Most horoscopic traditions of astrology systems divide the horoscope into a number (usually twelve) of houses whose positions depend on time and location rather than on date. In Hindu astrological tradition these are known as

Bhāva Bhāva (Sanskrit: ', 'state, condition') is a term in Jyotisha denoting a fixed zodiacal division of the sky from the perspective of an observer. It corresponds to the concept of " house" in Western astrology. A natal chart is called bhāvachakr ...

s. The houses of the horoscope represent different fields of experience wherein the energies of the signs and planets operateArroyo (1989), p. 111.—described in terms of physical surroundings as well as personal life experiences.

Description

Every house system is also affiliated with a zodiac sign can be dependent on the rotational movement of Earth on its axis, but there is a wide range of approaches to calculating house divisions and different opinions among astrologers over which house system is most accurate. To calculate the houses, it is necessary to know the exact time, date, and location. In

natal astrology Natal astrology is also known as Genethliacal Astrology, which implies nativity. It is a system of astrology that claims to shed light on an individual’s personality or path in life. This concept is based on constructing a horoscope or natal c ...

, some astrologers will use a birth time set for noon or sunrise if the actual time of birth is unknown. An accurate interpretation of such a chart, however, cannot be expected. The houses are divisions of the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic agains ...

plane (a great circle containing the Sun's orbit, as seen from the earth), at the time and place of the horoscope in question. They are numbered counter-clockwise from the

cusp A cusp is the most pointed end of a curve. It often refers to cusp (anatomy), a pointed structure on a tooth. Cusp or CUSP may also refer to: Mathematics * Cusp (singularity), a singular point of a curve * Cusp catastrophe, a branch of bifurc ...

of the first house. Commonly, houses one through six are below the horizon and houses seven through twelve are above the horizon, but some systems may not respect entirely that division (in particular when the

Ascendant The ascendant (Asc, Asc or As) is the astrological sign on the eastern horizon when the person was born. According to certain astrological theories, celestial phenomena reflect or influence human activity on the principle of " as above, so bel ...

does not coincide with the first house's cusp). The several methods of calculating house divisions stem from disagreement over what they mean mathematically (regarding space and time). All house systems in Western astrology use twelve houses projected on the ecliptic. The differences arise from which fundamental plane is the object of the initial division and whether the divisions represent units of time, or degrees of distance. If space is the basis for house division, the chosen plane is divided into equal arcs of 30° each. A difference will be made as to whether these divisions are made directly on the ecliptic, or on the

celestial equator The celestial equator is the great circle of the imaginary celestial sphere on the same plane as the equator of Earth. This plane of reference bases the equatorial coordinate system. In other words, the celestial equator is an abstract proj ...

or some other great circle, before being projected on the ecliptic. If time is the basis for house division, a difference must be made for whether the houses are based on invariant equal hours (each house represents 2 hours of the sun's apparent movement each day) or temporal hours (daytime and night-time divided into six equal parts, but here the temporal hours will vary according to season and latitude.) Regardless of these different methods, all house divisions in Western astrology share certain things in common: the twelve house cusps are always projected on the ecliptic; they will all place the cusp of the first house near the eastern horizon and every house cusp is 180° of longitude apart from the sixth following house (1st opposes 7th; 2nd opposes 8th and so on).

The twelve houses

The next table represents the basic outline of the houses as they are still understood today and includes the traditional Latin names. The houses are numbered from the east downward under the horizon, each representing a specific area of life. Many modern astrologers assume that the houses relate to their corresponding signs, i.e. that the first house has a natural affinity with the first sign, Aries, and so on.

House modalities and triplicities

Similarly to how signs are classified according to astrological modality (Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable), houses are classified, according to a mode of expression, as Angular, Succedent and Cadent. Angular houses are points of initiation and represent action; they relate to cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn). Succedent houses are points of purpose and represent stabilization; they relate to

fixed sign In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30-degree sectors that make up Earth's 360-degree orbit around the Sun. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. ...

s (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius). Cadent houses are points of transition and represent change and adaptation; they relate to

mutable sign In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30-degree sectors that make up Earth's 360-degree orbit around the Sun. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. ...

s (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces). Following the classification of signs by the four classical elements (Fire, Earth, Air and Water), houses can also be grouped together in triplicities, related to a level of experience. In old astrological writings (e.g.

