House Significations Across History

What are the houses?

    • Manilius: Life and formation of character, the early years; education. The fortunes of children and the prayers of parents. The station to which men are born; profession, the success of enterprises. Temple of Mercury.

    • Others (classical): Life, body, character, spirit.

    • Firmicus: Life and vital spirit of men. Basic character and cornerstone of entire nativity. Cardinal.

    • Al-Biruni: Soul, life, length of life. Education. Native land.

    • Lilly: Life, health and vitality; form and shape of body.

    • Modern: Personality. The image we project. Outward behavior. Health, disposition of manners.

    • Manilius: Unfortunate. The abode of Typhon.

    • Others (classical): Livelihood, profit, inheritance, estate, fortune, business, gain. Intercourse with women.

    • Firmicus: Increase in personal hopes and material possessions. Expectation of inheritance and wealth. Passive and debilitated because it does not aspect the ascendant. “Gate of Hell” (Anaphora).

    • Al-Biruni: Nutriment, livelihood, assistants. Profession of children (10th from 5th).

    • Lilly: Estate, fortune, substance, wealth and poverty. Moveable goods.

    • Modern: Financial matters and possessions. Resources which support the physical body. Income. Feelings.

    • Manilius: The fortunes and fates of brothers. Temple of the Moon.

    • Others (classical): Brothers, friends, relatives. Wealth; messages. “Goddess.” Royalty, slaves, travel.

    • Firmicus: Brothers, sisters and friends. Travelers. Favorable because it aspects the ascendant by sextile. Called Dea, “Goddess.”

    • Al-Biruni: Brothers, sisters, relations, relations-in-law, jewels, friends, mitigation, short journeys.

    • Lilly: Kin and neighbors. Small or inland journeys. Letters, rumors, reports and messages.

    • Modern: Family, school life, education, short journeys, communications. Speech, mind, environment. Self-expression.

    • Manilius: The foundation of all things, wealth, mining of metal and gain from hidden sources. Fathers and the plight of the old. Temple of Saturn.

    • Others (classical): Parents, children, spirits, life in temple, repute.

    • Firmicus: Parents, family property, substance, possessions, household goods, anything related to hidden and unrecovered wealth. Cardinal.

    • Al-Biruni: Parents, grandparents, descendants, property, fields, water-supply. What succeeds death and what happens to the dead.

    • Lilly: Fathers, lands, houses, tenements, ancestral inheritance (paternity), farming and tillage of the land, hidden treasure, determination or end of things.

    • Modern: Beginning and end of life, parents, the mother, the home. Houses, land. Private life. Buried emotions.

    • Manilius: A region of uncertainty.

    • Others (classical): Children, good fortune, friendship. Accomplishments.

    • Firmicus: The number of children and their sex. Called the House of Good Fortune because it is the house of Venus. Favorable because it aspects the ascendant.

    • Al-Biruni: Children, friends, clothes, pleasure, joy. Wealth of father (2nd from 4th).

    • Lilly: Children, pregnant women. Banquets, taverns, plays, gaming. Ambassadors.

    • Modern: Creativity, children, pleasures, holidays, love affairs, gambling, sport, gifts, all pleasant things.

    • Manilius: Temple of ill-omen, misery, bane and toil. Hostile to future activity. Doomed to fall.

    • Others (classical): Slaves, toil, illness, infirmity, enmity, “Bad Fortune.”

    • Firmicus: Health, physical infirmities and sickness. Called Mala Fortuna because it is the House of Mars.

    • Al-Biruni: Sickness, defects of the body, overwork. If unfortunate; loss of property, disease of internal organs, slaves, maids, and cattle.

    • Lilly: Sickness and disease. Servants, laborers. Farmers, farming and cattle. Small animals.

    • Modern: Work, subordinates. Domestic chores. Health.

    • Manilius: The consummation of affairs, the conclusion of toil, the closing years and end of life, death, worship of the gods, marriages, leisure, social events, banquets.

    • Others (classical): Marriage.

    • Firmicus: The nature and number of marriages. Cardinal, but aspected detrimentally to the ascendant.

    • Al-Biruni: Women, concubines, marriage feasts. Contentions, partnerships, losses, lawsuits.

