The Third House

The near at hand

Think of an ordinary week. The messages you send and the ones you ignore. The walk to the shop, the drive to work, the chat over the garden wall. A phone call from your sister. A book you are halfway through. The local news, the school run, the post on the mat.

None of it is grand, and all of it is constant. This is the territory of the Third House.

The Third House is the house of the near at hand: siblings and neighbours, everyday communication, short journeys, and the learning of daily life.

It follows the Second House, a little further below the eastern horizon. The First House is who you are; the Second is what you have; the Third is how you connect with the world immediately around you. Modern astrologers often call it the house of the everyday mind, and for a writer, a teacher or anyone who lives by words, it is one of the most important houses in the chart.

What the Third House rules

Siblings and neighbours

The oldest and most constant meaning of the Third House is brothers and sisters. It describes the relationship with siblings, their place in your life, and sometimes something of their lives too. By extension it covers cousins and other near relations of the same generation, and the people who live close by: neighbours, the community on your street, the regulars at the local shop.

Communication

The Third House is where astrologers look for how you talk, write and exchange information. It covers letters and messages, conversation, gossip and news. Modern astrologers widen it to every kind of everyday communication: phone calls, emails, social media, and the habit of mind behind them. It describes the style of your thinking in daily life more than its depth.

Short journeys

Traditional astrologers distinguished between short journeys (the Third House) and long ones (the Ninth). The Third covers trips within your own country or region, errands, commuting and the daily round. Modern astrologers add the vehicles: bicycles, cars and local transport.

Everyday learning

The Third House is also the house of early education and practical learning: reading and writing, primary school, evening classes, the things you pick up by asking questions. Higher learning, universities and philosophy belong to its partner, the Ninth.

The common thread

Everything here is near at hand. Siblings are the nearest relations of your own generation; neighbours are the nearest people; short journeys stay close to home; everyday talk and learning are how you find your way round the immediate world. The Third House is the house of your local surroundings, and of the mind that navigates them.

The Third House through history

The general story of the houses is told in A Short History of the Houses. This section follows the Third House's own part in it.

The Goddess

The Greek astrologers called the third place the Goddess, and it was the place where the Moon rejoiced. Directly opposite, the ninth place was the God, where the Sun rejoiced. The pairing is deliberate: the two luminaries face each other across the chart, the Moon in the lower half below the horizon, the Sun in the upper half above it.

Because of that name, some Greek writers gave the third place a religious meaning of its own, a lesser and more personal counterpart to the Ninth: everyday devotion rather than formal religion. That meaning faded in later centuries, but it explains why the Third and Ninth Houses still share so much: communication and learning, near and far.

Siblings from the start

Whatever else it covered, the third place stood for brothers and sisters from the earliest texts onward, and for friends and relations of the same standing. Short journeys and travel away from home were attached to it early as well.

Fratres

In the medieval Latin memory rhyme the Third House is fratres, brothers. The rhyme leaves out everything else, but it shows what generations of astrologers thought of first when they looked at this house.

William Lilly

Lilly's Christian Astrology (1647) gives the Third House brothers, sisters, cousins, kindred and neighbours; small journeys or inland journeys, and frequent removing from one place to another; and letters, epistles, rumours and messengers. For the body he gives the shoulders, arms, hands and fingers, and for its colour a mixture of red and yellow. Like the Greek astrologers, he names the Moon as the planet that joys in this house.

The modern Third House

Twentieth-century astrology kept the siblings and the short journeys and made the Third House the house of the mind: the everyday, practical, information-gathering intelligence, as distinct from the philosophical mind of the Ninth. It became the house of communication in every form, from schooling to the newspaper, and later to the telephone and the internet. Many modern books pair it with Gemini and Mercury, the sign and planet of communication; as explained in A Short History of the Houses, this book keeps houses and signs separate.

What has survived

Siblings, short journeys and messages have stayed with the Third House for two thousand years. The modern emphasis on the mind grew naturally out of the old meanings: a house of letters, rumours and messengers was always a house of communication.

Where the Third House sits

Low in the eastern sky

The Third House lies below the horizon, two signs on from the rising sign, close to the bottom of the chart. With whole sign houses it is simply the second sign after your rising sign: Libra rising gives a Sagittarius Third House, Aries rising gives a Gemini one, and so on.

Like the First and Second, it sits in the eastern half of the chart (the self) and the lower half (private life). It is the last of the three houses that describe you and your immediate world before the chart turns to home and family in the Fourth.

