4 - Did You Hear about the Houses??

How do you know where astrology is gonna show up for you? The twelve houses! The planets are the action. The houses are where the action is taking place. In this foundational episode of Third House Gossip, learn the ins and outs of the twelve houses and what life topics they’re in charge of. Each house manages a slew of things ranging from career to money to creativity and more!

• 05:37 The First House: Rising
• 07:04 The Seventh House: Setting
• 08:23 The Tenth House: Midheaven
• 09:26 The Fourth House: Subterranean
• 11:36 The Second House: Gate of Hades
• 13:45 The Eighth House: Idle 
• 15:48 The Fifth House: Good Fortune
• 18:03 The Eleventh House: Good Spirit
• 19:47 The Third House: Goddess
• 21:48 The Ninth House: God
• 23:21 The Sixth House: Bad Fortune
• 26:17 The Twelfth House: Bad Spirit

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Claire Gallagher, and this is Third House Gossip, where we spill the astrological tea. So pour something delicious and let's chat. This podcast is sponsored by me. So to support the show and support yourself, come see me for an astrology reading. Just head to astrologywithclaire. com. That's astrology with C L A I R E dot com. 

Hey Astro Lover, welcome back to Third House Gossip. Today we are doing another foundational episode where we're talking all about the 12 houses. Super important. Anyway, it's a really rainy and yucky summer day here. One of those, like, is it really summer kind of days? And Mercury just moved out of a water sign into a fire sign, so I'm hoping that it gives me a little pep in my podcast step. A little sparkle in my voice. We will find out. So pour something cozy, and let's get started with the houses. 

So first things first, the houses divide your life into 12 areas. For example, family has its own house, home has its own house, career has its own house, money has its own house, and so on. And if you're brand new to astrology, also important to know that when you look at your birth chart, those pie pieces with numbers, those are the houses. Yes, and there are 12 of them. So each major life topic has its own house in your birth chart. And when cosmic gossip is happening in a particular house, it usually, but doesn't always have to do with that house's topics. So houses tell you where in your life a planet's actions are taking place and what the gossip is all about. For example, if Mars is moving through your first house, it's going to activate and heat up first house things like your body or your self expression.

So if you're brand new to astro, I do want you to take a look at your birth chart and find those pie pieces numbered 1 through 12. How do you know which house the cosmic gossip we're gabbing about on the pod is happening in? Well that depends on the setup of your personal birth chart.

There are different types of house systems in astro. I don't even want to go there. It's a hot topic, but I use and recommend whole sign houses. So in whole sign houses, not only is each pie piece associated with a house number, but it's also associated with a Zodiac sign. For example, you might have the sign of Aries on your 11th house, and that means Taurus, which is the sign right after Aries, would be on your 12th house. So in this example, when planets are moving through Aries, They'd be activating 11th house topics, which we'll get into later today. And when they're moving through Taurus in this pretend example, they'd be activating twelfth house topics. The signs are always in order from Aries to Pisces, but where the order begins in your birth chart always depends on your rising or ascendant sign.

For example, if you're a Virgo rising, Virgo is on the first house, and the next sign in zodiacal order is on your second house. So in this example, that would be Libra. By the way, this moves counterclockwise. Okay, hopefully that made sense. Get a visual if you need it. 

But instead of going through the houses chronologically today, I'm going to present them to you as groups and pairs because I want you to see astrology as a whole, not as separate bits and pieces. If we take the circle of your birth chart and we draw a horizontal and vertical line, we create a collection of right angles. These right angles create the angular houses. So that's going to be our first group today. Following the angular houses are the succedent houses. And following those are the cadent houses. And beyond this classification of angularity, each house gazes at a partner across the chart, another house. So these two houses create a complimentary pair and they kind of rule opposite sides of similar coins. And this will make more sense as we go.

So let's start with the angular houses, which are the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth. And just like the solstices and equinoxes are the turning points of the year. The angular houses are the turning points of the day. So if we draw a line from the ascendant to the descendant or the first house to the seventh house, we get the horizon. So the sun's daily journey through the sky is where these houses get their names from. We got rising, midheaven, setting, and subterranean. The sun rises, it comes to its highest point at midheaven, it sets, and it comes to its lowest point, subterranean, beneath the earth. 

