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The Sixth and Eighth Houses

The Sixth and Eighth Houses derive their meaning from the Seventh House

The Seventh House is associated with the concept of 'others' and people other than yourself with whom you are influence the progress of 'how you project yourself into the world', which, you will recall, is itself the meaning of the First House.

The most important 'other' in an adult life is usually a committed lover or marriage partner, but the sign and planets associated with the Seventh House can also symbolize one's experience of business partners, business competitors, competition in general and all instances where another person's interests have a direct and significant effect on one's life. This last concept enlarges the scope of the Seventh House to include contracts and all other legal matters.

But not all partnerships are equal ones. Many times, working with someone else means either you work for them or they work for you. Both the Sixth and the Eighth House of a horoscope address the issues that arise from encountering and working with others when the benefit or power derived from the project is unequal.

The Sixth House
The Sixth House derives its meaning from the Seventh House
As the Twelfth House is associated with your hidden life and other things that can work for or against the 'you' symbolized by your First House, the Sixth House is associated with Your hidden life in relationships with others and Things that can work for or against your relationships with others.

The most obvious thing that can work for or against your relationships with the others who are symbolized by your Seventh House is you, and so the Sixth House is associated with Work and Services performed for others, either You working for others or Others working for you. Older astrology textbooks refer to the Sixth House as the house of 'servants', but few people today work as, or employ, servants.

The sign and planets associated with your Sixth House symbolize How you feel about working for others and also How you feel about others working for you, while the sign and planets associated with the Seventh House will symbolize how you feel about working with others. The Tenth House is related to your career while the Sixth House is related to Your job. As the Twelfth House is associated with charity and philanthropy practiced by you, the Sixth House has to do with Charity and Volunteer work performed by you. Traditional astrology referred to the Sixth House as 'the house of suffering'. In days gone by services were often rendered by indentured servants and even slaves. Because of the Sixth House's association with The use of the body in performing work, it has also come to be associated with the concepts of Bodily health and hygiene necessary to keep the body fit for work.

This leads to an association with Food and the growing, cooking, eating and digesting of it. As Hippocrates, the fourth century B C Greek called the 'Father of Medicine' taught, 'Thy food shall be thy remedy.'

This is why The practice of healing is a Sixth House matter. The sign and planets associated with your Sixth House can symbolize not only the kind of work you do, but can also tell you a great deal about your attitude towards food and health.

The Sixth House is ruled by the planet Mercury and the sign Virgo

Once again, I would like to state that you should never use The Enchanted Astrologer or the science of Astrology as a substitute for a licensed medical practitioner, legal or business advisor whom you respect and believe in. That is not their purpose or intent. Of course, if you are working with medical practitioner, legal or business advisor who is also familiar with the medical implications of astrology (and there are many of them), you are, in my opinion, extremely fortunate.

The Eighth House
The Eight House also derives its meaning from the Seventh House

As the Second House is associated with the resources and values that are totally under the control of the 'you' symbolized by your First House, the Eighth House is associated with Resources and values that are under the control of you and others.

Since no two people feel exactly the same way about virtually any subject, it becomes easy to understand why the Eighth House has come to be associated with the concept of Power. When two or more people pool their resources, it's usually because they can achieve more with what they have together. But deciding exactly how to use resources that are held jointly immediately poses the question of who has the power to make the decision. Power struggles are not unknown to committees, either. But the power gained by people pooling their resources is considerable, and in the long run, usually worth the adjustments or compromises necessary.

Sex is also connected with the concepts of the Eighth House for the obvious reason that by joining together as a couple, we can unleash the supreme power of Life itself. We thus take part in Life's power struggle with Death, another Eighth House issue, because our action ensures the continuation of the species. The Hindu poets of the ancient tradition of Tantric Yoga, the spiritual practice of union with the godhead through the practice of specific sexual techniques, even refer to the orgasm as 'the little death'.

Sex is also connected with the concepts of the Eighth House for the obvious reason that by joining together as a couple, we can unleash the supreme power of Life itself. We thus take part in Life's power struggle with Death, another Eighth House issue, because our action ensures the continuation of the species. The Hindu poets of the ancient tradition of Tantric Yoga, the spiritual practice of union with the godhead through the practice of specific sexual techniques, even refer to the orgasm as 'the little death'.

Sex and Death, two of the greatest mysteries studied by all races of the world, are symbolic of the Eighth House association with the concept of Mysteries and investigation in general. Added to this is Magic, as in 'illusion', as well as Magick, which can be described as the attempt to exert power over others for your good or for theirs. Therefore the sign and planets associated with your Eighth House can provide powerful insights concerning your feelings about these subjects.

