under the earth

Definition

'Under the earth' is the traditional designation for the half of the chart-wheel below the horizon — houses 1 through 6 — occupied by planets that were below the eastern-to-western horizon line at the moment of the chart. The 1st-house cusp marks the Ascendant (rising point); the 4th-house cusp marks the IC (lowest point); the 7th-house cusp marks the Descendant (setting point). Planets in the under-the-earth half are those whose ecliptic position fell beneath the visible sky at the chart moment.

In Tradition

Across the Arabic-Persian, medieval-Latin, and modern Western traditions the under-the-earth / above-the-earth division is one of the basic positional discriminators. Bonatti's *Liber Astronomiae* reads the right side of heaven (above the earth) as nobler and stronger by elevation than the left side (under the earth). Modern psychological astrology preserves the framing, treating the under-the-earth houses 1-6 as the subjective internal world hidden from view.

In Practice

Practitioners use the under-the-earth designation in three main registers. As a hemispheric-emphasis count: a chart with a majority of planets below the horizon (in houses 1-6) is read as inward-oriented, with the principal life-development arena belonging to the subjective and private side of experience. As a strength modifier: Bonatti's tradition reads planets above the horizon as nobler and stronger by elevation than those under the earth, modulating the standard angular / succedent / cadent strength classification. In Martin's psychological-astrology synthesis, the personal-vs-collective hemispheric split serves a developmental reading — successful engagement with the houses 7-12 collective field requires resources first developed in the under-the-earth houses 1-6 of self-exploration.

Historical Origin

The under-the-earth / above-the-earth division descends from Hellenistic and Arabic foundations and receives its canonical medieval Latin articulation in Bonatti's *Liber Astronomiae* Tractate II Pars III Chs III-IV (13th c.), where Hand's editorial note unpacks the right-versus-left nomenclature. Counter-clockwise house-numbering 1→4→7→10 'going under the earth from the rising 1st-house through the IC 4th' is set out in Tractate II Pars II Ch II. Modern psychological-astrology (Clare Martin, *Mapping the Psyche* Vol 2, 2007) preserves the framing as the personal-versus-collective hemispheric split.

Further Reading