Astrology 101: The Houses Part 2
Welcome to the Houses Part 2! Read part one here. Remember that the houses are the where in the chart, they discuss the different areas of our life and where things take place when the planets move through the house. The signs describes the décor, style, or personality of that house.
With this next part, we will do more comparison with the earlier houses, as the house opposite describes the contrast or opposing sector of our life.
The Seventh House – Setting
The seventh house sits opposite to first. While the first house describes the individual, what they are like and who they are, the seventh house describes the other people in the person’s life. This includes aspects like one-on-one partnerships, relationships, and people who are closely involved within our life. This usually doesn’t include family, but people outside that role that the individual is still very close with. These relationships can be both personal, romantic, or even close business partnerships.
The Sun rises in the first house, then sets in the seventh house, which is why it’s called the Setting place. Death of a partner or someone equally close to the individual may be found in the seventh house, similar to the way the Sun’s light “dies” or disappears during sunset. The seventh house was also traditionally associated with hidden matters of the body or other health issues that one may not see or know about. This may be because it sits opposite to the house that describes our health and visible body.
The Eighth House – Idle
The house following the seventh is known as the Idle place, representing things that are stagnant, slow, or immoveable in our lives. This may be because it is hidden from the first house or ascendant, and often represents things that can’t be seen or aren’t happening in the individual’s lives by their own works.
The eighth house sits across the second house and follows the seventh house, house of partnerships, and therefore often relates to our partner’s money, finances, and wealth that they bring into the relationship. Anything to do with our partner’s resources and whatever finances they provide to us, or take from us, may be found in the eighth house. This also includes business collaborations, those who work with other people’s money, loans, mortgages, inheritances, and taxes.
The eighth house in more modern times is associated with death and dying, or the connection to death. This may reference back to the traditional meaning of it being an idle place. If one is not moving, or living, one is idle and therefore the meaning of death or losing something of importance may be found in the eighth house.
The Ninth House – God
The ninth house is named the place of God, which sits opposite to the third house, or the house of Goddess. The Sun holds its joy in this house, perhaps representing God versus the Moon and Goddess. Here we also find religious observations, but instead of a daily or weekly ritual, it represents more of a pilgrimage or traveling to a holy area across the world. The ninth house overall rules long distance travel, typically overseas or to faraway places, as well as traveling or exploring new cultures and new beliefs. Similarly, the Sun rules over our spirit and beliefs, which are all found in the ninth house.
High religious leaders such as Priests and Priestess are found in the ninth house, as well as teachers or those who seek to expand their mind and knowledge through higher education and philosophy. Professors, educators, and philosophers as well as well as astrologers are traditionally found in the ninth house. Places of higher education, colleges, and universities are also represented in the ninth, while the third tends to rule over primary education and early childhood learning.
The Tenth House – Midheaven
The highest part of the chart is known as the Midheaven as it rules over the middle of the day where the Sun is at its peak. Therefore, this represents the individual’s career and public roles in the world, or where one is at its highest point in society. Here we find the place of success and how we are seen in the world. The tenth house answers the question “what do you do?” Even if an individual doesn’t hold a physical or typical job, they still hold roles in the public and community around them, and that’s what the tenth house is all about.
As the tenth house sits opposite to the fourth, it represents all the things we tend to share directly with the world. It rules over how you present yourself to society, and most importantly, how people know you in the public. The tenth house doesn’t necessarily have to align with who you are, but it is how people who you aren’t close to know you to be. Traditionally this house holds high honor and good luck, depending on the planets are placed here. Kings, leaders, and in more modern times, managers and people who rule over other people may be found in the tenth house. Overall, it’s your career, and your public roles at work.
The Eleventh House – Good Spirit
The house of Good Spirit holds the joy of Jupiter and represents our larger communities and overall friend groups we surround ourselves with. Both the fifth and eleventh are ruled by benefics and represent areas of enjoyment and fun in our lives, but in different ways. Venus and the fifth house rule over the joys of body, and how we create for ourselves (Fortune) while Jupiter and the eleventh house rule over the joys of the mind, how we have fun and expand our mind and knowledge with others, especially with friends and people that we share ideas with (Spirit).
Anything to do with our groups of friends that we surround ourselves with and overall community present in our lives is represented by the eleventh house. Going out with friends to fun adventures or catching up and exchanging ideas are all present in this area of our chart. Expanding our mind through communication and community, as well getting out in our larger environment, is all represented here. This house is also traditionally known as the place of good luck, where we may experience luck or joys in our life from uncertain or unexplained circumstances.
The Twelfth House – Bad Spirit
Finally, the twelfth house is known as the house of Bad Spirit and Saturn rejoices in this house. Similar to above, Mars holds its joy in the sixth house which is all about the body and the health of the body (Fortune) while Saturn rejoices in the twelfth which rules over our mental health and our hidden spaces within our mind (Spirit). This house rules the inner workings of our mind, what we cultivate there, and how we heal internally. It represents spirituality, and what we believe to be true for ourselves.
Physically, the twelfth house represents places of isolation and healing when harm is done to the body and mind. This includes hospitals, mental health institutions, as well as those systems that rule over the less fortunate including prisons and jails. Anything that holds someone apart from the outer world, either voluntary like a solo trip to an isolated place, or involuntary, is ruled by the twelfth house.
It’s traditionally called the Bad Spirit because this is often the house of misfortune and bad luck, as well as enemies. Years when the twelfth house is activated may bring those that try to undermine you or cause ill-will, enemies or those that mean harm. This is also the house of self-undoing, where we may undermine ourselves and bring about misfortune due to our own choices and direction, either intentionally or unintentionally.
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