HousesHouse Activity and Emphasis
Astrologers agree that astrology is first of all the study of the angular relationships between the planets themselves. But this planetary framework is seen to shift and modify itself as the planets slowly move across the backdrop of the signs, the so-called 'fixed stars' which make up the zodiac. As the earth turns daily on its axis, the planets and signs appear to move across our field of vision through what astrologers have termed 'houses'. The sun rises at dawn and can be seen on the eastern horizon, or first house cusp, or ascendant. It reaches 'midheaven' at noon, and sinks below the western horizon at the descendant.
Like the twelve signs of the zodiac, the twelve houses of the horoscope can be viewed as stages in a complete cycle: From the initial thrust of Aries and the first house, to the maximum entropy symbolised in Pisces and the 12th house. They provide clues as to which areas of your life can be given special attention and used depending on the signs and planets residing there. Here is an analysis of the house activity in your chart based on sign and planet emphasis. As you read along, keep in mind that each house represents a department of life, and the sign falling on each house cusp indicates the mode of action applied to the affairs of that house. In other words, the sign on each house cusp, along with any planet(s) contained therein, shows how one deals with the conditions of that house.
The First House
The first house, also called the ascendant or rising sign, is a dharma house and connected with motivation and our approach to life. It also has to do with how we come across to others, thus our appearance and how we make a first impression. The ascendant is the essential stuff that bubbles up in us spontaneously - what is obvious to others as our trademark look or approach. The first house shows our ability to be recognised, how we make a directed effort, and how we exert our will. Cultivate the strategies of this part of your chart to move forward in life.
Libra on the 1st House Cusp
Libra energy is always responsive and conciliating, assuming the appropriate reaction or delicately-weighted strategic response to any question or statement. What is sometimes seen as two-faced is only Libra's facility at responding to each in kind, giving both sides equal consideration. This is certainly the social sign, par excellence. Impersonal and impartial, this sign doles out only what is demanded - nothing overdone, but nothing neglected.
The Second House
The second house is connected with matters of wealth; how we respond to, enjoy and get in harmony with our surroundings. This is how we hold or acquire things (possessions, material goods, money, and other resources), and how we gain material support and sustenance. The second house refers to how we secure ourselves, how we make a firm foundation, as well as the kind of response we get from life and those around us. Therefore it has much to say about our material rewards.
Scorpio on the 2nd House Cusp
Scorpio is intense, passionate, and very personal. It rushes past superficialities and right to the heart of any matter. A loyal friend but a fanatic foe, this sign does well in politics and all areas where someone who dares is rewarded. Associated with sexual energy, Scorpio loves to get involved, going down deeper, coming up dirtier, and laying bare anything that lies hidden there.
Pluto in the 2nd House
You have a strong need to establish yourself in financial and material terms, so much so, that you may develop extreme attitudes towards wealth. Money can be seen as power, and its possession increases your options in life. You may have experienced extremes of wealth and hardship, with subsequent periods of anxiety and panic. You could be a terrific business person, as you have an ability to get past the surface of things and separate out that which has real worth, though financial problems are always possible through unwise speculations.
The Third House
The third house shows how we make connections and communicate with the world. This is where we draw parallels, make comparisons, and sort through it all. A very mental house, it is concerned with finding, gathering, all manner of questioning, articulation and conversation. In short, it symbolises the functions of the rational mind - linking observations and ideas, and using them to our advantage.
Sagittarius on the 3rd House Cusp
Sagittarius is nothing if not direct, candid, and to the point, for this sign is always concerned with the absolute truth of the subject at hand. Associated with philosophy, outreach and all things boundless, Sagittarian energy is always welcome in politics as well as social and community endeavors where its basic fairness and expansiveness is helpful.
Sun in the 3rd House
Motivated by the need to learn and communicate, you may achieve some recognition as a speaker, writer, teacher or thinker. The affairs of your immediate surroundings are of interest to you and you could hold responsible positions within your community. Your neighbors and relatives tend to respect you. A sibling could be quite well-known or important to your career advancement.
Venus in the 3rd House
In love, you are attracted to people who stimulate you intellectually and engage you in good conversation. You have a love of the arts, music, theater, literature and poetry. Charming in your dealings with people, you desire peaceful relations with others and will go to great lengths to avoid arguments and disharmony. Relationships with your relatives and neighbors tend generally to be good.
Saturn in the 3rd House
You are a deep and contemplative thinker, who is capable of profound thought and mental concentration. Your good reasoning powers may demonstrate an ability for scientific thought or mathematics. However, you could lack intellectual confidence or experience disruptions in your education. You are a serious person with little interest in idle chatter or light conversation, so relations, especially with siblings or neighbors, can be strained at times. You are very determined and deliberate when it comes to mental work and could make an excellent researcher or scientist.
