The Ascendant also displays the ruling planet of the chart. A person with a Sagittarius Ascendant, for example, is ruled by generous Jupiter, but someone with a Pisces Ascendant is ruled by compassionate Neptune.
The Ascendant is used not only to determine our personal geography, but also to design the chart’s unique architecture. The Ascendant’s horizontal line delineates the First House in birth charts read counterclockwise. We follow the sections, or Houses, and begin our ascent to the top of the chart on the right side of the horizon line at the Descendent. Finally, the Twelfth House, which borders the Ascendant to the north, brings the cycle to a close.
In This Article...
In which direction does the zodiac wheel spin?
Around the wheel, the Zodiac signs flow counter-clockwise. The natural wheel is depicted in this illustration, with the Zodiac signs beginning with Aries at the Ascendant. Every chart starts at a different Zodiac degree and works its way around the wheel.
What does it mean to have a zodiac wheel?
When astrologers like me make horoscopes, we utilize a zodiac wheel, which is a circle divided into 12 sectors to symbolize each astrological sign, as well as the 12 houses and planets, to produce a dawn chart. It’s essentially a representation of the sun’s passage across the sky.
What can you learn from an astrology chart?
According to Belgrave, a well-made chart can reveal information about “you, your family, the life you were born into, and what your soul is striving to heal and/or achieve in this lifetime.”
What do the natal chart’s 12 houses represent?
Each of astrology’s 12 houses represents a different facet of human existence. The planets and zodiac signs will manifest themselves most strongly in the life region symbolized by the house in which they fall on your natal chart. To be clear, the houses are not energies in the same way that the zodiac signs or planets are, and they do not lend color to the outflow of energies in the same way that the zodiac signs do. These energies are more likely to manifest in the houses. The houses are simply places of living, not the actual experience.
What is the origin of the zodiac wheel?
If you’ve ever looked at your birth chart, you’ve probably seen a picture of a zodiac wheel with twelve sections. You probably simply scrolled down to a list version of your placements because all the glyphs and aspect lines are bewildering. The zodiac wheel, on the other hand, is the actual birth chart! It’s where you locate all the juiciest facts. The 12 astrological houses, each representing a distinct aspect of your life, are represented by those 12 portions of the chart.
Houses are determined based on the exact time and location of your birth. House systems were devised in modern times to split the zodiac on the horizon line from east to west, metaphorically portraying the sun’s journey through the sky each day. Your rising sign is always found on the left-hand side of the zodiac wheel. It signifies the eastern horizon, or quite literally where the sun rises each morning. The rising sign always falls in the first house, no matter what house system you’re using (or, the house of the self). The houses are then recognized by turning the wheel counterclockwise from the second to the twelfth dwelling.
Consider a birth chart in the same way you would a tarot spread. The form is provided by the houses, which are similar to the card positions. The content is determined by the moment of your birth and the planets and signs that fall within each house. The houses provide context for the planets and signs, allowing for interpretation.
Is it possible for a property to be in two signs?
To make things simple, I’m not going to delve into the astrophysics of the phenomenon because it could put you to sleep, and I don’t want to do that! In general, interception entails two homes sharing the same sign on the cusp, two opposite houses sharing the opposite sign on two houses, and two other signs being denied occupancy of a house cusp.
Whether or not this happens is largely dependent on the house system we utilize. When we employ Equal Houses, it is impossible for this to happen because the normal succession of signs on succeeding houses begins with the Ascendant. As a side note, my old friend and Master Astrologer Carl Payne Tobey believes that we should evaluate charts using Equal Houses beginning with the Midheaven degree, which does not alter with latitude. In comparison to an Ascendant-based system, this would almost probably generate different results (except near the equator, when the houses are pretty much equal house anyway, regardless of what system we use).
Please read Astrology House Systems – Placidus, Porphyry, Campanus, Koch, and Many More – Which One To Use? if you want to learn more about house systems and what they’re about. after you’ve finished reading this article Most astrologers take a different approach to multiple house systems than I do, and you might find a solution to some of your problems in that article.
Let’s get back to interceptions. Using the Placidus House system as an example, I have 11 Leo on the Ascendant, 2 Virgo on the 2nd and 28 Virgo on the 3rd, 30 Libra on the Nadir (IC), 6 Sag on the 5th, and 11 Capricorn on the 6th cusp. Clearly, the signs on the opposite house cusps go on the opposite house cusps. What happened to Taurus and Scorpio?
The 10th and 4th houses, respectively, are “intercepted.” My MC cusp is 30 Aries, and my 11th cusp is 6 Gemini, making my 10th house 36 degrees broad. That means the house starts at the end of Aries and spans all of Taurus and a fifth of Gemini. The fourth is the same, except with the opposite indications.
My second and eighth houses, on the other hand, are only 26 degrees broad. Planets pass fast through my 2nd and 8th houses, but stay longer in my 4th and 10th houses, which are wider. Again, it’s all about how the house system you use to create charts bends space or time.
My cusps vary dramatically when I utilize the Porphyry House division system (which is my fave). I’ll always have an Ascendant of 11 Leo and a Midheaven (MC) of 30 Aries, but with Porphyry, I have 7 Virgo on the 2nd, 4 Libra on the 3rd, 4 Sag on the 5th, and 7 Cap on the 6th, with opposite signs on different houses. As a result, when I change house division systems, the rulers of my 3rd and 9th houses move, as well as my Saturn going from the 3rd (Placidus) to the 2nd (Saturn) (Porphyry). Taurus and Scorpio, on the other hand, are still being intercepted in each of these systems.
