House cusps and their Effect on how our Planets Function

by Robert Wilkinson

Recently a reader asked me what it means when a planet in our chart seems to be in two different houses based in what house division system we use. In other words, if our Sun is in the 8th using one system and the 9th using another, what does it mean?

Actually this is a very common occurrence, due to intercepted signs and a wide divergence in the size of houses based in where we were born. Still, there are ways to sort through what creates the phenomenon so that we can understand possible meanings when we see this happening in a birth chart.

First, let's examine the different meanings of planets, houses, and cusps. The planets symbolize our inner functions, or "lights," of personality, from the innermost sensitivities and feelings (the Moon) to the outermost transpersonal transformative forces beyond our control (Pluto). The houses are the areas of our experience in the outer world, and cusps are the edges of where the houses touch each other.

So how do we interpret the possible meanings of when a planet falls on the cusp of a house? Furthermore, how do we interpret the planetary influence when the cusps change degrees due to different house systems in use, shifting the planet from one house to the adjacent house?

One of the first things I learned is that only the Ascendant-Descendant axis and the Midheaven-Nadir axis are set by the time of birth. All other house cusps are determined by whether we use a space-based system of dividing quadrants, a time-based system of division, or a space-time system of division. (A complete exploration of all possible house division systems is way outside the scope of this article, and would bore most readers.)

Depending on which system(s) we use, we'll get a variety of points that mark the cusps of the houses. Some are fairly close to each other, while some systems produce different signs on different houses than other systems (though never more than one sign apart except in extreme latitudes.)

So we might be a Leo rising with either late Virgo or early Libra on the 3rd house, late Pisces or early Aries on the 9th, depending on which house division system we use. I've seen spans as wide as 20 degrees involving two signs, even wider in extreme latitudes. You can see how this could set up some dilemmas in how to interpret what rules the house, and how to sort through the various influences of different planets straddling two houses.

Why is knowing what house(s) a planet affects important? Well, besides showing us our areas of self-realization through various experiences associated with those houses, it can also help us understand why we have certain major lessons to learn from one area and not another.

If a planet is solidly in one house, then it shows us our inner "light" lessons associated with events connected with that house. A planet on a cusp area is involved in our lessons in both houses rather than just one, since then it's triggered as either an entry or exit energy.

But if it occupies a degree that puts it in one house in one system and an adjacent house in another system, then that planetary function involves how those adjacent houses affect each other. Rather than being in one or the other, it's actually in both simultaneously.

For example, when I first computed my chart I found that if I used the Placidus house system, my Saturn is in the 3rd house. But if I use other systems, such as Porphyry or Equal, it is in the 2nd house. That led me to the question, which house is my Saturn actually in?

When I read the texts, it seemed as though I have elements in my life of both positions. I can definitely identify with Saturn in the 2nd, as well as Saturn in the 3rd. So I began to explore the deeper meaning of the houses, and came up with a system that has worked for me for many years, and satisfies most of my clients who wonder why certain things are so apparently contradictory in their lives.

Simply put, I use two or three systems of house division at the same time. This gives me a span of degrees between houses, a zone where the two houses touch each other and overlap to an extent just as the areas of our lives do overlap somewhat. The span is defined by the gap between the two systems yielding the widest result.

Thus the zone between my 2nd and 3rd houses extends between 28 Virgo (Placidus) and 11 Libra (Equal). Anything that transits that zone exerts an influence in both houses, and blends those two areas of my life. Since that is true for my 2nd and 3rd houses, it is also true that the zone between my 8th and 9th houses covers the area between 28 Pisces and 11 Aries. There are other zones between houses, some wider, some narrower, depending on many variables.

When a planet falls in the zone where two houses overlap, that planetary function learns in both areas and has an impact in both areas. It is no longer simply that we have a part of us that is identified with one area more than others; we have to learn how those areas interrelate through the lessons and qualities of that planet.

To offer a musical analogy, the frets on a guitar neck are unnecessary to play the instrument. A note is a note, However, there are zones where by sliding up or down the string you move into areas showing the subtle differences between the whole notes.

