When we studied 1st house, I said that it is the house that represents the body, the person and their personality. It marks the moment when the soul makes its entrance to Earth through a body. The 1st house 1 also is a house that is related to dharma. This means the duty that a human being must perform in the present incarnation in order to grow spiritually.
The different houses, and the order of these houses, can be understood as the path of life of a human being. It is the path that each one travels through different incarnations, including the present one. That is why the 2nd house represents food for the body, the body that I said is represented by 1st house. Food is the most basic of goods or the most basic wealth. The 2nd house 2 therefore signifies wealth and security.
Once the soul incarnates in a body (1st house), it is necessary to provide that body security, with food (2nd house).
Then he said to them: “Look, I give you all the plants on earth that produce seed, and all the trees that bear fruit. All this will serve as food.”
Genesis 1:29, The Bible
From the second house, wealth, grains (food etc.), family, enemies, metals, precious stones will be valued.
Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, Chapter 13, Verse 3
What gives a person security is not only having food or wealth. Security also is based on the values that the person has, since these values build their self-esteem. A person with self-esteem will be able to build security around them. All this is the 2nd house: food, wealth, moral values, and self-esteem.
For one person, security might come almost exclusively from material things. For another, it could come from knowledge. Security for a third person may be related to their moral value system. Each of these three individuals will understand security in a different way, basing their security on single thing or a mixture of several factors. How security is understood depends on the degree of your spiritual evolution.
The 1st house
represents your birth; the second house represents your early childhood. It is interesting how Vedic Astrology relates early childhood, a sense of security, and moral values all in the same astrological house. Only recently have the sciences of psychology and psychiatry made this connection, one that Vedic Astrology made thousands of years ago.
The 2nd house is related to the Purushartha Artha. Purushartha is a fundamental concept of Vedic philosophy. It is a Sanskrit word that translates as the purpose of human beings. The Purusharthas consist of the four fundamental goals that are necessary for a happy and fulfilling life. They are Dharma (righteousness and morality), Artha (prosperity and economic values), Kama (sensual pleasures) and Moksha (liberation from the cycle of reincarnation). They are related respectively to the mission of life: to obtain sustenance or wealth, the satisfaction of sensual desires and self-realization.
Each of the 12 houses of the zodiac is associated with one of these four key goals of human life, collectively known as Purusharthas.
The race to have more
I was in a bookstore several years ago and stopped to leaf through a book, the title of which had caught my attention. The book targeted parents and purported to teach them how to develop their sons into winners and leaders.
An image emerged in my mind of a child playing carefree and happy when suddenly a great responsibility fell onto his shoulders, one that he had not attracted to himself. I felt sorry for this child, because only a few children will grow to have the dharma in their adulthood to be leaders. Yes, he would be nurtured to grow to be a good and happy man. But in and of itself this would not be good enough. The boy would live with the additional pressure that his parents expected him to be a winner and a leader of others.
It is unfortunate that adults do not teach children the truth. In any competition, whether it be athletic, scholastic, or games such as chess, among a host of other examples, there can be only one winner. That is the nature of competition. Similarly, in any group, be it large, medium, or small, only one or perhaps two individuals will emerge as natural leaders.
Does this mean that those that competed and did not win or those that were contributors but not leaders in a group are worthless disappointments?
Absolutely not!
Being a competitor or a contributor is perfectly legitimate and admirable. It can bring great personal satisfaction. In fact, most people are in the category of competitor or contributor!
People have many different reasons for entering a competition. Think of the large numbers of people that enter marathon races, knowing that they have no chance whatsoever of winning the competition.
Why do they do it?
There probably are as many answers to that question as there are people in the race. In today’s society, to triumph generally is not defined by the internal happiness of a person or with their moral actions. Instead, it tends to be associated with the degree of power, fame, and money that a person achieves.
To triumph should be related to the ability to keep going, even in adverse conditions, even when the odds of succeeding are stacked against you, and even when facing personal loss. Above all, it should be the fullness that is experienced when fulfilling one’s dharma.
Desire is what moves people to obtain something. The evolution of the 2nd House proceeds through the following steps.
- Obtaining food
- Accumulating food
- Building the security of a physical home and having a family
- Seeking status in society or fame
- Obtaining of power
- Search for knowledge or scholarship
- Spiritual search or search for God.
As you can observe, it is a cycle of desire, followed by fulfilling those desires and achieving satisfaction, followed by desire growing back within the person and a new quest for fulfillment. And the cycle continues.
You also can deduce from the evolution of the 2nd House that the acquisition of wealth can never truly satisfy a human being. He always will seek to satisfy more desires and to accumulate more material wealth. We only need to observe the lives of billionaires to confirm this. They have more material wealth than they possibly use in a lifetime, yet they still crave more. Our desires only can be satisfied with spiritual enlightenment and seeking God.
Taurus and the 2nd house
The 2nd house corresponds to the sign of Taurus in the Natural Zodiac. For this reason, Taurus takes on the characteristics of the 2nd house. It is a sign whose ascendants constantly seek security, generally through material means.
The 2nd house signifies all things related to the mouth: speech, words, and what a person eats. If the 2nd house is afflicted in a person’s natal chart, it could indicate that they might be very direct or aggressive with their words or that they might be prone to telling lies. The person also might eat poorly or eat foods that are not suitable for them. An afflicted 2nd house also could suggest that a person might be susceptible to addictions, such as alcoholism, smoking, and using recreational drugs.
The 2nd house and career paths
When it comes to evaluating career directions, the 10th house is the primary source of information in the study of a person’s natal chart. Additionally, the 2nd house is very important to evaluate, because it represents wealth and status.
Planets that have an important influence on the 10th house will help to determine the career path of the person. When the 10th house for an ascendant corresponds to one of the signs that are moolatrikonas, such as Aries, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius, or Aquarius, then the ruler of this sign will be the determinant of their profession.
If the 10th house does not correspond to a moolatrikona sign, then the 2nd house takes on much greater relevance. This is because if the 2nd house is moolatrikona, then its ruling planet will determine the profession.
Final thoughts
The 2nd house is one that is often misunderstood, with many believing that it is the house of material wealth and power. While this partially is true, the 2nd house is much more. We learned that the evolution of the 2nd house comprises seven steps, the first 5 of which are indeed focused on fulfilling desires for security, material wealth, and social status. However, the final two steps are focused on spiritual evolution: a desire for knowledge and a desire for enlightenment and to know God. This tells us that the 2nd house is one of harmony – a balance between the material and the spiritual.
Acknowledgements
- Headline photo by Johnson Space Center, NASA (USA). Aurora Borealis over lights in Finland, Russia, Estonia and Latvia taken from the International Space Station on August 31, 2005.
- Gold bars photo by Jingming Pan on Unsplash
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