A cadent house

The Third is a cadent house, from the Latin for "falling": as the sky turns each day, planets pass the bottom of the chart, the Fourth House angle, and fall away into the Third. Cadent houses were traditionally counted the weakest, where planets act less directly and less visibly. A planet in the Third House works through everyday channels: conversation, routine travel, small decisions, rather than through a dramatic public stage.

But the Third is the strongest of the cadent houses in one respect. It is the Moon's place of joy, and the old astrologers counted it a reasonably good place, despite being cadent.

It can see the First House

Unlike the Second, the Third House makes a recognised aspect to the rising sign: two signs apart, a sextile, one of the five major aspects, usually read as cooperative. Traditional astrologers read that as a house in contact with the self, whose affairs help rather than hinder. Your siblings, neighbours and everyday words are, at least in principle, on your side.

The partner: the Ninth House

Directly opposite lies the Ninth House: long journeys, higher learning, philosophy, religion, law and publishing. The axis between them is the axis of near and far. The Third is the local, the practical and the everyday; the Ninth is the distant, the abstract and the meaningful. The Third collects facts, the Ninth looks for the meaning in them.

The Moon rejoices in the Third and the Sun in the Ninth, so the axis also carries the old pairing of the Goddess and the God. A planet in either house is read with the other in mind.

The twelve signs on the Third House

The sign on the Third House describes your style of everyday communication, learning and getting about, and something of your relations with siblings and neighbours. With whole sign houses it is always the second sign after your rising sign, so each entry names the rising sign that produces it.

These are symbolic tendencies, not descriptions of your actual brothers and sisters. Read the sign with any planets in the house and with its ruler.

Aries on the Third House

Aquarius rising. You speak plainly and quickly, and you would rather say it than wait. Thinking is fast and competitive, and debate wakes you up. Journeys are brisk and purposeful. Sibling relationships may be lively, rivalrous, or both.

• Strengths: directness, quick wits, the courage to speak up.
• Watch-outs: bluntness, impatience in conversation, and arguments that start too easily.
• Ruler: Mars.

Taurus on the Third House

Pisces rising. You think and speak slowly and deliberately, and you like to be sure before you say it. Learning is steady and practical; what you learn, you keep. You prefer familiar routes and a calm neighbourhood. Sibling ties tend to be steady and long-lasting.

• Strengths: common sense, a pleasant voice, thorough learning.
• Watch-outs: stubbornness in argument, and slowness to take in new ideas.
• Ruler: Venus.

Gemini on the Third House

Aries rising. A natural fit: Gemini is the sign most associated with talk and information. You are curious, chatty and quick to learn, with an appetite for news, books and conversation. You may have several siblings or many local contacts, and you rarely sit still.

• Strengths: versatility, wit, a gift for languages and writing.
• Watch-outs: scattered attention, and a mind that skims rather than settles.
• Ruler: Mercury.

Cancer on the Third House

Taurus rising. Communication is emotional and personal. You remember what people said and how they said it, and you write and speak from feeling. Siblings and neighbours may feel like an extension of the family, and you are attached to familiar local places.

• Strengths: a good memory, sympathy, a talent for personal writing.
• Watch-outs: taking remarks to heart, and thinking that moves with your moods.
• Ruler: the Moon.

Leo on the Third House

Gemini rising. You speak with confidence and flair, and you like an audience even for everyday conversation. Storytelling, teaching and performing come naturally. You may take the lead among siblings, or look up to a sibling who did.

• Strengths: warmth, persuasion, vivid expression.
• Watch-outs: dominating the conversation, and pride in your opinions.
• Ruler: the Sun.

Virgo on the Third House

Cancer rising. Your mind is precise, analytical and practical. You notice errors, like accurate information, and learn by method. Writing and speaking are careful and exact, and you may be useful to siblings and neighbours in practical ways.

• Strengths: precision, clarity, a talent for analysis and editing.
• Watch-outs: worry, nit-picking, and criticism that comes out too sharply.
• Ruler: Mercury.

Libra on the Third House

Leo rising. You communicate diplomatically and like to see both sides. Conversation is courteous, and you are good at smoothing things over with siblings and neighbours. You think best in dialogue, and you may have a taste for elegant writing and good design.

• Strengths: tact, fairness, a talent for negotiation and mediation.
• Watch-outs: sitting on the fence, and saying what people want to hear.
• Ruler: Venus.

