The 12 Houses
Houses (domiciles) are segments of the zodiac based on the timing of a birth or event. House positions of planets change by the hour as the Earth rotates and are very specific to the birth time in a Birth Chart, Progressive Chart, or Solar Return.
They represent categories, areas, or departments of life that reflect, to some degree, the zodiac sequence. It can be difficult to deduce each house into a single word because they describe similar things, such as finance, but from a different angle. You can view the Houses like the journey you take through life starting in the First House. When planets in the birth chart are positioned in certain Houses, their energy can influence the themes associated with that House that you will see come up in your daily life. Because these are very specific to birth times, you can gain more insight into yourself by knowing your placements. A similar comparison can be made in psychology with Erikson’s Stages of Development. However, this interpretation was created by The Babylonians, who invented the first astrological system over thousands of years. They created the zodiac wheel that we use today (with planets and houses) around 700 B.C. The oldest known horoscope chart in history is believed to date to 409 B.C.
First Quadrant
Houses 1, 2, 3 - Self-Development | Self-Worth | Personal Identity
1st House
The first House is the House of Self. This includes self-awareness, the physical body, personality, appearance, personal views on life, self-identity, self-image, early environment, beginnings, how we initiate, and how we’re impulsive. Any planets in this house will significantly influence your personality and how others perceive you.
2nd House
The Second House refers to your money and possessions, what you value, hidden talents, talent, physical senses, ownership, material resources or possessions, sense of self-worth, and self-esteem (how you value yourself, instead of describing your personality as in the 1st House). Possessions include anything a person owns (except the house/home ruled by the 4th House): cars, furniture, clothing, moveable property, investments, securities, etc. The 2nd House specifies how you gain and spend your own money (as opposed to other's money in the 8th house), your attitude towards wealth and material possessions, and your talent and earning potential for accumulating it/them.
3rd House
The Third House is communication, which by extension includes one's immediate environment: siblings, neighbors, short journeys, information exchange, and all forms of transportation/mobility. The 3rd house also consists of the intellect, the lower mind (details and small bits of information as opposed to the higher mind in the 9th House), thinking patterns, and early education (before college). Communication includes messages, deliveries, gossip, phone calls, visits, reading, and writing.
Second Quadrant
Houses 4, 5, 6 - Self-Expression, Creativity, Adjustment to Others
4th House
The fourth House refers to the home and everything associated with it (both the childhood home & the current home): family, land, personal foundations (inner emotional security), and your roots. Astrologers are divided over whether this house is associated with one's mother or father. What is clear is that a person's upbringing is related to this House.
At its core, the 4th house represents our consciousness and serves as the foundation of our existence. Positioned at the lowest point on the chart, known as the I.C., it signifies what lies beneath the surface of the Earth. As a result, it was traditionally associated with the conditions at life's end and in graves. This house is the anchor for our true selves, governing our origin and destination after "death." For those who believe in reincarnation, the 4th house provides insights into the karmic journey of this lifetime and reveals the baggage we carry from the past.
Any planets in the 4th house affect your home life, emotions, subconscious, and possibly relationship with your parents.
5th House
The fifth House refers to children, creativity, and the pursuit of pleasure. This includes personal interests, love affairs, sports, hobbies, speculation, risk-taking, teaching, drama, creative self-expression, love given, and gambling. The 5th house is all about you being yourself and enjoying it.
The 5th house governs romantic endeavors, dating, love affairs, and sexual relationships, while the institution of marriage is typically associated with the 7th house. Traditionally, marriage was not primarily sought for pleasure, love, or personal fulfillment. Rather, it served the purpose of raising children and upholding the values of a specific culture or religion. These marriages were often arranged based on social class and financial standing, reflecting the essence of the 7th house as a partnership.
In contemporary times, love has become an everyday basis for marriage. To avoid confusion, it is essential to remember that matters of the heart fall within the realm of the 5th house, while the 7th house represents collaborative partnerships.
6th House
The Sixth House refers to daily work or routine, service, diet, health and physical issues, small animals, physical ability, subordinates, or employees. This includes volunteer labor, civil service work, caretaking, and mundane daily tasks. The 6th house involves the quality of your work the quality of the jobs you perform, as opposed to an actual career (the 10th house represents career). Daily mundane tasks include personal hygiene and our response method to everyday crises.
