Astrology, Plain & Simple: The Only Book You'll Ever Need - Cass Jackson, Janie Jackson (2016)

Chapter 7. Houses of the Zodiac

When a birth chart is constructed, the ascendant is placed on the left-hand side, at a “9 o'clock” position. The chart is divided from this point into twelve parts of 30 degrees each (remember, there are 360 degrees in a circle). These parts are numbered counterclockwise from 1 to 12.

These twelve divisions are known as the “houses of the zodiac” or the “astrological houses.” They are the same for every chart, with the first house starting from the first degree of the ascendant. The houses themselves do not have names; they are referred to simply by their number. Each of the first six houses (1 through 6) relate to you personally as an individual. The last six houses (7 through 12) are associated with your attitude toward others.

The houses never move; only the planets and signs move around the zodiac. As such, it is more than likely that a zodiac sign can spread across two houses. The lines that mark the divisions between the houses are called the house cusps. Even if the majority of the house is in a different sign from the cusp, the sign that the cusp occupies must not be ignored, because it is important.

Regardless of the movement of the zodiac through the houses, each house has a “natural” association with both a sign of the zodiac and a planet. These correspondences are listed in the table on page 97. The reason this natural placement is important is that it relates to what astrologers call “weak” and “strong” placements. The natural sign for the first house is Aries. If you are an Aries, and Aries was passing through the first house at the time of your birth, then this is a strong placement for you.

Each house relates to a specific department of human life and indicates in which area the energies of the signs and will operate. The planets represent what the energy is, the signs represent how that energy will be used, and the house represents where that energy will manifest.

First House

This is the most important house of the zodiac, since it is here that your ascendant is found. Your first house indicates your outward personality, your ego, and your physical and mental health. Your physical appearance will also be revealed here, the attributes depending on the sign on the cusp of this house. The first house also has a bearing on how you will act and react toward others. Any planet that is found in the first house will have an especially strong influence on your character. As we have mentioned in the section on Rising Sign, the planet found nearest the cusp (edge) of the first house is known as your rising sign or ascendant, and will have an especially powerful effect on you.

Second House

The second house represents whatever you hold dear in life. It covers financial affairs, your possessions, and your personal resources. Your capacity for earning, the accumulation of worldly goods, and how you spend your money are also represented here. Your thinking in this sector will tend to be more about tangibles than about principles or theories. At a deeper level, the second house relates to your attitude toward your partner—do you see your partner as a possession? Do you need emotional safety as much as financial security? The answers to these questions will be shown by the sign on the cusp of this house and any planets it contains.

Third House

This house is associated with your immediate environment and the way you communicate within it. Thus, the third house is concerned with your day-to-day contacts—family members such as siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (but not parents), your casual acquaintances, and your neighbors and friends. The third house is also associated with your attitude toward these relationships and your need to communicate with the people involved. Thus it covers all forms of correspondence as well as personal contact. It also covers short journeys—to visit and communicate with your contacts—and self-expression.

Fourth House

The fourth house represents your home as your private base. It also represents your parents and any property that you may own. You may imagine the fourth house as being the womb. Here there is security, protection, your physical base, privacy, and a strong connection with your mother. Allied to this are the circumstances in which you grew up and your reaction to childhood experiences. Here is your inner world and what is hidden from others.

Fifth House

The fifth house deals with creative expression and the recreational aspects of your life. It has much to do with your relationship with your children and with your father. On the recreational side, the fifth house is connected to the pleasure you take in games, gambling (including financial speculation), and the performing arts. Sports, too, are connected with this house, especially risky ventures such as skydiving, bungee jumping, and white-water rafting. Leisure and holidays are represented by the fifth house, as are your attitudes toward your teachers, colleagues, advisors, and guru. This house doesn't concern open, marriage-type relationships, or even a long-term affair in which money, business, goods, and resources are shared; this house relates to the fun type of love affair that exists only for itself.

Sixth House

This house covers health matters, your career, and your service to others. It concerns your health, hygiene, and general well-being, especially as regards your bodily functions. Connected with these, and included here, are your diet and the exercise you do to maintain good health. Your health may also be affected by your habits, which are also associated with the sixth house. Any planets in this house will indicate where you may encounter problems or find opportunities in your working relationships This is also the house of self analysis; you will examine your obligations and attitude toward your partner, employees, employer, colleagues, and subordinates through your daily work.

