The Twelve States as Fields of Experience
©2007-22 Antero Alli
Basic Textbook Definitions of the 12 Houses
1: Qualites we act out and embody as behavior. The Body and 5 Senses. Self-expression.
2: What we value. Our assets, income, possessions. How security and self-worth are defined.
3: Conceptualization. How we learn, interpret, and communicate. Siblings. Local travel.
4: What supports us. Emotional needs. Home, family, ancestry. Our support system.
5: What entertains us. Pleasures, talents, romance. Children. Art, creativity, fun.
6: Routines that maintain quality of life. Employment. Health. Duties, daily chores, work.
7: Longterm relationships. Business partnerships. Who and what we attract to us.
8: Whatever triggers personal growth. Birth, sex, death, chaos, rebirth. Inheritances.
9: Whatever expands perception. Philosophy, religion, higher education. Nonlocal travel.
10: Professional ambitions. Public image. Status. Career. Reputation.
11: Social relationships: friends, groups, community. Who we are in the village.
12: Solitude; retreat from external world. The internal landscape. The Subconscious.
NOTE: If you cannot grasp the meaning of a particular State this may reflect a personal
blind spot
and/or a lack real life experience there. Experiential Astrology follows the
study
and firsthand
knowledge of our limitations and the lack and/or abundance of
real life
experiences, as well as where our experiences run deeper and where our
knowledge
may be more reality-based.
1) THE STATE OF BEING -- BEHAVIOR, THE BODY, PERSONAL INTEGRITY
How we embody and act out our own personal energy and how we behave and express ourselves, and the personal style characterizes us and sets us apart. First House experience is not self-conscious, planned or contrived but a direct expression of instinctive qualities symbolized by the Rising Sign and any planets (forces) residing there. We embody the forces symbolized by 1st House planets. First House experience yields a distinct sense of our own energy and how consciousness experiences itself through The Body and the five senses. The Rising sign and planets here show us how we are typecast in our own movie and how playing out this role informs our fates; 'personality' may be modern word for fate. The First House and the Rising Sign convey qualities marking what is most personal about us.
BALANCE POINT (7th House): As our sense of selfhood and individual integrity increases, we are more ready for the interpersonal challenges of 7th House intimate relations and partnerships. When we become too full of ourselves and too selfish, balance can be restored by relating and sharing ourselves with others.
2) THE STATE OF SURVIVAL -- SECURITY, EARNING POWER, TRUE VALUES
After a basic sense of self is discovered, we need assurance of the worthiness of our life to continue living. What is it that makes our life worth living, without which our life might not be worth living? Look to the sign ruling this House and any planets residing here for clues. This House refers to our personal survival criteria and how our values and our sense of security are known and defined. Planets here can also represent our personal assets, what we can count on to increase our sense of worth and earning power, not just financially but in all ways. Whatever can be earned, we can call our own, not just money or possessions but also other forms of currency like skills, knowledge, talent, art, love, or power. When our lives are worth living, our survival agendas and income-generating processes are more synchronized with our core values and our sense of self-worth increases. When we discover what is truly valuable to our lives, it is only natural to hold onto it and become possessive of it. It's hard to let go of a sure thing when it's also a good thing.
BALANCE POINT (8th House): When we become overly-entrenched in our own survival agendas, values, and security needs, transformative 8th House experiences can push us past our comfort zones to trigger enough meaningful change to assure personal development and evolution.
3) THE STATE OF MIND -- THINKING, LEARNING, TALKING, PLANNING
Once our basic values and survival needs are met, we are ready to start finding and making connections with others in our immediate environment. The 3rd House cusp indicates our "learning style", those conditions supporting our thinking and educational processes, how we solve problems and communicate our ideas. This includes the mental processes for making maps of our experiences and how we interpret and communicate them to others. We conceptualize our world by the way we think, talk and write about it. Planets (forces) residing here act as filters that color the way we think and communicate. 3rd House forces (planets) represent aspects of ourselves that require constant stimulation, interaction and learning experiences to develop. The 3rd House represents the ideational and planning stages of any given project but not how they are engineered and manifested in the world.
BALANCE POINT (9th House): When over-identification with concepts, labels, details, and nonstop data gathering ensnares us in myriad of trivial pursuits, we can find balance in those 9th House experiences that expand our consciousness beyond the familiar and the known towards perceiving more reality, a greater breadth of vision and new perspectives.
