Dear Reader
The houses, in astrology are a matter of great significance, as you would know by now. While the signs that occupy the houses are also of importance, here, we capture some amazing information about all the houses, combining sources from both western and vedic traditions.
In astrology, all the charts are divided into 12 equal houses. Each house, numbering from 1 to 12 have a significance associated with them.
Often, growing up, I remember being very disinterested in mathematics and geometry. I remember thinking, once I grew up and could understand concepts in more depth, that it would have been nice if someone had explained the circles of geometry by using examples of the movement of the Sun, the shape of planets and so on. Perhaps this is happening now in schools, perhaps kids in the future will relate to what seems so abstract and unrelated to life in a much much more interesting way.
There are various methods of drawing the houses of a birth chart or an event chart, etc. the art of casting a chart starts with using a house system, of which there a few. Some traditions like the Vedic use squares or triangles within the squares, but I highly recommend anyone studying or learning the use of charts to use the circular method, which is called the Placidus house system. Here's why:
1. The most obvious of all reasons is that the shape of the objects we study, namely planets are round.
2. It is easier to imagine and understand the movement of planets across the arc of their orbits and elliptics- which are all circular.
3. When we say Ascendant - it means the sign of the Zodiac when the Sun was rising on the eastern horizon at the time of birth. So this is easier to understand when you see the circular chart. This is also true for the Descendant, which is the setting sun on the western horizon. The house cusp 10 or Medium Coeli, is always pointing to the point directly above you and the Imum Coeli or the fourth house, always at the point directly below you. All this is easier to imagine when you see yourself on a spherical Earth. It can also be mind boggling and it does challenge our idea of what is up and down. Try it!
4. When we say movement of planets through the zodiac, we mean anti-clockwise, from our relative position on Earth, which is easier also to understand by looking at the circular chart.
5. For intuitive reasons, a circular chart makes more aesthetic sense moreover.
So, the houses are thus divided into 12 equal parts of a 360 degree circle. Each part therefore is 360 degrees divided by 12 which is 30 degrees each.
Each degree of this circle represents the movement of the Sun, one degree per day. The movement of all the other planets follow different time since their revolutions around the Sun may take less or more than one Earth year- which is nothing but the movement of the Earth around the Sun, namely our revolution, through these 360 degrees. We must remember here, that the Sun does not move. It appears to move, but in fact, we are moving in relation to the Sun. It appears as though the Sun is moving through the sky does it not? But, it is not. We are moving through different parts of the sky through our annual voyage around the Sun. So, in each 30 degrees of our movement, we see the Sun against the backdrop of the zodiac.
Ancient sky watchers and star gazers started developing their knowledge of the movement of planets and fixed stars to be able to navigate their way around the planet Earth as well as on its oceans. Hence, charting the courses of their voyages became dependent on knowing where the stars or planets are, in relation to their last observed positions. Over time, these observations got recorded in what we call the Ephemerides, which are basically log tables of the positions of all planets. Since we have been observing them for a long long time, we can now accurately predict their movements because they have patterns of movement. Hence, astrologers use the ephemerides to cast a chart for a future date, to be able to know planetary positions of that date, to then understand what that can mean. Exactly how these descriptions attached to those particular planets and where they are found in the house systems- this is an ongoing research subject and there are many stories around how this 'shastra' in Vedic astrology came about. There are vedic texts that point to 'Jyotishya' ( literally, something like the study of light) as one of the science and craft that was taught in ancient schools. The attributes are more or less the same across vedic and western systems and this helps astrologers across the world interpret charts.
For now, we will bring our focus back to the houses. Ancient astrologers decided to attribute certain areas of our lives to certain houses, to be able to understand the significance of the presence or absence of certain planets and the signs occupying those house cusps. A house cusp is that part of the 360, where the house changes from House 1 to house 2, at the end of each 30 degrees. This is both an art and a science. It involves great depth in understanding many things, like life experiences, sense and sensibilities and even a sense of poetry. In Vedic astrology, the houses are also called 'Bhavas' which translates to 'mood' or 'expression'. It is a word that is used extensively in the dance art form, to describe a pose. The adjective 'bhavyama' in Sanskrit or Tamil languages means something quite deep. It means that an emotion is being expressed in a beautiful, thoughtful and an artistic way.
These astrologers decided to further add four main flavors or colours to these expressions. They said, life is made of four colours, namely, dharma, artha, kama and mokhsa. So houses 1 through to 12, follow this colour or expression code.
