I have.  :( But it's partly my fault for not explaining to them why I'm gone so often!

This happened 2 years ago in 2007 when I was going through a transit to my Sun. I HAD to retreat and re-energize myself so that I didn't embarrass myself and more importantly others! The rock bottom part of my transit was over and I was rebuilding and needed seclusion. 

Some friends still stuck by my side while others never came back. I am very sensitive and actually care deeply when I lose a friend. I still think of friends whom I lost. My Pisces Ascendant cares way too much!

I felt so ashamed for retreating that I felt like I was neglecting my friends, but I also learned that I only do things when I'm ready and I wasn't ready to make a comeback to my social life yet. 

So, have you ever lost a friend or friends while rebuilding? 

Absolutely.  But the way I see this is that they're not going to be essential to who I need to become.  And that's fine.  But then again I have Pluto in the 11th house... So this is how I grow.  I have had some major slaps in the face like this, and it stings every single time... Sometimes I even try to hold on, but Pluto always ends up taking them out of my life in some way.  Of course, where Pluto takes, it also gives back.  So sometimes it's best to just let them go, continue to grow, and allow new people in.

Easier said than done, but I think I'm a pro at this now and I'm only 21.  Haha. :)

Cheer up, water baby.  <--Speaking to your ascendant.

Thanks so much Ro. Hey, you're only 21? I'm only 20. Good to meet someone my age on these boards. That's not to say I don't like people that aren't my age!

yes.  and it's hard.  I feel lost without my friends.  I have venus in 11th Pisces. soo... but with saturn transiting my moon it's been hard to get out and not be buried by it.  I also am a 12th house sun so am naturally private.  It's just that when the gemini in my comes out it's hard for friends and others to remember that i'm so private and they get mad when I don't carry the burden of keeping up the relationship.  I don't know what to do with it as I'm so busy struggling with myself and my stuff that carrying the weight of the relationship - well it gets dropped, especially if they don't carry their end.

No easy solution to this.

Yes, I have experienced this, but it was definitely my fault, at least partially. I think Ro makes a great point, that maybe they're not going to be essential to who I need to become. Some of my friends at one point in my life just couldn't travel with me to the next point because I was becoming something else and they weren't compatible anymore.

Not sure if this is a good example, but for many years I suffered from severe depression, which I eventually went on medication for. I started to get better and there were some friends who just didn't want to be around me anymore once that happened - these were people who liked the more helpless, unwell me and couldn't deal with a post-depression, stronger me.

I have a lot of 12th house energy - 3 planets there and the Sun rules that house in my chart. So I withdraw and hide a lot. I've managed to draw people into my life lately that a) understand my need to do this and b) pull me out when they think I'm doing it too much than may be healthy.

I started to get better and there were some friends who just didn't want to be around me anymore once that happened - these were people who liked the more helpless, unwell me and couldn't deal with a post-depression, stronger me.

I don't understand those people at all!

I'm glad you're out of depression now.

Yeah, it was difficult to understand at first too but then I did get it after awhile. Everyone has their own issues and there are many people that are co-dependent. My situation was not unusual. A friend of mine is a reformed alcoholic who is now very active in AA - he goes several times a week to give himself support, and he sponsors new people who are trying to get sober. He's described very similar experiences (his and other people in AA) with losing friends, and not just the friends who were drinking buddies and also alcoholics - obviously they faded away because he was sober and they were still drinking. But also there are friends and spouses, even family members, who actually enjoy playing the part of the martyr putting up with the alcoholic, putting up with the anguish they cause. Once the person becomes sober all of a sudden these people can't be that martyr figure anymore. It often leads to them going away.

Toni, yeah I'm only 21.  I'll be 22 soon though :)

And Amy, I have a 12th house Sun, also.  It's actually free of any aspects from any planet in my chart.  Just the "inconjunct" from my Taurus moon, but supposedly that's a "minor" aspect.  So a 12th house Sag Sun that just... Disappears.  But trust me, I've got more than enough 1st house planets and a 5th house Moon to make up muuuuch presence and personality haha.

Yes I have.

More than once.

Now I have few friends who can stand me and my retritment periods.

yeah! when you stop going to the bar, the "bar friends" go away.

Bananas, EXACTLY!

Toni:

This is how you see who your real friends are. The ones who know you and care about you will stick all the way through. The ones who don't... well... as much as this can be heartbreaking, it's just not worthwhile. You will realize this much later on though.

I've lost friends while I was "recouperating." I've also selectively dropped and excommunicated friends that way. This was during my Saturn Return and I was going through a heavy period of self-searching. Most of my friends who brought me down through my "crazy decisions" (such as my pursuit of entrepreneurship), I had to drop - because they have not done ANYTHING for themselves in the first place. Sometimes certain people are toxic so you had to drop them in order to push through.

That comforted me alot Lunalie!

I am having the same thing happen to me right now!

I just took a really nice trip to New York for the first time. It was a nice way to put things back in perspective. Good riddance to these people. I'd never befriend them now. I keep that in mind. And it's quite a few of them. I have quite a few friends who are in nearby towns. I spent the past year, since moving to a new city, visiting them quite a few times. The last time I went I was left to walk home by myself at a party so another person could up their party recognition with other people. They have not bothered coming to visit me once. 

I also had another who decided to blow me off after dating a woman who doesn't like me. We were best friends and then that wasn't important anymore. Whenever we are together he just makes fun of me and thinks that I am a new age weirdo or something of the sort. It's actually kind of funny but annoying to be around. I have grown out of this whole, "Oh I am going to pick on you like a twelve year old to show you how much I love you" kind of crap.

Obviously these people aren't good for me. It has taken me wayyy too long to get the hint. This past year I have lost more friends than made friends so this is bothersome. I believe I have spent more time gathering up the energy to cut off ties than I have been spending making them. It gets lonely but what else can you do? Thanks pluto. I hope things change soon.

Yeah, I like lunalie's response! I feel better after reading it as well.

Thanks guys :) Well, I've gained and lost so many friends in the last 29+ years. I'm much wiser when it comes to who to keep and who to drop :) (and who not to give two ##$%%#$$# about when they drop you). 

If an ultrasensitive girl like me can handle it, you can too ;) 

roxannaduel, yes you do have to read the subtle hints! The winks, the nudges, and more. And if someone makes fun of you then that means they're not your friend and I think you're too smart not to know that!

Yeah, I can handle some playing around because I am known to do it myself. I like to poke fun occasionally. But hearing him speak was more than just that, he was outright bullying and targeting me numerous times. I had my fill. My twin brother used to be bullied terribly in high school and people would try it with me and they were amputated immediately. They didn't exist in my world.

the real friends are still there when you resurface...

wyrdling that's been my experience, too. Was friendly with a gal this summer who freaked out because she had to "find out second hand" that my SO and I broke up. That ended the relationship on the spot and I haven't had half a second of regret over it, either.