Scorpio on the Third House

Virgo rising. Your mind goes beneath the surface. You are a sharp observer, a probing questioner and a good keeper of secrets, and you say less than you know. Relations with siblings may be intense, close or complicated, and you learn best when you can investigate something in depth.

• Strengths: penetrating thought, research, a talent for getting to the truth.
• Watch-outs: suspicion, sharp words, and holding on to things that were said.
• Ruler: Mars in traditional astrology; Pluto in modern astrology.

Sagittarius on the Third House

Libra rising, as in this book's example chart. Everyday thinking reaches for the big picture. You are frank, enthusiastic and opinionated, happiest when ideas lead somewhere meaningful, and you may enjoy teaching, writing or explaining things to others. Travel, even locally, is a pleasure, and siblings or neighbours may come from different backgrounds or move far away.

• Strengths: enthusiasm, breadth of mind, an infectious way of explaining.
• Watch-outs: bluntness, preaching, and impatience with detail.
• Ruler: Jupiter.

Capricorn on the Third House

Scorpio rising. Your mind is practical, serious and organised. You speak carefully and with authority, prefer facts to speculation, and learn steadily over a long time. Early schooling or sibling relationships may have carried responsibility, and you may have been the sensible one.

• Strengths: clear structure, reliability, careful planning.
• Watch-outs: pessimism, and a reserve that can seem cold.
• Ruler: Saturn.

Aquarius on the Third House

Sagittarius rising. Your mind is independent and inventive. You like new ideas, unusual angles and technology, and you think in terms of systems and principles. Neighbours and siblings may be more like friends than family, and you may be drawn to communicating through groups, networks or new media.

• Strengths: originality, objectivity, a talent for new ideas.
• Watch-outs: contrariness, and a detached, impersonal manner.
• Ruler: Saturn in traditional astrology; Uranus in modern astrology.

Pisces on the Third House

Capricorn rising. Your mind works by impression and intuition rather than by logic. You absorb atmosphere, think in images, and may write poetry or fiction more easily than reports. Communication is sympathetic but sometimes vague, and you may be very sensitive to what siblings and neighbours are feeling.

• Strengths: imagination, empathy, a gift for creative writing.
• Watch-outs: vagueness, forgetfulness, and difficulty with facts and figures.
• Ruler: Jupiter in traditional astrology; Neptune in modern astrology.

Planets in the Third House

A planet in the Third House works through everyday channels: talk, writing, learning, local travel, and relations with siblings and neighbours. Because the Third is a cadent house, its planets tend to act quietly and through routine rather than on a public stage. Because it can see the Ascendant, they act in contact with the self.

The benefics, malefics and luminaries are explained in Chapter One. An empty Third House is normal; read it through its sign and ruler.

The Sun in the Third House

With the Sun here, your identity is bound up with your mind and your words. You want to be known for what you know and what you say, and you may be the communicator of the family: the writer, the teacher, the one who keeps everyone informed. Siblings, or your relationship with them, may play a large part in how you came to see yourself.

• At its best: clear communication, curiosity, confidence in your ideas.
• Under strain: talking to be noticed, and taking disagreement personally.
• Tradition: a luminary in a cadent house, quieter than on an angle, but well placed for learning and short journeys.

The Moon in the Third House

The Moon is in its place of joy here, one of its most comfortable positions in the chart. Your feelings run through conversation, writing and movement: you process emotion by talking it over, writing it down or going for a walk. You may feel close to siblings, attached to your local area, and restless if you stay put too long.

• At its best: sympathetic communication, a good memory, an instinct for what people want to hear.
• Under strain: changeable opinions, gossip, and restlessness.
• Tradition: the Moon rejoices here. Older texts read it as frequent journeys, many messages, and a fluent, responsive mind.

Mercury in the Third House

Mercury, the planet of communication, is at its most natural in the house of communication. You are curious, articulate and quick to learn, and you may write, teach, translate, trade or talk for a living. Your mind is always busy, collecting information and passing it on.

• At its best: fluency, wit, versatility, a gift for language.
• Under strain: nervous chatter, scattered attention, and too much information.
• Tradition: Mercury is the natural significator of this house's affairs, so its placement here doubles the emphasis.

Venus in the Third House

Venus here sweetens everyday contact. You speak and write gracefully, get on well with siblings and neighbours, and enjoy pleasant journeys and pleasant surroundings. You may have a gift for persuasive or beautiful writing, and you may find love or friendship close to home.

