The Twelve Houses
The seventh house governs marriage, business partners and open enemies. Its natural sign is Libra, but the sign on yours depends on your rising sign. Here is the full table, what a planet there does, and why an empty house is not a problem.
Houses are the part of astrology that needs a birth time, and the only part that does absolutely. Signs and planets can be worked out from a date. Houses cannot: they are built outward from the degree rising on the eastern horizon, which changes every four minutes. Without a birth time there are no houses at all, and a chart drawn without one will still show twelve of them, which is why so many people are reading houses that are not theirs.
In plain terms: partnership and marriage. More fully, marriage, business partners and open enemies.
Angular houses are the loudest in a chart. A planet here does its work in public and early, and it is the first thing anybody notices about the person. The seventh is angular, so anything you have here operates that way.
This is the part that makes the house yours, and it is decided entirely by your rising sign. Find your rising sign in the table below and read across.
| If your rising sign is | Your 7th house is | Which means |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | Libra | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Libra does: fair and charming |
| Taurus | Scorpio | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Scorpio does: intense and private |
| Gemini | Sagittarius | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Sagittarius does: honest and adventurous |
| Cancer | Capricorn | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Capricorn does: responsible and ambitious |
| Leo | Aquarius | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Aquarius does: independent and inventive |
| Virgo | Pisces | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Pisces does: compassionate and imaginative |
| Libra | Aries | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Aries does: direct and competitive |
| Scorpio | Taurus | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Taurus does: steady and sensual |
| Sagittarius | Gemini | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Gemini does: curious and talkative |
| Capricorn | Cancer | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Cancer does: protective and intuitive |
| Aquarius | Leo | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Leo does: warm and generous |
| Pisces | Virgo | Approaches partnership and marriage the way Virgo does: precise and helpful |
The planet that rules that sign becomes the ruler of your seventh house, and where that planet sits elsewhere in the chart is often more informative than anything inside the house itself. A seventh house ruler in the tenth, for example, connects partnership and marriage to your public life.
Most houses in most charts are empty, and an empty house is not a missing part of a life. There are ten planets and twelve houses, so at least two are always empty and usually more. What a planet in a house does is give that department extra weight and a particular flavour.
| Planet | Governs | In the 7th |
|---|---|---|
| Sun | identity and purpose | Becomes themselves through partnership |
| Moon | feelings, needs and home | Needs a partner in order to feel settled |
| Mercury | thinking, speaking and learning | Thinks out loud, with somebody |
| Venus | love, beauty, money and worth | At home: partnership is where Venus does its best work |
| Mars | drive, anger and desire | Attracted to conflict, or to people who bring it |
| Jupiter | growth, luck and belief | Lucky in partnership, and inclined to commit early |
| Saturn | limits, work and maturity | Late marriage, or a serious one, usually both |
Libra is called the natural ruler of the seventh house because the two describe the same territory: Libra is an air sign in cardinal mode, known for being fair, charming, diplomatic, and the seventh house is where partnership and marriage happens. That correspondence is where the house's reputation comes from.
It is worth being clear that this does not mean your seventh house is Libra. Only Libra rising charts have Libra on the first house and the natural order all the way round. For everybody else the houses are rotated. The natural association tells you what the house is about in general; the table above tells you how it works in your chart.
Two systems are in common use and they will give you different house positions for the same chart. Whole sign makes each house exactly one sign, which is what the table above uses and what most traditional practice uses. Placidus divides the sky unevenly by time, which means houses vary in size and a sign can be spread across two of them or skipped entirely.
Most apps default to Placidus without saying so. Neither is wrong, the argument is genuinely unresolved, and the practical advice is to pick one, learn it properly, and notice when a chart reads better in the other.
It governs marriage, business partners and open enemies. Its natural sign is Libra and it is an angular house, which means it is one of the four most prominent houses in a chart.
Nothing is wrong. There are ten planets and twelve houses, so empty houses are normal. The department is run by the sign on the house and by wherever that sign's ruler sits, rather than by a planet inside it.
It depends on your rising sign, not on your Sun sign. Using whole sign houses, count 6 signs forward from your rising sign. The table above lists all twelve.
Yes, and there is no way round it. Houses are built from the degree rising on the eastern horizon, which moves about one degree every four minutes. Without a birth time the houses in a chart are decoration.
The first house, which governs self and first impressions. The two work as one axis and are usually read together.
RubyAstro writes about astrology for reflection and self-understanding. Nothing here is medical, legal or financial advice, and none of it is a prediction of events. Read our full disclaimer.
The Twelve HousesThe first house governs your appearance, your approach, your first move. Its natural sign is Aries, but the sign on yours depends on your rising sign. Here is the full table, what a planet there does, and why an empty house is not a problem.
The Twelve HousesThe second house governs money you earn, things you own, what you think you are worth. Its natural sign is Taurus, but the sign on yours depends on your rising sign. Here is the full table, what a planet there does, and why an empty house is not a problem.
The Twelve HousesThe third house governs siblings, short trips, how you talk and learn. Its natural sign is Gemini, but the sign on yours depends on your rising sign. Here is the full table, what a planet there does, and why an empty house is not a problem.
Planets in HousesSun in the seventh house puts identity and purpose into the department of partnership and marriage. Here is what it does, where it strains, and which sign that means for your rising sign.
Planets in HousesMoon in the seventh house puts feelings, needs and home into the department of partnership and marriage. Here is what it does, where it strains, and which sign that means for your rising sign.
Planets in HousesMercury in the seventh house puts thinking, speaking and learning into the department of partnership and marriage. Here is what it does, where it strains, and which sign that means for your rising sign.