William Lilly William Lilly (9 June 1681) was a seventeenth century English astrologer. He is described as having been a genius at something "that modern mainstream opinion has since decided cannot be done at all" having developed his stature as the most imp ...

), ''house'' could also be used as a synonym for domicile or rulership, as in the sentence "The Moon has its house in Cancer" meaning that Cancer is ruled by the Moon. It may be helpful to think of a ruling planet, in this case the Moon, as the "owner of the 4th House", and the sign, ''e.g.'' Cancer, as the CEO or landlord who runs the house. In an individual horoscope, whatever planet occupies any given house can be thought of as the house's tenant. (See Rulership section below.)

The four bhavas of Hindu astrology

In Indian astrology, the twelve houses are called

Bhava The Sanskrit word bhava (भव) means being, worldly existence, becoming, birth, be, production, origin,Monier Monier-Williams (1899), Sanskrit English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Archiveभव bhava but also habitual or emotional te ...

and their meanings are very similar to the triplicities in Western astrology. The houses are divided into four 'bhavas' which point to 'mood' or what the house stands for. These four bhavas are Dharma (duty), Artha (resources), Kama (pleasure) and Moksha (liberation). These bhavas are called 'purusharthas or 'aims in life.' The ancient mystics of India realized that the austere path of the yogi was not for everyone. They found that each human existence has four worthwhile goals in life: * Dharma – 1st, 5th and 9th Bhavas – The need to find a path and purpose. * Artha – 2nd, 6th and 10th Bhavas – The need to acquire the necessary resources and abilities to provide for to fulfill a path and purpose. * Kama – 3rd, 7th and 11th Bhavas – The need for pleasure and enjoyment. * Moksha – 4th, 8th and 12th Bhavas – The need to find liberation and enlightenment from the world. Theses 4 aims of life are repeated in above sequence 3 times through the 12 bhavas: * The first round, bhavas 1 through 4, show the process within the Individual. * The second round, bhavas 5 through 8, show the alchemy between relating to Other people. * The third round, bhavas 9 through 12, show the Universalization of the self.

Houses for a nation or corporation

In his 1920 book ''The Arcana: Or the Stock and Share Key'',

Sepharial Walter Gorn Old (born 20 March 1864 in Handsworth, West Midlands, Handsworth, England; died 23 December 1929 in Hove, England) was a 19th-century astrologer, who used the nom-de-plume "Sepharial", after an angel in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. ...

proposed the following interpretation for houses if the chart is for a nation and a corporation:

Systems of house division

There are many systems of house division. In most, the

is divided into houses and the

ascendant The ascendant (Asc, Asc or As) is the astrological sign on the eastern horizon when the person was born. According to certain astrological theories, celestial phenomena reflect or influence human activity on the principle of " as above, so bel ...

(eastern horizon) marks the cusp, or beginning, of the first house, and the descendant (western horizon) marks the cusp of the seventh house. Many systems, called quadrant house systems, also use the

midheaven A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...

(''medium coeli'') as the cusp of the tenth house. Goals for a house system include ease of computation; agreement with the "quadrant" concept (ascendant on the first house cusp and midheaven on the tenth); defined and meaningful behaviour in the polar regions; acceptable handling of heavenly bodies of high latitude (a distinct problem from high-latitude locations on the Earth's surface); and symbolic value. It is impossible for any system to satisfy all the criteria completely, so each one represents a different compromise. The extremely popular Placidus and Koch systems, in particular, can generate undefined results in the polar circles. Research and debate on the merits of different house systems is ongoing.

Early forms of house division

The

Babylonians Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. 1 ...

may have been the first to set out the concept of house division. Specifically, they timed the birth according to three systems of time division: (a) a three-part division of the night into watches, (b) a four-part division of the

nychthemeron Nychthemeron , occasionally nycthemeron or ''nuchthemeron'', is a period of 24 consecutive hours. It is sometimes used, especially in technical literature, to avoid the ambiguity inherent in the term ''day''. It is the period of time that a calen ...

with respect to sunrise and sunset, and (c) a twelve-part division of the day-time into hours. Babylonian astronomers studied the rising times of the signs and calculated tables of ascensions for their latitude, but it would take better time measurements by the Egyptians and the introduction of the concept of

, around the 2nd century B.C., to give astrological houses their first recognisable structure and meaning, from the perspective of Classical Western astrology. The earliest forms of house division were those that link with, or run parallel to, the signs of the zodiac along the ecliptic.

