What Do the 12 Houses Mean?

In episode 231 astrologers Kelly Surtees, Austin Coppock, and Chris Brennan begin the first of a two part series on the meanings of the twelve houses, starting with houses 1 through 6. At the beginning of the episode we review some basic conceptual structures that are necessary for understanding how the houses got their meanings, such as the concepts of angularity, good and bad houses, and the planetary joys. After that beginning material is out of the way, we begin by talking about the first house and what it means within the context of natal astrology, followed by the rest of the houses in zodiacal order. We don't really deal with the issue of house division much in this episode, since that was covered partially in a recent episode on the origins of the different forms of house division in astrology. This is the first of a two part series, and the rest of the houses will be dealt with in part 2 on houses 7 through 12, which should be released sometime next month. Patrons of the podcast will get early access to the episode, among other benefits. This is a followup to our previous episodes on other foundational concepts in astrology, where we talked about the significations of the seven traditional planets, and the meanings of the zodiac signs. This was the first episode that we recorded when we got together in Denver last week to record a bunch of episodes in person in our studio. The rest of the episodes will be released slowly over the course of the next month. This episode is available in both audio and video versions below. Meanings of the First Six Houses Here are some of the significations of the first six houses we touch on in this episode: 1st house: self, body, character, appearance 2nd house: finances, possessions, income 3rd house: siblings, short trips, school, communication 4th house: parents, home, family, private life 5th house: children, creativity, pleasure, sex 6th house: illness, injuries, work, subordinates   For the rest of the houses see Significations of the Houses – Part 2: Houses 7–12. Classes on the Meanings of the Houses All three of us teach online courses on the astrology of the houses, and if you would like to learn more after watching this episode then you may want to check them out: Kelly's Practical Astrology for Beginners Course Austin's Astrology Foundations Class Chris' Course on Ancient Astrology Timestamps Here are some timestamps for topics covered at different points in the episode: 00:00:00 Introduction and Preliminary Considerations 00:02:48 House Division 00:05:38 Purpose of the Houses 00:10:13 Angular, succedent, and cadent houses 00:13:57 Diurnal rotation and astronomy of the houses 00:20:45 Order of the houses 00:24:00 Zodiac signs not the same as houses 00:36:30 Joys of the planets 00:38:40 Angular triads, meaning of cadent and succedent 00:41:11 Good and bad houses 00:50:00 1st house 01:26:50 2nd house 01:58:16 3rd house 02:30:32 4th house 02:54:22 5th house 03:18:21 6th house 03:42:24 Concluding remarks, where to learn more Watch the Video Version of This Episode Here is the video version of our episode on the meanings of the houses in astrology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bddnuFMkmpQ – Transcript A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 231 transcript Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode You can either play the audio version of this episode of the podcast directly from the website or download it as an MP3 to your device by using the buttons below: