Open Question: How Do You Choose Which House System To Use?
Astrology in real life
Hi Elsa,
How do you reconcile the different planet placements with these different house systems?
You use the Equal house system. I’ve seen a lot of use of the whole house system lately. I use Placidus. The thing is…my chart looks SO different with each of these house systems. It’s enough to make anyone crazy. How do you determine which system works for you?
Wondering
Wondering, there are probably endless answers to this question but I will tell you my process resolving this. I do use Equal houses and have for about a dozen years. I probably never would have switched (from Placidus) if not for computers (easy calculations) and the Internet.
When I got first came online I immediately joined the astrology community which at the time was accessible through the newsgroup, alt.astrology and various mailing lists. It was the first time astrologers around the world could congregate and communicate and there were rousing debates around house systems and while I never participated in them I did pay attention.
I also studied Vedic astrology for awhile which uses whole sign house and just in general while I continued to use Placidus, I had an open mind on this issue and would occasionally play with the software.
Unfortunately I have one of those charts that have planets on cusps. So if Uranus is in the 7th but just a degree from the 8th, wouldn’t it be felt in both houses?
Depending on the house system I choose, Uranus is in the 7th or the 8th so this is not very helpful which is probably why it took me so long (3 years?) to decide… besides the fact I have Libra!
What turned me in the end as the fact the Placidus houses fall apart in extreme latitudes. That is the piece I could not resolve and combined with my awareness of the intense focus on the ascendant in Vedic astrology…. well I had come to really appreciate the importance of the ascendant so I decided to go – one size fits all (Equal). Honoring the degree of the ascendant appealed to me so I adjusted the default house system on my software and have never looked back.
If someone hires me and wants me to read their chart using a specific house system, I do it but personally I have never, not once looked at the Equal house chart of anyone and felt it invalid. I also appreciate the elegance of simplicity and it dates back 2000 years so that’s good enough for me.
Which house system do you use and why?
29 Responses to “Open Question: How Do You Choose Which House System To Use?”
“I just checked AstroDienst today to see it with equal houses”. Hey Becca-I just did exactly the same thing. Just given me a whole new outlook on my chart too!!
Placidus. I looked at a few different house systems with my chart and even looked up my exact place of birth instead of the city itself… Equal house changes a few planets, some of which come across as iffy to me (could go either way), but the one I couldn’t ignore was Venus, especially with it being my Ascendant ruler. I’m not a “venus in 7th” kind of person.
Transits seem to ignore placidus house boundaries by a few degrees, making me think equal house system has some validity, though.
I use Placidus, but mostly because it’s the AstroDienst default. 
I’m not a good enough astrologer yet to work out the differences between the systems, or what it really means when a planet moves houses.
In Equal House my Moon is in 7th, and I’ve never really agreed with that (although it could be because I haven’t had it explained well). I’ve always interpreted my Moon in the 8th, which, happily, is where it falls using Placidus.
SaDiablo – tell you right now, you sound like a 7th house moon to me!
Look at the shape you are in with your partner gone. What about the control issues in that old post and the mASSIVE focus on relationships?
Sorry. I vote 7th house moon – hand down.
er.. just go read that old post. “My man this, my man that. This person’s relationships and that person’s relationships..”
Prophyry. Usual rising, MC locked, houses are by simple division between ASC and MC/IC.
Works for me. The extra complications aren’t worth the trouble.
max
['Sorta equal house.']
I have 12th house moon in an equal house chart, 11th otherwise. The first time Elsa read for me a few years ago she pointed out the 12th house moon and it just clicked. My chart suddenly made perfect sense to me. I’ve used equal house for reading for others ever since.
My chart never really matched my life experience until I used an astrologer who did my chart using equal house. It just makes so much more sense now!
Wow I use Placidus because it was astro.com’s default too. I probably should have paid more attention to the different house systems.I just tried my chart using the equal house system though….still everything is the same…
I used Placidus for about five years before switching to whole sign houses, and I’ve never looked back. It just makes a lot more sense to me, not just from a practical standpoint of what works best, but from a conceptual standpoint as well.
FACK! I ever even *knew* you can do that there!!
And thanks for taking the time to explain your outlook because I’ve wondered for YEARS why people chose one over the other.
I like equal house, and/or usually I have a lap top (or two) sitting over to the side where I throw up any chart that I’m looking at in a Vedic format also.
I use Placidius, and with Equal houses, FIVE of my planets change houses. That’s half my chart! 
Same with whole sign houses. Five change again! What’s a Libra moon to do…
Elsa, that’s what I was talking about. Nothing I’ve read in the cookbooks “clicked” when I read about 7th house moons, but I identified with an 8th house moon. But when you say it, it makes more sense.
