posted February 21, 2006 06:14 PM              

In the Placadius version I have the sun in the 8th and moon in the 12.....however, in the equal house system my 12th house moon becomes WAY more friendly moving into the 11th house (Taurus cusp) and my deep mysterious sun in the 8th becomes relationship loving in the 7th house along with Neptune, Mercury, and Jupiter....

So, I really feel like according to these charts I am a "whole" new person. At first, I was in disbelief but, now I can definately see the moon and sun influences in these houses.
Has anyone ever felt like both house systems and the subsequent changes describe them accurately?

posted February 23, 2006 01:40 AM              

I use the house system that works for me. And Placidus works for me. It is also VERY common, as AG mentions. However, there are many other astrologers who have changed house systems or even astrological methods later in their careers. I recommend learning the basics of Western astrology using Placidus. Later, after you have mastered Placidus interpretations, if some other house system seems to work better...use that instead.

Beginning with Placidus,

posted February 23, 2006 05:03 AM            

It's like Tim said, most people use the house system that resonates best with them (or the one that gives them the chart they most like hehe).

The equal house system is quite simple by nature, and its the one the ancients used, the oldest of all house systems. I think Linda Goodman used this one, although I am not sure. The equal house just simply divides the whole chart into equal 30 degree segments from the degree of the ascendent. The one criticism of this system is that there will be times when the MC will not be on the 10th cusp, it could be on the 9th or 11th. This is because not all days and nights are the same length, and the equal house systems assumes that there is perfect equality in everything. Many do not like this system because the 10th house is Saturnian by nature, and if the MC fell on the 9th or 11th cusps, it would be inaccurate/incorrect. However, it is important to remember, that the house systems are only a symbolic repesentation of the zodiac wheel - they do NOT correspond with actual astronomical calculations/correlations. A house system is just an imaginary representation of the souls compass - the path of light and shadow, seen and hidden. Your planetary placements are the only real interaction of celestical phenomena.

The Placidus system is the most popular system, mainly due to two reasons. The first is that Raphaels ephemeris in the 19th century adhered to the placidus system, and with it being the most popular ephemeris, then consequently new generations of astrologers grew up learning it. The 2nd reason is that Placidus is more mathematical in nature. It was born in a time when astronomy and discovery and new scienece was birthing. The old world views of God were being left behind in favour of a more tangible physical reality - science. The Placidus is a time-based system. It compensates for the differences in day/nights, although the further north/south of the equator you are, the more extreme the chart becomes (very large houses and very small houses).

Its a difficult job trying to decide which house system you want to use, there are so many out there, although Placidus and Equal are both good choices.

Personally, I prefer equal houses, purely because I acknowledge that the astrological houses are only symbolic imagery of our psyches. And the dispute over the 9th/10th/11th cusp MC doesnt bother me because there is an irony to it Placidus can accuse equal houses of trying to 'balance' everything, and in assuring this 'balance', they often miss out on the 10th house MC - and this is important because many say that the MC MUST be on the 10th house, otherwise it will not reflect the qualities of Saturn. However... a lot of other house systems, including Placidus, are fixed in their opinion that the 10th house MUST be on the MC, and so they 're-balance' their systems to be in accord with this rule. So each system is trying to find its own balance in its own way.

Heres another interesting way of looking at it... This is a way I have developed from my I Ching studies. An I ching energy cycle can is divided into 8 different parts. Each of these 8 different parts constains an additional 48 parts. So it can be like saying... there are 8 I ching houses, and within each of those houses, there is an additional 48 aspects which ass more depth to the position within the house.
But to simplify even further, the 8 houses of the I Ching cycle are part of an even smaller cycle - a 4 phase cycle. This can be likened to the 4 seasons of nature - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Spring and Summer are known as the yang hemicycle, and Autumn and Winter are know as the Yin hemicycle. Spring would start at the degree of the ascendent, and as we continue over the skies, the pinncale (zemith) of the sky would be the start of Summer, and the Dsc would be the point on the western horizon (where the sun would set). And then the Yin (female) hemicycle would start with Autumn, going right down to furthest North and the IC, and here would begin Winter.

Each of these 4 phases holds its own inherent energy. For example, Spring would denote an arousing, goriwng principle, just imagine the blooming of flowers, the emergence of creatures, the bursting of plants though the surface of the earth and the growth of new leaves upon a tree. So Spring is the start of all things.
Summer would be the growth of all that Spring has brought. New growth is nourished, raised and reared, brought to its full potential, and given light to augment its expansion in the world.
Autumn could be seen as the diminishing of all that has become out-worn or over-grown, leaves are lost from trees, creatures enter their sleep cycles and hibernate, colours change from bright green to faded brown, its a time of rest in regards to the active yang (male), but a time of growth in respect to the supple and yielding Yin (female). Autumn helps nourish the growth of Spring and Summer.
And then in Winter, all things are tested. They are battered, they are stripped, they are frozen and put through hard trials. The winter is a time when growth is put through the trials of time and adveristy. And the purpose of this adveristy is to refine and sharpen its beauty, so then it can be reborn again in Spring... and so a new cycle starts again. Its a perpetucal process.

So you could look at the position of your planets in the sky at the time of your birth, and observe which planets fall in which part of the cycle. Planets falling between the ascendent and the dsc would be in the yang hemicycle and would corrsepong to Spring and Summer, denoting the energies of growth and expansion. The MC would be seen as the start of summer... dsc the start of Autumn. And planets falling between the dsc and asc would be in the yin hemicycle, where their qualities are harvested and tested. (The IC would be the start of Winter)