Uranus in the 3rd House
An original thinker and communicator, you have the ability for outlining progressive and revolutionary ideas, or weird and eccentric ones. Your schooling may have been unusual in some way, or possibly interrupted. You have a low threshold for boredom and require ample intellectual stimulation. Modern technologies, scientific breakthroughs, and all that is new and exciting, interest you. Your relationships with relatives and neighbors are rarely dull.
The Fourth House
The fourth house is a very emotional house, concerned with matters of comfort and security. Here is how we create the right conditions, the matrix or womb, in which our desires can flourish; the climate necessary for things to grow. It's about receptivity, nurturing and all the self-protective measures we take to ensure a secure base of operations. This is why the fourth house is related to the mothers, all 'mothering' functions, domestic issues and feeling 'at home'.
Capricorn on the 4th House Cusp
Capricorn is the business head of the zodiac, for it is the very opposite of the emotional Cancer. Given to clear ambition and practical insight and vision, this sign always takes a distanced perspective and a cool appraisal. Deliberate and painstaking, sometimes to the point of austerity, Capricorn loves work and the hard-earned results. Status and material reward are very important.
Mercury in the 4th House
Your thoughts are often focused on your home and family life. Your home is likely to be a center of activity and learning, and possibly also your place of work. It is likely too that your parents are well-educated, or at least appreciate the value of a good education. You have an excellent memory for past experiences, and have a keen interest in history. Under certain circumstances, you may lead a peripatetic lifestyle and frequently change your abode, or maintain more than one place of residence.
Neptune in the 4th House
You may find it difficult to put down roots, or there could be some uncertainty concerning your family history or ancestry. Difficulties with a parent are possible; perhaps there is substance abuse or alcoholism in the family. Your later life could be spent within a spiritual environment. If possible, you should try to live near water, as this is soothing and comforting to you.
The Fifth House
The fifth house, another dharma or 'life purpose' house, has to do with creativity and warm out-going self-expression. Here is where we find our originality and flair, enthusiasm, and even pride in ourselves, building confidence and self-esteem. This is the life area of personal sovereignty, where we begin to recognise and appreciate our own dynamic and playful nature. All forms of creative expression (including love affairs and offspring) are connected with this house.
Aquarius on the 5th House Cusp
Aquarius, the sign of humanitarian goals and altruism. Always impartial and nonsectarian, Aquarian energy is communal (even global). The focus is on the goal, and the goal is always one that is for the many and not the few. Thus this sign is connected to far-seeing visions, world views and group work of all kinds. This sign tends towards coolness, independence.
The Sixth House
The sixth house is the house of physical efficiency. Here we separate the wheat from the chaff; get a sense for what is useful, what is not, and make the best of it. This is the life stage of 'apprenticeship', where we make a connection between mind and matter, adapt ourselves to a situation and then seek to improve upon it. Hence the connection of the sixth house with routine; 'practice makes perfect'. The sixth house shows how well we handle the details of life - our ability to solve problems and get our way.
Pisces on the 6th House Cusp
Pisces energy runs deep and toward the mystical -- whatever transcends the everyday world. This sign is understanding, patient and compassionate. Super-sensitive, it tends to absorb it's surroundings like a sponge. The sign is very trusting, accepting and giving of itself for the sake of more important issues. It loves free-ranging activities which allow for some imaginative scope.
The Seventh House
The seventh house, the descendant - opposite of the ascendant - is connected with partnerships, relationships and 'significant others'. Here is where we learn to strike a balance - the art of give and take. All that carries us beyond our personal self (and into an awareness of contradictory or complementary points of view) is symbolised by the seventh house. This is where we respond to the personal needs of others. Therefore marriage and union (yoga) are indicated by this house, as well as one's ability to respond to a marriage partner.
Aries on the 7th House Cusp
Aries is the sign of pioneers, leaders and 'firsts'. It is impulsive, assertive and spontaneous. It tends to act first, only thinking about what it may have done later. Rushing in where others fear to tread, Aries energy is attention-getting and always provokes a response from the surroundings and from others. It takes decisive action and loves self-reliance.
Mars in the 7th House
You are drawn to active, energetic and enthusiastic people. You like to take part in team activities or projects together with a partner. Direct and competitive in your relationships, you need a partner that can stand up to you, someone you can spar with, as quarrels and disagreements are frequent in your personal unions. Other people can annoy or irritate you if they interfere in your life, or insist on organizing you against your will. You are outgoing and sociable, and tend to make and break contacts quickly and impulsively.
The Eighth House
The eighth house is the house of first-hand transformative experiences and situations - those areas of life that we may not care to face, but we must face sooner or later... the so-called 'inevitables' of life, such as death and taxes. The eighth is also concerned with catharsis; the getting rid of excess parts of ourselves that we no longer need. This house covers initiations of all kinds, as well as activities where we find ourselves transformed toward a more integral position. Thus it also covers any jointly held resources, their problems and their benefits.
