2nd House
Definition
The 2nd house is the succedent house right after the Ascendant — succedent meaning it follows one of the chart's four "corner" houses. It sits in the half of the chart below the horizon. It makes no Ptolemaic aspect to the 1st house, meaning the two share no recognised geometric link. In whole sign houses, where each house is a whole zodiac sign, it is the second sign counted on from your rising sign; in quadrant systems its cusp falls between the Ascendant and the IC.
In Tradition
Astrologers read the 2nd house as the house of your own resources — money, possessions, and the means by which you make a living. Hellenistic astrologers called it the Gate of Hades and tied it to livelihood and material support.
In Practice
In a birth chart, astrologers look to the 2nd house for your relationship with money and possessions, your earning potential, and your sense of personal worth. The state of the 2nd-house ruler and any planets sitting there shape judgments about your financial circumstances. In horary astrology — which answers a question from the chart of the moment it was asked — the 2nd house stands for the asker's movable goods and money.
Historical Origin
In Hellenistic astrology the 2nd place was called the Gate of Hades (pylai Haidou). Dorotheus of Sidon instructs the reader to examine the 2nd place for financial matters, and Firmicus called it a house of hope and increase. No planet has its joy — the place it is said to be most at home — in the 2nd place.
Further Reading
- Howard Sasportas, The Twelve Houses
- Deborah Houlding, The Houses: Temples of the Sky
- Robert Hand, Horoscope Symbols