S2 Episode 17 - 6th House, Virgo, "Hotel California" and Procrastination
6th House, Virgo, Hotel California and Procrastination
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:00:00] Fiona Marques: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Vedic Astrology Podcast. It's summertime here in Europe. And where I am in Portugal we take summer pretty seriously! So it's a time for being at the beach and going on holidays. And often when we're on holidays, we have our playlist on listening to the music that helps pass those hours in the journey driving along. And one of the ones that always ends up on my playlist is "Hotel California".
And whenever I hear it, there's something about that, that always speaks to me about Virgo and the number 6 in Astrology. It's got this line in "Hotel California", which mirrors really closely what Brihat Parashara describes. It talks about in the, somewhere in the beginning of the song, it talks about she, "... There she stood in the doorway".
So we have this idea of a woman, ... "There she stood in the doorway" and it says she, "... She lit up a candle and she showed me the way". And something about that always reminds me of that Virgo imagery, which I think in, I think it's in Brihat Parashara, it says "A maiden standing in a boat on the waters, holding a torch".
So this song, "Hotel California" always reminds me, when I'm driving along on my holiday road trips, about Virgo and the 6th Sign and the number 6, the 6th House. And as we reflect on that song, "Hotel California" it's a song where its lyrics are more about a feeling than something literal, but there are hints in that song of some of the problems that we can have with Virgo.
[00:01:51] Venus Debilitated in Virgo
[00:01:51] Fiona Marques: It reminds me very much of the fact that Venus is debilitated in Virgo, even though Mercury and Venus are such good friends. Here is Venus debilitated at the beginning of the sign of Virgo. And this song "Hotel California" kind of speaks to that. It speaks to these excesses that are so luxurious and desirable, but when, but they can entrap us, and that song has that, "... You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave".
And I think it's haunting that "Hotel California" song for all of us reminds us of how difficult the 6 sign can be. We know very well that the 6 or how difficult the 6th House can be really. That we know that the 6th House is one of these Houses of suffering. It's a Dustana House.
[00:02:35] What makes the 6th House difficult?
[00:02:35] Fiona Marques: And often, if you think of your four or five keywords around the 6th House you think of debts, you think of enemies, you think of obstacles and burdens, so it's not one of those Houses that kind of leaps up giving lots of energy and sparkle. It's something that really takes a lot of attention and we need to overcome something.
That's what the 6th is all about.
So I find it quite helpful to then put the 6th House back into the Hero's Journey to remind us. Of what a powerful position the 6th House is really in. So I'm going to play you now a little something from my Varshaphal investigators group about the Hero's Journey.
So it wasn't recorded for this Podcast but just to outline and remind you guys of how we can look at the 12 Houses of the astrological Birth Chart as each person's. Also, individual Hero's Journey.
[00:03:43] Astrological Houses as Hero's Journey
[00:03:43] Fiona Marques: Hi everyone, Fiona here. I am recording a video today to recap the Hero's Journey that is embedded in the astrological Houses that we use in Vedic Astrology. And this Hero's Journey becomes really important in understanding our sense of purpose in our current Project or in our current journey, if we think about Varshaphal, the solar return chart, which is telling us a little bit about what each year is going to be like.
We immediately become confronted with the idea of this Hero's Journey, because when we talk about the Varshaphal chart or the solar return chart, we have this word Munta and Munta means the progressed. Ascendant, the House and sign. That we eat each birthday year, the House and sign that we're going to be perfecting that is going to be the one that we are developing on this Hero's Journey.
In order to play with our virtual charts a little bit more, it's really helpful. If we take a step back and look at these 12 Houses that we might already be familiar with from Western Astrology or Vedic Astrology and understand them as, as a progressive journey.
So there are many ways to understand the Houses. This is not the right way or the only way this is just one way to understand it.
And it comes from this idea of the Hero's Journey. If we go and have a look here at. Wikipedia, for example, but you could just Google Hero's Journey anywhere. The Hero's Journey is they call it a monomyth, like a mega myth, a myth that seems to be told throughout many different cultures. And kind of the work of Carl Jung, who was a very early psychoanalyst, psychologist, one of those founding fathers, he was very interested in many things, but one of them was the different stories that different cultures tell themselves about life, about understanding the meaning and what they find motivational and inspirational. And as he spoke to as many different cultures as he possibly could and explored as many as he possibly could, he noticed a a monomyth, a myth that no matter where you went, it seemed to be being told some version of this myth. And we see it ourselves in the great epics that we like to read and watch like "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings" or any great kind of epic story, adventure story probably has this kind of Hero myth Hero Journey story.
