Did you know we all come into this life with a plethora of karma attached to us, karma in this context meaning layers of us that hold memory from our past, from our ancestors. Ancient peoples whom we never even heard of, trying to live through us, trying to get us to live recycled lives within recycled patterns. This is all sitting on top of us from the moment we take our first breath, and when they cut the umbilical that is our first reaching for freedom. Throughout our lives we continuously reach, more and more toward individuation. Sometimes it feels like an uphill battle, which is the karma. This comes in the form of, why did I act like that? Why do I do this, why can’t I address certain things about me, kill it dead for good? And it’s insidious around you too because you can see the patterns playing out through your bloodline, other family members, for they are living out the karma too, unless they are working to live consciously. I have spent many nights shouting I won’t! I won’t let this live through me. I am not dead like you. I deserve to be free of suffering, and I deserve to rise.
If you want to be free, the first step is knowing yourself and who you are, apart from the karma you came here with. Seeking out all the ways in which you can find out as much as possible about you so that you can individuate. I present one of those ways today through your astrological houses, which help you to see the blueprint of you but more importantly allow for compassion, deeper understanding and respect for who you really are. After doing this work for myself I realized okay I can see more of who I am now so I need to work with who I am rather than fighting against and trying to turn myself into someone I’m not. I need to work with my traits, so I can feel more at ease in my life and give myself what I need as a person.
Finding your houses
Go to this website and type in your info to obtain your birth chart — be sure to click “Extended settings” which is right below the Calculate Your Chart button, and under House System select “Whole Sign.” This will make all the info we talk about easier to understand.
After you generate your chart, note the glyphs on the outer circle (these are the zodiac signs or archetypes), and the numbers on the inner circle (these are houses or the life areas) like in the above image. For example, in the above chart, Pisces is in the first house, Aries in the second, Taurus in the third, etc. The archetype (zodiac sign) that falls into each house (life area) matters, as it dictates each part of your personality and why you are the way you are.
Matching up the archetypes with your houses
After looking at your birth chart, you can now match up each of your zodiac signs with its corresponding house below to see how you personally approach each life area. You can right click, save the image and use “markup” to draw on it connecting each sign with each house or you can print the image and draw lines by hand. I’ve added the zodiac glyphs and some very basic words for each zodiac sign and house to keep it basic. There is so much more meaning to the houses than this, and I share more in the ‘Go deeper’ section below, but for now we’re keeping it simple.
I’m going to share some of what I’ve learned about myself through discovering my own houses. In some houses you will see you have a harder archetype and so knowing the shadow side of it can help balance you out. I explain this in my Capricorn and Aries placements below.
Scorpio in the 3rd house | The intensity in communication
Whichever house holds Scorpio is where you’re going to feel the most intense and have the most potential for transformation. I learned that for me this is in communication. This made sense because growing up I was not allowed to talk so much and struggled to communicate with others, everyone around me mostly misunderstood my point of views and ideas, I never felt good enough to speak, and I also have a history of experiencing toxic communication with partners. Even today on Substack I will sometimes second-guess what I’m communicating or how I am communicating. It is natural to me to have a hard time with this, and since I know that now I can work through it and understand and let go of old beliefs like I’m just stupid or some other extreme form of criticism that we tend to make up for ourselves.
Capricorn in the 5th house | The boss in creativity/romance
Having Capricorn here I learned why I have a hard time receiving, relaxing and playing. It is why I would rather be working than taking a break, sometimes at all. Fun to me is work. This placement is also why I am so serious about my creativity. I learned through this information that letting loose/letting myself be less disciplined with myself is really healthy for me - a sort of way to help myself through my natural rigidness around this life area. Also, in dating, I have always sought mature relationships. I read that whichever house Capricorn is in your chart is where you have to reckon with the old. You’re going to be traditional and old fashioned, like grandma, when it comes to the life area Capricorn falls into. You may limit/block yourself here so like for me in dating I’m not so good at being spontaneous because Capricorn is so structured, or I can have hard time expressing deep emotions as Capricorn is not very emotional. The 5th house can also tell you how you will be as a parent in the future (if you want to be one), and it kind of scared me to realize I’m more of a militant personality when it comes to kids - I’ve never imagined myself this way - but it makes sense as I’m a little strict with my younger sister lol.
