5th house: The fountain of joy

Birth of Venus by Botticelli

One of the greatest merits to have in life is to experience joy; joy that shines forth from within, something that inspires gratitude and gives one a childlike sense of curiosity and awe in life. Joy and happiness are terms that are often used interchangeably. However, they mean completely different things, mainly because the state of happiness is not something that is necessary for joy to be present. Happiness is a response to something that is good, it is reliant on external factors to be experienced and is often short-lived. In a fast-paced, capitalist society, happiness is a reward for consuming more and simulates a false sense of identity, connection and love. It is simply a way for us to submerge our deep, primitive desires for community and joy so that we disperse into our own individualistic cocoons of autoeroticism. Excuse my harsh language but do hear me out.

Joy is the residence and remembrance of the divine. It is where the Goddess shows up continuously as Herself within a devotee as a result of effort, practice and moving inwards to know that what we’re seeking is within.

It is simple to say that all one needs to do is cultivate inner silence and remove distractions and they will feel liberated from the activities of the mind. However, in tantra, the mind is clever and has a way of sneaking upon us and by passing its own thoughts and identities because an identity is formed out of a need for self-preservation and sustenance. However, the identity becomes so hardly entrenched within us it just becomes a subconscious way of doing things, feeling etc. because the body knows no other way of existing. This is a psychological impression known as a samskara and how we react to external circumstances based on these impressions to get desired outcomes, is known as vasanas.

Tantra also is a methodology through which one’s liberation comes after they immerse themselves in the sensual experiences to understand why certain circumstances evoke certain reactions. There is difficulty in sitting with the discomfort of the present state because we’re often looking for ways to escape our identities that might want to depart from us.

The 4^th House: Ego deaths

The 4^th house that precedes the 5^th house in our birth chart represents the womb and the tomb; from past identities, new identities are born and direct us, this is also why this is known as the house of ancestors, their blessings and their impressions. Everyone who has come before you is you and everyone who comes after you will also be you, there is no difference between your great grandparents and your grandchildren for they are simply you existing in different points of time, experiencing reality through more solidified samskaras. Here’s the good news; you’re not defined by any of this. In fact, you are also not defined by what you did in the past, who you were and what you thought. So, every day you must learn to absolve yourself of guilt, shame and regret because you were only working with the amount of intelligence you had at the time, you had no other way of being or choosing to be different.

However, what you want to become can be sculpted by the present moment, how your thoughts are, who you think you are and what you think your capabilities are; all of that potential is within you, right now. The 4^th house is defined as what gives one happiness; all identities that serve us, all of our ways of being and even blessings from those who’ve left such as having a functioning body and mind. It is the house of material benefits, support and care from one’s family or intimate spaces. The way we preserve and expand on these gifts and blessings depend on the 5^th house, the 2^nd to the 4^th house is the 5^th house, in Bhavat Bhavam theory, this is known as the ‘gain’ of a particular house.

5^th House: Turning the mind towards joy.

In jyotish, the 5^th house has many significations; it is the house of children, of merit from previous lives, lovers, hobbies, play and most importantly mantra and upasana. Upasana can be divided into two parts: Upa- upwards, higher and Asana- seat, posture. The process of one to worship, move and unite with the highest Self is known as upasana. One’s personal deity or Ishta is often one’s own highest self and worshipping the Ishta brings one infinite joy because the divine is Satchitananda (true consciousness being blissed out in every state). The mantra is the body of the deity, the thing that we remember our highest selves by. Think of what you want to be, what you aspire for in life and what you want… the principles by which you live by and want to access this version of you is your personal mantra. A mantra is not anything you chant with complex Sanskrit grammar or syntax but a deep subconscious belief that your mind binds itself to over and over again. In my Patreon article about Tara Mahavidya, I expand on this further where I connect the birth of words within consciousness through sound.

Sex and Mantra

Back to the 5^th house, this is an especially romantic house because it’s the house of sexual joy. Everything is actually connected to the sexual union of Shiva-Shakti producing an orgasm. One object interacts with the subject and forms a relationship with it, that is blissful in the highest sense. In the microcosm that we are in, we might experience a variety of emotions due to our limitations, our previous experiences and our forgetfulness of our own divine nature. But for the divine it is pure bliss. All of us are simply mantras: we have a rhythm, we have a form and when called out, we appear to the other. Doing mantra sadhana is akin to sex, it is the merging of the rhythm of the deity with the devotee and the deity manages to correct and smoothen out any issues in the devotee. This is why you chant a mantra of a deity long enough; you start looking like them. Same thing happens with the sexual partners we choose which is why the right sexual partner can match and correct your rhythm for further expansion whereas someone who is not in rhythmic or vibrational alignment with you can knock down your progress (especially if you're someone who does special sadhana). For women, celibacy and choosing right sexual partners is even more important because we are the initiators, the Gurus that have the power to heal and correct rhythmic issues of another's body, our biological process of menstruation allows a full cleanse every month making it easy for us to drop a lot of mental and emotional wastes.

Samudra Manthan: Lakshmi's birth from the churning of the ocean

Since everything is based off karma, whether it is the deity or a person, their appearance in our life is dependent on the dasha, our past life connection and how we use our buddhi (mental facilities to invoke them). Although there are many remedies to expand the mind and increase intelligence, the easiest way to do it is to recognize what particular planet rejoices in this house. In Hellenistic astrology, the 5^th house is known as the joy of Venus, the planet of love, material wealth, and enjoyment but most importantly it is the planet of immersion into the present moment. Shukracharya (the rishi associated with Venus) has one eye and the other deity associated with Venus is known as Lakshmi -She who is the goal for She knew immediately after emerging from the ocean to be seated in the heart of Vishnu, the one whose name literally means ‘to go inwards’. When we’re engaged in something whether its mantra, remaining present or doing any of our hobbies, we begin to merge with that activity and know ourselves through it. Many artists experience the presence of divine when they’re engaging in their particular art form and some of them even go ‘mad’ because the body cannot handle the influx of Shakti that is born of the mind. One must engage in the activities of this beautiful house with care and take breaks to be able to fully enjoy what they love doing. Saints who sing the names of God are the same as true lovers who are lost in each other or an artist that begins to experience psychosis when creating art.

References:

Ruff, J. C. (2019). Modern transformations of sādhanā as art, study, and awareness: religious experience and Hindu tantric practice. Religions, 10(4), 259.

Kalidasa, Uttarakalamrita