And you can see here, this image from Wikipedia is quite helpful that the Hero experiences a call to adventure at the beginning of the journey, they don't even know. They feel like a normal everyday person, but something calls them into a great quest. And they go through this journey of facing obstacles as they come down and right at the bottom of the Hero's Journey.
They go through an ordeal, something that is very difficult to accomplish. And often asks them to face, their inner fears, their inner demons. And through that they are transformed and they come and make a difference in the world and then they bring their quest item, their Holy Grail back to the village.
And often they then transcend this is the "Wizard of Oz" or whatever. There's a very common bit at the end of this story where once the Hero has been through the journey, they experience their home village in a new way. And often they transcend it. They leave or they take on a whole different role. They become a priest or some other operating on a different level, when they return to their real world.
So this journey, this Hero's Journey is transformational. Okay. So do we see this in the the Houses of a Birth Chart? So here we have a list of some common traits that we would associate with each House here on the left hand column.
But at the beginning of each of these left hand columns, I've also tried to include words that we would establish. We would find more from the Hero's Journey. So I'm trying to incorporate both here. So let's talk about the 12 Houses as if they are a Hero's Journey
[00:07:15] 1st House
[00:07:15] Fiona Marques: and the very 1st House.
We have this. Call to adventure. This is how every Hero journey begins is by an unknown average, normal person. So that is what's so remarkable about all of these epics is they're all based on someone who doesn't realize their greatness. And this is a little bit like us with the 1st House in a Birth Chart, because the 1st House is the place on Planet Earth, where the event of our birth.
took place. And that 1st House is marked by what was rising on the Eastern horizon. Whatever Zodiac Sign was rising, that's what we call the Ascendant. And this Ascendant sets the direction for our life. So in Astrology, we often consider it The 1st House is a place where you can look to find out information about a person's life path, which is their call to adventure, and you can find out about their personality and their body.
So it's very humble beginnings of the 1st House. It is our call to adventure. We don't even really know yet what it is that we're here to do in that. In that moment of the event of the birth, we don't know yet what's unfolding before us, but the 1st House sets our direction just like this call to adventure in the Hero's Journey.
[00:08:43] 2nd House
[00:08:43] Fiona Marques: Now, when we move to the 2nd House, when we move to that second step in the Hero journey, story, we need to gather resources. If we are going on a quest, we have to take the things with us that we think we're going to need. And it's, it reminds me of that little guy with the stick and at the bottom, there's a handkerchief, that's got wrapped up the sandwiches and the tools that this little Hero is gonna, take as he wanders off.
At the beginning of his new journey. So the 2nd House in Astrology is related to resources and responsibility and to our immediate family, the support that we receive. And this is very important in the Hero's Journey because every Hero needs to gather resources and they're going to gather that from their immediate environment.
And that's what the 2nd House is like our family, our immediate environment. So if you're looking at the Birth Chart, whatever that 2nd House is will tell us something about how much support this person is going to get for gathering resources. Is it an Earth Sign where those resources are going to be very material they're actually going to be, wood and stone and, rocks and physical things that we need resources that we need?
Or is it taking place in a Water Sign where the resources we're going to get are going to be emotional resources, those inner flow and adaptability resources that the emotional support that we need to go on this journey? And you can, the Air Signs are going to give us ideas, the Fire Signs are going to give us inspiration.
What is this sign that the 2nd House is taking place in? And these are the resources that we're gathering for our journey.
And then as we set off on this journey, as we are, walking the road with Gandalf, or we've discovered Obi Wan Kenobi,
[00:10:35] 3rd House
[00:10:35] Fiona Marques: We need to test out our skills. We've gotten a few little resources, a lightsaber or, a little speedy hover car that they get in that Obi Wan Kenobi has.
So we're beginning to get these resources, but the movement to the 3rd House and the step in the Hero's Journey is testing out these new skills, learning how to use that lightsaber or like Frodo learns that Frodo can fight, like those little beings are very peaceful, they don't really practice fighting in their home village, but on the road with the dwarves or whoever he goes off with he begins to learn how to hold tools and fight and, his own way of fighting and that's what the 3rd House is all about. And the third step in the Hero's Journey from an Astrology point of view is discovering, learning by doing, trying things out, getting things wrong, making mistakes, but through that process gaining confidence in the self, getting, using your courage to gain self power, self empowerment.
So the 3rd House is very important for discovering our skills and it gives us confidence and identity. And it's also why the 3rd House in Astrology is related to our siblings, because often it is our siblings when we are young children that we are, bumping up against and that lets us get new skills because in order to get resources, the 2nd House, we probably have to fight a little bit with our siblings to get those resources.
