The 6th Lord in the 3rd House

The 6th lord in the 3rd house is the ruler of the 6th, the Ari / Shatru Bhava, placed in the 3rd, the Sahaja Bhava. The 6th is a dusthana and an upachaya and the 3rd an upachaya. Which graha that lord is depends on the ascendant, so the table below answers for all twelve.

Counted from the 6th, the 3rd is the 10th house, which from any house is a kendra and an upachaya position; counted back from the 3rd, the 6th is the 4th, a kendra position from it.

On the Parashari reading, in which a lord carries its house’s matters to wherever it sits, the 6th lord in the 3rd reads the 6th’s matters — debts and loans, service and routine, and enemies — through the 3rd’s: younger siblings, courage and effort, communication style, and short journeys. For the 6th lord in the 3rd that is a frame, not a forecast; what it comes to depends on the graha, its dignity below, and the rest of the chart.

The 6th Lord in the 3rd, Ascendant by Ascendant

Across the twelve ascendants the 6th lord in the 3rd is exalted for Leo and Scorpio, in its own sign for Aries and Libra, in a friend's sign for Gemini and Sagittarius, in a neutral sign for Aquarius, in an enemy's sign for Taurus, Cancer, Virgo and Pisces and debilitated for Capricorn. The Sun and the Moon rule one sign each, so for Aquarius and Pisces, where one of them is the 6th lord, it rules no other house; for the other ten the last column gives the second house the 6th lord brings with it to the 3rd.

For Aries ascendant the 6th lord, Mercury, also rules the 3rd, so in the 3rd it sits in its own other sign, Gemini. For Libra ascendant the 6th lord, Jupiter, also rules the 3rd, so in the 3rd it sits in its own other sign, Sagittarius.

The Reverse: the 3rd Lord in the 6th

Where the 3rd lord sits in the 6th in the same chart as the 6th lord in the 3rd, each lord occupies the other’s sign, an exchange the texts call parivartana. That is possible for ten ascendants. For Aries (Mercury) and Libra (Jupiter) one graha rules both the 6th and the 3rd, so there is nothing to exchange.

Related

The 6th lord in each of the twelve houses is on the 6th lord page; the houses themselves on the 6th house and the 3rd house. For the method, see the 12 houses guide and astrology for beginners.