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Who Rules the House?

Updated: Feb 2, 2024




Many of you have asked for some clarity on determining the ruler of each house in a chart, especially in the placidus housing system where one sign can have presence in two houses! If you are having a hard time figuring out which sign rules each of your astrological houses, or why you have the same sign ruling two houses, a sign that doesn't rule any house, or you have empty houses and don't know what any of this means?!!! You are not alone, my friend.


This quick little Lightning Lesson on house rulership in the Placidus house system has got you covered. Not only are we going to touch on all of the above, we're going to look at multiple charts for visual example to help this information really sink in and click.


We'll use my chart along with a couple of celebrity charts for visual examples:


(I didn't go through all 12 because I think you'll get the idea with the first handful here.)


The left-side, horizontal line is always the cusp of the 1st House. Use this as your home base and marker - when in doubt, start back at the first and then count around in chronological order.


In the Red circle is the ruler of my 1st House (also known as the rising sign or ascendant), Leo at 20°. Leo is ruled by the Sun. The Sun rules my 1st House.*


In the Blue circle is the ruler of my 2nd House, Virgo at 12°. Virgo is ruled by Mercury. Mercury rules my 2nd House.


In the Yellow circle is the ruler of my 3rd House, Libra at 09°. Libra is ruled by Venus, Venus rules my 3rd House.


In the Purple is the ruler of my 4th House (also known as the IC), Scorpio at 12°. Scorpio is ruled by Mars & Pluto, so Mars & Pluto rule my 4th House.


In the Orange is the ruler of my 5th House, Sagittarius at 17°. Sag is ruled by Jupiter, Jupiter rules my 5th House.


When you're looking at the houses, try to keep your vision between the cusp lines of that house. For example, Leo rules my 1st and has a good amount of energy there, then Virgo energy starts a bit mid-way there. So in my first there's that Leo presence and rulership, but Virgo also has presence there as well.



This is where we refer to our landlord & tenant; or head of household & roommates analogy:


Leo is the landlord or head of household of my 1st House, and Virgo is a tenant or a roommate also living in my 1st. Virgo brings its flavor and energy, absolutely, but make no mistake, Leo is the ruler, which means its ruler, the Sun, is making all the calls and taking all the shots when it comes to the ongoings of my 1st House.


*(I do want to note that the ruler of your first house & rising sign is also considered your chart ruler. For me, this means the Sun is my overall chart ruler.)



 


Practice identifying house rulers & the Flavors of each house with the following charts:

Freddie Mercury





Drew Barrymore





Britney Spears





 


Intercepted Signs & Double Rulers

You may find that you have signs in your chart that do not rule any house, and instead reside within the house, sandwiched between two other signs. In this case, you'll also discover that you have some signs that rule more than one house in your chart.


I highly encourage you do your own exploration of Intercepted Signs online, but I personally resonate a lot with the idea that these intercepted signs are usually very suppressed parts of ourselves that we kind of have to work extra hard to embrace & embody.


As far as the signs that rule more than one house, in my opinion this indicates an emphasis of lessons on that axis. For example, if you have Taurus & Scorpio each ruling two houses in your chart, I believe you have an emphasis on the Taurus-Scorpio journey in this incarnation.



Here are some solid resources on the subject:

Your Hidden Powers by Joanne Wickenburg




Intercepted Signs by AstroWiki (maintained by Astro.com)




 


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I hope this Lightning Lesson is helpful! Please feel free to drop any questions you may have in the comments below.




xoxo


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