The positioning of your houses is based on the moment you were born. You will get a more precise view of your astrology houses (also called zodiac houses) by using a birth chart calculator or speaking to an astrologer. But you can get a rough idea of what your astrology houses are if you know your rising sign. Whichever sign is rising or ascending is the sign whose energy will imprint upon your first house. To find out the rest of your astrology houses, just place the sign that naturally follows the one that comes after your rising sign in the second house and so on. So, if you have Cancer rising, your first house will have Cancer energy, your second will have Leo energy, your third will have Virgo energy, etc. The houses correspond to specific areas of life. While the astrological houses can have the energy of any of the signs imprinted upon it depending on the time you were born, they also each have a natural connection to a specific sign.
For instance, the first house corresponds to the ego and ‘firsts’, which connects to bold Aries. No surprise that the second house, about money and stability, has a link to Taurus. But remember, the energy of the ways those aspects play out will be heavily influenced by the way the signs actually fall in your chart.
Going back to the example above, if Cancer is in your first house, the first impression others have of you will be nurturing Cancer’s “mom friend” energy. Leo in your second house might mean you use your money to make a statement.
Together with the Sun and Moon, your ascendant is one of the most important single factors in a horoscope. The sign at the beginning of the first house tells us a lot about your personality, temperament, and constitution. It typifies your immediate, instinctive reaction and shows how you present yourself to others. The planet ruling the ascendant sign is of particular importance for the interpretation.
The first house is also called the House of Self. Even though any sign can be in your first house, this house has an innate association with Aries. Aries is strongly linked to the idea of “firsts” and the self.
Think of the first house as your energetic handshake. It can strongly influence the first impression people have of you or how you most like to be seen. The energy of the sign you have in the first house will come across strongly when someone first meets you, regardless of what your sun sign is. For example, someone with Cancer in their first house may go out of their way to be very welcoming to someone they have met for the first time or come across as warm and personable. The sign in your first house is also said to influence your physical appearance as well.
Because there can be a significant difference in the energy of the sign in your first house with the rest of your astrological energy, people also associate the first house with masks. The face you show in public may or may not reflect what is truly going on underneath. If you wonder why there is sometimes a disconnect between how others perceive you and who you really are, look at what is going on in your first house compared with the rest of your placements.
The second House refers to your own money and possessions, what you value, your hidden talents, your sense of self-worth, and self-esteem. It includes anything and everything to do with anything you may own (except your house/home which is ruled by the 4th House) and includes things like cars, clothing, investments, etc. – all your financial matters, and how you relate to them.
You can have any sign in the second house, but it is innately associated with Taurus and its practical and luxury-loving energy.
Analyzing which sign falls in your second house will provide insight into your ideas about money. It holds hints to how fast or easily you accumulate wealth—and debt. Beyond letting you know if you are a spender or a saver, it can indicate what you think is worth spending money on and what sort of things hold value to you. Someone with Sagittarius in the second house may be frugal in other ways but find that they are more likely to spend money on vacations and “experiences.” The second house can also give you clues about hidden talents, ones you can use that will draw money more easily to you.
Interestingly, the second house can let you know how much you value one of your most important possessions, yourself. How do you treat yourself? Do you treat yourself? What do you find luxurious? The sign you have in the second house might let you know what you need to feel secure about your life and your place in the world.
The third house deals with communication, the close environment (siblings, colleagues, schoolmates), primary and secondary education, and apprenticeships. It also describes short trips, transportation, modern means of communication, and all practical things. Communication includes messages, deliveries, gossip, telephone/cell phone calls, text messages, reading, and writing.
The third house is also known as the House of Communication or House of Sharing. You might have any sign in this house depending on the time of your birth, but the third house is related to the sign of Gemini, which is all about communication and connecting. There is young energy around this house. Many astrologers link it to early childhood as well. This house is also linked to any siblings you might have and your relationship with them.
