The «bhavad-bhavam» principle — «a house from a house»
To determine the characteristics of some house, one must look not only at that house but also at the house that stands away from it by the number corresponding to the ordinal number of the house: the 2nd from the 2nd, the 3rd from the 3rd, the 4th from the 4th, the 5th from the 5th and so on for each of the houses — this is how the rule of «a House from a House», or «Bhavad-Bhavam», works; it widens the possibilities of assessing a chart by showing to what extent a particular subject or sphere of life will receive its development.
The second house from the second = the third house
The 2nd house is speech. We want to see how developed a person’s speech is. But in order really to look at his speech we must look not only at the 2nd house but also at the 2nd from the 2nd — that is, the 3rd. Because a certain interconnection exists. If the 2nd house symbolises speech, then the 3rd symbolises communications — or the manner in which this speech will manifest in communication. Although it is mainly the 2nd house that is responsible for speech, the 3rd house is responsible for speech as well, since it is the 2nd from the 2nd.
The third house from the third = the fifth house
To the ordinal number of this house, the 3rd, we add the same number — and we get the 5th house. The 3rd house symbolises the hands and everything that we do with our hands (handwriting, handicraft, the ability to do something with the hands — to draw, to play musical instruments, to sew and so on). The 3rd house is connected with the hands, and it is through the hands that our talents manifest. In order to see how our talent will manifest, we must look not only at the 3rd house but also, by the rule of «Bhavad-bhavam», at the 3rd from the 3rd — that is, the 5th. And the 5th house points to talent in the sense of creative thinking, to the mind, that is, to how one applies one’s abilities correctly. Since one of the meanings of the 5th house is the mind, then in connection with the 3rd house, the house of talent, this turns out to be the creative mind.
The 5th house is likewise children and investments, that is, the result of a practical investment of energy. If in a person’s chart the 3rd and 5th houses are connected in a particular way — let us say the lord of the 3rd and the lord of the 5th are united with one another in some manner — this says that the person may possess a creative mind.
An example: the lord of the 3rd house (the sign of Leo) — the Sun — and the lord of the 5th house (Libra) — Venus — are together in the 1st house, the house of personality. This makes the person a creative personality in the sphere of information and the transmission of knowledge (the sign of Gemini).
The fourth house from the fourth = the seventh house
The 4th house is real estate, transport, education. We look not only at the 4th house but also at the 4th from the 4th — that is the 7th house.
The 7th is partnership, the family. And in many ways our real estate and our transport depend on the partner. A person may acquire real estate or a car through the partner. He may also lose them through the partner. Therefore the assessment of how matters will stand with the affairs of the 4th house we can make not only by the 4th, but also by taking the 4th from the 4th, that is, the 7th house, into account.
The fifth house from the fifth = the ninth house
The 5th house is the mind as the result of education — what we have accumulated in the process of education, the ability to think deeply. If we want to assess the affairs of the 5th house (the mind), then the 9th house will be the 5th from the 5th. If the 5th house is the mind, then the 9th house is the summit of the development of the mind. Because the 9th house means spirituality, relations with God. The mind may be material and practical, but if we speak of the real development of the mind, then the 5th from the 5th is the 9th — spirituality, morality, higher principles — and this is the peak of the development of the mind. Therefore, when assessing the 5th house one must without fail take into account the 5th from the 5th, that is, the 9th, because a connection exists between them.
We can look at this same 5th house by other indications. The 5th house is a child, or a follower, a pupil. Here other meanings of the 9th house come into play. The 9th house is the teacher, the father, the leader, the mentor, while the 5th is the pupil, the follower, the son, the child. They are interconnected; without one another they do not exist. If a person asks whether he should take a leading role, become a leader, we assess the 9th house, but take the 5th into account at the same time — what his followers and children are like, how obedient they will be. These things are interconnected. If you want to understand the indications of the 5th house, look at the 5th from the 5th — the 9th.
There is also an interesting meaning, that the 5th from the 5th is the children of the children, that is, our grandchildren. If we want to look at what our grandchildren are like, then the 5th house becomes the 1st — the point of reference in this subject. A grandson is the child of my child. The 5th house is the child, the 5th from the 5th — the 9th house — is our grandchildren, that is, the children of the children.
