The Eighth House is where a person is purified and cleansed through an intense meeting with another. It is the area of sexuality and of death. This can be a metaphorical death of the personal self and often this occurs by the deep merging of two people where the self is lost. There is nothing shallow about this house. Everything is felt with an intensity and depth and this is both the good and bad sides of human nature. There can often be a deep crisis that causes a person to be purged of their negativity. This crisis could show itself in the form of jealousy or rage or hate or possesiveness. Whatever can be said about this House the areas it highlights are never superficial. The life processes are felt intensely here, things such as the birth of a child , or the death of a friend, or the passion involved in wanting to be close to another. This is the area where a person will give everything in order to possess their desires.
The child in our analogy now has to grow up and experience the intensity and depth of the basic life processes, birth, sex and death.
This house often can be a very secretive place since the sensitivity and pain that surround it are so strong. For this reason it's not always easy to see the areas that it controls since they are often hidden deep inside a person. It could be the place where a person locks himself away or has deep emotional crisis. Often what is going on is therefore not apparent to the casual observer.
Being the opposite House to the Second House which is very much about my Possessions and Values the Eighth House is to do with other peoples Values and Possesions. This is why this house is very much about purification of the individual through meeting the other and their values at an intense level. This may be by desiring their possesions or what they have or desiring them and who they are or by setting your values against theirs. It is also the area of taxes. This is money that is effectively someone elses of which you have only temporary possesion.
This is a Water House and this is reflected in it being the area of deep emotional purification. It is a Fixed Water House and their is nothing transient or superficial about the desires that are expressed here. This House naturally is ruled by and corresponds to the sign of Scorpio. These people are known for their intensity and battling nature but there is also a depth and a raw honesty about this sign.
A Person with many planets in the Eighth House may well be a very private person. There will be a lot more to them under the surface than first appears. There will an intensity and depth about them and a sexual magnetism. Much of their life focus will be in battling their internal demons often through deep relationsihips. Ultimately hopefully they will purify themselves in the process.
With Mars in the Eighth House a person will be highly sexual, intense and magnetic. They may see crisis and trouble around them and people plotting against them. With Venus in the Eighth a person will desire to deeply lose themselves in another. They may have a talent for dealing with other peoples money such as being an Investment Banker. With Neptune in the Eighth House a person will achieve a mystical experience by merging with another in sexual union.