of the need for big changes, seeking to create inspiring or revolutionary work, aiming for a brighter, more humane future. If a person has Saturn in the 11th house, they could create a stable and meaningful association with like-minded folks that would foster other forms of creative output as well.
What about those houses that we didn’t cover in Part I? Turns out, each astrological house has its own brand of creativity. Let’s take a look! :
1st House: What You See is What You Get (WYSIWYG)
Any planet that sits in the 1st house is going to be a part of the personal display case, if you will, and if that planet is the Sun, this is the signature of a WYSIWYG type person. The solar mission is the same as the personal image projected. For a first house Sun, creativity will also most likely be reflected through personal appearance.
The fashion designer who wears his own creations for example, might be a 1st House Sun. The Moon here is more difficult, particularly if it’s in a Water sign or privacy-loving Taurus. The Moon reflects one’s innermost soul, and in the 1st house, this is quite a vulnerable placement; everyone can see the inner workings with a 1st house Moon.
However, lunar creativity is quite changeable. Those with a 1st house Moon might find creative ways to express their feelings in a direct and personable manner (with maybe the exception of Moon in Capricorn folks who tend to be naturally stoic). A person with Neptune in the 1st will likely offer a personal creativity that will feature a dreamy, imaginative quality and probably seem both delicate and ungrounded.
4th House: Home is Where the Heart Is
The creativity through the home and the choices of décor, food and architecture are likeliest here. The 4th spotlights the ability to create a nest for us and those we cherish. People with Sun or Moon in the 4th probably have a good eye for what will look best in their homes, and express their creativity through design choices.
Some placements will be more of a challenge – Sagittarius or Jupiter in the 4th House can make a person as likely to enjoy having the outdoors as their living space as they would living in a house. Scorpio or Pluto probably won’t want to share their life with outsiders.
4th house individuals also have skills in the kitchen and providing some hospitality, and again Jupiter here might confer a flair for international cuisines. Mars or Pluto might give an affinity with spicy foods.
6th House: Creativity and Culture: An Exquisite Marriage
Once again, this is a house where the sign on the cusp can be indicative of the sort of creativity involved. Taurus on this house cusp could create a career as a technically gifted artist or singer. The nuts-and-bolts of the creative process will likely be emphasized. Virgo, Aquarius, Uranus or Mercury here will likely work in quite intricate ways.
These placements could make for someone who is more gifted with being a critic or outside viewer/audience for art or music. Then the creativity involved would be expressed more through helping to add to cultural production through sharing their observations of what works and what might require more thought next time around.
8th House: Creative Destruction
Another house connected to the Water element, the 8th house creativity often takes the form of “Creative Destruction,” and reflects areas of elimination and waste. As such, creative planets here can generate a lot of mojo through the act of willfully transforming works through selective deletions or erasures.
A writing technique that has an 8th house feel is one that British playwright Harold Pinter developed where he took a text he wrote and deleted every third line. He added more text to this new version and the next day, he repeated the procedure, thus giving his plays an unusual and mysterious style.
Artists who use holes, overlapping or other forms of obliteration to craft a work are also represented by this house. Creating works based on ruined landscapes or invoking the dead and the terrestrial are also strongly indicated here. Similarly, finding creative uses for recycled materials or rehabbing failing structures can spark all sorts of creativity for one with planets here.
9th House: “He who wanders is not always lost.”
Inspirations for all sorts of creativity come from other cultures if there is a 9th house emphasis in a person’s chart. The 9th represents travel to foreign lands, but generally indicates large exposures to cosmopolitan values and ideas. This house is associated with seeking higher level awareness.
Like the 12th house, this can be an area for grand inspirations. Planets stationed here are likely to have a feeling of expansion and bigness. People attracted to writing screenplays might find “road movies” particularly attractive.
The road and the types of people along it can spark all sorts of creativity for the planets located here, whether that takes an artistic form or the form of creating a caravan of cars to drive across the country in search of adventure. Travel agents or anyone involved in tourism and hospitality industries might find creative outlets for 9th house planets as well.
10th House: Creative Careers
This is probably one of the trickier houses for creativity as there’s always the temptation to take planets located here and try to steer them toward creating a career. Planets here add more of a focus to career, but one can put the cart before the horse.
A person with Mercury in the 10th can recognize they could have a great writing career, but it can also make a person hope to get the Pulitzer Prize before they’ve written something of merit. It can also skew the creativity toward the idea “is this going to be good for my career?” which for many will lead to paralysis and loss of interest in a project.
The good side of 10th house planets relative to creativity is that it confers discipline. Someone with Uranus in the 10th might develop a disciplined approach to technology that allows for creativity to flourish. Likewise, Mars in the 10th house will confer some exertion of will toward creative endeavors having to do with administrative work.
11th House: Why Don’t You Try This?
This sector is associated specifically with group creativity. The opposite house, the 5th, represents the creator by oneself, but this house reveals the ingenuity inherent in people coming together and as a group, making a creative contribution. Planets here express creativity in more social and sometimes provocative ways.
This is a house of “Why don’t you try this?” and experimentation is key for planets’ expression here. Someone with Mars in the 11th might use a lot of willpower and drive toward creating a framework for group creativity, perhaps using computers and high tech. What is social networking but group creativity in action?
Saturn here can help structure ideas and discover the right sequencing of their unfolding, but also to embrace the different and unusual as the necessary and the vital. Saturn in the 11th will also have some inhibitions with group creativity, but when people work on that, they become a brighter star.
Conclusion
Part of the astrologer’s task is to show the true potentials in a person’s birth chart and to describe how that can be released, but also to dispel these ideas that get spoken of like “I’m not creative.” Clearly this is a failure of the imagination, and it is part of our work as readers of star charts to help our clients uncover their hidden creative gems.
They’re all right there in the chart! What astrological house is your creativity in?
* Editor’s note: This article was previously published December 3rd, 2014 and has been updated for astrological accuracy.
Related Article: Astrology & Creativity Part 1: Planets in ‘Creative’ Houses