4) THE SUSTAINING STATE -- FAMILY, SUPPORT, DOMESTICATION
4th House represent the greatest depth and complexity of all the Houses in its links with family, ancestral karma, our domestic lives, our support system, and the very foundation of our earthly existence. The governor, or 4th House cusp, is called the Nadir, which means "The Bottom". The sign, or style, here can reveal clues to what sustains us emotionally, and how comfort, satisfaction and self-nurturing can be felt and defined. Though traditional associations of Family and Home ring true here, not all families and homes bring comfort and nurturance. The underlying essence of this House is really about the kind of support system capable of sustaining our daily lives. Planets residing here can symbolize our ancestral legacies and the family moral codes passed down through generations defining the clan we were born into. This area of our chart can also indicate how we domesticate and what kind of life we need to be living to best support the realization of our dreams, goals, and ambitions.
BALANCE POINT (10th House): When we over-emphasize our comfort and domestication needs or suffer an overly sheltered life or feel trapped by family guilt complexes, we can find balance by clarifying our own 10th House goals and ambitions and then, pursuing them.
5) THE CREATIVE STATE -- ENTERTAINMENT, ENCHANTMENT, JOY
Once our support systems are established and we know how to sustain and feed ourselves, it is only natural to want to get outside and play and have some fun. The 5th house defines our entertainment criteria, what brings us joy and what is worth celebrating. Traditionally related to art, romance, and children, the essence of 5th House experience conveys the wonder and enchantment of the Inner Child archetype, who we are as children creating our own worlds to inhabit. Each of us enters a creative state differently, symbolized by the sign governing this House. Planets residing here can symbolize artistic talents and/or the Muses archetype that inspire us to create. Though we are not actually "creators" per se but vessels for creation to flow through us. When we forget this simple but basic truth, our ego pride inflates with excessive self-involvement and the creative channel shuts down -- easy to forget when you’re having too much fun.
BALANCE POINT (11th House): When we have become overly enamored with ourselves and feel trapped by naive bubble of living in our own worlds, we can find balance by entering the 11th House experiences of making friends and participating in the community to discover a larger context to our own personal world.
6) THE STATE OF EMPLOYMENT -- QUALITY OF LIFE, SKILL SETS, WORK ETHICS
6th House experience is about the work we do -- the toil and the drudgery -- to maintain the quality of life we have grown accustomed to or, that we strive towards. This is where and how our work ethic is defined and developed. Traditionally related to issues of Health and Employment, the 6th house cusp, or governor, also symbolizes how we manage or mis-manage our stress. Each sign links to a specific area of our anatomy. When it governs our 6th House, it can indicate what area of our bodies is most stress-sensitive, alerting us to slow down and tend to our health (see ANATOMY OF THE 12 SIGNS below). The 6th House has a utilitarian purpose of showing us what kind of routines and rituals can maintain our quality of life; think quality control. The 6th house governor can indicate the employment conditions best suited to our temperament. The planets residing here show us the forces unleashed when we apply ourselves in a work environment. Sixth house experience places us in the thick of community business processes, the hustle bustle of our time-as-money, punch-clock economic schedules and the skill sets and technologies (tools) we need to get the job done.
ANATOMY OF THE 12 SIGNS (STYLES)
* Aries - head, face, brain, eyes
* Taurus - throat, neck, shoulders, thyroid gland, vocal tract
* Gemini - arms, lungs, shoulders, hands, nervous system, brain
* Cancer - chest, breasts, stomach, alimentary canal
* Leo - heart, chest, spine, spinal column, upper back
* Virgo - digestive system, intestines, spleen, nervous system
* Libra - kidneys, skin, lumbar region, buttocks
* Scorpio - reproductive system, sexual organs, bowels, excretory system
* Sagittarius - hips, thighs, liver, sciatic nerve
* Capricorn - knees, joints, skeletal system
* Aquarius - ankles, calves, circulatory system
* Pisces - feet, toes, lymphatic system, adipose tissue
BALANCE POINT (12th House): When the mounting stresses of work overwhelm us or begin diminishing our health, we can find balance through 12th House experiences of escape, vacations or spiritual practices that help us decompress. When 6th House processes entangle us in the outer world of over-doing, we can find relief and "undoing" by retreating from the hustle of the busy, noisy village.
