HOUSES

The interpretation of a natal chart is not based on the placement of planets in signs, called the Rasi chart, but instead on the House, or Bhava, Chart. Only one step is needed to convert the Rasi chart into a Bhava Chart and that is to add the Ascendant (also called Lagna).

The Ascendant is the degree of the Zodiac rising on the Eastern horizon at the time of birth. As the Earth spins on its axis, it turns a full circle every 24 hours, one sign every two hours on average, or one degree every 4 minutes.

The Ascendant position is included in the chart in the relevant sign. It is the only data in the chart that is specific to time and place. The Lagna or Ascendant determines the position of the first house in each natal chart. Twins born say, 20 minutes apart, can have different Ascendants, and, as a result, have completely different lives.

In Einstein's birth chart above, Gemini was rising on the Eastern Horizon, making it the first house, Leo the second house, and so on. There are 12 houses in a chart and these houses, and their relationship to each other, are where you live throughout your life. The predominant meanings of each house are as follows:

1st House Appearance, behaviour, birth, body strengths and weaknesses, fame, head, nature of a person, youth, prestige and honour.

2nd House Family life, income, and wealth; ability to speak, food, eating, death, face and throat, mouth, right eye.

3rd House Siblings (especially younger), valour, mental and physical skills, neck, hands, short travels, writing and written communication, the arts.

4th House Mother, home life, education, emotions, houses, land, immovable property, chest.

5th House Children, intelligence, creative abilities, artistic talents, advice and counsel, stomach and liver, discernment and discrimination.

6th House Enemies, wounds , debts, health, lawsuits, anxieties, theft, maternal relations, middle abdomen.

7th House Marriage, spouse, business partners, courtship, lower abdomen, trade, diplomacy.

8th House Death, longevity, accidents, bankruptcy, inheritance, occult, mystery, plots, poison, external sexual organs and excretory organs.

9th House Religion, father, preceptor, guru, foreign travel, previous good karmas, good fortune, affluence, wisdom, legs, thighs, hips, pilgrimages.

10th House Career, profession, fame, commerce, authority, government, knees, material success, honours.

11th House Income from career, gains, easy money, gifts, elder sibling, friends, calves, skins, ankles, wishes.

12th House Expenditures, losses, confinement in prison, hospital or a monastery, foreign residence, moksha, feet, end of anything, comforts of the bed (sleep and sex).

It is in these houses that the four aims of life can be read:

Houses 1-5-9 cover the dharma goals to do with duty.
Houses 2-6-10 cover the artha goals to do with obtaining wealth.
Houses 3-7-11 cover the kama goals to do with achieving one's aspirations.
Houses 4-8-12 cover the moksha goals to do with liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth. .
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In this Section:

Introduction to Vedic Astrology
The Four Aims of Life
Dealing with Obstacles
How Vedic Astrology Works
Planets Main Significations
Houses
Interpreting the Horoscope

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