What Is A House System Astrology

There is a buzz of bustle. While the planets in signs are based on an external reality (the solar system), the houses are based on your birth date and location. To make matters even more perplexing, their appearance in a chart can vary depending on the house system you employ.

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What does your astrological house system mean?

The Residences Consider a photograph of the sky taken at the time of your birth. Starting with the zodiac sign that was rising on the Eastern Horizon when you were born, the entire sky, above and below the horizon lines, as it reaches from the earth is split into twelve divisions. Houses are the names given to these parts.

In a birth chart, what is the house system?

Every house system, which is also associated with a zodiac sign, is based on the rotating movement of the Earth on its axis, but there are a variety of methods for calculating house divisions, as well as differing viewpoints among astrologers about which house system is the most accurate. It is required to have the exact time, date, and place in order to compute the dwellings. If the exact time of birth is unknown, some astrologers would use a birth time set for noon or sunrise in natal astrology. However, a proper interpretation of such a chart is unlikely.

At the time and place of the horoscope in question, the houses are divisions of the ecliptic plane (a large circle containing the Sun’s orbit as seen from Earth). From the first house’s cusp, they are numbered counter-clockwise. Houses one through six are often below the horizon, whereas houses seven through twelve are typically above the horizon, but some systems may not adhere to this division totally (especially when the Ascendant does not coincide with the first house’s cusp).

House divisions are calculated in a variety of ways due to disagreements over what they mean mathematically (regarding space and time).

In Western astrology, all house systems use twelve houses projected on the ecliptic. The distinctions originate from the fact that the initial division is applied to a basic plane and whether the divisions represent units of time or degrees of distance.

What are the foundations of astrology’s houses?

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’ll get all the juicy details. The 12 astrological houses, each representing a distinct aspect of your life, are represented by those 12 portions of the chart.

Your house is assigned to you depending on the precise 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. On the zodiac wheel, your rising sign is always on the left-hand side. It signifies the eastern horizon, or, to put it another way, the location 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 there a distinction between Placidus and Porphyry?

To begin, I’d want to point you that the home system we utilize can cause our planets to move from one house to another. This is significant because it affects how we trisect our chart’s quadrants and whether a planet on a cusp is in one house or the other.

I wrote this post eight years ago in reaction to an email informing me that an entire comment stream at a well-known astrological chat room had been blasted due to highly hostile discourse. That astounded me, because it makes no sense to argue about which housing system to employ.

This is an excerpt from my original piece, which has been rewritten for readability:

The following is what I was emailed, with the site’s name removed:

Greetings to all members Debate is an important part of intellectual discovery and learning. (This website) promotes constructive debate. When a post or thread descends into a caustic and adversarial personal squabble, all focus and value is lost, and (this site) and its members are denigrated. That was the case with the “What House system do you use?” discussion. All good stuff, as well as the counterproductive, has been removed from the discussion. According to your viewpoint, verbal abuse of life’s demigods and demons is allowed. Abuse in the __ community is not tolerated.

Wow. I’ve seen folks get worked up over a variety of topics, but never about an astrologer’s house system. I’m not sure how it happened, and I’m not sure I want to get involved over there, but it appears that this uncivil discourse reflects the current state of events in our society.

As a result, I’ve decided to try to explain what some of the different housing systems are all about. Only the horizon (ascendant-descendant) and meridian (midheaven-nadir) are determined by the time and location of birth. Whether you compute on the basis of a space-based system, a time-based system, or a space-time based system determines how you generate the boundaries (cusps) between dwellings.

Placidus’ houses are space-time, Equal’s dwellings are space-based, and Porphyry’s houses are space-based. Others include Campanus, Koch, Regiomontanus, Morinus, Alcabitian, Albategnian, and even those who divide the sphere into eight rather than twelve sectors, as well as those who delete all of the houses. We won’t go into detail about the advantages and disadvantages of any of these because most of my readers would be bored.

