I have learnt so much from Deborah’s Houlding’s The Houses: Temples of the Sky. Here’s some of what I learnt:
The 3rd house is known as the house of Dea to the ancients. Dea means goddess i.e. the Moon.
Moon is the nearest neighbour to earth where we are situated. Therefore, it’s not too far fetched for the 3rd house to be known as the house of neighbours.
Let’s go back to the old western days. Your ‘neighbours’ are really part of the community that you live in. It’s the immediate environment that you are in, when you step out of your house (as signified by the 4th house). The immediate environment includes:
- People: I am guessing that your immediate family e.g. siblings, cousins and possibly peers live in the same neighbourhood during the old days. The 3rd house represents this immediate ‘family’ or network of people in the ‘clan’.
- The everyday surroundings: the post office, the chemist, the butcher, etc.
Back to the Moon. According to the Egyptians, the Moon-god Thoth was the god of scribes, the god of writing. Apparently, Thoth was also the secretary and messenger of the gods. Think of the typical secretary in an old American movie. What does the secretary do? There’s loads of communication and writing (think of the old typewriter) involved. The secretary may run errands for her boss too – this will involve short journeys. So, it’s not too far fetched for the 3rd house to symbol writing, messages, short trips, rumours/gossips (not say that secretaries gossip! but I imagine that they are the center of the corporate grapevine), etc.
Houlding went on to explain that the Moon transfers virtue from one planet to another. And accordingly, the type of people symbolised by the Moon are travellers, letter carriers and messengers. Actually, I think Thoth is a good visualisation of the Moon as he is the secretary of the gods (planets), isn’t it? As a secretary of the gods, I imagine he communicates messengers or deliver stuff from one god to another. In the old days where there’s no internet, one has to physically travel to do that.
I hope your understanding of the 3rd house is enhanced from the above!