So, House 1 is a Dharma house. Dharma means duty, what we feel is the right thing to do. This applies to 1, 5 and 9. These houses recognise that each person is born with a purpose which they fulfill and their duties to oneself, family, countrymen, and the world are made manifest.
House 2 is an Artha house. Artha is a Sanskrit word related to the English word 'Earth' and is about the Earth's resources and also how we use our resources, as we go about our life's activities and goals. This is true for houses 2, 6 and 10.
House 3 is a Kama house. Kama in Sanskrit means pleasure or fun, which is true for houses 3, 7, 11. These houses recognise that fun is part of our lives and that we are pleasure seeking beings, especially in relationships with our peers, our friends and in close relationships with our significant others.
House 4 is a Moksha house. Moksha in Sanskrit means liberation, or to be free. This is an area of life recognised by the astrologers to mean that a person is free to pursue the growth of their soul in whichever way they feel suits them best or works for them, by finding out things for themselves and experience a sense of individual freedom, while they use their resources to do so. The Moksha houses are associated also with what is hidden- in that it is not always visible to the naked eye. This introspective search and find is true for houses 4, 8, 12.*
We will keep this lens in the background as we get into understanding what the Houses or Bhavas stand for, in detail.
In House 1, for instance, they ascribed things we would associate with the number 1, a strong sense of 'I', oneness with self. So this house is all about the individual person, who he or she appears to be to the world. The 1st house is the angle of the sun rising on the eastern horizon, at the time of the birth of a person or an event. So, the sign on this house and any planets therein, gives more information about 1st house matters. What do I think of myself as? What qualities do others perceive about me as soon as they meet me? What first impression do I make on others?
House 1 cannot be studied in isolation from House 7 since House 1 and House 7 share the same axis. If House 1 represents 'I' and me, House 7 represents 'we' and 'our'. House 7 is most importantly the house of marriage, business partnerships, close friends and close enemies. It is the place where we develop in relation to others. The authors at Indo Astro Vedic astrology describe this house as a Kalatra Bhava house. The word kalatram in Sanskrit means wife and kalatram means one's wife and feminine companions. I was fascinated by this word and I went searching for the origin of this word and found this small piece from the sanskrit literature that says:
इन्दुमूर्तिमिवोद्दाममन्मथविलासगृहीतगुरुकलत्राम्
I don't know Sanskrit well enough to translate this but what is interesting to note here is that kalatram is attached to the word guru making gurukalatram which could mean what is understood to be the wife of the Guru or guru patni. This could be an ancient piece written about the nature of the household. The word kalasham, which means the pot in which the harvest festival of Pongal is celebrated, also comes from kalatram. Other words also used to describe the energies of the House 7 are: yonī, varāṅgam, upasthaḥ, smaramandiram ( memory palace), ratigṛham (Where Rati lives), janmavartma ( life and its future), adharam (point of being sure), avācyadeśaḥ (that which is in the land of the unspoken), prakṛtiḥ (nature), apatham (a bad road, from patham- where the steps are taken), smarakūpakaḥ ( keeper of memories), apadeśaḥ (escapade), prakūtiḥ, puṣpī ( flower), saṃsāramārgakaḥ ( the director of samsara), saṃsāramārgaḥ, guhyam
The sense of cooperation and purpose is important to House 7. With strong House 7, by cooperating and adjusting, we seek to realize our purpose, accomplish something like happiness, success, profit, and satisfaction. All sorts of partnerships come under the domain of House 7 and not just marriage. These include business partnerships, relationships with clients, the contracts that are maintained in business, our negotiations, tacit, verbal and written agreements and so on. The kind of relationship you share with your co-founder is governed by this house, questions like who gets a bigger slice in profit is also ruled by 7th house in Vedic Astrology. Your relationship with everyone you enter into a contract with is also governed by House 7 in horoscope. Whether all these partnerships enrich your lives or cause your downfall is also assessed by the planetary position in the House 7.
House 7 also deals with the darker side of our relationships, the partnerships we form. Legal battles, divorce, quarrels, enmity, and fines also fall under the domain of this house. Your reaction to these adversities influence your relationship with the person and on a more global level and in mundane astrology, it can lead to wars. In Mundane astrology, House 7 controls matters related to treaties, alliances with other countries, foreign affairs, marriage laws, mediation, the power of the spoken word and ability to negotiate, international conflicts and resolution, foreign trade, free trade and organic fair trade agreements, economic equality etc.
