Mars in the second house of a composite chart indicates a relationship in which the mutual ego expression revolves around acquiring things, though not necessarily around holding on to them. Robert Hand makes that second clause part of the definition rather than an afterthought.
The second house is the house of resources, both material and psychological. Mars there means that joint self expression is achieved through property, possessions and money.
What This Placement Describes
The basic principle of Mars, in Hand's account, is the ego drive, the energy by which a person sustains a sense of being an individual toward the world and toward other people. In a composite chart it signifies the ability to create an environment where both people can express themselves fully without threatening each other. He allows that some conflict is inevitable and says conflict as such should not be suppressed, but that the ego drives have to be basically compatible or nothing can be accomplished.
The composite second house refers to values, meaning what the two people value and their relationship to what is valued. Hand says this works on two planes: the role that value systems play in forming the relationship, and whatever finances and property exist between the two. Not every relationship involves common property, in which case only the first plane applies. He also notes that in a composite all finances are joint finances, because you cannot clearly distinguish which person is which.
Mars in this house therefore puts the drive to be somebody into the area of what the relationship owns and what it holds worth owning.
How It Tends To Play Out
Hand describes a particular relationship with resources here. There is a tendency to be reckless with them, spending money too quickly or taking chances with possessions. He characterises the motive rather than just the behaviour: it is as if the two glory in being able to do whatever they want with what they own.
His instruction is to make the energy deliberate. Plan very carefully how to achieve what you want, he says, and be very sure to do something with what you have, because that is what the position signifies. Mars here is not built for accumulation left sitting. It is built for resources put into motion.
He adds the intellectual sense of the second house as well. Whatever the two people's value systems are, they should have a conscious understanding of them.
The Opposite House
Hand's paired house rule comes from the mechanics of the composite. Two midpoints exist for any pair of planets, and although the nearer one is used, the farther one keeps some effect, an effect that increases as the two natal positions approach opposition. So a second house Mars should also be read through the eighth, and where the two natal Mars positions are near opposition, reading both is essential rather than optional.
The eighth is the house of joint resources and of major transformations, the passing away of an old order and the building of a new one. Hand's reading of Mars there describes ego expression that forces the two to look for new insights into how they live, along with the same warning about conflict over money and property and a matching instruction not to identify too strongly with possessions. Since Hand already says the second and eighth cannot be cleanly separated in a composite where finances are concerned, this axis is a close one. Read together, the second is what the two acquire and the eighth is what acquiring changes in them.
Hand gives no threshold for when the second reading takes over and no method for blending the two. Both stand.
Where It Gets Difficult
Hand is direct about the pressure point. The two have to agree on what to do with their mutual possessions. If they cannot agree, there could be serious disputes over property, possessions and finances.
He then states the stakes plainly. Even if the relationship is otherwise satisfactory, the way the two handle money and possessions could be a serious threat to the harmony between them. That is a strong claim and it is worth taking at face value: this is an area that can undermine a relationship that is working elsewhere. His advice is to come to some understanding about it as early as possible.
The second risk is depletion. Even where the two do agree, he says they should be careful what they do with their resources, or they may find that the resources they needed in order to accomplish something have disappeared. The recklessness is not malicious and it is not a sign that anything is wrong between them. It is the shape the energy takes when nobody has decided where it goes.
The house sets the issue. Whether the energy around resources runs smoothly or abrasively is described by the aspects to Mars, which is a separate question.
Recommended Reading
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- Robert Hand, Planets in Composite: Analyzing Human Relationships (1975), chapter nine.
- Robert Hand, Planets in Composite: Analyzing Human Relationships (1975), chapter four, on the composite second house and the paired house rule.
Continue Learning
Next: Composite Chart Placements and How to Read a Composite Chart.