The Third House is when a child begins to communicate and question the ideas and concepts and workings of the world. At around three years old a child seems to ask the question 'Why ?' to their parents to just about everything they see and experience. They are taking in the knowledge of the world around them which they will need when they are older. The Third House in an Air House and the element of Air is to do with ideas. This House is naturally ruled by and parallels the sign of Gemini. This is a sign that is concerned with knowledge and the transfer of ideas. To a Gemini everythying is endlessly fascinating. Why do people do that ? What does this mean ? How does this work ? These are all ideas and questions that relate to the Third House and Gemini. Around this time the child begins Nursery and starts to formally begin to learn, up until now he was just free to emerge and form his identity. The Third House is therefore also about the early schooling process and the acquisition of knowledge.
The Third House is about all forms of local communication. As we will see it's opposite House the Ninth is more concerned with long distance travel and global understanding of concepts and ideas. The Third House is however more concerned with it's immediate environment. Brothers and Sisters, relatives and neighbours and short journeys , schooling and daily life all come under the jurisdiction of the Third House.
Planets in the Third House show us how we communicate with our immediate environment. They show us what our attitude and abilities towards acquiring knowledge are.
With Mercury in the Third House the person will be a great communicator and will probably never stop talking and asking questions and reading books and hankering after more and more knowledge. With Saturn in the Third House a persons early schooling may be slow and they may find communication difficult. They may even have a stutter or a lisp or only talk later than all the other children. Ultimately though they may be an authority in communicating ideas but only after much effort and overcoming of hardship and difficulties.