7) THE STATE OF INTIMACY -- COURTSHIP, PARTNERSHIP, CONTRACTS
The transition from 6th to 7th houses bridges the lower and upper hemispheres of the entire chart. Whereas the lower six houses represent stages of self-development, the upper six houses link the self to greater realities starting with 7th House of interpersonal relations. Much of what passes for “relationships” is often steeped in self-involvement and projections and, why interpersonal relations can be so difficult for many. The Descendent, or the sign governing the 7th house, represents the conditions that make any relationship attractive to us and the conditions we need to stay related with someone. The sign on this house cusp can symbolize a kind of relationship check list: what qualities or attributes need to be present before you are willing to commit longterm (5th house 'romances' count as short-term). 7th house experience is about the dance of courtship and initmacy (not sex; that's more 8th House). 7th house planets symbolize forces that become active whenever we engage in any one-to-one relationship: intimate, business, and/or friendship. Often times, we are most attracted to those who personify our 7th House forces until we are ready to embody them more fully ourselves.
BALANCE POINT (1st House): When we become overly-identified as "a couple" or suffer loss of individual integrity by over-extening ourselves or too much merging, we can restore our sense of selfhood by embodying our Rising Sign (The Ascendent) and engaging 1st House experiences of self-discovery to reclaim our own personal energy, interests, and boundaries.
8) THE STATE OF SURRENDER -- SEXUALITY, DEATH, CHAOS, TRANSFORMATION
Eighth House experiences initiate us to the extremes of our existence and open us to more life, more passion, more mystery. Sex, death, rebirth; the great mysteries of life. Sexuality, as the erotic impulse of what arouses us, includes all sexual acts and orientations and so much more. Eros links us intimately with the mysteries of the cosmos. The 8th House experience of overwhelming chaos can act as an evolutionary trigger testing our comfort zones, our assumptions, and preconceptions. 8th House experiences immerse us in complex, unpredictable processes beyond our control that catalyze personal growth. The sign ruling our 8th house indicates that aspect of yourself that, when integrated, can trigger personality development and evolution. Crisis precedes change and 8th House planets represent the forces unleashed when you fulfill the need for change in your life.
BALANCE POINT (2nd House): When exceed our saturation point of too much personal growth, change and trauma in our lives, we can find balance by 2nd House experiences of whatever provides an increasing sense of consistency and lasting value, such as tending to daily survival agendas and meeting our security priorities. The 2nd House represents how we can stabilize ourselves in the face of the crisis or shock resulting from too many chaotic 8th House evolutionary events.
9) THE STATE OF FAITH -- INTUITIVE TRUTH, BIG PICTURE VISION, BELIEFS
The sign governing the 9th house can indicate our spiritual orientation -- how we come to know truth and define our belief and philosophy. The 9th house represents the "altar" of the chart; planets residing here represent dynamics we exalt above everything else. These forces (planets) are activated by any experience that expands consciousness beyond our familiar assumptions and the narrowing reality tunnels of our daily mundane existence. Long distance travel, culture shock, higher education, religion and philosophy, and mind-expanding drugs are all examples of how we expand consciousness to perceive more reality. It's like standing atop a mountain; we expand our world view to the bigger picture. As consciousness continues expanding, our perception can reach horizons we have no words or language for which can also alienate us fromthose who cannot understand or share our vision. 9th House experience includes how we develop beliefs and dogmas about our visions of truth and how sometimes we try to convert others to our way of seeing.
BALANCE POINT (3rd House): When we have become blinded by our own beliefs, we can find balance in 3rd House experiences of learning new things or topics, improving our communication skills and educating ourselves on how all truths are relatve to their point of view and how any experience can be interpreted in a great variety of ways.
10) THE PROFESSIONAL STATE -- AMBITION, REPUTATION, PUBLIC MARKETPLACE
The 10th House can indicate where our ambitions can be fulfilled and projected out to the world where we start building our reputation and professional credibility in the general public and the marketplace. Traditional 10th house terms -- “career”, “fame”, “success”, “status” -- hold truth, however, what we actually have to offer the public may not fit into any previous niche or profession. Yet everyone has something to offer. The cycles of agriculture demonstrate this process in how seeds planted can, with the right conditions and hard work, blossom and bear fruit. When the orchards ripen and drop their fruit, farmers must work over-time to bring those bushels to market before the fruit rots. The harvest cycle of the 10th House. Whatever sign rules the 10th house (a.k.a. the Midheaven, or MC) represents our "point of offering", our particular contribution to the world, the marketplace, the general public. The 10th House also symbolizes a highly vulnerable area. Given the fickle nature of public opinion, reputation cannot truly be controlled and can be easily damaged or destroyed by slander and scandal. 10th House planets symbolize parts of ourselves that are on open display and where we can feel overly-sensitive to public scrutiny and criticism. 10th House planets also symbolize forces unleashed when our goals have been clearly defined and fulfilled.
