Paul Six Journal

The Third and Ninth Houses-
There are Two Ways of Looking at the World

Each of the six complementary houses in an astrological chart--1 and 7, 2 and 8, 4 and 10, 5 and 11, 6 and 12 and the two that are the subject of this essay 3 and 9 indicate departments of life experience. The lower numbers represent the more subjective outlook we have toward our experience, while the higher numbers indicate what happens when that experience is to some degree objectified through relationship, first with one other person (7 and 8) then with a group of people (9, 10 and 11) and finally with extra-dimensional forces (house 12.)

In a sense, all of the houses are subject to extra-dimensional forces, however, this only becomes obvious to any of us when we consciously move into house twelve, the last house of the chart. It is then that we can become aware of what we refer to as the unconscious, the part of life that is usually invisible to human perception. Consciousness must first break through the barriers of its own ego defences for this to happen. As long as there is an experience of separation, a person is not able to enter this space.

The process of consciously experiencing the unconscious begins in the third house and is objectified in the ninth house. The key word for these two houses is perception

It is as if we are all watching the story of our lives on the screen of our reality in a universal theatre. The theatre is the Planet Earth; the screen is the part of the planet we are observing. When our awareness is centered in a space of consciousness represented by the third house, we sit close to the screen. We watch the projected film by noticing as many details as possible and our perceptions are fuelled by our personal wants and needs. When we move into a third house space, perception is both localized and fragmented.

When our awareness is in a ninth house space of consciousness, we move away from the screen and view the story from a distance. We are up in the balcony looking at the screen of reality from an elevated vantage point. The vertical vision that this perspective affords us alters our experience of the story we are watching. We are more detached from what is happening and thus no longer as personally involved. Disentangled from all the stories that have defined our lives up to this point, we can expand our minds and encompasses a more spacious and extensive understanding of the events taking place on the screen of reality. The ninth house perspective, which obviously occurs after we reach maturity, is not what is true; it represents what could be and most probably would be true if all of us embraced a bigger picture of life.

Everyone has both a third house and a ninth house in their astrological chart, yet some have more planetary energy to tap into in one than in the other while other charts do not put an emphasis on either house.

For those whose perception focuses more in the third house arena, the immediate environment is the main event and the popular culture receives the majority of their attention. They may be at odds with society, dependent upon their inherent nature, yet they keep up with the latest developments nonetheless and their information is usually in step with the times. These are the folks who shine whenever and wherever people meet to exchange what is happening around the planet at present. They have a plethora of opinions and ideas, they never seem to run out of things to say and they are quick to alter their views as soon as the occasion warrants it.

For those whose charts emphasize the ninth house arena, the everyday world and the culture that emerges from it is far less interesting than the framework that supports it. While perceptions in the third house are anchored in solid realities, perceptions in the ninth are enlarged and elevated through philosophical inquiry. The concepts based on the current physical condition of events are stretched out by the ninth house mind and converted into abstractions. Crystallized facts, considered by most societies to be the mainstay of average intelligence, yields to a more speculative flavour of thought in house nine.

While third house mental processing seeks to describe the facts of the matter, ninth house mental processes are concerned with explanations. An individual enters a third house space when working with the cognitive mind--the mind that wants to know--and a ninth house space with the aspiring mind-the mind that wants to comprehend the reason why. In the third house the aim is pinpoint analysis, while the ninth house traveller seeks to blend everything on hand into a dynamic synthesis.

Practical knowledge, an outgrowth of the third house, is valued above all else by the general public, for it leads to the production of things that are useful in material life. Gaining a greater understanding of what life is all about, however, is often viewed by the modern mind as an exercise in futility. "Do not ask why", said the self-help guru at an Insight Seminar in Los Angeles that I was invited to over twenty years ago. "There is no why", the workshop facilitator confidently declared.

