In a previous post, I presented the first, second, and third houses in Jyotish – their significations, with examples of how these might show up in horoscopes.
Let’s move forward and look at the fourth, fifth, and sixth houses.
Fourth House
The fourth house rules the home (house and the people therein). Since the second house specifically rules the family, the fourth house is used to represent the actual home in which the person lives. Home brings in the significations of land and real estate as well. For politicians elected as representatives who hold seats in parliament or congress, the political seat is signified by the fourth house.
The fourth house also rules happiness. This is an extremely important signification, of course. A well-placed benefic that is associated with the fourth house can go a long way to nullify much of the malefic influences that may effect other aspects of the chart. The fourth house being a moksha house, the happiness here refers to the inner light or inner peace that one is blessed with, no matter what the external circumstances may dictate.
This house rules movable property and vehicles (a vehicle is an instance of movable property). So, owning a nice Ferrari can be seen as a combination of the second house (money) and the fourth house (translated into movable property).
The fourth house rules educational degrees, not the education itself. A person may show great potential for education elsewhere in the chart, but this may not translate to the reception of degrees unless the fourth house supports it.
This house rules the mother. While the Moon is the natural significator of the mother, the ruler of the fourth house becomes the functional significator of the mother. So when one analyzes the person’s mother and their relationship, one looks at the condition of the Moon as well as the condition of the ruler of the fourth house.
The fourth house signifies the heart. Heart ailments are linked to the Sun as well the fourth house – placement of planets in the fourth house, planets aspecting the fourth house, and the condition of the ruler of the fourth house.
The natural planetary significators or karakas of the fourth house are Moon and Mercury.
The following horoscope is of ex American talk show host Jay Leno:
Leno is known to have a huge collection of cars. According to Wikipedia, Leno owns approximately 286 vehicles (169 cars and 117 motorbikes), and writes a regular column in Popular Mechanics showcasing his car collection and giving automotive advice. Talk about movable property! Take a look at the condition of his 4th house.
First, Sun is in the 4th house, in Aries. Sun is exalted in Aries, and this position of the Sun makes considerably stronger in its effect. (Barbra Streisand, whose horoscope–specially the 2nd house–was analyzes in a previous post, also has Sun in Aries.)
Second, Mars is the ruler of the 4th house, and is also its natural significator for vehicles. This Mars is in the 8th house in Leo. So the Sun and Mars exchange signs, resulting in a parivartana yoga. This is eerily similar again to Barbra Streisand’s horoscope where Mercury in the 2nd house of Aries exchanged signs with ruler Mars in Gemini in the 2nd house for a parivartana yoga.
Third, Mars has the full support of all the benefics in the horoscope: conjunct Moon (karaka of the 4th house), and aspected by both Jupiter and Venus.
Leno’s 4th house, especially with regard to its ruler Mars which signifies vehicles, is as amped up as it can be. Little wonder that he is crazy about cars–collecting them, showing them off, writing about them.
Incidentally, if you look at the Western horoscope for Jay Leno, it looks entirely different (for instance, the 4th house has Gemini on the cusp, a full two signs ahead of Aries that is in the Jyotish 4th house) and you would be hard pressed to rationalize his abiding fondness for cars through the Western chart:
In the Western horoscope, local commutes and small journeys are indicated by the 3rd house. If you were to extend the signification to include the vehicles that one might use in such journeys, we could say that cars come under the 3rd house’s influence. Honestly, I wouldn’t know where to go from there.
Fifth House
The fifth house rules discrimination (viveka) as the facility of dispassionate judgement. In this sense it rules the logical mind since discrimination requires an ability to think logically, without being clouded by prejudice.
It rules romance, as it does in Western astrology. Romantic affairs are in the domain of the fifth house, whereas a contractual marriage is tied to the seventh house.
It rules authority and “kingship”, in that a strong fifth lends natural authority to a person, whether they are formally designated as such or not.
The fifth house explicitly rules politics. It is believed that politicians have a strong fifth house, especially if the Rahu-Ketu axis falls along the fifth-eleventh houses.
The fifth house rules higher education (college and thereafter), which is logically appropriate since a successful higher education implies a mind that can discriminate. (This is true not only for technical education, but also for the arts, humanties, social sciences, etc. since the mind plays an important part in all education. Recall that basic education is ruled by the second house.)
This house is said to rule purvapunya, that is the punya (blessings) from previous (purva) lifetimes. Planetary links to the fifth house indicate the blessings of previous lifetimes that must fructify in this lifetime. In this sense, the fifth house has a certain element of destiny associated with it. Remember that the fifth house is a dharma house, one that dictates a sense of duty, that of being true to oneself. The fifth house may thus compel a person to follow their inner truth, whatever that may be, without regard to external circumstances.
It rules children and creativity. The potential to have children is tied to the condition of the fifth house, and its ruler. The association of malefics with the fifth house is not a good sign for having children, unless there are compensating benefic influences as well. In the context of creativity, all creative outlets such as the arts and authorship, is attributed to this house. A strong fifth house could confer an inclination for the arts, but other factors need to be judged to analyze success in the specific forms such as music, dance, drama, painting, etc. For instance, dance is specifically signified by the third house as well as by the eleventh house, and by Venus.
