Empty houses

One astrology friend once said to me, half in jest, that her second house is empty thus she has no money. I replied that in this case I should be homeless (empty 4th), have no job or career (empty 6th and 10th), no friends (11th), and kind of no personality (empty 1st).

But what can we say about empty houses? These are a few thoughts that come to mind:

1. For starters, empty houses obviously function as designed. What a waste it would be if I had half of the 12 segments of all inner and all outer life completely dormant. That is silly, and silly is not how the universe works.
2. Each house has multiple, in fact endless, meanings (more on this in another post). Divide All That Is in 12 and try to put it in one word – will it work? Second house is more than money, it is (self)worth, values, skills. It is anything we have (traditionally “movable possessions”) or desire to have. As I was typing this my car leasing company called to inquire about the payment, which would be 8th and 2nd working in tandem. Going down “write what I see” a bit longer, our dog just sang a short song in her sleep, so while pets are 6th, they are also what we “have” – it sounds borderline barbaric but yeah – I *have* a dog and love her, concerned for her, etc, which clearly makes 2nd house play along with 6th. We could go on and on, but how can this all be “empty”?
3. Astrology deals with “themes”. This is one of many gifts from my teachers, lessons I’ll never forget. I am a Libra – am I always in balance? Of cause not! So balance is a theme. It is important, for sure, but it is lacking (or perceived to be lacking) at least as often as it is found. Am I always measured? Dream on. I get stuck in extremes like there is no tomorrow. Artistic? Fair? None of it is a given. So, back to 2nd house, why should this be different? Money or lack thereof – both states are ruled by 2nd house. Try that game – add “or lack thereof” to any astrological definition. Of course it doesn’t have to be linear either.
4. Nothing is truly empty. I am not even talking about fixed stars or asteroids, although by the time we add Chiron, Eris , Ceres, Black Moon Lilith, Vertex, or whatever your taste calls for, we’d have fewer empty houses. The elephant in the house is of course the sign (or signs) in it, and by extension the ruling planet(s) wherever it is. So if my 4th is in Gemini, it isn’t all that empty after all! I may be forever curious about where everyone “stands”, my dad may be Gemini rising and his “newscasts”, mixed with comedy routines were the underlying tone of my childhood. Along with bookcases from floor to the ceiling in every room, several radios tuned to the foreign stations in an attempt to figure out the real news. This may be part of the wondering times in my life when I changed places like gloves.
5. In the same vein, there are visitors – transiting and progressed planets. Enough said.
6. Absence of points is a kind of freedom. It allows the house to breath. It allows natural expression, no obligations and no distortions. Empty isn’t always a bad thing. Let’s think about the opposite – a “crowded” house. Say Sun there says this is where you initiate, that’s one of your central themes, Moon may demand nurture there, it wants comfort, Venus calls a party, Mars starts a fight, Jupiter indulges in food and drinks and starts preaching, Saturn kicks them all out and spoils the party.  Now they are all gone – isn’t it beautiful? Just an empty house!
7. Lastly, to be fair, I do not have brothers and sisters as empty 3rd may suggest (but do have neighbors, do travel, do learn and even teach), do not have children as in “empty 5th” (though love to do charts for children, do have fun, do engage in creative  endeavors such as writing, and love to play in casinos 🙂 ). I was “homeless” for a bit of time as in empty 4th (but I am not uprooted in any other significant way). I certainly do have wonderful loyal friends in spite of empty 11th (but often shun away from ensembles, theater productions and other forms of creative collaborations , existing designs, and wisdoms of planning).

To bring it all together, my empty 4th isn’t all that lonely and isn’t doing so bad.  I have a wonderful family, my own place. I have my own positions, but a fairly open mind. Ok, sometimes I have no position, and an unfairly closed mind, all the same. Applying above thoughts though,  I think it continues to tell its part of my story, and I keep discovering and living it at the same time.