Hello, hello,
How are you doing?
Today we're going to learn about the houses in astrology. So make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, perhaps grab a cookie, and put on your study glasses.
If by any chance, you'd rather watch than read, I've made a video version of this post:
In astrology, the houses are super important because they’re what gives meaning to the birth chart. Like I said in my tutorial on how to read a birth chart, they’re the very first step in a reading.
In case you’re feeling confused right now because you’re a total beginner in astrology and you don’t know what those houses are… here’s a birth chart.
As you can see, it’s divided into the 12 zodiac signs, which are represented on the outside, but also into 12 houses, which are numbered in the very inside of the birth chart in grey.
While the zodiac signs will always be of equal size, the sizes of the houses will vary depending on the house system you use.
The division of the houses depend on various astronomical points and theoretical considerations, and not all astrologers agree, hence the plethora of house systems you've probably heard of such as Placidus, Koch or Regiomantanus.
This might not be the most interesting thing to learn about when you're a beginner astrologer :p
Oh, and by the way this birth chart above belongs to the filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. I recommend the movie Rashomon if you're not familiar with his work. It's slow paced, but intense and pretty mesmerizing.
Okay, back to the houses,.
Each house covers a bunch of topics. Like one’s about your family (the 4th house or 3rd house for extended family), one about your religion or lack of religion (hello the 9th house), there’s even one for your pet (if they’re small it’s the 6th, if they’re big, like a horse, it’s the 12th).
Astrologers really thought about everything.
Those 12 houses are supposed to be able to cover any possible experience in the world. Pretty wild, huh?
Okay, just one thing before we dive in. I’m more of a traditional astrologer (with a healthy dose of psychological astrology), so if you’re used to modern astrology you might be a little surprised.
The 12 Houses: their core meanings
1. First House
That’s you! In a physical but also mental and even spiritual level. It’s the whole of who you are. Your body, constitution, kind of your health too. Your personality and what makes you, you, even if you become a totally different person from when you were a baby to a granny.
It’s that core you or your soul.
2. Second House
The second house is below the first one, and in that sense it’s the house that supports you. It’s your physical belongings, your money, your resources. This house often indicates how you make a living.
3. Third House
This house can seem pretty random, but there are actually ‘good’ reasons for each of the meanings in it, that I sadly don’t have the time to cover here.
The third house is your living environment or your neighborhood. It’s the daily places you go to, that local coffee shop, your everyday commute, the park next to your house.
It’s also the kind of info that you consume everyday, like newspapers, podcasts, Instagram.
The third house is tied to learning, and especially ‘small’ learning. Like elementary school, up to middle or high school.
It’s really the house of all the small daily stuff. It covers private spirituality or religion. Like people who do moon rituals, that’s the 3rd house. Or if you’re religious and you pray or read a few pages of a sacred text everyday, that’s 3rd house too.
But it’s not the big Sunday meeting at the temple or the church with all your community.
Finally it’s also any siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins, all that kind of extended family, biological, chosen or given,. But not your parents or grandparents, because that’s the 4th house.
4. Fourth House
The 4th house is deeply tied to your roots. It’s your home, your land, your parents, your ancestry. It’s also connected to your childhood, in the sense that your childhood has a huge impact, it’s almost like the whole foundation, of who you are now.
The 4th house can also talk about farming, agriculture or extracting riches from the earth. It's the idea of the earth, the soil, the ground.
This house has a lot of depth to it, on a psychological level. It symbolizes the beginning of all things, but also their end. In the sense that each death is tied to a birth, it’s the end of a generation and the start of a new one, always.
The 4th house carries this sense of time and old age, of decay but also rejuvenation. It’s the compost house : D
5. Fifth House
The 5th house is all about pleasure and beauty.
It will cover anything you enjoy doing, like the arts, sports, parties or any hobbies. Also sweet things like fashion and good food. The 5th house is all about good times. It will also include romance and sex, if you enjoy that kind of thing.
Oh, and also children. If you have kids or if there are kids in your life, they’ll be in that house.
