An Introduction to the Astrological Houses
Did you know that every relationship you have or will EVER have is found in your horoscope?
Well, they are!
Your parents are found in your chart, your love relationships, your pet, your doctor, your educators, your friends, your siblings, and even that ONE person you wish wouldn’t be in your chart is THERE. IF you didn’t know this, then this lesson is definitely for you!
In my last teaching series of Astro 101, I explained the astrological signs. We learned about astrological gender, elements, and the modalities that form the 12 signs of the zodiac. In this series, we will explore the astrological houses which will help prepare us for our study of the planets.
If you do not have a copy of your chart, you can get one for free by using the application widget on my site. In addition, I have created an extensive tutorial to help you understand how to read your chart so that you can learn all the various bits and pieces that combine to make up YOU.
The Astrological Houses
I remember when I first started studying astrology (1984) that I found astrological houses confusing. At that time there were few resources a teenage boy could get in upstate New York – just the random books that could be found in the library. I understood the signs as they were descriptors of how the planet is going to perform; yet, the houses were baffling to me. Eventually, I took a high school psychology and learned about projection. Then the houses began to make more sense to me. The houses were areas of our life and our relationship with the outer world from the front porch of our Ascendant (imagine yourself sitting in a chair at your Ascendant look out at the rest of the houses). So, every house has an innate expectation that we have projected upon in since birth.
Claire Martin in her book, “Mapping the Psyche” has a wonderful quote about the difference between houses and signs. She says:
“The signs dictate a temporal cycle and the houses describes a spatial cycle, the two systems can be superimposed upon each other because, in astrology, every cycle has the same intrinsic meaning.”
Simply put, the signs are seasonal in nature, and they occur simply because the earth moves around the Sun and is measured in 30 degree increments. The Sun begins its each year (beginning of spring) in the sign of Aries and ends each year in the sign of Pisces (end of winter). On the psychological level, the sun moving through the signs reflects birth-growth-death-rebirth cycle that is inherent in the seasons and all of life.
The houses, on the other hand, develop spatially because of relationships. In the 1st house one develops self-awareness in relationship to themselves, the 2nd house we develop a relationship to money, and around the wheel we go creating relationships with individuals and groups until we experience our larger relationship with the collective in the 12th house. Additionally, since the houses reflect our relationships with others, they are reflections of who we are ourselves since we will project the contents of our personal chart onto the people around us. The purpose of astrology is to bring our projections back home to the Ascendant, which makes us more well-rounded individuals.
Astrological House Cheat Sheet:
Here is a quick list of the astrological houses and the relationships that exist within them. Of course, I will go through them more thoroughly but this gives you a jumping off point to start playing with your own houses.
| 1st house | Relationship to ourselves and the immediate environment |
| 2nd house | Relationship to our money, values, possessions, and body |
| 3rd house | Relationship to siblings, neighbors, teachers, and ideas |
| 4th house | Relationship to father, family, and early environment |
| 5th house | Relationship to children, love affairs, pleasures, gambling, and risk taking |
| 6th house | Relationship to work, co-workers, day to day life, routine, health, and pets |
| 7th house | Relationship to marriage, spouses, partnerships, and open enemies |
| 8th house | Relationship to sex, death, and shared resources |
| 9th house | Relationship to travel, higher education, God, religious or spiritual ideas, adventures, and finding a sense of meaning in life |
| 10th house | Relationship to mother, the public, our career, and our boss |
| 11th house | Relationship to friends, colleagues, collective society, and political idealisms |
| 12th house | Relationship to the collective unconscious, dreams, myths, ancestors, and the hidden worlds. |
Homework Assignment:
On a piece of paper making a list from 1-12. Write down the sign on each of the houses and any planet that may be in the house. This will give you a bit more grounding in your own chart and an idea of what to look for interpreting your own houses in the sections to come.
Next Lesson: Chart Orientation
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