I'm going to talk about the four quadrants of the astrological wheel as an alternative to using common house systems. If you're a newbie to astrology, you might not even be aware there is more than one house system to choose from. This is important fact to understand, because your planet placements can change interpretation greatly depending on what side of a house cusp it's located in. House systems is how we divide the chart up into 12 sections that describe different areas of yourself.
If you have only seen your chart thru one perspective, let me tell you, that's going to be very limiting! Also, you might have just accepted the printout of your chart as you, yours - as unchangeable, but again, you are missing out on a bigger rage of potential for yourself and understanding by not allowing for a true full perspective of your chart to be seen here. Why would you want to limit yourself potential to just this one perspective of your life that some random free site gave you?
It's pretty common for western astrology sites to give you a chart using the Placidus House system. If you look at your chart under your name and birth data, there should be a word describing what house system the chart is produced from. Most of the time Placidus is used as default, but you can actually change the option to one of many others.
Regardless what house system you use, only viewing your chart from one perspective will not be as accurate as testing out your chart in many different house systems so you can actually take time and thought to understand what version best describes yourself and life, rather than letting a computer do it for you that is relying on limited information.
House systems is the number one area of frustration in astrology, long debated. It's up to each individual to choose what house system works best for them. But honestly, no one house system will be totally accurate on its own. One system might describe one section of you the best while another system might have a more accurate idea of who you are in a certain other area of your life, while failing in other ways. That's why it's best to have all the many different versions of yourself and potential available for viewing & analyzing. After testing many different versions, then you can choose with confidence what system best describes you and your life.
The Placidus system was developed back in the Renaissance era. But long before that, Astrologers were using "Whole Signs" where the sign Rising on the eastern horizon at time of birth determined the signs of all 12 houses (areas of life) on the wheel. That means, if you are born say...23 degrees Aries Rising, then Aries will be your 1st house, but not part of your 12th house. Regardless of degree the entire sign becomes that house. This is typically going to be a reliable house system to use when it comes to understanding what area of life your personal energies are activating. In fact, i believe all the many different houses systems usually end up pointing to this basic lineup of Whole Signs.
Another very reliable and older system than Placidus is "Equal Houses". I highly recommend you use this system as a foundation. It's much like Whole Signs except it bases every house equally on the Risings sign Ascendant degree. (Although both Whole Signs and Equal houses use the MC point of all systems but can be in different houses than 10th, adding more information to how your career point and public image functions. So if your MC is in 11th house, then your career might be with groups and organizations, etc). Back to the example of 23 degrees Aries Rising, then each house cusp will start at 23 degrees in the following sign. 23 degrees Aries Rising will have Aries a part of two signs, most of it in the 12th house while the last 7 degrees of Aries is in 1st house, while 23 degrees of Taurus will also be associated with the 1st house, making two different energies for each of the 12 areas of life. Using any other house system than Whole Signs does make understanding the energy of all 12 areas of your life more complicated. There is a basic energy to each house shown by Whole Signs. Still though, working with degrees is important, especially that Rising sign Ascendant degree - it determines the structure of the entire chart. So Equal Houses is also a very good system to use.
With all that said, haha, let me get to the main point of this post.
Taking out all the house divider lines (cusps) except for the main cross representing the horizon (left to right) and Meridian (above & below) can make things even more accurate, albeit simple. This technique is viewing your planetary placements thru the perspective of the four quadrants. Each quadrant has 3 houses.
The 1st Quadrant
For example if you have your sun in the 1st quadrant, you can interpret it as in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd houses all at once. Your main focus & purpose to life will be on self development & gaining self awareness about your inner world. There is divine permission to be self centered, focusing on what you need with lots of time being alone doing what you want, more so than any other quadrant placement. Who am i? What do i value? What do I think about? etc. If your Mercury is there, than it's the area you mentally focus on. If moon there, then it's the area you are most emotionally hungry for. Venus - the area of life most desirable and pleasurable, etc, etc, etc.
If you have your sun in the 2nd quadrant then your sun can be interpreted as a combination of 4th, 5th and 6th houses all at once. This will make your main life focus and purpose about developing awareness around things outside of yourself, such as family, romance, children and daily people you might work with, etc. If your Mercury is there, then you think and communicate about them. Moon - you are emotionally hungry for those people and situations. Venus - you find time developing awareness about these areas of life pleasurable, etc, etc etc.
3rd Quadrant
Having your sun in the 3rd quadrant is like having it in 7th, 8th and 9th houses all at once. It puts the focus and purpose of life on forming and understanding relationships, partnerships, intimacy, life and death, world philosophy and discovering what you lust for and desire the most. Merging and balancing the self with others is what keeps you vital, and you won't have as much time alone. Interpret moon, Mercury, Venus, etc, etc in same way.
4th Quadrant
Having your sun in 4th quadrant is like sun in 10th, 11th and 12th houses all at once, putting the focus and life purpose on your public image, reputation & career ambitions such as your personal service to humanity, etc. You are here to gain self awareness about the world, groups, friends and humanity as a whole, figuring out where you fit into that, and what you have to offer. It's not about the self, it's about everyone. Having other planets here can be interpreted in same way. If your moon is there, that's what you are emotionally hungry for, but might not be your life focus and purpose unless your sun is there as well.
This 4 basic quadrant system can be insightful. Look to see what quadrant has the the most planets or cluster of energy. This will show you what you are here for. This also makes determining what side of house line your planet is on simpler. It's most likely an influence of all three houses. Take time to think about it, you might find it true!
This is a good foundation to use while studying the various versions of your chart thru different house systems, until you feel confident using a particular one. But again, if you only know your chart with the one version someone gave you, then you really are missing out on the full potential of understanding your energies thru the astrological perspective.
I hope you found this educational :-) Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Rik
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