Meaning
The third house is the first of the cadent houses, those that fall away from the angles, and comes eighth in Lilly's ranking of strength. In Valens's scheme it is the place of the Goddess, the Moon, which has its joy here: a house of the night side where the Moon was thought to be at ease.
Lilly in 1647 gives it brothers and sisters and other kindred, neighbours, short journeys, letters, rumours and messengers: the near world that a person moves about in and hears from. Modern astrology reads it as communication, learning, the local world and the mind's daily traffic. Our keywords are "communication, learning, siblings".
In a chart
A planet in the third house is read for how a person talks, learns and gets about: Mercury, its natural ruler in modern teaching, as quick exchange, the Moon as learning by feeling and by heart. Our chart gives each planet a reading for this house in our own words. The third house sits below the horizon, just above the IC in the drawing.
Opposite it lies the ninth house, and the old pairing is clear in Lilly: short journeys here, long voyages there; letters and rumour here, books and religion there.
Across the traditions
The pairing of the third house with Gemini and Mercury is a modern teaching device of the early twentieth century. In whole-sign houses the third house is the third sign from the rising sign, as in Valens and in Jyotisha, whose third bhava follows the same count; in Placidus, our default, the cusps come from dividing time rather than space, so the house can be much wider or narrower than 30°.
Our reading
Our chart's own line for the house speaks of everyday communication, learning, siblings, neighbours and short journeys, close to Lilly's list four centuries on. The readings for a planet here, one for each planet and each house system, are in our own words.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- Topics (Lilly, 1647)
- Brothers, sisters and kindred, neighbours, short journeys, letters, rumours and messengers sourced
- Class (Lilly)
- Cadent, eighth in strength sourced
- Place name (Valens)
- the Goddess (the Moon) sourced
- Natural sign and ruler
- Gemini, with Mercury: a modern teaching device after Alan Leo; Lilly's pairings differ sourced
- Topics (modern)
- Communication, learning, siblings sourced
- One right house system
- No: a planet's house can change with the system; ours is named on the chart disputed
- Our keywords
- "communication, learning, siblings" our construction
How the schools read it
- Hellenistic (Valens)
- The third place, counted by whole signs from the rising sign; called the Goddess (the Moon).
- Lilly (1647)
- Cadent; brothers, sisters and kindred, neighbours, short journeys, letters, rumours and messengers.
- Modern psychological (Alan Leo, Rudhyar and after)
- Communication, learning, siblings.
- Jyotisha
- The third bhava, always counted by whole signs from the lagna.
- EsoTerrier
- Placidus by default, Whole Sign and Equal a tap away, Porphyry above the polar circles; a reading for each planet in the house, in our own words.
Claims about it
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There is one correct house system, and a planet's house is a fact of the sky.
disputedWhat the record shows: A planet's house depends on the division chosen: between Placidus and Whole Sign a median of twelve of sixteen objects changed house in our 56 test charts. We default to Placidus and show the system on the chart.
