Third House in the Horoscope

The 3rd House governs your friends and acquaintances, the people you spend your everyday life with when not at work. The House is essentially about communication, exchanging words and thoughts in a carefree way. It also tells something about your childhood schooling. Honestly, the first ten or so years of school are much more about hanging out with one's classmates than studying this or that science. We're schooled in social interaction.

     The 3rd House is strongly linked to the Zodiac sign Gemini and the planet Mercury, both of them also dealing a lot with communication on a basic level.

Zodiac sign and Planet

If the House changes Zodiac sign somewhere in its span, that means your relation to friends and acquaintances change somehow at some point in life. Usually, it also means changing friends. This also means that if most or all of the House is in the same Zodiac sign, you tend to stick to the friends you got at the beginning. At least, your type of relation remains the same, even if you get other friends.

     Planets in the 3rd House indicate that you have a lot of interaction with your friends and that this is a very important part of your life. You're not without friends if the House lacks planets, but that part of your life is not as important as it otherwise would be. You focus more on other things.

     Here are simple keywords describing your relations to your friends, depending on what Zodiac sign you have in the 3rd House:

• Aries intense
• Taurus trusting
• Gemini entertaining
• Cancer compassionate
• Leo dominant
• Virgo hesitant
• Libra committed
• Scorpio uncertain
• Sagittarius unattached
• Capricorn constructive
• Aquarius pensive
• Pisces dependent

     Here are keywords for how your social life is stimulated if you have a planet in your 3rd House:

• Sun fulfilling
• Moon emotional
• Mercury talkative
• Venus pleasant
• Mars intense
• Jupiter extensive
• Saturn serious
• Uranus stimulating
• Neptune exciting
• Pluto dramatic

     The keywords are just simple clues to understand the 3rd House. You need to consider the whole before deciding on the meaning of one single ingredient.

Aspects

The 3rd House has the following aspect relations to other Houses:

• Opposition 180° 9th House
• Trine 120° 7th House, 11th House
• Square 90° 6th House, 12th House
• Sextile 60°5th House, 1st House

     These relations between the Houses are quite important when analyzing their influence. The opposition aspect to the 9th House, which shows travel and new settings, is no mystery: when you go away you lose touch with your friends. The trine to the 7th House, that of partnership, and the 11th House, the greater social scene, are just as evident. In both cases it's very much about meeting people and making friends.

     The squares to the 6th House, work, and the 12th, personal sacrifice, show the problems that these Houses can cause your social life and your relations to your friends. Still, squares can be solved satisfactory for all involved, so there are ways of gaining from these conflicting situations.

     The sextile with the 5th House, leisure, means that friendship is favorite leisure, and more difficult when you're otehrwise engaged. The one with the 1st House, identity, points out that it's by the impression you give others that you attract or repel them.

© Stefan Stenudd
The planets
The Zodiac
The Houses
The aspects