The houses, in astrology are a matter of great significance, as you would know by now. While the signs that occupy the houses are also of importance, here, we capture some amazing information about all the houses, combining sources from both western and vedic traditions.
In astrology, all the charts are divided into 12 equal houses. Each house, numbering from 1 to 12 have a significance associated with them.
Often, growing up, I remember being very disinterested in mathematics and geometry. I remember thinking, once I grew up and could understand concepts in more depth, that it would have been nice if someone had explained the circles of geometry by using examples of the movement of the Sun, the shape of planets and so on. Perhaps this is happening now in schools, perhaps kids in the future will relate to what seems so abstract and unrelated to life in a much much more interesting way.
There are various methods of drawing the houses of a birth chart or an event chart, etc. the art of casting a chart starts with using a house system, of which there a few. Some traditions like the Vedic use squares or triangles within the squares, but I highly recommend anyone studying or learning the use of charts to use the circular method, which is called the Placidus house system. Here's why:
1. The most obvious of all reasons is that the shape of the objects we study, namely planets are round.
2. It is easier to imagine and understand the movement of planets across the arc of their orbits and elliptics- which are all circular.
3. When we say Ascendant - it means the sign of the Zodiac when the Sun was rising on the eastern horizon at the time of birth. So this is easier to understand when you see the circular chart. This is also true for the Descendant, which is the setting sun on the western horizon. The house cusp 10 or Medium Coeli, is always pointing to the point directly above you and the Imum Coeli or the fourth house, always at the point directly below you. All this is easier to imagine when you see yourself on a spherical Earth. It can also be mind boggling and it does challenge our idea of what is up and down. Try it!
4. When we say movement of planets through the zodiac, we mean anti-clockwise, from our relative position on Earth, which is easier also to understand by looking at the circular chart.
5. For intuitive reasons, a circular chart makes more aesthetic sense moreover.
So, the houses are thus divided into 12 equal parts of a 360 degree circle. Each part therefore is 360 degrees divided by 12 which is 30 degrees each.
Each degree of this circle represents the movement of the Sun, one degree per day. The movement of all the other planets follow different time since their revolutions around the Sun may take less or more than one Earth year- which is nothing but the movement of the Earth around the Sun, namely our revolution, through these 360 degrees. We must remember here, that the Sun does not move. It appears to move, but in fact, we are moving in relation to the Sun. It appears as though the Sun is moving through the sky does it not? But, it is not. We are moving through different parts of the sky through our annual voyage around the Sun. So, in each 30 degrees of our movement, we see the Sun against the backdrop of the zodiac.
Ancient sky watchers and star gazers started developing their knowledge of the movement of planets and fixed stars to be able to navigate their way around the planet Earth as well as on its oceans. Hence, charting the courses of their voyages became dependent on knowing where the stars or planets are, in relation to their last observed positions. Over time, these observations got recorded in what we call the Ephemerides, which are basically log tables of the positions of all planets. Since we have been observing them for a long long time, we can now accurately predict their movements because they have patterns of movement. Hence, astrologers use the ephemerides to cast a chart for a future date, to be able to know planetary positions of that date, to then understand what that can mean. Exactly how these descriptions attached to those particular planets and where they are found in the house systems- this is an ongoing research subject and there are many stories around how this 'shastra' in Vedic astrology came about. There are vedic texts that point to 'Jyotishya' ( literally, something like the study of light) as one of the science and craft that was taught in ancient schools. The attributes are more or less the same across vedic and western systems and this helps astrologers across the world interpret charts.
For now, we will bring our focus back to the houses. Ancient astrologers decided to attribute certain areas of our lives to certain houses, to be able to understand the significance of the presence or absence of certain planets and the signs occupying those house cusps. A house cusp is that part of the 360, where the house changes from House 1 to house 2, at the end of each 30 degrees. This is both an art and a science. It involves great depth in understanding many things, like life experiences, sense and sensibilities and even a sense of poetry. In Vedic astrology, the houses are also called 'Bhavas' which translates to 'mood' or 'expression'. It is a word that is used extensively in the dance art form, to describe a pose. The adjective 'bhavyama' in Sanskrit or Tamil languages means something quite deep. It means that an emotion is being expressed in a beautiful, thoughtful and an artistic way.
