Your 2nd House—A Clue to Extra Income

©4-24-2010 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

Who among us couldn’t use some extra money these days, with prices up and business down?  What I’ve observed over the years is that when people need a way to bring in a bit more cash, the 2^nd house is the place to look for ideas.

It’s not just the area of the chart that shows paychecks, it’s also where part-time jobs and sidelines can be found—as well as timing for starting them.

The 2^nd house shows your personal resources, and, like most of us, over the years you probably have developed skills and personal qualities that are marketable once you brainstorm how to use them.  Maybe you’ve switched careers but still have great contacts and know-how that could pull in the occasional consultant fee. Perhaps that spare room can be rented out to tourists. Maybe you’ve gotten so good at a hobby that you can teach a class.  Depending on the sign on the 2^nd and the planets placed there natally and by transit, almost all of us have untapped personal assets.

 Where to Look for Hidden Treasure

 There are three factors to look for, some more productive of sidelines than others.

 The sign or signs in the 2^nd House: Begin by brainstorming the interests of the 12 signs and think about ways to cash in on them. Whatever needs and wants a given sign has, there are businesses out there that cater to them.

Cancerians love collectibles—hence the multitudes of ads in magazines and on television that cater to them.  Sagittarians live to travel—and keep a broad spectrum of travel services going.  Virgos are health conscious and tend to keep up on nutrition—can you market supplements or come up with tasty health food recipes?  Many Taureans love the earth and are gifted at growing things—can a garden save or earn you money?

If there’s more than one sign in your 2^nd house, as is often the case, consider possibilities for both. If the 2nd house is empty, look at what house the ruler of the 2nd occupies and think about the matters of that house, as it might give you other avenues to pursue.  (Download a  Blank chart with house meanings  here.)

The table below is to help you start brainstorming for sidelines, but there are additional meanings for each of the signs.

A List of the 12 Signs and Some of the Matters They Rule:

Aries: starting things, initiative, energy, sports, competition, building, doing, leadership, wanting to be first, anger, drive, driving cars, springtime, short spurts.

Taurus: Earth, nature, growing things, gardening, preserving, tradition, money and financial matters, conservation, accumulating stuff, possessions, peacefulness.

Gemini:  Communication, curiosity, thinking, learning skills, siblings, close relatives other than parents, neighbors, short trips, writing, hands, lungs, sales, the media.

Cancer: Family, home, roots, motherhood, women’s health & reproduction, breasts, food& nurturance, security, old age, real estate, instinct, habits, moods.

Leo: Children, romance, recreational activities, show business, drama, royalty, hedonism, generosity, self-expression, wanting to be the center, the heart itself.

Virgo: health and the health care field, work and our attitudes toward it, the working class, coworkers, employees, job satisfaction, attention to details, criticism.

Libra: Marriage and divorce, partnerships of all sorts, equality in relationships, justice, beauty and fashion, balance, consideration, diplomacy, fair play, peace.

Scorpio: Sexuality, wealth, uses and abuses of power, secrets, the occult, healing, psychology, death & the afterlife, national & personal debt, terrorism, stocks.

Sagittarius: Established religions & religious leaders, ethics, higher education, advanced learning and thought, publishing, law, foreign relations & travel.

Capricorn: professions, career, big business, corporate sector, executives, bosses & our attitudes toward them, status, expectations & attitudes about success.

Aquarius: Social Movements, social change, technology, pop trends, fads. Information age, freedom, equality, revolution, adolescence, rebels and mavericks.

Pisces: Creativity, spirituality, psychic gifts, mysticism, service vs. servitude, music and poetry, welfare, chronic care, prisons, fraud, oceans, epidemics, pollution.

Natal planets in the 2^nd:  Planets are always stronger than signs, so if you have planets in the 2^nd, think first about what money-making activities those planets may suggest. To get started, consider what sign that planet rules and get some hints from matters of the 12 signs, as given in the table.  Then consider the sign the planet is placed in for ideas as well. 

With Mars in the 2nd, for instance, you’d think about Aries-related  possibilities like being a relief driver on weekends, getting certified as a referee,   building things or fixing cars.  With Venus in the 2nd, you’d look into Libra-like pursuits like selling cosmetics or jewelry, getting trained as a mediator, or selling some of your more fashionable clothing on consignment.

Transits through the 2^nd: A planet that is transiting the 2^nd house is a window for earning money through a sideline, and might  also be the starting point for a side business that lasts much longer than the transit.

The length of time for that window depends on the speed of the planet and the number of degrees the house contains.  Some houses are as small as 23°, while houses with interceptions can be as wide as 45°.

A transiting planet in any part of your chart that is setting off a natal 2nd house planet is especially likely to provide both opportunities and challenges for these types of enterprises.

The faster-moving inner planets can travel through a house quickly when they’re direct in motion—the Moon in as little as a couple days, the Sun, Mercury, and Venus in about a month, and Mars in two months.

The Sun, Mercury, and Venus travel through a particular sign and house at around the same time each year, so figure out what interval they’re in your 2nd house and plan to make the most of it.  Is there, for instance, a seasonal condition you can make the most of–vacation-related services or products–or is there a holiday that you can turn into a profitable product or service?

A Jupiter window comes around once in about 13 years, so capitalize on it while it’s there! The slower moving  transits can be very long-lasting, starting with Saturn at around 2.5 years and getting progressively longer through Pluto, which can be in a sign for as long as 14 years.  As we’ve seen in this series already, you’d also need to understand the outer planets and their pitfalls before committing any major cash outlay in setting up a business.

Note:  These suggestions are only presented as a starting point in your search for a viable part-time business and aren’t meant to be business or financial advice.  Before entering into any  enterprise, you’d want to seek out information about what it would involve and what the current market is like in your area.

Readers, Let’s brainstorm together.  Based on the signs, natal planets and transits to your own 2^nd house, what kinds of sidelines or home-based businesses can you come up with?  Share your ideas in the comment section, as it might help someone else discover their own marketable talents and skills. Or, if you’ve done well with a sideline in the past, did it correlate with your natal 2nd house or a transit that was in effect at that time?

More Articles in the 2^nd house series:

• Money and Pluto in the 2nd House—The Haves vs. the Have Nots
• Uranus in the 2nd—Freedom & Individuality, vs. Financial Stability
• Neptune in the 2nd—Money, Boundaries, & Codependency
• Readers Ask: Q & A about the 2nd House

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