Third Quadrant
Houses 7, 8, 9 - Awareness of Others | Social Involvement
7th House
The Seventh House is sometimes referred to as the House of Marriage. Still, it encompasses all one-to-one relationships: marriage, business partnerships, contracts, cooperative relationships, divorce, separation, quarrels, open enemies, and lawsuits.
The difference between the love affairs of the 5th House and the love relationships of the 7th is that the 7th House refers to more permanently binding relationships. In contrast, the 5th House refers to affairs that may be temporary. When the 5th House affair progresses into a serious relationship, we can say that the relationship has "moved into the 7th House."
7th house relationships are about cooperation and sharing, and they generally serve some functional purpose in the larger social community (i.e., a marriage). This differs from a 5th house love affair, whose only qualification is "butterflies in the stomach."
The 7th house includes the way you relate to those closest to you. Planets in this house will influence your manner of relating. They also give clues to issues that arise in your relationships.
8th House
Simply put, the 8th house is the opposite of the 2nd house. Whereas the 2nd rules your possessions, the 8th house rules what a relationship owns (joint finances).
The 8th House is one of the most misunderstood Houses. This is probably because the things represented by the 8th House seem to have nothing in common with each other, or they seem to be negative. This House governs death, regeneration, taxes, inheritances, wills & legacies, sex (the actual act of sex), latent occult ability, joint resources, your partner’s money and possessions, spouse's money, bankruptcy, losses, personal sacrifices, alimony, clairvoyance.
On a positive note, this House is about transformation and healing. But transformation and healing require some type of death, loss, or injury first. This House rules those processes and things by which we transform and become more powerful. Yes, this includes the act of sex.
 9th House
The ninth House refers to philosophy, religion, law, learning, higher education (as opposed to early education by the 3rd House), ethics, morals, long journeys, travel, foreign countries and interests, spiritual urges, dreams, visions, higher mind, ideas, understanding and wisdom, books, publishing, ceremonies, and rituals. This is the House of big thoughts and big ideas.
9th House, "understanding," is more complex than the 3rd house, "knowledge." The act of "knowing" belongs to the 3rd house because it simply implies a person's direct contact with something in his environment. Understanding involves the synthesis of known data.
While the 3rd house refers to an individual's need to understand his close and personal environment, the 9th house is an area in which one seeks to discover the significance of more extensive fields of social existence that one may not experience directly but which his mind may explore through the use of analogy, generalization, and abstraction. The 3rd and 9th houses symbolize the two polarities of the human mind, the concrete and the abstract.
In summary, the 9th house includes experiences we encounter when searching for the meaning of things. Whatever expands your field of activity or the scope of your mind – long journeys, contact with other cultures, great dreams, and even experiences with fortunetellers.
10th House
The Tenth House is the House of status, honor, community power, prestige, reputation, and professional career. This includes financial success in our society, but only regarding community power and prestige. It's not about gaining "material stuff," as in the 2nd House. The 10th House wants success for the sake of honor and social status.
This House includes social foundations (as opposed to personal home foundations in the 4th), recognition, individual achievements, social responsibilities, sense of duty, authority figures, and politicians. This House encompasses the most public areas of life and the career you grow into, unlike daily work and odd jobs ruled by the 6th House.
As with the 4th House, astrologers are divided over whether the 10th House rules one's mother or father. Those who say the 4th House rules the mother tell the 10th House rules the father, and vice versa. What is clear is that the 4th House rules the nurturing, home-body parent, while the 10th House rules the public, success-focused parent (the parent who "wears the pants").
As with the other angular houses, any planets in this house are significant. Planets in the 10th house, the sign on the cusp of the 10th house, and its ruling planet will significantly influence your career and public reputation.
11th House
The eleventh House is the House of community, large groups, and friends. It refers to memberships, hopes, goals, ambitions, wishes, social groups, associations, and humanitarian interests. It also refers to self-realization, liberty, legislation, and regulation.
12th House
This is probably the most misunderstood house of all. The Twelfth House refers to the subconscious, the hidden self 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.
On a physical, material level, the 12th House includes things that take us away from everyday life: institutions (such as hospitals, prisons, and government offices), places of confinement, secrets, secret relationships, hidden enemies, and self-sacrifice for others. It also refers to sorrow, tribulations, widowhood, grief, funerals, exile, seclusion, bribery, subversion, murder, suicide, kidnapping, and endings. The 12th House also refers to the collective unconscious of all humanity.
Thank you!