We have to be the first to sit at the table or we have to be the, the tallest on the pack to get the apple at the top of the tree or whatever, we learn these skills with our siblings of how to compete and how to be strong. So 3rd House is often siblings in Vedic Astrology as well.
It is learning by doing, it is using your courage. It is being adventurous. It is trying new things, finding out. Your world through experience. Now, if we do that we have gathered resources and we've proved to ourselves that we're worthy because we've got these skills and we seem to be surviving.
[00:12:47] 4th House
[00:12:47] Fiona Marques: And that brings us to the 4th, which is establishing a base in Vedic Astrology, the 4th relates to the home and the mother. And in the Hero's Journey, this is like, when we get to the base of the mountain we're supposed to climb, we've already gone on a long journey from the village to this base camp. That's that the only thing left to do now is climb the mountain and really face the quest. So this home base is very important. And it's where we perhaps get even more support. All the other potential, allies and Heroes have gathered at this home base.
So the 4th is about becoming comfortable that "I can do this. I'm. I'm supported. I've got my allies. I've got my home base. I've got somewhere that I can come back to because I belong. I am on this journey. I have made it to this milestone". So the 4th relates to, to comfort and to security, inner security, emotional security.
And if we have a strong home base, we know that whatever adventure comes from now on, we can give it all because we've got somewhere to come back to and heal, the way we've got that home base. You can risk it all knowing that there's somewhere for you to recover.
[00:14:06] 5th House
[00:14:06] Fiona Marques: So the 4th moves then on to the 5th, the vision to climb this mountain.
And the 5th is crossing that threshold. Really, there's no turning back. "I've gone from my village along this journey thinking I can't really do this. But now that I've got these resources. I've gained all of these skills and I've set up my home base. Yes, I can. This is in fact my role. I choose to do this because the first call to adventure".
The 1st House is almost thrust upon us. But the 5th is where we know from the experience of 1, 2, 3, 4, we know. We can do it. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy, but we know we can do it. And we know it has to be done. The 5th is a, it's a Dharmic House. It's got that righteousness to it. So we choose to cross this threshold and take on the role of the Hero. We might now, be known as the Hero or be wearing the robes. People think that we can do this thing. And in Vedic Astrology, it it relates to how, to self improvement. The 5th House is where we had that motivation to improve our life, to create a legacy for the future.
It is related to children and creativity in Vedic Astrology, because those are the things that we are choosing to do and that we will leave behind. And people will say, "Fiona did that". If they look at my child, That's my DNA going forward. You know, that's my legacy "that I have given a bit of myself that exists after I've gone" and creativity is like that as well.
Our creativity lives on in the form of, a book or a painting or, an opera that we wrote, whatever creativity it is. That lives on beyond us. So that's the 5th House.
[00:15:59] 6th House
[00:15:59] Fiona Marques: And then once we had this vision, we're inspired. We know we're doing the right thing. This is the task that must be undertaken no matter how difficult it is, then comes the 6th.
And the 6th is all of the obstacles that we must overcome. Pass through in order to achieve this quest and these obstacles demand of us all of our attention. These are not "set-and-forget", quick things. They're something that we must use all of our skills and apply those with attention. And through that daily attention, we will overcome this obstacle. And we must overcome the obstacle. These are the things that we must go through. We can't go around them can't go under them. We have to There are some things we have to face.
And so when you're in a Hero journey, that's how you frame it and you can see that's obviously battles or like in "Lord of the Rings", I remember, they have to go through this cave and, there are things that seem impossible, but they must be done.
If you are going to get to the goal, you must go through these obstacles. And that's why the 5th is so important that we have a clear vision of what it is and why it's so important. And that's essential because immediately after the 5th comes all of the challenge. And when we tell it in the Hero's Journey, often those are battles or whatever, enemies, so that's why that word is there.
But in real life, these are the daily actions that we must do to maintain and improve our life. So say that. The 5th we have a vision of being healthy till we're 80 or 90 or a hundred so that we can see our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren. That might be our vision. If we want to do that, we have to maintain the body and the body is decaying all the time.
That is the nature of cells in the material world. They are always dying. And little by little, each replication, they are they're aging and making mistakes. And so we want to maintain the health. That's the vision. So we need to every day, each nutritious food that, that the cells of the body had the best chance of replicating with as few errors as possible.
We need to give that nourishment to the body. We need to clean and detoxify the body. We need to brush the teeth. We need to make sure that we're eliminating waste from the body, because if we don't do that, all of those toxins begin to, the cells begin to replicate with little malfunctions. So if we want to live to be 90, every single day, we need to brush our teeth.
Every single day, we need to eat nutritious food. Every single day, we need to do exercise. These are not things that you can take 30 years of not doing them and then do catch up and, do exercise to make up for the last 30 years or eat nutritiously to make up for the last 30 years.
