The House Is Burning To The Ground! What Would You Save?
Ask the Collective
satori featured this question on her blog in 2007:
“If your house was burning down and you only had time to save one thing, what would it be?”
(Assuming all children and animals were safe)
Having Libra, I would not be able to decide what to take so I would leave it all. With Venus mashed with Neptune it’s the nebulous I value anyway. Also, being wiped out is acceptable to my packed 8th house.
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What would you save? Can you see the “why” in your chart?

36 Responses to “The House Is Burning To The Ground! What Would You Save?”
Nothing. I can say this because my memories are better than any photo and I am not sentimental. My life is worth more than any object and I definately am not into risks like this.
Chart wise, I think it has something to do with the abundance of fire, I’m scared of it. 12th House Neptune and the last decade of a 12th House Pluto transit has seen me lose multiple people/things over and over.
I’ve been trying to think of some physical good, but I think that so long as my kids, my fiance, and myself were able to get out I could cope with losing everything else. I might try to grab my file box though, since that’s where all the important papers are/will be.
had the opportunity to test that question, when my furnace caught on fire in the middle of the night a few years ago. grabbed the kids and we ran (*sigh* didn’t even LOOK for the cats) afraid that the house was going to ‘blow’, because it was hooked up to a natural gas line. fire department came and caught the whole thing in time, but after it was over, realized that nothing but nothing but the kids meant anything. gemini sun, merc & mars in my 4th and 5th houses. home & kids.
Definitely my laptop. Everything important to me — photos, writing, etc. — is on it. I have no clue how that’s reflected in my chart.
I’ve lost all of my belongings more than once in my life, so I think it’s safe to say I could leave it all behind.
I also have Libra, and that “can’t decide what to take–just leave it all” sounds very much like what I’d do too.
It’s just stuff.
Hmm good question. I think in that kinda of circumstance its really all about surviving and getting out alive so i can imagine I wouldnt think about anything else but saving all living beings (human /animal)(8th house stellium/sun scorp)
However for fun and since this is in theory and I was magically (Neptune) able to save (mars) something I guess it would be either photos or written journals. im not sure how that shows in my chart possibly my Jupiter/9th/scorpio (journals)and my Mars trine Venus (photos)
I doubt in real life that saving on object would across my mind
Can I take my new king-size bed? ![]()
The one thing I worry about is the bunny, since he can’t make it out on his own. But, assuming that’s all taken care of, I can’t think of any ~one~ thing I’d save.
I’m very sentimental about silly crap: old birthday cards, notes from high school, knick-knacks, etc. But a lot of my “important” things have been lost and I’ve kinda learned to deal. Not gracefully
, but lesson learned.
I’m going to take a stab at it and say this is probably because of my 2nd house Sun – a lot of my “self” is tied up in what I own, memories and whatnot. My intuition tells me that being a Leo probably has something to do with it, too, but I can’t link it logically.
As a sidenote, I’ve thought about this since I was a little kid. I don’t know where it is astrologically, but it might have something to do with the fact that there were at least four fires (only one was seriously dangerous) in my childhood home, though.
p.s. re: the astrological aspects, I have Moon conj Pluto in the 7th/8th (cusp, so read as the 8th), so hardship & loss are no strangers to me, and in a way, I *almost enjoy it (the experience, not the loss) – my 2nd house Sun hates losing its “things”, but of course, it opposes my Moon…so, I figure it’s a “life lesson” for me (seeing as how it’s a pattern in my life to lose or give up all of my “things”)
This is sad but my CPU and pictures
I was faced with this years ago when my oldest was under 2. The thing I would take is all my old family photos. From generations ago.
This is why I now scan all my family photos and put them on external drives….so I can grab the small thing and run…in case of emergency.
All of my computer stuff is saved online somewhere or the other so the laptop is replaceable. There are copies of early pre-computer pictures with other family members. I tend to travel pretty light so possessions aren’t all that important to me. I would probably grab my tarot cards on my way out the door. They’re replaceable but have been with me long enough they’re like old friends.
Gemini sun, Scorpio moon and asc with 10th house Virgo Mars.
I’d save the HOUSE – I’m a firefighter!
Thank you!
And as for the other question, I’m probably a firefighter because my mars is in Aries and my Venus and sun are in Pisces!
I care a ton about other folks and have the bravery to back it up!
Elsa – totally agreed! I would never be able to decide what to take…. there’d be no way. First- I’d grab my kid.
There a few photographs, but I probably wouldn’t realistically be able to get all of those either. My hope is that I’d have time to grab my stuffed Bunny I’ve had since I was 3… that’s it.
