ROLE & IMPORTANCE OF THE THIRD HOUSE IN A HOROSCOPE.

Paper presented by Astrologer Roop Saran in the conference of S.A. astrologers Organized By The International Institute of Predictive Astrology at Gurgaon on the
11th & 12th April, 2009.

Thinkers & philosophers have since the ancient times declared Life to be a journey. In life we move from moment to moment from one situation to another experiencing new events & happenings very much like we do during a journey. From the Womb to the Tomb, life is a journey as we pass through the various stages of it i.e. childhood, adolescence, youth, old age etc.. In principle journey is movement or motion. The entire universe is in motion; at the macro level the planets & stars are in motion and at the micro level the electrons are in motion. Life thus is always in motion; and movement or motion is an aspect of the Third house thus the Third house plays the most important & critical role in a Horoscope and this is what I wish to analyze & establish through this paper.

Before embarking on the elaboration & analysis for the establishment of the importance of the Third house I would like to highlight the significance & the indications of the Third house.

The Third house represents initiative, courage, determination, dynamism, commitment, aggression, effort, enterprise, strength, action, reaction, expression, communication & creativity for the individual subject’s personality.

It represents the lower neck, neck joint, ears, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, collar bones, thyroid gland, the respiratory system as well as the nervous system in the body of the individual.

It represents the younger siblings, neighbors, associates and subordinates with respect to the relationships of the individual.

And it represents journeys, movement & motion in the life of the individual.
The fundamental principle of this universe is Creation. The whole universe is expanding as newer galaxies, stars, planets, quasars, comets, meteors etc. are being created. All around us there is creation taking place in a continuous unhindered manner, be it in the form of births of living beings, blooming of flowers, generation of fruits or the music due to the chirping of the birds. Throughout our lives we keep on creating relationships, networks, ideas, strategies, plans, theories, products, processes, methods, knowledge, technologies, services, literature, art, music etc,; we also create problems as well as solutions to the problems and what not. In fact the Creator works through the Creation to create on a continuous basis which is experienced as Evolution in this Universe. Creation thus is an ongoing phenomenon and the underlying principle of this phenomenon is creativity which is an aspect of the Third house. The attribute of creativity is an essential part of the personality as well as the very existence of an individual human being since we are bound to create even if it is only a problem for others. In fact we represent the Creator in our own limited domain. The Third house therefore plays an extremely critical role in defining our purpose & role in the scheme of Creation or the very objective or the goal of one’s existence as an individual as well as a member of the society.

Life expresses itself and it is by its expression that life can be identified. A lifeless thing can not respond, react or express itself; it is only the living who can. A newborn baby’s first act is the well known first cry which confirms the baby’s arrival to this world -- it is the first expression of a new life. We laugh & we cry, we mourn & we celebrate, we praise and we condemn, we sing, we dance, we paint, we write, we talk, we greet, we advise & we pray; all these are forms of our expressions. Even silence is a form of expression in some situations. The business of everyday living cannot be transacted without expression. Another name for expression is communication which also includes receiving or registering another’s expression. Whereas expression essentially is one way, communication per se can be two way. Right from the reading of the morning newspaper up to saying good night, throughout the day we are communicating. If we were to make a study of all our activities in a day we shall realize that almost all the time we are either expressing ourselves or we are receiving/registering another’s expression (which is impression). The world would have been much worse-off had not our beautiful thoughts been expressed as paintings, literature, sculptures, architecture, artifacts and movies. It is the cumulative expression of human society over centuries of existence which has led to the development of Science & Technology as well as to the evolution of civilized society that we live in today. Expressions, as also communication are aspects of the Third house hence the day to day life of an individual is directly related to the Third house. The Third house therefore plays an important role in the way one lives & performs in his/her day to day life.

Man is a bundle of desires and all endeavor of a human being is directed towards the fulfillment of his/her desires. Of all desires the desire to succeed in the chosen line of pursuit is the foremost desire for any individual. Formulating a good strategy or a plan of action alone does not ensure success in any pursuit. Success is never a gift; it has to be earned by sincere application, dogged determination, commitment, initiative, enterprise and hard work. Targets can be set and goals can be fixed but their achievement can be made possible only by putting in effort and appropriate action. There can not be any recipe for success and achievement without the aspects of initiative, commitment, determination, effort, enterprise, application, appropriate action and hard work forming an essential part of it. A majority of the ingredients of an effective recipe for success are but the indications of the Third house which only highlights the importance of the role played by the Third house in the life of an individual.