Whole sign

In the whole sign house system, sometimes referred to as the 'Sign-House system', the houses are 30° each. The ascendant designates the rising sign, and the first house begins at zero degrees of the

zodiac sign In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30-degree sectors that make up Earth's 360-degree orbit around the Sun. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. ...

in which the ascendant falls, regardless of how early or late in that sign the ascendant is. The next sign after the ascending sign then becomes the 2nd house, the sign after that the 3rd house, and so on. In other words, each house is wholly filled by one sign. This was the main system used in the Hellenistic tradition of astrology, and is also used in

Indian astrology Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...

, as well as in some early traditions of Medieval astrology. It is thought to be the oldest system of house division. The Whole Sign system may have been developed in the Hellenistic tradition of astrology sometime around the 1st or 2nd century BCE, and from there it may have passed to the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and early Medieval traditions of astrology; though the line of thought which states that it was transmitted to India from Western locales is hotly contested. At some point in the Medieval period, probably around the 10th century, whole sign houses fell into disuse in the western tradition, and by the 20th century the system was completely unknown in the western astrological community, although was continually used in India all the way into the present time. Beginning in the 1980s and 1990s the system was rediscovered and reintroduced into western astrology. The distinction between equal houses and whole sign houses lies in the fact that in whole sign houses the cusp of the 1st house is the beginning of the sign that contains the ascendant, while in equal houses the degree of the ascendant is itself the cusp of the 1st house.

Debate surrounding whole sign houses

There is debate surrounding the claims that the whole sign house system was the original form of house division and that it was the dominant form of house division among ancient astrologers. One argument against whole sign houses is that it is never explicitly mentioned in the text of any ancient astrologer when explaining how to divide up the houses. A counterpoint is that it is implied and it would be the only house system that makes sense in ancient charts where only an ascendant degree is presented. However, if one knows the longitude of the location of the astrologer, one would only need the ascendant degree to determine the quadrant houses. Another argument against whole sign houses is that it breaks with principles of primary motion since planets can go backwards through the houses (e.g., a planet can go from the 8th house into the 9th house given the right conditions). Additionally, there is concern that whole sign houses demotes the value of angularity. Whole sign houses is essentially an American driven movement that is argued to have decontextualized Hellenistic astrological texts from those that preceded and proceeded them. In Europe, most astrologers previously associated with traditional astrology never really took up whole sign houses.

Equal house

In the equal house system the

is also divided into twelve divisions of 30 degrees, although the houses are measured out in 30 degree increments starting from the degree of the ascendant. It begins with the ascendant, which acts as the 'cusp' or starting point of the 1st house, then the second house begins exactly 30 degrees later in zodiacal order, then the third house begins exactly 30 degrees later in zodiacal order from the 2nd house, and so on. Proponents of the equal house system claim that it is more accurate and less distorting in higher latitudes (especially above 60 degrees) than the Placidean and other quadrant house systems.

Space-based house systems

In this type of system, the definition of houses involves the division of the sphere into twelve equal lunes perpendicular to a fundamental plane (the Morinus and Regiomontanus systems being two notable exceptions).

M-House (Equal Mc)

This system is constructed in a similar manner as the Equal house, but houses are measured out in 30 degree increments starting from the

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lette ...

of the

, which acts as the 'cusp' or starting point of the 10th house. The ascendant does not coincide with the cusp for the 1st house.

Porphyry

Each quadrant of the ecliptic is divided into three equal parts between the four angles. This is the oldest system of ''quadrant'' style house division. Although it is attributed to Porphyry of Tyros, this system was first described by the 2nd-century astrologer

Vettius Valens Vettius Valens (120 – c. 175) was a 2nd-century Hellenistic astrologer, a somewhat younger contemporary of Claudius Ptolemy. Valens' major work is the ''Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia), ten volumes in Greek written roughly within the period 150 t ...

, in the 3rd book of his astrological compendium known as ''The Anthology''.

Carter's Poly Equatorial

This house system was described by the English astrologer Charles E. O. Carter (1887-1968) in his ''Essays on the Foundations of Astrology''. The house division starts at the right ascension of the

and to it is added 30º of right ascension for each successive cusp. Those cusps are then restated in terms of celestial longitude by projecting them along great circles containing the North and South celestial poles. The 1st house cusp coincides with the ascendant's longitude, but the 10th house cusp is not identical with the

Midheaven A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...

