The Importance of House Rulership
How rulership work and why is it important?
In our natal chart, there is always a relationship between the house in which a planet is found and the house(s) that the planet rules. For example, we know that Sun rules Leo, Moon rules Cancer, Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo and so on. We can apply this to the House Rulerships by referring to the sign on each house cusp. If you have Aries on the first house cusp, that means the ruler of the first house is Mars, we call the first house ruler - the Chart Ruler. If you have Taurus on the second house, Venus is the House ruler, or if you have Sagittarius on the 5th house cusp, Jupiter rules the 5th.
You may ask - “What does this mean in the context of our life? “
Lets have a look of the example of House Rulerships:
Let says you owned a property in Country A and you live in Country B, you still set the rules for the property whoever want to rent that property, it needs to follow your rules in a way to gain access to that property. The person rented the property is the person that are actively live out the essence of that property, but as the owner you can change the rule of the property according to your own principle. If the property is untenanted (empty house), you as the own of that property still have a say to the empty property. For example, if Venus in Gemini in the 4th is ruling the 3rd house (house of communication, siblings), the way that the person communicate can be elegance and harmonious, this could also suggest a harmonious relationship with the siblings (Venus in Gemini in 4th).
If the sign of Cancer is on the second house cusp, the Ruler of the second house is Moon. Imagine Moon is the landlord while the planet in the house is the tenant, the rules is set by the landlord, but the tenant is the one that carries the activities around that house and it connection to other house, both plays a role. The planet that are being housed in the particular house is their area of fulfilment. If Mars is in the second house, Mars will fight for a person self-values, and this is also style of how a person earning their income. This is where Mars find fulfilment in the realm of the second house. If Moon is in the second house, it emphasis the important of the financial security, a person possession or assets makes one feel safe and secure. Planet in the second house needs to be utilised resourcefully, having Moon in the second house and rules the second, a person can be pushed or instinctively know way to make him/her feel secure.
You can see from your own natal chart. Sign that are in the line or division begins a house. The planet ruling that particular house will in turn also located in a house and a sign and in aspect or contacting other planets in the chart, so the placement of this planet will says something about the house that it rules.
A further look of the sign of Cancer on the second house cusp, this could suggests your self-values could be base on the feelings of emotional security (Cancer), these are the resources that translate into wealth, and where Moon is can shows what makes you secure. If Moon is in the 6th in the sign of Taurus, a stable job can be a source of your feeling of security and safety. Another example is imagine a person has planet that rules their Fourth House in their Ninth House; this would suggest that the person live (4th house) abroad (9th house) for at least part of their life. Ruler of the Second in the Fifth could translate as gaining money through the arts or possibility through children (5th house), or the person spending their money (2nd house) on their children (5th house). The House Ruler’s placement can also be the additional resources which you can use to support the house that the particular planet rules.
House rulership is important as it will tell us more information about how it influence the house the particular ruler rules even they are not in that particular house. They are not only acting in the house they are placed but also in the house they are ruling. If Saturn is ruling the 12th house, Jupiter in Aquarius in the 12th might needs lots of space and solitude and work in a disciplinary way behind-the-scenes to explore new inventions, for example.
You would discover different layers of meaning of each house, how the ruler of the house influence the way the planet operates in that house. Also Astrologer Robert Hand mentioned in his book Horoscope Symbols House can work at several levels - the internal level purely operates within the individual. The Relational Level where one is aware of dealing with either an external circumstance or another individual. And the third level external, societal or environmental level, this is the level which houses symbolise specific things, like money and resources in the second house, shared resources in the eighth house, career and profession in the tenth house or spouse in the seventh. All houses operate on all three level at once. By raising our awareness and exploring the house rulership, it forces us to become aware of how an energy operates in our life, what it does for us, and why it acts as it does. Then, in turn, we can take responsibility of our lives, which is the first step in taking control of them.