About the Houses (and this site)

Medieval Zodiac Remember that line in HAIR? "When the moon is in the seventh house..." The idea of each sign ruling a quadrant (or, I suppose, a dodecant) of the heavenly sphere goes back to Medieval astrology, when the each zodiacal sign was thought to rule over a lot of different things -- body parts (as in this print by Gregor Reisch from 1525, which I snagged from http://wwwihm.nlm.nih.gov/ihm/ but have here in a more optimized format) and areas of human endeavor, for example, as well as the more obvious seasons. These areas are related to the traditional attributions of the signs and planets ruling each house.

So there I was, in the midst of an email to David, who has the "Wonderful Web Women" site, (I had aspirations to get listed, but he told me I had too many links and not enough original content. Ah well... actually, I think my choice of links says rather a lot about me...) (and as it happens, I rather like better being listed with the fem*mass site) (but enough of the parenthetical remarks), when it occurred to me that areas of my personal endeavor fit pretty nicely into the old House scheme, and in fact, it'd be kindof a neat way to organize a web site. So there you have it.

Oh, right, you want to know what they mean, don't you. Sorry. Here:

House Zodiacal Ruler Traditional Meaning Modern Meanings
1st Aries Self self image, personality, behavior, appearances
2nd Taurus Money finances, resources, self-worth, earnings
3rd Gemini Communication immediate environment, siblings, studies, inquiries, connections, thinking, writing
4th Cancer Home roots, real estate, father
5th Leo Children creativity, self-expression, love, pride, play
6th Virgo Servants responsibilities, pets, work, routines, employment, health
7th Libra Marriage relationships, business partnerships, intimacy. If the First House is Self, the Seventh House is Other.
8th Scorpio Death instincts, sexuality, morality, the occult, mysteries, initiation, purification, regeneration
9th Sagittarius Journeys higher education, religion/philosophy, long-distance travel, psychic development
10th Capricorn Honor ambition, reputation, status, profession, vocation, mother
11th Aquarius Friends associations, hopes, goals, dreams, community
12th Pisces Troubles hidden things, visions, secrets

You can see how I interpret each house to my own experience now, if you like.

Oh, and to answer the other two questions I most frequently get:


leighann_at_elfhill_dot_com (obfuscated to foil spambot harvesters; make the obvious substitutions)