I had an idea about volunteering to work with humanitarian surgery medical teams traveling to Asia, about 2 weeks a year. I am not a nurse or a doctor, the work will be administration and interpreting.

I just wonder in a horary context, would it be a 6th house question, being work related, even though it's unpaid volunteer work? Or would it be a 3rd-house question for short trips?

All of the groups that we belong to, anything from bowling leagues, book clubs, the Wednesday afternoon ladies tea club, and all humanitarian work too is ruled by the 11th house.

From Deb's book,

In modern astrology it is said to rule the wider social circle of acquaintances and groups, broader ambitions, political ideals and those who share out aims.

I would only use the 6th house for people who work for you, carpenters (sometimes, if you call that work), your house cleaner, and the people who you supervise if you're the boss. It seems to be a common mistake that if your job is described as menial that your work would be under the 6th house, while professional, white collar work is the 10th house. I think all work is the 10th house. The essential quality of the 6th house is servitude, people who are beneath you to put it bluntly. That's why pets and cattle are under the 6th house. You are in charge of and responsible for them. But larger beasts of burden are under the 12th house. Why? The essential quality of the 12th house is slavery, not servitude. The large beasts of burden - horses, elephants, a team of mules - these animals we ride upon or are used to haul things. A cow in the field has some freedom, as do our pets. But a horse or donkey hitched to a plow has no freedom. It's off the topic, but the best way to understand the houses is to get to know their essential qualities.

I don't know where you live, but a trip to Asia seems more like a 9th house kind of trip. The 3rd house is our daily travels, your commute to and from work, that kind of thing. It is hard to decide when exactly something becomes a 9th house trip. For example if you travel on a one hour airplane flight, is that a long distance trip? You can travel over 600 miles on such a flight. It's hard to call that short, but then again it's only an hour flight. One good indicator of a 9th house kind of trip is if you have to cross a large body of water to get there, an overseas trip. But a flight overland from Europe to China would also be a 9th house trip.

I would like to open this subject up to anyone interested in the 11th house. Since I see that Deb mentioned that the modern use of the 11th house includes social and humanitarian groups, does anyone know where they put groups pre-1700? Since most of their groups were religious, like the various religious orders and even hospital work, I guess they would have been covered by the 9th house. But what about all those medieval trade guilds. Where would they have been? I did a word search for "guild" in books I and II of Christian Astrology and found nothing.

Thanks Mark for the detailed discussion. I thought about the 11th house and was looking through the notes after I posted the question.

It's interesting to read your thoughts about the 9th house and the 3rd house. I have always used the guideline that the 3rd house is for trips up to 1-2 weeks, like a short business trip, or a vacation, or temporary in nature; and the 9th house for trips of longer duration or more permanent, like going to another city or country to study for a few months; all regardless of the actual distance. I'm not sure if it's correct, but it seems to work for me.

Btw, I live in the U.S. and the trips would be to South East Asia.

Vegas1

I think the important thing is whether you are consistant. I don't think there are magical rules for what is 3rd and what is 9th. Just as long as you are consistant with your own rules you'll get the right answer. But it does seem to me that a trip to Asia would be 9th house. I use the idea that if the trip is a certain distance, whatever that is, it becomes a 9th house trip, or if it's out of the ordinary, like something that widens your world, where you learn something. 3rd house trips are the common, everyday ones, ones that are not special. 3rd house = common, ordinary, 9th = expanded horizons, learn something, widen your scope