Angular houses in the birth chart - introduction
The angular houses in a natal chart are extremely important for key areas of life: the identity, the home and the private self, relationships and our career and public profile. I've decided to take some time to start a house series where I'll be breaking down the meaning of each of the angular houses (then I'll break down the succedent and cadent houses) and what it means when different signs and planets take shape there and what to do about it to make the most of that placement!
The angular houses are cardinal in nature which means that they are where we initiate things. The first house, the fourth house, the seventh house and the tenth house all start new parts of life in a way that most often appears chronologically where all of the houses seem to perfectly map out a theory of our development in this lifetime.
First House/Ascendant (AC) -
The first house (comparable to the "trust vs. mistrust" stage of development in Erikson's psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development) has a lot to do with birth and your experiences being born, as well as what you learn in the first two years of life where all you know is that you are a physical thing that has physical needs. All you know is that you are. Some parents and caregivers are much better at satisfying those basic needs like food and comfort than others, and then this has a profound effect on us that seems to take years to undo. If your parents were fighting constantly or if your first year of life was perfectly copacetic, this stays with us in our cells and our DNA and we spend the rest of our lives either staying in the pattern or the matrix or release ourselves and find ourselves in a state of connectedness (with lots of gray matter in between). The first house can represent the physical body and the health problems or good health that comes with it. A picture of the appearance of a person can be gleaned by looking at the ascendant sign (the sign on the cusp of the first house) and the planets influencing it in combination with the Sun sign. The first house represents the way we make first impressions and the way we can come across in situations that are new. The planets and the sign will all influence these things and I will be breaking down each individual sign and planet as this series progresses!
Fourth House / Imum Coeli (IC) -
The fourth house represents many things. I don't feel necessarily like I agree with the way the fourth house is represented in traditional astrology. Sometimes, things are taken too literally with certain houses and I think this house is one of them. The fourth house has to do with our foundations in the home. I like to think of this as our childhood experiences that happened surrounding the family or lack thereof and the effect it has on our conscious, moment-to-moment emotional experience. It is in this house that a pearl of creativity and heart sits as well as our womb wisdom and a connection to the divine feminine. Traditional astrology often paints a picture of this being the house of home which applies practically to real estate and the type of home one keeps and I think to a degree a part of that is true. You can uncover whether or not one prefers a secure, consistent home environment or someone who feels at home wherever they are and can be more nomadic.
Seventh House / Descendent (DC) -
The seventh house represents relationships of all kinds (comparable to the "intimacy vs. isolation" stage in Erik Erikson's theory of development). This is the projection center of the chart because it represents the realm of other people and dealing with them. Often times, you'll find that when you don't like something about someone it's because you don't like that about yourself and when you're really drawn to someone it's because you're trying to cultivate their qualities. The seventh house shows marriage trajectories, business partnerships and one-on-one relationships of all kinds. You can also glean a person's relationship nature, which changes form depending on the sign and the planets there. The seventh house also rules over open enemies.
Tenth House / Midheaven / Medium Coeli (MC) -
The tenth house represents the world away from the heart and the home. This can look like someone's career efforts over time and career direction as well as how someone can appear on a public platform. The way that one conducts themselves in the workplace and how much they reveal to the world can also be found using the MC and any placements there. Folks have theorized, namely Alyssa Sharpe, that your Midheaven can demonstrate how a person behaves on social media.
Over the course of time I'll break down how these angular houses change depending on the signs that take form there and the planets in different houses and how that changes things. In astrology and in life, one thing changes something else which changes something else which changes something else, just like the self.