The most critical support system for all forms of life is the process of respiration or the respiratory system. All creatures including human beings depend upon respiration for their survival. If breathing stops life becomes extinct. One can wait for food or water for some time but without breath no one can expect to live beyond a few minutes except in exceptional cases. It is interesting that the respiratory system is signified by the Third house of the horoscope. The Third house therefore plays an extremely important role in the sustenance and support of life.

The human body is a complex equipment having many subsystems each one serving a variety of roles. All the subsystems of the body are controlled & regulated by the brain. The brain is the cockpit from where all the body functions are operated. The brain functions by receiving information & giving instructions to the various subsystems. The intra-body communication which facilitates the functioning of the body is called the nervous system. Like a telecom cable network the nervous system

establishes a communication link between the brain and even the minutest part of the body. The error-free and automatic information system is provided by the nervous system to & from the brain. The nervous system
like the respiratory system is a critical component of the body and this too is signified by the Third house, which only reinforces the utmost importance of the Third house of the horoscope in the process of living.

Action is the primal obligation of existence or living. All action has to occur through the apparatus or equipment called the body. The basic actions which can be performed through the body can be talking by using the tongue, doing by the hands, walking with the legs, excreting through the excretory organs or the act of procreation through the reproductory organs. Of these doing by the hands is one of the most crucial. Talking & walking in many ways are supportive actions for doing something whereas the other two actions are necessary but auxiliary in nature. Hands therefore are the most important means for actions in the outside world. We hold, we write, we type, we print, we paint, we dig, we build, we run machines & equipment, we create art & music, we eat & drink, we cook, we nurture and do innumerable things with our hands. The diversity of our professional specialization is largely dependent on the skill developed in using the hands. The variety of actions which are performed by the hands can not be matched by any other part of the body. The hands provide the versatility to the body since the hands play the central role in expressing effort, enterprise, application & work for the human being. Hands are indicated by the Third house thereby making the Third house one of the most critical houses of all the houses of the Horoscope.

As has been stated earlier in this paper expression & communication are central aspects of life. Registering another’s expression is an inseparable part of communication which can be done by seeing, reading, hearing or feeling the touch. Of all these seeing & reading undoubtedly occupy the place of pride but nevertheless hearing also plays an important part in registering expressions of speech. In our day to day living most of the informal or personal communication is in the form of the spoken words and that is why telecommunication plays a crucial role in modern living. Even in formal communication any amount of written communication needs to be formalized by personal meetings or discussions otherwise there would not have been the need for boardroom discussions or even electoral speeches. Human beings tend to rely on personally experienced communication for that final stamp of acceptance which is possible only by directly interacting with & hearing from the source - the horses’ mouth as they say. The ears thus are important instruments for registering expressions and thereby completing the process of communication. The ears are represented by the Third house in the Horoscope thereby providing one more dimension of importance to the Third house of the Horoscope.

We need energy for the optimal performance of our intra-body activities as well as for the performance of all our actions in the outer world. For the generation of energy for our needs we take nutrition in the form of food and to facilitate the conversion of the food into energy we breath in and absorb oxygen. The nutrients present in the food as also the oxygen are the two basic requirements for the production of energy in the body. The food or the nutrients as well as the oxygen are made available by the process of digestion & assimilation to each cell of the body but just by this the nutrients and oxygen can not generate the required energy for the cell. Certain hormones are required to trigger the process of generating energy. These hormones are produced by the Thyroid gland. Thus each cell of the human body is dependent on the Thyroid gland for meeting its requirement of energy. In other words the effectiveness & efficiency of the human body as a whole as well as that of all its sub-systems or organs is directly dependent on the perfect & optimal functioning of the Thyroid gland. The Thyroid gland too is represented by the Third house in the horoscope thus the great importance, the indications of the Third house of the Horoscope play in human life get further established.

The intensity with which we communicate or act in life is largely responsible for the quality of the results as a consequence. This intensity is directly proportionate to mental and physical strength. Unless and until the optimal strength is applied in our expression and action, desired goals cannot be achieved. A weak & half-hearted approach is often the root cause of failure. Strength therefore plays a key role in formulating the impact of our deliberations. Strength too is signified by the third house, which only re-inforces the great importance of the third house in a horoscope.