Meridian

Also known as the Axial system, or Equatorial system, it divides the

in twelve 30° sectors (starting at the local meridian) and projects them on to the

along the great circles containing the North and South celestial poles. The intersections of the ecliptic with those great circles provide the house cusps. The 10th house cusp thus equals the Midheaven, but the

East Point East Point is the name of several places: In Australia * East Point, Northern Territory ** East Point Military museum located in East Point, Northern Territory In Canada *East Point, Prince Edward Island In Hong Kong: *East Point, Hong Kong In ...

(also known as Equatorial Ascendant) is now the first house's cusp. Each house is exactly 2 sidereal hours long. This system was proposed by the Australian astrologer David Cope in the beginning of the 20th century and has become the most popular system with the Uranian school of astrology. The Ascendant (intersection between the ecliptic and the horizon) preserves its importance in chart interpretation through sign and aspects, but not as a house determinant, which is why this house system can be used in any latitude.

Morinus

French mathematician Jean Baptiste Morinus

Regiomontanus

The celestial equator is divided into twelve, and these divisions are projected on to the ecliptic along great circles that take in the north and south points on the horizon. Named after the German astronomer and astrologer Johann Müller of Königsberg. The Regiomontanus system was later largely replaced by the Placidus system.

Campanus

The

prime vertical In astronomy, astrology, and geodesy, the prime vertical or first vertical is the vertical circle passing east and west through the zenith of a specific location, and intersecting the horizon in its east and west points. In other words, the prime v ...

(the great circle taking in the zenith and east point on the horizon) is divided into twelve, and these divisions are projected on to the ecliptic along great circles that take in the north and south points on the horizon. It is attributed to

Campanus of Novara Campanus of Novara ( 1220 – 1296) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and physician who is best known for his work on Euclid's ''Elements''. In his writings he refers to himself as Campanus Nouariensis; contemporary documen ...

but the method is known to have been used before his time.

Sinusoidal

Sinusoidal systems of house division are similar to Porphyry houses except that instead of each quadrant being divided into three equal sized houses, the middle house in each quadrant is compressed or expanded based on whether the quadrant covers less than or greater than 90 degrees. In other words, houses are smooth around the zodiac with the difference or ratio in quadrant sizes being spread in a continuous sinusoidal manner from expanded to compressed houses. Sinusoidal houses were invented and first published by Walter Pullen in his astrology program

Astrolog Astrolog is an open-source astrological software program that has been available online free of charge since 1991. It has been (as of 2022) authored by Walter Pullen since its creation, and was originally distributed via postings to the Usenet n ...

in 1994.

Krusinski/Pisa/Goelzer

A recently published (1988) house system, discovered by Georg Goelzer, based on a great circle passing through the ascendant and zenith. This circle is divided into 12 equal parts (1st cusp is ascendant, 10th cusp is zenith), then the resulting points are projected to the ecliptic through

meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

circles. The house tables for this system were published in 1995 in Poland. This house system is also known under the name Amphora in the Czech Republic, after it was proposed there by Milan Píša after the study of Manilius's "Astronomica" under this name ("Konstelace č. 22" in: "AMPHORA - nový systém astrologických domů" (1997) and in the booklet "Amphora - algoritmy nového systému domů" (1998)).

Time-based house systems

Alchabitius

The predecessor system to the Placidus, which largely replaced the Porphyry. The difference with Placidus is that the time that it takes the ascendant to reach the meridian is divided equally into three parts. The

Alchabitius Abu al-Saqr Abd al-Aziz ibn Uthman ibn Ali al-Qabisi, generally known as Al-Qabisi, (Latinised as Alchabitius or Alcabitius), and sometimes known as ''Alchabiz'', ''Abdelazys'', ''Abdilaziz'' (Arabic:'' 'Abd al-Azîz'', عبدالعزيز ال ...

house system was very popular in Europe before the introduction of the Regiomontanus system.

Placidus

This is the most commonly used house system in modern

Western astrology Western astrology is the system of astrology most popular in Western countries. Western astrology is historically based on Ptolemy's ''Tetrabiblos'' (2nd century CE), which in turn was a continuation of Hellenistic and ultimately Babylonian tra ...

