Highlights of Our Discussion on the 5th House and Children

©2-11-2011 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

Skywriter’s recent post about the 5^th house  (Things You May Not Know about the 5th House and Children itself )  sparked a lively and fascinating discussion about children and family chart patterns. There were over 100 comments, with lots of good astrological details. To preserve the information for posterity, here are some of the exchanges between readers and myself.

 Q: Do my 5^th house planets mean I HAVE to have children?

A: CHOICE is why we study astrology. No one is saying you HAVE to have a child or that FATE will force you to give birth. It seems like half the people who have responded to this post have chosen to be childless. I am one of them.

The 5^th house has plenty of other juicy meanings–like romance, creativity, and leisure activities–and often someone with strong emphasis on the 5^th will focus on one of those options instead. 

Q. Does an empty 5^th house mean I’ll never have children?

A: An empty house doesn’t mean you’ll never have it, it just means that it’s not your priority in life. Our energy and attention goes to the houses that have planets in them, especially any that have two or more. When a planet transits an empty house, then events tend to happen related to that house. 

So, if you have transits to the 5th, you MIGHT have a child OR children might become important in some other way. For instance, you might become an aunt and fall head over heels crazy about the baby. Or you might get a job where service to children is involved. Donna

Q. Is there ever a 5th house configuration that denies biological children, generally? My 5^th house cusp is ruled by an afflicted Pluto.

A: Childbirth itself is ruled by the 8^th, and so difficult 8^th house placements can show difficulty in conceiving or giving birth. But that in itself does not necessarily exclude children from your life–given adoption, new fertility treatments, and other options.

(Here’s an article by a British astrologer who has had great success using astrology to help couples conceive: Fertility Issues and Pluto in Capricorn.)

Pluto in the 5^th  has meant a variety of things–like, in the old days, “having” to get married due to pregnancy–or a variety of murky reasons to have a child (like to hold a marriage together or to force a man to marry you) that backfires.

I spent about 5 years as a social worker in ob-gyn clinics and saw many pregnancies that were essentially traps that made the child deeply resented by both parents when the child’s birth didn’t produce the results it was supposed to. The child paid for it, most of all.

Q: How would adoption show up in the 5^th house?

A: I have seen some clients’ charts where adoption was pursued. It showed up mostly in transits to the adoptive parent’s charts. Well, actually, now that I think of it, all the NYC clients who consulted me about adoption were planning to adopt as single parents or as Lesbian couples, and all the adoptions were of infants in foreign countries. And the transits all involved Neptune to the MC or IC.

Any other astrologers with experience with charts of adoptive parents–or, for that matter, with birth mothers giving children up for adoption? I do know one woman who gave up a child when transiting Neptune was around her Scorpio Moon/Midheaven conjunction. Neptune again.

Q: I don’t have children yet but I really want to. Unfortunately, I have Saturn in the 5th. My 5th house is also in Capricorn…I guess this is really bad news then? Otherwise, I have Uranus and Neptune in the 5th house, too. Does that mean I can still hope for more than one child?

A: With three planets in the 5th, you definitely could have more than one child. I take it that you were born between 1988-91, in that subgeneration with Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune in Capricorn, much of that time in a triple conjunction.

What’s important to understand is that this is not just you, but that every single person born on the planet in those 2 1/2 years has that combination. Naturally, it might fall in any one of the 12 houses, with about a 1 in 12 chance that it would be the 5^th . 

I take outer planet combinations like this one or like the Pluto-Uranus conjunction of the 1960s to show world conditions that deeply affect the lives of the whole group born with it. And given that the conjunction in this instance is in Capricorn and that Pluto is now transiting Capricorn, I believe that it has to do with what we’ve done to the earth itself. Yours is a generation that will be deeply affected by earth changes and overcrowding, and will have to find the solutions to it. (See Challenge: Interpret the Uranus-Neptune Conjunction of the 1980s-90s .)

Since it is in the 5^th for you, you may feel a special responsibility to children, not only your own but children around the world or here at home who have not been so lucky or well cared for. Neptune is often involved with adoptions, so you could possibly decide to adopt children from other countries or special needs kids–or to be a foster mother to such kids. (I haven’t seen any charts of foster children or parents–has anyone else?)

And since the combination shows what kind of children you would have, then your children will also share that deep sense of responsibility for others who need help, which you’d pass on by example.

So, don’t so much view this as a problem that is yours alone, but a generational problem that you are bound to address in your own unique way.

Q: What would happen if you have Saturn in the 5^th, but also Jupiter? They are seemingly opposite types of energy, do they work together, cancel each other out?

A: With 2 planets in the 5^th, you might be talking about two different children–or, especially if they are conjunct, you could be talking about a child who blends those two energies (as Barack Obama does with so much class) or else alternates between Jupiter and Saturn moods. I happen to be a fan of Jupiter-Saturn aspects, that quality of gravitas and integrity that produces good quality work.

Q:  The first time Saturn traveled through my 5^th house, I had children and spent my time as a Mom. Now while it goes through the 5^th again, I’m interested in teaching children art and doing a newsletter for them. Does that seem like a possibility?

A: The second time around, Saturn reflects all the skills, abilities, and life experience you’ve acquired since the last time Saturn transited that house close to 30 years ago. That will give you many opportunities to take your work and concerns with children to a completely new level. Use it well–it’s a harvest time!

The exchange on Things You May Not Know about the 5th House and Children was almost a forum on Saturn in the 5^th, as so many Readers who responded had that position and reported on their difficulties in having children and on the children born while Saturn transited that house. (See the discussion in the comment section of that post if you’re interested in details.)

Okay, Readers, this is NOT a question and answer session, though it kinda looks like one.  If you didn’t get a chance to share in the last session, feel free to do it below. 

More Posts about Family Life:

• Readers Ask—Q & A about the 5th House
• Things You May Not Know about the 5th House and Children
• A New Look at the Astrology of Twins
• Astrology and Conscious Parenting: Saturn in Synastry
• Tips for Working with Teenagers’ Charts
• The Mars-Uranus Conjunction in Pisces and Children Born with it
• Pluto and Bullying: How to Recognize and Deal with It
• How Outer Planet Transits to the Moon Affect Family Life

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