To individuals who spend much of their time navigating through the ninth house space of consciousness, however, why is the most important question one could ask.
Can there be an answer to a question that seeks out the reason behind an event? For instance, can any of us know what our purpose is for coming here to the Earth?
No group or organization knows why any individual has chosen to be here and participate in the creative living process we call life; it is up to each person to arrive at the true answer on their own. One by one, individuals have the potential to discover their unique purpose for being because life continues informing all of us with every breath we take. Regardless of how our astrological chart is patterned, the truth of our lives wills itself out in every thought that flows through our mind, in every feeling that pours out from our heart, in every deed that we set into motion and in every interaction that we have with others.

Moment after moment, as we imbibe the breath of life, the truth speaks to us from all the living things of the Earth, as well as all the things in heaven. Still, one has to listen to and hear that truth rather than continually become distracted by the ego-driven creations of a three dimensional illusion that successfully markets itself as the real deal.

Third house perception takes place when a person is seeking the truth in the moment. The result of this truth-seeking may well be the very tool that is needed to take the next step and move from point A to point B. If the show must go on, the momentary truth must be grasped or else the energy flow will stop and lose its momentum.

Ninth house perception kicks in when a person leaves their familiar surroundings and ventures forth into foreign locales. This journey is filled with the spirit of unprecedented adventure and one's mind must keep growing in order to process and internalize experiences for which it has no previous frame of reference. In order to tap into truths that are universally meaningful, a person must travel to different places around the world, interact with many people and listen to what each one of them has to say.

Individuals whose chart puts emphasis on the ninth house often go through life unnoticed by the general public. Some circumstance of their existence tends to keep both them and their evolving wisdom outside of the popular culture. Years, decades and even centuries may pass before their ideas filter into mainstream thinking. Like many artists, they must leave the Earth before they can be appreciated by the culture, as the truth they channel into the world is what is important, not their personalities.

As with all the complementary houses, the third and the ninth house represent the summation of human knowledge from the beginning of time to the present and into the future. These two houses offer all of us the potential to both know and understand the lives we are living while, at the same time, reminding us that what we know and what we believe we understand is but a drop in the bucket that holds the answers to the riddle of our existence.

Written by Paul Six (with the Sun conjunct Jupiter in the Ninth House in his chart)
October 18, 2009 London, England (en route to Bali)

Forecast for the Sun's Passage through the Scorpio Sky
October 23-November 22, 2009

To truly grasp the mystery of life and death, a soul must journey into the underworld, the natural habitat of Pluto, and must pass through the five stages symbolized by the sign of Scorpio.

In the stage of the Scorpion, the soul is entrenched in a conscious struggle for survival and the pressure is close to unbearable. The Scorpion must fight for the right to live and be ready to strike at any perceived threat. Armed with a power to destroy itself with its own body, if the Scorpion senses it is at the mercy of another; it succumbs to suicide. It has been endowed by nature with the power to sting to the death. Its resentment towards any other life form presumptuous enough to disturb it is going to cause the Scorpion to use that power--either on its imagined enemy or, if the enemy appears stronger, on itself.

In the stage of the Serpent, the soul sheds the old skin, used in the past for protection that is now no longer necessary. For in the shedding of skin, the serpent taps into an inner wisdom and grows to realize that fear is the magnet for life-threatening experience. To shed one's skin is a symbol of letting go of fear and moving into a space of love, a vibrational space so high that fear cannot penetrate it.

In the stage of the Eagle, the soul soars to lofty heights filled with a passionate commitment to master the spirit of gravity. No longer content to crawl in the dust, as it did when it was in the Serpent stage, the soul experiences the divine light flooding every cell of the body, illuminating every thought generated by the mind and enlightening every impulse coming from the heart. The eagle flies higher and higher until the light becomes too bright and the heat too intense to bear and the soul burns out and dies from an overkill of sensory indulgence.

In the stage of the Phoenix, the soul is magically and miraculously resurrected, rising from its own dead ashes. The track the soul has journeyed upon to see, feel and taste the full spectrum of what is humanly possible to experience has now been distilled down and reduced to a path of more manageable proportions. The phoenix is a symbol of self-redemption. It is the threshold stage leading to a life of service as a compassionate healer who sees into the heart of every living thing and knows exactly what needs to take place.