Though there is no consensus on which system is the finest (and it appears that some supporters of other systems are ready to fight! ), I have always utilized many systems at the same time in my work and been satisfied with the results. When I first started studying astrology, I discovered that depending on whatever system is used, several of my planets shift houses.

For example, using the Placidus system, I have Saturn in the 3rd house, whereas using the Porphyry and Equal systems, it is in the 2nd. Which is it, then? As I read the passages, I recognized that both looked to be correct. How is that possible?

Because both manifestations were true at one point or another, I came to the conclusion that, since none of these house “boundaries” are set in stone, I should think of the wheel in terms of zones of overlapping house boundaries, such as the areas where the first and second houses interact, or the second and third, or the eighth and ninth houses overlap, and so on.

This has worked really well for everyone I’ve read for over the years, and it helps to resolve some difficulties in how different aspects of our charts and lives interact. With Saturn in the overlapping zone between the second and third houses in my chart, it appears that I’ll need to use my Saturn function to figure out how it influences my values (2nd) and perception (3rd) areas, as well as where they intersect within myself.

I have to cope with a natural Saturn in the 2nd influence at times, and Saturn in the 3rd at other times. At all times, as expressed through my Saturn perspective, how these zones intersect and interact with one another.

Regardless of whatever house system is in use, I learn about Saturn from both aspects of my life and find Saturn’s impact in both. This holds true in your own charts as well. When a planet connects two houses, it is critical for your evolution to relate those aspects of your life with the planet in question.

Perhaps it would be beneficial to astrology (and bring some peace back to the realm!) if we could get past the notion that one system is correct and the others are incorrect, as I believe this is delusional thinking based on linear, restrictive rationalizations. Religious wars, whatever name you give them, are built on “winner-take-all” arguments. I don’t want any of my readers to get into a fight or disrespect one other over something as silly as whether one home system is better than the others.

Perhaps this is the most significant benefit of the quadrant system, sometimes known as the “no house” approach. To hit a note precisely, we don’t need frets on a guitar neck. They’re basically reference points that assist you get from point A to point B. The lines that divide the dwellings are the same way. Nearer to the horizontal axis, the sphere of self-not-self expands. Anything along the vertical axis is more in the domain of subjective-objective experience, or private-public experience.

It doesn’t matter whether a planet is “more really” in one house or another when it’s on the cusp; what matters is its relative position to the meridians. And attacking someone simply because they disagree with a house system is ridiculous.

What are the many types of housing systems?

House systems are divided into three categories: ecliptic, spatial, and temporal.

We’ll look at two sorts of ecliptic-based housing systems: whole sign and equal, as well as one spatial, Porphyry, and one temporal, Placidus.

Ecliptic-based home systems are the oldest and most popular throughout history. This is due to the fact that they are the most user-friendly.

Why is Placidus so well-known?

In Episode 244, Anthony Louis talks about how Placidus became the most prevalent quadrant house division system in modern western astrology.

Placidus is the most popular house system in late twentieth and early twenty-first century astrology, and it is usually the default house system in most software applications, making it the system with which most individuals begin their study of astrology.

The question is, how did this happen in the first place? What led to Placidus’ general popularity, especially given there are alternative varieties of quadrant house division accessible, such as Porphyry or Alcabitius houses?

The Placidus house system and its popularization may be traced back to the 17th century, and it was founded in part on an attempt to understand a contentious passage from the work of 2nd century astrologer Claudius Ptolemy.

An item on Anthony’s blog titled Why are Placidus Houses so Popular? sparked this conversation.

The purpose of this post was to discuss some of the issues raised in that post and to delve deeper into some of them in order to better understand the history of house division.

While our last episode on the roots of the many forms of house division in ancient astrology addressed the early history of house division, the goal of this episode is to fill in some gaps on the later history of house division from the Renaissance era to the present day.

You can learn more about Anthony by visiting his website:

We utilized an extensive set of show notes as the outline for our discussion, which you can find here.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll find audio and video versions of this episode.