Have to save my paintings, drawings, ceramics, slides of destroyed work. sketchbooks w/ideas. That is stuff you can’t replace.
My house keys!!! need to open the iron door in order to exit… unless its impossible to go downstairs, i would climb down through one of my windows, or even jump into a banana tree in front of my room.
i applied for firefighters… +- 12 years ago. But i failed… in the exam (OFC i never studied).
But i will never have the opportunity for it again.
Note to self: Get fireproof box and/or bank deposit box.
I was about to say my laptop (since I have my life on there) or my cell phone (since I have my contacts on there, and I’ve had anxiety dreams about losing that and my car).
Then I realized two things. I simply wouldn’t have the presence of mind to save things that require chargers and if I lost things that prove my identity I have no backup and a world of pain.
If I have had time, definately my purse and laptop. Only because well, if my drivers license burns up, it is so difficult to prove you are you anywhere. I wouldn’t have time to get the birth certificate. What a weird world we live in. But yeah the rest of the stuff, although I love it, can more easily be replace than important IDs and stuff like that. And being a computer person, I do have lots of stuff on the laptop. If it was at night and I was sleeping I would have to grap my hearing aids too – they cost $6,000! I can’t hear well without them. IF it was winter, definately my coat too!
I’d save my money$$$. So I guess I’d get wallet and all my money. I’d also save my computer, but it’s heavy so I don’t know, LOL.
So I guess my MOon in Cap wants to be practical.
My artwork
My photos, laptop, instrument… ah! Too much!
My photos and memento boxes, no contest. But I don’t see the “why” in my chart. Chiron in the 4th house of home/family of origin and Neptune in Scorpio in the 11th. Hmm…
If I could only get ONE thing? My firebox. I’d grab that 50-pound sucker and toss it off the deck and run! It has my important papers in it–I bought it after seeing my neighbors’ house get torched by a hot light bulb left sitting on the porch.
If I was putting myself in danger by going back in – nothing. Moon Pisces 2nd. I value motherhood and wouldn’t want my kids to be orphans (or be stuck with my ex – same thing).
Otherwise, it would be my purse, pic of my three grandmas, and the laptop and hard drive on the way out the front door! I could grab all those in under one minute.
I have some old family photos. My great grandparents, some of their parents, and everyone from there to My Mother The Saint.
If time, my guitar because it was hand crafted to suit me (converted to a lefty by a very patient and kind luthier, for free) and because I love it.
Wallet’s in my pocket, phone’s in my other pocket, and both are replaceable, so I’m set.
I forgot the why, but I’m not sure I see it. Mars/Venus in Cancer in the 2nd – keeping the family and the one treasured/customized gift? I guess that makes sense.
My wallet, my glasses, cell phone, everything else can be replaced. Virgo Sun, Uranus in 4th house opp Moon in 10th.
Photos I think – I’m busy right now scanning a load of them and putting them online where I can retrieve them.
I’d say all the love letters I had from my twenties but they all got stolen years ago (they were in the bottom of a big jewel box I had which went missing from a friend’s house while I was living on the island.
I’d also like to save the naked drawing the Man made of me in 1992, signed on the back, and gave me. Nobody has ever seen it but the two of us
I’d have trouble grabbing those though! so in effect, it would be my glasses (if at night) and laptop
PS I guess all that says ‘memories’ but I’m not sure astrologically what would cause those things to be important to me. Desc in Pisces? Neptune in H1? Cap /Saturn?
I’d get myself (my family and cats) out asap, but if I could risk saving anything, it would be my crystals, books, paintings and plants. I’ve given away my belongings twice, and set up home in 3 different countries (and subsequently left these countries and my belongings behind) and these are the things I always acquire straight away. They are also the things I miss when I lose them.
Sun in Sagittarius in Second (also Mercury,Mars Neptune and North node there in Sag in 2nd), Moon in Pisces conjunct Jupiter in 4th, Ascendant Scorpio conjunct Uranus.
My heavy 2nd and important 4th hint that my identity is wrapped up in certain belongings, and the 4th house importance could indicate that I like to be at home. The mutability and predominance of both sadge and pisces shows me to be a wanderer through and through. It also emphasizes my dreamy / philosophical nature and love of psychic / mystical belongings (my books are all new age, self help, wiccan in nature)
Hope that helps x
We have a fireproof safe. It already has all the birth certificates and deeds, and so on in it.
In case of fire I’m supposed to take the external hard drive. I call it the pyramid.
Just thinking of this makes me want to scan all the old baby photos.
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My computer! Has my whole life in it!
As far as my chart…no idea.