The Twelve houses and their Significations in Vedic Astrology

Introduction

The zodiac consists of 12 rasis. Each rasi is said to form a house. When we talk about houses, we always have a point of reference. The rasi containing the point of reference is the 1st house. The next rasi is the 2nd house. The rasi after that is the 3rd house. Suppose Moon is in Aquarius and suppose we want houses with respect to Moon. Then Aquarius is the 1st house, Pisces is the 2nd house, Aries is the 3rd house, Taurus is the 4th house and so on. As we go around the zodiac, we reach Capricorn when we find the 12th house.

In the same chart, Sun may be in Taurus. When we find houses with respect to Sun, Taurus contains the 1st house, Gemini contains the 2nd house, Cancer contains the 3rd house and so on. If Ghati Lagna is in Virgo in the same chart, then the 1st, 2nd and 3rd houses with respect to Ghati Lagna are in Virgo, Libra and Scorpio respectively. 

Thus we can find houses with respect to different references. The same sign may contain the 2nd house with respect to one reference and the 6th house with respect to another reference. If we mention houses without clearly specifying the reference used, it means that the reference used is lagna (ascendant). Lagna is the default reference when finding houses.

Different houses stand for different matters. The matters signified by a house also depend on the reference used. Each reference throws light on matters of a specific nature and that colors the meaning of a house. For example, the 11th house from lagna may stand for something and the 11th house from arudha lagna may stand for something else. It depends on the kind of matters shown by the two references – lagna and arudha lagna.

In addition, the matters signified by a house depend on the divisional chart in which we are finding houses. Each divisional chart throws light on matters of a specific nature. Again, that colors the meaning of a house. The 4th house from lagna in D-16 may mean something and the 4th house from lagna in D-24 may mean something else. We have already listed the areas of life seen from various divisional charts in
the chapter on “Divisional Charts”.

Significations of Houses

The matters signified by various houses are listed below. 

First House: Physical body, complexion, appearance, head, intelligence, strength, energy, fame, success, nature of birth, caste.

Second House: Wealth, assets, family, speech, eyes, mouth, face, voice, food.

Third House: Younger co-borns, confidants, courage, mental strength, communication skills, creativity, throat, ears, arms, father’s death (7th from 9th), expenditure on vehicles and house (12th from 4th), travels.

Fourth House: Mother, vehicles, house, lands, immovable property, motherland, childhood, wealth from real estate, education, relatives, happiness, comforts, pleasures, peace, state of mind, heart.

Fifth House: Children, poorvapunya (good deeds of previous lives), intelligence, knowledge & scholarship, devotion, mantras (prayers), stomach, digestive system, authority/power, fame, love, affection, emotions, judgment, speculation.

Sixth House: Enemies, service, servants, relatives, mental tension, injuries, health, diseases, agriculture, accidents, mental affliction, mother’s younger brother, hips.

Seventh House: Marriage, marital life, life partner, sex, passion (and related happiness), long journeys, partners, business, death, the portion of the body below the navel.

Eighth House: Longevity, debts, disease, ill-fame, inheritance, loss of friends, occult studies, evils, gifts, unearned wealth, windfall, disgrace, secrets, genitals.

Ninth House: Father, teacher, boss, fortune, religiousness, spirituality, God, higher studies & high knowledge, fortune in a foreign land, foreign trips, diksha (joining a religious order), past life and the cause of birth, grandchildren, principles, dharma, intuition, compassion, sympathy, leadership, charity, thighs.

Tenth House: Growth, profession, career, karma (action), conduct in society, fame, honors, awards, self-respect, dignity, knees.

Eleventh House: Elder co-borns, income, gains, realization of hopes, friends, ankles.

Twelfth House: Losses, expenditure, punishment, imprisonment, hospitalization, pleasures in bed, misfortune, bad habits, sleep, meditation, donation, secret enemies, heaven, left eye, feet, residence away from the place of birth, moksha (emancipation/liberation).

We can find houses from houses and concatenate the meanings in some places. For example, the 3rd house shows younger brother. The 2nd house  from the 3rd house is the 4th house (count 1, 2 from 3rd and get 3rd, 4th). So the 4th house shows the wealth, speech etc of younger brother. The 7th house from the 3rd house is the 9th house and it can show younger sibling’s spouse. The 11th house from lagna shows friends and the 4th house from lagna is nothing but the 6th house from the 11th house. So the 4th house stands for enemies, diseases and debts of friends. In this manner, we can deduce many additional meanings of various houses.

By P.V.R. Narasimha Rao