Astrology Houses
Your birth chart is as unique to you as your fingerprint. No two people have the exact same chart, and yours won’t be repeated for approximately 26,000 years!! Your birth chart, also known as your natal chart, is a snapshot of the sky at the exact moment you were born.
When we cast or draw an astrological chart, we assume that the Earth is a fixed point in the centre, and that all other cosmic bodies revolve around it once a day. The main circle of the chart is divided into 12 equal segments. One segment equals two hours out of the total 24 hours. Each segment is assigned one sign of the zodiac to represent the constellations and allow us to track the planets as they move through them.
Most people will know what their “Star Sign” is. The correct name for this is your Sun Sign, as it is the zodiac sign that the Sun was in at the time you were born. The Moon and other planets are also contained in the chart according to the sign they were in.
The most personal point in your chart is your Rising Sign, or Ascendant. This is the zodiac sign that was on the eastern horizon at the time and place you were born. This changes roughly every two hours due to the Earth’s rotation.
Natal charts are also divided into twelve sections called "houses," which indicate the different areas of interest and activity in your life. How those houses are divided up depends on the house system used and will be the focus of this week’s blog.
There are at least eight major house systems in use throughout the world. No given house system is better than another, only different. Astrologers select the systems which they feel work best for them and for their clients. They also select systems which best suit the kinds of astrology they practice, giving them the desired interpretive results.
I will explain the two that I use and why. They both result in the same Ascendant but have different Midheavens and house cusps. The different systems won’t change the zodiac sign that the planets are in, but they change the house that they fall in. This will lead to different interpretations of your Natal chart depending on which house system is used.
If you are unsure which system is best for you, try both, or try one of the other house systems, and see which produces the most reliable results. That's the best house system for you. And if you don’t know what time you were born, then I would stick to the Whole House system.
The Placidian system is named after its 17th-century inventor, Placidus de Titus. It is used by at least 80% of astrologers in the United States because it is the most widely known system, and its house tables are readily available in most areas.
Placidus systems result in the Ascendant always being on the cusp of the first house. The Midheaven is always the cusp of the tenth house. Placidus is an "unequal" house system, which can result in interceptions. An interception occurs when two opposite signs are each on the cusp of two houses, while another two opposite signs are not on any house cusps at all and are instead inside of houses with neighbouring signs on their cusps.
I use this system for planning because I feel it is the most accurate. It is also the most complicated, as you need to know the degrees. Which is fine if you are using Astrology software, but maybe not so great when you are trying to do it off the top of your head. In these cases, I use the Whole, or Equal, house system.
The Whole House system is just what its name implies. All the houses have the same degree on each cusp, and there are no interceptions. This system is the most popular one in use outside of the United States. Each house has only one zodiac sign to represent it, so all you need to know is your Rising sign to know which house a particular planet is in at the time. If you don’t know your exact time of birth, then you can use your Sun Sign instead.
Your Rising sign dictates the flow of the houses as it rules your first house. The other signs then follow with the houses going counter-clockwise. So if you are an Aries Rising, then Taurus will rule your 2nd house, Gemini your 3rd, Cancer your 4th etc. If you are a Libra Rising, then Scorpio will rule your 2nd house, Sagittarius your 3rd, Capricorn your 4th etc.
Houses relate to everyday activities; the first to personality, the second to possessions, and so on. A planet or planets placed in a particular house affects the area of life represented by that house in a manner typical of the planet. Remember, the Planet tells you what, the Sign tells you how, and the House tells you where.
The houses are grouped by type: Angular, Succedent and Cadent. The 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses are the most significant and powerful because they are the Angular Houses. These are the houses where the angles of the chart are, which represent some of the key issues in life, like your Ascendant and Midheaven. The houses that follow, the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th, are the Succedent Houses. These houses bring stability and substance to your life. The final houses, the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th, are the Cadent Houses and they bridge the gap between the Angular and Succedent houses. The Cadent Houses are where we find flexibility to bring balance and structure.
The First House - your appearance and how you come across to the world.
This is the house where your Ascendant is and is where your identity and self-projection are found. This is all about your self-awareness, how you see yourself and how you present yourself to the world. This house is about discovering who you are.
