Dushamsthan, House of turmoil, the 6th

In a horoscope there are 12 houses each governing an aspect of your life journey. Of these the 6th, 8th and 12th are considered to be the houses of problems and difficulties. The 6th is the house of diseases, arguments, debts, service, enemies. The 8th is the house of accidents, death, means of death, surgeries, hidden diseases. And the 12th is the house of loss of the physical body, sub-conscious, hauntings, insanity, prisons, hospitals, unknowns. In these houses, benefics generally give bad results. However malefics placed here can give good results. But irrespective of planets and placements, these 3 houses together have the potential to create chaos in your physical life.

As always these counted from the ascendant will give physical environments and agents. And when counted from the birth moon sign will give the emotional impacts. Both are required to be analysed to get a proper perspective.


The natural 6th house of the Zodiac is Virgo, ruled by Mercury. So in the chart, Virgo and Mercury wherever posted will have a subtle effect on the matters of the 6th. In this post will try to make the 6th house simple to understand. As always there are two sides to this house too, for eg it represents diseases, so depending on the aspects, you may be required to either undergo the disease yourself or work for those who are undergoing diseases.

So the 6th!

The 6th house is the house of unbalance, of all types of losses, losses of fairness, of partnerships, of legal justice, of harmony, or cooperation etc (counted from the 7th house, the 6th is the 12th). This house is responsible for all the servitude or enslavement that a person undergoes. In this modern world ‘slave’ is not a popular word, but at every moment you are consciously or sub-consciously enslaved, either emotionally, financially, physically or psychologically or any other way. It is slavery because you endure it and cannot break free of it. You might be a slave to medication, to your emotions, to addictions, to hormonally driven actions, to your wife/husband, to your culture, to your parents, to even time! There is always some force that can twist your will around. This is the house you should first analyse so that you can recognise these forces and agents who this force you into slavery and then also try get out of this inbuilt servitude.

This experience of the 6th house and, what-ever positive/negative, you have learnt from it is reflected in the 7th. Thus the 7th house of legal partnerships is the product of the unbalance of the 6th. Thus if you see an affected 6th, also try to analyse the subtle effect of its agents and situations on the partnerships that this person has in his life. eg, My client with his Moon in the 6th, his mother dominated him, sapped his will, and in his life, which ever relationship he tried to find emotional security, he got trapped/suffocated there too.

The challenge that this house presents is this, first recognise the external patterns which make you miserable, then you take actions on the external level to come out of them, then you avoid falling in the same situation again. This repeat performance occurs when you fail to recognise your own role in this bondage. You have to understand that the permanent solutions can only come from inside your own psyche. The physical situation is by itself neutral but your emotional response to it, ties it to you.


Now the challenges placed in the 6th and the agents of the 8th are interconnected, both are dushamasthana. Eg. If the diseases indicated in the 6th are allowed to extend, they transform into the agents of the 8th. Thus the 6th’s agents are a milder version of 8th’s agents. And conversely these traumas and catastrophic transformations indicated by the 8th house often leave behind traces which then serve as the seeds for the 6th. The losses indicated by the 6th then result in shame, loss of comfort/security within the extended family, peer groups, social structure, professional circles and networks. There may be loss of income, resources, family assets, distress sale of properties and loss of emotional stability and comfort zones. You personally, your physical body, your sense of your Self, your Ego can take a hit. Owing money, having enemies, being diseased, being needlessly argumentative etc 6th behaviours, all naturally impact the standing and reputation in the society.

Now the 6th seen in the context of the third dushama-sthan, the 12th which is the house of unknowns, the astral and the deepest recesses of the mind. This is the 7th house as counted from the house of enemies. So the 12th is the partner of the 6th. Whatever the 6th does on the physical plane the 12th mirrors on the astral and emotional plane. So the challenges of the 6th and your response to them gets recorded in your astral bodies. If you learn your lesson then well, its all ok. But if you fail to learn it, the same experience will be replayed again and again in different forms till you finally get it.

Now for the other side of the coin. Creative solutions and professions related to the 6th are seen from the 10th house. In fact, if you analyse the profession a person chooses, this is always connected to the issues of the 6th. That client of mine with the moon in the 6th, works as a high-level government official (Moon is security in all forms including the homeland). Another client with a vacant Sagittarius (philosophy and teacher) as the 6th, is a Reiki teacher by profession. A client with a vacant Aquarius (social equality, similar minded groups) as his 6th is a budding politician. But always remember the under-current of the 6th, you are always bound to these things, if you can understand the reasons for this bondage you can be free of them. You can perform these same actions with awareness thus live a more balanced life.


To tackle the 6th, first examine the 5th house, the sign and the planets placed in it. These will give some hints to what is the deep-rooted cause which is manifesting as the 6th. My client with the Moon in 6th, has the Venus (asc lord) and Ketu in the 5th, he is apathetic to his own self and accepts domination. He is also cut from his internal balance and inner esoteric knowledge. If he has to stop his pattern of emotional bondage and servitude he will need to find his own identity himself which is the realm of the spiritual.

Whenever I see a chart for the first time, I try to calculate its ‘quality’. First is the physical body, the health and the physical circumstances. Second is the mental/emotional behaviour and stability of the mind and third is the inclination towards religion and spirituality. If the horoscope has all these 3 components on a reasonably good level then I read further. These three components on good levels means that the client will be a good client, clear about what he wants and ready to understand what is being told to him. And with a spiritual nature he will also be ready to take up the remedial actions that I will suggest to him.

Mostly everyone is focussed on the other houses which give positive results, the ‘glamourous’ 5th, ‘sexy’ 7th, ‘professional’ 10th, ‘lucky’ 11th etc. But please analyse your three dushama-sthana carefully so that you are better prepared to deal with the negative aspects of your incarnation here. It is not being morbid, you see, in your good times you have everyone with you to celebrate but in the bad times you need to be prepared in all ways to deal with what will come, on the physical, emotional and spiritual planes.





2 thoughts on “Dushamsthan, House of turmoil, the 6th

  1. Tarun goyal November 26, 2018 / 5:14 pm

    Sir, I have come across your blog while going through a Facebook post today. It is a treasure for persons who have keen interest in astrology. Thanx and best wishes.


    • astrologerbydefault November 26, 2018 / 6:07 pm

      Hi there.
      Thank you for the feedback, am glad you found something you like in it. I focus on my experiences so avoid mentioning yogs and technical stuff. I really want more people to be interested. Astrology is quite logical if you start with keywords and baby steps. 🙂


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