These astrologers decided to further add four main flavors or colours to these expressions. They said, life is made of four colours, namely, dharma, artha, kama and mokhsa. So houses 1 through to 12, follow this colour or expression code.
So, House 1 is a Dharma house. Dharma means duty, what we feel is the right thing to do. This applies to 1, 5 and 9. These houses recognise that each person is born with a purpose which they fulfill and their duties to oneself, family, countrymen, and the world are made manifest.
House 2 is an Artha house. Artha is a Sanskrit word related to the English word 'Earth' and is about the Earth's resources and also how we use our resources, as we go about our life's activities and goals. This is true for houses 2, 6 and 10.
House 3 is a Kama house. Kama in Sanskrit means pleasure or fun, which is true for houses 3, 7, 11. These houses recognise that fun is part of our lives and that we are pleasure seeking beings, especially in relationships with our peers, our friends and in close relationships with our significant others.
House 4 is a Moksha house. Moksha in Sanskrit means liberation, or to be free. This is an area of life recognised by the astrologers to mean that a person is free to pursue the growth of their soul in whichever way they feel suits them best or works for them, by finding out things for themselves and experience a sense of individual freedom, while they use their resources to do so. The Moksha houses are associated also with what is hidden- in that it is not always visible to the naked eye. This introspective search and find is true for houses 4, 8, 12.*
We will keep this lens in the background as we get into understanding what the Houses or Bhavas stand for, in detail.
HOUSE 1 AND HOUSE 7
Also known as ASCENDANT OR LAGNA HOUSE AND THE DESCENDANT HOUSEIn House 1, for instance, they ascribed things we would associate with the number 1, a strong sense of 'I', oneness with self. So this house is all about the individual person, who he or she appears to be to the world. The 1st house is the angle of the sun rising on the eastern horizon, at the time of the birth of a person or an event. So, the sign on this house and any planets therein, gives more information about 1st house matters. What do I think of myself as? What qualities do others perceive about me as soon as they meet me? What first impression do I make on others?
House 1 cannot be studied in isolation from House 7 since House 1 and House 7 share the same axis. If House 1 represents 'I' and me, House 7 represents 'we' and 'our'. House 7 is most importantly the house of marriage, business partnerships, close friends and close enemies. It is the place where we develop in relation to others. The authors at Indo Astro Vedic astrology describe this house as a Kalatra Bhava house. The word kalatram in Sanskrit means wife and kalatram means one's wife and feminine companions. I was fascinated by this word and I went searching for the origin of this word and found this small piece from the sanskrit literature that says:
इन्दुमूर्तिमिवोद्दाममन्मथविलासगृहीतगुरुकलत्राम्
Transliteration:
Indumurtimivodhamamanmathavilaasagruhitagurukalatram
I don't know Sanskrit well enough to translate this but what is interesting to note here is that kalatram is attached to the word guru making gurukalatram which could mean what is understood to be the wife of the Guru or guru patni. This could be an ancient piece written about the nature of the household. The word kalasham, which means the pot in which the harvest festival of Pongal is celebrated, also comes from kalatram. Other words also used to describe the energies of the House 7 are: yonī, varāṅgam, upasthaḥ, smaramandiram ( memory palace), ratigṛham (Where Rati lives), janmavartma ( life and its future), adharam (point of being sure), avācyadeśaḥ (that which is in the land of the unspoken), prakṛtiḥ (nature), apatham (a bad road, from patham- where the steps are taken), smarakūpakaḥ ( keeper of memories), apadeśaḥ (escapade), prakūtiḥ, puṣpī ( flower), saṃsāramārgakaḥ ( the director of samsara), saṃsāramārgaḥ, guhyam
(cave), smarāgāram, smaradhvajam, ratyaṅgam, ratikuharam, kalatram, adhaḥ, ratimandiram, smaragṛham, kandarpakūpaḥ ( keeper of Kandarpa), kandarpasambādhaḥ (the one who speaks plainly with Kandarpa), kandarpasandhiḥ (Joining together with Kandarpa), strīcihnam (precious one).
In Greek astrology also, Jupiter, considered to be Guru in Vedic Astrology, also has his wife, Juno who is considered a deity who represents the energies of the House 7, those of marriage and children and looking after the lives of 'householders' and together they represent fulfillment in the joint partnership of marriage, children, and running the unit of the family. The planet Guru called Jove or Jovian, associated with good humour, is also found in the word Grihasthi or Grihastha, from the word which Guru become Gru, and hastha which is from hasya bhava meaning to laugh, mirth, joke, tamaasha.
