Astrology: how to read your Birth Chart: The Houses

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How to read your Birth Chart Part Four

Your birth chart, or horoscope, is usually shown in the form of a wheel, symbolising the cycles periodically undergone by all living things on this planet. The symbols ("glyphs") displayed stand for the astrological signs, planets and other chart factors representing forces which may affect your life at any given time.

Each of these astrological factors represents a coded set of drives in your sub-conscious. Drives may be activated and brought to your awareness by circumstances in your life, presenting you with a range of choices. Of course, your choices are to a considerable extent limited and determined by your character, which is itself revealed through an understanding of the symbols that make up the chart.

the houses

The inner rim of the wheel represents the circle of "mundane houses": each of the "spokes" delineates areas of specific environmental influences, called cusps (power points). The houses represent the sorts of circumstances you will have to deal with in this lifetime - challenges you have set yourself, so you may grow in personal understanding and consciousness.

Each house is given a number from one to twelve, the first house cusp located at what would be nine o'clock on a clock-face, then, moving anti-clockwise, numbering off around the chart.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Cusps of houses in a chart do not usually coincide with the cusps of signs. The cusp, say, of the sign Aries is the first minute of the first degree of Aries, whereas the cusp of any house may be located at any degree and minute of any sign, depending upon the time and place of your birth. The cusps of the houses in your chart are indicated between the rims on the outer part of the wheel, with the degree in bold type, followed by the glyph of the appropriate sign, then the minute in normal type, while the number of the house is found at the innermost circle, near the centre of the chart.

The first house is called the ascendant, or rising sign. This corresponds to the sign rising over the horizon at the time and place of your birth. The cusp of this house is the degree of the sign rising at the precise moment of your first breath. This sign sets the tone of your self-image: the way you see yourself. It also tends to have an effect on your appearance. All of the houses are calculated in terms of the relationship between the ascendant and the cusp of the tenth house, the mid-heaven - the highest point reached by the sun on the day of your birth. The tenth house represents the public life; how others see you. The paths of the planets through the houses in this way construct the circumstances of your daily life, between the public and the private perception.

More on How to Read your Birthchart

How to Read your Birthchart
Astrological Signs
The Elements
The Houses
The Planets and Aspects
The Zodiac

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