The 12 houses
If signs are the costumes and planets are the actors, the houses are the rooms. Twelve life areas, twelve places the action happens.
An astrological house is a slice of the sky as seen from your exact birth location and time — which is why birth time matters so much for chart accuracy. Each house governs a domain of life. Planets that fall in a given house take on that life-area's flavor. The houses below are listed in their natural order (1st through 12th); your personal chart shuffles which signs sit at which house cusp.
- 1stFirst House
Self, body, first impressions
The mask the world sees first. The Ascendant is the cusp of the 1st house.
- 2ndSecond House
Money, possessions, self-worth
What you own and what you're worth — material and otherwise.
- 3rdThird House
Communication, siblings, short trips
How you think, talk and learn. The local-environment house.
- 4thFourth House
Home, family, roots
Where you come from. The most private house. IC is the cusp.
- 5thFifth House
Creativity, romance, children, play
What you make for the joy of making. Plus love affairs and kids.
- 6thSixth House
Work, health, daily routine
The job (not the career — that's the 10th), the body, the routine.
- 7thSeventh House
Partnership, marriage, open enemies
The Descendant. The committed Other. Marriage. Business partners. Open opponents.
- 8thEighth House
Transformation, sex, shared resources
Death, rebirth, sex, joint finances. The depth house.
- 9thNinth House
Travel, philosophy, higher education, religion
The big-picture mind. Long-distance travel, philosophy, foreign places.
- 10thTenth House
Career, reputation, public self
The Midheaven. What you're known for. Career as identity.
- 11thEleventh House
Friends, groups, hopes
The collective house. Friends, networks, future plans.
- 12thTwelfth House
Subconscious, hidden, dissolution
The dream house. Subconscious, isolation, what's buried. Most mystical.