House Activity & Emphasis

The twelve houses of the horoscope, particularly when they are occupied by a planet, provide a clue to areas of special activity and use. Here is an analysis of house activity based on planet emphasis:

First House: Appearance, Approach

The first house has to do with how we appear or the way we come across, thus our appearance and personality. This is the essential stuff that bubbles up in us spontaneously and that is obvious to others as our trademark or activity. It is what makes us each so personally different. This house rules our personal self and everything about us that draws a reaction from our surroundings or others.

First House

Leo energy is expressive, emotive, and concerned with awareness and a sense of pride and ownership. Here is always a sense of home base or confidence from which the aggressive and outgoing Leo energy operates. Often very artistic, and always theatrical and expressive, this sign is good for creativity and the arts. Warm and big-hearted, this sign belongs to love of animals, sports, children.

Leo

You think a lot about appearances -- how things come across or might appear to others. You are very personable and aware of personalities.

Mercury in First House

You value a good appearance -- how people present themselves or come on. You value the personal approach and are very discriminating personally when it comes to matters of taste and art.

Venus in First House

You are very out-front and candid, probably not known for your great sense of diplomacy or tact. Your intensity and passionate approach to life are obvious to all who meet you. You are driven to penetrate the superficial and get at the essential.

Pluto in First House

Second House: Possessions, Reactions

The second house is concerned with how we respond to or field whatever impulses or unique and personal qualities we manifest via our first house. This is how we hold or "have" things (possessions, material goods, money, and the like). The second house always refers to how we secure ourselves, the kind of response we get from life and those around us.

Second House

Leo energy is expressive, emotive, and concerned with awareness and a sense of pride and ownership. Here is always a sense of home base or confidence from which the aggressive and outgoing Leo energy operates. Often very artistic, and always theatrical and expressive, this sign is good for creativity and the arts. Warm and big-hearted, this sign belongs to love of animals, sports, children.

Leo

You are motivated when it comes to possessions and material things. An urge to respond, own, and build upon whatever comes your way makes you a natural when it comes to productivity and the business world.

Mars in Second House

Third House: Inquiries, Communications

The third house is concerned with explorations, investigations, and inquiry and research of all kinds. It also rules connections, communications, wires, tubes -- anything that we can get through with our body, mind, voice, letters, what-have-you. It is here that we explore and search for the limits of our life, whatever we are working with at the moment. A very mental house, concerned with finding, furthering, peering, and all manner of questioning. Traditionally rules short journeys, siblings.

Third House

Virgo energy is analytical and precise, always separating what is worthwhile and worth supporting from that which is outmoded and of no further use. A mental sign, where thinking and examining are in high focus. Also, a different kind of mother, here an endless caring and worrying (fussing) about just about everything. Always compassionate and responsive, Virgo energy is service-oriented above all, often thinking and caring more about what others are doing and thinking than for self.

Virgo

You have a knack for putting the feelings of a group into words and may serve as a teacher or spokesperson. Communication is one area where you can always get support and backing from friends and co-workers. Historical ideas may interest you.

Moon in Third House

A born investigator and researcher, always inquiring, searching, following things to their logical conclusion. Your career will probably be built around these qualities of yours -- communication, making connections, thoughts and ideas, and so on.

Jupiter in Third House

Your mind tends to be very imaginative and not concerned with facts and figures. Instead, ideas and writing of a mystical or poetic nature appeal. Research into religious or very idealistic subjects is indicated.

Neptune in Third House

Fourth House: Home, Family, Security

The fourth house is where we send down roots, find our limits, and generally secure ourselves. It is the end of any searching we might have done in the third house. Here we find or end our search, settle down, and manage to get in possession of the whole situation. This is our home and the base from which we can work, feel, and experience. This is the root of our experience, the core or thick of it.

Fourth House

Libra energy is always facilitating and responsive, assuming the appropriate reaction or response to any question or statement. What is sometimes seen as two-faced is only Libra's facility at responding to each in kind. This is certainly the social sign, par excellence. Impersonal and impartial, this sign doles out only what is demanded, never overdoing things.

Libra

Fifth House: Expression, Creativity

The fifth house has to do with awareness, emotion (to move out), and expression (to press out). Here there is always a growing sense of self-confidence and even a pride of ownership, since we begin to recognize and own our experience. We know that we have had or are having an experience. All forms of expression and offspring are connected to this house -- children, animals, creative expression, and so on. A sense of direction and ownership takes hold at this point in our experience.

Fifth House

Sagittarius is nothing if not direct, candid, and to the point. Sometimes harsh, this energy always is concerned with the absolute truth of the subject at hand. Associated with philosophy, religion, and all things that last, Sagittarius energy is always welcome in politics as well as social and community endeavors, where its basic fairness and evenhandedness is helpful.

Sagittarius

Sixth House: Responsibility, Work, Health

The sixth house has to do with salvaging and preserving what is good and healthy in our experience. Here we separate the wheat from the chaff. We begin to care for ourselves and our experience and thus health, nutrition. The idea here is that we are able to analyze our experience and have thoughts about what is pure and what is not. The sixth house is an attempt to save the heart of an experience, one that already by that attempt is beginning to pass or not cohere.