Although the Koch system is closer to the Porphyry cusps, it increases my 4th and 10th houses while limiting my 6th and 12th. Campanus is likewise close to the Porphyry cusps, therefore it increases my first and seventh teeth while restricting my fourth and tenth. Regiomontanus, on the other hand, is closer to the Placidus cusps (Virgo on the third) and widens my third, fourth, ninth, and tenth houses while narrowing my second, sixth, eighth, and twelfth houses. Taurus and Scorpio are still intercepted in all systems save the Equal House system. If you’re still perplexed, reading the above-mentioned article about housing will help you understand some of this.
So, what exactly does all of this imply? Both houses are ruled by the same planet when they share the same sign. When a sign is intercepted, it indicates that the preceding sign is the cusp ruler, but the intercepted sign has a significant impact because all signals are given their due in our lives. We all have all the indicators somewhere, which is why some of us approach our life fields in similar or different ways (the houses).
As you can see, the system we utilize determines which houses share a ruler. My own perspective is that each cusp is actually a zone established by employing any three systems, establishing a degree span where the two houses in question meet and overlap each other, as you can see from the other post. Using Equal, Placidus, and Porphyry together, we can observe that the cusp between my second and third houses is somewhere between 28 Virgo and 11 Libra in our case. This is the “commons,” where my ideals and attitudes collide, where my resources and how I use them interact with my surroundings and personal relationships.
Other correlations exist, such as the fact that the border between my 8th and 9th houses is between 28 Pisces and 11 Aries. This is where my goals meet my reality and future, or where my ethics and philosophy meet my shared ideals and resources. When a planet passes through one of these zones, the planetary principle activates the shared “zone of influence,” and via that planetary lens, I gain fresh insights and activities about what is common to those different houses.
It doesn’t make a sign “more strong” or the intercepted sign “less powerful” just because it’s on two houses. More obvious and less obvious, or tuning it inside out, “narrower” and “wider” spans of experience, would be a better method to approach this phenomena, or tuning it inside out. Two signals on the same house suggest a harmonic linkage, but also a limited range of impact, as the identical sign on two houses always implies a house with a width of less than 30 degrees. An intercepted sign, on the other hand, makes a house bigger, allowing us to expand our range of experience. Not necessarily more powerful, but more varied.
Any planet in an intercepted sign qualifies as well. The absence of a sign on a cusp does not imply that a planet in that sign is “weak.” No planet is “weak” if it is intercepted. It demonstrates that the effect operates independently of the normal tendency to approach house matters through the cusp sign and whatever planet dominates that sign. As I mentioned, it depicts a large house that encompasses three sign energies, implying that any planet transiting through that house will have a long stay and a diverse range of experiences.
Keep in mind that the planets are continually expressing themselves. While the signs on our cusps indicate our general approach to those life areas, those areas only express themselves when a planet is in that sign, or when a hot spot is triggered by a progression, transit, eclipse point, major planet conjunction point, Solar Return emphasis, or other such indicators.
A planet that has been intercepted is still highly powerful, and it will exert its effect whenever something makes an aspect to it. It may operate in the background or in a non-obvious manner, but it will nonetheless manifest. My Venus in Taurus in the tenth house is blocked, yet no one would ever guess it wasn’t a significant effect in my life! Scorpio transits to my 4th house are extremely potent because they aspect a number of my planets.
We naturally turn to the ruler of two cusps to see what “governs” the affairs of those houses, and we will often observe comparable activity in both places as the ruler moves through its yearly dance with itself and all the other planets in our charts. Just remember that the outer Invisible Triad of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto operates on a transpersonal and communal level, and that if we want to understand what’s going on in our personal and interpersonal lives, we must look to the traditional rulers of the signs.
Unless you’re a worldwide force majure, looking at Saturn as ruler of Cap and Aquarius, Jupiter as ruler of Sag and Pisces, and Mars as ruler of Aries and Scorpio will usually give you a better understanding of your personal concerns. Even world rulers and important actors are subject to the traditional rulers, despite the fact that their decisions may manifest in the globe as Uranian, Neptunian, or Plutonian energies.
So, if interceptions apply in your chart, please take a closer look at how they work, as it’s a very significant influence even if those signs aren’t on a cusp. Of course, if you think of cusps as zones of influence rather than hard lines in space-time, they could be.
What does it indicate in astrology to have empty houses?
Interpreting your horoscope is a difficult task. In addition to knowing your sun, moon, and rising signs, you must also know the 12 sectors that your chart is divided into, known as houses. Each of the planets moves through a different house in astrology, and each house influences a different aspect of your life. When I initially started learning astrology, it took me the longest to figure out the houses, and one of my major challenges was figuring out what empty houses meant in astrology.
Because there are 12 houses and only 10 planets, everyone will have at least one empty house, which isn’t a problem. Simply put, the empty house in question in your birth chart represents a part of your life that may or may not be as important to you as the houses containing planets. This house may take further steps to fully comprehend its significance in your horoscope (and, of course, in your life), but there is a quick and simple approach to do it.
When looking at a birth chart, many of the planets are generally found in the same house. Mercury and Venus can never be more than one sign apart from the sun, and Mercury and Venus can never be more than two signs apart from the sun. As a result, these two planets are more likely to be found in the same home as the sun, leaving more of the houses vacant. When a house in your birth chart is empty, you’ll just look to the ruler of that house to completely comprehend how its meanings manifest in your life.