The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 30 of 54 · Part Six · Judging the houses

#The fifth house: intelligence and children

#What the fifth house means

Varahamihira's word for the fifth house is sons (putra), that is, children; its technical name is Pratibha, "intelligence" or "genius", and it is also called Trikona (Brihat Jataka I.15–18). Aiyar's note lists sons, intelligence and previous karma. The later books add: learning and education beyond the basics, creativity, devotion and mantra, the merit of past lives (purva punya), discernment, advice and counsel, romance, entertainment, and speculation.

The thread: what one creates — children of the body and of the mind — and the intelligence and inherited merit from which creation comes.

The 5th is a trikona, one of the three most fortunate houses (with the 1st and 9th). Its lord is a good lord for every ascendant (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 34.2–15, Chapter 19).

#Significators

• Jupiter is the natural significator (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 32.31–34): children, wisdom, teaching.
• Children are also judged from the 5th from Jupiter (7.39–43).
• The saptamsa (D7) is read for children (Chapter 12).

#A note on children

The books give many rules about children: their number, their sex, delays, losses. This course explains the method but does not use it to predict whether a person will have children, how many, or of which sex, for three reasons:

• such predictions concern matters of health and family that belong to doctors and to the people themselves;
• they are among the easiest astrological claims to test, and they have not held up (Chapter 52);
• a wrong prediction about children causes real distress.

The 5th house is read here for intelligence, learning, creativity and the relationship with children — not for fertility.

#Planets in the fifth house

Benefics in the 5th give intelligence and ease; malefics are said to trouble the house's matters. Mercury in the 5th — "a minister under a king" — is a beautiful image of the house's meaning: intelligence that gives counsel. All scaled by dignity (XX.10–11).

#The lord of the fifth house

The 5th lord in the 6th, 8th or 12th makes the Phaladeepika's "Pamara" (Chapter 21). The 5th and 9th lords joined or aspecting each other form a raja yoga in Parashara's system (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 39, Chapter 19).

#The example chart: Aquarius in the 5th

#The house itself

• Sign: Aquarius, a fixed, airy sign of Saturn: systematic, humane, detached, inventive.
• Occupants: none.
• Aspects: Saturn, the lord of Aquarius, aspects it from Sagittarius by its special 3rd-house aspect — a lord protecting its own house. Mercury, from Leo, aspects it by the 7th aspect: the planet of intelligence on the house of intelligence.
• Ashtakavarga: 29 points: middling-good.

#Its lord: Saturn, the yogakaraka

Saturn rules the 4th and 5th, a kendra and a trikona, which makes it the yogakaraka (Chapter 19). It sits in the 3rd house, retrograde, strong in shadbala (Chapter 14). The 5th lord in the 3rd: intelligence expressed through communication, writing and skill, and developed by patient effort.

#Its significator: Jupiter

Jupiter is exalted in the 10th and forms Hamsa (Chapter 18). The 5th from Jupiter is Scorpio, which Jupiter itself aspects. The significator of wisdom and teaching is the strongest benefic in the chart, and it sits in the career house.

#The reading

The 5th house is sound: an empty but protected house (its own lord's aspect and Mercury's), with a yogakaraka lord and an exalted significator. The intelligence it describes is Saturnine and Aquarian: systematic, careful, slow to mature but deep, interested in principles and structures. Mercury's aspect adds quickness and communication; Jupiter in the 10th puts wisdom and teaching into the career.

As for children: Jupiter, their significator, is strong; the 5th is protected. The relationship with children, as the chart describes it, is likely to be thoughtful and responsible (Saturn), with the person in the role of guide and teacher (Jupiter). The course says no more than that.

#Summary

• The fifth house is children, intelligence, learning, creativity, devotion and the merit of past lives (Brihat Jataka I.15–16); it is a trikona and its lord is always good by lordship.
• Its significator is Jupiter; children are also judged from the 5th from Jupiter and the saptamsa.
• Benefics in the 5th give intelligence and ease; Mercury there gives a "minister" (Brihat Jataka XX.6).
• This course reads the 5th for intelligence and the relationship with children, and does not predict fertility.
• The example chart: an empty Aquarius 5th, aspected by its lord Saturn (the yogakaraka) and by Mercury, with Jupiter exalted — a systematic, deep, slowly maturing intelligence.

#Exercises

1. Why is the 5th lord a good lord for every ascendant?
2. In a Sagittarius-ascendant chart, which planet rules the 5th? Where is the 5th from Jupiter if Jupiter is in Gemini?
3. What does Varahamihira say about Mercury in the 5th? Why does it fit the house?
4. The 5th lord and 9th lord are joined in the 10th. What yoga is this?
5. Give two reasons why this course does not predict the number of a person's children.

Answers: 1. Because the 5th is a trikona, and Parashara classes trikona lords as good (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 34). 2. Aries is the 5th from Sagittarius: Mars. The 5th from Gemini is Libra. 3. "A minister under a king": intelligence that counsels — one of the 5th house's meanings is advice. 4. A raja yoga of the 5th and 9th lords (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 39), strengthened by being in a kendra. 5. Any two of: it concerns health and family decisions that belong to doctors and the people themselves; such claims have not held up when tested; wrong predictions cause real distress.