Houses in the Birth Chart
A happy new week, fam! Can you believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone? Now we’re staring down the glittery + sugary barrel of the Christmas season—although, I’ve been personally celebrating Christmas since closing out my Samhain (Halloween) festivities.
Whether you’re just now getting in the holiday spirit, have been indulging for the past month, or do not celebrate any holidays in the month of December, I wanted to kick the final sprint of 2020 off with an astrologically themed holiday marathon: The 12 Days of Houses.
In my last post, I summarized how to access + read your own Birth Chart and use your North + South Nodes as a compass for navigating growth in your lifetime. I don’t know about you, but my first foray into analyzing my Birth Chart was overwhelming and confusing. I wound up leaving with a base knowledge on my Sun + Moon + Rising Signs (great basics), but avoided the “Houses” all together. What confused me the most about the Houses was that there were Zodiac Signs AND Planets AND Degrees—meaning layered on meaning on top of more meaning… yum.
If you feel the same about the Houses, then this blog is exactly where you’re meant to be right now. If you have a basic understanding of the Houses in the Birth Chart, then think of this as a go-to summary for key themes in each House.
so what are the houses?
“A birth chart is divided into 12 divisions called Houses. Each represents specific areas of life and psychological function such as health, marriage, and career. They are fixed in a fixed order—the First House always begins on the horizon line where the sky meets the Earth. But the size of each house will vary, unlike the signs, which are always equal sizes of 30 degrees each.”
Star power - vanessa montgomery
As I mentioned earlier, each House is ruled by a specific Planet / Zodiac Sign, and each placement of your own Planets within your Houses applies a new layer of meaning to that House and that Planet. There can be multiple Planets residing in one House or a House can be void of Planets but it will still have a Zodiac Sign on its cusp. Yeah, it’s a lot to understand at first and I am personally a newbie to the Houses myself.
We beginner astrologers / initial enthusiasts can stick together this holiday season. Below, I’ve put together a CliffsNotes-style Birth Chart House beginners guide. For each house, we’ll be covering the Planet / Zodiac sign and the major themes at play within them.
Yes, there’s placements in your Birth Chart that tailor these major themes specifically to your ‘character arc’ in life, and I encourage the further investigation of your Birth Chart to benefit from that information. But first, it’ll help to have a general understanding of each House before getting granular + personal with it.
Remember to look back on my previous post mentioned about beginning astrology + finding your Birth Chart before diving in to the rest of this post. Now let’s get into the 12 Days of Houses!
the 1st house
I AM
Ruled by Mars - Aries
The Zodiac Sign on the cusp of your First House is your Ascendant (or Rising Sign). This sign and this First House represent the ‘self.’ The Rising Sign is the Zodiac Sign that fell on the horizon line where the earth and the sky meet at the time of birth, and that position is measured at a specific degree—a topic + layer of the Chart not required for a general understanding of the Houses, though further study is encouraged as we learn how to read the Chart.
So your First House is a mask, a first impression, a “brand” of sorts. It is a layer of self which does not signify the deeper complexity of who you are, but serves as an exterior sense of self which you project to others.
the 2nd house
i have
ruled by venus - taurus
This is where we find what we value, our material possessions, our relationship to the things we own and that which we value: finances, personal belongings, material possessions.
We find self worth—the literal feeling of having a material worth—here as well.
the third house
i think
ruled by mercury - gemini
Here we see our lighter, earlier education in life—grade school, essentially. We find short term travel: how you navigate + operate in your immediate neighborhood + community.
We also find your communication style and your way of thinking in all aspects: speaking, thinking, texting, writing…any expression of self through the spoken + written word.
the fourth house
i feel
ruled by the moon - cancer
The Fourth House is rooted in home. This is where we find the “lowest point” of the Birth Chart—the IC (which will be labeled in the Chart). The sign on your Fourth House cups is the IC.
Here we find your early development in the context of your home life, your parents, your programming, and your experiences before teenage-hood.
