Astrology Class – How Do Intercepted Planets, Signs, and Houses Work, and What Do They Mean?

by Robert Wilkinson

Today we re-visit a topic requested by readers involving something that is very common in birth charts, but not much has been written about it. If you've wondered how intercepted signs work, and how this impacts a planet in a sign that's intercepted, then by all means read on!

This ties in with our on-going series about which house system to use, and what it means when the house cusps in charts change depending on which system we’re using. One system may yield an entirely different set of signs on cusps, and often the signs that are “intercepted” change depending on which house system we use.

This is a common but little understood phenomenon. Almost everyone born above a certain latitude has intercepted signs, while those born closer to the equator almost never have them. So let's have a look into what these can indicate in a chart.

To keep this intelligible, I'm not going to go into the astro-physics of the phenomenon, as it could prove sleep-inducing and I wouldn't want to precipitate that! Generally speaking, the concept of interception involves two houses having the same sign on the cusp, the two opposite houses also having the opposite sign on two houses, while denying two other signs occupancy of a house cusp.

Whether this occurs or not depends entirely on what house system we use. It can never happen when we use Equal Houses, since that puts the natural sequence of signs on successive houses beginning with the Ascendant.

As an aside, my old friend and Master Astrologer Carl Payne Tobey held the opinion we should also examine charts using Equal Houses starting from the Midheaven degree, since that doesn't change according to latitude. This would certainly produce different results from an Ascendant based system (except near the equator, when the houses are pretty much equal house anyway, regardless of what system we use).

I explored the issues around house systems and what they're about in previous articles posted the past two days, so please check them out if you want to know more about the intricacies of the different house systems and why I use the approach I do. Those who have read those articles know I have a somewhat different approach to multiple house systems than most astrologers, and you may find a resolution to some dilemmas in those articles.

Back to interceptions. Using my own chart as an example, when calculated using the Placidus House system, I have 11 Leo on the Ascendant, 2 Virgo on the 2nd and 28 Virgo on the 3rd, 30 Libra on the Nadir (IC), 6 Sag on the 5th and 11 Capricorn on the 6th cusp. Obviously the signs opposite to these go on the opposite house cusps. So where are Taurus and Scorpio?

They are "intercepted" in the 10th and 4th houses respectively. The cusp of my MC is 30 Aries, while the cusp of my 11th is 6 Gemini making my 10th house 36 degrees wide. That means I begin the house at the end of Aries, and it's wide enough to encompass all of Taurus and a fifth of Gemini. The same with the 4th, but with opposite signs.

My 2nd house, on the other hand, is only 26 degrees wide, as is my 8th. Planets move through my 2nd and 8th houses quickly, but stay longer in my 4th and 10th, since those houses are wider. Again, this is all about how space or time are "bent" by which house system you use to calculate charts.

In another example, when using the Porphyry House division system (my favorite) my cusps change significantly. I'll always have 11 Leo as an Ascendant and 30 Aries as a Midheaven (MC), but using Porphyry I have 7 Virgo on the 2nd, 4 Libra on the 3rd, 4 Sag on the 5th, and 7 Cap on the 6th, with opposite signs on opposite houses. Thus you can see the rulers of my 3rd and 9th houses change when I change house division systems, also moving my Saturn from the 3rd (Placidus) to the 2nd (Porphyry). However, Taurus and Scorpio remain intercepted in both these systems.

The Koch system is closer to the Porphyry cusps, though it expands my 4th and 10th while narrowing my 6th and 12th houses. Campanus also is close to the Porphyry cusps, and expands my 1st and 7th while narrowing my 4th and 10th.

Regiomontanus, on the other hand, is closer to the Placidus cusps (Virgo on the 3rd) and widens my 3rd, 4th, 9th, and 10th houses while it narrows my 2nd, 6th, 8th, and 12th houses. In all systems other than the Equal House system, Taurus and Scorpio remain intercepted. Again, if this has you confused, reading the previous articles on houses will help some of this make sense.