• At its best: charm, tact, artistic writing, harmonious family ties.
• Under strain: telling people what they want to hear, and avoiding hard conversations.
• Tradition: a benefic in a good cadent house, read as kind siblings, agreeable neighbours and good news.

Mars in the Third House

Mars here sharpens the tongue and speeds the mind. You think fast, argue well and speak your mind, and you may enjoy debate, campaigning or polemical writing. Journeys are brisk and sometimes accident-prone; relations with siblings may be competitive or combative.

• At its best: courage in speaking out, a quick mind, energetic writing.
• Under strain: quarrels, sharp words, and haste on the road.
• Tradition: a malefic in the house of siblings and journeys, read as disputes with brothers and sisters or mishaps while travelling. Less harsh in a night chart, where Mars belongs.

Jupiter in the Third House

Jupiter here broadens the everyday mind. You are optimistic, talkative and generous with ideas, and you may be drawn to teaching, publishing, journalism or any work that spreads knowledge. Journeys, even short ones, tend to go well and teach you something. Siblings may be helpful, or there may be many of them.

• At its best: broad-mindedness, encouraging words, a love of learning.
• Under strain: talking big, over-generalising, and promising more than you deliver.
• Tradition: the greater benefic here was read as good fortune through siblings, neighbours and journeys.

Saturn in the Third House

Saturn here makes the everyday mind serious and careful. You may have been a slow or anxious learner early on, or had difficult or burdensome relations with siblings, and you think before you speak. With time, the same careful mind can become thorough, disciplined and authoritative.

• At its best: depth, concentration, careful and reliable communication.
• Under strain: self-doubt about your intelligence, pessimism, and distance from siblings.
• Tradition: the greater malefic in the house of brothers, read as sorrow through siblings, difficult journeys and bad news, especially in a night chart.

Uranus in the Third House

Uranus, a modern addition, makes the everyday mind original, quick and unpredictable. You think in flashes, like new ideas and new technology, and may communicate in unconventional ways. Schooling may have been disrupted or unusual, and relations with siblings may be erratic.

• At its best: inventiveness, originality, a mind ahead of its time.
• Under strain: restlessness, contrariness, and scattered thinking.
• Tradition: none.

Neptune in the Third House

Neptune, a modern addition, makes the everyday mind imaginative and intuitive. You may be a natural storyteller, poet or musician, and you pick up what is unspoken. Facts and figures can be harder; misunderstandings and vagueness are a risk, and siblings may be idealised or elusive.

• At its best: imagination, intuition, inspired writing.
• Under strain: confusion, forgetfulness, and believing what you want to believe.
• Tradition: none.

Pluto in the Third House

Pluto, a modern addition, makes the everyday mind intense and probing. You want to get to the bottom of things, and words carry great weight for you, both the ones you speak and the ones spoken to you. You may be drawn to investigation, research or persuasion, and relations with siblings may be deep or difficult.

• At its best: penetrating insight, persuasive power, research.
• Under strain: obsessive thinking, and using words as weapons.
• Tradition: none.

The Lunar Nodes

A Node in the Third House always means the other Node is in the Ninth, so these entries are about the balance between near and far: everyday facts and big beliefs. Chapter One explains the Nodes in full.

North Node in the Third House

The direction of growth is toward the near at hand: listening, asking questions, learning the facts, and engaging with neighbours, siblings and everyday life. You may be used to big ideas and firm beliefs, and life asks you to test them against ordinary experience.

• Modern reading: growth through curiosity and communication, with the South Node in the Ninth pointing to fixed opinions and distant horizons as the comfortable habit.
• Medieval reading: an increase in the affairs of siblings, journeys and messages.

South Node in the Third House

Facts, chatter and local life come easily, perhaps too easily. With the North Node in the Ninth, growth lies in looking further: higher learning, travel, philosophy, and finding meaning in the information you gather.

• Modern reading: growth through wisdom and wider horizons, with endless information-gathering as the comfortable habit.
• Medieval reading: a diminishing point in the house of siblings and journeys.

The ruler of the Third House

The planet that rules the sign on the Third House shows where your everyday communication, learning and local connections lead. This book uses the classical rulers, with the modern ruler of Scorpio, Aquarius or Pisces as a second opinion.