In the final stage of the Dove, the soul has mastered its own ego-driven desire for victory over others and no longer uses its powers of perception to engulf and devour. Instead, the soul who has entered the stage of the Dove has built up an invincible inner strength that can extract the pain from all those who come for healing, transforming darkness into light, anxiety into calm and bitterness into acceptance.

When the soul has reached the stage of the Dove, the mystery of life and death is revealed. No longer is there any desire to be consumed by self-importance for the Dove is at peace with the way things are, no matter how they are. No longer is there any fear of one's ability to survive for the secret of survival has been found. As the soul learns to let go and discover joy in the magic of every moment of existence, the ability to materialize whatever is needed for all eternity, as it is needed, is a power given to that soul, a power that nothing in the physical world could ever offer nor ever take away.

FORECAST for the signs

Aries: Unless you are remaining undercover and out of sight for some inexplicable reason, it is highly likely that you will be interacting with many more people than usual during this time. Your life is sure to be connected to theirs in a way that counters your normally self-starting and self sufficient lifestyle. With Mars in Leo transiting your solar fifth house (the house where romantic liaisons blossom), the primary potential is an amorous encounter that could last for a night or last for a lifetime. Did this hit a nerve? Let us just say that the Sun and Mercury are transiting the eighth house and if you scroll down on this page, you can get the goods on what that could mean. All in all, someone can light your fire while someone else can rattle your cage and a whole lot of other folks can come and go in and out of your life, somehow leaving you with an indelible experience and reminding you that no one is an island. The more you make an effort to harmonize with the people you come into contact with, the smoother your ride will be.

Taurus: You may encounter some friction in work-related areas with other people who seem to want the edge in their dealings with you. Yes their demands are patently absurd, yet they are making them anyway. Realize that you are playing with folks who have an axe to grind and a score to settle that has little to do with your relationship with them and almost everything to do with their history. The best strategy is to stand firm in refusing to bow to any outside pressure, even with the threat of loss looming ahead. What you may be involved with is a contest of wills and unless your adversaries are Taurus people as well, the odds are in your favour. No one can wait as long as you can to see everyone come to their senses and have justice prevail. In the end, they will compromise in the face of your indomitability.

Gemini: Mars transiting your solar third house of communication makes you even more talkative than usual. Whether that works for you or not depends on what you intend to say. If you are in alignment with one or two worthwhile projects that in some way can raise the frequency of the environment you inhabit, or even with a place far away that receives much needed energy from you or through you, your words can carry unprecedented power. With Uranus in Pisces moving through your solar ninth house where higher consciousness and international connections are ready to be tapped, the do-gooder in you can come to the forefront. Rather than go back to the same old well, draw upon new sources of energy and open up your ever-inquisitive mind to how much bigger your world can become. Then perhaps you will not be so prone to the boredom that has so often been the bane of your existence.

Cancer: This month, it will not be difficult for you to feel trapped, as weighty Saturn moves through your solar chart's fourth house. That is the department of life experience you are normally most comfortable in; however, when Saturn pays a visit, comfort is not in the cards. This could push the worry button in your famously insecure psyche. Instead of succumbing to a doom and gloom scenario, go to a higher level where you will encounter the growth principle (Jupiter) and the planetary energy of inspiration (Neptune) together in the sign of enlightenment (Aquarius) moving through house nine. No one wants to punish you, dear Cancer after all you have done for us through your special power to assist human beings in getting in touch with their true identity. Instead, the universe wants to show you that the rules of the game are changing and that a new calling awaits you. Your sign is here on Earth to motivate the rest of us through our emotions, as our feelings help to establish a bridge from one state of being to another. What new state of being are we evolving toward, you may ask? The answer depends upon how much we are all willing to let go. With Pluto in Capricorn transiting the solar eighth house of your chart, you will probably feel an urgency to release the past, as no sign holds on more to days gone by than yours.

Leo: Your drive for self-expression is even greater than usual. This could result in a creative work that you produce as you give yourself adequate time alone to court the muse and download some cosmic inspiration. Someone may come along to inspire you even further but it probably will not be who you think and you would be wise not to give that person too much of your time right now. Although your loyalty is legendary, occasionally it may need to be shaken up a bit. While you have compassion for anyone you know that is hurting, their constant sob story has gone past the limits of your endurance and you are ready to say--no more! The most unselfish thing you can do is shut the door to any person who is ripping off your energy It is time to bring forth more of what you are--uncontaminated by anyone else's influence--but do be polite to them as you show them to the door.