Sixth House

Capricorn is the business energy of the zodiac, for it is the very opposite of the emotional Cancer. Given to clear-headedness and practical insight and vision, this sign always takes a distanced perspective, a cool appraisal. Logical and painstaking, Capricorns love hard work and earned results. Money and things in general are very important.

Capricorn

Seventh House: Relationships, Other People

The seventh house is the house of partnerships, relationships, social life, and all that carries us beyond our personal self into an awareness of other people, community, and the like. This includes spiritual awakening and the discovery that we are more than just our personality. Here we begin to respond to our personal needs (and those of others) for the first time. We can see what is going on and are committed to it; thus, marriage and yoga, or union, is indicated in this house.

Seventh House

Aquarius, the sign of humanitarian goals and altruism. Always impartial and nonsectarian, Aquarian energy is communal (even global). The focus is on the goal, and the goal is always one that is for the many and not the few. Thus this sign is connected to far-seeing visions, world views, and group work of all kinds. This sign tends towards coolness, independence.

Aquarius

Eighth House: Business Savvy, Elimination

The eighth house, traditionally the house of death, is concerned with getting rid of excess parts of ourselves that we see we no longer need. Thus this house also covers initiation and any activities where we are transforming toward a more integral position, getting to the heart of things. The no-nonsense quality of the eighth house makes it good for business ventures since here we are stripping away the dross to reveal the truth or essence of the subject.

Eighth House

Aquarius, the sign of humanitarian goals and altruism. Always impartial and nonsectarian, Aquarian energy is communal (even global). The focus is on the goal, and the goal is always one that is for the many and not the few. Thus this sign is connected to far-seeing visions, world views, and group work of all kinds. This sign tends towards coolness, independence.

Aquarius

Ninth House: Religions, Philosophy, Ideas

The ninth house covers long journeys and religion (the longest journey of all). Here is what remains of the purification that takes place in the eighth house -- the seed, or essence, of an entire cycle of experience. Religion comes from a Latin word that means to bind back, and thus refers to all things that last or endure, such as the truth. Essential ideas, philosophy, and all that is the very heart of things belong here.

Ninth House

Pisces energy runs deep and toward the psychological -- whatever is beneath the surface. This sign is understanding, patient, and long-suffering. Pisces tend to absorb all the little barbs and digs coming from outside. They always have their mind on an inner goal, something more important. They are very forgiving and accepting -- giving of themselves for the sake of more important issues.

Pisces

Tenth House: Practical Vision, Vocation

The 10th house is a house of practical vision and clairvoyance, for here we can see clearly what is. Reputation and career are often connected to this house, since the areas where we can see with greatest clarity are those we most often can put to use to make a living. In summary, this house is where we have real vision and can see to do and work. Planets transiting this house may provide moments of insight and clear-seeing as well.

Tenth House

Aries is the sign of the pioneer and leader. It is always impulsive, concentrated, and spontaneous. Act first and think about what you have done later. Rushing in where others fear to tread, the Aries energy is attention-getting. It always provokes a response from the surroundings, from others. There is something essential and instigative that starts or causes something else to happen -- a reaction or response.

Aries

Eleventh House: Dreams & Visions, Community

The 11th house has to do with putting our visions and dreams to work. We have been on the mountain and had a vision (10th house). Here we take our vows never to forget what we have seen and to work hard to make these dreams into reality. Thus this house has always been connected with altruistic and humanitarian goals and trying to set them in motion. It is the house of friends and community, because when we are powered by a real insight or vision we share with all -- irrespective of differences.

Eleventh House

Gemini is concerned with connections and communication of all kinds -- letters, wires, telephones, voice, thoughts, writing, and mental processes in general. Gemini is the gadfly, the communicator, the gossip of the zodiac. Searching conversations, scientific inquiry, research, and so on belong here. Gemini energy is unattached, independent, and inquisitive.

Gemini

You may enjoy eccentric or unconventional friends, and groups with some kind of humanitarian flavor will appeal. You have very original ideas when it comes to community, making our collective dreams into a reality.

Uranus in Eleventh House

Twelfth House: Sacrifice, Psychology, Acceptance

The 12th house is about all that we go through in order to make our dreams into reality and manifest them in the world around us. It covers what we are willing to put up with, the sacrifices we will make in order to bring across what is really important. This is connected to prisons, institutions, betrayal, self-undoing, and the like, because it is here that we must choose to take some possible abuse for the sake of the message we are carrying, or blow it all away with a negative reaction.

Twelfth House

Cancer is the mother of the zodiac, always making a home, protecting and providing for others. A sensitive sign where feelings and real experience count more than cold logic. It doesn't get any more physical and emotional than here. This sign has a sense of substance, a home base or foundation. Cancer energy is always limiting, bringing us down to Earth, grounding our every thought in experience, in substance.

Cancer

You naturally are a giving person, sacrificing your own interests for the sake of an inner vision -- what you feel is right. A born psychologist, you may find yourself counseling and caring for the mental needs of others.

Sun in Twelfth House

You are very serious when it comes to self-sacrifice and doing all you can to make things easier for other people. You pursue psychology, the human psyche, and things mystical. You are quite painstaking when it comes to giving and helping others.

Saturn in Twelfth House