The houses of the horoscope show us WHERE a life event is likely to take place (or took place). Since this is important for a useful astrological interpretation, we need to have a reliable birth time to establish the correct Ascendant (also called the Rising Sign).
The Astrological Horoscope (also known as a birth/natal chart or astrological chart) contains 12 houses, each spanning 30 degrees, which totals 360 degrees to give us a circle. Picture yourself wherever you are on Earth looking up into the night sky seeing the vast expanse of our little part of the universe. If you trace an imaginary circle around what you can see from your vantage point, you will be able to roughly place constellations within it.
A useful, if imperfect, blueprint
The horoscope is a human-designed paradigm and is not an accurate reflection of the astronomical constellations, of which there are more than 12 and each of varying sizes (not the handy 30 degrees used in the chart). The reason our astrological elders thousands of years ago arrived at 12 houses of 30 degrees is due to observing the regular dance of the Sun and the Moon – the same thing that gave us a 12 month calendar and a 24-hour day marked by two cycles of 12 hours!
The phases of the Moon from New (or Dark) to Full (or Bright) and back to New again mark the timing of the movement of the Earth as it orbits the Sun. After roughly 12 lunar phases, we have revolved once around the Sun, giving us a year. This phenomenon could be observed at the same time as the various constellations appeared prominently in the sky at different times of the year, marking the seasons and giving them a particular quality related to the constellation.
Tropical or Sidereal Zodiac?
The Tropical Zodiac is based on the seasons, with each Cardinal point marked by the movement (tropos is Greek for turning or moving) of the Sun over the ecliptic, the projected or imagined line created by the predictable orbits of the Earth and its Moon around the Sun.
The Sidereal Zodiac used in South Asia is based on the foundation of the Tropical calculations, but is anchored to the (inaccurately named) “Fixed” Stars that centuries ago were determined to be the beginning of a sign. Because the universe is constantly evolving and there are no truly fixed objects in space, there is a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes visible from our fast-moving Earth. This results in the starting point of the Zodiac – Zero degrees of Aries – shifting roughly 23 degrees behind that of the Tropical measures taken from the observable path of the Sun moving towards or away from the Tropics of Cancer or Capricorn each year.
The Sidereal Zodiac must be used to calculate Nakshatras, or lunar mansions, which give us rich details describing a person’s life, character and work. After years of experimenting with both systems, and observing how my life is reflected in the astrology, I prefer to use the Tropical Zodiac to establish the natal horoscope. The Sidereal Zodiac is also perfectly valid and the planetary aspects within a chart that tell us so much about a person’s nature and life do not change regardless of Zodiac system used.
How do we find the First House of the Horoscope?
The sign on the ascendant is where we find the First House of the Zodiac. This applies regardless of which Zodiac you use (Tropical or Sidereal) or which type of chart you use: Whole Sign House system – which I prefer – or the Equal House system, or Quadrant charts like Porphyry, Placidus, or Koch.
Note that the order of Signs never changes! So, if you have Libra rising, the next house will be Scorpio and so on until you get to the 12th sign in the sequence – in this case, the sign of Virgo.
Whole Sign or Quadrant Houses?
Whole Sign houses start at the beginning of whichever sign is on the Ascendant, and contain the Ascendant degree WITHIN that house. The next sign will always be the Second House, and so on through the 12 houses in this system. So, if you are born on the day and in the geographical region the Sun was rising at 15 degrees of a particular sign, this point – your exact Ascendant degree – will be contained within your first house. The second house nonetheless begins at Zero degrees of the subsequent sign.
Quadrant houses start counting the First House from the exact degree of the Ascendant, so if we use our example of 15 degrees of a particular sign then your First House will begin at that point, and the previous 14 degrees will be within the 12th House. Unlike in the Whole Sign House system though, the Equal House System will start from 15 degrees then continue to create 12 Equal (-sized) Houses of 30 degrees, all of which will start at 15 degrees of their respective signs.
Different again – and a bit more confusing in the beginning – are the Quadrant Houses. These depend on the exact degree of the Ascendant to start the First House of the Horoscope, as well as the latitude and longitude of the birth or event location to determine the span of a House. This size of each house changes dramatically depending on whether you were born near the Equator – where each house would be roughly 30 degrees – or near the North Pole – where some houses would be tiny and others massive, as is the case with my friends and clients from Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia!
