THe Houses — Overview

At the moment you were born, all of the planets in the sky were in a particular Zodiac sign (Aries, Gemini, Leo, etc). But they were also in a particular house.

In astrology, the houses represent the life bucket where that zodiac energy shows up.

Each one rules a specific area of life—from your habits to your relationships to your weird childhood attachment to one specific mug.

Planets show what’s happening. Signs describe how. Houses tell you where.

👆🏻 That’s the standard explanation and it’s true, but it never clicked for me until I saw it described in specifics, so let’s look at a specific example:

Let’s say at the moment you were born, the moon was in Capricorn.

We know that the moon rules our emotions.

And we know that Capricorn energy is highly structured and ambitious.

So this transits to: “As a Capricorn moon, I experience emotions like a checklist…”

Great! But there’s another layer to explore—the house that the moon was in.

If your Capricorn Moon in the 5th house, you might try to organize their feelings through performance or creative output.

But if you’re a 12th house Capricorn Moon, you might not express them at all until they’re alone, five years later.

In both cases you’re still a Capricorn Moon, with a highly organized/structured way of processing your emotions, but the way it plays out in your life might be different than a Capricorn Moon in a different house.

Still not clicking? Here’s my personal example:

I’m an Aries Sun. The sun rules your core personality. Aries is a fiery hothead. Ergo, I should be a fiery hothead. And yet, almost nobody who knows me would describe me as such; I’m fairly quiet and mellow. But one person who I think would describe me as fiery? My literary agent of 10+ years who’s been witness to my frequent eruptions when something in the publishing world pisses me off. Why? My Aries Sun is in the 10th House, which is the house of career and public image. That’s where my Aries Sun comes out!

The Houses

1st House – The First Impression

The outfit you choose for an event where you might run into an ex. The way you walk into a room. It’s your personal trailer—how people see you before they know you. The first impression. (This is always where your Rising sign lives.)

2nd House – The Price Tag

What you spend on a candle that “smells like stability.” How you feel when your checking account dips below $100. The stuff you own, and the quiet (or loud) way it tells the world what you’re worth.

3rd House – Voice Notes

The way you explain something with way too many side tangents. Your texting style, your TikTok captions, the email draft you rewrite three times. This is your inner narrator and outer communicator—the tone, timing, and tempo of how you think and share.

4th House – The Soft Place

Your childhood bedroom. Your moon phase playlist. That one food that makes you feel like you’ll survive. It’s your roots, your emotional wifi, your personal definition of “home.”

5th House – The Flirt

Instagram thirst traps. Your crush on your barista. The hobby you swear isn’t serious (but totally is). This is your romance, your art, your drama, your main character montage.

6th House – The Checklist

Your morning routine (or lack thereof). The vitamins you bought and forgot about. How you show up on a Tuesday. It’s work, wellness, laundry, and the little things that quietly run your life.

7th House – The Plus-One

That person whose name is on your lease, your heart, or your lawsuit. Relationships, yes—but also contracts, enemies, and anyone you can’t ghost without consequences.

8th House – The Deep End

Merging bank accounts, whispered secrets, sexual tension, and emotional hangovers. Also: taxes. Basically, anything intimate, intense, or too real for small talk.

9th House – The Existential Spiral

Googling the meaning of life at 2 a.m. Taking a solo trip and calling it “spiritual.” This house rules belief, meaning, and whatever makes you feel like the world is bigger than your inbox.

10th House – The Reputation

Your LinkedIn headline, your legacy project, the award you low-key want. It’s not just career—it’s your ambition, public image, and the elevator pitch version of you.

11th House – The Group Project That Worked

The online forum where you found your people. The group text that actually makes you laugh. The shared dream that keeps showing up in your journal. This is your community—the collaborators, the causes, and the visionaries who remind you that you’re not meant to do life alone.

12th House – The Hidden File

Your dreams, your intuition, your secret Pinterest board titled “soft life.” This is your retreat, your recharge, and everything happening backstage—before even you understand it.

A final note on houses

It’s important to note that our house breakdown is determined by our Rising Sign, which is always the First House. So if you don’t know your birth time, and thus don’t know your Rising Sign, you unfortunately won’t be able to determine your House placements.

Don’t panic. There’s still plenty of self-discovery to be had! You can still explore what it means to be a Gemini Mars even if you don’t know which house it’s in! For example, I’m a Taurus Moon, which means I crave consistency, comfort, and have strong opinions on bread. That’s true whether or or not Taurus is in my 6th house or 10th!