The theory of Karma is the basis for all the experiences we have in each & every moment of our lives. The theory of Karma is based on the premise that in any given moment we are a product of our total past and every experience we come across is also a result of our past actions which have left residues in the form of karmic bondage. The Sanskrit word karma means Action. Our actions create our future prospects in the form of prarabdha or fortune. We take birth to exhaust some portion of our total Karmic bondage. During our life we create more of Karmic bondage which becomes a part of our total Karmic balance for our future lives. The cycle of births can come to an end only when the total or net Karmic balance gets completely exhausted which is the goal of all spiritual practices. In Bhagwad Geeta lord Krishna has highlighted the Karma yoga or the theory of exhausting the Karmic bondage through yoga. He has described those Karmas or actions which do not create further bondage and help in achieving liberation from the existing Karmic bondage as well. Karma or action thus forms the basis for our future journey of life. Action is in the domain of the Third house and therefore the Third house is the key to the way life shall unfold itself in future, whether in the form of further births including the type & quality of a future life or in the form of liberation from the net Karmic balance. In other words the Third house plays a key role in the determination of future destiny in mundane terms or alternatively in the overall spiritual development. It is in the fitness of the scheme of the Horoscope that both fortune & spiritual evolution are within the scope of the Ninth house which is opposite to the Third house, in other words, the Ninth house is complementary to the Third house and vice versa. In fact all the other houses of a horoscope, in some way, play a supportive role to the aspects of Third house e.g. the first house signifies health & vitality, the second house signifies resources, the fourth house represents mental capacity & family support, the fifth house represents discriminative & analytical faculty, the sixth house signifies the problem solving capacity, the seventh house represents tact & cooperation, the eighth house signifies unearned gains, the ninth house represents fortune, the tenth house indicates success & achievements, the eleventh house represents motivation and the twelfth house signifies investment of resources.

At this juncture, I would like to bring forth the example of Lord Shiva of the Hindu pantheon who is called Neelkantha or the blue-neck because he drank the deadly poison which came out of the Samudra Manthan.or the churning of the ocean. The story highlights the importance of the Third house indicated by the neck, as it explains the concept of the cleansing of the poison of karmic bondage by appropriate action alone. The neck region also houses the Vishuddhi Chakra or the neck-plexus of the human system and Vishuddhi means cleansing which reinforces the same concept as denoted by the story of Neelkantha.

In the SA we take the lord of the Third house to be a Sun like planet since the Third house signifies aspects which are necessary ingredients for leadership qualities and leadership is a natural attribute of Sun. This further establishes the great importance of the Third house in a horoscope.

From the foregoing it is abundantly clear that the Third house represents Life itself as well as the very essence of living and all other houses signify aspects which are necessary & supportive for the indications of the Third house.

Thus while evaluating a horoscope, the Third house needs to be given due importance and weightage in the light of its criticality for the determination of strength of character and personality, efficiency and effectiveness in pursuits/undertakings, ability to express and communicate, ability to face challenges as well as for determining vitality, physical strength and general health. In the analysis of all aspects of life; be it education, growth, evolution, enterprise, profession, health or personality an astrologer should give credence to the strength & character of the Third house.

I would now take up a few cases to highlight the various implications in the life of an individual with respect to the aspects signified by the Third house.


Case-1
Female:-DOB-9-5-1971; TOB-20.03 IST; POB-CALCUTTA


In this case the native is having exalted malefic Mangal in the third house away from the MEP and Rahu on the MEP of the same house which has made her an aggressive and quarrelsome person. She is bold in her pursuits but she derives criticism & censure for her actions. The presence of the tenth lord Ravi on the MEP of the sixth house coupled with the adverse condition of the third house has created enemies & opponents in her work place and has also made her a kleptomaniac. The presence of a strong Guru in the Lagna has however made her a good teacher and has kept in some check her negative tendencies.
This case explains the effects of the third house coming under severe adverse influence on the character and inclinations of a native.