They, The 6th House is all about things that we need to do every day. The 6th is that sign of the artisan who is creating an object almost of perfection. If you think of someone who makes musical instruments and the precise, the precision, the attention, the only way that musical instrument will work is if everything is done thoughtfully and correctly and lovingly.
And that's really what the 6th is about. It's easy to talk about enemies and obstacles. And that's part of it. But it's the daily attention of love. If we think about the 5th House as being children, the 6th House is that love that we give to those children. The wiping the bottoms, the cleaning up the vomit, the being present and attentive to their emotions and their perception of reality. That, That's a labor of love. But it's a labor, that's the 6th House. It's a labor. It's got work involved in it. So if we are able to get through these initial battles of the 6th we might, and we survive in the Hero's Journey.
[00:20:10] 7th House
[00:20:10] Fiona Marques: This is the point where we actually realize we thought we were on the quest to defeat the enemies, but now that we are in the battle and we've gotten this far, we realize that the calling is so much greater and that "I'm actually on a spiritual quest. This journey is pulling at me not just on my physical level of 'Can I do the physical work to defeat these enemies?' it is calling on my inner spiritual self identity. Or maybe that's, you can't even say that, but hopefully That I am growing and transforming through this journey and I need to transform into something else in order to really be the Hero".
And this is where the 7th becomes this trading the material for the immaterial. So in Vedic Astrology, the 7th is related to Libra, that sign of trade. And what is trading? Trading is taking that musical instrument that maybe took you hundreds of hours of attention and you sell it and you don't get back a different musical instrument. You get back money. You get back this non-material, this conceptual value. That this money now you could turn that into food, or you could turn that into housing, or you could turn that into a holiday or leisure time, it's. This concept of money, all of that work that you did has now given you this freedom and choice that a musical instrument didn't have. All you could ever do was play music on it.
But in trading it, you've gained something that is immaterial. That is your choice of how you're going to use it. That's on the trading side on the, if we look at this 7th House through trade, but on the Hero's Journey, it's the realization that I. "there's something inside of me that I need to face that this journey is not just an outer journey. It's an inner journey that is a metaphysical journey as well".
So that's, that is what the 7th is about this kind of threshold of realizing that it's more than a material journey.
[00:22:21] 8th House
[00:22:21] Fiona Marques: And that immediately sends us into the 8th House where we were at the bottom of the circle. When we looked at that diagram on Wikipedia, we must face our, the innermost cave.
We, we have to face our fears. We have to face our demons. And often this is a part of the Hero's Journey that the Hero does alone. This is not something that the allies can help with because the Hero has to face the its own innermost doubts. And that's so unique to each person that one has to go through that as a, as an individual. One has to lose everything, risk losing everything, be extremely vulnerable and confront one's own demons, one's own doubts and that negative critic inside of the self.
In "Star Wars", it's like a literal cave where, he goes in and he sees his father is Darth Vader and you have to confront the evil that's inside of you. And what is my relationship to my potential evil? Because, every Hero is, is also potentially a villain, right? That's the, the line is very fine.
The 8th is about facing that, those inner demons and when we come through that, out of that cave, we're actually at peace with ourselves in a way that we haven't been, that there's a confidence from knowing that we can even confront our internal enemies.
[00:23:57] 9th House
[00:23:57] Fiona Marques: And this frees us up to have the highest vision of what this Hero's Journey is really about.
That "I thought it was about getting a ring. I thought about getting the Holy grail. I thought it was about defeating Darth Vader". But through the cave, through the 8, through this lowest part of the Hero's Journey, we realized... "This is salvation for my soul or for the human soul. It's we've almost now transitioned beyond the individual. This is salvation for the human soul. This quest that I'm on, yes, it's about a ring or a Holy Grail, but In undertaking this, I am cleansing and detoxifying the villain, the evil inside all of us". So the 9th becomes this very high vision of what the journey is really for, what the Hero's Journey is really for.
And this powers the whole rest of the journey.
[00:24:50] 10th House
[00:24:50] Fiona Marques: Because the very next step is the 10th, which is the big battle. The unavoidable, we really, we have to, the rubber has to hit the road now, like I, we have to face all of those arcs or whatever enemy it is, we have to go through that.
It's a great sacrifice. We are going to lose out some of our allies and comrades. We very possibly could lose our own life, but there is no question now that. "I will be moving forward in this quest, however difficult it is because of this nine, because the eight, nine, because I know that this is such a bigger journey than me. I'm just going to keep powering through".
And that's what the 10th Sign is all about in Vedic Astrology, Capricorn, it's a Saturn ruled Sign. It would just "whatever losses are happening, I'm moving forward. I'm just doing the quest. I'm not questioning the quest anymore. I will sacrifice and do whatever it takes in the 10th".