So what does all this mean? When two houses share the same sign, they are both ruled by the same planet. When a sign is intercepted, it means the previous sign is the cusp ruler, but the intercepted sign exerts a very powerful influence, since all signs get their due in our life experience. We all have all the signs somewhere, and exactly where is why some of us have similar or different approaches to our life arenas (the houses).

As you can see, whatever houses share a ruler is determined by which system we use. As you will learn by consulting the other articles in this series, my personal approach is that each cusp is actually a zone created by using any three systems, creating a degree span where the two houses in question meet and overlap each other.

In our example, using Equal, Placidus, and Porphyry together, we see that the cusp between my 2nd and 3rd houses is anywhere from 28 Virgo to 11 Libra. This is the "commons" where my values meet my attitudes, where my resources and how I use them contacts my environment and close relations.

There are other correlations as well, such as the border between my 8th and 9th being between 28 Pisces and 11 Aries. This is where my desires meet my truth and future, or where my shared values and resources meet my ethics and philosophy. Any time a planet moves through these zones that planetary principle activates the shared "zone of influence" and I get new insights and activities about what is common to those different houses through that planetary lens.

Just because a sign is on 2 houses doesn't make it "more powerful," and the intercepted sign "less powerful." More obvious and less obvious might be a better way to approach this phenomenon, or tuning it inside out, "narrower" and "wider" spans of experience.

The same sign on two adjacent houses implies a harmonic linkage, but also shows a narrow range of influence, since the same sign on two houses always indicates a house that's less than 30 degree wide. If anything, an intercepted sign makes a house wider, thus opening that span within us to a wider range of experience. Not necessarily stronger, but more diverse.

That would also go for any planet in an intercepted sign. The fact that we don't have the same sign on a cusp for a planet in a house does not make a planet in that sign "weak." Intercepted is not weak - no planet is "weak."

A planet in an intercepted sign shows that the influence works independent of the general inclination to approach the house affairs through the sign of the cusp and whatever planet rules that sign. As I've noted, it shows a very wide house, encompassing three sign energies, which would mean when any planet transits through that house it would have a long stay and a wide range of experience.

Remember, the planets always express their nature and qualities. While the signs on our cusps show our general inclination of approach in those life areas, those areas only express through events when a planet occupies that sign, or when a hot spot is set off by a progression, transit, eclipse point, a major planet conjunction point, a Solar Return emphasis, or other such indicators.

An intercepted planet is still very strong, and will show its influence every time something makes an aspect to it. It may work as a background influence, or a non-obvious influence, but it will still show itself.

For example, my Venus in Taurus in the 10th is intercepted, but no one would ever think it was not a powerful influence in my life! And I can assure you that Scorpio transits to my 4th are very powerful, since they aspect quite a few of my planets.

When two cusps share the same ruler, obviously we look to that ruler to see what "governs" the affairs of those houses, and we will often see similar movement in both areas as its ruler moves through its yearly dance with itself and all the other planets in our charts. Just remember that the outer Invisible Triad of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto work out transpersonally and collectively, and if we want to see what's going on in our personal and interpersonal affairs we must reference the traditional rulers of the signs.

Unless you're a global force majure, you'll usually understand more about your life affairs by looking at Saturn as ruler of Cap and Aquarius, Jupiter as ruler of Sag and Pisces, and Mars as ruler of Aries and Scorpio. And even world rulers and major players are under the traditional rulers, though their decisions may work out as Uranian, Neptunian, or Plutonian energies in the world.

So please take a new look at how interceptions work if they apply in your chart, since it's a very powerful influence even though those signs aren't on a cusp. And of course, they might be if you approach cusps as zones of influence rather than hard lines fixed in space-time.

Here are the previous articles in this series:

Astrology Class - How Do We Interpret Planets On House Cusps?

Astrology House Systems - Placidus, Porphyry, Campanus, Koch and others - Which Is Best?

© Copyright 2007, 2013 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Debbie]

hahahaha, loved that "it could prove sleep inducing" as that is exactly what it has done when I have tried to understand what it means as I have capricorn intercepted in 3rd house thus cancer in 9th and 12th house totally within Libra with my moon in its centre and 6th house within Aries. (I know it has something to do with my being a communicator and philosopher all my life, yet it didnt make sense that it looked like it was isolated when in fact it has always been at my core self?

