Finding an empty 3rd House in your astrological chart means that you didn’t need any planets there in order to perceive and communicate in the way you were intended to. No planets in your 3rd House does not mean that you will struggle intellectually or that communication won’t be important in your life.
Is your vacant 3rd something to worry about? What could you expect with your 3rd House sitting empty?
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- You can still develop effective communication skills with no planets present.
- The sign of your 3rd House and its planetary ruler can offer insight.
- Planetary energy will still inhabit your empty 3rd House through transits.
Table of Contents
- What does an empty 3rd House in my chart mean?
- How do I read my empty 3rd House?
- Will my empty Third House always be empty?
What does an empty 3rd House in my chart mean?
Many astrologers only consider 10 planets in a chart reading, but there are twelve houses in a natal chart. You will find empty houses in your natal chart.
If your Third House is one of those empty houses in your chart, what are some things you could expect?
Before you go further, we created an empty 3rd House worksheet, emailed to you FREE when you sign up below!
What does the Third House mean?
One name for the 3rd House is the House of Communication. The areas of life described in this house pertain to how you speak and the way in which you get your point across.
Listening is also an important component of communication. Your 3rd House can also describe both your physical sense of hearing, but also the “filter” through which you hear.
The phrase “you hear what you want to hear” is a great descriptor of this house.
The 3rd House is the house of the mind. How you perceive and process information, store it and retrieve it belongs here as well.
Here is a list of the parts of life described in your 3rd House.
- speaking
- listening
- thinking
- feeling as though your voice is heard
- siblings
- neighbors
- short-range travel
What are empty houses in astrology?
An empty house in astrology simply describes a house with no planets in it.
In the branch of astrology I use, Evolutionary Astrology, an empty house means you didn’t need planets in that house in order to achieve growth and fulfillment in life.
I view your natal chart as a roadmap to your best life, so a house that sits empty doesn’t mean that you should automatically expect to struggle in the parts of life described by that house.
However, that also doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed to breeze through an empty house, either.
Empty houses can still play important roles in your life.
What if my Third House is empty?
If your Third House is sitting empty, in order to think and effectively communicate with others, you didn’t need any planets in the house to achieve those things.
From the standpoint of Evolutionary Astrology, your chart is always the “right” one for you, no matter where your placements are or which of your houses are vacant.
You came into this life with all of the tools you need to effectively communicate and gather and process information.
If your Third House is empty, your planets were simply needed elsewhere in your chart.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that thinking or using your voice in life will always come easily in your life.
But, not having planets in this House of Communication won’t prevent you from finding your own method of using your mind and then sharing those thoughts and ideas with others.
Does it sound like having no planets sitting in this house means that you will be left clueless about how you may experience your empty 3rd House? Not to worry!
But how do you read your 3rd House if it is empty?
How do I read my empty 3rd House?
Just because you don’t find any planets in a house doesn’t mean that you have nothing to work with when reading it. Your natal chart still offers a multitude of insights into your empty Third House!
1. Your Third House sign
Find which of the signs of the Zodiac the cusp of your Third House lands in.
In the example chart below, you can see that the cusp of their empty Third House sits in Aries.
This sign offers clues about the style that may “flavor” this house. Its traits, desires, and characteristics may shed some light on strengths, predispositions, and challenges for you when it comes to gathering information in your mind and communicating.
2. Look up the ruling planet of your Third House sign
Another way you can add to your reading of your empty 3rd House is to look at the ruling planet of the sign that your Third House cusp sits in.
Every sign of the Zodiac has a planetary ruler. Actually, some signs have two!
In the table below, locate the sign of your 3rd House (you found this in step 1) and see which planet or planets rule it.
| Zodiac Sign of Your Third House | Zodiac Sign’s Ruling Planet or Planets |
| Aries | Mars |
| Taurus | Venus |
| Gemini | Mercury |
| Cancer | The Moon |
| Leo | The Sun |
| Virgo | Chiron (modern), Mercury (traditional) |
| Libra | Venus |
| Scorpio | Pluto (modern), Mars (traditional) |
| Sagittarius | Jupiter |
| Capricorn | Saturn |
| Aquarius | Uranus (modern), Saturn (traditional) |
| Pisces | Neptune (modern), Jupiter (traditional) |
3. Locate the planetary ruler of your Third House sign
Next, find that ruling planet in your chart. Take note of the sign and house this planet sits in.
Just like you did in step 1, read about the traits of this sign. This sign’s style will help to influence how you experience this house.
Also, the house that this ruling planet is found in could also tie some of those life experiences with your 3rd House as well.
In the natal chart example below, you can see that their 3rd House cusp sits in Aries. In the table above, you can see that the ruler of Aries is Mars.
Their Mars is situated in Libra in the 9th House, so the characteristics of Libra and the experiences of the 9th House will help flavor how they express their empty 3rd House.
4. Find Mercury in your chart
Another way to dive more deeply into your empty 3rd House is to find Mercury, the ruler of the 3rd House, in your birth chart.
Just as you did in the steps above, the sign and house that Mercury falls in can help add more detail and dimension to how you may experience this empty house.
Will my empty Third House always be empty?
Sure, your natal chart is a snapshot of the heavens at the moment you were born. It is frozen in time and doesn’t change.
However, you will still have planetary energy filters through your empty Third House due to the transiting planets.
The term “transiting planets” refers to the currently moving planets. You can learn more about the current, moving planets in this article from Astro.com.
Even though the planets in your chart are fixed, in life the planets are always moving and they circle and interact with your own chart. They bring their influence to the houses of your chart as they go.
In the natal chart example above, the position of the transiting planets is shown. You can see the Moon in transit moving through this person’s empty 3rd House, introducing its planetary energy into this otherwise vacant spot in their chart.
But, the Moon will quickly move on to the Fourth House, taking its influence along with it.
In astrology, houses that sit empty can still be full of activity when you consider the transiting planets as well.
Don’t forget to grab your empty 3rd House worksheet, emailed to you FREE when you sign up below!
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Empty 2nd House
Empty 4th House