Virgo: You may discover during this period that your perception runs deeper than usual. Transiting Mars moving through your twelfth house, however, is cautioning you to keep silent or you could acquire some adversarial energies, which is the last thing you need right now. There may be some people in your life that it would be best to limit your involvement with, at least for the time being and maybe forever. If you follow these guidelines, it could benevolently open up areas of your life that have been lacklustre of late. Saturn is now out of your sign (as of the 29th of October) after two and half years in which you underwent a maturation process that hopefully has left you sturdier and more disciplined. Carefully choose how you spend your energies. Then you might be surprised to see how your life changes for the better and how some of the issues that have been a source of irritation begin showing signs of either transforming or of disappearing altogether.

Libra: For the next three years (with a slight reprieve from April-July of 2010), you are very likely to be experiencing more pressure than the rest of us. The good news is that this is the best chance you have had in almost three decades to fully materialize your purpose in life. A strong, subterranean force is surfacing and urging you not to wait for what you want but to go out and ask for it. This does not imply that you ought to be knocking on doors. It is more a matter of putting yourself first in your communications instead of trying to smooth the way by making them more important than you. Why are you still playing that game now? Your world famous reputation for fairness will not be damaged if you exhibit some healthy self interest. The transiting planets are all in the lower half of your solar chart except Mars. That means your strategy this time around is to make your agenda the top priority in every conversation you have. Chances are whatever plans you have in the works are going to benefit others as much as they benefit you.

Scorpio: Regardless of how great the challenges that you are facing may be, you have what it takes and then some to meet them. When you signed up to ride the Scorpio train to your destiny, surely you did not think your life was going to be a joy ride. Certainly, you can experience joy and just about any other emotion with the psychic equipment that you have brought in with you. Still, what your soul has been seeking is spiritual strength and you are equipped with a level of perceptiveness that has laser-like intensity. You can see what others do not. With your secret stash of metaphysical knowledge and psychic power, you have the strength to overcome any adversity. Do not despair if one chapter of your life that you are strongly attached to is closing; another one is opening that can catapult you into greater prominence and thus alleviate most of your perceived difficulties.

Sagittarius: With Uranus transiting your solar fourth house, you feel the rumblings of a personal revolution. The portals to another world are opening wide for you, Sag, if you agree to venture from your safety zone and risk a bit of discomfort. You are famed for possessing the quality of nonchalance, however, that is not going to work well on this go-round. Nor would you even want it. So much is available that is richer and rarer than the usual bill of fare. As a quintessential bon vivant, you have had your delicious fill of pleasure. Now you are likely to feel a strong motivation to get your willpower in gear. You are embarking on a journey that is asking you to first empty the vessel and stay as light as possible. You will not want to miss the astral journey that only a clear cosmic receptor is privy to, giving you insight into the nature of reality that can blow your mind, as it frees your spirit.

Capricorn: If you are ready to present to the world what years of hard work and hard knocks have produced, there has never been a better time than now. You may be surprised to discover that an entirely different response to your work awaits you. Of course, you may be asked to make some changes you would rather not make. Is it not more important to get your message out and have your creativity recognized than to be rigid and attached to information you have channelled that others feel strongly is redundant or unsuitable? Chances are there will be another effort in the future and they will be clamouring for the same content that the powers that be are tossing aside at present. Did you know that movie studio executives wanted to cut out "Over the Rainbow" and "Moon River" from the films that made those songs classics? There are times when the so-called experts can be dead wrong. Still, unless you want to pile thousands of copies of your product and drive around the country as James Redfield did with his book, "The Celestine Prophecy", you may have to bow to the people with access to worldwide distribution.

