When we meet someone, just think of how much is transmitted about personality from the first sounds of their voice, the flow of words, the vocabulary, the points of emphasis made in the initial conversation … The mind-set as it sees the world shows itself! And it’s amazing how we are culturally conditioned to respond to such subliminal keys (and obvious ones) that stratify others.
When we appreciate a horoscope, the same awareness should prevail. I know that I assimilate the 3rd House in several ways, to be in touch with my client’s mind-set, the dynamism, the jolts, and individualistic divergences from norms that permeate the thinking process.
We must know that the mind-set pervades everything; it creates a surround-sound emanating from the 3rd House.
The Variables — Naturally, Mercury, no matter whether it is involved directly with the 3rd House or not, leads the way to the mind’s operational process. –My Mercury, for example, is in Capricorn (“It needs to hear the grass grow,” a marvelous Grant Lewi epithet); it is stretched in perception by Pluto in opposition, and that axis is intensified by the square from Mars. All of that invigorates the Moon-in-Leo in the 3rd House. The bottom-line is my need (and delight) in seeing and communicating things with maximum drama.
A peregrine Mercury can verge on the encyclopedic, on extreme detail storage. Mercury in strong aspect with the Moon: extreme garrulousness to register one’s own ideas with the world. –How do these needs, these traits define one’s relationship with others?
There are other dimensions that enter into the 3rd House filter of our approach to the world. Just think how the touch of Neptune or the touch of Saturn, Uranus, Mars or Pluto can cloud, depress, intensify, energize or antagonize the profile of our thinking process, and thus, our behaviors!
Judy Garland’s horoscope [June 10, 1922 at 6:00 AM CST in Grand Rapids, Minnesota] for another example, had Saturn exactly square Mercury, ruler of the 12th and 4th, both at an Aries Point. This is a dramatic statement of the vulnerability to depression, probably rooted in the early home, specifically from maternal machinations. [Read that again, please; actually see the layout in the horoscope.] Added to this, we have the 3rd House ruled by the Sun, and it is opposed by Mars and squared by Uranus. A high-articulation profile of a nervously instable mental state registers with high probability.
Midpoint Pictures I have distilled seven Midpoint pictures that are extremely reliable signals for the vulnerability to depression, a depressed view of the personal world: Saturn=Sun/Mercury (seriousness in mental outlook; possible depression); Saturn=Moon/Mercury (possible depression under adverse occurrences); Neptune=Mercury/Saturn (depression; a sad spirit looking for a ray of hope); Midheaven=Sun/Saturn (feeling devalued, the ‘lone wolf’ position; Midheaven=Sun/Neptune (loss of ego strength, possible depression); Saturn=Neptune/Pluto (grief, weakness, torment, depression); Midheaven=Moon/Pluto (one-sided emotional intensity). –And there are more; the mind is a sponge absorbing particularly challenging life influences in order to facilitate the refiner’s fire and grow strong.
We must remember as well, that our interaction with siblings (a very important 3rd House development experience) may often trigger and concretize self-deprecating circumstances during development, often tied to the sense of neglect and rivalry, that endure in the mind-set for years.
Howard Hughes, the reclusive billionaire, business genius [December 24, 1905 at 10:12 PM in Houston TX] had Mercury-Moon-Venus all opposed by Pluto, ruler of the 3rd! Additionally, he had Neptune opposite Uranus, our symbol for individuation.
J. M. W. Turner, the English Romantic genius landscape-painter [April 23, 1775 at 1:20 AM LMT in London UK] had the 3rd House ruler squared by Uranus, with Mercury opposed by Saturn. What was his mind-set in spite of being known as “the painter of light”? –Turner had no formal education whatsoever, a mother mentally unstable (linked to the early death of Turner’s sister (3rd House)). His life ended with years of hiding from his world, in filth and disease, despite all his awards and world recognition in his earliest years. Saturn was his all-too developed filter. –Additionally, Turner had an Air Grand Trine that further signaled isolation.
Robert Schumann, the great romantic composer [see “Analytical Techniques”, Advanced Synthesis. December 31, 2003], attempted suicide and finally died in an insane asylum. Schumann’s Mars ruled his 3rd and keyed the Midpoint picture of mental confusion, Mars=Mercury/Neptune. This Mars was also squared by Pluto, and both suppressed the Sun. What could be clearer?
Ludwig van Beethoven [December 16, 1770 at 11:03 AM LMT] in Bonn Germany –Tyl rectification] had Venus-peregrine ruling his 3rd and the 8th; affairs of these Houses would run rampant in his life-experience [His brother and sexual frustration]. Additionally, an Earth Grand Trine told of his severe isolation. –When Beethoven’s brother Kaspar Karl died, he left his 9-year old son, Karl, in Beethoven’s care. Beethoven’s complex celibate neurosis over lineage and family life led to tragic aberrations, legal considerations and further loneliness for many years, even to the point of Karl’s two suicide attempts. As well, the Master’s Mars opposed his Mercury, Sun, and Moon.
–Examples abound [see further: Nietzsche, existential philosopher, October 15, 1844 at 10:00 AM LMT in Lutzen Germany; see William Blake, ecstatic poet-artist, November 28, 1757 at 7:45 PM LMT in London].
We know that the mind-set colors the life. Seeing a glimmer of it at the outset of analysis is invaluable in positioning and focusing personality development. How’s your 3rd House?