The Third House
Outside of work
and home
…do you have a third space?
…a place beyond the job and the family where you can gather and enjoy community while talking, relaxing, and learning with others outside of the responsibilities of your normal life?
We want to be able to gather in a space like that. We want to drink tea, and talk, and read the plants and stars together, and share our own stories, and tell each other secrets...
We want to experience and create culture together.
Historically, for thousands of years, the third house was the domain of the goddess…
…of ritual, of magic, of pleasure, where routine life didn’t impede wisdom so much as invite it in.
It’s in this spirit that we invite you to join The Third House, which will feature weekly salons and gatherings in the Charlottesville, VA area.
We’ll talk about herbalism, astrology, wellbeing, motherhood, and much, much more. We’re excited to see you there.
What is the Third House?
For thousands of years, “the third house” was the spiritual gathering place of the goddess, where magic arose out of the mundane, where routine life didn’t impede wisdom so much as invite in.
In twentieth-century sociology, “the third place” was the gathering place of the community, outside of the home and the workplace, where interaction wasn’t limited by the responsibilities of the family or the job so much as it was informed by a sense of curiosity and play–routine relationships elevated through the very fact of their casualness.
Both astrology’s third house and sociology’s third place provided people with informal containers for taking care of themselves in relationships with and to other like-minded people. But in our pandemic-informed, digitally enhanced, and increasingly stressful world, those places for spiritual, physical, and psychological wellbeing and camaraderie have dwindled.
Enter: The Third House, a community initiative that insists on wellbeing, self-care, and creative living through collaboration, gathering, and community events. Borrowing from its astrological and sociological predecessors, The Third House mission is to provide a gathering space outside of home and work but nonetheless in support of and insisting on the importance of finding magic, inspiration, and even divinity within the routines of our daily lives.
Like the “house of the goddess” as described by fifth-century spiritual texts or the “the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals” as described by sociologist Ray Oldenberg in 1989, The Third House fosters a rehabilitation of the mind-body-other split by promoting an ethics of sharing, creating space, and gathering together in a spirit of anticipation, learning, and devotion.
The Third House offerings include recurring weekly meetups for residents of Charlottesville and the surrounding areas who are interested in community building at the intersection of spirituality, wellbeing, and creativity. Our first round of salons, workshops, reading groups, and open-mic nights will center on themes of herbalism, esoteric and divinatory learning, artistic practice, and self-care education. Join us for the opportunity to gather, befriend, learn, create, share, and receive feedback and support for all of your creative, spiritual, healthcare, and entrepreneurial endeavors.
