First House in the Complete Horoscope

Your Identity in Classical Astrology

The immediate appearance
of the personality intended,
slowly penetrated by the observer.

The 1st House shows your identity — how others perceive you. It starts with the Ascendant forming the cusp of the House, which shows what impression you strive to make on others.

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That's how you present yourself to others, but the rest of the House shows what impression they actually get.

It's a dynamic thing. At first, people perceive you according to your Ascendant, the "role you play", but immediately after that they start to form their own opinions. This takes them further on in the 1st House.

Zodiac sign and Planet

So, if the House changes Zodiac sign somewhere in its span, or if planets appear later on in it, that means people who have gotten to know you change their impression of you by time. They will experience it as "revealing" your true nature, but actually they simply see another ingredient in your identity.

Of course, it also happens that your outer appearance can change once or several times in your life. This is likely if your House is split between two Zodiac signs, also if it contains a planet. If it's Pluto, your change will be dramatic and surprising. If it's Pluto your change will take an effort on your part. If it's Venus, on the other hand, your change will be smooth and pleasant, probably frequent, too — but not as frequent as if Jupiter is in your 1st House.

Here are simple keywords as to how people will perceive you, depending on what Zodiac sign you have in the 1st House:

Aries impulsive
Taurus down to earth
Gemini friendly
Cancer warm-hearted
Leo proud
Virgo scrutinizing
Libra moralist
Scorpio secretive
Sagittarius distant
Capricorn ambitious
Aquarius thoughtful
Pisces sensitive

Here are keywords for how people perceive you if you have a planet in your 1st House:

Sun straightforward
Moon emotional
Mercury talkative
Venus gentle
Mars dominant
Jupiter careless
Saturn demanding
Uranus contemplative
Neptune dreamer
Pluto dramatic

The keywords are just simple clues to understand the 1st House. You need to consider the whole before deciding on the meaning of one single ingredient.

Aspects

The 1st House has the following aspect relations to other Houses:

Opposition 180° 7th House
Trine 120° 5th House, 9th House
Square 90° 4th House, 10th House
Sextile 60°3rd House, 11th House

These relations between the Houses are quite important when analyzing their influence. The opposition aspect to the 7th House, which regards partnerships, is evident: you cannot think about yourself at the same time as you think about your partner. One or the other. The trines to the 5th House, that of leisure, and the 9th, about travel and change, show that your identity and how people perceive you is a resource in these other fields of your life — and vice versa.

The squares to the 4th House, home and family, and the 10th House, career, show that these fields of life are partly conflicted. When you concentrate on your own image your family will probably be neglected accordingly, and you career usually demands of you to keep your attitude in some kind of restraint. The interests of these House are sort of competing, but contrary to the opposition it's possible to find solutions where none is at the cost of the other.

The sextile with the 3rd House, friends, and the 11th House, which is the big social arena, shows that these House stimulate one another. It's with your friends you express your identity and it's in the big social scene that your image can do you a world of good.

The Houses

Here are the twelve Houses of the horoscope, with links to the webpage of each:

Astrological Houses

1st House

5th House

9th House

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