This section covers the houses. The planet is the “what”, the sign is the “how”, and the house is the “where”. The horoscope divides the landscape of our lives into 12 general arenas.

We are just beginning our astrological exploration, but to anchor the material learned so far, try this exercise: Pick a planet and write a sentence that describes it and the sign and house it is in.

For example, I have Mars in Cancer in the fifth. One description could be that I express my action in a nurturing way involving both my children and creative self-expression. However, this is just the beginning, a brush stroke on a master’s canvas. The same Mars in Cancer in the fifth has many layers that deepen with its relationship to both the rest of the chart and how it is being expressed in your life at a particular moment.

First House – This is where one acts and reacts instinctually, the style one projects, or first impression made on others. Your appearance. Action in the present. Planets in this house can best be understood from both an instinctive and subjective point of view. Involves new situations and one’s presentation.

Second House – Security and survival issues and experiences. Your sense of self worth. Financial affairs. Things that give you emotional security. How you accept and define your first house sense of self relative to what you need to survive.

Third House – Your immediate environment. Experiences involving a mental awareness of oneself through learning and communicating. All forms of communication. Siblings generally and first older brother or sister, cousins, neighbors. Short trips. Early schooling. How the self in house two learns to communicate and understand/define.

Fourth House – Your home, family, roots, heritage, and deepest sense of oneself. Experiences involving an emotional awareness of oneself and one’s environment. How you were nurtured as a child. Your Father (possibly your parent of greatest influence). Summation of first three houses. Planets here help to get in touch with feelings and provide psychological support.

Fifth House – Experiences which enhance one’s sense of personal identity through creative self-expression. Children in general but specifically first child and second sibling. Romance / Fun. Pregnancy. Ego.

Sixth House – Where and how you can be of most service. Planets here help to make adjustments that will support the practical requirements of existence, and therefore also includes work. Skills. Your health and habits. Aunts and Uncles on 4th house parent’s side (usually Father). Hygiene. Unconscious mind.

Seventh House – One on one contractual relationships, most commonly marriage, but also business partnership. What you are drawn to in another. Attitudes in relationships. Second child, third sibling, grandparents, first marriage partner, public enemies. Projection. Experiences which involve embracing or rejecting another point of view.

Eighth House - Sex, death and transformation. Life changes. Support from others. Other people’s resources. Deepest merging and intimacy with another. Taxes and insurance matters. Occult. Asks "Why?"

Ninth House – Higher purpose and greater sense of meaning in your life. Your higher mind. Religion, beliefs, philosophies, law, science, higher learning and teaching. Long distance travel. Foreigners. Third child, fourth sibling, second partner, in-laws., grand parents.

Tenth House – Your status in the world usually through profession or career. Your reputation. Business and social activities. Public life. Authority. Your Mother.

Eleventh House – Groups and clubs that you identify with. Humanitarian Interests. Friendships and your attitudes towards them. Desires and dreams. Ideals. Colleagues / co-workers. Fourth child, fifth sibling, third partner, step-children, other people’s children as a clue for adopting.

Twelfth House – Your hidden strengths and weaknesses. Secrets. The subconscious mind. Institutions of confinement. Experiences that make internal changes (rarely recognized but projected outside yourself) in order to merge completely with one’s place in the world – finishing the cycle. Can also be public life and where things flow effortlessly. Aunt /Uncle from 10th house parent side, private enemies.

Return from The Houses to the Astrological Primer