The one area that has the most arguments in astrological circles is that of house systems.
Debates about which one should be used and which is the oldest and most authentic have raged long and hard, not least earlier this year when the level of vitriol heaped on one astrologer for simply questioning the longevity of one method was both staggering and loathsome.
But no-one argues whether house systems should even exist at all, it’s simply about where to place the cusps. The assumption is that houses work.
Signs are about personality, character and modes of behaviour. Houses are concerned with the particular area of your life the planet / sign combination would most focus on.
If you have the Sun in Aries, you will express your individuality assertively, if it’s in the 10th house you would do that particularly in the area of career, if in the 7th in the area of marriage etc.
The houses do have correspondences with the signs, but they also have a natural logic of their own based on the 4 angles of the chart.
The Midheaven above us is understandably associated with the world out there, our achievements in the area of career and society and our future.
The Nadir or IC is related to that which is below and behind us, our support systems, our past, our family, parents and home.
The Ascendant is where the Sun rises, it is about the individual things in us that demand expression.
The Descendant is where the Sun sets so its an area where we compromise our own needs for those of relationship with others.
This fourfold division makes total sense.
On top of that astrology chooses to further divide each quarter of the chart into three other spaces.
The first four after each of those points, 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses are said to describe the areas of life associated with them.
The second four are said to denote the resources of those areas of life, the 2nd being one’s own money, the 5th children, the 8th the finances of the marriage and 11th our association with groups of people with like-minded ideas.
The third four are to do with mentality and anything else that doesn’t fit in the others, the 3rd education, 6th health, 9th philosophy and 12th contemplation.
But why do we divide the chart like this ?
If the Midheaven point is the peak of career and outward social expression, surely the house that corresponds to it should have an equal space on either side of it, therefore including half of the 9th house ?
The same would apply to the other ones. The 7th would start about halfway through what we call the 6th house and end at an equidistant point above the setting horizon, ie half way through what we now call the 7th house.
Astrologers will often say a planet close to an angle will be stronger and have a bigger impact on that area of life.
But what if the Sun is conjunct the angle but in the house behind it ?
For example if the Ascendant is 10 degrees of Taurus and the Sun is at 5 degrees.
Most would assign that Sun to the 12th house.
But surely its proximity to the Ascendant would suggest that its an energy that has to be asserted strongly rather than one that is hidden to take the traditional view of the 12th.
This might go some way towards incorporating a little of my research findings from the Capricorn Astrology Research Project which proves that successful public figures are far more likely to have their Sun in the 12th house than any other one.
As an astrological scientist I am always looking for actual proof of a theory working in practice. I can’t simply accept something because its been used by astrologers for thousands of years.
There are many astrologers who see an empirical approach to their subject ( and me ) as a kind of threat when it really shouldn’t be viewed that way.
I challenges people’s methods because I want them to be stronger and more robust not weaker.
It’s clear that the angular houses are more fundamentally important areas in people’s lives. The self, family, marriage and career are cornerstones of our existence.
Would it therefore not be unreasonable to grant them more space than the others ?
What if for example the angular houses were said to begin 10 degrees earlier but still finish in the same place ?
The succedent and cadent houses could divide up the rest of the space between them.
This would mean that any planet that was conjunct an angle would be included in the house associated with that angle.
I can think of thousands of charts where such a method would make total sense, in fact I automatically considered any planet up to 5 degrees before an angle to be in the following house.
Even just looking at recent articles, John Lennon obviously has his Sun in the 7th house not the 6th.
And George W Bush would have the Moon / Jupiter conjunction in the 4th rather than the 3rd.
Joe Biden’s Sun / Uranus opposition has to be a 1st / 7th one rather than a 12th / 6th one.
Empress Josephine whose many affairs suggest a 7th house Moon in Sagittarius opposite Jupiter rather than the 6th.
Ike Turner with a Saturn / Pluto opposition 1st to 7th rather than 12th to 6th.
Maybe we could even stretch it to the 15 degrees that would be required to place Boris Johnson’s 9th house Sun and Venus in the 10th.
I recently read a piece about my Mum’s generation hearththrob, actor Cary Grant. It revealed he had an unhappy upbringing, his father was an alcoholic and his mother had clinical depression.
This state of mind was apparently because she blamed herself for the death of Grant’s brother John.
When Grant was nine years old, his father placed his mother in a mental institution, and told him that she had gone away on a “long holiday” later declaring that she had died. Grant grew up resenting his mother, particularly after being told she left the family. His father remarried and started a new family. Grant did not learn that his mother was still alive until he was 31, his father confessing to the lie shortly before his own death.
Grant acknowledged that his negative experiences with his mother affected his relationships with women later in life.
He was married 5 times.
What might Cary Grant’s chart say about all this ?
We would expect some difficult Moon / 4th house themes, probably related to loss and the having to go through teenage years without a mother ( Saturn ) but also something to do with deception ( Neptune ).
Perhaps the Sun might be involved as well because of the father’s role in all of this.
People who have a fixed notion of house cusps might just say Saturn in the 4th and have done with it.
But for me that doesn’t cover it. Saturn would be in that house for one out of every 12 of us.
The Moon / Saturn conjunction does do justice to this big empty hole in Grant’s life where his mother should have been but surely that would be more strongly indicated if the Moon was to be considered a 4th house one.
By the way Whole Sign Houses would not solve this problem.
