The Planetary Joys
Astrological houses: who are they, and where do they come from?
Astrological houses: who are they, and where do they come from?
Ancient horoscopes were constructed from three main concepts: planets, or principles of being; zodiac signs, or styles of being; and houses, or where being is happening.
The houses, much like our childhood homes, condition what’s inside of them. For Hellenistic astrologers, the planets or states of consciousness were more likely to do better under certain ‘housing’ conditions. This led to the idea of planetary joys.
The ‘joys’ give us several of the house significations we have today. If Venus joys in the 5th house, then it describes a place where we step into creative freedom and pleasure. If Mars joys in the 6th house, then it describes a place where we learn to work hard and push through life’s many obstacles.
Out of the 12 houses, only seven have planetary joys, based on the seven traditional planets: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, and 12. Summarised below are my interpretations.
1st House | Joy of Mercury
The 1st house describes the native. It describes one’s personality, habits, and general outlook on life. In many ways, it is equivalent to the Sun sign. However, while the Sun sign denotes more of a life purpose, the ascendant sign denotes more of a mundane “what is-ness” about the individual.
Mercury joys in the 1st house because it rules communication, and the personality is a form of communication. Modern astrologers call the 1st house and ascendant the “mask” one wears. In many ways, Mercury is the archetype of the mask, the hermetically sealed envelope, the trickster. Mercury’s function is to to represent what’s going on inside of us, without showing all of us. The first house shows, but does not necessarily tell everything about who we are …
3rd House | Joy of Moon
The 3rd house describes short distance travel, neighbours, friendships, and early education. Have you picked up on why this is a lunar house? The moon travels short distances. It is neighbour and friend to the earth. In natal astrology, it describes one’s emotional structuring and early childhood experiences.
The Moon thrives in the third house because it is emotionally nurtured by all the things it possesses. Like the Moon, we need routine movement, companions, and healthy relationships with our immediate worlds. The third house gives us all these things and in turn, the landscape of the inner world is colored.
The 5th House | Joy of Venus
The 5th house is like the playdate we look forward to after school; the desert after veggies; the prize material of life. Among Hellenistic astrologers, it was the place of kings, prizes, and material abundance. Venus, being a planet that rules the luxuries of life, has the chance to fully come alive in this house. It can also hang out to rot.
Venus rules balance and health, just as much as it rules imbalance and indulgence. The 5th house can just as much signify winning the lottery as growing a gambling addiction. In the 5th house, we are building a conscious relationship to our internal sense pleasure. With the natural ruler Leo, this emphasises the 5th house as a place of internal work. Is this who I am, or is this what I believe I lack and thus need to become?
The 5th house can possess everything that’s beautiful in the world: but sometimes if we’re not looking closely enough, this can make us forget the beauty that is on the inside. This is the challenge of Venus and the 5th house: remembering we’re perfect just as we are, regardless of what prizes or accolades tempt us to forget this.
6th House | Joy of Mars
The 6th house is the place of work, routines, details, agriculture, and pets. These all have to do with day-to-day work, as well as their challenges. Unlike the third house, the 6th house is all the things we need to do on a daily basis but don’t, necessarily, want to do.
At some point or another each day, we all need to take out the trash, kill flies, scrub the toilet, cook, do the dishes, or exercise. In ancient astrology, the 6th house was a place of slaves, as they did this work we likely find ourselves resisting at least semi-regularly.
Mars thrives here because Mars represents our short-term challenges, responses, aggression, and stamina for life. The 6th house requires stamina. Even though the tasks of the 6th house move fast, when we spend time here, those taxes we spend one hour on usually ends up feeling like an eternity. That is the 6th house to me: agonising over every slow-moving minute on the clock while we rush through our daily list of chores and to do’s.
9th House | Joy of Sun
The 9th house represents our quest for something greater, spiritual illumination, philosophy, and religion. It is joyed in by the Sun because the Sun actually used to represent prophets, priests, and monks. Think about it: the Sun has to do with authority, and back then, authority was not celebrities or secular politicians. They were the most religious and spiritually-forward among us.
The Sun illuminates things, and the 9th house is a pocket of illumination within the chart. When planets transit here, I often notice myself and others having breakthroughs, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, downloads, and prophesies. The 9th house can also be long-distance travel. I’m not sure why this is given the Sun moved more frequently than the fast-traveling moon from a geocentric perspective, but perhaps it is because while the sun was out longer-distance travel was able to be accomplished. That’s the 9th house: where time opens up for us to discover more, become more, learn more.
11th House | Joy of Jupiter
The 11th House represents friends, achievements, wealth, and destiny. Jupiter joys in this house, perhaps because these are the promises of following our dreams. Jupiter is about having a dream and following through on it. In the 11th house, we follow through on things, forming legacies, estates, and achievements in tandem with others.
In modern astrology, Uranus and Aquarius are seen as the natural rulers of the 11th house (based on numerical equivalency). In this context, friends, achievements, and wealth come about as a result of breaking free and birthing new ideas (Aquarian archetype). In my experience of the 11th house, this is true. Sometimes we need a suppressed Aquarian experience to break out of us and show us a more genuine dream or goal that aligns with collective thriving. Jupiter of course works here too, because it’s the dream that comes after the de-conditioning and breaking free. It is the insight we have that changes everything for us, and thus for collective legacy.
12th House | Joy of Saturn
Traditionally, the 12th house is the place of sorrows, secrets, and hidden enemies. That’s because Saturn, the slow malefic, rejoices here.
Unlike Mars which represents short-term challenges, Saturn represents long-term challenges. Saturn is signified this way because it is the final visible planet, forming a boundary with the rest of the known universe. In the Hellenistic era, it was perceived as the prison guard of our solar system, maintaining the limitations of their cosmology, that which concealed the great beyond from human perception.
In the 12th house, we are confronted with the limitations of human experience, as if we are sitting on the outer rings of Saturn, looking towards the great unknown, wondering what lies beyond.
In the ancient world, spending time in the 12th house meant spending time in prisons, mental asylums, and isolated places where one had time to ponder these cosmic-sized questions. Today, we have a lot more time to wonder these things and to pursue our wonderings about them. The 12th house can also be foreign lands, monasteries, institutions, or anywhere we are permitted to absolve ourselves from social obligations and discover the timeless truths that underlie them. Of course, spending time with these questions, or in the places that facilitate them, can cause a lot of suffering. Why am I not more than what I am? Why am I even here? Why does this world need me? The 12th house and Saturn are also the places where suffering finally gets to be heard, and thus, worked through.
In modern astrology, the 12th house has the natural rulership of Neptune. Neptune, as an outer planet and ruler of the transcendent sign Pisces, makes a lot of sense to me in the 12th: Saturn is like a wooden ship of consciousness that breaks down, and Neptune is the water leak that makes it sink to the seafloor. In the 12th house, Saturn and Neptune work together. Saturn gives 12th house people the “suppression” and the “rigidity” that Neptune needs to break down our perceptions, and wash us out to sea. Only on the open sea can we perceive the true meaning of the 12th house.
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For students of astrology, do the joys make sense to you? Do you agree with them, or do you prefer modern rulership (house: sign significations)? Why or why not?
Until next time!
Ethan