The sixth house from the sixth = the eleventh house
The 6th house is illnesses, enemies, debts and so on. If we want to understand how far we are able to resist illnesses, to overcome difficulties, to pay off debts and loans, then we must assess not only the 6th house but also the 6th from the 6th — that is, the 11th house.
It seems strange to us to combine the bad 6th house with the relatively good 11th house (acquisitions, friends). But one must remember that the 11th house is the house of ambitions and desires; it is one of the houses of kama. Kama is born in the 3rd house, receives a certain development in partnership relations and marriage, and its culmination is in the 11th house — the house of achievements. If a person has very strong ambitions, a strong kama (the 11th house), then as a consequence he may even ruin his health, may get into debt, may make enemies for himself. Thus the 11th house also reflects the meanings of the 6th house, if the kama in the 11th house is too strong. Thus it too will carry within itself certain indications of the 6th house, partly repeating its meanings.
But the 11th house has a good meaning as well. We can interpret this differently. If the 6th house is the enemy, then the 6th from it is the enemy of the enemy. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That is why we know that the 11th house also has the meaning of «friends». So, the enemy of my enemy is, accordingly, my friend, who helps me to defeat the enemy — as the saying goes, «a friend in need is a friend indeed».
If we apply this to health or to debts, then the 11th house as the 6th from the 6th is the «illness of the illness», that is, recovery. Or difficulties for the debts and enemies — that is, my victory and the profits that help to pay off the debts.
The seventh house from the seventh = the first house
The 7th house is marriage. In order to assess a marriage, one must assess not only the 7th but also the 7th from the 7th. And the 7th from the 7th is the 1st — it is myself, the partner of my partner. A person may think that he has got an unfortunate partner, that the 7th house is damaged, that is, he sees some problem in the partner. But in reality destiny sends us the sort of partner who reflects ourselves. These two houses (the 7th from the 7th) are mirror opposites. What is a mirror for? For reflecting. So that in this partner we should see ourselves. Therefore, when we assess the potential of a marriage and of a partner, we must not forget about ourselves either. And what are we ourselves like?
Therefore, to understand the fate of a marriage one must assess not only the 7th but also the 7th from the 7th, that is — oneself, since marriage is a joint enterprise.
The eighth house from the eighth = the third house
The meanings of the 8th house are abrupt painful changes, losses, grave illnesses, and it also points to the sins because of which these problems or losses occurred. To understand the subjects connected with the 8th house, one must also glance at the 8th from the 8th — and that is the 3rd house. Therefore, when assessing the indications of the 8th house we must look at the affairs of the 3rd house as well.
They are connected rather interestingly: the 3rd house is a house of kama, that is, the house where our material desires are born, on the basis of which we begin to make efforts; the 3rd house is the house of efforts, of pressure, of egoistic striving. Therefore these strivings (of the 3rd house), sometimes excessive, are the causes of the problems that come by the 8th house. As in the proverb, «we asked for it and we got it». If the 3rd house is struggle, the application of efforts, initiative, then the 8th house is the indicator of crisis and losses. But why did the difficult situation appear? Because the person had certain desires in the 3rd house, that is, in the 8th from the 8th, and these desires and efforts led to our falling into a crisis (the 8th house).
Therefore, if we want to find some antidote against this crisis, we must analyse the 8th from the 8th, that is, the 3rd. There will be some answer there, some seed of this problem which led to the crisis situation. Because if there had not been the not entirely healthy desires coming from the 3rd house, there would have been no crisis by the 8th house either.
So, for the diagnosis of the events of the 8th house one must also look at the 8th from the 8th — that is, the 3rd house, the house of efforts, strivings and desires.
The ninth house from the ninth = the fifth house
The 9th house is teaching, leadership, fatherhood, a position of power, the position of an authority and so on. And if we want to look at the affairs of the 9th house, then we must look at the affairs of the 9th from the 9th as well. The 9th from the 9th is the 5th house. Again an interconnection: the 9th house is the father, the 5th house is the child; the 9th house is the teacher, the 5th house is the pupil. The 9th house is the leader, the 5th house is the follower. That is, they are connected with one another etymologically.