It's the great work and in Vedic Astrology, it represents the work. It's what we do outside of the House.
[00:25:47] 11th House
[00:25:47] Fiona Marques: And from this great work, this great sacrifice, we receive the reward. That is the 11th House in Vedic Astrology. It's returning with the Holy Grail, with the elixir, with the healing, crystal or whatever it is that I guess in "Lord of the Rings", it's the destroying the actual ring in the fire.
This is this is the gain from the quest. This is what this is the material thing that we set out on the quest originally to do. It's it by this stage, it is so beyond the personal. We don't want to ring. We don't want a cup. We don't want a crystal. It's clear that we're only doing this for humanity, for our people.
The 11th is also all about giving that to the people. Like Returning that cup, crystal ring, whatever it is to the people. Because "I don't need it as a Hero. I definitely don't need it. And they do and it will make them well or healthy or strong or survive or whatever it was that originally prompted this quest or make them free".
And this all relates to Aquarius in the Zodiac Signs so you can think about that.
[00:26:58] 12th House
[00:26:58] Fiona Marques: And then very importantly in the Zodiac telling of the Hero's Journey is this 12th step, the 12th House of transcending and letting go. That I'm now beyond this journey. Like "it was an epic and it had to be done and it will be told for millennia. It was such a big story and now it means nothing to me. It's I've done my quest. It's time to let it go". So it's quite bizarre, isn't it? That the Hero's Journey is not about this person becoming the king or the villain. It's not about this person becoming the leader. It's actually when they've done the quest, they disappear. They're not needed anymore. And they go back to being that, the pre-state before the number one. So the next journey is going to start and they're going to be the unknown Hero.
So this 12 is where you let go of your identity completely as a Hero. You don't want to be a Hero. You don't want the the quest item. It's already been done, you've lost allies you've got good friends, but you're all wounded kind of thing. You've done everything. There's nothing to hold onto anymore. And it's time to go. And that's what the 12th is all about.
So letting go, detaching from the quest and in in Astrology, it's often related to expenses, to, to things that we need to let go of.
So this is the Hero's Journey that is embedded in the Astrology Houses. Or just bring it back to that circle to, to see it again. And what Varsha file is putting in front of our face is that the idea what if. What if we're on a 12 year cycle? What if every 12 years we start a new Hero's Journey?
And what if, sometimes we're in the questing part, the struggling part, and sometimes we're in the inspirational part. And sometimes we're in the letting go phase. Vashafal is offering us this chance to reflect on that. And you guys are investigating that with me. Is there any Validity to that.
Is it helpful to look at that? Obviously as a life coach, I love to think that the Hero's Journey is helpful because it inspires us when we're going through hard times and it inspires us to confront our deeper fears and to see our bigger role in our own life. So I love it, but we're going to spend the year investigating it.
That is a summary of the Houses as a Hero's Journey. And you can use that as you reflect on your 12 year. Journal, and you look at this, the first cycle of your life to 12, that's like you're getting started and your primary education. And then your second cycle is your high school and university education.
What was that question about? Your third cycle is that. Establishing yourself as an adult, like maybe you get married, or maybe you buy a House, or maybe you get a job, that third, what's your third cycle, then you're, what's your fourth cycle about from 36 to 48? What's that cycle about?
And what's our 48 to 60 cycle about? And what's our 60 to 72 cycle? So we are collecting data here with our 12 year journals, just to see if there is any pattern there. And to. To really test out the idea, is it useful to look at life in this 12 year cycle? So I wish you good luck with your 12 year journals, and I look forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts and the patterns that you noticed.
Okay. Bye everyone.
[00:28:26] Why the 6th House comes after the 5th House
[00:28:26] Fiona Marques: So when I listen to that, when I reflect on the 6th House as part of the Hero's Journey, I think it's really important to, to notice that it's it comes after the 5th House and the 5th House is like Leo as well, the 5th Sign. It's really important to put the 6th House and the 6th Sign in the context of coming after the 5th House and the 5th House and Leo, these are the second dharmic places on that 12 journey this so we get the first impulse, the 1st House of the 1st Sign that is a Fire Sign, it's a Dharmic House, it's, it sets us off in our direction, but it's the 5th House and Leo where we revisit that Dharmic auspicious mission for the second time, and it's where we develop our heart's desire, what it is that we are being guided to improve in life to, to contribute to, to create a legacy from.
So the 5th House is so important in understanding how to work well with the 6th House. That the 6th House is the hard work that we need to do to achieve that vision that we've received in the 5th House or in Leo and once that vision is very clear and very compelling, very attractive, motivating, then the 6th becomes obvious that it's the work that we need to do.
