A “Good” Eighth House

The following is a discussion of Phaladipika’s 6th chapter presentation of an astrological alignment (“yoga”) called astra. It occurs when the 8th house is “good” – a.k.a. given abundance and benefits by the planets in the horoscope. That book, Phaladipika, specifically suggestions certain criteria to assess if a house is “good” or not [the house lord must be in a good house and sign - e.g. it's own or exaltation sign, and in an angle or trine, and the house cusp itself must have strong conjunction or aspect from benefic planets - e.g. Venus, Jupiter or Mercury - and not malefic ones - e.g. Mars, Saturn or Sun], but this is not meant as the only criteria, merely an excellent one. Thus the following will apply to an 8th house that – for whatever reasons – is more pampered, abundant, and highlighted in a horoscope.

This 8th is considered a troublesome house, from an ordinary mundane frame of reference – because mysteries and secrets are not good or welcome things in everyday affairs. So when the 8th house is enhances the troublesome nature of it.

The 8th house is about wealth earned through partnership. Thus one of the effects of this yoga is that one lacks one’s own wealth and depends on others. It is difficult for one to make ones own bread, so we try to link ourselves into the prosperity of others. It is not necessarily bad, sometimes it is just plain smart, and it allows us to avoid more impoverishing conditions. But be careful not to become “selfish” or exploitive of the resources of others.

The 8th house is about reproduction, thus an enhanced eighth house strengthens the sex drive – which sounds great on a talk show, but usually proves to be frustrating and lead us into foolish decisions that we soon regret.

The 8th house is about secrets. A good 8th house allows us to keep others “in the dark” – to spin a web of secrecy. It also gives us access to secrets and thus the ability to use them to our advantage. A very significant secret is the occult and metaphysical sciences and philosophy. This yoga strengthens our ability to comprehend and benefit from such things.

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Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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The 12 Houses in Simple Logical Terms

Excerpt from Class 3 of Course 101: Symbolic Keys of Astrology

Created on 2010-08-05 11:59:59.

2010-08-05

Vic DiCara: 11:39:50

how many cardinal points are there?

Jayananda Das: 11:40:17

4

Vic DiCara: 11:40:32

east, west, north and south

Jayananda Das: 11:40:37

yes

Vic DiCara: 11:40:39

which house is which?

Jayananda Das: 11:41:06

east 1st, west 7th, south 10th, and north 4th

Vic DiCara: 11:41:15

brilliant!

Jayananda Das: 11:41:18

Vic DiCara: 11:39:33

ok the house BELOW the cardinal point will support the cardinal point

Vic DiCara: 11:39:44

and the house ABOVE the cardinal point will erode it

Vic DiCara: 11:45:17

the first house is the physical self

Vic DiCara: 11:45:54

the second house is physically BELOW the first – it gives what we need for physical sustenence and growth: money, for example

Vic DiCara: 11:45:59

the twelfth takes it away – expenses

Jayananda Das: 11:46:07

Awh!

Jayananda Das: 11:46:12

wait

Jayananda Das: 11:46:40

give me that same examples for the 4th house, and the 7th house, and 10th house.

Vic DiCara: 11:46:46

no!

Vic DiCara: 11:46:48

because

Vic DiCara: 11:47:00

it is not apropriate for the 4th and the 10th!

Vic DiCara: 11:47:15

there is no house below the 4th

Vic DiCara: 11:47:25

and every house is below the tenth

Jayananda Das: 11:47:39

i meant like give the same example for the supportive house and the disppitated house for the 4th and 10th house

Vic DiCara: 11:48:06

there are no supporting and dissipating houses for the fourth and tenth

Jayananda Das: 11:48:17

oh!

Vic DiCara: 11:48:32

this supporting/disspating above/below thing can only apply to the two cardinal points east and west

Vic DiCara: 11:48:35

only to the horizons

Vic DiCara: 11:48:49

because only they have neighboring houses above and below them

Jayananda Das: 11:48:47

OMG i cant believe i missed itt

Vic DiCara: 11:48:51

hahaha

Jayananda Das: 11:48:59

now i see (a) The house to the East will cause the cornerstone house to become

more tangible and more self-focused.

(b) The house to the West will case the cornerstone house to become more

intangible and group-focused.

Vic DiCara: 11:49:08

brilliant!

