Bhavas or houses are the seats of activity in Astrology. They divide life into various activities which the planets participate in. Houses are akin to the workshop for the planet to do its work in.

Instead of dealing with houses the usual way, wherein which we divide the houses into good and bad, we can take a slightly different approach to this topic. Let’s say, we divide all bhavas into (1) Sthana bhava, (2) Dhana bhava and (3) Dur bhava.

Sthana bhavas

Sthana bhavas cover the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses, also known as Kendra houses. These four houses represent the four petal lotus of the Muladhara chakra that is the very root of one’s existence. There are better known as the four pillars of life. If these are stable, life is stable, and if one of them falls it causes a significant vacuum in life.

This can be visualized as a lotus in a pond. The four Kendra houses are the four lotus petals. Damage to one of the petals causes the lotus to tilt and drown. This is the very case with the Kendra houses. These houses and their lords should be strong!

Dhana bhavas

Dhana bhavas cover the 2nd, 5th, 9th, and 11th houses. These houses are the food of the lotus and hence the food of life. They are the means through which we receive all types of wealth, both knowledge-wealth and different asset-wealth. Knowledge is represented in the 5th and 9th houses, whilst the other assets and food are seen from the 2nd and 11th houses. These houses and their respective strengths are indicators as to how well we are in receiving and holding on to these different aspects of wealth.

Dur bhavas

Dur houses are 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 12th house, and they are the cause of different types of losses and misfortunes. They are the unstable waters around the lotus which one needs to be guarded against. As the lotus inhales prana through the Kendra and Dhana houses, providing prana to the native, the exhale of prana happens to be in the Dur houses. Hence the Dur houses represent that what is leaving your body and ultimately does not benefit you, but may benefit someone else.

Do you want to know how different planets behave in these houses? Consider reading my article on How to judge planets in houses here.

Stay tuned for the next installment on the planets.