I'm looking for a deeper understanding of the 6th house.
Or a new way to view it.

Anyone have any thoughts? Not looking for internet quotes, but your own experience/theories/thoughts if you are a 6th house type or know those who are...

Health? Daily routines? Work? Pets/small animals? Service? Virgoan?

What is the 6th house about for you?

I've got my Saturn returning there at the mo. I feel it's about how I spend my time on a daily basis - that eternal life-work balance that I just can't get right.

I think Saturn wants me to concentrate better at work and not get distracted by daydreaming (sq Neptune) or chatting to my coworkers (sq venus gemini in 3rd). If I could be more efficient while at work, I could leave on time, and have energy to get to the gym and make healthier food. And I should get earlier nights so I have more energy to go out etc etc. All the mundane stuff.

With Mars con Saturn in that house, I can push myself to breaking point - literally work through the night and do a semi-decent days work afterwards when I need to. And other times I just cannot get started. Will find a hundred excuses and distractions.

I don't really get the service aspects of this house. but then, with leo on the cusp, I probably wouldn't make a very servile servant :-)

I've seen it in terms of ritual and daily-returned-to-tasks.  If you think of the 12th house as transcendence and touching the divine, the 6th house is the structure in place that needs to be maintained to have a consistent relationship with the 12th and not get swept away.  It's a very existential house, concerned with the real world.  Thus, health, service, all that is tied in.

I've gotten a bittersweet sense for the 6th house -- that people with heavily influenced sixth houses will have to come to terms with all their energy going toward service and structure and routine and not necessarily getting anything whiz-bang exciting/joyous or personally thrilling out of it, but its energy holds things together and offers a certain sense of peace and fulfillment.  That's how I've related anyway: my NN is in the 6th but I've got this stellium in Scorpio in the first house that thinks everything should be gripping and thrilling all the time -- and it often is, but not my life path, not my calling.  That's more concerned with the quiet, unspoken poignancy of existence.

If you think of the 6th and 7th houses as bordering the Descendant, the 6th is the mutable house and the 7th is the cardinal house.  Thus, 6th house people feel the Other (world, partner, anything not-Self) in their energy field and act always in response (in service) according to the planets within; whereas 7th house people are compelled to act out that particular planetery energy toward an Other before they even get a sense for what the Other is putting into their sphere.

whoa. thanks marlon, your comments always illuminate something for me. got a cap stellium in the 6th house and that's something i'll be thinking about for a minute.

Thank u, liori and marlon -- really interesting stuff....

I don't have planets in 6th but I have NN

And transiting jup, nep, chiron are there--

And I have venus and BML in the 12th....

Also, moon conjunct pluto in the 1st -- so I relate---

I have Jupiter in the 6th/Gemini and don't understand this placement at all, how it relates to my own life. 

I am easily overwhelmed with small day to day tasks. It's insanity. And yes I was like this before my break-up. I recently acquired a Gemini Sun/Moon roommate. We spent the weekend doing errand stuff...laundry, recycling, groceries and I *swear* I would never have pulled it off without her there. but when my b.f. wanted to do domestic-ish things I would resist it to hell and back. (He is Gemini ASC). 

~end ramble 

maybe because my jupiter opposes neptune..?

 sun, mercury and saturn in the sixth house.

My Moon is 5 Leo in the 6th house. The 6th house cusp is actually Cancer, though. I tend to get emotionally involved with my co-workers. We become like family and they often seek me out for advice and guidance. It's where I tend to "mother" people in many ways. My only children have been animals. I prefer dogs to most people - the small animals theme.

The most recent eclipse at 29 Cancer took place in that house, opposing my 12th house Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. Within 24 hours of the eclipse a meeting was called with 2 of my co-workers. Within 48 hours of the eclipse, those 2 people were taken out of the department I'm in and moved laterally across the company. Leaving me as the only full-time payment associate in that department. I'm not sure at this point why. 

I tend to think of the 6th house as work issues mainly. Oh and I forgot to add, my emotions greatly affect my health. If I'm stressed, sad, or depressed I can't eat... if I do eat, it doesn't stay with me. Stress is the greatest diet I know. :(

Puttering around and doing little tasks is very therapeutic for me.  It may help your writing.  In the ashram, service Seva is about serving others and the meditative tasks that nourish your mind somehow.  Your body is set free and gets endorphins from doing something, maybe helping others, and your mind is set free as well. When I'm lazy my mind gets to be a dumpy mess.  And when my room is messy too. 

I'm currently having my Saturn Return in 6th house Virgo. The focus of this house is health matters as well as the day to day mundane tasks. This has always been very difficult for me as I'm always in Lala land (12th house sun, 9th house Neptune squaring Saturn, Mercury in Pisces).

During this Saturn Return, the ultimate life changing event was my lay off last June. I was in the brink of falling apart in my job due to the stress I've had. I've done my best to keep a schedule and a good to-do list, as well as become a lot more detail oriented. A 6th house Saturn is about service - and you guessed it... I was a workaholic. And I would often ask - WHAT FOR??? I never had an answer. I thought I wanted recognition or fame in my profession, but for some reason, it felt wrong. I was starting to believe that the career I've had for almost 10 years is no longer working for me. I have a strong Virgo/Pisces axis. I need to "serve", but all the overtime hours spent did nothing for me but plunge me deeper into severe health issues.

So basically, I made a commitment to put myself first. I made dietary changes, exercised more frequently, took up yoga (because I am undergoing a very difficult pluto transit as well) and getting NORMAL amounts of sleep (I am a diagnosed insomniac). These have been struggles, but I would say I fared 50% better than I did while I was working.

Also, I did not rush into any kind of sudden job searches or career changes. In true Virgo style, I decided to get help in organizing a career shift. I decided not to react: I did some thinking, attempted to make lists and enlisted the help of career counselors as I have a hard time synthesizing all these thoughts in my head. I realized that I was not serving the right causes in my previous working life. I had to shift my service to something else that I find more worthwhile.