What
House System Do You Live In?
January 28, 2005
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/jan28.html
Dear Eric:
I have noticed you use the Koch house system in your charts. Why do you prefer
this system? I have mostly seen Placidus in use.
Thank
you
A Reader
Dear Reader,
While many of the charts that have appeared in this column use Koch houses, I'm
not particularly hung up on the whole issue or topic of house system. I do
respect the technical points of astrology and love focusing on the finer points
of technique. I'm also aware that there is an at-times hot discussion of 'what
is the right house system' that at various eras in the past has preoccupied the
astrological community.
My basic feeling is that, at this point
in my work, I read the chart that is in front of me. I feel similarly about
Tarot cards; I am happy to work with any deck I've got, or with playing cards,
or with a D20 or two (20-sided gaming dice) or whatever. Though I use about 80
asteroids and minor planets, most of the time, writing the daily horoscope this
week, I dispensed with that entirely and used the most basic charts I have.
Silly as it sounds, the computer from
which I export the charts for this column is set to Koch houses. I think the
one I'm typing on now is set to Placidus houses. For a while, I would rotate
through the house systems and see if I could notice a difference. They all seem
to work pretty much the same -- for me. If a client says, "please look at
my chart in Regiomontanus houses," of course I will look at it. Basically,
as Martha Lang Wescott says, you have to trust your chart.
For a while I used Topocentric houses,
part of a new system; these houses are close or identical to the Placidus
cusps. What's cool about Topocentric is that when you're casting a chart for
Now, when you cast your charts in
different house systems, you will notice that some of the planets change
houses. But often, the planets that change are near the house they were in,
using the prior house system. Other times they are not. The thing to remember
is that house cusps, while appearing as lines in the chart, are usually more
fuzzy in how they actually work -- most of the time. William Lilly, the first
published astrological author in the English language, says that you need to
allow five degrees before the new house and begin to count planets in that zone
as part of the next house. Usually, you can get a good reading off of the
ambiguity; the blending of the houses tells important stories about the nature
of our reality.
For example, the 5th is the house of play
and the 6th is the house of work. Planets on the cusp between the 5th and 6th will
help blend those two facts of life. The 5th is the house of recreation and
creativity and the 6th is the house of health. The two themes are associated.
Other times, there will be an exact event
when a planet changes houses. I have never done a study of what happens in
other house systems when something interesting happens in another system.
Basically, unless I have a special reason to make the inquiry, I would not say
that one system was more accurate than another than I would say that reading
tea leaves is more accurate than reading coffee grounds. I assume that on one
important level the whole astrological system is basically a figment of the
imagination; it is part of the grand illusion, not an exact science. Astrology
is a form of divination -- of asking and receiving information. The house
system is like a container for that information. Best not to let it get in the
way.
This does not, however, mean that it's
not an astrologer's prerogative to choose the right house system for himself or
herself. Work with what works for you; if you're curious, study the history of
the different systems, see which astrologers are into different systems, and
make up your mind based on an informed investigation. Otherwise, just pick a
system and work with it.
One potential reason to change houses
systems involves the issue of interceptions. An interception is what you call a
situation where a sign does not have a house cusp going through it. For
example, the 10th house might go through Gemini, and the 11th house through
Leo. In that case, Cancer is floating in the middle of the 11th house.
I won't get into that in great detail
here -- it's an essay of its own -- but when you change house systems, you can
change the interception pattern. In other words, a different sign can be
floating in the middle of a house. So -- bookmark that issue, under the general
heading of 'interceptions'. It's worth a close look, because they can provide a
lot of interesting information from a natal chart.
The house cusps that don't change are
called the ANGLES or ANGULAR HOUSES -- the ascendant (1st house cusp), the
descendent (7th house cusp), the IC (usually the 4th house cusp) and the MC
(usually the 10th house cusp). Some, indeed, many house systems, use the IC and
the MC as the 4th and 10th cusps respectively; a few others do not.
All that house systems change is where
the cusps of the 2nd/8th, 3rd/9th, 5th/11th and 6th/12th houses are placed. In
other words, each quarter of the zodiac is divided by three -- trisected. The
different systems use a variety of different methods for doing that division,
which I'll get into next week.
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