The four angular houses of the chart, kind of like the four cardinal directions and the four seasons, are primary. They are page turners. They make your world go round. Planets in angular houses have a really firm grip on the wheel of your life. They're literally at the best angle to turn it, meaning they have the most influence and power. So when cosmic gossip is activating an angular house in your chart, larger events or chapters of life do tend to unfold.

The first house goes by quite a few names, including rising, hour marker, helm, okay, but we know rising originates from the sun's daily rising over the horizon at dawn. But because the earth spins, the zodiac sign that occupies your first house was rising up over the horizon at the time of your birth. So we call this your rising or ascendant sign. This house is also called the hour marker. So the ancient word for this is where our modern word for horoscope comes from. Just a fun fact. So the first house marks the hour of your arrival. So it carries themes of birth, beginnings, just life itself, and the viability of that life. 

So back in ancient times, astrologers loved to use the analogy of a ship to describe the birth chart. And so the first house was called Helm, which is the wheel that steers the ship. So here we get themes of direction and purpose and path and how that path or life journey unfolds. So when the first house is highlighted by cosmic gossip, we're usually chatting about what we want and how we're going to get there. And by the way, physical appearance, vitality, and the body also belong to the first house. So when planets are hanging out here, sometimes a wellness or health story might emerge.

Paired with the first house is its partner across the wheel, the seventh house. The first house is where the sun rises. The seventh house is where the sun sets. The zodiac sign that occupies your 7th house was the one descending below the horizon when you were born, which is where a common name for this area of the chart, the descendant, comes from.

So if the 1st house is all about you, it's opposite, the 7th house is all about them, the other, the not you. The main traditional meaning of this house is spouse or marriage, but we can broaden this to include any other partnership that's bound by some type of contract or agreement. So these are not casual relationships, but more intimate or even professional partnerships that have a set container.

When cosmic gossip is happening here, others-focused themes show up. Seventh house times might also highlight themes of collaborating and working with other people. So compromise and negotiation are big seventh house topics too. And because it is involving other people, it's only natural that sometimes it brings a little conflict and competition as well. This house always represents the other party in a business deal or a legal matter or a professional relationship.

Let's pop up to the 10th house, which is called midheaven or the middle of heaven, because this is where the sun finds its high point during the day. This already gives us a good idea of what the 10th house is all about. During the height of the day, you can see and be seen. This house is all about visibility, what you're known for and your reputation. In modern day, this is often simplified to your career or profession, but it can also refer to your role in society and how you contribute. 

The 10th house is a pretty great status symbol. Think about it. The middle of heaven is kind of like a monarch holding court. And this house is often, by the way, called the royal house. So think also about the sun climbing up the proverbial ladder to get to the top of the sky each day. So this brings in themes of ambition and achievement. When cosmic gossip is happening here, you're often talking about your career or your public image and maybe asking big questions about purpose and life direction.

Paired with the 10th house is its partner across the wheel, the 4th house. The 10th house is where the sun is at its high point, the 4th house is where the sun is at its low point. Subterranean means below the earth, which gives the idea of foundation, something holding the earth in place. So when something is subterranean, it's also hidden, it's underground. And this is where some of the fourth house themes like death and graves and secrets and endings come from. Okay. 

Ideally, the visibility and activity of the 10th house is balanced and supported by the privacy and seclusion of the 4th house. So what's really private? Your living space and your family history. So this is the house of parents, particularly the father in the ancient model, as well as the family home or land. This is a really earthen house that rules real estate and other things that were thought anchor somebody's 10th house status into place.

So today, the fourth house still represents your parents, but also the home you currently live in and who you live with. I consider the fourth house to represent the support, mostly tangible, but also intangible, the support that you have to do what's important to you. It's like your life's scaffolding or literally the foundation that your life is built upon. Some of us have charts with really sturdy foundations. Some of us, like mine, have charts with more unstable or mutable foundations, but we all have a fourth house. 