. The paths drawn for each degree of the ecliptic to move from the Imum coeli to the horizon, and from the horizon to the midheaven, are trisected to determine the cusps of houses 2, 3, 11, and 12. The cusps of houses 8, 9, 5 and 6 are opposite these. The Placidus system is sometimes not defined beyond polar circles (

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

s greater than 66°N or 66°S), because certain degrees are ''circumpolar'' (never touch the horizon), and planets falling in them cannot be assigned to houses without extending the system. This result is a weakness of the Placidean system according to its critics, who often cite the exceptional house proportions in the higher latitudes.Astrodatabank FAQ n.5
/ref> Named for 17th-century astrologer

Placidus de Titis Placidus de Titis (also ''de Titus'', Latinization of Placido de Titi, pseudonym ''Didacus Prittus Pelusiensis''; 1603–1668) was an Olivetan monk and professor of mathematics, physics and astronomy at the University of Pavia from 1657 until ...

, it is thought the Placidus system was first mentioned about 13th century in Arab literature, but the first confirmed publication was in 1602 by

Giovanni Antonio Magini Giovanni Antonio Magini (in Latin, Maginus) (13 June 1555 – 11 February 1617) was an Italian astronomer, astrologer, cartographer, and mathematician. His Life He was born in Padua, and completed studies in philosophy in Bologna in 1579. H ...

(1555–1617) in his book "Tabulae Primi Mobilis, quas Directionem Vulgo Dicunt". The first documented usage is from Czech, 1627. Later it was popularized by the Catholic Church as an argument for Ptolemy's geocentric theory of the Solar System, in the campaign against the heliocentric theory. Placidus, a professor of mathematics, was named as its author to give it credibility to his contemporaries. Placidus remains the most popular system among English-speaking astrologers.

Koch

A rather more complicated version of the Placidus system, built on equal increments of Right Ascension for each quadrant. The Koch system was developed by the German astrologer Walter Koch (1895–1970) and is defined only for latitudes between 66°N and 66°S. This system is popular among research astrologers in the U.S. and among German speakers, but in Central Europe lost some popularity to the Krusiński house system.

Topocentric

This is a recent system, invented in Argentina, that its creators claim has been determined empirically, i.e. by observing events in people's lives and assessing the geometry of a house system that would fit. The house cusps are always within a degree of those given in the Placidus system. The topocentric system can also be described as an approximation algorithm for the Placidus system. Topocentric houses are also called Polich-Page, after the names of the house system creators, Wendel Polich and A. Page Nelson.

Chart gallery

The following charts display different house systems for the same time and location. To better compare systems subject to distortion, a high latitude city was chosen (Stockholm, Sweden) and the time corresponds to a long ascension sign (Cancer). For clarity purposes, all the usual aspect lines, degrees and glyphs were removed. Whole Sign house divisions.jpg, Whole Sign house divisions Equal (Asc) house divisions.jpg, Equal (Asc) house divisions M-House house divisions.jpg, M-House house divisions Porphyry house divisions.jpg, Porphyry house divisions Meridian house divisions.jpg, Meridian house divisions Morinus house divisions.jpg, Morinus house divisions Regimontanus house divisions.jpg, Regiomontanus house divisions Campanus house divisions.jpg, Campanus house divisions Alcabitius house divisions.jpg, Alcabitius house divisions Placidus house divisions.jpg, Placidus house divisions Koch house divisions.jpg, Koch house divisions Topocentric house divisions.jpg, Topocentric house divisions

