The 1st house is all about you - the individual, and is therefore regarded as the most important house. Your basic outward personality is determined in this house, influenced by the sign it falls in (the rising sign)and if any planets are present.
The 2nd house is connected with what a person values most in life, and financial issues are covered here, as are attitudes to possessions. Financial and emotional security stem from this house, as does self-esteem.
The 3rd house is the house of communication and your individual environment. Self-expression and one's mental attitude to life are shown here. Close relatives and siblings and your local environment are also featured in this house, but not parents.
The 4th house is very important, with it concerning the home itself and domestic and family life. This house holds your very foundation of life.
The 5th house concerns your flair creativity, and pleasure of all kinds. Romantic attachments are covered here, as is financial and other risk-taking. Attitudes to children are included here.
The 6th house is connected with routine work (not career), home life chores and your personal responsibilities. It is the house of service to others. Health matters and diet are also shown here.
The 7th house is the house of serious love relationships and other types of partnerships or important relationships, and the ways in which one deals with other people within these relationships. It is the marriage house.
The 8th house deals with joint financial undertakings and resources, inheritances, and also matters connected with death in general. Sexual issues abide here as do matters of paranormal or other occult views. Most importantly, it is the house of self transformation - the phoenix-like quality of death and rebirth - reinventing yourself following a crisis.
The 9th house covers higher education (primary education is covered in the 3rd). Travel - literally or of the mind also lives here. It is all to do with the knowledge of increasing one's awareness and experiences in life. Your philosophic, religious and spiritual outlooks originate here.
The 10th house is the house of career, hopes and ambitions, and making one's way in life. Attitudes towards authority are shown here, and social responsibilities.
The 11th house represents friends, socialising, and good causes. Group activities are covered here. It reveals how a person deals with humanity at large.
The 12th house is the most private of all the houses. This is the area of the deeper mind and intuition: things that are hidden and psychological problems. It also relates to highly intuitive, even psychic ability, and a major humanitarian compassion of wanting to care for others.