So when cosmic gossip is happening in your fourth house, home life becomes the focus. It can be about an actual brick and mortar home or the people who are home for you. Sometimes you're talking about moving, or buying and selling real estate, remodeling, or signing or breaking a lease. And sometimes professional pursuits take a backseat to family matters, like aging parents or other things going on behind closed doors at home.

Now let's move to the succedent houses, which are house number 2, 5, 8, and 11, and we're going to talk about them again as a group and as pairs. The second house has a very intense name, the Gate of Hades, but try not to let that freak you out. There's a lot to this name, but since we've already begun discussing the sun's daily journey through the sky, let's chat about what that can add. So when the sun's traveling through the part of the sky that correlates with the second house, it's at the tail end of its journey through night time. So those are the last dark hours right before the sun rises. So the sun is like wrestling free, about to be resurrected from its nightly death, aka Hades, okay?

So the second and the fourth houses, have a little bit of overlap because of this dark, below the earth imagery that resembles a grave or buried treasure. Think about somebody being buried in all of their finery, okay? But it's not luck that brings the second house its jewels and gems and wealth. But it's the effort of digging and toiling. So there's a lot of work involved with the second house. And as the sun digs itself out from the grave, this wealth, if there is any, comes up with it. So one of the main topics that the ancient astrologers gave to the second house was livelihood. How you supported your life by providing the necessities like food and shelter and money, just to name a few.

So this meaning has held until today. The second house is often just considered the money house, but it's a very specific kind of money. It's your money and other tangible resources. It's your contribution, how you make that money and how you spend that money. So it's not your spouse's money. It's not your parents' money. It's not your child's money. The money of other people, even if it finds its way to your pocket somehow, has a different place in the chart.

If cosmic gossip is happening in your second house, you're talking about your cash, how you get it, and how you spend it. If the astrology is challenging, as much as it sucks, these times may be less about what you want to do and more about making ends meet. But on the other hand, when astrological circumstances are favorable here, second house times can be really lucrative.

Paired with the second house is its partner across the wheel, the eighth house. The ancient name for this house is Idle Place. So this is considered a really inactive, honestly unfortunate, and passive part of the chart. But don't worry, we all have an eighth house, and some of us, like yours truly, has plenty of planets there. So when the sun reaches this part of the sky each day, it's starting to lose power and it's sitting low. So think about what idle means. It means to pass time doing nothing or to wait around and lollygag, maybe to be inactive by your own choosing or to be made inactive by some type of misfortune like injury or illness or death, okay?

So although I've mentioned the word death several times today already, the eighth house is the main place of death in the chart because death is the ultimate form of idleness. But do not, I repeat, do not get sidetracked or freaked out by the word death. Okay. All right. We live through tons of cosmic gossip in the eighth house. There are thousands of ways to interpret it in the land of the living. 

So what I do want you to focus on or be interested in is idleness as a mean to financial gain or loss. So the eighth house as a reflection of the second is another main money house, but usually somebody else worked for this money. The eighth house governs fortunes gained or lost through death, like inheritances, trusts, or other forms of idleness, quote unquote, like investments. The idea is, this money and these possessions aren't being actively worked for by you like they are in the second house. So when cosmic gossip is happening in the eighth house, you might be talking to a partner about their money, or you could be talking about the things that scare you, because this house also rules our fears or other things that we might unpack in, say, therapy.

The fifth house is called good fortune, and just like the name suggests, many of life's joys are represented here. So the traditional meaning of this house is children, period, dot. So regardless of the presence of physical children in your life or not, the fifth house is about the ways you multiply yourself. The ways your life force bears fruit. So what do you make or generate with your life force? Think about all the ways you use your energy to make something else. How do you replicate yourself in miniature? So if we put children aside, this is creativity. The fifth house is the place of art and dance and performance and anything else you can distill your life force into, ideally to be enjoyed or praised, okay?

So some people, like famous musicians, become well known and super wealthy because of their creative kids. But also think about just the swelling emotion and pure pleasure and fun that comes when you enjoy a great movie or go to a concert. That's fifth house stuff too. Creativity does not always bring fame or riches, but there's always a sliver of a chance and devoted artists, you know, keep rolling those die. But chance, by the way, is another ancient meaning of this house. So the idea that good fortune can visit you randomly without warning belongs to the fifth. 