Episode Outline and Show Notes

Here’s a portion of the outline we drew out in advance of this episode:

Based on Anthony’s blog post Why Are Placidus Houses So Popular? from November 2019.
“Placidus: The Default Darling of Domification,” in Federation of Australian Astrologers Journal, Vol 49, No 2 (June 2019), pp. 21-26, is a follow-up to the original paper.
The following is the discussion’s premise:
Placidus is the most common house system in late twentieth and early twenty-first century astrology.
In Western astrology today.
Most software packages, such as Astro.com, use it as the default house system.
As a result, it is the system that most individuals begin with.
Why is Placidus the default quadrant system, one of the questions that arises?
Holden mentions that Placidus became the default because he was available:
“It has become a cliche in the twentieth century that the Placidus system became the standard in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries because it was the only one for which affordable tables were easily available.” This is partially accurate, but the same could be said of the Regiomantanus system’s initial success. A History of Horoscopic Astrology, by Holden, p. 150.
Because Placidus had been promoted earlier, Anthony took exception to this.
Because it had been heavily marketed from the 17th century, it was the principal system available by the 20th century.
So, how did all of this begin?
Placidus’ book was first published in 1650.
Primary directions and home division were the focus.
He was eager to piece together Ptolemy’s strategy.
Part of a broader return to Ptolemy movement.
Lilly and others have shown this as well.
The oldest Greek author available was Ptolemy.
It is thought to be the most authoritative.
In his chapter on the length of life, Ptolemy discusses house partition (3, 11).
He also introduces the basic directions here.
The technique of house partition he suggests here has been a source of contention for a long time.
“This one chapter has sparked more astrological debate than any other in history.” A History, by Holden, p. 47.
Ptolemy was his generation’s Einstein.
There were conflicting interpretations of the system of house division Ptolemy was aiming to present in this chapter even among early Greek authors after Ptolemy.
Ptolemy’s interpretation led to some of the later forms of dwellings.
One of the authors that did this was Regiomantanus.
“Regiomontanus claimed that his method was inspired by Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos, iii. 10.” Although this is undoubtedly erroneous, the majority of astrologers accepted Regiomontanus’ reasoning. Ancient House Division II, Holden.
“His house tables, which were accompanied by auxiliary tables for computing principal directions, were most certainly the first substantial set of mathematical tables of any kind ever written, appearing only four decades after printing was invented.”
“The Regiomontanus system was successful because of three factors. For starters, it gave a printable set of home tables. Second, it was technologically advanced and scientific. Third, it replaced a system allegedly developed by a medieval Arab with one allegedly sanctioned by classical Greece. These arguments, however, may have been used to either the Campanus or Placidus systems. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that the Regiomontanus system’s success was attributable to external circumstances rather than any inherent superiority.
Another author, Placidus, popularized a method based on his interpretation of Ptolemy’s meaning.
Placidus was notable because he is regarded to have been one of the first in centuries to comprehend Ptolemy’s theory of primary directions.
He, on the other hand, misread Ptolemy’s planned house partition system.
At least, that’s what Holden claims.
Ptolemy, according to Holden and Schmidt, was essentially describing equal dwellings.
With ranges that start 5 degrees above the Ascendant’s cusp.
At first, Hephaistio describes it in this way.
However, Pancharius, an older commentator, interpreted it differently.
A modified “Alchabitius style” was introduced (Holden says “modified Porphyry).
As a result of Ptolemy’s interpretations, different house systems have emerged.
This is why Holden dubbed this the most contentious chapter in astrology history.
Despite the fact that the Placidus system retains his name, it is possible that it was not the first time it was used.
In the 12th century, Ibn Ezra recounts a similar strategy.
Magini “is said to have described it,” according to Holden on page 162, and Placidus “probably could have gotten the idea from reading his book.”
