The houses begin with the ascendant and go around the circle of the Zodiac in twelve divisions. Equal house systems has them at 30 degrees around the circle beginning with the degree of the Ascendant. There are many ways to compute houses. Placidus is standard with computer programs. I still prefer Equal houses, even though the computer can do all of the calculations now. If you download a program, you can take a look at all of them. The important thing is the context of the houses in the chart as follows:

The first house describes individual expressing himself (herself, itself) in the world. This is where you see the qualities that the soul brings to this life to show the world. Look here for things that describe the person’s looks and personal traits as they are projected in the world. This area of the chart channels the qualities of the person into the terrain of the world.

There is an excitement to it, a newness. It is the position of experiencing the world for the first time, the self in the world tends to celebrate its essential being.

“The first house looks into the mirror and says Ah, so that is me. I like it.” 

Gathering information and expressing thought are the terrain of the third house. The individual expressed in the territory of the mind. Communication is key to this house, both in gathering knowledge and sending it outward. Lately I have found this to be the house of computers. The third house loves instant gratification in the area of data and communication. The pure joy of mental application is third house energy.

The third house is very mental and visual. If information can be gathered and understood more quickly in pictures than the written word, that will become a major consideration for them. They see everything. Then they look for new things to see.

This house also describes relationships with brothers and sisters.

The third house tells you what it has just learned and says, “Isn’t it so interesting? What’s next?”

This is the terrain of the establishment of roots and values through nurturing. It is the house of the infant where parents are the giants who keep you safe. It house is involved in selfless nurturing.

It is the house concerned with protecting the family and keeping it safe. It is the house that feeds you when you are sad. It is the house that comforts and confines. It is the place you seek when the world is hard to bear.

The third house nests, it revels in comfort and insists on safety and protection. It is emotional. But it is very protective of feelings.

This makes Cancer the house of the mother.

In the words of the fourth house, “These are my people. I love them. I’d give them anything. I must keep them safe. It is what I do.”

The fifth house is the energy of interaction of the personality in a social terrain. It is the house of children as in children at play. It is the house of romance the pure radiant joy of discovering your happiest self in the field of other. It is the place of joy, but it is a joy in interacting, of creating. It is the ego at play with the external world.

The ego of the fifth house loves the game of life. Its creative energy is fun. People tend to like the fifth house, it is not critical or demanding. It loves to laugh.

It is also a house that projects a healthy ego to the world.

In its playfulness and joy, this is the house of children.

The fifth house is at a park with his new girlfriend and her children. He laughs, he plays, he runs for the pure joy of it. The children join in and the dog and his girlfriend, too. They fall on the grass laughing.

The Sixth house is the location of development and applications of the knowledge and skills that make one useful in the world. The sixth house is doing one’s angel work. It is the act of helping unselfishly but happily.

It is the house of dharma, service. Service well done is about competence. There is a fulfillment of this house that is like the role of priest or priestess. Yet it often expresses itself in the most practical way.

Goddess is in the details here.

A natural caretaker, this is the house of small animals.

It is midnight , sixth house is in a grocery store. A woman is on the phone obviously not making the connection she needs. The store is about to close. You offer to take her to your home, give her something to eat and try fix her car.

Conscious, equal partners is the terrain of this house. Connection and interdependency are highlighted here. This is the area of honoring the other and understanding that in you need for bonding you must not lose your essential self or allow the other to lose theirs.

This house is associated with romantic and sexual bonding, but it is every bit as much the place of great friends and business partners.

The seventh house person is the one people seek out to find an equitable solution. It is here that balance and fairness are at their best.

For this reason the Seventh is the house of relationships.

“I see your point, and I know you see mine, lets look for a compromise that makes us both happy”.

The eighth house is the residence of the great mysteries. It is about intimacy as well as obsession. It is about
death as well as rebirth. It takes you to your deepest places and requires you address your devils and destroy your
limitations.

It is the gateway to shared resources but it operates on a deeper level as merged potentials. There is a whole book
written about this house, if you have a lot of planets here, you need to read it. This energy goes on and on.

This house is known as a house of sex in its deepest manifestations. Its connections run deep in the spiritual and
material sense.

What is going on on the surface of the eighth house is only the tip of the iceberg. It is the depths that contain
the truths here.

The eighth is the house of marriage.

“I don’t care if you know it. Can’t you feel it?”

This is the house of the quest to know. It studies and absorbs. It eventually needs to travel to expand the
limitations of a regional knowledge.

The ninth house wants to experience the whole world. Then it wants to think about it. It is about philosophy, and
developing one’s own philosophy.

It is about honesty, even brutal honesty. It learns to form new ideas and once learned can turn back to sharing of
ideas through writing or teaching.

This is the house that relates to grandchildren.

“What a big, fascinating world we live in. I’m going to go see it and then I’ll come back and tell you the truth about what I found.”

This is the house of the self in the field of social interaction. The world’s perception of the individual
manifests here. It is not career as in making money, it is career in the area of one’s position and status in the
community.

It is about politics and activities in which we express ourselves in the sphere of the community at large. It is
reputation and status and social perceptions. We all live in the community and we all have to navigate this
terrain.

It is the house of the father, it is also the house of the leader of the clan.

“I will work for you, but you need to acknowledge me.”

This is the house of ideals and the allies that help us as we grow into a better vision of the future. It is about
people working in groups to bring about their best dreams of a better social order.

This house takes a long view and finds friends and associations of a like mind to revision the future.

It can seem to be detached from reality, but this is the place where new realities are created and groups formed to
implement them.

Relationships here get into the abstract, so here you will find the house of stepchildren, foster children and
adopted children.

“I have a new idea, its how we will create a better world.”

This is a house of completion. You are not entirely of this world in this terrain. If there is service owed from
past lives, it will materialize here. The tools of this house are sensitivity and a caring nature. The task is to
complete old business in unconditional love and service. It may not seem fair at least just looking at it from this
life. But there is a lightening of the soul as these tasks are completed and a detachment from the details of the
world as we get closer to our timeless self by loosening still another bond.

There is great sensitivity in this house, a sense of connectedness as well as a sense of the fated. In its depth it
is a very spiritual place. Used in only the terms of society, it can be a very confining space. It is very
important to go deep with this energy.

In its more negative manifestations it can be a place of codependence. Addicts tend to find people who have this
house active, looking for support. It is important not to confuse its profound kindness with enabling.

“I’m sorry if I seemed preoccupied, is there anything I can do for you?”