And so one, one way to think about that is we think about the 5th as being children as well, right? The 5th House, we go have a look for children and when one has children that the immediately very hard work. It's very hard, dirty work and kind of unrewarding work in a way. Except that you love it so much because you love these kids so much and you wanted them so much and you want only the best for their future.
So you're happy to do all this nappy changing and cleaning up vomit and waking up in the middle of the night. You know, it sounds like torture in any other circumstance, but because it's for our own children, this work of looking after the children is a joy. It's something that we are happy to do. And I think this is what the 6th House is really offering us.
That is the labor of love. And if we often, when I'm working with clients and I want to understand their childhood, I'm looking at the 2nd House, right? Because the 2nd House is our immediate family and it's the resources that are provided to us by the immediate family that help us to grow. It's where we get nurtured.
And similarly, we see, pattern there that if we take the 5th House as children, then the 2nd House after the 5th House is the 6th House. And it's where we do that hard work. We're, this is where we're actually doing the work that would be someone else's 2nd House. So for our children, it would be their 2nd House for us.
It's the 6th House where we're doing the work, providing them with the resources that they need to grow and to flourish. And it doesn't really matter how mundane and repetitive that work is, there's a kind of joy in looking after your own children. So this, I think, tells us about how we can work well with the 6th House and Maybe avoid some of these issues that come up in the "Hotel California" song that I'm playing as I'm driving along in my summer holiday.
[00:32:08] 6th House and Procrastinating
[00:32:08] Fiona Marques: So we, some of those problems and you hear it with the, "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave". Some of the problems that we get with the 6th House is procrastinating, right? Because the 6th House are all of the obstacles and enemies in our way. So hopefully in the 5th House, we've had this vision about where we want to take our life direction and immediately we need to, if we're going to implement that vision, we need to move through the 6th House and the 6th House has those difficult obstacles that are in they're in our way. They're on the path. We can, if we want to move forward with this vision, we have to overcome these obstacles. And what can we, as we reflect on Virgo and on this 6th House, what can we learn about procrastination? Because it's something that can be very debilitating.
[00:33:08] Procrastination and the 6-12 Axis
[00:33:08] Fiona Marques: And in some ways it's really interesting, isn't it?
Because when we procrastinate, what we're doing is not moving forward. We're not doing the task. We're trying to escape doing the task, doing those obstacles. So it's a little bit like we were going from 6 to 12, we want to somehow avoid what is happening and I guess 12 should on the Hero's Journey represent, the end of the journey, having completed the quest, but when we're procrastinating, perhaps what we're doing is avoiding 6 and trying to go straight to 12.
We just want to because to, to escape, to, to run away from that obstacle or to not have to face that obstacle. And of course, when we choose that option, we miss out on, on all of the benefits of the quest. It's fine to get to 12 if we've been through all of the ordeals and trials and tribulations of the Hero's Journey, we get to the 12th. Then we are ready to release and transcend. But we cannot bypass this part of the Hero's Journey. We're
If we think of the Hero's Journey as being that circular diagram that, that you might've seen on the videos or on that Wikipedia page, the 6, 7, 8, is really, it's really it's the hard part. It's where we become the Hero. And we can't just get straight to 12. But unfortunately there's something in our minds that, that thinks by procrastinating and putting it off we can avoid it and have that free time of escaping to the 12th.
And I think it's really interesting that Mercury and Venus kind of swap their Exaltation debilitation in this 6 12. Like Venus is debilitated in the 6th Sign and Mercury is debilitated in the 12th Sign. It tells us something about how we want to Venus, if it's getting overwhelmed in that 6th Sign, it wants to get to its Exaltation sign, to that 12th Sign, but in fact Mercury is debilitated there when it's actually exalted at the beginning of Virgo.
And I think this gives us some insight into procrastination then.
Mercury can be a great friend in helping us break down these big overwhelming tasks and turn them into small manageable things that we can do. And being very practical in this Earth Sign. Of course, Mercury can create a lot of distraction too, so you have to make sure we don't go off into the distraction procrastination. But when we have Mercury with, that good Dig bala perhaps, or in a good position in the chart, it helps us to just take the overwhelm of the big task and break it down into something manageable and then hold ourselves accountable for these things on our to do list.
So Mercury can be a very important key.
[00:36:09] Emotional component of Procrastination
[00:36:09] Fiona Marques: And then a whole other side of the Virgo imagery that I think is helpful for us when we look at procrastination is that we have this description of "A maiden standing in a boat on the waters holding a torch". And then. This shares with us something important that perhaps goes into the formula of procrastination, that a maiden is a young person.
