7th House
Definition
The 7th house is the angular house — one of the four "corner" houses — that sits directly across the chart from the Ascendant. In quadrant systems it begins at the Descendant, and in whole sign houses, where each house is a whole zodiac sign, it is the seventh sign counted on from your rising sign. It marks the western horizon: the place where the planets and signs set, opposite the point where they rise.
In Tradition
Astrologers read the 7th house as the house of marriage, partnerships, and the significant people in your life — the partner, set against the self that the Ascendant stands for. In medieval horary doctrine, inherited from the Arabic tradition, it also covers open enemies, the opposing side, and the other party in any dispute.
In Practice
In a birth chart, astrologers look to the 7th house for your pattern in partnership. The sign on the Descendant, its ruling planet, and any planets sitting in the house are read for what you look for in others and how your relationships tend to unfold. In horary astrology — which answers a question from the chart of the moment it was asked — the 7th house stands for the person asked about, the opposing party in a dispute, or a thief, and its ruler is the main significator of that other party. In synastry, the side-by-side comparison of two charts, a planet falling on a partner's 7th-house cusp counts as a marriage indicator. In mundane astrology, which reads charts for nations, it stands for foreign powers, adversaries, and the nation in its dealings with others.
Historical Origin
The 7th place is attested in Hellenistic sources as the Setting Place (dysis), one of the four kentra, or pivots. Crane reports it as the place of marriage and old age; the modern reading of "open enemies" came in through the medieval Arabic-Latin tradition. Persian and Arabic authorities — Dorotheus via Umar, Sahl, and Bonatti — use the 7th-house lord as the significator of the person asked about in horary. Medieval and Renaissance Western practice fixed the marriage-and-partnership reading, carried forward by Lilly and modern textbooks.
Further Reading
- Howard Sasportas, The Twelve Houses
- Deborah Houlding, The Houses: Temples of the Sky
- Joseph Crane, Astrological Roots: The Hellenistic Legacy