The 5th house in astrology: have you ever played with the divine child within?
Basic meanings of the 5th house in astrology
The 5th house has a trine aspect to the ascendent. In the traditional astrology texts, the 5th house is associated with Venus (11th-century Arabic astrologer Al Biruni: the 5th house is related to pleasure and joy, and Venus rejoices here; 17th-century astrologer William Lily relates the 5th house to ‘banquets, alehouses and taverns’). Though often looked down upon by the missionaries of traditional astrology, modern astrology tends to link the 5th house with Leo. I personally believe that this stems from modern astrology's tendency to oversimplify (i.e. equate the houses to the signs), and I am trying my best to resist the temptation of immersing myself in the sea of classical texts in search of evidence to refute it. Leo is a barren sign, so it does not make sense to associate ‘Leo’s house’ with children. In the modern world, people have new demands in understanding the concept of ‘children’, especially for people who are not able to see themselves in the picture of ‘creating their own babies’. Childbearing is a beautiful Venus creation, but modern Aphrodite is not bound to express her creativity in only this way. The sacred concept of nurturing new life might suggest possibilities beyond genetic fusion.
After the deep exploration of the 4th house (even a dive into the underworld), the 5th house becomes a place where energy is freely and effortlessly expressed. Hedonism can also be blessed here. Traditional astrology is more inclined to link the 5th house with sex. After all, you need to implement this step before properly bringing a baby into the world. The craving for procreation is a natural impulse while one is fully enjoying its being, which might sound a bit alien to modern humans who are more or less tormented by existential crises.
The 5th house is different from the other more tangible houses. It is the field that abstracts Venus's intention of enjoying life and pleasing oneself, thereby encompassing a broader range of possibilities. You don’t need to follow a concrete form to express your joy, which is not limited to literature, film, music, dance and, of course, if you enjoy it, it could also be washing that pile of dirty dishes and so on…you can let the flow of joy be released into the Saturnine world without a specific form of expectation. The ‘love’ in the 5th house is lighter and purer and hasn’t been tinged with any social nature as in the 7th house. 5th house love is filled with childlike playfulness. You are free to love for the love itself, free from commitment and social regulations, you are here to feel LOVE as a more abstract being in itself.
‘Sunyata’ is a cosmic playground
What is Sunyata? Is it ‘emptiness’? If nature abhors a vacuum, then why is Buddha obsessively keen to persuade you to enter the brutal threshold of ‘nothing’? Do we truly need to renounce the secular world and live a monastic lifestyle? Is it the same thing as ‘nihilism’? Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche has provided us with an elegant Venus Libra’s answer: the sense of openness people experience when they simply rest their minds is known in Buddhist terms as emptiness.
Hermes, the god of Mercury, is adept at playing language games, but he is a neutral deity without strong subjective direction. Then why do we tend to interpret 'emptiness' (Śūnyatā) as a concept imbued with a sense of tragic heroism? This is not the fault of the Buddhist sutra—after all, the Buddha already said to Subhuti, "Everything with form is unreal", this should include the Sutra itself as well. I have a friend who was a sincere Buddhist until she found that Buddhism was too ‘bland’ and ‘bleak’ for her young age. I appreciate her hard work in her previous Buddhist lifestyle and relate to her wholeheartedly. After all, even for a middle-aged person who has endured the ups and downs of life, Schopenhauer couldn't help but be drawn by Buddhism's acknowledgement of life's suffering. Equating the Sunyata to ‘the void’ is like meeting an old comrade, both of you weathered by hardships. One day, many years after the end of the battle, you share peaceful drinks together and look back on the memories of blood-soaked war ingrained in your being. Through this, you recognise your sorrows for solace. None of the ‘logic’ that Mercury plays with goes wrong here. If you are immersed in a battle to eliminate pleasure, then indeed, emptiness becomes a long and painful torment.
We may tend to forget this is still a house beneath the horizon while cheerfully accepting the 5th house with so much bright signification from the old text, which adds a more subtle layer in understanding the field in essence. Back to the explanation from Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, “In Tibetan language, tongpa-nyi is two words. The word tongpa means ‘empty,’ but only in the sense of something beyond our ability to perceive with our senses and our capacity to conceptualize. Nyi, meanwhile, doesn't have any particular meaning in everyday Tibetan conversation. But when added to another word, it conveys a sense of ‘possibility’, a sense that anything can arise, anything can happen.” Hermes loves to use language to play with minds; a question is a form of mental provocation which could mean ‘nothing’ itself but capable of bringing up massive possibilities, much like foreplay in lovemaking—where touching and kissing are able to ignite countless desires in the realm of intimacy.
Sunyata is ‘bitter’ when you regard this life is a battle. When you're rushing to work in a suit, accidentally stepping into a mud puddle will surely leave you feeling frustrated. However, do you still remember the time when you were a kid, jumping in mud puddles, getting your clothes and skin dirty, and feeling wholeheartedly happy? The 5th house is about that simplest, pure and innocent pleasure.
