Houses as Roles

I think I'm coming to a realization that the geomantic houses (and, indeed, the figures within them) don't represent people, but rather roles. The seventh house isn't my wife, it's the spousal role. The third house isn't any of my neighbors, it's the neighborly role. The second house isn't my stuff, but the role of possession.

What's the difference? Well, one is that a person may well show up in multiple places in the chart if they play multiple roles. Sometimes this is done with a single figure, but sometimes it is not; for example, one might be distant (Carcer) as a "spouse" (VII house) but cordial (Laetitia) as an "advisor" (II house).

I'm not 100% certain of this yet, but I've been seeing hints at it in some of my charts lately, and it's something I intend to explore more deeply.

The Ways of the Lonely Ones

Manly P. Hall famously called spiritual pursuits "the ways of the lonely ones." It occurred to me today that the reason for this is that those who have achieved a certain level of spiritual attainment are protected, to a greater or lesser degree, from being caught up in archetypes: maybe we have regained control of our own soul or maybe we have given it to another for safekeeping, but either way our souls are not free for the taking.

But if archetypes are one of the primary ways in which people interact, is it such a surprise, then, that we are lonely?