The Second House - cash, property and possessions.
This house is about what you own, your wealth and how you earn money. It is also concerned with the value you place on things. Once you have discovered who you are in the first house, the second house looks at what you value and what you need.
The Third House - communications, short trips, how you express yourself and learn.
Following the first two houses, the house of communication is about how you ask for the things you need. This is an expansion of the first two houses and is your self-expression and educational foundation. This is how we learn and form friendships.
The Fourth House - home and family, where you come from and where feels like home.
This house sits at the base of your natal chart, forming the foundations of your life. It represents your home, family, stability and roots. This is where we begin to find our place in the world and develop our own security. As an Angular house, it starts a new quadrant and builds on the first three houses.
The Fifth House - fun house, romance, pleasure, creativity and children.
This is the house of the things that you create, including children. Your self-expression is found here, your creative abilities and the things that you are good at. Romance and relationships start to form in this house. Now that you know who you are, what you value and where you come from, this house helps us to create our own life in the way that we want it.
The Sixth House - where life takes over, daily routines and health.
This house takes what we learned in the third house and builds on it so that we can manage our daily tasks. This house rules our day-to-day lives and gives us the routine and discipline we need for later on. This is where we focus on the details and the how.
The first six houses are all below the horizon and are the private houses. This is where we discover who we are, and what we need and start to carve out our own little space. Each house builds on the previous ones and when we reach the seventh house we enter the public space.
The Seventh House - love house, your most important one-to-one relationships, your partner, your ex and also your enemies.
This house determines who we are attracted to and our approach to relationships and partnerships. It isn’t just romantic love, it also covers divorce, drama, lawsuits and our connections with other people. This is a combination of the foundations laid down in the fourth house and how we see ourselves from the first house. This house is also opposite the first house so we have to find a balance between who we are and what we need, and what other people need from us.
The Eighth House - sex and money.
This house rules anything considered taboo, mostly sex, death and taxes which we are discouraged from talking about. As a public house opposite the second house, this is where your money meets other peoples. This includes inheritance and gifts, but also debt and your partner's income. This is where you will find not only your deepest and darkest desires but also your ability to heal and transform.
The Ninth House - travel, adventure, legal matters, the great cosmic quest to understand life.
Opposite the third house of communication, this house expands on our educational foundation and represents higher education. This is where we go out and explore the world. We need to find our place in it and this is where we find our restless nature and desire to learn and expand.
The Tenth House - professional life, your reputation and the mark you will leave on the world, your career and ambitions.
As the highest point in your chart, this is where we find our reputation and how the public light shines on us. This house is also opposite the fourth house of home and family and is where we find a balance between home and work life. Our career, public image and the role we play in society are represented here. It is also about the legacy you will leave behind.
The Eleventh House - your networks, what you wish for, your friends and the groups you belong to.
Not only does this house rule our friendships, but it also rules our hopes and desires. Your selfless qualities are found here, along with your innate ability to find people like you. This is the house of friendships and social groups, opposite the house of fun.
The Twelfth House - deepest, darkest and most mysterious part of your chart, your fears and your spirituality.
As the last house in our chart, this is where we lose ourselves. This is where we find our dreams, secrets and motivation. It is where we face our fears and connect with our subconscious. How you deal with loss and endings is found in this house. This is where we process everything we have learned and close a chapter.
The Moon is the quickest-moving planet in astrology and rules our emotions, moods and energy levels. When we track the Moon through our Natal Chart, we can understand our own energy levels better. When I do this, I use the Placidus system.
As a Moonologer, I use the Whole House system for New and Full Moon planning. As each House has only one sign assigned to it, you can work on each area of your life over the course of a year at each New and Full Moon.
The New Moon breathes new life into the House it is in. This is a chance for change. The Full Moon raises issues in the House it is in and brings the natural conclusion and ending to things. The daily moon will focus your mind on the House it is in. This allows us to create, plan and predict our life, using the moon.
I hope you have found this week's blog helpful. If you would like to book a Moon Reading with me to discover more about the moon in your houses, then you can do so using the button below