The sense of cooperation and purpose is important to House 7. With strong House 7, by cooperating and adjusting, we seek to realize our purpose, accomplish something like happiness, success, profit, and satisfaction. All sorts of partnerships come under the domain of House 7 and not just marriage. These include business partnerships, relationships with clients, the contracts that are maintained in business, our negotiations, tacit, verbal and written agreements and so on. The kind of relationship you share with your co-founder is governed by this house, questions like who gets a bigger slice in profit is also ruled by 7th house in Vedic Astrology. Your relationship with everyone you enter into a contract with is also governed by House 7 in horoscope. Whether all these partnerships enrich your lives or cause your downfall is also assessed by the planetary position in the House 7.
House 7 also deals with the darker side of our relationships, the partnerships we form. Legal battles, divorce, quarrels, enmity, and fines also fall under the domain of this house. Your reaction to these adversities influence your relationship with the person and on a more global level and in mundane astrology, it can lead to wars. In Mundane astrology, House 7 controls matters related to treaties, alliances with other countries, foreign affairs, marriage laws, mediation, the power of the spoken word and ability to negotiate, international conflicts and resolution, foreign trade, free trade and organic fair trade agreements, economic equality etc.
Known as the Kalatra Bhava in Vedic Astrology, this house is ruled by Libra sign. Planet Venus is the natural significator of this house that also signifies love, romance and sexuality. It governs several body parts including kidneys and lower back.
In the ancient vedic literature, I also found something quite nice to hear:
House 2: Arthaa
House 8: Moksha
In House 3, the ancient astrologers then thought, a person's immediate siblings, neighbourhood comes next, in defining who he or she is. The 3rd house is about our siblings. It is also called the 'Bhrathu' house, [Sanskrit origin for the word 'brother' in English]. Studying a person's third house shows us details of their brothers, sisters.It is also about who we are likely to hang out with. Early childhood friends also. It also very importantly and associatively shows if a person has help from immediate siblings and neighbours to carry out his or her tasks and achieve goals or if he or she or he has to work very hard all by themselves.2
The 3rd house is also about short distance travel. The kind of travel that takes place hurriedly and on expedient tasks, errands, to share news, to solve petty conflicts, small gossip, keeping everything in order around you. In the journey of the developing ego, or 'I', we also begin to acquire the inclination to study, in the 3rd house and begin on the path of learning. This house is about early schooling, in the sense that we are learning how to learn and developing the neural pathways as we start to acquire more and more information. In Vedic astrology, this house is described as a sahayasthana house, which means 'the position of help' [from the Sanskrit sahaya= help and sthana = position].
House 9 should be considered along with House 3, since they lie on the same axis. If House 3 shows the beginning of our school years, our neighbourhood, our siblings, then House 9 shows higher education, foreign travel, exposure to the world around us and the good friends we make along the way.
In House 4, we understand a little bit more about where we come from. This house also cannot be studied without also bringing the 10th house here.
The fourth house is the house of our ancestral home, our roots. In a developing ego, a strong sense of 'I' is developed here further, by our parents, grandparents, ancestry. Astrologers study the fourth house and also the tenth house which is on the same axis to understand how this works. As I said in beginning, the fourth house is the point directly below us, which is related to our roots and where we come from and the tenth is directly above us, which signifies our image, position and potential success, in the world. This is a fascinating house axis to study, on many levels.
1. The deeper we feel a connection to our roots, the more people we deeply connect with those who share the same depth of rootiness, but are also not necessarily of the same tribe.
2. Our connection to mothers and fathers lies on this axis, and a lot of astrological literature describes the fourth house, as being associated with the childhood home we grow up in, mothers, maternal influences. [Matri from the Sanskrit for mother]. And conversely, we consider the tenth house as representing the father and wordly success. But ofcourse, that depends on whether we follow a patriarchal or a matriarchal lineage and customs and practices associated with either or both of them. Many fathers today are stay-at home dads and we have many women also being top honchos on the world stage.
