Twelve areas of life
The twelve houses divide the sky around you into twelve sections, each describing an area of life. If the planets are the actors in a natal chart and the signs are the costumes, the houses are the stages. A planet in a house shows where in life that energy gets used.
Houses are counted anticlockwise from the rising sign. The first house begins at the Ascendant, the eastern horizon at your birth, and the fourth house begins at the bottom of the chart. Because houses depend on the exact time and place of birth, they are the part of a chart that changes fastest from person to person.
The twelve houses
First house: self. Body, appearance, temperament and new beginnings. It is tied to the rising sign and shows how you start things.
Second house: money and values. Income, possessions, talents and self worth. It shows what you own and what you believe is worth having.
Third house: communication. Speech, writing, siblings, neighbours, short trips and early schooling. It shows how you think and share ideas.
Fourth house: home and roots. Family, home, ancestry and the private self. It is the base of the chart and is linked with the foundations of life.
Fifth house: romance and creativity. Dating, children, play, hobbies and risk. It shows what brings you joy and self expression.
Sixth house: daily work and health. Routine, habits, service, employees, pets and the care of the body. It shows how you organize ordinary days.
Seventh house: partnership. Marriage, close partners, clients and open rivals. It sits opposite the first house and shows what you seek in others.
Eighth house: shared resources and change. Joint money, debt, inheritance, intimacy, loss and renewal. It shows how you handle what is shared and what must end.
Ninth house: learning and travel. Higher education, long journeys, belief, law and publishing. It shows how you look for meaning.
Tenth house: career and reputation. Public role, ambition, authority and achievement. The Midheaven at its start is the highest point of the chart.
Eleventh house: friends and hopes. Groups, networks, causes and long term goals. It shows who you gather with and what you hope for.
Twelfth house: rest and the unseen. Solitude, sleep, retreat, hidden matters and the unconscious. It shows what you do in private and what you may avoid noticing.
Three groups of houses
Houses fall into three groups, which show how active each one is.
Angular houses are the first, fourth, seventh and tenth. They sit on the four angles of the chart and are the most visible and active. Planets here tend to have a strong effect on life.
Succedent houses are the second, fifth, eighth and eleventh. They follow the angular houses and deal with building, resources and what you gather.
Cadent houses are the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth. They deal with learning, adjustment and preparation. Planets here often work in quieter ways.
Houses and signs together
A house gets its flavour from the sign on its edge, called the cusp. If Taurus is on the cusp of the second house, money matters are handled in a steady and cautious way. The planet that rules that sign, called the house ruler, links the house to another part of the chart. For example, if the ruler of the tenth house sits in the seventh house, career may be tied to partnerships.
How to read a house
- Note the sign on the cusp and the planet that rules it.
- List any planets inside the house. Each one brings its own theme to that area of life.
- Look at the aspects between those planets and the rest of the chart.
- Follow the house ruler to see where it connects the house with another area.
Empty houses
A house with no planets in it is not empty of meaning. It is simply quiet. Read it through the sign on the cusp and the position of the house ruler. Most charts have several houses with no planets, and that is normal.
House systems
There are several methods for drawing house boundaries. Placidus is the most common in modern Western astrology and divides houses by time, so sizes vary and are larger or smaller in high latitudes. Whole Sign gives each house exactly one sign and is popular among traditional astrologers. Equal House uses thirty degrees from the Ascendant. Koch is also used. Planets keep the same sign in all of them, and only the house they fall in may change. For this reason, if a planet is near the edge of a house, consider both readings.