And perhaps this is also why we procrastinate is that as a young person, we perhaps don't have that experience and that resilience to, to front up to obstacles that are very difficult. We want to run away. We want to be in childhood. We want to play. And the 6th House, can seem a bit serious and a bit heavy.
So it's very interesting, this imagery of a maiden. And then also "the standing in a boat on the waters" speaks to us a little bit about emotions as well, because waters always tell us about emotions. And this person is standing above these emotions, but is perhaps a bit afraid, or as a young person has not yet explored, we haven't been to the 8th yet. We haven't been to Scorpio. We haven't explored those deep, dark waters.
And so I think it's easy for these tasks that are overwhelming or this project that's overwhelming. It's easy for it to be for us to have fear because of Virgo being "A maiden standing in a boat on the waters".
It's easy to look into that water and see the Loch Ness monster or whatever, to see some undefined threat that is too much. And I think one of the things that goes with procrastination is a kind of avoiding, like a fear allowing the unknown, like the overwhelm of how big this task is or how difficult, how scary it is, allowing that to overwhelm us.
And it's we, As this maiden standing on the boat, on the waters, we're not diving in like a fear of drowning if we go into those waters. So it's a kind of difficult, That's partly what makes procrastination so easy, or it's what makes unpacking the project so difficult is a fear of what's actually underneath the water.
[00:38:36] Fear of Negative Consequences
[00:38:36] Fiona Marques: And I think people who procrastinate can have an exaggerated sense of the negative consequences of procrastination. Of taking the risk of taking action (as a lifelong procrastinator myself). There's this sense that it's, there's fear of doing something. "I'll get it wrong or I won't be successful. I'll make a mess of it. So better to stand on, I was thinking stand on the bank, but in this case, she's standing on the boat. And not take action because I just any action that I take is only going to make it worse".
So I think procrastinators can have a focus on the negative consequences of what they might do if they were to attack this task. And that can be debilitating.
And we know that procrastinators can be perfectionists. I think there's many things that keep us procrastinating, but sometimes it's that sense of perfection that want to do this task well. And I know that I can't do it well, so I'm not going to start it, or I don't know how to do it well, so I'm not going to start it. I'm just deer in the headlights, completely overwhelmed. And I think when we bring it back to that analogy of the 6th House, the 6th Sign being the sign of the artisan, this is very helpful that the 6th House is all of those things that, that need our attention and that get better from our attention.
So when an artisan creates a beautiful crafted piece, a musical instrument, a piece of pottery, a sculpture, whatever, whatever manual creation you want to imagine, it's the love that they put into that product through their attention that makes that product so valuable. And artisans get good at that through practice.
I love that artisans are always apprentices, right? Because you, you learn from a master or you learn from lots and lots of experience, lots and lots of trial and error. And the only way to do that is to try it out. So there's many things in the story of the 6th House that help us with procrastination.
And I think that it's interesting, isn't it? That we talk so much there about trial and error, which is the other Gemini sign of the other Mercury sign of Gemini is often associated with trial and error. So Mercury is a huge key for us here. Yeah. With procrastination.
[00:41:07] Overthinking vs Active Imagination
[00:41:07] Fiona Marques: But we can also look to the Jaimini Sutras describe Virgo as "Like Gemini, but with a small fire".
And, you just love the brevity of these Sutras. They give you so much room to contemplate. And if we go back to what Jaimini says about Gemini, the statement is "Itches and stoutness, density of intellect". And I think the itches, is a very is talking here about how Mercury can get into the thoughts and the mind and we just want to scratch and scratch away at these thoughts that are distracting and can cause us problems. And then our head can get too full, this stoutness and density of the intellect. So this is saying that about Gemini. But if we bring it to Virgo, the only update that Joanie gives us is like Gemini, but with a small fire or with small fire.
And I think this is really highlighting that how important the fire of Leo is. How important the vision is in order for us to get through these tasks, these obstacles and enemies, we need to really feel that fire.
So perhaps this is giving us, Jaimini is giving us another approach here to procrastination, that if you don't don't know how to move forward and stuck and you're putting it off, maybe we need to return to that step of Leo and the 5th House and reconnect to the vision, to what it is perhaps we actively use our imagination to envisage ourselves in a future, envision ourselves in a future where we are achieving this goal or where we're on the other side of this particular obstacle and how important that is, how much that matters to us.
With that vision, we then can come to the 6th House again with plenty of energy to get through the "Hotel California". I think that this is The "Hotel California" song is that they on the road, they're doing very well at the beginning of the song, they're they're "... On a desert highway with cool wind in the hair".
