How astrology can help you be more authentic

by Kelly Surtees January 19, 2015

Around the turn of the 20th century, as psychology became increasingly popular, astrology began to incorporate more and more personality concepts. Before that, astrology was used to provide practical interpretations of key topics, such as money, health, fame, family and marriage.

This ancient application of astrology is a fascinating field, showing that the stars are more than just indicators of whether you’re good at witty repartee or have a tendency towards stubbornness. The first step in creating topic-specific interpretations is to combine zodiac signs with the 12 houses.

12 houses

The mandala of the 12 astrological houses is a unique system in which each astrological house has a twofold meaning. One, it represents a specific segment of the sky, like a map reference. Two, each house is associated with its own theme and subjects.

Your birth chart is built on the structure of the 12 houses. They provide a framework through which heavenly symbolism and earthly matters are connected. The 12 houses are a universal template that becomes individualised through your personal connections between houses and zodiac signs.

In the houses chart, the 12th House sits just above the horizon on the left-hand sign, with house numbers in descending order as you read clockwise.

The 7th House, to do with relationships, marriage and legal matters, represents the part of the sky due west and just above the horizon at birth. In any chart, you’ll always see the 7th House on the right-hand side, just above the horizontal line. The template ensures these factors are constant. What makes your experience of relationships unique is you have an individual connection between the 7th House and a particular zodiac sign.

The 12 houses give meaning to space. The addition of signs, which impart flavour and feeling, shows how each house, or area of life, is motivated by special dreams or needs and represents unique challenges.

Your template

The unique combination of signs and houses in your birth chart provides specific detail about your “best fit” or natural talents across a variety of topics. The more familiar you are with the 12 houses, the easier it is to understand how they reflect all possible life experiences. The keyword list below will get you started. For further reading on the houses, I recommend The Twelve Houses by Howard Sasportas.

Keywords for each of the 12 houses include:

1st Self, personality, appearance, dominant traits
2nd Money, self-worth, values, possessions
3rd Communication, self-expression, siblings, basic or core learning, short trips
4th Home, family, flatmates, domestic life, childhood, past, family history
5th Children, creativity, playfulness, fun, risk-taking, sex, fertility
6th Health, wellbeing and work routines, illness, pets, colleagues
7th One-on-one relationships, business partnerships, marriage, legal matters, open enemies
8th Death, taxes, inheritances, shared finances
9th Faith, philosophy, foreign connections, long-distance or special travel, higher learning, teaching, publishing
10th Career, work, public life and titles, profession
11th Friends, groups, community, social connections, luck
12th Retreat, escape, letting go, institutions

Angular houses

Not all houses are created equal. Four are considered especially influential: the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses. These houses are connected to the angles, or cardinal points, in the chart. The signs on these four houses manifest directly and clearly. Pay close attention to the symbolism of these sign and house combinations.

These four houses also have different names. The 1st House is also known as the Ascendant (Asc) the 4th as the IC (short for the Latin Imum Coeli), the 7th as the Descendant (Dsc) and the 10th as the MC (short for the Latin Medium Coeli), also known as the Midheaven.

The Ascendant represents due east and is the place of the ascending or rising Sun. Its opposite point, the Descendant, is due west and represents the descending or setting Sun.

What makes your experience of relationships unique is you have an individual connection between the 7th House and a particular zodiac sign.

The Ascendant is always the most left-hand part of your birth chart circle. It is considered the “birth” or “incarnation” point, and is the most sensitive point in your chart. The ancient astrologer Firmicus Maternus wrote: “In this house is to be found the life and vital spirit of men; from this house the basic character of the entire nativity (chart) is determined.” The Asc/Dsc are always opposite each other.

The MC, or Midheaven, is the highest point overhead and represents the Sun at its peak, as at midday. The IC is the lowest point, showing the Sun at midnight, the darkest time. The MC is found close to the top of the chart circle and the IC towards the bottom. These points are also always opposite each other.

Zodiac signs

The zodiac signs are ancient. They connect to the 12 constellations the Sun moves through over the course of the year. Each sign depicts a unique archetype or character. The zodiac signs influence the houses, adding energy and setting the tone for your experiences in that area of life.

The better you understand the zodiac signs, the easier it is to create an insightful profile of what you really need in different areas of life. The keyword list below will get you started. For further reading on the signs, I recommend Practical Astrology by April Elliott Kent.

Keywords for the 12 zodiac signs include:

Aries Independent, impulsive, impatient, bold, courageous
Taurus Steady, stable, stubborn, grounded, sensual, tactile
Gemini Curious, adaptable, social, conversational, communicative
Cancer Caring, protective, security-conscious, conservative, sensitive, moody
Leo Strong, loyal, loving, proud, confident, expressive, dramatic
Virgo Organised, detail-oriented, systematic, health-conscious, analytical
Libra Compromising, fair, artistic, diplomatic, focused on partnerships
Scorpio Intense, questioning, investigative, deep, mysterious, secretive, private
Sagittarius Adventurous, open-minded, truth-seeking, ethical
Capricorn Hardworking, ambitious, grounded, traditional
Aquarius Inventive, forward-thinking, ideas person, innovative, experimental
Pisces Creative, intuitive, emotional, vague, insightful, inspired

Elements & modality

Each sign also belongs to an element and a modality group. These groups add extra information about how each sign operates, and what motivates it.

