Planets in Houses – Part 4 – 144 Templates
The Houses can be used to interpret all manner of topics, events, and experiences. Doing so effectively involves layering and balancing the impacts of complex, moving combinations. The good news is that we don’t care about all of that right now. For the purposes of this series we only need to focus on one piece of this puzzle: the ruler of the 1st House, sometimes known as the chart ruler.
The 1st House is always located in the zodiacal sign that is rising at the time a chart is cast. This sign will therefore represent and signify the subject of the chart. If we are looking at the birth chart of a person, the native is the subject of the chart and the 1st House is the one that tells us about the native themselves. The sign in question will have a planetary ruler, and the location by sign and house of that planetary ruler is the key piece of data for identifying and categorizing the native. When combining the sign of the ascendant with the location of its ruler we can identify the base elemental formula for the subject of the chart. First, let’s review the planetary rulers by sign:
- Aries: Mars
- Taurus: Venus
- Gemini: Mercury
- Cancer: The Moon
- Leo: The Sun
- Virgo: Mercury
- Libra: Venus
- Scorpio: Mars
- Sagittarius: Jupiter
- Capricorn: Saturn
- Aquarius: Saturn
- Pisces: Jupiter
Now, let’s take a look at an example chart, with only relevant data displayed:
In this chart we have Aquarius on the ascendant – it is the rising sign. That marks Aquarius as the 1st House of the chart. Aquarius is ruled by the planet Saturn and Saturn is located in the sign of Libra, which is in the 9th House of the chart. In brief, we can say that the ruler of the ascendant is in the 9th House.
Our second chart is also Aquarius rising, but in this one Saturn is in Gemini, which is the 5th House of the chart. This time, the ruler of the ascendant is in the 5th House.
In both cases the person born under this chart will be Aquarius rising. Aquarius is called “The Water-bearer” and it is an Air sign that is known to be light, crafty, and rigid. Aquarius is the idea of form, limits, and what is possible with what exists. It is associated with systems, change, and the new rules. People born under this sign will be generally serious and somewhat analytical in how they interact with the world. They are analytical about what they come across and they are crafty in their thinking, often understanding things others do not. This is because they are seeing things from a different angle. Their goal is to give form and structure to new ideas, to organize them according to a set of rules of their own invention. Aquarius rising people will be disciplined and serious about the things that matter to them. The placement and condition of the ruling planet Saturn tells us how effective they will be and the form through which Aquarius will be expressed. The sign is the territory and the planet is the actor, so it is the planet that works through the rising sign, steering the person born under it.
In the first example we find Saturn in Libra, the 9th House. In the second we have Saturn in Gemini, the 5th House. Both Libra and Gemini are air signs, consistent with Aquarius which is the other air sign. This tells us that in both cases the air element will be prominent in the persona of this individual. They will be an airy person, meaning they will be quick, adaptable, and ideas-oriented. They will have been called an “air-head” at least once in their life.
In the first case, Saturn is in a sign in which it is very effective, Libra. It is the 9th House of “what is out there” and we can expect to find limitations and discipline around 9th House topics in their life. These will be character-defining for the person and they may well be known first and foremost in this way. The 9th House will often show higher education, religion, or foreign places. The native with this placement will have a persona that is shaped by limitations resulting from experiences with religion, being in a place that is foreign to them, or being surrounded by ideas which they find restrictive. Aquarius is a fixed sign which provides consistency throughout the life – these people establish their ways of being early and they are unlikely to change them once established. Libra is a receptive sign and Saturn is effective here because it is very good at receiving and building from what it has received. People with this placement are likely to have a very firm and consistent philosophy about who they are and they will be unchangeable in this, embodying it fully. Because Saturn is a malefic planet it is likely that the philosophy developed in response to challenging, limiting, or generally negative experiences. They are as much about what they are against as what they are for.
In the second case Saturn is in another air sign, Gemini, and it is the 5th House of what we create and give. The native with this placement is going to have interesting ideas and they are going to express them to you. They will be very serious about what they create and that may be very original, but we can expect themes of darkness, limitation, and restriction to be present. This is someone who is defined by their ideas and thoughts and who is known for their activities in this area in part because they have a great number of them. We can expect these people to be somewhat overwhelmed by the volume of information they must process, so this can also be a limiting area for them. Commonly we could expect to find people with this placement to be weighed down by 5th House matters – their creative life, their social life, or even children.
While both are Aquarius rising people who are born with Saturn in an air sign there are significant differences in their expression, behavior, and persona. These arise from the different placements of the ruling planet. For each rising sign there are twelve possible placements for that ruling planet – each in a different sign and house. Because the Houses are mapped starting from the sign in the 1st House, these combinations also vary for each rising sign. For example, an Aquarius rising will always have the 7th House in the sign of Leo. For a Pisces Rising, the 7th House will be Virgo. The result is 144 completely unique combinations.
The natal chart of a person will contain every other planet too, and the position of the Moon, the Sun, Venus, etc, will always color and shape their personality, life experience, and general approach. What we find is that it is the planet ruling their 1st House which becomes the most foundational. As a result people who share the combination of rising sign and ruling planet share a consistent pattern in their presentation, upon which their personal planets are able to color and modify. It is this baseline position that forms the template which is common between them all and once you learn to see them you’ll recognize the “types” out there in the world or in your mirror. There are 144 templates and in this series we will identify and characterize each one.
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