Gate of Hades (2nd Place)

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greek: Πύλη Ἅιδου (Pylē Haidou)

Definition

Gate of Hades (Greek Pylē Haidou, "gate of the underworld") is a traditional Hellenistic name for the second place — the house, or topos, that sits just after the Ascendant. The same place also goes by "livelihood" (and in Greek, by Crane's reading, bios, "life" in the sense of the material support a life needs). The Gate-of-Hades name pairs the second place's topic of money and property with the theme of inheritance — hopes and goods received from the dead — and reflects the fact that the place stands in aversion to the rising sign, unable to see it.

In Tradition

Astrologers read the second place mainly as the place of livelihood — money, property, the material support a life rests on — set apart from the first place, which holds the life-force itself. The Gate-of-Hades name adds the underworld link: because the second place is in aversion to the Ascendant, the tradition ties its goods to what is hoped for and to what comes from the dead. Rhetorius records it as an "idle" place; Paulus, as a giver of good hopes.

In Practice

When you delineate the second place, the Gate-of-Hades framing has two working consequences. First, it fixes the place's core topic: you read the second for a person's livelihood, income, movable property, and means of supporting life, and you weigh the condition of its ruler and of any planets inside it for the prospects of that support. Second, the underworld name keys a sub-theme — inheritance and goods received from the dead, the "fine things merely hoped for" that Rhetorius attaches to benefics here. Because the second is in aversion to the Ascendant, you read planets in it as set back from direct, visible action; Rhetorius describes benefics there as "more idle," delivering hoped-for goods rather than active gains, and malefics as producing impractical or idle people. You also use the place structurally — Crane notes the second always trines the tenth, so a planet there bears on the question of occupation. The name reminds you that the house of livelihood is a threshold place tied to hopes and to inheritance.

Historical Origin

The Gate of Hades is documented across the Hellenistic technical literature as a name for the second place. Rhetorius of Egypt's Compendium (c. 6th-7th c. CE) gives it as a secondary section-name for the second house, alongside "livelihood" and "idle house." James Holden's A History of Horoscopic Astrology records it as the traditional epithet for the house of livelihood, citing Paulus Alexandrinus on its founding as a giver of good hopes. Joseph Crane reconstructs the place's bios sense in Astrological Roots.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: Gate of the underworld.

Further Reading

  • Joseph Crane, Astrological Roots: The Hellenistic Legacy
  • James H. Holden, A History of Horoscopic Astrology
  • Paulus Alexandrinus, Introductory Matters