From the Third House, the four houses that cannot see it are the Second, Fourth, Eighth and Tenth. A ruler of the Third placed in one of those was traditionally read as less in touch with the house it rules.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 1st

Read more in Chapter One: The First House; compare the ruler of the 1st in the 3rd.

Communication is part of your identity. You are known for how you speak, write or think, and you may present yourself first and foremost as a communicator. Siblings may play a large part in shaping who you are.

• In life: the writer, broadcaster or teacher whose voice is their trademark.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests an articulate, confident presence; weak suggests nervous talkativeness.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 2nd

Read more in Chapter Two: The Second House; compare the ruler of the 2nd in the 3rd.

Words and ideas earn money. You may make a living from writing, teaching, sales, trade, transport or local business, or with the help of siblings.

• In life: the copywriter, the trader, the driving instructor, the family shop.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests a good income from communication; weak suggests money spent on travel, phones and books.
• Note: the Second cannot see the Third.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 3rd

The ruler is at home in its own house. Communication, learning and local life are self-contained and self-sustaining: you are at ease with words, at home in your neighbourhood, and close to your siblings or your circle of contacts.

• In life: the lifelong learner, the local correspondent, the person who knows everyone in the street.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests a fluent, confident mind; weak suggests restless chatter.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 4th

Read more in Chapter Four: The Fourth House; compare the ruler of the 4th in the 3rd.

Communication and learning are rooted in home and family. You may learn at home, work from home, write about family or the past, or stay close to the place you grew up. Siblings may share the family home or its affairs.

• In life: the family historian, the home-based writer, the sibling who looks after the family house.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests a thoughtful, rooted mind; weak suggests family matters crowding out your own voice.
• Note: the Fourth cannot see the Third.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 5th

Read more in Chapter Five: The Fifth House.

Communication is creative and playful. You may write fiction, perform, teach children, or enjoy word games and storytelling. Siblings may share your pleasures or your creative life.

• In life: the children's author, the entertainer, the quiz champion, the creative writing tutor.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests a gift for engaging expression; weak suggests talk that is more show than substance.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 6th

Read more in Chapter Six: The Sixth House.

Communication serves work and routine. You may write or speak for a living in a practical role, deal in information, or travel locally for work. Siblings or neighbours may be colleagues.

• In life: the clerk, the technical writer, the courier, the administrator.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests efficient, useful communication; weak suggests overwork, worry, or tiring daily travel.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 7th

Read more in Chapter Seven: The Seventh House.

Communication is bound up with partners and other people. You think best in conversation, may write or work with a partner, and may negotiate, mediate or advise for a living. Siblings may be closely involved with your relationships.

• In life: the interviewer, the mediator, the co-author, the agent.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests fruitful dialogue and agreements; weak suggests disputes over words or contracts.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 8th

Read more in Chapter Eight: The Eighth House.

Communication turns to hidden and serious matters: research, investigation, finance, psychology, death and inheritance. You may write or speak about subjects others avoid. Siblings may be involved in shared money or legacies.

• In life: the investigative journalist, the researcher, the probate clerk, the counsellor.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests depth and discretion; weak suggests secrets, worrying news or difficult sibling matters.
• Note: the Eighth cannot see the Third.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 9th

Read more in Chapter Nine: The Ninth House.

The near reaches toward the far. Everyday learning grows into higher learning, short journeys become long ones, and talk turns into teaching, publishing or philosophy. This is the Third's own partner house, directly opposite.

• In life: the lecturer, the publisher, the travel writer, the translator.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests ideas that travel and reach a wide audience; weak suggests restless opinions and scattered studies.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 10th

Read more in Chapter Ten: The Tenth House.

Communication shapes your career and reputation. You may be known publicly for writing, speaking, teaching or media work, and your words carry professional weight.

• In life: the journalist, the broadcaster, the public speaker, the author with a public profile.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests a respected public voice; weak suggests words that affect your standing for better or worse.
• Note: the Tenth cannot see the Third, so the old texts read this as a public voice that is not always in touch with its everyday roots.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 11th

Read more in Chapter Eleven: The Eleventh House.

Communication flows through friends, groups and networks. You may write or speak for organisations, societies or causes, and siblings or neighbours may become friends and allies. Hopes for the future often involve learning or sharing ideas.

• In life: the newsletter editor, the society secretary, the online community builder, the campaign writer.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests an influential voice in groups; weak suggests too many contacts and too little depth.