Perhaps I should find some new books, eh? Or have someone more knowledgeable interpret it for me!
wow, fascinating. i just tried it too. i’d been using placidus since it’s the astrodienst default. when i change to equal houses, i have a packed 8th house instead of a packed 7th house. but pluto moves from my 8th to 9th. what’s a packed 8th house like??
just reading some descriptions…pluto being in my 9th makes a LOT more sense than pluto in the 8th. yay.
Using equal, how do you reconcile the difference between the MC and the 10th house cusp? Or don’t you?
I C, I personally don’t think in terms of the MC, I think of the ANGLES of a chart and find them to profoundly accurate as far as timing goes.
I’ve been using Placidus on astro.com because that is the default…but having just read Elsa’s thoughts on equal house, I’ve decided to switch!
And it moves a few things, the notable being:
Mars/Uranus/Pluto Virgo stellium into the first house
Neptune Scorpio goes into 3rd house (still conjunct Venus in 4th w/wide orb)
Chiron Pisces into 7th house
Jupiter Taurus into 9th house (still conjunct MC)
Will have to assimilate what this means.
Jupiter in the 9th starts making a lot of sense given my extensive travel experience (and love!).
I love that a conversation can be picked up a year plus later as though no time has gone by. Hee.
Elsa, if you see this: So do you consider yourself as having the energies of Uranus in both 7th and 8th or do you stick with the verdict the Equal House declares?
My Saturn, Uranus and NN all change houses. The latter may be the most confusing, also between 7th and 8th..
“So do you consider yourself as having the energies of Uranus in both 7th and 8th or do you stick with the verdict the Equal House declares? ”
I have it on the cusp and see it in both houses. I am def into marrying weirdos and a commitment phobe but I also called the soldier when I was 17, inviting him to cross a picket line with me to have sex in the next “no-tel motel” in town that rented rooms by the hour..
As far as I am concerned, this is definitive – both houses!
Whew, really interesting and eye opening. And some crackling good renegade adventure to go along with it! Thanks!!
I’ve been using Placidus for 14 years, but lately I’ve been having doubts, especially when it comes to people with intercepted signs. In writing about the signs through the houses on my blog, I realized that my boyfriend’s chart matches the descriptions better when I use Equal or Whole Signs rather than Placidus. I’m having trouble seeing him as a 9th house stellium person rather than an 8th house stellium person (though Mars and Venus are still there) but I’d rather not stick to a particular house system just because that’s what I’m used to- I want to use the system that actually gives me the most accurate information.
Very intense.
(reply to venusflytrap)
I use Equal. It just seems to speak to me more. The themes in my chart have proven true to life. 12th house sun with a Sag stellium of Mercury, Venus and Neptune also
the 12th. Pluto in the 10th along with Uranus conjunct the MC in the 10th. Cancer Moon in the 7th with a T Square of my Sun and Moon squaring Pluto and an out of sign sun-moon opposition. I really want to specialize in Relationship or Vocational Astrology.
I’m sitting here thinking this very question and *bazinga* I find it in the archives! I’m glad to know Elsa uses Equal House because I use Equal House. The woman who taught me uses Equal House because of personal experience and also because Lois Rodden used Equal House! Good to know the reasons, Elsa, I appreciate the explanation!
Get A Consultation
Schedule a consultation by phone
Schedule a consultation by email
Read what clients have said about usThanks, we look forward to working with you! :-) - Elsa P
Order a Report
Order a Transit Report
Order a Solar Return Report
Order a Relationship Composite Report
Order both relationship reports, save 10%
Order a Lunar Return ReportHeads Up from Elsa P!
Sign up below to get my free weekly email newsletter covering the astrology of the next week. I send this email out every Thursday.
Recent Blog Comments
- Cyress723: I am just coming out of the worst 5 years of my life, I was help...
- dorchid: Yes! And I did it by doing exactly what you state here. Fascinat...
- dorchid: I voted Jupiter. Saturn seems obvious but I think the story-tell...
- Elsa: Thanks, Angie. :)
- music4am: I agree with Michele, so I didn't vote either ;). There are have...
- Michele: I see them all at play, in some way or another, depending on the...
- Josi: Yes, by explaining things to myself much like you described. I l...
Recent Board Posts
I’m accustomed to seeing my chart with Placidus houses. I just checked AstroDienst today to see it with equal houses, and that moves my moon, Saturn, and three planets in my stellium to different houses. I’m going to have to give that some thought…especially the idea of my stellium being five planets in the 9th house and one in the 8th instead of two in the 9th and four in the 8th.