House (astrology)
Most astrological systems divide the chart into twelve houses, which depend more on the time and place of birth (or initiation) than on the date. To calculate the houses of a chart it is necessary to know the exact time of birth. If the time of birth is unknown some astrologers will assume a birth at noon or sunrise, but an meaningful interpretation of such a chart cannot be expected.The houses are departments of life, and have some correspondence with their natural sign, i.e. the first house has a natural affinity with the first sign, Aries, and so on.
In quadrant systems houses are classified as angular (1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th), succeedent (2nd, 5th, 8th, and 11th), and cadent (3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th). Angular houses represent the potential for action, succeedent houses give stability and purpose, cadent houses are communicative and enable change or adaptation.
| Table of contents |
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2 Signification 3 House systems
3.1 Placidus
4 External links3.2 Equal 3.3 Whole 3.4 Regiomontanus 3.5 Meridian 3.6 Campanus 3.7 Porphyry 3.8 Koch 3.9 Topocentric |
Each house is ruled by the planet that rules the sign on its cusp. The placement of this planet in the chart will have at least as much influence as the chart as the planets within the house. The traditional rulerships are as follows: Aries (Mars), Taurus (Venus), Gemini (Mercury), Cancer (Moon), Leo (Sun), Virgo (Mercury), Libra (Venus), Scorpio (Mars, but now also Pluto), Sagittarius (Jupiter), Capricorn (Saturn), Aquarius (Saturn, but now also Uranus), Pisces (Jupiter, but now also Neptune).
There are many ways to divide the ecliptic into twelve houses. In most systems, the ascendant (eastern horizon) marks the beginning (cusp) of the first house and the descendant (western horizon) marks the cusp of the seventh house. In addition, quadrant systems (i.e. most systems except Equal House) use the midheaven (MC) as the cusp of the tenth house and the imum coeli (IC) as the cusp of the fourth house.
Most quadrant systems fail or exaggerate the house sizes when a chart is drawn for a location in extreme northern or southern latitudes, but since these births are comparatively rare, this does not seem to worry most astrologers.
The most commonly used house system in Western astrology. There seems to be no particular reason for its popularity except that calculation tables have always been easily available. The system is based on a division of time rather than space as in most other systems. The times taken for each degree of the ecliptic to rise from the IC to the ascendant, and from the ascendant to the MC, are trisected to determine the cusps of houses 2, 3, 11, and 12. The cusps of houses 8, 9, 5 and 6 are opposite these.
The Placidus system is defined only for latitudes between 66ðN and 66ðS.
The ecliptic is divided into twelve divisions of 30 degrees each. As long as there is an ascendant, twelve equal houses can be measured from it, so this system works for all locations although there will be anomalies in charts for locations within the polar circles.
In the whole house system, the houses are also 30ð each, but the instead of beginning at the ascendant, fist house begins at zero degrees of the zodiac sign in which the ascendant falls. In other words, each house is wholely filled by one sign. This is the system used in jyotish (vedic astrology).
The celestial equator is divided into twelve, and these divisions are projected on to the ecliptic along great circles that take in the north and south points on the horizon.
Similar to the above, except that the east point is taken as the ascendant.
The prime vertical (the great circle taking in the zenith and east point on the horizon) is divided into twelve, and these divisions are projected on to the ecliptic along great circles that takes in the north and south points on the horizon.
Each quadrant of the ecliptic is divided into three equal parts.
A rather more complicated version of the Placidus system. Like it, the Koch system is defined only for latitudes between 66ðN and 66ðS.
This is a recent system that its creators claim to have been determined empirically, i.e. by observing events in people's lives and assessing the geometry of a house system that would fit. The house cusps are always within a degree of those given in the Placidus system, which would seem to corroborate that system. The geometry is somewhat complicated and the reader is referred to [this site].Rulership
Signification
House systems
Placidus
Equal
Whole
Regiomontanus
Meridian
Campanus
Porphyry
Koch
Topocentric