Astrology accounts for the gender debate in this axis because it allows us to study the charts of individual people, whether they are mothers or fathers, in a deeper sense, beyond the superficial, to understand their true nature. What do I mean by that? For instance, in my case, I have a Moon ruled Father, a Cancerian, who loves his home and wanted, for the most part, to be a stay-at-home dad and believed in nurturing and caring and ofcourse, good food. I also happen to have a mother who is a Saturn ruled Capricorn, who is diametrically the opposite of my father. She loves worldly success and is the determined top honcho of her organisation. In them, the gender debate gets alternatingly confusing and clear. Confusing, before I knew astrology. Clear, after I know astrology. In my view, my father is the mother and my mother is the father. Interestingly, in my chart, to show the blending of these two energies, I have a Moon, ruler of my father's sun sign Cancer, in the Sun sign of my mother Capricorn. So, my Moon is in Capricorn, in Moksha House 12.
Coming back to the fourth house, in mundane astrology, all permanent personal possessions and property such as pastures, fields, gardens, buildings, real estate properties, ancient dwellings, monuments and antiquities are governed by the fourth house.3
In House 5, we understand what creativity actually means, as well as what it is like to experience kama or pleasure. It is a house of pleasure, and all the things that bring us this pleasure. Therefore, our ancient astrologers have classified children to belong in this house. There is an interesting line in the Surya Siddhanta, that although it maps the positions of the sun's movement through the zodiac, even to the point of sexagesimal calculations,, it lacks astrology in it, i.e, it doesn't delve into the personality theories afforded by it, nor the interpretative dimensions of the complexity. For the Surya Siddhanta not to throw light on the subject is somewhat interesting. It is a treatise on astronomy more, and not so much the poetry of how planetary energies are also involved in bird song, the management of human affairs and such mundane things as food, medicine, careers, etc.
If we contrast the meanings attributed to the 5th house with those of the 11th house, we see that the same pleasure we derive as children from learning about many things in school, are also ideas that are more widespread when we grow up and have by now, many friends. Our childhood fantasies roam wild in the 11th House, which is why it is also called as a mitrattva house, from the Sanskrit Mitra, for friend.
In correlating logic with magic, we find that all the houses are thusly balanced and provide astrologers a map, a key, a way how, to unlock potential.
A note of thanks is due here.
These other blogs and websites greatly helped me with all the research that has gone into this blog lesson:
1 https://www.astrology.com/astrology-101/houses/second-house
2,3 http://www.india-astrologer.com/vedic_astrology/House/3rd.html
* In understanding the hidden meaning of 12th house, for example, mining and resources under the ground, which is not visible to the naked eye and such prospecting activities also fall into the 12 house.
http://www.healingstars.com/articles/houses-in-astrology/
http://www.vedicastroyoga.com/learn/houses-bhavas/
https://www.indastro.com/house/7th-house.html
http://sangam.org/celebrating-bountiful-harvest/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Siddhanta
And of course, Google!
In the ancient vedic literature, I also found something quite nice to hear:
Anyasya patnī।
Sajjanaḥ parapatnīṃ mātṛsamānāṃ manyate।
Avarṇanīyaṃ parakalatram ।
Sajjanaḥ parapatnīṃ mātṛsamānāṃ manyate।
Avarṇanīyaṃ parakalatram ।
This is a beautiful address, and I loosely translate it in English thusly:
"All or many wives
Other's wives are my friends and they are my mothers, I understand them to be
Without any difference in caste or ' any rules of the varna', they are, other's wives."
House 1: Dharma
House 7: Kama
You may not have noticed, but the keyboard symbol if you press shift and number 7 is &, which is AND, or the symbol for ampersand which goes to show the significance of 'we' 'our' and the bringing together of concepts, in the way we use the word 'and'. Did this happen as a matter of co-incidence or was it by design? Will we ever know enough? Sigh :-)
In House 2, the ancient astrologers thought, after I have established who I am, we need to understand a little bit more about who I am. What defines me in a bit more detail. Astrologers also associate our earned income, our personal possessions, with this house, since what we own also tells us a bit more about who we seem to be. And what we own talks about our personal values. If we own expensive things, that says our value system involves thinking that expensive things will make us look rich and respected in the world. So, what are my values- the answer to this is found by looking at our 2nd house.1
House 8 also has to studied together with House 2, since they lie on the same axis. House 8 is where we find matters related to income from other sources, inheritances which could be anything from inherited genetic traits and also property and taxes. It is also related to death, and rites and rituals of death and is therefore a Moksha house. House 8 is ruled by Scorpio and is also the house of reproductive organs and functions. It can indicate progenitors, heirs, successors to a company or business, it is also considered therefore, the next level of intimacy after a marriage, or after a business partnership has been formed. This is where the family grows and all matters related to its long term protection and planning happen. It therefore, shows growth of investments, performance of assets and in financial astrology and investment banking this House 8 is studied is more depth and detail.