Activity (planets) in the Fourth govern your relationship to your family, your home, your ancestry, and any current home you reside in—yea, even the 2 bedroom with the bad roommate and the shifty landlord can be identified by the Fourth House.
the fifth house
I will
ruled by the sun - leo
This house is sexy—literally, we find sex / playful hookups here. We also find joyful creativity, procreation, the general act of making things and the fun we have doing so! Think of playful creation through sex, art, and the body.
the sixth house
i analyze
ruled by mercury - virgo
The Sixth House contains work… that day-to-day stuff. It’s not overall career or life purpose, just the job / labor that gets you cash in exchange—which could be your purpose, could not be. We also find daily habits in the realm of your health, routines, maintenance of self / your home / your duties, etc.
These aspects of your life are the mundane, but necessary, tasks you fulfill on a daily basis, think of physical health, tidiness, errands, routines.
the seventh house
i balance
ruled by venus - libra
The Zodiac Sign on the cusp of your Seventh House is your Descendant, and is opposite to your Ascendant found in the First House. Where the First House governed ‘self,’ the Seventh governs our relationship to ‘other.’
This governs your relationship to relationships, and not the more shallow ones. These relationships are the deep and emotionally invested ones: romantic / platonic soul mates, chosen family, even your enemies. This is where intimacy and partnership and your feelings about both of those things reside.
the eighth house
i desire
ruled by pluto - scorpio
The Eighth House opposes the Second House—the home of material worth / values. Conversely, the Eighth House rules your relationship with other peoples material value: debts, inheritances, combined finances, taxes… all of the resources you receive from others—including inherited + ancestral issues + programming.
Inheritance can also mean psychic content as well, and the secrets / taboo things that you tend to keep private: sex, money, even your poop.
the ninth house
i see
ruled by jupiter - sagittarius
The Ninth House opposes the Third House, which governs your short term travels + grade school learning. In the Ninth House, we find expansive travel both in a physical + spiritual sense.
Here, we find long-distance adventures, the pursuit of higher education, and the practice of a religion (or any spiritual practice) in terms of seeking soul / emotional expansion.
the tenth house
i use
ruled by saturn - capricorn
The Tenth House is in opposition to the Fourth House—governs all that home life value stuff. On the cusp of the Tenth you find the Midheaven, MC, which is the Zodiac Sign that indicates your life objectives.
This house is centered in bigger life purpose, your ‘career,’ your public reputation, your pursuit of external and measurable success: how you want to be known for all of these things.
the eleventh house
i know
ruled by uranus - aquarius
The Eleventh House is opposite the Fifth House—joyful creation. The Eleventh House governs your tribes, your friends, and your capacity for friendship.
We also find goals here, but not the lofty life purpose Tenth House goals, more like the goals surrounding how / what you participate in groups + communities (social interests, humanitarianism, organizations, friend groups, light dating, etc.)
the twelfth house
i believe
ruled by neptune - pisces
The Twelfth House is in opposition to the Sixth House—physical + daily health / habits / mundane life. The Twelfth governs the health of your mental + subconscious landscape. Here we find the shadow work: the deep programs put into your subconscious mind before the age of seven.
This is a spiritual governance as well, where we see ourselves going inward, the daydreaming, the buried traumas, our literal sleep data, our most inner and private life.
I hope this post works as an effective overview of understanding the major themes / influences of the 12 Houses in your Birth Chart! Drop me a DM on Insta or comment below what area of the Birth Chart or Astrology Basic you’d like me to touch on next. Until then, I wish you luck on your new journey of cosmic self-discovery.
I encourage you to dive into this practice with an open mind and a desire to grow, you’re gonna kick ass going into 2021!
beginner study resources
my birth chart basics series
PODCASTS
BOOKS
Astrology for Real Relationships: Understanding You, Me, and How We All Get Along
Jessica Lanyadoo
Vanessa Montgomery