This is a very social house. The way you interact with the immediate world around you is colored by the sign you have in this house. It covers both the way you communicate to others and how you listen. It also indicates the area of life where communication will flow the most freely. If you have Aquarius in your third house, you may find that you often find yourself talking about philosophical topics. But remember, we can only communicate what we know. So, the third house also covers learning—how we learn and our earliest life lessons.
The fourth House represents your family, ancestors, roots, childhood, real estate, and home. It is located at the bottom of the chart. Some say even if you don't believe in reincarnation, you're likely to be surprised by what you find in your 4th house. Any planets in the 4th house affect your home life, your emotions, your subconscious, and your relationship with your parents.
The fourth house, also known as the House of Family or the House of Home, is linked to warm, matriarchal Cancer, even if you have another sign there in your birth chart. On a very practical level it points to the actual home or home environment you grew up in and homes you may live in as an adult.
While this house does relate to your parents, its meaning can go deeper than that. It is about your roots in general, your grandparents, great-grandparents, and beyond. It is about the traditions that made up your upbringing. The idea of family legacies are also covered by the fourth house, the ones you received and the ones you pass on to the people who come after you. Related to that, the fourth house can also represent the side of yourself you only show to your closest family and friends. This is why it’s often linked with the idea of privacy.
The fourth house is also linked to the classic idea of karma and who you were in a past lifetime. It can hold hints to the lessons you learned then and can indicate the things you need to work on in this incarnation of your soul. It also holds the key to subconscious ideas you might be holding on to, whether they came from one of your past lives or the environment you grew up in.
The fifth House refers to children, creativity, and your pursuit of pleasure, which includes personal interests, love affairs, sports, hobbies, speculation, risk-taking, teaching, drama, creative self-expression, love given, gambling. It’s all about you being yourself and enjoying life, romance, dating, love affairs, and sexual relationships. (Not to be confused with marriage, which is in the 7th House.)
The fifth House is sometimes also referred to as the House of Pleasure and is associated with sunny, joy-filled Leo, no matter which sign is there on your birth chart. This house holds hints to the things that light you up or make you feel joyful.
Fun is the key idea of the fifth house. Here you’ll find the hobbies you can’t do without or what it is you love to do when you get a little down time. Those with Aries in their fifth house might find themselves drawn to very physical or adrenaline pumping hobbies—sedate activities will just not cut it for them! The fifth house also rules over games of chance and how lucky (or unlucky) you tend to be. How you approach casual romantic encounters is also covered under the fifth house.
There is a link to children and the fifth house too. Usually, you will see it is associated with first-born children, but it can also relate to a child or children you are close to. There is also a correlation to your inner child, so if you are doing deep work around inner-child issues, taking a close look at the sign and any planets you may have there can be immensely helpful.
The sixth house refers to your daily work, service, diet, health and physical sickness, your physical ability to work, employees. This can also include any volunteer work, civil service work, caretaking, and mundane daily tasks. The 6th house really speaks to the quality of your work, or the nature of the jobs you perform, as opposed to an actual career. (Career is represented by the 10th house).
Also known as the House of Health, the sixth house is related to the meticulous and routine-loving sign of Virgo. This house covers all the things you do out of necessity to maintain your daily life. You might not enjoy doing them but neglecting these tasks can take a toll on your physical health and general well-being.
As might be expected of an astrological house related to Virgo, all the little tasks you do and your optimum routine are ruled by it. The sixth house can let you know how disciplined versus disorderly you might be. Those with Capricorn in their sixth house may find that they are very disciplined with the way they handle their household budgets. The sixth house can also be an indicator of your overall health in general and what sort of ailments you may be susceptible to.
While traditionally the tenth house covers your career, it is helpful to look at the sixth and the tenth together to get a complete picture. Think of the sign in your tenth house as relating to something you feel called to do while the Sixth describes something you do well enough as a day job to pay your bills. The sixth house can also describe your work environment, including coworkers or people that you run into on a regular basis in your workday.
Whether for business, self-care, or health, using 6th house astrology, in her article Psychic Marlo teaches you how to best utilize your energy when creating routines and finding the right work for you. Tap or click above to discover more.
