This is a book about the astrological houses. There are many books that describe the meanings of the houses. Every comprehensive text on astrology has a section devoted to the houses, and there are books that deal specifically with the subject. What makes this book unique?
Most books on the astrological houses begin with the premise that every house placement has the same level of importance. That is simply not the case. The house placement of a planet—let’s say Venus, Mercury, or Pluto—is part of a story that is also dependent on the sign, relative strength, and aspects of that planet. Other factors, such as the house that planet rules, add to that story. Depending on how that story fits into the totality of the horoscope, the planet’s house position might be a major factor in the reading of the horoscope or might be pushed to the background. This will vary from chart to chart.
The house placement of the Sun is different. It too is part of a larger story that contains all of the factors I previously listed, but the Sun is also the primary arbiter of our identity, our vitality, and our sense of self. Its influence sets the stage for everything else that is happening in the horoscope. We know this to be true of the sign occupied by the Sun. It is no less the case with the house. Just as the sign occupied by the Sun in your horoscope is your sign, the house occupied by the Sun is your house. It is the place where you were meant to shine. Understanding the house placement of your Sun answers the question of what you were really meant to do in this life. It describes your mission.
Part One of this book is devoted to describing the house positions of the Sun. I don’t just recite the traditional symbolism assigned to each house; I’ve studied the lives of people who actually had those house placements of the Sun. In many cases, those life stories confirm what we’ve always known, but in others they have led me in a very different direction and to a different understanding of what that house placement means.
By looking at the house placements of the Sun in this way, I move past simplistic notions of “good” or “bad” houses. Each house has its own function. Each describes a different mission. Some of those missions might seem to be more glamorous or desirable than others, but all of them are necessary and, if we’re willing to do the kind of work that house requires, each can provide us with a path to success.
Of course, just because your horoscope designates this or that area of life as your mission, that doesn’t mean you have to accept that mission. You have a choice. You can go in a different direction. In many instances, the events and circumstances of your life will keep calling you back to the mission designated by the house position of your Sun, but the choice is always yours.
House Systems
Astrologers don’t agree about a lot of things, and one of their favorite things to disagree about is the way we divide the horoscope up into houses. One reason that the house position of the Sun is not always given the importance it deserves is that it often changes depending on which house system the astrologer uses. There are over thirty different systems of determining the cusps of the houses, and each one has a band of loyal practitioners.
I have no argument with any one of these systems. My argument is with all of them. It is my contention that they are all arbitrary and that none of them is right in every case. The best we can hope from any house system is an approximation of the cusps of the twelve houses. More precise judgments can only be made when we know something about the realities of a person’s life and how those placements fit within the overall context of the horoscope.
This is the criteria I used when looking at the over seven hundred timed charts that I studied in the course of writing this book. In doing that research, I focused on three of the most popular house systems: Koch, Placidus, and Equal. All the examples cited in Part One have the Sun in that house in all three of these systems.
The Moon
If the house occupied by the Sun is where you shine, the Moon’s house is your refuge. It is the place in which your emotionality, intuition, and instinct reside. It is also the place where you hide your vulnerabilities and weaknesses. The house occupied by the Moon shows us the area of life in which you feel most secure. It is the place to which you retreat when you encounter difficulties in other areas of your life. It is also the area of life in which you are most likely to be ruled by irrational fears and deep emotional needs.
In most cases, the influence of the house occupied by the Sun is easier to see than that of the house occupied by the Moon. The Moon’s function in our lives is more personal and more likely to be hidden. However, the house position of the Sun cannot be completely understood until you see how that placement interacts with the house position of the Moon. That’s why, in the second section of this book, I have written about the house positions of the Sun and Moon in combination. I have more to say about how the Sun and Moon work together in the introduction to Part Two.
Using This Book
The first thing you need to do in order to use this book is get a horoscope charted for your date, time, and place of birth. The time and place are important because the entire layout of the houses is determined by what degree of what sign was on the eastern horizon at the moment of your birth. There are various places on the internet where you can have a free horoscope charted from this information. Astrolabe (alabe.com) is one of the most popular. You can also send a request to goodgollyastrology.com with your information and I will send you a free chart.
Once you have your chart, look at nine o’clock on the dial. That is the Ascendant, and the section following the Ascendant is your First House. The houses are numbered in a counter-clockwise direction from that point.
If you get your chart from Astrolabe it will be charted in the Placidus system. If you get the chart from me it will be in the Koch system (unless you request something else). There are other sources that will give a chart done in the Equal House system. If your Sun or Moon is placed in first or last few degrees of a house and you don’t think that that house interpretation applies to you, my advice is that you look at the readings for the house before or after, respectively. As I said, I don’t have complete confidence in any house system, and the system that best suits what you know about yourself may well be the best for your chart.