Rethinking the Houses, Continued

[sdi]

Following on my last entry, let's flesh out that extremely abstract house system a bit. Because of the oppositional symmetry, I'd like to talk about the houses in pairs. This is convenient from an astrological perspective but not so much from a geomantic perspective; I'll try to tie this all together from a geomantic perspective in a future post.

1. (and VII) This is the horizon, and the notional earth: it exists on the border between heaven above and the underworld below. It is the place of human beings, and its near and far sides represent "me" and "them", the self and the other.
2. (and VIII) The Greeks called the second house, "the Gate of Hades," and that name strikes me as apt: the second house is the part of the underworld closest to earth, while the eighth house opposite it is the part of heaven closest to earth. These houses represent the connecting point between the earth with the spiritual heavens and the material underworld, the stairways to heaven and hell, Bifröst and Gjallarbrú, the Milky Way in it's role connecting the ecliptic north to the earth to the ecliptic south. The second house, near and material, is "just under the earth" like a fox's cache or a well or a root cellar: it is a place near at hand where our resources are kept hidden and safe, but may be drawn upon as needed. The eighth, in contrast, is far and spiritual: it is the place of death, where spirits tarry, and always just beyond reach of mortals. These houses are not in aspect to the first house, and so the things of these have their own agenda and work towards their own purposes (rather than our own). This may seem a little strange for the second house in particular—we don't normally think of our possessions as having agency—but how often are we told that money makes a good servant but a poor master, or that one should not have too many things in mind and mind in things?
3. (and IX) The third and ninth houses are, however, in aspect to the first, and therefore work with us; the third, being near and material, is the house of things connected to our material well-being, hence the association with our family, our neighbors, our community: we don't like to admit it in these modern days, but we are interdependent with them, and rise and fall together. The ninth, by contrast, is distant and spiritual, those things that do not have concrete existence and are hard to grasp, but beneficial to us when we do: religion, philosophy, scholarship, study, and wisdom all belong here.
4. (and X) This is the axis mundi or World Tree, literally representing the most visible part of the sky above and the most hidden part of the sky below, and figuratively representing the most visible and hidden parts of life. It is also represents the border between things near to us and things far away. The fourth is therefore one's private life and home, while the tenth is one's public life and work, as these are the forums where we interface with others. In the more figurative senses, though, the fourth house is where lies our roots or our foundations, while the tenth is where we aspire to or grow towards. As the underworld, the fourth is the place of the past, of the things that came before us, now crystalized into eternal unchanging form; as heaven, the tenth is the place of the future, of the things yet to be, ephemeral and ever-changing and formless.
5. (and XI) This is the axis of fortune: like the third and ninth, but materially distant and spiritually close. The fifth is those beneficial material things that are not directly connected to us, and in that sense don't "stick" around: material comforts, pleasures of the body, and the fruits thereof. The eleventh are those beneficial things that are connected to us spiritually, such as our friends, hopes, and blessings.
6. (and XII) Back to houses that are not in aspect to the first, this is the axis of misfortune. These are things that are working to accomplish their own goals rather than help us—but, unfortunately, their goals often come at our expense. The sixth house is of material hindrances not directly connected to us: injury, disease, people who we have to work with to accomplish something but who have no particular reason to care about us individually, that kind of thing. If that sounds bad, the twelfth is worse since it is spiritual and close: it is the house of enmity, curses, traps, and blind spots.

[EDIT: These thoughts are continued here.]

Comments

[tunesmyth]

I just want to announce that I really want to dig into this but don't have time at the moment! Hopefully later in the weekend.