Birth chart guidesReading a chart
The 12 houses in astrology: what each one covers
By the Hourwyn team
The twelve houses divide a birth chart into areas of life, such as money, home, partnership and work. They are set by the time and place of birth and counted from the rising sign, so a chart without a birth time has no houses. In astrology a planet's house shows where in life its themes are expected to appear.
The twelve houses at a glance
| House | Traditional topics |
|---|---|
| 1st | Self, body, appearance, how you begin things |
| 2nd | Money you earn, possessions, what you value |
| 3rd | Siblings, neighbors, everyday talk and learning, short trips |
| 4th | Home, family, roots, a parent |
| 5th | Play, creativity, romance, children |
| 6th | Daily work, routines, service, care of the body |
| 7th | Partners, marriage, close one-to-one ties |
| 8th | Shared money, debts, inheritance, intimacy, endings |
| 9th | Travel, higher study, belief, law |
| 10th | Career, reputation, public role |
| 11th | Friends, groups, hopes for the future |
| 12th | Solitude, rest, retreat, what is hidden |
These topics are the traditional associations astrologers work from. They describe a way of sorting a chart, and they are not statements about what will happen in that part of your life.
Planets, signs and houses: what, how, where
A common shorthand: the planet is what, the sign is how, the house is where. Venus stands for affection and taste. Its sign colors the style, and its house names the area of life where astrologers look for it. Venus in the tenth house is read differently from Venus in the fourth, even in the same sign.
The four angles
Four points anchor the houses. The Ascendant starts the first house and the Descendant, opposite it, starts the seventh. The Midheaven is the top of the chart and the IC is the bottom. In the Placidus system the Midheaven starts the tenth house and the IC the fourth. Astrologers give extra weight to planets close to any of the four.
What an empty house means
A chart has ten planets and twelve houses, and the planets tend to cluster, so every chart has empty houses. Most have four or more. An empty house does not mean that part of life is missing. An empty seventh house says nothing about whether someone will have a partner.
To read an empty house, astrologers look at the sign on its border and then at the planet that rules that sign, wherever it sits in the chart. That planet is treated as speaking for the house.
When a house is crowded
Three or more planets in one house or sign is called a stellium. Astrologers read it as emphasis: a lot of the chart's attention goes to that house's topics.
Why houses need a birth time
The houses are counted from the degree rising in the east, which moves about one degree every four minutes. Without a time there is no starting point. Different house systems also draw the borders differently, as explained in Whole Sign vs Placidus.
Common questions
What does it mean when a house is empty?
Only that no planet was in that part of the sky when you were born. Every chart has empty houses. Astrologers read the sign on the house's border and that sign's ruling planet instead.
Which house is about love, and which about career?
Tradition gives romance to the fifth house and committed partnership to the seventh. Career and reputation belong to the tenth, and day-to-day work to the sixth.
How do I find which house a planet is in?
Calculate the chart with your birth time and place. The placement table lists a house number beside each planet. You cannot work it out from the sign alone.
Do the houses line up with the signs?
Only in the Whole Sign system, where each house is one sign. In Placidus the borders fall partway through signs, so a house usually spans parts of two.
See it on your own chart
Enter a birth date, time and place and we calculate the wheel, every placement and every aspect. Free with an account. No card needed.
Keep reading
Sources
- House (astrology). Wikipedia.
The guides are written by Hourwyn with the help of AI tools. Astronomical and historical facts are checked against the sources listed under each guide. Astrology is described as a tradition and offered for entertainment. Nothing here is medical, financial, legal or psychological advice.