“While the third house, which lies across from the ninth on the zodiacal wheel, is all about knowledge and information, this one is about wisdom, intuition, and the big picture,” the twins explain, adding this house also reveals how we “take risks and venture to various parts of the world, our minds, and our beings.” According to astrologer Molly Pennington, Ph.D., the ninth house is also sometimes called the “House of God” in traditional, Hellenistic astrology, because of its relation to beliefs, faith, and philosophy. “It has to do with education too because it deals with all of those structures around the things you believe,” she explains. The ninth house is also ruled by Sagittarius and the planet Jupiter. Both Jupiter and Sagittarius encompass a certain joy and optimism and a yearning to grow and push beyond borders (both literally and mentally). Namely, the energy of the ninth house shows you where you can expand your perspective, fine-tune your beliefs, and ultimately grow. Jupiter in the ninth house, for example, will be much more accommodating to feelings of joy and growth than, say, Saturn in the ninth house, which may run up against some resistance. (We’ll explain more about what each planet means in this house shortly.) If your chart doesn’t appear to have any planets in the ninth house, according to Pennington, that doesn’t mean its energy is irrelevant to you. There will still be a zodiac sign residing over that house, so look to see which sign your ninth house is in. That sign’s ruling planet represents where/how ninth-house themes are going to show up for you. (For example, if you have Gemini in the ninth house, Mercury—Gemini’s ruler—would be influencing your ninth house, even if Mercury isn’t actually located there.) The quicker-moving, inner planets, like the sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, will transit your ninth house many times throughout your life, continually bringing up ninth-house themes like belief, philosophy, religion, higher learning, and travel. You may find you feel more inclined to travel to faraway places or make a big change when Mars is transiting your ninth house, for example. Or when Mercury transits your ninth house, you may want to pick up a new course of study, Pennington notes. With the slower-moving outer planets, like Saturn or Pluto, the transits occur less frequently but can still usher in major momentum and change. At any given point, you can cross-check the current sky’s chart and your own birth chart, in order to figure out which planets and signs are in your ninth house and further, how to layer or compile the themes of the ninth house with the planet or sign residing in it in order to maximize the transit.
