Tutorial8

Addendum

The Houses are divisions of the heavens from a point of view on the surface of the earth. In general, they are wedge-shaped segments like that of a citrus fruit and are positioned on a north-south axis. There are up to two dozen systems for calculating them; no general agreement exists concerning the usefulness of any of these systems though there are a few that are the most popular.

All House systems depend on the place of the Prime Meridian and/or the Horizon. The Prime Meridian is a great circle (centered at the earth's center) that passes directly overhead and through the north and south poles of the earth. The Sun crosses it at its highest point in the sky. In the northern hemisphere, the Sun is directly south (of overhead) at that point. In the horoscope, this position is at the top of the chart, and so the top of the chart circle is south.

The Horizon is also a great circle that is orthogonal (everywhere at right angles) to the zenith (overhead point in the heavens). The physical horizon we observe where the land is flat or on the sea is not the same because it is centered on the surface of the earth at the point of observation. From the distance of the planets, however, the difference is vanishingly small. The Horizon intersects the Prime Meridian at the north and south points.

The Zodiac (Sun's path through the sky) intersects both these circles. It intersects the Horizon where the Sun rises and sets, and the Prime Meridian where the Sun culminates (is highest in the sky) and attains its nadir (lowest point beneath the earth).

The most popular House systems and the one I use depends on both of these great circles. The first three Houses are a threefold division of the space between the eastern Horizon and the Nadir (midnight position). This space is the First Quadrant and is the first to rise over the eastern Horizon. The Koch system makes this threefold division such that each division takes the same amount of time to rise.

The second three Houses are a threefold division of the space between the Nadir and the point on the Zodiac opposite the eastern Horizon. (This point is not the western Horizon, which is a fact that is significant in astrology but beyond the scope of this tutorial.) This space is the second Quadrant and the second to rise following the first. The third Quadrant is opposite in the Zodiac from the first Quadrant, and the forth Quadrant is opposite the second.

To get a sense of the reality portrayed by this astrological map, take the chart held square and vertical, and face south. Tilt the chart forward towards the south so that it points to the place where the sun reaches its highest position, and you should be able to place the Planets in the sky as they were at the time of your birth.