The MC in non-quadrant house systems

In the whole sign and equal house systems the Medium Coeli (

), the highest point in the chart, does not act as the cusp or starting point of the 10th house. Instead the MC moves around the top half of the chart, and can land anywhere in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, depending on the latitude. The MC retains its commonly agreed significations, but it doesn't act as the starting point of the 10th house, whereas the Equal house system adds extra definition and meaning to the MC including any cusps involved, any interpretations applied to the MC itself concur with other house systems. This is also the more common criticism of the whole sign and equal house method as it concerns the location of the Medium Coeli (Midheaven), the highest point in the chart. In the equal house system, the ascendant/descendant and midheaven/IC axes can vary from being perpendicular to each other (from approx. +-5 deg at most at equator to approx. +-15 degrees at Alexandria to +-90 degrees at polar circle). As a result, equal houses counted from the ascendant cannot in general place the midheaven on the tenth house cusp, where many feel it would be symbolically desirable. Since this point is associated with ambition, career, and public image, the argument is that the Midheaven, therefore, must be the cusp of the similar tenth house. It has also been linked by extension with Capricorn (the tenth sign of the zodiac). The equal house system always takes the MC to be first and foremost THE most important indicator of career; whereas the 10th house cusp, while taken into account, is interpreted simply as a weaker 2nd MC cusp. The Midheaven is not associated with house locations defined by the Whole Sign and Equal House system, rather, the Midheaven placement relies on the specific location of the Ascendant, so the Midheaven can be found anywhere between the 8th and 11th houses.Mayo (1979), p76.

Rulership

In Hellenistic,

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

, Medieval and Renaissance astrology each house is ruled by the planet that rules the sign on its cusp. For example, if a person has the sign Aries on the cusp of their 7th house, the planet Mars is said to "rule" the 7th house. This means that when a planet is allotted a house, the planet's attributes will have some bearing on the topics related to that house within the life of the individual whose chart is being analyzed. This planet is considered very important for events specifically pertaining to that house's topics; in fact, its placement in the chart will have at least as much influence on the chart as the planets placed within the house. In traditional Western and Hindu astrology, each sign is ruled by one of the 7 visible

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

s (note that in

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

, the Sun and Moon are considered planets, which literally means ''wanderers'', i.e. wandering stars, as opposed to the fixed stars of the constellations). In addition, some modern astrologers who follow the X=Y=Z or Planet=Sign=House doctrine, which was first taught by

Alan Leo Alan Leo, born William Frederick Allan, (Westminster, 7 August 1860 – Bude, 30 August 1917) was an English astrologer, author, publisher, astrological data collector and theosophist. He is often referred to as "the father of modern astrology ...

in the early part of the 20th century, believe that certain houses are also ruled by—or have an affinity with—the

which rules the corresponding zodiacal sign. For instance, Mars is ruler of the 1st house because it rules Aries, the first sign; Mercury rules (or has an affinity with) the 3rd house because it rules Gemini, the 3rd sign; etc. This concept is sometimes referred to as "natural rulership," as opposed to the former which is known as "accidental rulership."

Notes

References

*Arroyo, Stephen (1989). ''Chart Interpretation Handbook''. California: CCRS Publications. *Carter, Charles (1947; 2nd ed. 1978). ''Essays on the Foundations of Astrology'' - Chapter 8 "Problems of the Houses". London: Theosophical Publishing House. *Collins, Gene. F. (2009). "Cosmopsychology - The psychology of humans as spiritual beings". Xlibris Corporation. *DeVore, Nicholas (1948). ''Encyclopedia of Astrology''. Philosophical Library, sub. tit. "Houses" *Dobyns, Zipporah P. (1973). ''Finding the person in the horoscope''. Third Edition. California: T.I.A. Publications (CCRS Publications) *Foreman, Patricia (1992). "Computers and astrology: a universal user's guide and reference". Virginia: Good Earth Publications. *Hand, Rob (2000). ''Whole Sign Houses: The Oldest House System''. ARHAT Publications. *Holden, James (1982). ''Ancient House Division'', Journal of Research of the American Federation of Astrologers 1. *Hone, Margaret (1978). ''The Modern Text-Book of Astrology''. Revised edition (1995). England: L. N. Fowler & Co. Ltd. *Houlding, Deborah (1996; Reprinted 2006). ''The Houses: Temples of the sky''. Bournemouth: The Wessex Astrologer, Ltd. *Kenton, Warren (1974). ''Astrology. The Celestial Mirror''. Reprinted (1994). London: Thames and Hudson. *Mayo, Jeff (1979). ''Teach Yourself Astrology''. London: Hodder and Stoughton. *North, John D. (1986). ''Horoscopes and History''. London: The Warburg Institute, University of London. *Parker, Derek and Julia (1990). ''The New Complete Astrologer''. New York: Crescent Books. *Rochberg, Francesca (1998). ''Babylonian Horoscopes''. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. *Tester, Jim (1987). "A History of Western Astrology". Reprinted (1990). Suffolk: St Edmundsbury Press. {{Authority control + Astrology Technical factors of Hindu astrology Technical factors of Western astrology