“Oh, I’m not creative. I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”
Sound familiar? Well, it’s not true, so stop putting yourself down! Each of us has some sort of spark that creates original work, and though it might not take the form of a poem, painting or musical composition, that doesn’t mean you aren’t creating! It’s time to find your muse!
Naturally when considering someone’s creative abilities, the first order of business will point astrologers toward artistic or crafty expressions like the visual and performing arts, jewelry making, woodworking, etc.
In looking at a birth chart, we can see the placements of various planets suggest all sorts of talents and aptitudes! Let’s take a look at how this rolls out…
What Are the Basics of Astro Houses and Artistic Creativity?
These are the houses we generally begin with:
• The 2nd House governs both visual arts and music
• The 3rd House resonates with all forms of writing
• The 5th House has affinities with the performing arts
• The 7th House speaks to decorative arts as well as collaborations
Additionally, some would also lump the 12th House in with the creative houses, because it governs spiritual expressions which can take imaginative forms.
What about other kinds of creativity?
How about a chef in the kitchen? When it comes to possible culinary abilities, look at both the 4th house, (all things related to the kitchen), and the 6th house (ties to nutrition). Linkages between the two can point to someone gifted with creating healthy and tasty meals!
Could you be a gifted blogger?
Look at both the 9th and 11th Houses. Both have something to say about distribution of ideas and communicating through technological means.
There are other forms of creativity that many of us never give thought to. Have you seen a great rock concert or theater performance with fabulous light shows? Lighting designers are often overlooked for their artistry and craftsmanship.
Astrologically, tying the technically-oriented 6th or 11th houses with the 5th house will combine the energies of both houses. If the ruler of the 6th house is also in the 5th, that person has the makings of a kickass lighting designer for theater. The same configuration could lead to skills with finding creative and cost-conscious presentations for healthy meals.
These deeper modes of astrology go beyond your Sun sign to point you to your true niche, bringing out talents and skills that will be rewarding and fulfilling.
If you’re curious about your chart and you just happen to aspire to be a creative writer, and see a nice stellium (collection of planets) in the 3rd house of your chart, for example, count yourself blessed.
Venus and Jupiter in the 7th house can really spur a budding career as a jewelry designer. But even if you have a 3rd house void, and your talkative Mercury is in stolid Taurus in the 4th house that doesn’t mean you can’t be a writer as well.
Don’t despair — we need all sorts of voices to make this world spin! Your subject matter might be family or history and your style might be painstaking and methodical. Similarly, seeing somber Saturn in the 7th house might not confer an easy career in jewelry design, but it can at least give you staying power to handle the rejections that initially accompany an artist on their way to success.
It’s with all of this in min, let’s explore creativity through the houses. This first part of this article will focus on the usual suspects where creativity is concerned and include the 12th house in addition to houses 2, 3, 5 and 7.
It goes without saying that being born with prominent placements in one of these houses is a good milestone for a person to become an artist of some sort. Placements here will be more forthright toward following the bliss of a creative career.
The Creative Houses
2nd House
It is a classic position for a visual artist to have either the Sun or Moon in this sector. The Sun in the 2nd will showcase a need to express one’s values in the course of generating income. The Sun shows the expression of the person in his or her most natural form, while the Moon reveals an emotional connection with attracting the money needed to make for a happy life.
The Moon here would not necessarily make a person create more emotionally engaged work than the Sun, but the latter would also point to a wonderful dream for the work involved. Another planet like Jupiter could produce someone who will be overenthusiastic about their craft perhaps and maybe even a bit on the sloppy side.
That exuberance could actually create a winning and attractive career – though one has to guard against complacency and laziness. Pluto here could point the individual toward themes with a deeper and darker hue or tapping a creative vein that brings in mega-bucks.
3rd House
This house is associated with writers, and personal planets here bring out an author who has some heft or emotional rapport with their readership. Third house Sun writers will identify themselves with words and their natural authority will come through every line.
By contrast, those with a 3rd house Moon will be able to find ways to emotionally connect with readers and bring out writing that seeks to affirm and care for others in the creative process. 3rd House planets can speak to subject matter as well.
Pluto could create someone gifted with crime novels, war stories or horror, while writers with Mercury in the 3rd would tend to create more journalistic pieces and would best be operating in the news industry.
Saturn here might indicate a person very careful with their language and might have a somber style and Venus here would be creating a socially diverse and charming commentary on the mores of the day.
5th House
The 5th house resonates with performing arts and all things related to children. Performing artists with a 5th house Sun are naturals when it comes to the spotlight and will be the actors audiences can’t stop watching. They steal the show without having to say a word.
5th house Moon actors, by contrast, will form the heart-and-soul of a play production or find the emotional resonances in the dialogue being spoken. If there were such a thing as “astrological casting,” a 5th house Sun would make a great King Lear, but a 5th house Moon would be sought after for Hamlet.
5th house Uranus individuals might create an iconoclastic image and possess a diverse ability to create roles while someone with Mars here might be the proverbial action figure.
7th House
Decorative arts and interior design are associated with the 7th house. Its creativity is similar to the 2nd house, but with a social element involved. Of all the houses, the Sun is actually weakest in this sector; capable of washing a person out to make them better as part of a team.
In terms of creativity however, there’s an affinity with media that creates a sense of balance. It’s excellent for crafting which combines practicality with aesthetics.
The Moon here gives an intuitive connection with what is required in a craft both for its functions and its emotional connection. Having the Sun or Moon in the 7th house can act in some ways to call more public attention to oneself as well, for this sector of the chart governs one’s relationship with the public at large.
Someone born with the Sun in the 7th and say, Mars or Venus in the 5th might actually present quite a formidable presence in the marketplace – especially where crafts or performance are concerned. Working with a creative partner is also indicated by a 7th house Sun or Moon placement.
12th House: A Special Case
This mysterious house deserves its own category, mostly because it is unlike all the others.
“The House of Self-Undoing” has a bad reputation with many astrologers and truth be told, planets here are more difficult to access. For many people with 12th house placements, they spend years feeling at sea, even if their Sun is in Leo or their Moon in the sign it rules – Cancer.
This is because the planets located here take on more spiritualized significance. Planets here often develop as “late bloomers.” As one’s youthful ambitions give way to a more spiritualized view of life and a sense of the importance of aligning with something bigger than themselves, these talents unlock as more selfless motives take over.
12th House placements are actually wonderful for all sorts of artists. These placements can plug into a creative vision in that seems to be God-given. Uranus here might actually discover interesting ways to use technology to increase spiritual goals and ideas.
If Uranus is in Virgo, that could be surprisingly practical as well. Moon in Capricorn here might not know how to handle their emotional nature for decades, but with continued examination, could open up to finding practical ways to assist others in their spiritual development and to channel emotional energies toward constructive goals.
Again, the important thing is to somehow look for the spiritual and compassionate way where these planetary influences are concerned. Direct and take-charge means will not suffice. In Part II, we’ll branch out to explore the creative potentials of the other house locations for various planets.
Related article: Astrology & Creativity Part II: The Other Houses