Sixth House

The sixth house is the house of the daily round. Traditionally it governs illness, its cause and course, servants and those who work for us, tenants and labourers, and small animals. Modern astrologers read it as work and the working day, routines and habits, health and the care of the body, service to others, and the craft of doing a task well. Pets belong here too, as the descendants of Lilly's lesser cattle. Howard Sasportas called it the craftsperson's house, where the task is turning obligation into a practice that nourishes the whole person.

Angular, succedent or cadent

The sixth house is cadent, falling away from the angle of the Descendant. Lilly ranked it eleventh of the twelve and called it unfortunate because it has no aspect to the Ascendant: the two are averse, unable to see one another. Planets here were thought to act with difficulty, which modern astrologers often reframe as effort, adjustment and the slow building of skill.

Natural sign and ruler

The sixth house corresponds to the sixth sign, Virgo, and to its ruler Mercury: analysis, discernment, useful detail. Mars has his joy here, a fitting home for the planet of effort, labour and the cutting edge of the surgeon.

Lilly's significations

Lilly gives the sixth house menservants and maidservants, sheep, goats, hogs, rabbits and all lesser cattle, and the profit or loss gained by them; sickness, its quality and cause, the humour offending, whether it is curable, and whether it will be short or long; day labourers, tenants, farmers and shepherds; and uncles and aunts on the father's side. It rules the lower belly and the intestines. Its colour is black. It is feminine, and its cosignificators are Virgo and Mercury. He noted that Mars and Venus in conjunction here were arguments of a good physician.

Planets here, and the ruler elsewhere

A planet in the sixth house tends to describe a person's working style and their relationship with their body and routines: Venus here may favour pleasant working conditions or work involving beauty and care, Saturn a disciplined, demanding approach to duty. In older practice the sixth was read for health, and a sensitive placement suggests an area worth looking after, never a diagnosis. Its ruler elsewhere links daily work to that house's affairs. These incline; habits remain a person's to choose.

Related

• Twelfth House, the opposite house: retreat and the hidden
• Virgo and Mercury
• Mars, whose joy is here
• House system