by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
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Astrology is a vast subject that covers the breadth and depth of human experience. What is most popular is what can be easily and personally related such as Sun-sign astrology or relationships. Some subjects are relatively simple and can be enjoyed by many without a great investment of time or effort. Some astrological subjects take more work and study and a student is born. Still other astrological subjects develop the professional reader, researcher or teacher. Whatever level of understanding you are seeking, there are plenty of astrological subjects to satisfy your intellectual itch.
This article is about mundane astrology, which in itself covers a myriad of subjects. The word “mundane” stems from the Roman word “mundus” or “of the world.” Mundane astrology is all about the world and our place in it and deals with subjects such as weather, earth movements, politics, countries, etc. – it is more general than personal. To me, mundane is about living in the world as it affects a collective. My particular application stemmed from research on the USA as a country and the 43 presidents that have led and/or served this country. This specific use of mundane astrology is termed judicial or political.
To me, there are two main topics to study for the political application of mundane astrology, planets and houses. In a previous article I covered the application of planets, and in this article I will cover the application of houses. In order to adequately understand and apply the principles of mundane/political astrology, you must have established solid comprehension of the basics of natal astrology. This is true of all applications of astrology. First you build your base or core knowledge of planets, signs, houses and aspects and general reading skills. The rest is adaptation and application of those core principles. These principles do not change from technique to technique or application to application. However, the words chosen to describe such application will change. There is a great difference in the words you would choose to describe an individual effect, a relational effect, a corporate effect, a national effect or a world-view effect. For example, Jupiter and what Jupiter represents has an essential nature that will not change, but our word description adapts and changes for each application.
Houses represent the physical arenas of life, our down-to-earth physical experiences. In a natal application, houses represent twelve categories of experience such as your physical body (1st), your “stuff” (2nd), your family and home (4th), your job (6th and 10th), your spouse or partner (7th), your friends (11th), to name a few. Politically the houses retain their essence, but the words change to reflect the collective application. For example, instead of the 1st house being the physical body, image and self-projection of an individual, it becomes the collective body, image and self-projection of a country.
To me, mundane astrology is a work in process. Every time I do more research, I learn more about the overall principles. That is what fascinates me about astrology; there is always more to learn. For example, as I worked to make the houses understandable for this article, I found additional concepts for the planets in a political application. That is exciting. I get to do more research and I grow. As I study and apply the principles, I also run into questions or issues that are not quite clear. Clarification of such conundrums usually takes time and multiple examples. And I grow. At the moment I am puzzled about where to place the elderly in the mundane house system so I am researching that. Here are the mundane houses from my current best effort.
1st House The nation as a whole – the citizenry, self projection of the collective, how the rest of the world sees the country – the image of the nation, the general condition of the nation, public attention or focus, how the nation responds to provocation or stimulus – the coping skill of a nation. The first and sixth houses also represent health and illness issues for the country with catastrophic illness, pandemic or accident also incorporating eighth house involvement.
2nd House Everything that has to do with money and the economy of that country, national wealth or lack of it, revenue, taxation, all activities and locations of money-making and banking including stocks, bonds, trades, minting, commercial affairs, money markets, exchange markets, the assets of the nation. All national financial programs such as Social Security or Medicare, as well as entitlement programs such as welfare, emergency funding and federal aid. There is controversy in some of these choices depending on which author’s rules you choose. Just know that this group is the financial core of the country itself, but is related to within-the-country financial dealings. To go outside the country and involve other countries is an eighth house issue.
3rd House Education in general as an intellectual and informational activity, language, communication and media in general, transportation in general. In particular: disseminating news and information such as magazines, publications, newspapers, literature, periodicals, authors, writing, legislation as written documents or contracts, the postal service, libraries; within the country, communication such as telegraphs and telephones, media including radio, television, the use of computers, grass roots communication; within the country, transportation such as automobiles and trucks, roads and bridges, railways; close neighbors such as nations with common borders; siblings as in inter-related nations like England and her colonies. There are serious questions as to whether water travel and/or aviation belong to the third house as well. All transportation belongs here in general; however, it is naturally limited to local or within the country transportation. Transportation issues at a great distance or outside the country falls into the ninth house.
4th House The land of the country itself, bedrock, small to large parcels and everything in between, everything above and below the land that is related to the land, the buildings and use of the land such as agriculture, all forms of farming, crops and produce, mining, quarries, coal pits, minerals, even oil reserves, public buildings and housing in general, the owners of such land, reserved land for parks and preservation, the roots and physical base to the country. This also is the position for the political party in opposition to the party in power (tenth house), the people as a body as contrasted to the leader or monarch (tenth house), and democracy rather than aristocracy. Look here for “grass roots” movements as well as the third house for the grass roots communication function. Several authorities place weather in the fourth house. Look at the first sentence of this description “everything above and below the land” for the rationale. Weather would be an additional mundane study topic by itself.
