The 6th House: Featuring Service

Recently, I was at a community night at a local gong fu teahouse called Enthea Teahouse. Every Friday there are community nights with discussion topics and I go as a personal wellness ritual. The topic that night was Service. I could not help but ponder the 6th House astrology, which includes all of the small invaluable things that make up our daily lives as individuals. Included in the daily routine is health, vitality, daily energy, short-distance travel around where we work and live and of course, service!

Service can encompass many small acts that may be invisible-to-others or they might be overtly acknowledged actions in our lives. Service can be performed on behalf of ourselves, for others, as well as for the lands, waters and peoples around us. I cannot help but think of service as it unfolds nominally in daily life and when it stands out as something profound, intermittent, or heroic.

Daily Habits That Make Life Easier

Upon waking in the morning or anytime of day, we attend to our body’s hygiene and need for wellness. Hopefully, we have also experienced plenty of restful sleep the night before! We will often rise from our sleeping space, go to the bathroom or area with water, brush and floss our teeth, bathe at some point or use water to wash in some way and in general, get our “person” ready for the day. We will need to eat and drink at regular intervals during the day and perhaps do any number of other body maintenance acts like stretching, exercise, movement, etc.

We also have to get dressed in daily appropriate attire, gather tools and supplies necessary for our day and seek transportation at some point. Many of us also attend to others in a household like babies, children, animals, elders or infirmed family members who need care. All of these acts comprise service to the self and others. And with all of this, we are just getting prepared for our day–there are many other things we build and maintain over time and with effort.

So many small things! If done right and with enough resources, all of this tending helps make our days flow as smoothly as possible. This requires presence of mind and skills to achieve wellbeing. We can learn how to order and organize our lives as we go and if not, we suffer the consequences of disorder, daily chaos, and stress. We can also embrace and learn service in ways that presence compassion and empathy for ourselves and others.

Choosing to Care About Others Around Us

We all find ourselves in varying life circumstances: individually, generationally, and culturally. This is one reason why astrology is so compelling. Astrological systems helps us all see that all of our life circumstances are occurring with the celestial influences. The world is not crafted by humans equitably, We “make do” with the astrology of the time, with our own unique skills, the power of the mind, the resources around us and the spirit of the time we were born under. We can either be in service or become selfish and uncaring to the world around us. Even if it feels like a challenge at times, we can learn habits and skills to embrace our natural desire to care.

Service: An Important Expression of Love

One way in which service has made its way into cultural discourse lately is through the Five Love Languages book published by Gary Chapman in 1992. How we love is not confined to romantic relationships but can encompass friendships and more. The five love languages discussed are quality time, physical touch, gift giving, words of affirmation and acts of service. These are ways in which we can give and receive love. Can you think of the last time you were in service to another? I bet it was more recent than you may recall. If not, you can do something like hold a door open for someone, bring over groceries, cook a meal or anything within your energy levels to do. The world can use more offerings of service! This includes the other-than-human world too of course!

Turning to the Twelfth House for Help

6th House astrology is opposite on the zodiac to the 12th House, which is the House of retreat, isolation, power, the psyche, vice and freedom. This is where deep understanding or confinement is explored. Perhaps in this discussion we can include service to the self as part of the 12th House briefly. When we are in hermitage, retreat, or isolation, we can find an opportunity to look at how we have treated (and served) ourselves or others in our lives.

We can also look at how we have been treated by society, culture and the beliefs & power structures within it.

What has served us well or poorly? Have we found a positive use for our self-empowerment to reveal our soul? How can we be in better service to our inner-self and therefore have that mirror of how we act in the daily world of the 6th House?

6th House Astrology

Associated with Virgo, Ruled by Mercury. Mutable Earth, Cadent House. House of Health, Daily Work, Wellbeing, Hygiene, Routines, Vitality and Service.