Twelve rooms
of a life.

If the signs are the cast, the houses are the stage. Each one is an arena of life — and a chart is just the question of which planet stands in which room.

The wheel turns on four anglesThe anglesThe four cardinal points of a chart — the cusps of houses 1, 4, 7, and 10. The most sensitive, defining points in the whole wheel.: the AscendantAscendant · ASCThe eastern horizon and the 1st-house cusp. Your outward self and the chart's starting point — the houses run counterclockwise from here. at the left, the DescendantDescendant · DSCThe western horizon and the 7th-house cusp, opposite the Ascendant. The other: partners and close relationships. opposite it, the MidheavenMidheaven · MCThe highest point and the 10th-house cusp. Your public life, calling, and reputation. crowning the top, and the Imum CoeliImum Coeli · ICThe lowest point and the 4th-house cusp. Home, roots, and the private foundation. at the base.