They're traveling, they're on this journey. But then "My head grows heavy and my sight grows dim and I need to stop for the night". It's there's this sleepiness that comes, this heaviness that comes. So the fire returning to the small fire, as Jaimini tells us, is perhaps gets us back on that road, with the wind in our hair.
So we have this sense of movement rather than getting stuck in the "Hotel California" where it's a bit like quicksand, isn't it? That it's the earthiness. But it's drawing us in if it's, if we think of it as that Venus debilitation, then, getting stuck in those luxury things.
So I think there's lots of approaches that can help us in. in Astrology to understand how to deal with the 6th House.
[00:44:05] Service vs Perfectionism
[00:44:05] Fiona Marques: And if we do feel that we get a little bit sucked into the "Hotel California", it's good to remember also that the 6th House is a House of service too. Sometimes that can help us with the procrastination is just to surrender it all to service that.
It's not about being attached to the outcome. I think that's where service and "seva" is so helpful. That if we just see that we're doing it as service, then we are not so critical of our ego performance of whether I'm doing it perfectly. We just do the best that we can in serving the higher purpose.
So all of these things help us reframe the 6th House and the 6th Sign as a very powerful place in the Hero's Journey. And these are the things that we must do. So although it's an Artha House, it's does have this Dharmic thing because we won't get to the rest of the Hero's Journey unless we do these tasks.
And I think valuing the 6th House, seeing the value of the 6th House, and knowing that every Hero. Has these moments of feeling that it's overwhelming, we only have to look to our favorite epics to see that, the times where the task just seems too big and how often in those epics, we rely on our friends, which is good.
Another Mercury quality, rely on our friends. They might be able to lift us up and keep us walking in that forward direction.
[00:45:50] Athletes, opponents and routines
[00:45:50] Fiona Marques: So hopefully that helps us have some new enthusiasm for the 6th House and to engage in a 6th House practice, which is creating new routines. So have that 6th House practice of positively engaging with obstacles and enemies and noticing that there is an enjoyment to be had here. I think one of the things that makes us procrastinate is this feeling that we're not going to enjoy the task, like brushing our teeth or going to the dentist or any number of chores that we want to put off.
But great athletes are also doing this 6th House thing in many ways. They're You know, they're doing it in the training, a great athlete has to do the training behind the scenes that nobody sees the hours and hours of practice and finding a way to enjoy that and see the value that's adding is important.
And then seeing that those warriors that come out on the sports fields to oppose their enemies, to face up to their enemies, whether it's, football or tennis or cricket, we. Those athletes enjoy coming out to the field to face their adversary. And this is what we also can channel when we're looking at that 6th House is sometimes we can get a bit overwhelmed by the 6th House because of the cultural idea of follow your bliss and and the grace will just open up everything for you. And that's a very 5th House kind of feeling that the path opens up in front of you. And that's wonderful. And we think with athletes that they're "in the zone", and it's just all so easy. And we're all chasing that "in the zone" experience.
However, there's a lot of being an athlete or a sports person that is 6th House. It's a lot of drudgery and it's a lot of facing your adversaries, even if the opponent is stronger than you, it's going out there and knowing that you'll be okay. And this is that positivity that we're looking for.
So if you've got a heart's desire that you're wanting to implement from your 5th House, you have this great vision of what legacy you want to create and and you're feeling that you're in the weeds of the obstacles, and no matter what you do, there's another obstacle, or there's another difficulty.
This is... in Astrology, this is not to be taken as a bad sign. So this is also something very helpful about the 12 Houses and the Hero's Journey is that we expect, if you have a heart's desire from the 5th House, you're going to naturally get to the 6th House of obstacles. So don't be put off by obstacles that they are in some way, a bad sign that you're not following your bliss because actually they're a natural consequence of aiming to create a legacy is that.
That we have to change the current reality. That's the only way we can create a legacy. So in order to change the current reality, we have to remove these obstacles. And I think if we can face it more in that positive. athlete mindset that, yay, I'm going out on the field to face this adversary and they are Novak Djokovic or whatever, they are the top of their game.
But I'm going to enjoy this experience of battling like an athlete. And this is actually what I play for is the chance to be on the field.
[00:49:34] Conclusion
[00:49:34] Fiona Marques: So maybe all of these things help us with our procrastination and with the difficulties of the 6th House and Virgo. So I'd love to know what you think about your own attitudes towards procrastination and also your own road trip songs.
What road trip music reminds you of Astrology. Let's see what else we can explore during the summer. In the meantime, thanks so much for listening to the Vedic Astrology Podcast and I look forward to catching up with you next time and seeing you if you want to join my Patreon community and interact more.
I'd love to, to hear your thoughts there in the community. All right, great. See you next time. Bye everyone.