A Breakdown of the Houses in Your Birth Chart

More cheat codes revealed.

You might remember that a while back, I shared how you can get a full breakdown of your natal chart. This is your cosmic blueprint based on the astrology of the sky when you were born.

If you missed that post, you can find it here.

For those of you who already text a family member to find out your birth time so that you can access your full chart, let’s discuss the houses.

Your birth chart looks like an astrological pie. For most of us, all the lines and symbols are a headache to try and decode. I’m still learning as we speak, but understanding the houses (or slices of the pie) is one simple and effective tool that can give you some insight into your chart and others’ (aka the person you’re dating who has no idea why you asked for their birth time).

Before I break down the houses and what they each represent, I want to talk about your sun sign vs. your rising sign (also called your ascendant).

Your sun sign is the sign you know and talk about often. It’s the one most people are aware of based on their birth date. Your rising sign is the sign that's based on your birth time.

Here’s the main difference: Your sun sign is your core identity. Your rising sign is what you project to others.

Astrologers consider your sun sign to be your true self, the most genuine expression of who you are, while your rising sign is your personality, or the representative that shows up when you engage with other people.

Your rising sign, or ascendant, is what determines the order and placements of your houses, because your 1st house is the home of your ascendant. Just as the ascendant represents a point in your astrology chart at the exact moment of your birth, you can think of the 1st house as the beginning—not just of the houses, but of you. It literally embodies the moment of your birth.

From there, the houses will go in chronological order of the signs. For example, if your rising sign is Capricorn, then your first house is in Capricorn, second house in Aquarius, third house in Pisces, so on and so forth.

Here’s a breakdown of what each house represents:

• First House: Self, appearances, beginnings, the body, first impressions, attitude, identity, approach to life.

• Second House: Money, work, income, daily routines, values, material possessions, priorities, habits, your job and work ethic.

• Third House: The mind and thinking, communication, siblings, social activity and interests, neighbors, early education.

• Fourth House: Home, roots, family, self-care, emotions, foundations, mother, children, women, femininity.

• Fifth House: Romance, love affairs, play, creativity, fertility, childlike spirit, joy, self-expression, drama.

• Sixth House: Health, fitness, systems, analytical nature, pets, work habits, organization, sense of usefulness, service given.

• Seventh House: Relationships, marriage, contracts, business partners, equality, sharing, interpersonal style.

• Eighth House: Merging, sex, intimacy, shared finances, inheritances, taxes, loans, assets, property joint ventures and goals, mystery, partner’s resources.

• Ninth House: Travel, wisdom, philosophy, higher education, law and religion, cross-cultural relations, learning, ethics.

• Tenth House: Career, long-term goals, structure, status, reputation, public image, masculinity, men, fathers, experts, fame.

• Eleventh House: Groups, friends, social awareness, humanitarianism, technology, hopes and wishes, the future.

• Twelfth House: Endings, healing, closure, spirituality, solitude, karma, old age, afterlife, what’s hidden, limiting beliefs, subconscious.

What’s cool about this is when you learn which sign rules each house, you can gain insight as to your personality traits and behaviors associated with it based on the general characteristics of that sign.

You can gain more insight on this through a quick Google search, too.

In Western astrology, it’s possible to have multiple signs in each house, however, we’ll get to that later. I don’t want to hurt your brain.

Have some fun diving into this and see what you learn about yourself that resonates!