There was precedent, but it was popularized by Placidus.
Placidus’ Influence
Because Lilly’s Christian Astrology was published after Placidus, it had no bearing.
Regiomantanus residences were utilized by Lilly (1602-1681), as well as his followers John Gadbury (1627-1704) and Henry Coley (1627-1704). (1633-1707).
Late in his life, the Catholic Church forbade Placidus’ work.
Placidus was added to the Church’s Index of Forbidden Books in 1687 (the same year Kirby & Bishop released their abbreviated translation), and the ban was renewed in 1709.
As a result, Placidus became mostly available and popular in Protestant England.
Perhaps because it was regarded as a novel or radical reinterpretation.
To improve the procedures, recovering lost wisdom that had been hidden is necessary.
Placidus ‘desired no other guides than Ptolemy and Reason,’ according to his arguably most famous declaration. Primary Directions, by Gansten, p. 19.
It grew in popularity quickly (?)
In many ways, it’s similar to the recent popularity of entire sign houses in our day.
There was an early English translation of Placidus’ work.
Kirby and Bishop released The Marrow of Astrology in 1687, a condensed English translation of Placidus’ magnum opus (1650).
John Partridge (1644-1715) was the most vocal supporter of Placidus homes.
It wasn’t in his first book, An Astrological Vade Mecum (1679), which includes tables of Regio houses, but in his second Opus Reformatum (1693), in which “he repudiated the teachings of medieval astrologers in favor of Ptolemy and Placidus” (Gansten, Primary Directions, p. 21).
An outspoken supporter
He was the 17th century’s last famous English astrologer.
In 1821, R.C. Smith (‘Raphael’) released a popular astrological almanac containing Placidus house tables, making the Placidus method widely available.
“It appears likely that he did so because the Placidus method yields cusps that are complex to calculate when referring to any one specific sidereal time, but which are quite simple to produce in table form,” says Ralph William Holden (1977). (The Elements of House Division, p.91).
Placidus became the most common system among English-speaking astrologers after that.
The Regiomontanus house tables were removed from Lilly’s book, which was reissued in abbreviated form.
Zadkiel’s edition (1852)
Zadkiel’s importance grew as the original edition of Lilly went out of print.
Placidus was adopted by Alan Leo because it was the standard of practice in late-nineteenth-century England.
Placidus was commonly used by astrologers in the early twentieth century.
Placidus became the most widely used system for which tables of homes were accessible.
To compute cusps on a chart by hand, you’ll need a table of houses.
It makes some of the math easier to understand.
In what is already a time-consuming procedure.
Astrologers also don’t have a lot of experience with astronomy.
Placidus became the default astrologer with the introduction of computerized astrology and websites.
This indicates that this is the first system you will use.
The interpretations’ accuracy or inaccuracy is then partially determined by it.
Going against this typically entails rejecting what you’ve already learned.
These are some of the factors that contributed to Placidus becoming the most popular home system in modern times.

What is the meaning of your Placidus chart?

The Placidus house system, commonly known as the Ptolemaic Method, is a “Time-proportional House System of Movement.” This differs from space-based systems, which are based on astronomical great circles rather than time curves.

It rose to prominence in the late Renaissance era, but the system’s origins have remained a mystery until this day. There are far too many ancient Arabic writings that have yet to be translated that potentially include predecessors to the Placidus system.

Who came up with the idea for the Placidus housing system?

Placidus de Titis (also de Titus, Latinization of Placido de Titi, pseudonym Didacus Prittus Pelusiensis; 16031668), an Olivetan monk and professor of mathematics, physics, and astronomy at the University of Pavia from 1657 until his death, was an Olivetan monk and professor of mathematics, physics, and astronomy at the University of Pavia from 1657 until his death.

Placidus popularized the “Placidian system,” which is still used in modern astrology, as a system of astrological houses. He did not originate the approach; the system used by Ptolemy is acknowledged by the 12th century Hebrew astronomer Abraham Ibn Ezraas, an attribution accepted by Placidus.