Houses came into existence almost contemporarily with natal horoscopy. They apparently were a precondition for the start of horoscopy; that part of astrology that deals with the interpretation of – mostly – personal horoscopes.
Houses are also a source of great division between astrologers. There are quite some housesystems. The very moment I write this I identified about 70 of them, but I’m sure more systems exist.
Discussions about these systems can be pretty sharp. Of course, there are many more subjects where astrologers disagree: the zodiac (tropical or one of the many siderial systems), the aspects (which ones, orbs), hypothetical points and planets, new planets. In fact, we only agree on the meaning of the classical planets and the first three modern ones (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto).
My point of view is that you can explain the great difference in methods between the astrologers only by seeing astrology as a mantic system. It does not depend on the right technique, even not at the right time, but on the right application of symbolism.
Nevertheless, I think it is important to have an overview of astrological systems and techniques. Symbolism also has to be based on a coherent whole. You can not use randomly elements that do not match. It must be compatible. This should be based on a sound knowledge of systems and techniques, at least the systems and techniques you work with.
For the houses, that is problematic. There is insufficient knowledge in this area, both of the history of this part of astrology and of the astronomical side.
That’s not so easy to change and I’m not going to try that either. But I would like to provide those who want to know more about this subject the necessary material.
At RadixPro I publish texts about houses that are primarily aimed at people who want to understand the backgrounds of astrology. That’s fine, because that is already the focus of this site.
What can you expect?
- Some general texts about houses and the houses problem. These are some texts I previously published in the formerly dutch periodical Spica.
- An overview of all house systems I could find.
- A separate description for each of these systems.
- Calculations and formulas of these systems – provided they are known (for some systems not know all information about the calculation is known).
- An annotated literature list for references and further research.
This is a multi-year project. But you can start reading from the beginning and increase your insight into the fascinating problems of the astrological houses.