Ye Shall Brush Your Teeth: The Sixth House

We are at the halfway point of our journey through the houses!

6th house in astrology marks a very important area of experience because it is the last of the “personal houses”. It is the last house where we are working with ourselves and is the final preparation before we meet the other in the next house.

Let’s remember the 5th house quickly to make sense of this house first. We now know that in the 5th house we express the “self” that we’ve built from the 1st house to the 4th house. This is the house where we play like a kid, experience romance, passion and creativity. As a succedent house (2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th), it sustains and develops what has been initiated in the 4th house (which is the construction of stability/self).

Following this; as a cadent house (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th), an aim of which is to prepare for a new experience to start in the next angular house (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th), 6th house is there to teach technique to this self-expression that’s burning brightly - so that it doesn’t burn itself or the other when it’s time to meet the other in the 7th house.

So, in very simple terms, 6th house is the house of apprenticeship. This is the house that shows how we meet life, responsibilities, service; how we take care of ourselves and the ways in which we deal with crises (personal or collective).

In the 5th house, we express and have fun like there’s no tomorrow. But if we want to continue our hobbies, passions, expressions we need to get some sleep, brush our teeth, feed ourselves, make money to pay rent, eat, deal with our bosses or people who work under us… You get it. This is the 6th house.

How do you deal with growth and continuation of life? What’s your attitude to serving? What’s your technique? What kind of a patron or boss are you? What is your response to challenges in life? How do you take care of yourself and those who depend on you? (Pets are in this house too for obvious reasons) What’s your answer or reaction to an illness or an accident?

This is a crucial area of experience that makes a person an actually living functioning person. The sign on the cusp of this house, the position of the planet ruling this sign, other signs and planets that this house occupies show us what our unique techniques are or should be with regards to service and responsibility components of life along with how we react to and/or meet challenges in life.  

This is the house where we grow through crisis and service and attempt to perfect and refine being who we are so that we can be ready when we meet “the other” in the next house.

If you want to learn more about your natal sixth house and/or the rest of your chart, I recommend my Modus Operandi reading. I designed it as an easy to digest entry into your chart focusing on one or two areas of your life. Click here to book a session.