Fourth House in the Complete Horoscope

Your Home in Classical Astrology

The castle of home and family,
both that born to, and giving birth to,
the immediate family life.

The 4th House governs your home and family — both the ones you grow up with and the ones you establish as an adult. Yes, they tend to be the same, whatever you tell yourself about it.

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Not so, though, if there's a shift of Zodiac sign in the House. That also means a shift in the home and family situation. A planet somewhere in the House can do something similar.

The 4th House is strongly linked to the Zodiac sign Cancer, which is that of motherly protection and compassion, but of course, in a horoscope the House can be in any of the Zodiac signs.

Zodiac sign and Planet

If the House changes Zodiac sign somewhere in its span, that means your home and family situation changes character at some point in life. It doesn't necessarily mean a change of home or family or both, but in some way it may still feel like it. The change should be that significant.

Planets in the 4th House indicate that there's a lot of activity in your home and family. Planetary presence also means that what happens in your home and family is quite important in your life. That's not always the case. A lack of planets in the House doesn't mean a lack of home and family, but it does suggest that these matters are not that very central in your life, nor very eventful.

Here are simple keywords describing your home and family situation, depending on what Zodiac sign you have in the 4th House:

Aries active
Taurus secure
Gemini playful
Cancer loving
Leo pompous
Virgo strict
Libra harmonious
Scorpio tense
Sagittarius detached
Capricorn committed
Aquarius unconventional
Pisces devoted

Here are keywords for how your home and family are affected if you have a planet in your 4th House:

Sun solid
Moon emotional
Mercury communicative
Venus benevolent
Mars provoking
Jupiter enriched
Saturn controlled
Uranus enlightened
Neptune amazed
Pluto transformed

The keywords are just simple clues to understand the 4th House. You need to consider the whole before deciding on the meaning of one single ingredient.

Aspects

The 4th House has the following aspect relations to other Houses:

Opposition 180° 10th House
Trine 120° 8th House, 12th House
Square 90° 7th House, 1st House
Sextile 60°6th House, 2nd House

These relations between the Houses are quite important when analyzing their influence. The opposition aspect to the 10th House, that of your career, is self-evident: when you focus on your career your home will suffer, and vice versa. The trine to the 8th House, that of things beyond your control, might seem odd — but so much regarding one's home and family are beyond one's own control, for example the family to which one is born. The 8th House is also said to deal with blood-relations outside the immediate family. The trine to the 12th House, sacrifice, is equally evident: any family requires personal sacrifice.

The squares to the 7th House, partnership, reveals that there is a conflict between family and partner, since both of them have to make their relation second. The square to the 1st House, identity, is similarly explained: you have to put your family before yourself and if you don't, the home situation will deteriorate. Still, squares can be solved satisfactory for all involved, so there are ways of solving these conflicting interests.

The sextile with the 6th House, work, means that you have to bring home the bacon. The sextile with the 2nd House, resources, says just about the same.

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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