Meaning
The sixth house is cadent and, in Lilly's ranking, eleventh of twelve in strength. The old astrologers counted it unfortunate because it makes no major aspect to the Ascendant: it stands five signs away, a distance none of Ptolemy's aspects spans. Valens calls it Bad Fortune.
Lilly gives it servants and small cattle and the father's brothers and sisters; his list also gives it sickness, an item we name only as history and leave out of every reading. Modern astrology reads the sixth house as daily work, routines, habits and service: the ordinary run of days and the tasks a person keeps. Our keywords are "work, routines, service".
In a chart
A planet in the sixth house is read for how a person works and orders their days: Mercury, the natural ruler in modern teaching, as method and craft, Saturn as diligence. The sample chart on our system page has its Sun in the sixth house in all three of our house systems, and our reading for it speaks of useful work and daily craft.
The sixth house lies below the horizon, just under the Descendant in the drawing. Opposite it is the twelfth, the other unfortunate cadent place, and the two are often read as a pair: the sixth for outward duties, the twelfth for inward retreat.
Across the traditions
The pairing with Virgo and Mercury is a modern teaching device. In whole-sign houses the sixth house is the sixth sign from the rising sign, as in Valens and in Jyotisha's sixth bhava. Older readings for this house, in the Tetrabiblos and in Lilly, are about illness; the tradition made such claims, and we never do.
Our reading
Our chart's own line for the house covers daily work, routines, everyday habits and the spirit of service. We kept the old health topic out of it on purpose: the sixth house in our readings is about the shape of ordinary days.
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)
- Servants, small cattle, the father's siblings (his item on sickness left out) sourced
- Class (Lilly)
- Cadent, eleventh in strength sourced
- Place name (Valens)
- Bad Fortune sourced
- Natural sign and ruler
- Virgo, with Mercury: a modern teaching device after Alan Leo; Lilly's pairings differ sourced
- Topics (modern)
- Work, routines, service sourced
- One right house system
- No: a planet's house can change with the system; ours is named on the chart disputed
- Our keywords
- "work, routines, service" our construction
How the schools read it
- Hellenistic (Valens)
- The sixth place, counted by whole signs from the rising sign; called Bad Fortune.
- Lilly (1647)
- Cadent; servants, small cattle, the father's siblings (his item on sickness left out).
- Modern psychological (Alan Leo, Rudhyar and after)
- Work, routines, service.
- Jyotisha
- The sixth 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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The chart foretells illness, accidents, money and the outcome of lawsuits.
unverifiedWhat the record shows: The tradition makes such claims; we never do. Our pages and readings describe themes and tendencies, never outcomes.
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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.
