Pivotal Understandings of the Mind-Set 3rd

When we remove the planets from our view of the horoscope, we see the stark, dramatic inter-relationship among the Houses, the fields of experience through which we traffic in our growth and development. The 3rd House is pivotal to our understanding of life experience and our expression of it.

We know the 3rd House focuses our “mind-set”, how our thinking about life is set. That profile will influence everything we do or dream of doing. –For example, a Fire-Sign on the 3rd with, say, Mars in Leo in the 3rd, is going to suggest a self-dramatizing mind-set, a get-away-with-murder élan in our way of doing things. We will probably see ourselves in swash buckling, daring ways and we will act out that projection; it will influence all we do and how we do it. Conversely, if Gemini rules the 3rd and Mercury is tightly conjoined or squared by Saturn, etc., we see the suggestion of depression, controlled, even suppressed thinking, a weighty, self-absorbed, even hypercritical, perhaps humorless view of our way with life.

Planets within the 3rd House and, especially, the aspect condition of the ruler of the 3rd, tell the tale. The 3rd House focuses the mind-set, just as if it were a kaleidoscope clicking into place before our eye.

We must know that Mars in or ruling the 3rd can easily legitimize aggression within the mind-set. It is a perfect placement for a salesperson. My last client had an empty 3rd, ruled by Mars, squared by Pluto: he has always been assertive, from distancing himself from sibling rivalry and his parents at the age of 13 to being continuously voted top salesperson in industrial real estate in one of the top markets of the world.

We must know that a Saturn reference to the 3rd house can easily put a premium on seriousness, on maturity, in conducting life’s business. Maybe too much so; what’s the weight behind it? [Clint Eastwood, with Capricorn on the 3rd and Saturn in Capricorn; Sigmund Freud, with a Capricorn 3rd, with Saturn conjunct Jupiter]

When Pluto refers to the 3rd, we may very, very easily prize power as our way of interacting with our world. [Howard Hughes with Pluto ruling the 3rd, square Mercury]

Neptune or Venus referring to the 3rd may need to revel in aesthetics or idealization.
[Liberace had a Pisces 3rd with Neptune square Mercury; Frederic Chopin had a Libra 3rd, with Venus conjunct the Sun]

Uranus: the need to sustain rebelliousness/high individuation for self-justification (why?). [Jodie Foster with Aquarius on the 3rd and Uranus conjunct the Moon-Pluto in Virgo; Timothy Leary, an Aquarian 3rd with Uranus conjunct the Moon]

Mercury can easily establish a base thought-process focused on self-justification (through discernment and criticism). [George W. Bush, with a Virgo 3rd, with Mercury conjunct Pluto; Johnny Cash, with a Gemini 3rd, with Mercury opposed Neptune; the United Nations with Gemini on the 3rd and Mercury square Pluto]

Jupiterian reference to the 3rd seems most comfortable in terms of knowledge and learning, the spirit. [Albert Schweitzer had a Sagittarian 3rd with Jupiter opposed Neptune-Moon]

The Moon often registers emotional excess in the thought process. [Michael Jordan has Cancer on the 3rd with the Moon in Sagittarius squared Uranus-Pluto]

And the Sun establishes an ego-centered theatricality, an ego rationale for just about everything! [Castro, a Leo 3rd, with the Sun in Leo; Saddam Hussein, North Korea, Cher, Tyl, and a preponderance of celebrities.]

–Now, there’s nothing “wrong” with any of this, of course. We are not making value judgments; we are observing how a person may need to think in her or his world to be most effective.

The mind-set is in supportive relationship with our Ascendant; the two zones are related by sextile. If there is developmental tension in the 3rd, related to the 3rd, concerns that are not beneficially supportive, a study point is brought to view during our analysis for improvement and growth.

If there is developmental tension focused onto (or within) the 3rd House, where did it come from? –Most probably through interaction and/or modeling of one parent in particular: we know that the 3rd House is the twelfth dynamic of the parental 4th. Our mind-set irritates, clashes with, is upset by that parental relationship. –At the same time, the 3rd House is the sixth dynamic of the parental 10th: there is some kind of perhaps co-dependent adjustment made with one of the parents, perhaps “against” the other?

