The Houses – The Where

The houses are perhaps the most hotly debated aspect of astrology with wide divides concerning what house rules what.  Over the years, astrologers have cut out, added in, mixed up, and switched over different houses until it’s just a big confusing mess of who said what when and why.  These houses are basically just pieces of the sky that have been differentiated from one another based on a combination of physical objects and mathematical calculations.  Six houses are over the horizon and are said to be “over the Earth”, you can ‘see’ these six houses by just looking up at the sky.  The other six houses are under the horizon and thus ‘beneath the Earth’, you can ‘see’ these houses by just looking down along the ground.  As the Earth rotates throughout its 24 hour day, the houses and what is inside of them changes.

The houses are generally thought of as ‘the where’, in other words, it’s the houses that show where in our lives (such as in what area) the planets express themselves.  Now there are particular Signs and planets that have similarities with the houses and have been assigned by traditional astrology as co-significators and by modern astrology as rulers.  Traditional astrology takes the Signs all the way through the Zodiacal wheel (Aries-Pisces) and matches them up with the house number that corresponds with the Sign’s number (Aries is the first Sign, so first house, Taurus is the second Sign, so the Second house, etc.).  Then for planets, Traditional astrology starts with Saturn and works in a pattern getting closer to Earth: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury Luna, and then it repeats to fill in the remaining houses.  Modern astrology, on the other hand, uses the X=Y=Z mentality in which First house=Aries=Mars, Second house=Taurus=Venus, etc.  With no real arguments behind it except that the planet rules that Sign, so should also rule that house.

There are twelve houses, but only six house lines as they reach across the entirety of the sky.  So, the lines for opposite houses are really just two ends of the same line.  For example, let’s say the Second house line is on the 17° Sagittarius, well, by default, their Eighth house line would be 17° Gemini, as Sagittarius and Gemini are on the opposite end of the Zodiac from one another.

Also, there is another way of grouping the houses together by the three distinct types of houses there are; Angular, Succeedant, and Cadent.  Angular houses are the First, Fourth, Seventh, and Tenth, these houses form around actual physical objects and form the basic skeleton of the entire house wheel from which the other houses are calculated from.  Succeedant houses are those that come off of the Angles, so the Second (coming off the First), the Fifth (coming off the Fourth), the Eighth (coming off the Second), and the Eleventh (coming off the Tenth).  Finally, Cadent houses are said to be the weakest and come off of the Succeedant houses: so the Third (coming off of the Second), the Sixth (coming off of the Fifth), the Ninth (coming off of the Eighth), and the Twelfth (coming off of the Eleventh).

Some houses are more fortunate or more powerful than others, this system is based off of a combination of astrological associations and astronomical positioning.  The order of house powers goes like this:  First, Tenth, Seventh, Fourth, Eleventh, Fifth, Ninth, Third, Second, Eighth, Sixth, Twelfth.  The First house takes the place as the most powerful house because any planet based here is on its way up, it can only climb higher in the sky.  The Tenth house comes in second place; this planet here is on top of the world, but unfortunately will only fall from here.  Seventh follows as the third most powerful, any planet here is still above the Earth, but soon will sink beneath it and be unseen in the sky.  The Fourth house is in fourth place as an Angular house, but the planet is at its lowest possible point.  The Succeedant Eleventh house follows as fifth place due to it being the house of good fortune and benefactors.  Half-way through, the Fifth house is the house of fun and enjoyment, and so serves as the sixth most powerful or fortunate house.  The seventh most powerful house is the Ninth, as a Cadent house which employs the higher mind and philosophy.  Eighth most powerful is the Third, again as a Cadent house, but one that shows those we generally enjoy being around, our family and our comfort zone of our local environment.  The Second house is judged as being the ninth most powerful house as not only does it represent our material gain and values, but also it represents our partners’ deaths, which is not so good.  The Eighth, Sixth, and Twelfth houses are all unfortunate, relating to death, disease, and hidden enemies respectively, add into it that two of this trio are Cadent houses and it’s no wonder they’re judged as the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth most powerful houses.