The Eighth House, because of its symbolic relationship with power struggles, is connected with the concept of Change, and death can be seen as the biggest change possible on this material plane. Whether we succeed or fail in our attempt to use or change the use of Other people's resources depends on our ability to use Personal power to change a partner's thinking.

The concept of other people's resources is not limited to equal partnerships. Loans and Inheritances are also associated with the Eighth House, but these terms are themselves not limited to tangible property. You can inherit wisdom from another person and power too.

In general, the sign and planets associated with the Eighth House can give insights concerning how you relate to and handle both your jointly held resources as well as those of other people.

The Eighth House is ruled by the planet Pluto and the sign Scorpio

The Third and Fifth Houses
The Third and Fifth Houses derive their meaning from the Fourth House

The Fourth House is associated with the concept of 'your foundation'. It is everything that enables you to feel stable and secure enough to project yourself accurately into physical reality and the symbolism of your Rising Sign.

If we are each a movie projector made up of a light source (our Sun), a concentrating/reflecting mirror (our Moon), and a focusing lens (our Rising Sign)[see page 00], then the Fourth House is the base on which our projector stands. Shake that base and you get a moving picture that is shaky and out of focus.

A stable Fourth House motivates us to seek and connect with the world outside our home (another Fourth House matter) because of sincere personal interests and not out of desperation and fear.

Both the Third and the Fifth House of a horoscope relate to the ways in which we reach out and are connected with the world outside home base, the Fourth House.

The Third House
The Third House derives its meaning from the Fourth House

While the Fourth House represents your home Base, the Third House is associated with all The ways that you and your home base are connected to the outside world. For this reason, the Third House represents Your neighborhood, the area in which your home 'lives' and becomes connected with the outside world.

The special kind of support given by the nurturing, all-forgiving parent symbolized in the Fourth House, will not often be found anywhere in the outside world. It is the Third for experiences with society.

In some cases, Neighbors are associated with the Third House, but only if they interact with you on a fairly regular basis and an unusual occurrence nowadays.

The Routine interactions associated with the Third House include both the Short trips required to visit relatives, neighbors and local businesses as well as The communication of information and techniques that are the result of these trips.

And so Conversation, as well as Reading and Writing come under the heading of Third House matters. They reinforce the concept of Making connections with the world around you. In fact, it makes perfect sense that the house of connections is also the house of relatives. Sometimes it's true that it's who you know, and not what you know, that counts.

The connection with reading, writing and the communication of information and techniques brings the subject of Basic education into the realm of the Third House. Both aspects of basic education, the Teaching and the Learning of it, are included. The sign and planets in the Third House of a horoscope symbolize how we feel about communicating with the world around us.

The Third House is ruled by the planet Mercury and the sign Gemini.

THE FIFTH HOUSE The Fifth House derives its meaning from the Fourth House

While the Third House concerns connecting your home base/support structure, as symbolized by the Fourth House, with the existing world around you, the Fifth House is concerned with The creativity that enables you to have an impact on the world around you.

The knowledge of existing facts and techniques learned from Third House sources is combined with the security of the Fourth House to enable you to Take a chance and bring Your own ideas of what should exist in your world into being. This exercise of your Imagination can result in Artistic creations and it therefore becomes obvious that the same concept can be applied, associating Children with the Fifth House.

Both artistic creations and children are Things that are done for their own sake. The doing of them is for your satisfaction. After that, when they have been prepared for a life of their own, it's better if you let them live it their own way. One important way that a child prepares for a life of her or his own is through PLAY. By pretending to go through the motions of events that they will one day take part in, children can explore situations without too many adverse consequences, and learn by doing. This Role playing leads to the association of the Fifth House with Entertainment.

As you can see, the Fifth House is the house of Fun. Sports, Games and even Romantic love are forms of play that are performed for their own sake and yet prepare us for other areas of life. They all contain an element of Risk that seems to be something we all enjoy. My guess is that the idea of something going away and being no longer accessible is unique to the experience of life here in the telescopic gunsight of the cross of 'Matter' and the physical plane. The concept of taking a chance brings Gambling under the heading of Fifth House matters. Investing, a more socially respectable form of gambling, also belongs there.

The Fifth House is ruled by the Sun and the sign Leo.

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The Second and Twelfth HousesThe Ninth and Eleventh Houses


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