Speaking of that, the fifth house also carries this idea of receiving a gift. So think about the wise men, the three wise men. Did they come empty handed to visit baby Jesus? No, they did not. They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So back in the day, ambassadors and emissaries always brought gifts, and this would hopefully increase their favor with whoever they were meeting. So think about people who bring you gifts and why they might do it. So someone could bring you chocolate or flowers or write you a song. Maybe a house guest brings a little something to show their thanks. Or maybe you're just like, hey, Venmo me for my art. So when your fifth house is activated by cosmic gossip, I want you to soak it up because it's usually a good time.

Across the wheel from the house of good fortune is its partner, the eleventh house, called good spirit. So the common denominator here is the word good, but what's the difference between fortune and spirit? So when we're using an ancient astro lens and we're looking at fortune, we're usually looking at external goodies that we can see and touch. When we're talking about spirit, we're usually talking about internal goodies, about things in the unseen realm. And although they can have very tangible outcomes, these are more internal, okay? So good spirit takes the glass half full approach, and it has things like hope and faith and optimism, morale, belief, confidence. Having others believe in you, receiving the goodwill from other people, or just being well liked. So, you can call it universe, you can call it holy spirit, your fairy godmother, your guide, your friend, whatever. Good spirit, the 11th house, stores all the energy and emotion that encourages you and others to act on your behalf.

So it's also this unseen unifying force that brings people together around a common cause like activism or advocacy. So in modern day, the social component of the 11th house also connects it to social media and other places where people share ideals or gather together. When cosmic gossip is happening in your 11th house, it's an opportunity to reconnect with your dreams and hopes, to consciously develop or repair your faith in goodness, or perhaps use your own goodwill to help somebody else.

And finally, it is time to chat about the cadent houses, which are 3, 6, 9, and 12. The third house is called Goddess, and as the name suggests, this house and its partner across the wheel, called God, have a lot to do with heavenly stuff, and not so much to do with earthly stuff.

So in modern astro, the third house has been demoted to simply ruling communication and siblings. And yes, it does rule those things, but it is so much richer than that. So, first of all, let's back up. Cadent houses are kind of slippery, and their lack of sure footing in the tangible realm makes it easy for them to slip right into the intangible realm. These are the liminal, in between spaces in the chart where the veil between the seen world and the spirit world is a little thinner.

The third house is accessible household spirituality. So these are rites and rituals of everyday people that were performed in the village center or outdoors or in living rooms, alright? Whereas the ninth house is more like public worship usually performed by clergy people. Third house is lighting a candle and sharing a meal. Alright?

Communication, travel and knowledge and spirituality were really intimately tied in the ancient world. So a ninth house pilgrimage could take a whole year, but a third house ritual may just require a walk to town. What else required a walk to town? Exchanging knowledge and exchanging goods. So this is where not only short journeys and communication enter the third house, but also commerce.

So in my mind, the third house is where hot gossip is exchanged over a hot drink. Hence the name of this podcast, okay? So email and text and phone calls and meeting for coffee, these are all third house modes of communication. Spreading the word in any way belongs to the third house. And in comparison to the ninth house, this spread is usually on a smaller, more organic and local scale, but there's always some overlap.

Across from the third house goddess is its partner, the ninth house god. So these houses share many themes, but the context is a little bit different. Spatially, and this may be hard, just let it, you know, roll off your back if it is hard to understand. Spatially, the ninth house is the cadent house closest to the bright and visible midheaven. So it's way up there in the sky. Okay, it's above the horizon and in the realm of day. The third house goddess is below the horizon in the realm of night. Both places of the sky are liminal and cadent and otherworldly. They're both places of wisdom, but unlike the close to earth, more human realm of goddess spirituality, the ninth house deals in loftiness.

So whether it shows up as public worship, an overseas move, a university campus, a global broadcast, or going to space, okay? The ninth house has a really big reach. Again, travel, trade, knowledge, and spirituality were really tied together in the ancient world. So knowledge and goods were spread by travelers and merchants. Reading and writing were often reserved for those in privileged, spiritual, or royal positions. And if you wanted to visit a sacred place for healing and blessing, or you wanted to receive education, you usually had to go really far away from home. So that's where the ninth house travel, like international travel, international people, and language comes from.

