| Element | Earth |
| Type | Cadent |
| Related Sign | Virgo |
| Natural Ruler | Mercury |
| Joy | Mars |
The Sixth House is the house of duties and constrictions. In other words, all the areas of life where we must fit belong to his house. This is the reason why traditionally it is a bad house. After all, who would want to feel forced to adapt? Nobody.
Without exaggeration we could say that in this house we function, rather than live. All the small daily rituals that we perform automatically belong to this house: we get up, we take a shower, we make ourselves breakfast, go to work, do our job, go home, have dinner, we watch TV and go to sleep. Over and over again. It’s like a well-oiled mechanism.
For this reason the sixth house not only describes our normal routine, but also determines its functioning. In fact it mainly concerns our job (normal routine) and our health (our functioning). A bad transit through the sixth (or its Lord) could result in a serious illness which is after all a form of constriction. This because—again—we must adapt to the situation: we have to go to the doctor, take our medicine, stay in bed, rest, keep warm, and eat light.
Another important meaning of the Sixth House is hierarchy. In this house we are all somebody’s servant—we all obey to someone. In the name of efficiency (we have to function, remember?) we are part of a hierarchy, subjected to a chain of command. But in this house there is no special merit in having a higher grade: hierarchy levels are assigned by objective criteria such as seniority or formally recognized skills. Everything works mechanically, so to speak.
As part of the hierarchy, our subordinates—people who work for us—are traditionally assigned to the sixth house as well. Interestingly enough, even pets fall into the same category. Sometimes it would be more appropriate to assign them to the fifth house, because somebody might regard them as children. But generally speaking pets are our subordinates in the house.
Key Words
- Earth, gear, mechanism, duty, constriction, service
- Obedience, hierarchy, subordinates, pets, the easement
- Functioning, daily routine, tasks, procedures
- Health, illness, doctors, western medicine