This house is about unions, marriage, associations, contracts, and other people. It is located on the right-hand side of the natal chart and corresponds to the place where the sun sets. The 7th house refers to more permanently binding relationships, where the 5th house refers to passing and temporary affairs.
The seventh house is also sometimes called the House of Relationships or the House of Balance. Since balance is such an important aspect of this house, there’s no surprise it is related to balanced and harmony-loving Libra, no matter which sign happens to inhabit it on your birth chart.
The seventh house holds the information about all the biggest partnerships in your life. This is not limited to spouses (though marriage is one of the major things covered by the Seventh House), it also includes your closest friends, and even people you have long-term business partnerships with. If you think about it, a business partnership also involves merging the strengths of different people to overcome any weaknesses they would have on their own. Those with Taurus in this house might find that they tend to have very loyal relationships with others.
It might come as a surprise to you to know that enemies also come under the auspices of the seventh House. But they are simply another type of long-term relationship that has strong emotions underlying it. Interestingly, the Seventh House is also the house of your descendant. As the opposite of your ascendent, it shows which aspects are opposite to the ones you present to the world. You may find that you are attracted to people who show the most positive traits of the sign in this house but repelled by those who show the most negative traits in that same sign. The negative traits of this sign can also indicate places where it would be beneficial to do shadow work.
The eighth house governs death, regeneration, taxes, inheritances, wills and legacies, sex and sexuality, latent occult abilities, joint resources, your partner’s money and possessions, spouse's money, bankruptcy, losses, personal sacrifices, alimony, clairvoyance. This House is about transformation and healing; however, some transformation and healing require some type of loss or death (metaphorically speaking).
The Eighth House, linked to mysterious Scorpio, is also known as the House of Transformation. No matter what sign you have in this house, it is linked to Scorpio’s ability to explore the deeper aspects of life and how you change when you encounter them.
The way you deal with change in general falls under the purview of this house. Those with Gemini here might find they have more curiosity than fear when confronted with big changes. Death is the biggest change any of us will ever face and it is also covered by the eighth house. Our attitudes towards death, including the way we might face our own death, can be found in this house. The way we cope with grief is included in this house too. But it also can hold the key to the secret of how we can heal from a loss.
Sexuality also is linked to this house. While the Fifth House has a more playful energy with sexuality, the sign in your eighth house can express deeper, more intense feelings or needs you must have fulfilled by your sexual partners. This is the type of sex that feels transcendent. In addition, the eighth house can tell us about our relationship to metaphysical topics and life’s mysteries in general.
The ninth house refers to philosophy, religion, law, learning, higher education (as opposed to early education by the 3rd house), ethics, morals, travel, foreign countries and interests, spiritual urges, dreams, visions, understanding and wisdom, books, publishing, ceremonies, and rituals. This is the house of big thoughts and big ideas.
Related to Sagittarius, the Ninth House is also sometimes known as the House of Purpose or the House of Spirituality. No matter what sign is in the ninth house on your birth chart, this House concerns itself with topics linked to exploration.
While the third house is linked to early learning, the ninth house is all about the learning we do later in life. This can be about any higher education, like college. But it can also relate to philosophy or your philosophical outlook on life. Your affinity towards abstract concepts can be indicated by which sign falls in this house. Someone with Pisces in this house may be intrigued by learning as much as they can about emotional intelligence.
As might be expected from a house associated with free spirited Sagittarius, the ninth house also covers travel. It can provide hints about the type of places it would benefit you to travel to, or places other than your home that will have a profound influence on you. There is also an association with the ninth house and the law, namely how well you do with laws or even how well you are suited to a career linked with law. If you have more than one life partner, the ninth house may indicate what that person will be like.
The tenth house corresponds to your professional career, social status, and family background, honor, community power, prestige, and reputation. This house reflects the major public areas of your life and the career that you grow into, as opposed to the mundane daily work and odd jobs ruled by the 6th House.