The final pair of cadent houses are the sixth and the twelfth called bad fortune and bad spirit. Okay, so I know the bluntness of these old terms makes them really intense. But before you freak out, I want to gently remind you that you've probably already experienced a vast array of good fortune and bad fortune in your life. So suffering is a part of the human experience. And traditional astrology simply doesn't shy away from that. It doesn't brush suffering under the rug. And because of that, I view it as quite kind actually, and in the right hands it tends to acknowledge and address the reality of life instead of denying it, which usually makes people feel unseen and unheard.

Alright, remember that fortune speaks more about the physical realm. like your body, wealth, possessions, and so on. And spirit speaks more about the intangible realm, whether it's the will and desires of other people, an actual spirit leading or misleading you, or your inner mental emotional terrain. 

Let's start with the sixth house of bad fortune, which tends to represent the more physical side of suffering in life, like illness or injury, enemies, a crappy job, or just bad luck. But it's not all bad, okay? In modern day, and I see this all the time in practice, the sixth house also represents just employment, especially service or health care jobs. And when cosmic gossip is happening in the sixth house, you might be talking about your boss or your co workers. 

You might also be talking about your schedule. So daily routine and ritual have also made their way into the sixth house. And this is probably because, for most of us, our job defines the order of our day. Like, when we wake up, and when we shower, and what we wear, and what we eat, and when, and other mundane details of life. So that belongs to the sixth house, too.

And last but not least, health is also part of the sixth house. But I really want to make sure you understand that the first house is more about where good health resides and the sixth house is more about how things can go wrong in terms of health and wellness. 

When your sixth house is activated by cosmic gossip, first of all, chill out, okay? I do not, repeat, do not want you entering that time expecting misfortune, but I do think it's wise to use it as a reminder to think about how you deal with challenging times if and when they pop up.

As with everything in life, sixth house times are a mixed bag, so they might be in your face awful, but they might not be. They could feel grinding or labor intensive, where your schedule is packed with back to back classes, meetings, shifts, obligations, or anything else that takes a pattern of sleep, eat, get on the hamster wheel, do it again. All right? We all go through periods like that.

Across the wheel from the sixth house is its partner, the twelfth, called bad spirit. We already know from this word spirit that the twelfth house will typically rule suffering that may not meet the eye as readily. It might be internal, like sadness, or it may be hidden from public view for another reason. For example, misfortune that secludes or confines people, whether they choose it or it chooses them. So this could take the form of imprisonment, or living in a really remote location, or even retreat or sabbatical where you limit your connection to the outside world. It could also include being isolated or hospitalized because of physical or mental illness. 

Enemies also belong to the 12th house, but they're slightly different from the enemies of other houses. Enemies of bad spirit are usually unseen, okay? So if you believe in ghosts and demons, this is where they hang out in the chart, okay? But these enemies realistically tend to take the form of secrets or mental emotional burdens. And in modern times, it's aptly expanded to include the idea of inner demons or being your own worst enemy and how those fears or behaviors might isolate you. 

When your 12th house is activated by cosmic gossip, you're usually talking about really challenging stuff. And I encourage you to proactively pick up some of these themes instead of waiting for them to come to you. So for example, during one of my 12th house times, I chose to step away from public work and go on what I called a sabbatical. It wasn't a real sabbatical and it was not glamorous, but it was what I desperately needed at the time. So you may actively choose to step back in another way, whether that's simplifying your commitments or taking more time each day for introspection and solitude or maybe even planning a solo trip or retreat.

And there we go, the 12 houses from a Third House Gossip perspective. Essentials to remember, the 12 houses divide your life into 12 areas. And the planets move through these houses. And when they move through the houses, they use the topics that we just talked about of each house to express themselves. So when a planet is moving through your seventh house, it's going to use relationship to express itself. When a planet is moving through your fourth house, it's going to use your home and family life to express itself and so on and so forth.

Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it really info packed and useful. If you did enjoy it, make sure you pass along this gossip to a friend, because that's what we do with juicy information. Alright, talk soon.