Seventh House

The seventh house is all about one-on-one relationships; it concerns the kind of partner you are likely to attract. The seventh house covers your associations on all emotional and professional levels, including your attitude toward your children. The sign on the cusp of the seventh house will give some indication of your emotional makeup as it relates to both your personal and your business life. This includes your attitude toward marriage and your potential rapport with any business partners. The seventh house also governs contracts, agreements, and covenants. Any planets in this house will give some indication of what type of partnership is going to be important to you. Bear in mind that the first house, which is opposite the seventh, is all about you; this house is about relating to others. This house will also reveal the qualities that you refuse to accept in yourself and yet project onto others.

Eighth House

Just as the second house is concerned with your money and possessions, the eighth house, which is opposite the second, is about how you deal with money gained from others by legacies or bequests. It also involves fiscal issues that are outside your control, such as taxes and banks. This house concerns your financial abilities and the way that you deal with money shared with your partner or anyone else closely connected to you. The eighth house is very much concerned with your deepest emotions, your anxieties and traumas, as well as your (usually hidden) bedroom emotions—your attitude toward sexual intimacy. It can show the kind of sexual preferences that you have; for example, the eighth house in Taurus or Libra would show you to be attracted by good looks. The eighth house in Sagittarius might make foreigners or those who have a great sense of humor irresistible to you. On a deeper level, this house is associated with your attitude toward the cycle of birth, life, death, and the afterlife.

Ninth House

If distant lands and foreign cultures attract you, then you probably have some strong placements in your ninth house. While the third house was about your immediate environment, the ninth house, opposite the third, is about expansion through travel and wider experience. Higher education of any kind, but particularly philosophy, law, or religion, is associated with this house. This could lead to your spiritual expansion and thence to the development of any psychic abilities that you may potentially have. It is all about learning who you really are, the meaning of life, and the development of your ideals. The ninth house concerns profound mental states and is connected with publishing, literature, and the law. It is also about the dream state and, through your dreams, is connected with prophecy and foresight.

Tenth House

While the fourth house was about your private life, the tenth house concerns your outer life—status and position in life. It may relate to your career, but it could equally concern your social standing, wealth, or class. It shows how you strive to establish yourself in the community and how the world views your position. The sign on the cusp of this house will indicate your aspirations and the vocation you are liable to pursue in order to reach your goal. This far-reaching connection is associated with your professional achievement and its bearing on your social responsibilities. Here your personal aims and ambitions are highlighted, plus the effects that parental expectations have had on them. However, just as the tenth house is about your achievements in the public domain, it also concerns any scandal or public disgrace that may befall you.

Eleventh House

This is the house of friendships and group activities and is related to your need for social and intellectual security. The relationships you form here will be strictly platonic, made on an idealistic, intellectual basis. From this will spring your search for your own social conscience and life objectives. These ideals will reflect your hopes and wishes for the future, not only for yourself but also for the benefit of the community as a whole. The eleventh house also highlights your need for a secure social life, and the way in which you will work with other people. Your original, innovative ideas will lead you to identify with an organization rather than with any one individual. Cynics might call this the “let's all get together and save the whale” house, but it can just as easily relate to the group you meet every Saturday night for gossip and a night out on the town.

Twelfth House

The twelfth house covers all that is hard to understand and therefore difficult to explain. Within the twelfth house is every one of those secrets that you carry with you throughout your life (consciously or subconsciously), the secrets that you never reveal—and which may be at the root of any psychological problems. This is the house of mystery, and you may be drawn to conspiracies, intrigues, and romantic liaisons. It is linked to prisons, hospitals, and institutions of all kinds. The need for solitude and deep contemplation is stressed, and there is also a danger of self-deception. This is sometimes seen as a house of limitation, and some kind of sacrifice may be indicated. Only by facing restrictions experienced, and seeking to understand their cause, can the individual learn to deal with them.

This house has some peculiar connections. For instance, many politicians have planets here, as it seems to represent the strategist who can plan things in his head or with an inner circle, and then make them happen. It also has connections with music and art, although these activities might be part the need to escape that this house represents.