5th House All forms of entertainment and national pleasure, general amusement or excitement, theater, television and radio as entertainment, music and musicians, arts, fashion, leisure, formal social functions, high society or the “upper class” of a country, the House of Lords as opposition to the House of Commons of the eleventh house. Looking back into antiquity many mundane definitions came from English authors so I believe the House of Lords equates to the USA Senate. Sports, heroes and champions, morals, betting, speculative interests and risk taking; relationships as a way of life for a population, children (collectively) and their education (see also the third house), children of the mind and the body, both physical and creative children, birth rate. Some authors place ambassadors in this area as embassies also represent the social function between countries.
6th House The working classes, servants of or to the country such as trade unions, national or civil service, armed forces, police, fire, sanitation, emergency and catastrophic service, employees in general; public health or illness (see also first house, plus eighth house for catastrophic illness or accident, such as pandemics). Ambassadors are civil servants but they must also be associated with the foreign countries they represent as well (ninth house). (See also fifth house for the social functions of an ambassador/embassy.)
7th House Alliances, foreign affairs or relations, foreign trade, negotiations, treaties and/or conflicts or international disputes, war and peace, business relationships and agreements. Think partnerships of a country with other countries and all the layers of meaning that would be involved. This is not only the house of partnerships but also of visible enemies, those who are declared or known to be enemies, no secrets. Non-visible or unknown enemies belong with the twelfth house. Issues that have to do with the country’s marriage and divorce rules and rates also belong to this seventh house.
8th House Financial matters that involve others outside the country or other countries, international finance, multi-national corporations, multi-national or foreign financial aid, loans or gifts; public safety, crime, fraud; deaths, death rate, state funerals, public mortality, public probate, inheritance, losses; public indebtedness. Along with the first and sixth houses for health and illness, the eighth house would be involved with epidemics or catastrophic incidents that involve human life such as 9-11, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, volcanoes, tsunamis. The English “Privy Council” reference was translated to an American panel of knowledgeable, experienced and successful financial advisors to the president.
9th House Foreign lands or nations, distant neighbors, other cultures and languages; higher education, intellectuals, universities, professors, science, scientific institutions and publications; law, justice, legal professions, lawyers, judges, courts; philosophy, religions and religious affairs, church, ecclesiastical professions, clergy, philosophical institutions; shipping, sea traffic, long distance traffic or transportation in general whether connected with passengers or commerce; communication and media that operates out of the country and around or beyond the world such as the world-wide web, space exploration and travel.
10th House The government as a governing entity, the sovereign and their government, monarch or president, those in authority, ruling party and powers, royalty, aristocracy or nobility, the “upper crust”, eminent and famous persons of state; national prestige and reputation, national goals and stature, national power. Some of these definitions of people show up in the fifth house as well (social function).
11th House Congress, parliament especially the House of Commons in England. Again, many mundane definitions came from a long line of English authors, so I believe the House of Commons in England would equate to the USA House of Representatives. It also is political representation in general, local government such as town and country councils, friends of the nation, legislation in general (see also third house for the written function of legislation).
12th House All institutions or detention facilities, places of confinement such as prisons, reformatories, criminals; plots, fraud, illicit activities; workhouses; hospitals, institutional homes for the aged or children, asylums; secret societies, monasteries, mystical or occult religions, institutional religion, philanthropic societies, charities; enemies within (hidden enemies), spies, secret (not known or visible) enemies of the country wherever and whomever they are.
Please know there is controversy in many of these descriptive choices depending on which author’s rules you choose. For myself, I prefer the older, well-established and researched definitions as a beginning point, adding my own interpretation and experience from the charts and research that I develop. This is and will always be a work in progress for me. I do not always agree with those old rules, but I do trust them to provide me with a beginning point. As mentioned, many mundane definitions came from the work of English authors, so descriptive translation is necessary as you have seen in my mundane house descriptions. Please consider my work as a place to begin, subject to your own experience and choice. You can start here but eventually you should make your whole body of work your own conclusion.
Oh, before I finish… those two items I found regarding mundane planet concepts were both political and apropos to politics as we are experiencing it today in the USA. They are offered as a stimulus to your thought and research, not as a standing mundane rule.
- Uranus would represent strongly individualistic right-wing ideology, possibly with tension and stress, such as demonstration and rioting.
- Neptune would represent left-wing ideology, more socialistic or people-oriented, and negatively as delusion, fraud, and deceit.
Recommended reading:
“Let’s Get Down to Earth with Mundane Astrology – the Planets”, marilynmuir.net
“Cornerstones of Astrology – Planets, Signs, Houses and Aspects”, marilynmuir.net
Mundane Astrology by H.S. Green and Raphael (two books in one)
Published on EZine online June, 2010, republished with slight editing.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.