House 7: Kama
You may not have noticed, but the keyboard symbol if you press shift and number 7 is &, which is AND, or the symbol for ampersand which goes to show the significance of 'we' 'our' and the bringing together of concepts, in the way we use the word 'and'. Did this happen as a matter of co-incidence or was it by design? Will we ever know enough? Sigh :-)
HOUSE 2 AND HOUSE 8
In House 2, the ancient astrologers thought, after I have established who I am, we need to understand a little bit more about who I am. What defines me in a bit more detail. Astrologers also associate our earned income, our personal possessions, with this house, since what we own also tells us a bit more about who we seem to be. And what we own talks about our personal values. If we own expensive things, that says our value system involves thinking that expensive things will make us look rich and respected in the world. So, what are my values- the answer to this is found by looking at our 2nd house.1
House 8 also has to studied together with House 2, since they lie on the same axis. House 8 is where we find matters related to income from other sources, inheritances which could be anything from inherited genetic traits and also property and taxes. It is also related to death, and rites and rituals of death and is therefore a Moksha house. House 8 is ruled by Scorpio and is also the house of reproductive organs and functions. It can indicate progenitors, heirs, successors to a company or business, it is also considered therefore, the next level of intimacy after a marriage, or after a business partnership has been formed. This is where the family grows and all matters related to its long term protection and planning happen. It therefore, shows growth of investments, performance of assets and in financial astrology and investment banking this House 8 is studied is more depth and detail.
While House 7 is related to marital harmony and shared resources and their distribution for the maintenance of the family, it is House 8 which is related to the inability to have children which is called Kalatra dosham. The astrology of the House 8 is explained in more detail related to this below. In the ancient texts, this is related to the story of Krsna who conquers the pride of Kamdev or the god of love, Cupid, and emerges as Krsna's own son, and his name is Kandarpa, meaning the one who destroyed the pride of Kamdev.
I feel healing is possible using this knowledge, and both men and women can heal, possibly even the collective feminine to the extent that that can happen: https://vaniquotes.org/wiki/Kama-gayatri_mantra
House 2: Arthaa
House 8: Moksha
HOUSE 3 AND HOUSE 9
In House 3, the ancient astrologers then thought, a person's immediate siblings, neighbourhood comes next, in defining who he or she is. The 3rd house is about our siblings. It is also called the 'Bhrathu' house, [Sanskrit origin for the word 'brother' in English]. Studying a person's third house shows us details of their brothers, sisters.It is also about who we are likely to hang out with. Early childhood friends also. It also very importantly and associatively shows if a person has help from immediate siblings and neighbours to carry out his or her tasks and achieve goals or if he or she or he has to work very hard all by themselves.2
The 3rd house is also about short distance travel. The kind of travel that takes place hurriedly and on expedient tasks, errands, to share news, to solve petty conflicts, small gossip, keeping everything in order around you. In the journey of the developing ego, or 'I', we also begin to acquire the inclination to study, in the 3rd house and begin on the path of learning. This house is about early schooling, in the sense that we are learning how to learn and developing the neural pathways as we start to acquire more and more information. In Vedic astrology, this house is described as a sahayasthana house, which means 'the position of help' [from the Sanskrit sahaya= help and sthana = position].
House 9 should be considered along with House 3, since they lie on the same axis. If House 3 shows the beginning of our school years, our neighbourhood, our siblings, then House 9 shows higher education, foreign travel, exposure to the world around us and the good friends we make along the way.
HOUSE 4 AND HOUSE 10
Also Known As MEDIUM COELI (MC) AND IMUM COELI (IC)
In House 4, we understand a little bit more about where we come from. This house also cannot be studied without also bringing the 10th house here.
The fourth house is the house of our ancestral home, our roots. In a developing ego, a strong sense of 'I' is developed here further, by our parents, grandparents, ancestry. Astrologers study the fourth house and also the tenth house which is on the same axis to understand how this works. As I said in beginning, the fourth house is the point directly below us, which is related to our roots and where we come from and the tenth is directly above us, which signifies our image, position and potential success, in the world. This is a fascinating house axis to study, on many levels.
