One of the joys of astrology is the detail and complexity of it. There are so many pieces and parts, and all of them matter. The exact degree of a planet matters. Even its position within a degree can matter. The asteroids or smaller bodies matter too.

And yet there is an important rule that is easy to forget: the biggest, most obvious things matter the most. The fundamentals are much more important than everything else.

To give one example, just consider the elements. Often we take them for granted, but so much can be learned from the elements on their own. It’s worthwhile at least occasionally to completely forget about signs and just consider elements, and it’s worthwhile to reflect on what the elements really are or symbolize.

The value of details and how there are always more details is that these can break us out of whatever box we are in. And the value of simplicity and fundamentals is that they can bring us back to what is essential. If we are only breaking out, ingesting new information, we can easily get lost and for all our knowledge find ourselves in a useless place. So there is a constant dialogue between newness and discovery and returning to or revisiting what we have always known.

The purpose of this (brief) article, however, is to point out one fundamental that many of us do not even realize is a fundamental—house rulers and their placements.

This fundamental is front and center in Vedic astrology, all forms as far as I can tell. But it is little emphasized in Western astrology. The only book of Western astrology I have read that heavily used this technique is Pluto: the Evolutionary Journey of the Soul by Jeffrey Wolf Green. No other book even mentioned this technique, and I have read a lot of books.

What is the technique? The basic idea is house rulers. For example, if the cusp of the 7th house is in Taurus, then Venus rules the 7th house. The next idea is that no matter where the house ruler is located in a chart, it still has a kind of duty or interest in the house/houses that it rules, and it puts effort or energy towards fulfilling these houses via the house in which it is placed.

Here is an analogy which just came to my mind. Think of all the people who move for better work opportunities and send money home. They are moving, and one of their goals may be to experience a new place or lifestyle, yet the primary goal (or at least a primary goal) is to support the people and circumstances at home.

House lords are kind of like that. 

Here is another comparison. Think of people going to a dancing class, an exercise class, or playing a sport, and think of all of the different motivations or experiences people can have through that activity. For some it may be about health. Their body just feels good afterwards. For others it can be about competition and improvement. For others it can be about self-expression. For others it is a way to meet people and socialize. It can be about multiple or many of these things, to different degrees.

House lords are also like this.

For example, let’s stick with Venus and say that Venus is in the 6th house. This is one fundamental: just knowing that Venus is in this house. But knowing that Venus rules some other houses, let’s say the 7th and 12th, is also a fundamental. 

Just knowing Venus is in the 6th, we can already say some things, at least broadly, that are likely to be true. Or at least we can list a set of life possibilities that are likely to have relevance. One thing that comes to mind is that, at least earlier in life, there might be some conflicts with women or other women. For a woman, I might think of cattiness, jealousy, behind-the-back gossip and drama. For a man, I might think of female teachers causing difficulties for the person or of being romantically interested in people that didn’t reciprocate. Financial debt is a likely signature for all genders with this placement.

“She/he works hard for the money.” Ignoring all other information, we could probably guess that this is not a silver spoon kind of placement. What else can we say? 

On a more positive note or potentially positive note, this highlights the importance of health and nutrition. Venus is definitely a planet of nutrition, of physical enjoyments and nature which includes anything we put in our body. This person has a potential to be very healthy and hence very vibrant. They would have to be disciplined and routined about it though—have a system. For example, they might not have the fastest metabolism but despite that they might be healthier than others with a faster metabolism.

Let’s move on to the houses where Venus rules though, the 7th and 12th in our hypothetical example. Broadly speaking, Venus rules the house of Intimate Partnership and Trade (7th). Venus also rules the house of Spirituality and Spiritual Solitude (12th). There are many other things we could say about these houses but these come to mind first for me.

Venus is always the planet of relationship, including our most intimate relationships. It is always a planet of finance and hence trade. With the 7th though we are getting an extra emphasis on this. This person is less likely to be a “solo artist” or independent in their work endeavors. Because of the 12th rulership they might find transcendence through art and relationships. There is kind of a Venus in Pisces flavor to this orientation—this is less likely to be a person who has a purely practical marriage without some amount of deep love or higher purpose involved.

And yet, Venus is in the 6th. Is this a person that is married to their work? Is this a person who works for a religious or spiritual institution?