Dedicated and driven Capricorn is related to the Tenth House, no matter which sign actually falls there in your birth chart. Unsurprisingly, this House is also known as the House of Ambition or the House of Enterprise.
While the sixth house may be about what you do to make sure your bills are paid, but the tenth house is about what you feel called to do. This is about your dream job or what you feel passionate about doing. Keep a close eye on any planetary placements there as those will give you further clarification. Those with Scorpio in this House may be well suited for a career that has them doing deep dives into mysterious or esoteric topics. This house also can indicate what sort of power you might accrue in your lifetime and what your reputation might be like. That can also include the reputation that you will have after you pass away.
The tenth house is also where you will find your Midheaven, the highest point on your chart. Also known as your Medium Coeli (abbreviated as MC on many charts). It can be very enlightening to compare your midheaven sign to your rising sign and sun sign to better understand the public face you show to the world.
If you have ever wondered how much of your personal and professional fortune, wealth, and money matters are written in the stars, the 2nd and 10th Houses of Astrology hold the answers! Psychic Advisor Donovan explores more behind these powerful connections.
The eleventh house represents your friends and protectors. It is related to all kinds of humanitarian topics and is the house of community, large groups, and friends. It refers to memberships, hopes, goals, ambitions, wishes, and social groups.
Community-minded Aquarius is linked to the eleventh house. It is also sometimes referred to as the House of Blessings or the House of Friendship. No matter which sign falls in the eleventh house on your birth chart, it represents themes near and dear to Aquarius, like fellowship, and finding how we fit into the larger collective. This house can tell us about the groups we belong to or might fit well with. Those with Virgo in this House may find they do well in organizations meant to manage practical affairs, like a parent-teacher organization, or neighborhood gardening groups. The eleventh house can point to the type of humanitarian or social concerns we are drawn to participating in.
Look to the eleventh house to describe the types of friendships you have in your life. Any planets there can indicate networking opportunities or areas of mutual benefit between you and some friends. This house also governs wishes and aspirations. We have access to the beneficial aspects of the sign in this house if we live wisely and well.
The twelfth house refers to the subconscious, the hidden self that exists apart from our physical everyday reality. This includes the unconscious mind, subconscious memory, subconscious habit patterns from the past, mental illness, karmic debts, self-deception, escapism, spiritual realization, limitations, frustration, and ultimately our self-undoing. It also refers to sorrow, tribulations, grief, funerals, exile, seclusion, bribery, subversion, murder, suicide, kidnapping, and endings.
The twelfth house is sometimes referred to as the House of Sorrow or the House of Sacrifice and is linked with the sign of emotionally wise Pisces, no matter which sign falls there in your birth chart. As might be guessed, this house has somewhat of an ominous reputation as a holder of secrets and hidden thoughts and desires. People are often nervous about what might be lurking in their subconscious. But embracing that deeper side of yourself often can bring about healing you really need.
Someone with Leo in the twelfth house could learn a lot about themselves by becoming more introspective about any issues they have about outside validation. To allow something to remain unexamined in our subconscious is to risk becoming its unwitting prisoner, so the twelfth house also governs areas of confinement or blockages. It may even be linked to actual confinement in places like prisons or hospitals.
Those with planets in this house may find that they often feel like outsiders or walkers between worlds. But they can also be immensely creative people, finding their spark of genius glows best in solitude. This creativity doesn’t have to manifest itself in the arts. A scientist can approach an experiment with creativity to make an amazing breakthrough. The twelfth house is often associated with endings and letting things go. But remember, after an ending there is always a new beginning.
Once you understand the spheres of influence of each of the 12 houses, you’ll want to take a look at the zodiac signs which correspond to each of the houses in your personal astrology chart. Next, look at which planets fall into each house, (check out Venus, Mars, and Mercury here), all of whom exert additional influence over these spheres. Interpreting the way these various energies work together or against each other can be quite complex but it helps explain a lot about who you are and the specific challenges you face.
Speaking to a professional astrologer can help you make sense of it.