Element	Signs	Keywords
Fire	Aries, Leo, Sagittarius	Passionate, active, expressive, assertive, willing to take charge and lead. Motivated by completion and challenge.
Earth	Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn	Practical, reliable, grounded and capable of dealing with money and material goods. Motivated by financial rewards and long-term security.
Air	Gemini, Libra, Aquarius	Focused on communication, exchanging ideas, interacting with others. Motivated by learning and people contact.
Water	Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces	Emotional and focused on feelings, these are sensitive signs that benefit from their sharp sixth sense. Motivated by feelings and mood.

Modality	Signs	Keywords
Cardinal	Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn	Cardinal signs are reactive, and respond quickly to changing circumstances. They are task-oriented and enjoy starting things.
Fixed	Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius	Fixed signs are steady, sometimes to the point of being stubborn. They have great staying power and can be relied on to follow through to the finish. They are slow to change.
Mutable	Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces	Mutable signs are flexible and adapt easily. Sometimes known as the “jack of all trades, master of none”, they are multi-talented but need periodic change as they get bored easily.

Putting it all together

Each zodiac sign has its own needs, talents and ways of doing things, some of which are mentioned above. The first step to decoding your birth chart is combining signs and houses. Determining your approach to different life areas involves blending the keywords for a sign and house. To find out which signs rule which houses in your chart, use the free chart service at astro.com or contact your local astrologer.

Your special sign and house pairings provide a personal template for how you experience different areas of life. If your 10th House of Career, or MC, has the earth sign of Taurus on it, your work will manifest and express some of Taurus’s key needs: financial stability, security and long-term possibilities. If your 7th House of Relationships, or Dsc, has adventurous Sagittarius on it, partnerships must be full of excitement and new experiences for you to stay happy in love.

Here’s a guide to show you how to combine keywords for clear topic specific insights.

If your 2nd House of Money is Capricorn, find the keywords for the 2nd House — money, self-worth, values, possessions — and the keywords for Capricorn — hardworking, ambitious, grounded, traditional.

Next, create sentences or short interpretations that use at least one key word from each. For example, you might state, “I have a traditional or grounded (Capricorn key words) approach to managing my money (2nd House key word).” Or, “I work hard (Capricorn key word) to maintain and care for my possessions (2nd House key word).”

Your special sign and house pairings provide a personal template for how you experience different areas of life.

You might also consider the qualities of Capricorn’s element, which is earth, and modality, which is cardinal. By acknowledging that earth signs are motivated by long-term security, you may begin to see how having a long-term financial strategy is important. Given that cardinal signs are task-oriented, you may understand why setting manageable goals regarding money helps give you a sense of achievement.

The needs and strategies required for you to handle different areas of life are revealed through sign and house combinations like the one above. The following examples, focusing on popular topics such as career and relationships, show some of these combinations in action.

Communications & ideas: Gemini 10th House
Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey and Walt Disney all share a Gemini 10th House pairing. They need lots of variety in their careers, as Gemini is a sign that becomes bored easily. When linked to the 10th House, Gemini often indicates careers in media, communications or technology. Gemini, like all air signs, is a humane sign and, when describing career, indicates your ideal job is one in which there is lots of contact with other people. Jobs, Winfrey and Disney all worked in different fields but in roles that were based on, or encouraged, communication and the sharing of ideas.

Leadership & the spotlight: Leo 10th House
Both Nicole Kidman and Grace Kelly have the dramatic, centre-of-attention sign of Leo on the 10th House of Career. Leo is linked to royalty, and Grace Kelly manifested this energy literally, marrying into a royal family. For many years, Nicole Kidman was considered Hollywood royalty, especially while married to Tom Cruise.

Leo is a sign that loves the spotlight. If this is your 10th House sign, you may or may not end up in the performing arts, but whatever industry you choose you’ll seek a high-profile or visible role. Leadership is a gift of Leo on the 10th. The first man to break the four-minute mile, Herb Elliott, also had a Leo 10th House. In true Leo 10th House form, he broke through previous barriers, rising to the top of his field.

Sex, power, secrets: Scorpio 10th House
Germaine Greer, Jane Fonda and infamous Hollywood madam, Heidi Fleiss, all have sultry, secretive and sexy Scorpio on the 10th House. All have had careers or public experiences linked to sex and power: Greer’s a well-known feminist, Fonda was originally a sex kitten and Fleiss traded in sex, secrets and hidden power. Since Scorpio is a sign that works in mysterious ways, it’s quite likely they’ve managed to hold on to a few secrets. Scorpio is a sign linked to rebirth and resurrection, making it easy for you to reinvent yourself professionally when required.

Loyalty to the end: Taurus 7th House
Hillary Clinton and Jackie Kennedy share a Taurus 7th House pairing. Since Taurus is a sign that dislikes change, when in love, Taurus 7th House hearts prefer stability and long-term commitment. An aversion to change can mean you delay ending a relationship, even after the spark has fizzled. Taurus’s tactile nature means physical affection is a relationship must-have. Sharing a love of the outdoors helps develop your relationship, as does a similar attitude to living comfortably.

Pure romance: Pisces 7th House
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Dolly Parton and Agatha Christie share a Pisces 7th House pairing. All enjoyed long, reportedly happy marriages, though for Christie it was a case of second time’s a charm, as her first marriage failed due to her husband’s infidelity. Pisces on the 7th House craves pure romance, and poetry, as in Barrett Browning’s case, or music, as in Parton’s, are the keys to unlocking the heart of such romantic souls. Pisces’ desire for the fairytale can mean practical facts are overlooked, and sometimes, like Christie, you have to kiss a frog or two before you find your prince.

You — and your astrology chart — are influenced by a number of layered factors and this is just the very first step. Your sign and house pairings are the foundation of your being and are further modified by the influence of the planets. Understanding your sign and house pairings is a step towards living your truth.