Ruler of the 3rd in the 12th

Read more in Chapter Twelve: The Twelfth House.

Communication is private, inward or behind the scenes. You may write in solitude, work in archives, hospitals or institutions, or keep your real thoughts to yourself. Relations with siblings may involve distance, separation or quiet care.

• In life: the ghost-writer, the archivist, the hospital chaplain, the solitary novelist.
• Strong or weak: strong suggests a rich inner voice; weak suggests misunderstandings or words left unsaid.

The Third House beyond the birth chart

Natural significators

• Mercury is the natural significator of communication, writing, learning, messages and short journeys. Its condition anywhere in the chart is read alongside the Third House.
• The Moon, which rejoices in the Third, is linked with travel, movement and news, and with the changeable, day-to-day side of the mind.

Traditional astrologers also used particular planets and calculated points for siblings; these vary between authors and are not covered in this book.

Horary astrology

In a horary chart the Third House covers the querent's brothers, sisters and neighbours; letters, messages, news and rumours; and short journeys. Typical questions are "Is the rumour true?", "Will my sister come round?", "Will this short trip go well?" and "Will I hear back about the letter?" Lilly's practice, and that of many horary astrologers since, is to judge the truth of news and rumours from the Third House and the Moon.

Mundane astrology

In charts for nations, modern mundane astrologers give the Third House to communications, transport, the press and media, schools, and relations with neighbouring countries.

Electional astrology

When choosing a time to start a course, send an important letter or application, publish something short, or set off on a short journey, electional astrologers look to a strong Third House, a well-placed Mercury and a Moon free from affliction.

When the Third House switches on

The timing methods are explained in Chapter One. Here they are applied to the Third House.

Profection years

The Third House is activated in the year beginning on your birthday at these ages:

2, 14, 26, 38, 50, 62, 74, 86

In those years siblings, neighbours, communication, study and short journeys come to the fore. In the example chart, with Sagittarius on the Third, the lord of the year is Jupiter.

Transits through the Third House

• Jupiter (about a year): a busy, sociable period of learning, writing, travel and good news.
• Saturn (about two and a half years): serious study, hard work on a piece of writing, or responsibilities toward siblings or neighbours.
• Uranus (about seven years): new ways of thinking and communicating, sudden news, unexpected moves or changes in the local scene.
• Neptune (about fourteen years): imagination and intuition in the everyday mind; also misunderstandings and confusion.
• Pluto (twelve to thirty years): a deep change in how you think and speak, and sometimes in sibling relationships.

The example chart through the years

In the 1955 Bangor chart the Third House is Sagittarius, holding the Moon at 10°48′, Venus at 12°31′ and the North Node. Here is every period between birth and today when a slow planet was in Sagittarius.

The same three outer planets that crossed the Second House moved on into the Third, one after another, and each passed over the Moon and Venus:

• Saturn was in Sagittarius from 1956 to the start of 1959, crossing the Moon and Venus during 1957, in the first two years of life. It returned from late 1985 to 1988, crossing them in November and December 1986, at age 31. Its third pass, from late 2014 to 2017, crossed them between December 2015 and October 2016, at age 60.
• Neptune filled the 1970s, from 1970 to 1984, ages 14 to 29. It crossed the Moon in 1975 and Venus in 1976, at ages 19 and 20.
• Uranus was in Sagittarius from 1981 to 1988, ages 25 to 33. It crossed the Moon and Venus between December 1983 and November 1984, at age 28.
• Pluto followed from 1995 to 2008, ages 39 to 53. It crossed the Moon and Venus between December 1999 and November 2000, at ages 44 and 45.
• Jupiter passes over the Moon and Venus every twelve years: in 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007 and the turn of 2019.

An astrologer would mark the years around 19 to 20, 28 and 44 to 45 as times of change in how this person thought, wrote and communicated, and the profection years at 14, 26 and 38 as years when communication and learning came to the fore.

Worked example: Bangor, 16 November 1955

The example chart is the one used throughout the book: 03:00 GMT on 16 November 1955, Bangor, Libra rising, a night chart. Of the houses read so far, its Third House is the most favourably placed, and it shows how several separate strengths can add up.

Step 1: the sign on the house

With Libra rising, the Third House is Sagittarius. Sagittarius on the Third suggests everyday thinking that reaches for the big picture: frank, enthusiastic, opinionated, and happiest explaining ideas to others.