Speculation and gambling are also signified by the fifth house. So, a good fifth house is essential for profitable investments. Money through investment, for instance, can be analyzed by looking at the connection between the fifth house (investment), and the second ( accumulation of assets), or the eleventh house (gains), or the eighth (surprise windfall).
As a house of play, the fifth house also rules sports. (Mars is the natural significator of sports and sportsmen.)
Jupiter is a natural significator or karaka of the fifth house.
Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977, and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, for a total of nearly 16 years. She was an extremely skilled politician who survived and thrived for long years in the particularly fraught world of Indian politics, weathering several ups and downs in her career that tragically ended in her being killed while in office. Here is her Jyotish chart, with a particular focus on the 5th house:
Her 5th house has Sun and Mercury. The ruler, Mars, of the 5th house is in Leo in the 2nd-once again, a parivartana yoga due to the exchange of signs between Sun (rules Leo), and Mars (rules Scorpio). Remember that classical Jyotish does not use the outer planets, so Scorpio is ruled by Mars (instead of Pluto as in Western charts). This Mars also aspects the Sun and Mercury (remember that Mars aspects thr 4th and 8th sign from itself), thereby fortifying them both. Jupiter, the significator of the 5th house, aspects the 5th, thereby considerably boosting the Sun-Mercury conjunction. Also recall that the house where the Sun is situated becomes especially important since the Sun rules the direction of the life, and the individual is compelled to manifest the significations of that house. All this makes the 5th house of politics extraordinarily strong in Indira Gandhi’s chart.
Sixth House
The sixth house signifies health. The effect of the sixth house on health must be analyzed together with the condition of the lagna, or first house. If the lagna is influenced by benefics, then the worst effects of the sixth house will be ameliorated. Nurses, doctors, and healers (both mental and physical) are associated with the sixth house since they tend to people’s infirmities. In general, anyone who ministers to the needs of others is manifesting the energies of the sixth house.
Another signification of the sixth house is competitors. A strong sixth house is vital to deal with (fend off, overcome) competition, which may be important especially if the person is in sports, or in business, or is working in any area where competition is part of the work.
The sixth house also signifies enemies. Again, a strong sixth house either makes the person so popular that there are no enemies, or makes the person strong enough to overcome the enemies. On the other hand, the sixth house indicates the nature of the enemies themselves – a strong sixth house could mean that the enemies, if any, are very strong and powerful, and the person has to deal with them (and will overcome them eventually because of the strength of the sixth house).
Traditional Jyotish also ascribes theft to the sixth house. A weak sixth house may indicate tendencies to thievery, which may in modern terms translate to other indirect means of stealing such as embezzling, fudging accounts, etc.
Competitors, enemies, and theft all give rise to adversity. A noticeable emphasis on the sixth house (lots of planets in or aspecting the sixth house, association of its ruler with several planets) can make for a life of adversity.
The sixth house bring an artha house brings in the signification of wealth. Since it is an upachaya house, it works towards gradual accumulation of wealth.
One other specific signification of the sixth house is the development of a skill to the point of achieving mastery. This signification arises from the connection of the sixth house to Virgo, the sixth sign of the zodiac, and Virgo is association with practical skills.
Mars and Saturn are the natural significators or karakas of the sixth house.
I am going to use Indira Gandhi’s chart again, to illustrate the 6th house. This house has Venus in it, conjunct Rahu, both in Sagittarius. And, what do you know, the ruler of the 6th house, Jupiter, is in the 11th house in Taurus, thereby exchanging signs with Venus for another parivartana yoga!
Venus and Jupiter are both benefics, and through their 6th house association, they presented Gandhi with some extremely powerful enemies. But she was fully up to the task of thwarting and overcoming them, most tellingly when she came back to power in 1980, a scant 3 years after being thrown out of office in a countrywide uprising to the emergency that she imposed earlier under whose power she jailed many of her opponents.
This next example is that of Garry Kasparov, chess grandmaster and world chess champion (youngest ever to attain the title) for a long 15 years, from 1985 to 2000. He famously played and lost against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue. His chess playing skills were near superhuman–his game was considered to have little or no weakness whatsoever. Here is Kasparov’s horoscope, with a focus on the 6th house of skill and competitiveness:
His 6th house is in the sign of Aries. It holds Mercury, so there is the association of the mind with competitive activities. Mars, ruler of the Aries 6th, and a karaka of the 6th, is in the 9th house. This Mars is special in another way, because it is the ruler of the 1st house or lagna. The lagna lord (as we say in Jyotish) carries the agenda of the chart as a whole, and its position is as important as that of the Sun and the Moon. Also, once again, there is a parivartana yoga between Mars in Cancer, and Moon in Scorpio in the lagna. This strong association of Mars with the Moon via the lagna elevates it to dizzying heights. Then, Mars is conjunct Rahu, which amps up its significance even more. Lastly, Mars is also aspected by both the heavyweights Jupiter and Saturn, and Saturn is the other karaka of the 6th house. Incidentally both Jupiter and Saturn are in the own signs, which make them extra strong and capable of delivering results.
This is one very super duper powerful Mars, and in combination with Mercury in the 6th house, it gave Kasparov world-beating skills, and a hugely competitive spirit. The result? Kasparov took the chess world by storm at a very young age and reigned as world champion for a very long time. Notably, Kasparov was considered to be an extremely aggressive player, in full conformity with the aggressive, fighting spirit of Aries in the 6th house.