Houses one through six are known as your "personal houses," or houses revolving around matters of your self, while houses seven through 12 are your "interpersonal houses," or houses relating to your connection to the world around you. (Note: In the chart above, the signs align perfectly to the houses, but this would rarely happen in real life!)Ĭollectively, the 12 houses are said to represent all the areas of one's life and experience. So whichever sign-slice the cusp of each house-slice falls into is the sign that rules that house in your personal chart. The second set of overlapping slices in a birth chart represents the 12 signs of the zodiac, and this could look different for everybody. These slices will always be in roughly the same place, as the cusp of the first house of anyone's chart will be around the 9 o' clock mark. That pie is divided up into two sets of overlapping slices - one wheel of slices being the 12 astrological houses that we're talking about.
If you read your own birth chart, you'll see that it's circular and looks like a pie. Each of your house's cusps will also fall into one of the 12 zodiac signs in your chart, which will give you even more insight into the energy of the area of your life ruled by that house. "This is dependent on the date, location, and time of which one is born." Which house (or area of your life) each of your planets is in affects how that planet's influence will manifest for you. "The birth chart, which is one's personal roadmap in life, describes our personal vibes and goals - and it is divided into 12 houses that describe the areas in life that are important to us, according to astrology," astrologer Lisa Stardust tells Bustle.
In your birth chart, all the planets are sprinkled throughout 12 astrological houses, each of which represents a different area of your life. Most people are already somewhat familiar with the concept of signs and planets in astrology - and if you're a little more advanced, you may be familiar with astrological birth charts, too, which are essentially maps that show where each planet was in the zodiac at the time you were born. You're about to get an explanation of astrological houses that will help you make a little more sense of your birth chart - and in turn, understand more about who you are according to the stars. Because finding out that someone's "Venus is in the 10th house" or that their "fifth house is in Aries" may sound like literal astro-gibberish right now, but not to fear, sis-stars. And if you've witnessed astrology lovers blabbing away about their birth chart to anyone who'll listen (guilty as charged!), then you've probably heard about the 12 houses of the zodiac and wondered what that meant. But if you take the time to delve beneath the surface of your sun, moon, and rising signs and check out your personal birth chart, astrology is a detailed and fascinating ancient practice that can help you learn a ton about yourself. Astrology is often thought of as a fun part of our lives that only applies when we read our daily horoscopes or obsessively check the sun sign compatibility between us and our crush.