Step 2: planets in the house

• The Moon at 10°48′ Sagittarius. The Moon is in its place of joy. In a night chart it is also the sect light, the leading luminary, so the most important light in the chart is in one of its happiest places.
• Venus at 12°31′ Sagittarius, less than two degrees from the Moon. Venus rules the rising sign, so the planet that represents the person sits in the house of communication. Chapter One reads this as the ruler of the 1st in the 3rd: the self expressed through words.
• The North Node at 17°26′ Sagittarius. The modern direction of growth points to the Third House's affairs as well.

Under Placidus houses all three are still in the Third, so the house system makes no difference here.

Step 3: the ruler and where it sits

Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, at 29°54′ Leo in the Eleventh House. So the ruler of the 3rd is in the 11th: communication flows through friends, groups, networks and audiences.

The Eleventh is Jupiter's own place of joy. That makes a neat pattern: the Moon rejoices in the Third House, and the ruler of the Third rejoices in the Eleventh. The Eleventh can also see the Third, four signs apart, a trine, so the ruler is in easy contact with the house it rules.

Jupiter sits in the very last degree of Leo, six minutes from Virgo. Astrologers sometimes read a planet at the end of a sign as completing or bringing a matter to its conclusion.

Step 4: the condition of the planets

• The Moon is neither strengthened nor weakened by Sagittarius. Its strength here comes from its joy and its sect. It is also a young waxing Moon, about 18° ahead of the Sun, in the phase just after New Moon.
• Venus is neutral by sign but in its own bounds in Sagittarius (12° to 17°), and, like the Moon, belongs to the night. It is the chart's most helpful planet.
• Jupiter has no major dignity in Leo. In some traditional schemes it has a lesser one: in a night chart Jupiter is one of the triplicity rulers of the fire signs, which include Leo. The course mentions triplicity but has not covered it, so treat this as an optional extra layer.
• The house itself is cadent, so its affairs are everyday rather than public, but it can see the Ascendant by sextile, so they are in contact with the self.

Step 5: aspects

Using the book's 6° orb:

• The Moon conjunct Venus (1°43′). Feeling and grace run together in everyday expression.
• Venus conjunct the North Node (4°55′). The Moon is 6°38′ from the Node, just outside the orb.
• Mars sextile the North Node (4°11′), from the First House: personal drive supports the direction of growth.
• The Moon and Venus square the Part of Fortune in Virgo (4°55′ and 3°13′): tension between easy, warm communication and the material fortune analysed in Chapter Two.
• Jupiter, the ruler, is conjunct Pluto (1°21′) and sextile Neptune (1°01′). It also sextiles the Midheaven by degree (4°49′), although Leo and Cancer are neighbouring signs, so by whole sign houses this is an out-of-sign aspect, which some astrologers discount.

Step 6: natural significators

Mercury, the natural significator of communication, is not in the Third House. It is in Scorpio in the Second, where Chapter Two read it as a mind that earns. The Second cannot see the Third. So this chart separates two kinds of mind: the warm, broad, expressive voice of the Third House, and the private, probing, analytical Mercury of the Second.

Step 7: timing

The profection years are 2, 14, 26, 38, 50, 62 and 74, with Jupiter as lord of the year. Neptune, Uranus and Pluto each crossed the Moon and Venus, at about 19 to 20, 28 and 44 to 45.

Putting it together

Everyday communication is warm, expressive and central to this person's identity. The planet that represents them (Venus) sits in the house of words alongside the Moon, which rejoices there, so speaking, writing, teaching and explaining come naturally and carry feeling. The style is broad and enthusiastic rather than pedantic (Sagittarius), and the ruler, Jupiter, in its own joy in the Eleventh, carries these words out to friends, groups and audiences. Growth lies in the same direction (the North Node). The interesting tension is between this open, generous voice and the private, analytical Mercury in the Second House, which the Third cannot see: two different minds, one public and one kept for work.

This is the first house in the example chart where nearly everything points the same way. When that happens, astrologers treat the house as a major strength in the chart, and a good place to look for what the person does best.

The Third House at a glance

Further reading

• Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology (2017). The Goddess and God places and the joys.
• Deborah Houlding, The Houses: Temples of the Sky (1998). How the Third House's meanings developed.
• William Lilly, Christian Astrology (1647). Book One for the house meanings; Book Two for horary questions about news, siblings and journeys.
• Howard Sasportas, The Twelve Houses (1985). The modern reading of the everyday mind.