The 6th and 12th Houses
Well, whadda ya know? There’s nobody home:
- The Empty 6th and 12 th Houses
But as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, there are never really ANY houses that are empty in a chart. In the first place, those who pay attention to the Asteroid Goddesses will no doubt notice that actually Vesta is in the 6th house, emphasizing service to others, among other things. However, since I have not mentioned the presence of Juno in the 2nd house, I’m going to skip any comment on Vesta in the 6th also. So, that leaves us with nothing of note in the 6th & 12th. But not really. You see, there is always the unspoken presence of the rulers of the empty houses which do very much color how those houses contribute to an understanding of the chart. Here, with Libra on the 12th and Aries on the 6th, we have a particularly interesting shading in these empty houses with Mars ruling the 6th and Venus the 12th.
In the first place, Venus and Mars represent two very different energies in any chart. You know, women are from Venus, men are from Mars? Doesn’t get too much different than that, does it?
But how do they get along in this Anniversary chart? Well, Venus is somewhat comfortable in the 12th, being exalted in Pisces, the natural ruler of that house. Mars in the 6th is sometimes referred to as being in its “House of Joy” in part because it symbolizes the human energy that is needed to do the drudgery labor of the 6th house and in part because he likes to make people suffer and does so via sickness, injuries and accidents, all of which are experiences of the 6th house. Not the highest of recommendations, but nevertheless he’s relatively comfortable there. So the rulers are both “at home” in the way they naturally act in these houses.
Staying with Venus/Mars for a moment, let’s recall their positions in the chart. I’ve already spoken about the relative strengths of Mars in the first and Venus in the second houses, but I have not yet considered their angular relationship. As you can see from the slice of the chart that I’ve included above, they are both at 24° of their respective signs, Scorpio and Sagittarius, and therefore almost exactly 30° apart. This aspect is based on the division of the circle by 12. It is referred to as a Semi-sextile, or one that is half of a Sextile (60°).
Looking at it a little closer still, we can see that Venus, the faster moving of the two, is just a tad bit ahead of the exact 30° separation. The aspect, therefore, is “waxing,” meaning that it is moving towards an opposition between the planets, as opposed to a “waning” aspect which would be moving towards a conjunction. Very small point, I agree, but it does say something about whether we can consider this Semi-sextile as positive or negative, which in turn will reveal information about the relationship betwee the fields of experience that these houses represent.
The waxing phase suggests a “becomingness” that is gathering momentum, things emerging into possibility and new material entering the situation – sometimes disjointedly or seemingly irrelevantly, but showing its meaning in the end. Things just start happening, without any clear direction, and new avenues open up which weren’t visible before. Whatever comes up at this stage might not seem to have value or use, but its very existence means something. The waxing aspect is an omen of coming developments. It is an opening up and still early in the cycle but since it is growth orientated it indicates an area of life where a conscious effort to be positive will have to be made.
But the astrological literature is not all that clear cut on the positive/negative qualities of this “opening” Semi-sextile relationship. On the one hand there are those who associate it with positive “mental” connection and 2nd house qualities of growing resources and values. On the other, having the nature of adjoining signs which tend to mix like oil and water, there’s a suggestion that “good fences make good neighbors.” Looking at it from this perspective, far from being a promising adventure, there’s an indication that it would be wise to be wary of the contact. For my part, I’ll fall out on the positive side since the other indications tell me that both Venus and Mars are well situated in the chart and that any contact between well placed and aspected planets is a good one.
Finally, a closer, more spiritual reading of these two houses, and the fields of experience that they represent in such a reading, is also revealing. In this respect, while the 12th is appropriately associated with finality in this life (being the final Zodical sign), as such it is also associated with the spiritual “Journey Home.” Indeed, I have found that people who have a heavy 12th house emphasis very often find themselves, consciously, on that Journey. And while the 6th house is often referred to as the house of “work” and health, in a Spiritual reading it actually relates to something the Germans refer to as “Der Werk,” or THE Work, meaning the spiritual tasks that are associated with its 12th house counterpart on the Journey Home. And in this same spiritual context, the “health” most often associated with the 6th house can certainly be understood as the health of one’s soul.