Aquarius: While at the root of self you are firmly grounded in the knowledge you have gained from your astute observations of everyday life, out in the world you are a transformer here to facilitate planetary healing. What that means is that you of all people can crack the cosmic egg and report back to us on what you have found concealed within. Your mission is to reach as many people as possible, rather than appeal to an elitist group who believe they are entitled to exclusive rights to truth. You want to wake up those who are asleep in matter and let them know that their lives could be more satisfying if only they would spread their wings and fly out of the confines of the matrix. Is it not hard to believe that people think they are free when they are the ones preventing the possibility of true freedom by allowing themselves to be controlled by propaganda? Well, what would you call information that is slanted to lead people to surrender their power to make changes, or even realize that they could? You have your work cut out for you and while you may not have your plans entirely formulated, you have your will to do what you know is the best use of your energies.

Pisces: You are on the threshold of one of the best times of your life as Jupiter enters your sign in January of next year. Most of what happens between now and then is a prelude to what you have been waiting your whole life to experience. You have realized for the longest time that you view the world differently than most inhabitants of Planet Earth. They might have even snickered behind your back, thinking you were frankly out of your head. You were-that is why you knew what was going on, yet so loving a creature are you that you simply went to a higher space and made it all right. Soon a deeply troubled world will flock to your door because the healing powers at your command are just about the only thing that is going to dissolve the world's pain. The sorrow that arises among the general population during tough times opens up the heart and gives people compassion for one another. You have always had the empathy that most of us are just learning to acquire now--teach the rest of us that it is okay to care for one another and that it does not cost a cent.

The Eighth House--If You Want to Get to Heaven,
You Have to be Willing to Go through Hell

The first six houses of the zodiac wheel represent the space on the planet's track (the ecliptic) that was below the Earth. Thus, this space was invisible to you and to anyone living at your birthplace when you took your first breath as an independent being.

The first six houses signify arenas of potential experience in the astrological blueprint in which an individual is working toward creating a personality. Self-development is the focus here.

A specific value is given to every individual by the universe when a newborn comes into the world and takes the first breath of life. The first six houses provide the psychic substance that enables each person to develop the value they carry and learn to channel it into the world as a contribution that in some way can improve current conditions here on Earth.

The seventh house in the chart represents the beginning of the part of space that was visible in the sky when and where you were born. It indicates the arena of life experience where you become aware that there are other people who carry other value and that some of them are willing to make an exchange with you. Individuals meet one another in the seventh house and then merge in the eighth.

An eighth house merger signifies an important relationship-one that seems to have a fated quality. There are some connections that a person cannot possibly avoid for the mirror the relationship holds up is the mirror of truth and it offers a reflection that is not to be taken lightly. In fact, nothing that the eighth house contains in terms of potential experience could ever be taken lightly. This is the place where the road turns and the pathway is either all the way up to the top or all the way down to the bottom. Historically this is the house that some astrologers start to shudder at, as soon as they see a chart laden with planets in this domain. It indicates the place one consciously enters to take a roller coaster ride through forbidden territory, meaning the areas of life that many people are uncomfortable talking about to strangers and even to friends.

Whenever you join forces at a deep level with another person, you are on eighth house terrain. This includes any sexual relationship, any business partnership where joint resources are a focal point and any association where the partners involved are struggling to maintain a give and take arrangement that can satisfy both of them.

Only the strong at heart need to sign up for a lengthy eighth house excursion. If you do not know who you are, the complex energies you are subjected to in this part of the chart might destroy your identity. That is why this house is called the house of death. How interesting that the place where sexual relations and financial transactions between two parties is played out is also the house where ultimately every one of us is played out.

One word sums up all the experience buried in house eight and the word is transformation. To the well travelled soul who has built up sufficient personal substance and who is passionately committed to plunge into the underworld to learn the mysterious secrets of existence, the eighth house is waiting with open arms. Nevertheless, while overly optimistic or just plain naive individuals can easily slide beyond their depths here, they can also rise above their pain for there is no better place in which to heal one-self.

Do not expect to stay in your comfort zone as you navigate the perilous landscape of house eight for the road leads to spine tingling and hair raising experiences. In this arena, everything you think you are is stripped away, as you are exposed to your own vulnerability and humbled in the presence of a force that is entirely beyond your control. Think of any experience you have ever had where you felt utterly powerless, such as lying on an operating table in a hospital while a team of doctors cut you open. Imagine what it would have been like to be a prisoner in a concentration camp where every single day, death stared you in the face until life became so unbearable that you welcomed death. Visualize being homeless and penniless and out on the cold, wet streets not knowing what would happen next, yet fearing that any moment something horrible would.