Taurus on the 8th House Cusp
Taurus is about drawing on the bounty of the earth, and seeking material security and physical safety there. It is the on-going, enduring, unchanging and preserving element. Hightened sensory input is also important, for it is the mission of this sign to not only find a sense of place within the material realm, but to enjoy it to the fullest, becoming physically aware of, and bonding with the environment.
Jupiter in the 8th House
You have a talent for dealing with other people's money and resources, and may be very successful as a financial adviser, stockbroker or accountant. You may also benefit personally from legacies or inheritances. Your personal or professional partner may be wealthy, lucky with money or financially clever and resourceful. Career moves may depend upon you taking care of business and getting down to the practical. First-hand sensitive issues and matters of 'life and death' may also be an important part of your life path.
The Ninth House
The ninth house shows where we are willing to go beyond our everyday experience in search of meaning. Traditionally the house of 'long journeys', the ninth house is where we take journeys both of the body and the mind. Philosophy, beliefs, speculation, opinions and how we form them all belong to this house. Any time we reach out, explore new territory, or align our activities with something bigger, we are operating in the realm of the ninth house. Along with Jupiter's position, here is where we can attract luck by keeping open and receptive to opportunities.
Gemini on the 9th House Cusp
Gemini is concerned with connections, communication and logic -- voice, thoughts, writing, and rational mental processes in general. It is also concerned with making comparisons, 'twins' and duplications of all kinds. Gemini is the communicator, the gossip of the zodiac, the collector of trivia. Gemini energy is unattached, independent, very inquisitive and changable.
The Tenth House
The tenth house, commonly called the midheaven, is the house of success and glory, practical vision and achieving a public distinction. Therefore one's reputation and career are often connected with this house. The sign on the tenth house cusp, as well as any planets located therein, show how we can strive to be a benefit to - as well as how we can benefit from - society. The tenth house is about having a goal in life and the self-determination to reach it. Here is how we can 'live our calling' and become self-piloting individuals.
Cancer on the 10th House Cusp
Cancer is the mother of the zodiac, always making a home, protecting and providing a foundation for others. A sensitive sign where feelings and real experience count more than cold logic, it doesn't get any more physical and emotional than this. Cancer energy is always nurturing, sensitive, tender and moody. It feeds on emotional comforts, and often has a strong attachment to the past and ancestry.
The Eleventh House
The eleventh house is where we put our visions and dreams to work for others. The most future-oriented of the houses, the eleventh shows our hopes and dreams, and the opportunities we may have to reach them; how we can turn our dreams into reality. Therefore this house has always been connected with altruistic and humanitarian goals, as well as having the self-authorisation to set them in motion. Inventive and unusual, eleventh house activities often break from conformity, establishing new and unprecedented states of being.
Leo on the 11th House Cusp
Leo energy is expressive, vital and exuberant. Often very artistic, and always theatrical and dramatic, this is the sign of creativity and the arts. Warm and big-hearted, Leo lives in full appreciation and celebration of the finer elements of life, bringing a dynamism and enthusiasm to everything it touches. This is the fearless 'becoming' stage, where things are done for their own sake, playfully and with pleasure.
Moon in the 11th House
You have an emotional need to establish friendships and to belong to groups or clubs. Socially active, you will form many contacts throughout the course of your life, especially with women. Some attachments you form will be more lasting than others, but you always have one or two friends that you consider to be almost part of the family. You are highly sensitive to the needs of your friends, but also sensitive to the treatment you receive from them.
The Twelfth House
The twelfth house is where consciousness dawns - the house of the rising Sun. This is the indeterminate state - the chaos before the new impulse - where all is yet unfulfilled potentialities. Traditionally this is the house of 'sacrifice', and is often connected with prisons, betrayal and self-undoing. Although we can choose to become trapped and frustrated by the many obstructions to attaining our dreams, we can also choose to reach outward and upward to a more fulfilled state, transcending the usual down-dragging conditions and rising above difficulties - thus establishing a life nearer our ideal. Here in the twelfth house we have the capacity to attain liberation by using our visionary scope and working creatively with life's intangibles - the power of imagination!
Virgo on the 12th House Cusp
Virgo energy is analytical and precise, always separating out what is worthwhile and worth supporting from that which is outmoded and of no further use. A mental earth sign, here the mind takes control over matter. This is the sign of 'ways and means', implementation, instrumentation, physical effectiveness and efficiency. Virgo energy is always facilitating, often caring more for others than for itself.
Explanations and results courtesy of:
http://www.chaosastrology.net/freeastrologyreports.cfm