These kinds of problematic experiences in development, affecting the condition of the 3rd House, can easily diminish our cooperation dynamic with other people: the 3rd is square to the 6th, which can easily be a twelfth House dynamic to the relationship 7th.

We can look to see if the 3rd House condition is augmented/relieved/modified somehow by the status of our education profile, since the 3rd is in awareness opposition with the 9th! The more we learn, the clearer our vision and the more appropriate our thinking is to where we want to go in life.

We can see that the 3rd is the second of the 2nd House of self-worth: our mind-set reflecting, modifying, filtering, giving value to the self-worth profile.

We can see how the mind-set often fights through polarities of give-and-take in relation to the sexual profile, since the 3rd is tensely sesquiquadrate with the 8th and longingly sextile the 5th.

Ideally, the 3rd House wants to relate parental mind-set coloration with the sense of being loved and achieving comfort in relationship: the intrinsic Grand Trine among the 3rd, 11th, and 7th Houses. –And then, isn’t it fascinating how the cooperation dynamics of other people –in the midst of their mind-set developmental concerns—so easily conflict with ours: note that the 12th House (the sixth of the 7th) is square to the mind-set 3rd.

Upon this developmental “field”, this conceptualization, we must understand that the 3rd House “action” most often takes place away from the 3rd House proper: it is keyed upon the ruler of the 3rd House.

For example, one of my clients yesterday has Gemini on her 3rd House cusp. Mercury, its ruler, is squared by the conjunction of Saturn and Neptune! This is a suggestion of suppressed mind-set, even though the lady is academically gifted and professionally advanced in the legal profession. The Saturn-Neptune conjunction that squares the Mercury in the 10th is located on the cusp of the 7th: Here we see a hint of the source (parental interaction/modeling), with much registration in adult relationships. –It was no surprise at all to hear my client say, “I’ve had long-time depression; my whole life really; and it comes out of my non-communicative family upbringing. I’m just like my mother and [because of that] I married into a similar situation, a non-communicative husband.” –Notice the self-justification within her explanation to me and to herself.

The point was that the mind-set had prevailed and depressed much within her life experience … which was continually worrisome for the lady with Moon rising in Aries … opposed by the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in the 7th. That T-square –Mercury square the axis of Moon-Saturn, Neptune– dominated all.

Offsets I’ve noticed among the interplay of planetary symbolisms how there are often offsets to the depressive or suppressive mind-set, much as a home-study program can offset the lack of formal extended education; much as dogged physical therapy can offset the debilitation following a joint operation.

First, regardless of the configuration of the 3rd House, the planet Mercury “glorified” somehow –say, at the Sun/Moon midpoint, peregrine, or angularly tightly configured—has much to suggest about a prevailing strong, positively orientated mind-set in spite of difficulties. “Well, I’ve always been able to make it through and see the world in good shape; but I know what you mean about those tough times …”

Next offset possibility is Jupiter. Jupiter seems to be Mercury’s guiding patriarch. Jupiter in superior focus will suggest that the mind-set is lifted effectively. –Much as religious/spiritual life can buoy up a sagging reality.

Pope Benedict XVI[April 16, 1927 at 4:15 AM CET in Marktl, Germany] has Gemini on the 3rd House. Mercury is its ruler, and Mercury is in the Ascendant conjunct Uranus. Both Mercury and Uranus are conjunct the Aries Point and both are square to the Midheaven; and, in the mix as well, is Jupiter peregrine, conjunct the Ascendant! –This is clearly a mind-set dramatically colored with inspiration. And this certainly is most important for the leader of the Catholic world, with his mind-set conditioning all utterances and decrees about the philosophy and behavioral guidelines of the Church.

***The fact of this essay study –not submitted as formula or rule-book, but as conceptual exercise— is that the 3rd House is of pivotal concern, that our mind-set can be strongly suggested by the 3rd House condition, and that we must be aware of the ins and outs of the process, the nooks and crannies of how our client sees the world, in order to share his or her reflection of it constructively.

What’s your mind-set? How does it prevail in your work?