Free chart
⌂︎ Astrological houses

The twelve houses

Signs say how a planet behaves. Houses say where in your life it shows up: money, home, love, work, friends or the quiet hours alone. Pick a house, or a planet in a house.

The twelve houses at a glance

What the houses are

A birth chart has two wheels laid over each other. The zodiac is one: twelve signs of 30° each, fixed to the Sun’s yearly path. The houses are the other: twelve sections of the sky fixed to the horizon and the meridian of the place where you were born, at the minute you were born. The 1st house starts at the Ascendant, the degree rising in the east, and the houses then run counterclockwise round the chart.

Each house stands for an area of life. The 1st is your body and your approach, the 2nd your money and possessions, the 7th your partners, the 10th your career and reputation, and so on round the wheel. A planet in a house brings its function into that area: Venus in the 10th tends to win people over at work, Saturn in the 4th takes home and family very seriously.

Why birth time matters

The sky turns once a day, so the Ascendant moves through all twelve signs in about 24 hours, roughly one degree every four minutes. The house cusps move with it. Two people born on the same day in the same city share their planets’ signs but can have completely different houses if they were born a few hours apart.

That is why houses need an exact birth time and place. A birth certificate time is usually close enough; a time that is only “morning” or “about noon” can shift a planet into the next house, especially one near a cusp. Without a time, the calculator still shows the signs and aspects but leaves the houses and the Rising sign out rather than guess.

It is also why the slow planets become personal here. Everyone born in the same few years shares Pluto’s sign, but Pluto’s house changes every couple of hours, so its house is yours alone.

Angular, succedent and cadent

The houses come in three groups of four. The angular houses (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th) begin at the four angles of the chart, the Ascendant, IC, Descendant and Midheaven; planets here are the most visible and active. The succedent houses (2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th) follow them and deal with resources, stability and what you build. The cadent houses (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th) fall away from the angles and deal with learning, adjusting and passing things on; planets here work more quietly.

House systems

Astrologers divide the houses in more than one way. Whole sign houses make each sign one house; equal houses count 30° from the Ascendant; Placidus, Koch and others divide the sky by time, which gives houses of unequal size. Lunonis uses Placidus, the most common system in modern Western astrology, for every chart and calculator on the site. Very close to the poles Placidus cannot be calculated, and there our charts fall back to whole sign houses and say so. If you have read your chart elsewhere in another system, a planet near a cusp may be in a different house there.

Planets in the houses

Ten planets, twelve houses. Each link opens one placement: what it means, how it plays out in love and work, and how the sign it falls in changes it.

Questions

Asked about the houses

What are the houses in astrology?

The houses are twelve sections of the birth chart, each standing for an area of life such as money, home, partners or career. They are calculated from your birth time and place, starting from the Ascendant. A planet’s house shows where in life its themes show up most.

Do I need my birth time for the houses?

Yes. The houses turn through the whole zodiac every day, so even a difference of an hour or two can move a planet into another house. With only a birth date you can know the planets’ signs, but not their houses or your Rising sign.

What if a house in my chart is empty?

That is normal: with ten planets and twelve houses, at least two houses are always empty, and usually more. An empty house is read through the sign on its cusp and the planet that rules that sign. It doesn’t mean that area of life is missing.

Which house system does Lunonis use?

Placidus, the most widely used system in modern Western astrology. Near the poles, where Placidus can’t be calculated, our charts switch to whole sign houses and note it on the chart.

Your own chart

See your twelve houses

Enter your birth date, exact time and city and the free calculator places every planet in its house and sign, with the Ascendant, Midheaven and aspects. Free, no account, no card. Each house in the planet table links back to its page here.

Calculate my houses · freeNatal chart book · $29.99

Planets in the signs