Will go over what you have written a few times and see if I am able to digest it and makes sense of it this time. Thank you:)

[Rosica]

hahaha..

my daugther has as ascendent first house at 4 dg leo 1 and on the 2 house also leo and at 7 house is aquarios and same on the 8 house ..both intercepted i tried to understand the issue of intercept houses and despite i read twice the article above i can no understand.. can you please let me know how these houses work on this case? please advice she is 32 years old since May 4 and her planet as below and you can the intecepted houses. how this affects her? thank you for you explanation.

Sun Taurus 13°49'33 in house 10 direct
Moon Taurus 16°55'40 in house 10 direct
Mercury Taurus 21°42'42 in house 11 direct
Venus Taurus 20°51'14 in house 11 direct
Mars Taurus 6°47'34 in house 10 direct
Jupiter Libra 1°15'32 in house 3 retrograde
Saturn Libra 3°49'11 in house 3 retrograde
Uranus Scorpio 28°42'46 in house 5 retrograde
Neptune Sagittarius 24°28'50 in house 5 retrograde
Pluto Libra 22°22'47 in house 4 retrograde
True Node Leo 5°24'25 in house 1 retrograde

House positions (Placidus)
Ascendant Leo 4°14'35
2nd House Leo 20°35'30
3rd House Virgo 11°34'26
Imum Coeli Libra 10°43'57
5th House Scorpio 20°30'17
6th House Capricorn 2°19'06
Descendant Aquarius 4°14'35
8th House Aquarius 20°35'30
9th House Pisces 11°34'26
Medium Coeli Aries 10°43'57
11th House Taurus 20°30'17
12th House Cancer 2°19'06

[Robert]

Hi Rosica - First, your daughter's 1/7 houses are not intercepted. They have the same signs on the cusps. Sagittarius is intercepted in your daughter's 5th, which means Gemini is intercepted in her 11th.

I can't really do an in-depth analysis in a comment stream. But you may look this direction: Though the ruler of her 5th is Mars (Scorpio on the cusp) she has Neptune in Sagittarius in the 5th, giving her a "hidden" creative idealism that is wide and free in her expression. So she may approach creativity through the Scorpio 5th cusp, she will have a magical subtle universal Sag energy behind her creative forms.

And to note, with so many planets at the top of her chart, she can handle power and responsibility with ease and grace. She has the ability to rise to a great position this life, once she figures out what is meaningful to her personally, which may not have anything to do with others or society and their opinions. However, that will involve turning differences of opinion into admiring the best of each rather than perpetuate confrontations based in temporary differences of value or style.

[Debbie]

yep Thank you as always Robert, what you have written has helped me grasp the concept of the intercepted houses and how it relates, much appreciated :)

[christy]

Hi Robert,

ackkk! I tried to email you but I do not have microsoft office, so it will not let me see the address to put into an aol mail.

but I think when we post though, you can see our email, right?

if so, can you email me yours so I can ask a couple questions about having my chart done?

thanks much,

Christy

[tamara]

hi robert,

i'm just curious about what happens when the house with the intercepted sign changes. i've got aries intercepted in the 10th and libra in the 4th in the koch system, which i've been using mainly. but when i plugged in the porphyry it switched to taurus intercepted in the 11th and scorpio in the 5th. in both cases leo is on the 2nd and 3rd and aquarius on the 8th and 9th. (moon in the 8th in both, although in placidus the moon moves to the 9th.)

i've been under the impression that an intercepted sign has an impact by virtue of being less visible or accessible until once a person is already inside the house, especially (maybe just in my case) in the 10th which is such a public house. it seems like, if an intercepted sign changes houses then the entire dynamic of the house also shifts. so while a interception in the 10th (with chiron in aries) seems to fit better with my experience of life so far, i'm not sure about what an interception of taurus in the 11th might feel like or mean or how it works in my experience.

what do you think about this?

fyi: 11/24/71 7:01pm MTL PQ canada