The Personal Houses
First House – Self
Life begins with the first house, the stamp of our exact moment of birth. This is the house of the Rising sign or Ascendant. It’s our physical body and appearance, and the masks we show to other people. All that is connected with a person’s personal identity, self image, and personality is located here.
This house is also our usual approach to how we start something new. The planets and signs in this house show us what we need to do to uncover who we are. Usually whatever happens there occurs in early childhood.
Second House – Personal Resources
We are here. Now we need to know what we own and value. This house shows our attitudes and approach to money and tangible attachments and possessions. It also includes our separate sense of our physical body and their biological needs, including sexuality. Because we want to be solid and permanent as a hedge against death and destruction, this is also where our personal safety, security, and sense of place play out. Our personal desires and values lie here as well.
Third House – Close Communications
The next challenge is exploring our immediate world as the context for who we are. Through language we begin to gather information and understand ideas and concepts. Traditionally, the 2nd house is associated with the concrete, logical mind, opposite the 9th house, which is thought of as the abstract, intuitive mind. Here we learn that we are a specific someone, not everyone. We begin to develop our unique voice.
Our lessons here come from our family, nuclear and extended, and from those we interact with daily. It’s our school experience through early adolescence, the short trips we take, and the organized activities we participate in, including team sports.
Fourth House – Home
This is an integrative house. Here we gain a more cohesive, inner unity of our underlying “I.” This is the home base we go to when we’re just being ourselves without doing anything. Planets and signs here indicate what we inherit from our family of origin and ancestral roots.
The hidden parent is represented by the 4th house and the shaping parent by the 10th, based on the child’s experience of the parents. Also associated with this house is how we typically end things and conditions around the second half of life. Land (real estate, gardens, and farms) also fall in this space.
Fifth House – Creativity & Play
Now is the time to shine! Here we get a chance to express ourselves creatively through games, hobbies, recreation, and the arts (crafts, painting, writing, music, and dance). This is a generative space that allows our Inner Child to manifest itself joyfully and be recognized as special.
Romance and sexuality lives here as well. Children are the ultimate creation of the body. Planets and signs here describe what our children mean to us in our experience of the parenting role. Creation here is primarily for us, not necessarily for public consumption.
Sixth House – Work & Health
But everything can’t be all play. We need boundaries to learn how to be our best selves. Here we learn as much as possible about a few important things like how to manage our time, plan, prioritize, follow routines, gain technical proficiency, become reliable workers, and provide service. We also learn how to take care of our health and achieve mind/body balance.
Planets and signs in this house indicate how we do our jobs, issues we may have with work and employment, psychological significance of illnesses we may have. Our relationships with our pets, who participate in our daily life, are also here. All these inform a more refined, defined sense of our unique identity and purpose.
Through the first six houses, we become aware of ourselves and our abilities as separate individuals. The last six houses join us to other people and the larger world in which we live.
Last updated on July 5, 2014 at 6:44 pm. Word Count: 658