    • Lilly: Marriage, partners, public (known) enemies, thieves. The opposing party in love, war, quarrels or lawsuits.

    • Modern: Those with whom we must share our lives or actions, or those in a close relationship of an emotional or business nature. Open enemies. The “not self” — projection.

    • Manilius: Unfortunate. The abode of Typhon.

    • Others (classical): Death and its nature, trial, penalty, loss, weakness.

    • Firmicus: The kind of death. No planet other than the Moon rejoices in this house and then only in nocturnal charts. Debilitated and passive because it does not aspect the ascendant. Called “Gate of Hell” (Epicataphora).

    • Al-Biruni: Death, murder, poison. Inheritance. Wife’s property (2nd from 7th). Expenditure, poverty.

    • Lilly: Death, wills, partner’s money. Fear and anguish of mind.

    • Modern: Income, taxes, legacies, shared feelings, sex, birth and death. Big business. Insurance. Crime.

    • Manilius: Destiny and decrees of the gods. Temple of the Sun.

    • Others (classical): Travel. God, manifestations of the gods, revelations, soothsaying. Friendship of and benefit from kings.

    • Firmicus: Religion. Foreign travel. The social class of men. The house of the Sun god. Favorable because it aspects the ascendant by trine.

    • Al-Biruni: Travel, religion, fate, attainment of knowledge from the stars and divination. Philosophy, interpretation of dreams.

    • Lilly: Foreign lands, long journeys, far away places. Religion, clergy. Dreams, visions, learning.

    • Modern: Higher education. Travel, foreigners, languages. Moral ideas, conscience, dreams.

    • Manilius: Glory, distinction, honors, popular favor, power, the rule of law and justice in the courts, alliances with foreign nations. Fame relative to one’s station. Consummation of success. Wedlock. The Temple of Venus.

    • Others (classical): Career, accomplishment, honors, reputation. Wife, children.

    • Firmicus: Life and Vital Spirit, all our actions, home, country. Professional career, all our dealings with others. Infirmities of the mind. Cardinal and the greatest influence.

    • Al-Biruni: Government with council of nobles, absolute authority, success in business, commerce, professions. Liberality.

    • Lilly: Honor, dignity, royalty, commanders, judges, authority. Profession. Mothers.

    • Modern: Aspirations, career, profession, social status.

    • Manilius: Hope, ambition, triumph. Blessed with the lot of Happy Fortune. The Temple of Jupiter.

    • Others (classical): Good luck, hope, attainment of desires, freed persons, friends, gifts, children.

    • Firmicus: Called Good Spirit. Favorable because it aspects the ascendant by sextile and is the house of Jupiter.

    • Al-Biruni: Happiness, friends, praise, love, friendship of women, ornaments, commerce, longevity.

    • Lilly: Friends and friendship, hope, trust, praise, comfort, promotion by recommendation of friends, secret hopes and wishes.

    • Modern: Friends and acquaintances, clubs and societies. Objectives in life, intellectual pleasures. Detached contacts made in day to day affairs.

    • Manilius: Temple of ill-omen, misery, bane and toil. Hostile to future activity. Doomed to climb.

    • Others (classical): Bad luck, self-undoing, slaves, enmity, danger, infirmity, death, foreign country.

    • Firmicus: Enemies, slaves, defects and illnesses. Called Malus Daemon, “Bad Spirit.” House of Saturn. Debilitated and passive because it does not aspect the ascendant.

    • Al-Biruni: Enemies, misery, anxieties, prison, debt, fines, bail, fear, adversity, disease, cattle, harbors, slaves, servants, exile.

    • Lilly: Secret enemies, witches, sorrow, self-undoing, imprisonment. Great cattle such as horses, oxen and elephants.

    • Modern: Seclusion. Service to others, charity. The unconscious, self-sacrifice, escapism, mysticism.

In astrology, the chart is divided into twelve houses, each representing different areas of life and terrestrial experience.

The following notes are in summary of the primary associations used during different astrological periods and their sources. This page is meant to act as a reference for the overviews found in Deborah Houlding's book "The Houses: Temples of the Sky".