What are houses in astrology?

A house in astrology is like a pizza slice. Imagine a pie cut into twelve segments – called houses. Each house is ruled by a different sign depending on the time, for example, the time of birth, which is known as the ascendant.

 Each slice of the metaphorical pizza represents an area of life, and, as the planets are scattered across the pizza (like delicious discs of pepperoni), they draw our attention to different houses – and therefore different areas to be examined…

Read more about the planets in astrology, here.

What do the houses mean in astrology?

This is where it gets interesting…

The houses in astrology define different areas of life – from relationships to career, to health and healing – everything can be found within the horoscope, and within one or more of the houses.

Here’s a quick guide…

The Houses In Astrology

The First House: My, Myself And I!

The Gate House!

The first house is the front door to the chart. 

It’s how we’re born, and is led by the ‘entry point’ in astrology – the rising sign or ascendant. The sign that occupies our first house is our mask, and this section (and the planets herein) can often say something about the way we look

The Second House: Earn, Save & Splurge…

The Farm House…

Money, earnings, income, and what we like to spend our money on resides in this house, as well as what we feel confident about – what we’d be willing to charge money for. This is the sector of self-worth, what we have, our belongings, what we might purchase to keep us in our job, our role and how we feel worthwhile, doing something of value for others. Here we earn, or are rewarded and compensated for our physical efforts.

The Third House: Connection, Communication, Kith & Kin!

The School House!

This is the house of neighbours, siblings, close friends and outlines how we relate and communicate with each other. It’s our perception, and how we connect and express ourself, with people around us. It’s also people like our mailman, immediate community and close pals – even friends made at school or University, our kindred spirits. Our cousins! 

The Fourth House: Feelings, Foundations, Family…

The Family House…

The fourth house is the area of the home, our domestic life, ancestry, family, and household – our property.

The Fifth House: Pleasure, Entertainment, Indulgence!

The Fun House!

In this house we create – it’s about procreation, recreation, sexual gratification and pleasures.

The Sixth House: Service & Support Systems…

The Work House…

This portion of the pie is practical, productive and grounded. It’s the cleaning up after the party in the 5th house! It’s how we take care of business.

The Seventh House: You, We, Not Me!

The Martial House!

This is where we encounter other people, not only a spouse or sweetheart, anyone we deal with one on one.

The Eighth House: Commit & Consolidate…

The Serious House…

This is the house where consummation occurs and trust is developed – the ingredients to sustain relationships and gain loyalty, as it’s the house that points to what’s to gain through others. It’s a balance of me vs. we with the second and eighth, so that in the 8th power dynamics are roused as we consider what others can do that benefits us. It’s the inevitabilities in life – that you must eventually rely on another to sustain yourself…

The Ninth House: Travel & Truth-Seeking!

The Frat House!

This sector of the chart points to our quest to know more, to discover knowledge through higher education, the pursuit of knowledge, travel, culture, foreign people, places and things – specialist subjects and ones own specialism. It could be akin to someone’s path as the go off to University to select a subject, or the long journey they take the year before to get in touch with who they are. Or, it can be the experiences in life that help explore them to global views. It can even be legal situations, seeking moral resolutions and a just outcome and opinion, going further for answers.

The Tenth House: Visible Vocation…

The Public House…

Publicity and the public eye includes your career, the vocational path you follow, and the title you uphold – including your marriage status and title…

The Eleventh House: Faithful Friends & Allies!

The Club House!

The eleventh house is a friendly place – a clubhouse, a place to meet peers and allies with common aspirations for humanity, and society at large. This is a zone of friends and fellowship, of networking, team spirit and group endeavours. It’s your industry or company of colleagues, your crew mates.

The Twelfth House: Secrets, Scandals & Subconscious…

The Jail House – or Haunted House…

This is the last house we explore, the sector of secrets, dreams, endings and undoing – it’s where we sleep it off! It’s also the selfless house, where we don’t think of ourselves because it’s our blind spot; therefore, like the 9th it’s a spiritual zone, in a more authentic sense. While the ninth points to our beliefs and moral conduct or spiritual frameworks to follow, the twelfth allows us to act in charitable service, and thankless tasks. We can also find enemies appear in this sector – or people we can’t see. It’s the house of healing, and unconscious – as if we’re ‘out’ in an anaesthetised state or pregnant, gestating, working on behalf of others or letting others do their work on us…