BALANCE POINT (4th House): When our professonal ambitions dominate our lives, we can easily lose touch with the underlying support systems that made the fulfillment of our dreams possible. Without the sustaining power of 4th House down-time, self-nourishment and emotional support, we can suffer 10th House over-exposure, burnout or worse yet, turn cold and empty on the inside.
11) THE COMMUNITY STATE -- ALLIES, CLOSE FRIENDS, TRIBAL MIND
Those we share common-unity with make up our community of peers. These are the friends with whom we share our fortunes and help shoulder our losses. The social fabric of our lives weaves us into overlapping circles of strangers, acquaintances, tribes, groups, and societies we attempt to fit into. The 11th house governor (house cusp) can indicate the qualities we seek in friendships and our style of entering groups. Planets here can symbolize the roles we portray in the village and the qualities we seek in friendships. The 11th house represents the friends and fans who support our dreams. How friendships are made and broken remains an essential 11th house criteria. We know who our friends are by the pacts that bind us and the betrayals that separate us. The 11th House refers to how we relate with, or ignore, community-building and how we fit into, or don't fit into, the greater circles of humanity, and the social codes of group-think defining our tribal identity.
BALANCE POINT (5th House): When we are overwhelmed by the cacophony of so many voices of tribal mind, too many friends, and groupthink, we can find balance in the 5th House creative processes to discover and celebrate the unique nature of our own voice, our own story, our own world.
12) THE STATE OF THE SOUL -- SOLITUDE, SOLACE, ESCAPE
Twelth House experience refers to our innermost needs for privacy, solitude, solace and withdrawal from the pressures of the outer world of society, friends, career, school, relationships, work, family, etc.. 12th House experiences provide an encompassing sense of sanctuary, a temporary escape from difficult realities and sometimes, the mystical experience of escaping into Reality. Here we enter the internal landscape of dreams, memories, and repressions. In psychological terms, the 12th House also represents the depository of the Subconscious Mind where we stuff aspects of ourselves we are not ready to face, or expose to others (until excavated by psychotherapy and other methods of introspection). In spiritual terms, the 12th House refers to our soulful yearnings for union with Source, God, Divinity. The shadow, or dark side, of the 12th House can manifest as mental illness (insanity), heavy alcohol or drug addiction and any ongoing escapist behavior in an attempt to cope with trauma. The 12th House also refers to organizations set apart from society, such as, ReHab centers, hospitals, prisons, monasteries & nunneries, secret socities and cults. 12th House planets refer to forces residing deep in the subconscious that can remain out of reach without committed introspection, meditation, solitude, psychotherapy, and spiritual practice.
BALANCE POINT (6th House): Excessive withdrawal and solitude can overwhelm the conscious ego with unintegrated complexes of our personal subconscious and the impersonal collective unconscious. 6th House experiences of being useful to others (service), putting things in order (organzing), gaining employment and learning new skills -- all can help breakdown the walls of self-imposed isolation and defuse any mistaken identification with 'psychological demons'.
WEEK ONE -- RESEARCH TASK #1
The Life Experience List
THE "LIFE EXPERIENCE" LIST
Based on the above 12 STATES reading material and your own self-knowledge, examine your life history identify: 1) those States representing the least amount of life experience and 2) those States representing where you have had the most life experience. Then, make a list with the State you have the most experiences on top and the State you have the least experience with on the Bottom. List the other States in between according to the degree of life experience you have there. For some, this list can seem impossible at first. Stick with it as it can demonstrate how you have prioritized the time of your life in terms of real time experience. As you experience more variety in life (more States), the sequencing of this list will change. There is a a thread on the Week One Forum where you can post your results if you wish.
Reading Assignment #2 "Cusps" and Research Task #2