Therefore, if we are interested in what sort of father, teacher, leader or head a person will be (that is, the affairs of the 9th house), we can look at what sort of pupils, children and followers he will have by the affairs of the 5th house. And, accordingly, we can say what sort of teacher, father or chief he is. By the pupils we can assess the teacher. If the pupils are dull, it means that somewhere the teacher let something slip. Or if the children are unkempt, it is clear what sort of father they have.
The tenth house from the tenth = the seventh house
The 10th house is the career, status, renown. If we want to understand the affairs of the 10th house we must also look at the 10th from the 10th — the 7th. This means that our career, fame, renown and authority depend in many ways on our ability to communicate, because the 7th house is partnership, interaction with society, the family.
A good, stable family status strengthens a person’s social status as well. Those who wish to attain success in the sphere of the 10th house are told that they must be a good family man. In Vedic times a king could not be a bachelor, that is, he needed a family.
The eleventh house from the eleventh = the ninth house
The 11th house is profit, acquisitions, the fulfilment of desires, achievements. If we want to look at the prospects and affairs of the 11th house, we must look not only at the 11th house but also at the 11th from the 11th — that is, the 9th house.
The 11th house is achievements, and the 9th house is luck. For our achievements to come about, a certain luck is necessary. Luck is not simply some blind heavenly lottery; luck in the strict sense is a manifestation of the will of the higher powers (the 9th house is God’s will). Therefore, always, when assessing the affairs of the 11th house, one must assess the affairs of the 9th house, how strong it is. And if the 9th house is strong, then the person is lucky, and then one may say that his ambitions (the 11th house) will be realised.
Besides the meaning of luck, the 9th house also has the meaning of piety, morality. To the degree that a person is moral and pious, to that degree he will
use his achievements for good purposes. If the 9th house is afflicted, the native lacks morality, and this means that he will inevitably lose his acquisitions. Even if he attains something temporarily in the 11th house, then because of the weakness of the 11th from the 11th, that is, of the 9th, he will inevitably have some problems, and everything he has gained not on the basis of morality and dharma, all his artha and kama, will inevitably be lost.
The twelfth house from the twelfth = the eleventh house
The 12th house is the cessation of material existence, liberation. If a person wants to assess his prospects in such a question, then he must look not only at the 12th but also at the 12th from the 12th — that is, the 11th house.
If we want to attain liberation from this world (the affairs of the 12th house), we must renounce our ambitions and desires (the 11th house). That is, we must offer them in sacrifice. The 12th house means sacrifice. The 12th from the 12th shows what we must sacrifice in order to attain liberation: those ambitions, the affairs of the 11th house.
From the materials of the 4th lesson of the Basic course in Vedic astrology at Vasily Tushkin’s «Surya-Siddhanta» school — http://www.sss1.ru
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How the principle of «bhavad-bhavam», or «a house from a house», works
If a house is at the same distance from some bhava [house] of the horoscope as that bhava is from the Lagna, it acts like that bhava. When analysing the condition of any house, attention should be paid to the bhava that is removed from the house in question by the same distance as that house is from the Ascendant.
For example, when you assess the 2nd house, look also at the 3rd house, which is the second in order from the 2nd. It is precisely by this logic that Jupiter in the 3rd house makes a person well-off. In a similar way we look at the 3rd bhava from the 3rd, that is, at the 5th house. If it is ruled by a naturally beneficent planet which is itself placed in the 3rd house, then the person’s younger brothers and sisters will give him joy.
The fifth house is also the 9th from the 9th, and therefore it is responsible for luck. By the 7th house one may learn whether one’s chief will be favourably disposed towards you, since the 7th house is nothing other than the 10th bhava from the 10th. The fourth from the 4th is again the 7th house.
And now imagine that the sign of Cancer is rising and the ruler of the 7th house, Saturn, is in the sign of Libra in the 4th house together with its mistress Venus. A person with such a horoscope has every chance of marrying happily and enjoying various blessings of life. If the lord of the 7th is in the Lagna, or the Lagnesha falls into the 7th house, the person will be very attached to his partner.
The placement of a naturally beneficent planet ruling the 8th house in the 3rd house, that is, in the 8th from the 8th, greatly favours a good length of life. The lord of the 6th standing firmly in the 11th house can raise a person high in his career, since the 11th house is the 6th from the 6th.
The presence of malefic planets in the 5th and the 9th (the 5th from the 5th) houses will unequivocally have a negative influence on a person’s children.