That would place the Moon / Saturn conjunction in the 5th house which obviously doesn’t fit one of the biggest box office draws of his generation and someone who had many affairs.
That would be a T square apex Jupiter in Pisces in the 5th of any sensible house system.
Equal houses would place the Moon in the 4th, but that system is not going to help out with any of the above examples of issues that focus around the 1st and 7th angles.
It’s also useful to bear in mind the Moon’s quincunx to Neptune as the deception. Neptune in Cancer in the 9th could indicate the young Cary’s mother being taken away from him.
This is particularly significant since it happened in 1913 when transit Neptune was opposite Grant’s Sun ( the father being the perpetrator of the deception ).
Its also very interesting that in 1935, Grant’s father’s deathbed confession occurred with transit Pluto in the exact same degree, opposite his Sun.
Cary Grant’s mother Elsie had serious Pluto troubles of her own.
It’s very clear that Grant’s Aquarius Moon is referring to his mother who had the Sun in that sign.
With the Moon / Jupiter conjunction and Mars in Sagittarius she was likely to be quite an extrovert.
The Sun’s opposition to Uranus could create a character who was quite highly strung and the Tsquare apex Pluto would point to devastating loss in her life.
I would expect this T square to involve the 5th and 8th houses, with some difficult 7th house energy as well.
Elsie’s synastry with Cary is very strong and they apparently had a very good, close relationship while she was ” alive “.
Her Venus is closely conjunct his Sun.
Elsie has Venus square Neptune which is probably pointing to some kind of deceit through relationships particularly if the 7th house is involved.
Any natal arrangement that includes one of the slow movers will be aggravated strongly once that aspect is reinforced by its transits.
The Neptune transit that opposed Cary’s Sun also opposed Elsie’s Venus when she was sectioned by his father.
And Pluto hit the same place when they were reunited after his father’s death.
Cary’s Venus is a degree away from Elsie’s Mars.
Given that Grant’s Venus is in tight opposition with Pluto as part of the T Square to an apex 5th house Jupiter, this synastry seems to confirm his belief that his experience with his mother affected his relationships with women in general.
Cary Grant had five marriages, three we have timed charts for.
Grant’s 2nd wife was Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton ( they were known as Cash and Cary ).
Hutton’s Moon is conjunct Uranus right on Grant’s own Moon.
They both had Venus in Sagittarius opposite Pluto.
Hutton married seven times.
Betsy Drake was Cary Grant’s 3rd and longest marriage.
Her Sun / Moon / Venus conjunction formed a Grand Cross with his T square
With this grouping in the 12th house opposite Uranus they chose a low-key, introspective private life. They delved into transcendentalism, mysticism, and yoga.
Grant credited her with broadening his interests beyond his career and with introducing him to the then legal LSD therapy and to hypnosis.
They married in 1947 when transit Uranus squared her Sun and Venus and opposed his own Venus.
Dyan Cannon was Grant’s 4th wife despite being 33 years younger than him.
She had two particular patterns with strong synastry, a Grand Cross featuring Mercury ( exactly on Grant’s Moon ), Pluto, Mars and Uranus.
And a Saturn / Neptune opposition 1st to 7th houses which formed its own Grand Cross with his Venus / Pluto / Jupiter T Square.
They married in 1965 with Uranus and Pluto conjunct Cannon’s 7th house Neptune and square to Grant’s Venus.
Saturn was also returning for Cannon opposite that Neptune and square to Grant’s Venus.
Their marriage lasted a couple of years and she complained bitterly about his use of LSD and violent outbursts.
Grant’s first wife was Virginia Cherrill who had a Venus / Mars conjunction in Gemini in square to a Virgo Moon.
His last wife, Barbara Harris had a Venus / Neptune conjunction in mid Virgo ( square to his own Venus ) as part of a T Square opposite Saturn and square to her apex Gemini Moon.
It’s interesting how tightly Grant’s Venus / Pluto / Jupiter T Square fits with his five wives’ charts.
But one question is why are there no placements in the 7th house of marriage.
This could be because the 7th house is about long term relationships whereas the 5th is to do with affairs. Perhaps Cary Grant ( and some of his wives ) saw his various marriages more like affairs of the heart which could be dispensed with once the going got tough rather than as till death us do part type contracts.
I have noticed the same with Zsa Zsa Gabor who married nine times and has nothing in the 7th but an acute Sun / Mars / Uranus conjunction in the 5th house.
This might also apply to Barbara Hutton whose 5th house Neptune opposite her Moon suggests a similar attitude to her seven husbands. She does however have the South Node in the 7th house.
Coming back to the initial point made in this article, I would be prepared to state that Cary Grant’s Moon is definitely a 4th house placement rather than a 3rd house one, despite the fact that it falls 7 degrees before the IC.
In fact given that it was the Neptune transit opposition to his Sun that saw his mother shipped off to a mental institution as he was told she was dead, I feel we can even make a case for the Sun to be considered a 4th house placement as well and that is even 11 degrees short of the IC.
This is simply a proposal to consider rather than something cast in stone.
I’m not necessarily suggesting that all planets in the last ten degrees of a cadent house should be considered as part of the next angular one.
But where there is a conjunction between planets astride one of the angles as in the case of Cary Grant with the Sun, Moon and Saturn we should be prepared to think about them in this way.
Because in the end the one thing that is definite about any house system is the four angles.
And we should definitely care about any planets that are within range.
Posted on 19th July 2023
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