Houses
Because houses localize experience, they describe your orientation.
When we talk about houses systems, we are also talking about normalcy, comfort/discomfort, what is behind us, what we face, mobility, and who gets to be at home.
Focus on what's most important
Ecliptic: This is the zodiac wheel. Imagine it as a rubber band wrapped above the Earth’s surface. Horizon: This is where the sun comes up. However, the horizon used in astrology is not the actual horizon, but an abstract horizon closer to the Earth’s middle. You can also imagine this a rubber band wrapped around the Earth’s surface. Meridian: This is a line connecting the North pole with the South pole. You can imagine this, you guessed it, as a rubber band wrapped around the Earth’s surface.
| Ascendant or rising sign (AC): where the horizon crosses the ecliptic to the East and the sun rises at any given place. |
| Descendant (DC): 180 degrees or 12 hours away from the ascendant, where the sun sets at any given place |
| Midheaven (MC): where the meridian crosses the ecliptic and where the sun is at noon at any given place |
| Nadir or Imum Coeli (IC): 180 degrees or 12 hours away from the midheaven |
You can describe these four points like this:
| Ascendant or rising sign (AC): your identity, or the lens through which you look onto the world - your "I"/eye. Related to the Jungian sense having. To have power with... |
| Descendant (DC): your social identity, label, or the lens through which other see you, or you see society - race, class, and gender norms. Related to the Jungian sense sensing. To give/take power to/from... |
| Midheaven (MC): what oppresses you and what you are trying to prove. Related to the Jungian sense thinking. To have power over... |
| Nadir or Imum Coeli (IC): What you repress, your root, and your heritage. Related to the Jungian sense feeling. The have power within... |
These four angles of the chart start the angular houses. Angular houses are the most important houses, because they show where the energy of a particular quadrant is just beginning, most energetic, and more dire.
Moving counterclockwise, the houses that come right after each angular house are the succedent houses. These houses are in the middle of each quadrant and support the angular houses.
Move counterclockwise again and the remaining four houses are the cadent houses. These houses finish off each quadrant and prepare for the next one. They are what the angles of the chart are departing away from.