Despite the nightmare scenario the eighth house brings into our reality, it can also lead to results that turn out to be blessings in disguise. If you did not know who you were before, a journey through this environment could inform you, but you need courage to pass through the initiation. Once you have completed the tour, you are sure to be a stronger, sharper and more self-possessed person than you were prior to your descent. At first it may seem as if the whole world has turned against you and no one cares whether you live or die. Then all of a sudden the power and the awareness that intense sexual experiences and ego-busting relationships opened up for you initially takes you to higher and higher levels. No wonder the phoenix, the mythical bird that rises from its own dead ashes, is a prime symbol of the metamorphosis that takes place here.

The eighth house is also suggestive of the kundalini energy that rises from the root to the crown and paves the way for cosmic consciousness in the house to follow (house nine.) Eighth house trials provide you with an undeniable sense of just how much there is to you. You begin to penetrate into one of the universes 'cosmic jokes' and come to realize that every person that has gravitated into your orbit was, one by one, showing you the depth of the consciousness that you have been invested with (and the unrelenting power at your command to use it to transform yourself and and everyone that you contact.)

Heaven and hell have been presented in the past as places one goes to, according to the cosmic report card you are handed upon exiting the Earth plane. More likely, religious tradition aside, they are states of consciousness and one does not need to leave the Earth to experience them. Individuals who play on the eighth house field are inclined to delve into areas that nice, polite people avoid like the plague. Here murky and tempestuous emotions surface between people; emotions such as jealousy, resentment and rage and they inevitably lead to a shattering denouement that rocks the world of the participants. The eighth house is obviously not about love, but it is about desire.

"It is desire that brought you here," said the East Indian sage Sri Chimnoy, "and it is desire that will bring you back."

What individuals desire is what often trips them up. Desire urges a person to abandon caution, so that a richer and more powerful experience becomes theirs for the taking. One leaves the soothing cosiness found in the opposite house-house two-and dares to dice with death for the thrill of it all. The darkest of human emotion, the most gruelling of human experience and then the final chapter when the spirit is extricated from the physical body are all contained in this arena. It is no wonder that the eighth house voyager becomes well-versed in human psychology.

Some event in a person's life opens up a channel that is shut down in most of the human race at this time. This channel allows for feats of wizardry that startle the minds of those accustomed to a more typical form of mental processing. As you enter this dimension, all filters and covers are blasted off and mind reading is definitely on the menu. Prepare to have your secrets laid bare for there is more lurking in the corners of house eight than the physical senses could ever capture.

For those who only feel secure with things they can put in a box and slap a label on, this atmosphere ought to 'give them the creeps.' No wonder that a lot of eighth house inhabitants end up in therapy or become therapists themselves. They are dealing with emotions that are deep and dark-emotions that they have dragged out of the soul soup so that they could eventually be cleared up for the good of the world.

A successful passage through house eight is a victory of epic proportions and its repercussions are profound. An analogy to describe the process is one in which swamp waters finally find an outlet to the sea and begin to flow after being mired for ages. Something stagnant that had lost most of its vital force is now empowered to overcome whatever has blocked its value from being successfully shared with the world. Something or someone that the world seemed to give up on is by some miracle regenerated and renewed and with this added strength, the world has one more force to help raise the vibration of the planet.

In reducing this house to its most basic meaning, it is about sheer survival-not so much on a physical level but more on a psychological one. On its highest level, it is about connecting with the invisible world even though its activities seem highly visible. For sex, death and transformation are still a mystery to most of us. They are likely to remain so until the vibrations we resonate to accelerate and become rapid enough to take us into a dimension where nothing is separate from anything else and nothing really dies. Then we will all know the truth-that the experience we call death is the real life, only you have to choose to be embodied and go through the eighth house before you can realize who you really are.

Paul Six October 4, 2009 Edinburgh, Scotland, UK