Vic DiCara: 11:49:15

good work

Vic DiCara: 11:49:31

so the first house is the physical self

Jayananda Das: 11:49:36

yes yess

Vic DiCara: 11:49:40

the second house gives stuff that supports the physical self

Vic DiCara: 11:49:57

the twelfth takes away stuff that supports the physical self (for example, spiritual knowledge)

Vic DiCara: 11:50:03

then you have the 7th house

Vic DiCara: 11:50:09

it is death, endings, and other people

Vic DiCara: 11:50:22

the sixth house (below the seventh) gives things that support death – disease

Vic DiCara: 11:50:27

support endings – quarrels

Vic DiCara: 11:50:32

support OTHERS – enemies

Vic DiCara: 11:50:53

the eighth house (above the seventh) takes away things that support death – it creates longevity

Vic DiCara: 11:51:20

it takes away endings by giving one metaphysical understanding of the interconnectedness of all time phases – that ends are only beginnings

Vic DiCara: 11:51:38

it is also sexuality, which in many ways is the exploitation of others

Vic DiCara: 11:51:46

make sense?

Jayananda Das: 11:51:55

omg yes

Vic DiCara: 11:52:16

then we have the tenth house, which is the public self

Vic DiCara: 11:52:23

to the east of it is the 11th house. so things from the public move towards us, we enjoy rewards, profits, and social benefits in the 11th house

Vic DiCara: 11:52:56

to the west of the 10th is the 9th house. so things from the public move towards others. we endeavor to act in moral ways that are beneficial to others – that is the essence of morality, and religion in the 9th house

Vic DiCara: 11:53:34

ok?

Jayananda Das: 11:53:51

yes, exactly what i was expecting you to clarify to me

Vic DiCara: 11:55:38

ok the fourth house...

Vic DiCara: 11:56:25

it is the place of treasures, emotions, things that carry us

Jayananda Das: 11:56:55

mhm

Vic DiCara: 11:57:01

to the east of the 4th house is the 3rd house… it is where treasures and emotions and such move towards us – in the third house is our ambition to aquaire such things for ourselves

Vic DiCara: 11:57:46

to the west of the 4th house is the 5th… is is where treasures and emotions move towards others – in the 5th house we want to share our inner treasures with others and we develop the intellect and creativity to do exactly that

Jayananda Das: 11:58:12

(awh I see  )

Vic DiCara: 11:58:25

this is how the ROOT meanings of the four cardinal directions branch out to form the PRIMARY meanings of all the 12 houses

Vic DiCara: 11:58:31

cool, right?

Jayananda Das: 11:58:38

yesss

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

Spirituality in a Horoscope

Often, people interested in astrology are interested in spirituality in general as well. Therefore astrologers often receive questions on this subject.

The fire triangle (houses 1, 5, and 9) represent different facets of religion and morality. The water triangle (houses 4, 8, and 12) represent different facets of the personal spiritual quest.

In the fire triangle, the first house pertains to personal character and individual morality. The fifth house pertains to the ability to practice, understand and learn moral and religious disciplines. The ninth house represents ones relationship to gurus, guides, etc. as well as to religion and religious institutions as well as the entire attitude towards philosophical subjects in total.

In the water triangle the eighth house represents mystical powers and ability to see the unseen or “occult” reality in the world (“siddhi”). The twelfth house pertains to ones humility and detachment from physical and worldly affairs, as well as the logic and knowledge which supports such attitudes (“jnana”). The fourth house – domain of the innermost self – pertains the the ultimate goal, self-realization and to the sublime understanding of the role of emotions in a spiritual setting (“bhakti”).

The sixth has been ascribed to “yoga” but this is mainly in the health-supporting sense of that word.

Among planets, look particularly at Ketu.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

Maraka Houses

The 2nd and 7th houses are supposed to be “maraka” houses – houses that detract from health and bring death. Obviously this can be completely misunderstood – because the 2nd house is itself the house of health. (However being the house of health, it is simultaneously the house which defines lack of health.) This idea can (and is) misunderstood in 40,000,000 ways. The point of this little post is not to try and address all those misunderstandings but simply to explain why these two houses have the distinction of being death-causers.

“Death-Causer” is a fairly literal and exact translation of maraka.

The point in explaining why the 2nd and 7th houses are “death-causing” is really to show you how the houses work – and to argue against a very prevalent misunderstanding of how the houses work.

Let’s do it!

Where does health come from? Which houses?

Two houses: the 1st House (which is the physical body) and the 8th house (which is the lifeforce and longevity). The 2nd house is opposite from the 8th house, and the 7th house is opposite from the 1st! That’s it. Simple. That is why these houses are the opposite of health giving.

This is how you should try to understand astrology… as simply as possible.

Some people say that the 2nd is 12 houses from the 3rd. The 3rd is 8 houses from the 8th and the 7th is 12 houses from the 8th. So the 7th and 2nd houses are 12th to the longevity and the longevity’s longevity. This is a unnecessarily complicated attempt to explain why the 2nd and 7th are death-causing – and it only makes a mess and confusion of how the houses work.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved