What are the 12 houses in astrology and what does each rule?

The 12 houses are 12 places counted from the Ascendant in the order of the signs. Each place is the field for one kind of question. Tetrabiblos III.4 says to notice the place that matches the question, then the planets that hold dominion there.

See a doctor, a lawyer, an adviser, or a therapist for health, legal, money, and mental-health decisions. A house can organize a question you can already describe.

What is a house in astrology?

A house is one slice of the local sky, counted from the eastern horizon in zodiacal order. Tetrabiblos I.13 names the four angles. The eastern angle, the Ascendant, is chiefly dry, because the damps of the night begin to dry when the Sun arrives there. The southern angle, the Midheaven, is the hottest, because the Sun's meridian declines toward the south. The western angle, the Descendant, is moist, because moisture returns when the Sun is there. The northern angle, the Imum Coeli, is the coldest, because the Sun's meridian stands far from it in declination.

Under Placidus on this site, those angles are the cusps of the First House, the Tenth House, the Seventh House, and the Fourth House, and a house can open in the middle of a sign. A case where the house changes with the system is in a beginner's guide to the birth chart. The Ascendant's sign and the Sun's sign are set apart in rising sign, Sun sign, and Moon sign.

In a chart for 6:30 a.m. on June 6, 1944, in the Europe/London zone, at latitude 50.7184 north and longitude 1.8808 west, the Ascendant stands at 22.4 degrees of Gemini and the Midheaven at 17.6 degrees of Aquarius. The Sun stands at 15.3 degrees of Gemini and Saturn at 28.2 degrees of Gemini. The Ascendant sits between them, so the Sun is in the Twelfth House and Saturn is in the First House.

What does each of the 12 houses rule?

Each of the 12 houses is a place in the count from the Ascendant, and it carries the question Tetrabiblos attaches to that place. III.12, in the length-of-life chapter, names five prorogatory places: the Ascendant from 5 degrees above the horizon to 25 degrees below it; the Eleventh House, called the Good Daemon, 30 degrees in dexter Sextile to that place; the Midheaven, 30 degrees in dexter quartile, the Square on this site; the Ninth House, called God, 30 degrees in dexter Trine; and the western angle, in Opposition to the Ascendant. He ranks the Midheaven first, then the Ascendant, then the Eleventh House, then the western angle, then the Ninth House. Those spans are his. The cusps below are the Placidus cusps of the June 6, 1944 chart.

The First House opens at the Ascendant, 22.4 degrees of Gemini, and Saturn at 28.2 degrees of Gemini stands in it. The Second House is the next place in the order of the signs. III.5 gives each angle a succedent house, and III.12 numbers the succedent of the Midheaven as the Eleventh, so that same order makes the Second the succedent of the Ascendant. Its cusp is 10.1 degrees of Cancer. III.4 calls a planet strong on an angle or in a succedent house, especially the Ascendant or the Midheaven, and weak when cadent, fallen away from the angles.

The Third House cusp is 27.2 degrees of Cancer, and Mars at 8.5 degrees of Leo stands there. The Fourth House is the Imum Coeli, at 17.6 degrees of Leo, and Jupiter at 21.2 degrees of Leo stands there, so that cusp falls between Mars and Jupiter. The Fifth House follows the Imum Coeli, at 16.9 degrees of Virgo. The Sixth House cusp is 2.7 degrees of Scorpio, and the Moon at 7.8 degrees of Sagittarius stands there.

The Seventh House is the Descendant, at 22.4 degrees of Sagittarius. The Eighth House follows it, at 10.1 degrees of Capricorn. The Ninth House cusp is 27.2 degrees of Capricorn. The Tenth House cusp is the Midheaven, at 17.6 degrees of Aquarius. III.4 adapts the Midheaven to employment, and IV.4 gives that dominion to the Sun and to the sign on the Midheaven. The Eleventh House cusp is 16.9 degrees of Pisces. IV.6 reads children from the Midheaven or from this house, and Ashmand's note names the mid-heaven and the eleventh house.

The Twelfth House, in III.12, is the sign that precedes the Ascendant. He calls it the Evil Daemon and leaves it off the prorogatory list: it is inconjunct with the Ascendant, it is cadent, and vapors from the earth impair the beams of stars there. The name is a label for that place. The label is not a curse. On this Placidus chart the Twelfth House cusp is 2.7 degrees of Taurus, and the Sun at 15.3 degrees of Gemini stands in that house, short of the Ascendant. Ashmand's note on friends and enemies uses this place for servants.

Where does Tetrabiblos put wealth, work, children, and siblings?

Tetrabiblos IV.2 judges the fortune of wealth from the Part of Fortune alone. III.13 places that part as far from the Ascendant, in the order of the signs, as the Moon stands from the Sun, by day and by night, so the Moon holds with it the same relation the Sun holds with the Ascendant. In the June 6, 1944 chart the Sun and the Ascendant are 7.1 degrees apart. The Moon at 7.8 degrees of Sagittarius and the Part of Fortune at 14.9 degrees of Sagittarius are the same 7.1 degrees apart, and both fall in the Sixth House. The Part of Fortune is not a house cusp.

Ashmand's note on III.13 records a 1646 Perugio addition, matched by a remark of Cardan: count forward from the Ascendant when the Moon follows the Sun, and backward when she precedes him. In the June 6, 1944 chart she stands 172.5 degrees ahead of the Sun, short of the Opposition, so that addition counts forward with the main text.

IV.4 claims employment for the Sun and for the sign on the Midheaven. IV.6 reads children from the Midheaven and the Eleventh House. III.6 allots brothers and sisters to children of the same mother. Their place is the maternal place: the sign on the Midheaven, or Venus by day and the Moon by night, together with the house that follows it. IV.5 reads marriage from the Moon in a man's chart and from the Sun in a woman's chart, by oriental or occidental quadrant. IV.8 reads travel from the luminaries against the angles, especially from the Moon when she is cadent from the angles.

This site follows those chapter assignments, because each chapter names the place that matches its question, and a keyword taken from a neighboring house would answer a different question. Another common approach gives money to the Second House, siblings to the Third House, children to the Fifth House, and marriage to the Seventh House.

How do you use the 12 houses on your own chart?

Write the birth date, the clock time with its zone, and the place. Keep an uncertain minute as a range. How to rank a remembered hour against a written record is in what birth information a reading needs.

Name the house system on the chart, then the place that matches the question: the Midheaven for work, the Midheaven and the Eleventh House for children, the Midheaven and the house after it for brothers and sisters, and the Part of Fortune for wealth. How to turn a prediction into a useful reflection keeps a calculated place separate from a life claim you can later check.

A personal reading calculates the 12 houses from the date, clock time, and place you provide. To keep that reading for two years and ask follow-up questions on the same chart, see pricing.

FAQ

What are the 12 houses in astrology?

The 12 houses are 12 places counted from the Ascendant in the order of the signs. Tetrabiblos III.4 says to match the place to the question, then read the planets that hold dominion there.

Where does Tetrabiblos read wealth?

Tetrabiblos IV.2 reads wealth from the Part of Fortune. In the June 6, 1944 chart that point stands at 14.9 degrees of Sagittarius, in the Sixth House, 7.1 degrees from the Moon. The Part of Fortune is not a house cusp.

Where does Tetrabiblos read brothers and sisters?

Tetrabiblos III.6 reads brothers and sisters from the sign on the Midheaven, or from Venus by day and the Moon by night, together with the house that follows that place. He limits the inquiry to children of the same mother.

Where do health and legal questions belong?

See a doctor, a lawyer, an adviser, or a therapist. A house can organize a question you can already describe.