THE BASIC TRAITS OF EACH HOUSE.

The astrological birth chart is divided into twelve segments, called houses, and numbered anticlockwise from 1 to 12 in the chart wheel. Each house covers different areas of life, therefore when a planet falls into a particular house it manifests it's energies most strongly in the area of life covered by that house. Likewise, the sign that the house falls in will strongly influence that area of life.

THE ANGLES OF THE CHART.

There are two axes that cut the chart into four distinct segments, falling at the beginning of the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses. These are referred to as angles and are respectively, the ascendant, nadir (or IC), descendant, and Midheaven (or MC). These are extremely important areas of the chart and are greatly enhanced by having planets on or near to them.

ASCENDANT: the sign that the ascendant falls in - the rising sign - is often portrayed more obviously to the outside world, so unless it is the same as your Sun sign, the characteristics of the ascendant will win over. This is the main reason why many people do not come over with the typical characteristics of their 'star' sign. It is the sign you feel most comfortable with and therefore fall back into.

DESCENDANT: you will find yourself drawn to others that have the sign that your descendant falls in strongly featured in their chart. The sign's qualities represent what you would like in yourself but usually receive from your partners.

MIDHEAVEN (or MC): this represents your ambitions, what you identify most with, and is largely connected with career matters and your public image. Where you are going as opposed to where you have come from, the other end of this axis.

NADIR (or IC): this represents your roots and what matters most to you really deep down. Where you've come from, as opposed to where you're going - think of it as your FOUNDATION POINT.

  THE INDIVIDUAL HOUSES FOLLOW ON THE NEXT PAGE