As we move from A through A-sharp into B-flat and B we find both obvious and subtle distinctions, So it is as we move from 2nd house experiences through where the 2nd and 3rd influence each other into our 3rd house experiences.

Taking this approach makes apparent contradictions in the planetary birth positions as well as the progressions and transits more easy to understand. It can also help us understand why, after spending many years in one of our houses, a slow-moving planet begins to affect the neighboring area while still exerting an influence in the old area, and over time seems to link those parts of our lives together in a set of lessons.

(Rewritten extensively from an article originally published in March 2006)

© Copyright 2010 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Jorge Torres]

ThankYou Robert You Always give Us Light !!!

Best Wishes with The Jupiter Venus Conjunction Today !!!!

[Valerie]

Thank you for a helpful article, Robert, and I agree with your advice. I've been trying to crack this nut for years, as I have my Cancer Moon, Sun and Jupiter on the cusp of the 5th and 6th houses. I found that I've had growth experience in both houses. My Saturn/Neptune conjunction is on the cusp of 8th and 9th houses AND Libra/Scorpio, and the same rule has applied there as well. With the 8th and 9th houses, boy, what a long, strange trip that's been. Anyway, even though it complicates things, it is definitely worthwhile to study both houses of a cusp aspect. More pieces of the puzzle can be found that way. Namaste! :)

[Liz]

Thank you Robert. I am so glad my question prompted this discussion! Many things now make much more sense to me.

[Isabel Nobre]

Dera Robert, this is so enlightening, yet, in my case, I was already doing that intuitively!

All the best, much Love,

Isabel

[Ellen Longo]

Hi, Robert.

I found your post through a link from Astrological Musings.

Great post which brings us three things for me.
1. I'm wondering how you actually represent the cusp ranges on the horoscope chart and whether adding the step of gathering the range makes chart preparation a much longer process.
2. Even if a planet is in one house in one system and another house in another system, in both cases it is leaving one house and entering another. Do you find that planets behave differently whether they are leaving or entering a house and does that influence your interpretation?
3. Another fascinating point that your post brings up is, if you have planets in different houses according to the system, you really learn about the relationship between houses; how one house morphs into the next and why one house follows the other. In other words, what areas of life are naturally connected and grow out of each other. This implies a flowing-ness between the houses rather than stark differences.

Thank you so much for such a provacative post!

[Robert]

Hi Jorge - You're most welcome. Glad this helps elucidate some things!

Hi Valerie - I figured since there are so many with planets in the overlap zone I should remind all that it's not like the cusps are writ in stone!

Hi Liz - You just never know what kind of an article might come out of a question! Glad I could elaborate.

Hi Isabel - Yes, it seems intuitive that it's all about quadrants rather than slices of a pie!

Hi Ellen - Lynn has a great blog, doesn't she? We're definitely fans of each other's sites. As for your questions, no, it doesn't make it longer, since I use Porphyry and eyeball equal house. If I want to do more advanced research on a chart, I just hit any other house division system on my computer program and it gives me another value for the houses. Takes all of about 5 seconds. As for entering v leaving a house, yes there is a difference, but as long as a planet is still in a house and not in a zone it makes no difference. (Leaving one sign and entering another within a house makes much more difference!) And you can apply the same rules for entering/leaving houses as you would under normal circumstances, since that zone is where those two life areas most impact each other. You're spot on re: "flowingness between the houses" since again, the house cusps are like frets on a guitar. You don't need them, but they do make convenient frames of reference.

[Michael Tyler]

FWIW, I wanted to put a plug in for Porphyry. I think rather than getting hung up on space vs time division, the most important factor is the primacy of 12, 12 signs and 12 houses. So obviously each quadrant needs 3 houses. The ascendant and midheaven are set by the reality of one's location at birth, and after that, you need 3 houses per quadrant, so division of the arc by 3 is the most straightforward approach. I guess for me it's a number thing.