Predicting Compatibility with Astrology's House System

Even if you have read about the subject of astrology in depth, when you speak with a professional astrologer, he or she will be looking deeper into the zodiac’s possibilities than you may have imagined. The general public discusses zodiac signs while astrologers examine zodiac houses. What is the difference between a house and a sign? In astrology, it is the difference between saying you will have a good looking spouse one day and saying the date you will marry him. Big difference.

The house system of astrology is believed to be an invention of the Greeks. Greek sailors adopted the astrological measuring tool known as an astrolabe to plot courses across the seas based on star locations. Astrologers returned the favor. They realized that if the zodiac were constantly turning, the zodiac sign rising up on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth would have the characteristics they had previously assigned to Aries, the beginning of the zodiac. As the constellations appear to move around the earth, the eastern horizon marks a fixed beginning of the first house. By placing a person’s sun sign in the first house, the ancients began calculating solar charts. Suddenly, astrologers had the ability to make incredibly precise predictions about the coming events in a person’s day-to-day life.

Centuries later, astrologers would modify this calculation with the precise birth time of a person. This is known as your birth chart. Since not everyone has knowledge of the exact hour and minute of the day they were born, solar charts remain a simple way to know in which astrological house other zodiac signs appear. Predictions can then be made on how people of these signs will have influence on your life.

Even more than your own birth chart, knowing where zodiac signs line up with your houses will allow you to better understand the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. Where someone’s sun sign is in relation to your sun sign can be an important indicator of the possibilities inherent in the pairing of you two. Read below for a simple calculation of the houses in your chart and what it means for your relationships across the zodiac.

The First House

If someone has the same zodiac sign as you, he or she is in your first house. This gives your love life a consistency and intuitive understanding of how the other works, feels and loves. There may be times when the relationship just does not seem as dynamic as possible, though, so prepare to embrace the things you agree on and work through (but not necessarily change or resolve) the places in the relationship that are found wanting.

The Second House and Twelfth House

The zodiac sign that follows yours is in your second house. The zodiac sign immediately before yours is in your twelfth house, as the number of houses corresponds with the number of zodiac signs.

A person who is born in the zodiac sign that follows yours is more likely to be your financial supporter or make sure that you are taken care of. You will inspire this person and the relationship will swing between ambition that goes beyond conventional modes of expression and the absolute certainty and cold reality of paying the bills.

When his or her sun sign is in your second house, your sun sign is in this person’s twelfth house, indicating that you serve as a muse and inspiration. For example, a Gemini that dates a Cancer will likely be paying less of the bills around the apartment, but the excitement and quality of life that the Crab receives is a priceless source of inspiration, all from simply having someone from the sign of the Twin around.

The Third House and Eleventh House

When someone is born two signs after you, his or her sun sign is in your third house and your sun is in this person’s eleventh house. The combination here is quite harmonious. Someone’s sun in your third house provides a great feeling of common ground, while having your sun in your partner’s eleventh house makes you the perfect person with whom to hit the town. Imagine a Leo dating a Libra. The Lion loves being at the right place at the right time while the Libra appreciates a partner on whose arm she can be draped in public.

The Fourth House and Tenth House

Tension lurks when you are with someone whose birth sign is three signs after yours. One partner will have his or her sun in the fourth house. This is the zodiac’s location of seeking security and manifesting identity. There may be superficial affinities in this relationship that sees both partners yelling “power to the people” while one of them has a true attitude of elitism. The attraction to the strong sense of identity comes from his or her sun in your fourth house. The tenth house is the house of status. When your sun sign is located three months before your partner’s zodiac sign, things will become tense if it is assumed that your success is based on your social stature and what has been given to you rather than on your effort and what you have earned.

The Fifth House and Ninth House

When your partner’s sun sign is four signs after yours, his sun will be in your fifth house. This is the natural place for romance in the zodiac. Meanwhile, the corresponding position would put your sign in your lover’s ninth house, a place the zodiac equates with adventures of the heart. If there is a downside to this pleasant combination of astrological houses it is that the attraction could come so easily, so effortlessly, that the lack of excitement could cause you two to drift apart.

The Sixth House and Eighth House

Does someone annoy you with his or her small talk but the two of you work well together on projects? When someone’s sign is five zodiac signs after yours, this person’s sun is in your sixth house. People born under the Sun in your sixth make ideal workmates, but annoying confidants. Of course, this means your sun would be in that person’s eighth house. When your sun is in someone’s eighth house, you will either be hot or cold, desirous or disastrous, longed for or reviled. As forgettable as the sixth house relationship might be for you, your sun in a partner’s eighth house signals that person’s greatest love achievement or humiliating relationship defeat.

The Seventh House

Your seventh house is home to the zodiac sign that opposes yours. This is the astrological partnership house. You may not marry someone from the sign opposite yours, but there is a karmic destiny that will transform you if you have an extended love relationship with this person. There is both a natural ease with which you two get together and yet a tension in being seen as the destiny of the other instead of an equal to him or her. You may not have exactly met your match, but the house system will measure your success in romance by how well you adapt to the lessons you learn with such a karmic mate.