Aquarius in the 6th house | The revolutionary in health/routines
Learning about this one was one of the most eye-opening for me. I’ve never been a morning person, I really like to take my time getting ready, I usually won’t be out the door until around 1pm. For years I tried to make myself be different, force myself to wake up at say 5am, force myself to have a stricter morning routine because the world said it was more productive and would create more success. But in reality I was going against my nature! I could finally let go and this was empowering for me. Wherever you have Aquarius you’ll want to do things uniquely, in your own way. I realize this is also why 9-5 has never felt good for me, as the 6th house also covers service. I was always going to have my own business and I’m so much more in that mode of thinking now that I know this about myself. I learned this placement is why I am more open-minded about what “work” means to me and my routines vary day to day. I need freedom to just go do whatever my heart wants in the moment. Maybe I want to get a tea and sit outside a coffee shop and watch the birds and not work that day. Most Aquarians are self-employed for this reason. They make the rules and that’s what keeps them aligned. I’m more accepting of this since I now understand it’s in my blueprint. This also explains why in the last two years, since becoming more authentic I found two jobs which were very hands off - I made my own hours and never had to answer to anyone and I was literally the happiest person.
Pisces in the 7th house | The dreamer in relationships
Having Pisces here explained a lot in that I tend to be intuitive, idealistic and empathetic toward those I interact with romantic or otherwise. I care about people and can see into them from a very spiritual perspective. This is why Pisces needs boundaries to not float up too high, but this position explains why I’ve always felt saintly toward others and can never hold onto anger for too long. I used to think this was wrong of me but it’s actually a gift, wherever you have Pisces you have extraordinary gifts in this area.
Aries in the 8th house | The warrior in transformation
This placement solidified that I’m capable, bold and brave when approaching change and always have been. It empowers me and is a great example of how we all have Aries somewhere in our chart giving that extra oomph to a specific area of life. Since the 8th house also encompasses intimacy/sharing resources like living together, I learned that this is why I have a hard time with this - having the most independent sign in all the zodiac here can clash with trying to get closer to others or physically sharing space. Knowing the shadow side of Aries (me me me and only me) opens me up to how I can work through this in having this placement.
Leo in the 12th house | The talent in subconscious/fears
Whichever house Leo falls into your chart you will be naturally talented. I found out so much after researching this placement - what does it mean to have your talent in this hidden house? It hard for me to own or show any of it - it’s like I want to be seen, but at the same time I don’t. It is reminiscent of when a past partner told me they wanted to put my zine on a billboard and I got so upset for fear of too much exposure. This is why. Something else that occurred to me was this is why my life’s mission is to bring the hidden to light, the truth out of the shadows, patterns to the front, I have a knack for seeing it all around me in everything and then working to expose it.
Go deeper
The houses are so much more than the above, so here are two more wheels that explain the houses in depth.
You can also go to Google and type “your sign + your house + Reddit” (ex. “Taurus in the 5th house Reddit”) in order to read about others experiences who have the same sign in the same house as you. This is huge because you can do this for each house and it will help you learn so much about yourself through others who face the same strengths and weaknesses and it will also make you feel less alone.
If you’d like to read more into this concept, I created a 41 page guidebook that is free with a paid subscription.
Jennifer Diane is a goddess of darkness, writer and model based out of New Jersey. Since 2017, she has not stopped gathering self-help resources in an effort to grow where everything was dead. Besides running Healing with the Occult, Jennifer holds guided sessions on Acuity, shares the radical truth on the Enlightenment through Hellfire podcast and creates books and zines for Endeavors of Horror.