6. Sixth House
The 6th house is all the stuff you have to do in life to maintain a certain quality of life. Not to improve, but to maintain.
Like cleaning your flat, drinking some water, moving or stretching your body, putting some gas in the car. All those stupid actions that you’ll have to repeat until the end of your life, hoho.
For that reason it also includes any job you’re doing just to pay the bills.
The 6th house also represents the people who work for you. So any employees if you have a business, or if you have a gardener, or even if you have to call the plumber, that’s 6th house stuff.
The 6th house is also tied to health, and in particular health problems, injuries, accidents. Yes, I know, it’s really a fun house. Also people whose job is to take care of the health of others, like nurses, doctors and care givers are also in that house.
7. Seventh House
The house of any one-on-one relationship you have. Especially your special someone, be them a lover, a partner or a friend, as long as there is a strong level of intimacy and commitment.
This can also include your business partner, if you have only on. Not like the business partners of the CEO of big cat company.
If you do one-on-one consultations, like if your a therapist, a coach or an astrologer, the 7th house includes your clients.
8. Eighth House
You’ll love this one. The 8th house is about loans, debts, taxes, all the money that belongs to other people. It also includes will, legacies and inheritances, so in the long run it can still end up being your money.
On a more psychological level, the 8h house is tied to loss and any fear or anxiety we have around loss and death. It can also speak to any expectations from society, family or culture that weight on us.
9. Ninth House
The 9th house is easier to understand if you contrast it with the 3rd house. The 3rd house is about the small and daily and familiar, while the 9th house is about the big and occasional or unusual.
The 3rd house is your daily commute and small travels. The 9th house is about journeys and foreign places. It’s about higher education, like, yeah it’s often more of a big deal to start a PHD than to start middle school.
More generally, the 9th house is characterized by the desire to widen your knowledge and experience. It’s about your values, beliefs, your philosophy of life. About spirituality and religion. About the wider framework of life.
Divination, astrology and tarot are in the 9th house, because those practices strive to understand more in a systematic way.
10. Tenth House
The 10th house is the house high up. It's the one at the very top of the birth chart.
It’s how you are seen by others. It's your role in society or what you are know for. Usually that coincides with what you do everyday, like your job or if you’re a house parent (is that a word /-_-/ ?).
But it can also be something you do more occasionally. Like you maybe you’re known for being a musician even if you only play during the weekends.
11. Eleventh House
The 11th house is the house of your people. It's the larger groups and communities you belong to.
You might not know everyone in there intimately, but it’s the people who share the same beliefs, values and identity as you. It’s the people who’ll help you and encourage you to express this part of your identity.
Traditionally, the 11th house is tied to ambition, dreams and hopes. It’s a lucky house.
12. Twelfth House
The 12th house is hidden because it’s just above the 1st house, you, so that you can’t see it. It represents all hidden matters, things that are hard to deal with directly and that are complicated.
That’s why it’s often connected to unconscious mental patterns, any negative self-talk and false beliefs that you have and that are kind of heavy and restrictive.
It's a place away from the sun where it's hard to see clearly what's happening. And if things aren't clear, we usually don't deal with them and even if we want to, it's messy and hard.
More generally, the 12 house covers any sorrows, fears and troubles of the mind. It’s tied to melancholy and depression. Ah, the 12 house sure is a special house.
And no, if you have a planet there, it doesn't automatically mean that you're depressed and blabla. That's just one of it's general meanings.
It also traditionally rules places of isolation, or where you’re disconnected from ‘everyday life’, such as prisons and hospitals. But we can also think about retreats, or you know a Hermit vibe.
Conclusion
Cheers to you for making it that far!
That was a lot of information. Now if you want to know what to actually do with all this, you can check out my post on how to read your own birth chart by yourself.
If that felt like too much info, I’ve made a booklet where I summarize the meaning of each houses. I also cover the zodiac signs and the planets, plus I give an example of a birth chart reading, so it’s a great place to start if you want to get more serious with astrology.
And here's a little summary of the houses' meanings ♪
Stay wise and all that jazz.
Cheers,
Jin the Wizard
thunder and coffee