When we combine the position with the rulerships we get another layer of interpretation possibility. Our complexity has increased somewhat, but we are also able to get more accurate and more artistic with our interpretations.

In the example we’ve been discussing, all we know is that Venus is associated with some houses. We haven’t described signs or any other details. But we are getting some rich possibilities. It can be quite fun to imagine these possibilities, like cooking with a new set of ingredients.

More Examples

The first lord is in the 10th house. Imagine the sun at sunrise (1st house symbolism) moving to its highest point in the sky (10th house symbolism). This person is definitely interested in success and being a public figure. They may be private in some ways, but they put themselves out there. They are also interested in their success being based, at least to some extent, on their individuality/personality.

What planet rules the 1st? That can tell us more about how they might achieve success or what aspects of self they might be putting on display. Mercury? They may be a writer or public speaker. Words, voice, and skill are important. Mars? They might be an athlete or entrepreneur, a warrior of some sort. Strength, courage, and physicality are important. Venus? They might be a model or designer. Whatever they do, they will be someone who puts beauty on display. Maybe it is their own beauty. Maybe it is beautiful creations.

On another level, we could say that this person might feel most themself when expressing themselves publicly or when striving for success.

What if the ruler of the 1st not only rules the first but some other house? That adds another layer. If it rules the 6th then they might have this desire for public self-expression but they also have a need to serve others and make a living a doing so.

I know someone who has Scorpio rising with Mars in the 10th. I use whole sign houses now (for the most part) so Mars rules the 1st and the 6th. They are definitely a conqueror type of person, an entrepreneur. They bring many unique insights to their work, and like to be a central personality (though they are also very private about personal matters as the Scorpio rising would suggest). This is the 1st in the 10th and the fact that it is Mars. But being the ruler of the 6th, they have taken the route of getting financial investment for their company, and hence are in debt and have to answer to other people in what they do.

The 1st house is a dharma house (fire) and the 6th is an artha house (earth) so there is fusion of inspiration and satisfying material needs involved. There is not so much emphasis on emotional/spiritual matters (moksha) in their work or art/enjoyment/culture (kama). Perhaps that will change in the future, or how these themes manifest will, but how they manifest now follows these broad themes.

I also know someone who has Venus in the 4th. Venus rules the 10th and 5th. Their Sun and Moon are both in Taurus in the 5th, so Venus is especially energized as the dispositor of both the Sun and Moon. What I get from this placement is that career (10th) and creativity (5th) are important to their emotional fulfillment (4th). They are highly creative and their creativity is inspired by their career, or what the public is talking about, but mostly their creativity is kept private.

In the past, I always encouraged them to express themselves more publicly because I thought it could help them. But now I realize that I have the 4th ruler in the 10th, while they have the 10th ruler in the 4th. There’s a similarity here but a major difference too. For me, it’s very important to try to express what is emotionally important to me to the public (or at least put it out there in some way). For my friend, they are more getting inspiration from the public (e.g. what other people are talking about in their career field) and then they find comfort and happiness through playing with these ideas or themes in their private world. 

In both cases, these support each other. For example, if you immerse yourself in your work privately, you can probably be more successful even if you are not directly putting yourself out there. Or being more comfortable at home is going to help you be calm and energized as you go out. On the other hand, if you are putting some inner feelings/ideas out there, that may provide inner contentment since those inner feelings/ideas were able to express. Or if you are successful, that may provide resources to create a comfortable home environment.

The goal in each of these scenarios is to fulfill both the 4th and 10th houses, but they go about it in opposite ways.

Going back to our analogy of the person who moves away for work and sends money home, which is sort of akin to the 4th ruler in the 10th, consider also a person who decides to be a stay-at-home wife or husband in order to support the family. That would be more akin to the 10th ruler in the 4th, though this is a loose analogy.

Conclusion

I hope this is a helpful introduction to this topic. It is something that is new for me and I wanted to share this as I continue to enjoy playing and experimenting with it. I encourage you to try it out with your own chart or others and see what insights you glean. There is a lot more I could say, like how Vedic astrology emphasizes houses more and Western emphasizes signs more, and the pros and cons of these. But let’s leave it at this technique for today.

Have a blessed week.