1. The deeper we feel a connection to our roots, the more people we deeply connect with those who share the same depth of rootiness, but are also not necessarily of the same tribe.
2. Our connection to mothers and fathers lies on this axis, and a lot of astrological literature describes the fourth house, as being associated with the childhood home we grow up in, mothers, maternal influences. [Matri from the Sanskrit for mother]. And conversely, we consider the tenth house as representing the father and wordly success. But ofcourse, that depends on whether we follow a patriarchal or a matriarchal lineage and customs and practices associated with either or both of them. Many fathers today are stay-at home dads and we have many women also being top honchos on the world stage.
Astrology accounts for the gender debate in this axis because it allows us to study the charts of individual people, whether they are mothers or fathers, in a deeper sense, beyond the superficial, to understand their true nature. What do I mean by that? For instance, in my case, I have a Moon ruled Father, a Cancerian, who loves his home and wanted, for the most part, to be a stay-at-home dad and believed in nurturing and caring and ofcourse, good food. I also happen to have a mother who is a Saturn ruled Capricorn, who is diametrically the opposite of my father. She loves worldly success and is the determined top honcho of her organisation. In them, the gender debate gets alternatingly confusing and clear. Confusing, before I knew astrology. Clear, after I know astrology. In my view, my father is the mother and my mother is the father. Interestingly, in my chart, to show the blending of these two energies, I have a Moon, ruler of my father's sun sign Cancer, in the Sun sign of my mother Capricorn. So, my Moon is in Capricorn, in Moksha House 12.
Coming back to the fourth house, in mundane astrology, all permanent personal possessions and property such as pastures, fields, gardens, buildings, real estate properties, ancient dwellings, monuments and antiquities are governed by the fourth house.3
HOUSE 5 AND HOUSE 11
In House 5, we understand what creativity actually means, as well as what it is like to experience kama or pleasure. It is a house of pleasure, and all the things that bring us this pleasure. Therefore, our ancient astrologers have classified children to belong in this house. There is an interesting line in the Surya Siddhanta, that although it maps the positions of the sun's movement through the zodiac, even to the point of sexagesimal calculations,, it lacks astrology in it, i.e, it doesn't delve into the personality theories afforded by it, nor the interpretative dimensions of the complexity. For the Surya Siddhanta not to throw light on the subject is somewhat interesting. It is a treatise on astronomy more, and not so much the poetry of how planetary energies are also involved in bird song, the management of human affairs and such mundane things as food, medicine, careers, etc.
If we contrast the meanings attributed to the 5th house with those of the 11th house, we see that the same pleasure we derive as children from learning about many things in school, are also ideas that are more widespread when we grow up and have by now, many friends. Our childhood fantasies roam wild in the 11th House, which is why it is also called as a mitrattva house, from the Sanskrit Mitra, for friend.
HOUSE 6 AND HOUSE 12
In House 6, we find that there is a great deal of attention given by many astrologers to the significance of routine and good health. Indeed the 6th house holds in its sway the wellbeing of its native.
In House 12, we find the subconsicous mind. It is also associated with the hidden, or what cannot be seen by the naked eye. Many people interpret this to mean deep psychological findings, but it could also apply to things like mining, underwater submarines and the like. It is a way of exploring the path of moksha, of the ideas inspired by discussions that occur in the previous house of friendship. Therefore, it is a house of reflection, reflective spaces. It could also apply to all the sense, and therefore, silence accompanies a lot of sages in their meditations, which is evidenced by the last sigh of the astrological house 12, since it concludes many arguments, conflicts and resolves the clash of ego with superego and id. Psychologically, it is a rich space for expansive thinking, feeling, being and becoming.
In correlating logic with magic, we find that all the houses are thusly balanced and provide astrologers a map, a key, a way how, to unlock potential.
A note of thanks is due here.
These other blogs and websites greatly helped me with all the research that has gone into this blog lesson:
1 https://www.astrology.com/astrology-101/houses/second-house
2,3 http://www.india-astrologer.com/vedic_astrology/House/3rd.html
* In understanding the hidden meaning of 12th house, for example, mining and resources under the ground, which is not visible to the naked eye and such prospecting activities also fall into the 12 house.
http://www.healingstars.com/articles/houses-in-astrology/
http://www.vedicastroyoga.com/learn/houses-bhavas/
https://www.indastro.com/house/7th-house.html
http://sangam.org/celebrating-bountiful-harvest/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Siddhanta
And of course, Google!
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