A personal preference for Whole Sign Houses
It is partly because of these huge differences in house size among some of my clients that I switched away from Quadrant Houses (I learned astrology through Placidus and then Whole Sign Houses when starting to learn Jyotish). This allowed me to give clearer and more useful chart interpretations as well as a better understanding of the astrological transits that are so important to helping a person understand their past, present, and future experiences.
The Meaning of the Astrological Houses
This is an incomplete list of keywords – the symbolic meaning of the Astrological Houses – to provide a general understanding of your own chart or an astrological interpretation.
1st House – Your Self
Keywords: Physical body, stature of body, basic constitution, ego, personality, appearance, self, character, entrance into the world, birth, head.
2nd House – What Supports You
Keywords: Early childhood, domestic life, food or substances consumed, drinking habits, education, wealth, money, voice (quality of voice), speech, face, teeth, neck, vision in general, right eye in particular.
3rd House – Willpower, Skills, & Communications
Keywords: Courage, life force, arts of all kinds, theater, directors, painting, drawing, music, writing, sports, travel, hobbies, father in law, younger siblings, sibling rivalry, basic education, success through personal efforts, initiative, motivation, adventures, competition, sales, voice (manner of expression), all forms of communication, hearing in general and the right ear in particular, hands, shoulders, arms, and lungs.
4th House – Emotions & Security
Keywords: All fixed assets, real estate, home, land and agriculture, the masses, state of mind, happiness, passions, emotions, matters of the heart, sense of security or vulnerability, the soul, the past, lineage, heredity and genes, mother, breast, chest, physical heart.
5th House – Creative Expression
Keywords: True intelligence, children, all aspects of pregnancy, creativity, good karma received in this lifetime, sense of destiny, morals, pleasure, romance, falling in love, fun, speculation and gambling, entertainment, sports, generosity, spiritual rituals, rulers and leaders, heart.
6th House – Health & Obstacles
Keywords: Everyday work, schedules and habits, pets, employees, service, improvement, fitness, debts, lawsuits, challenges from competitors or enemies, thieves and robberies, police, military, attacks, accidents, acute illnesses, disease, medical profession, intestines.
7th House – Commitments & Partnerships
Keywords: Relationships, marriage, business partnerships, contractual agreements, sexual passions, ego dissolution, courts, opponents, divorce, impotency, desire, kidneys.
8th House – Fears, Occult, Taboo, & Transformation
Keywords: Death, transformations, change, surrender, control and manipulation, power struggles, mafia, underworld, dark side, secrets, investigation and private investigators, uncovering the truth, research, metaphysics, astrology, obsessions, disgrace, scandals, bankruptcy, obstacles, misfortunes, accidents, surgery, life span, inheritances, money from others, monetary gains from partner, spiritual practices, intuition, psychic abilities, chronic and long-term sickness, sexual diseases, reproductive organs, elimination organs.
9th House – Knowledge & Wisdom
Keywords: Spirituality, religion, beliefs, philosophies, gurus, father, dharma, god, fortune, luck, long journeys, foreigners, foreign places, pilgrimages or spiritual quests, teaching, teachers, places of higher learning, publications, law and lawyers, astrology and astrologers, hips and thighs.
10th House – Social Status & Career
Keywords: Career, ambition, achievement, social position, personal influence, fame, honour, sense of purpose, government, authority figures, leaders, bosses, knees.
11th House – Hopes & Dreams
Keywords: Great gains, attainment of desires, gains from profession, wealth, wealthy and powerful people, social recognition and rewards, large sums of money, money from personal ventures, friends, acquaintances, groups, organizations, society and social networks, humanitarians, humanity, aspirations, eldest sibling, left ear, ankles.
12th House – Escape & Endings
Keywords: Loss, suffering, final liberation, sleep, death, endings, confinement (such as prison), hospitals, spiritual liberation, detachment, forgiveness, places of retirement and escape, ashrams and retreat centres, films, distant lands and people, self-undoing, self-sabotage, addictions, escapism, misfortune, secret enemies, expenditures, charities, comforts/pleasures of the bed, watery places, sea or ocean, outer space, the unseen, feet, left eye.
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