The Houses in Traditional Astrology © Sue Ward 2002. All rights reserved In any article about house significations it is not enough simply to list them; the foundation needs to be understood first. This paper explains that foundation. To begin with it needs to be said that whatever we now consider astrology’s purpose to be, in order to use its symbolism properly we have to acknowledge and absorb its tradition. Astrology, as we understand it, forms a part of an ancient desire to understand our universe. It is humanity’s attempt to obtain knowledge of the Will of God, or the Divine Plan. There is, naturally, far more to it than that and the briefest glimpse at the Hermetics bears this out. In this search is implied a desire to find order in, what might otherwise seem to be, the chaos of human existence. This order was constructed from an understanding and experience of life that we seem no longer to have and grew out of an holistic philosophy that our current astrological community is trying to recover. That philosophy was entirely based upon and derived from the knowledge of Divine existence. However secular our age becomes, we would do well not to forget that it is from that single point that astrological symbolism has developed. Astrology is the sacred language of Divination: a way to understand the Divine Mind and a way to make connection with that Mind. Since its symbolism is so profound, it seems perilous to meddle with it if we do not understand this fundamental philosophy. Whether or not it is necessary to hold to these principles is another story, but we must be aware them at least. From the foregoing and before entering the subject of the houses proper, we need f...