Case-2
Male:-DOB-21-10-1961; TOB-01.50 IST; POB-CALCUTTA

In this case the third lord Sukra is debilitated in the second house
and it has the ninth aspect of the fifth lord Guru hence the native is an intellectual and a research oriented person but he is physically not very active. The exchange between the second lord Budh and the third lord Sukra has made him a highly capable painter and an artist as well as a prolific writer and orator. The presence of the ninth lord Mangal in the third house along with the aspect of Guru on the lord of the third house Sukra has made him a spiritual seeker. The presence of the lagna lord Ravi in debilitation in the third house aspected by Sani & Ketu causes sudden changes in his thought process, indecisiveness as well as delays in all his undertakings; however the influence of natural Moksha karaka Ketu and natural Vairagya karaka Sani on the lagna lord and natural Atmakaraka Ravi has made the subject a renunciate. Sani happens to be the seventh lord, a Tamasic planet as well as a Shiva bhakta hence the native is a Tantra master, a shaivite and an aghora.
This case very well explains the role of the third house in determining the complex dimensions of pursuits in a horoscope.


Case-3
Male:-DOB-16-02-1956; TOB-04.50 IST; POB-ALLAHABAD.

In this case the third house is occupied by exalted and strong tenth lord Sukra and by the seventh lord Chandrama. The native is a diehard professional engaged in an advisory vocation providing relief & succor. He travels widely and frequently for his professional exigencies. He has been highly successful in all his undertakings & pursuits. He is an excellent communicator and orator. He is bold, courageous, committed, determined and is a man of initiatives having leadership qualities specially in his professional domain. The influence of Sukra on the third house has made him ostentatious, a digerati and has endowed him with a good aesthetic sense The influence of the seventh lord Chandrama along with Sukra on the third house has made him a highly emotional, compassionate and a romantic person. Both Sukra & Chandrama are away from the MEP hence the native has exhibited the above stated qualities of the third house more intensely in the later half of his life.
This case effectively brings out the effect of a strongly oriented third house in a horoscope.

Case-4
Male:-DOB-27-08-1956; TOB-07.15 IST; POB-CALCUTTA

In this case the third house is having sixth lord Sani as well as debilitated Rahu on the MEP. The native even though born in a top business family of the country, has been a total failure in his life. He has suffered obstacles and impediments in all his undertakings & pursuits. Under the influence of Rahu on the third house he broke away from his siblings and tried to work independently but met with disappointments only. He is diffident, lethargic, procrastinating, poor at expression & communication, lacking in dynamism and he suffers from high levels of anxiety. He possesses very little capability or proficiency and is unable to handle, face or solve his problems. He suffers from nervous disorders, difficulty in hearing as well as respiratory disorders. He also suffers due to pain and irregularity in the neck joint.
This case highlights the intense adverse impact of an afflicted third house on aspects of personality, enterprise & health.


Case-5
Male:-DOB-11-11-1986; TOB-10.11 IST; POB-COIMBATORE.

In this case the third lord Sani is located on the MEP of the twelfth house making the native highly lethargic and a procrastinator. The presence of weak & afflicted Guru on the MEP of the third house has not improved the situation much; however the presence of Guru in the third house coupled with the placement of Sani on the MEP of the house of emancipation has given him a spiritual inclination even at a young age and has made the native tend towards renunciation. He has already taken Deeksha from an accomplished master. He has an interest in the pursuit of serious subjects such as philosophy and classical music. He loves to play the role of an advisor and his friends come to him for his guidance on a variety of subjects. He has very little drive or dynamism and has a laid back attitude towards life in general.
This case explains the effect of a weak third house in dampening initiatives & enterprise as well as the effect of the planet influencing the third house on the quality of the undertakings & pursuits of a native.

Case-6
Female:-DOB-26-6-1985; TOB-05.43 IST; POB-NAGPUR.

In this case the strong third lord Ravi is located on the MEP of the first house which has made the native an extremely dynamic & an enterprising person. She has been a student leader and has won accolades for her oratory skills. She is a very frequent traveler and she has been able to carve out her own niche in her professional domain without much help from any quarter. She is bold, decisive, fearless, highly determined, ambitious and a no nonsense person. She is very popular and is having a strong moral fiber in her personality. She is an extremely energetic person and her work is life to her. She is a go-getter and a fighter.
This case appropriately highlights the effect of a strong third house in boosting strength, dynamism and enterprise in a horoscope.


From the above examples it is abundantly clear that the third house of the horoscope plays a critical role in determining the strength of personality and drive in a native.