Astrology Predictions vs. My Natal Chart

[moonxie]

Hello, had a quick question about my house placements. It seems that when I read about, for example, the saturn transits on CafeAstrology or Susan Miller or other astrology sites, the houses doesn't seem to match up with what I see on my natal chart:

Right now, CafeAstrology says this for Saturn in Libra:

For Aries Sun: "Saturn is now transiting your solar seventh house. Significant relationships with others are the focus."

For Scorpio ASC: "Contemplation of the meaning of your existence, your accomplishments, and your "failures" is the main focus with Saturn transiting your twelfth house."

Now that's all very good and nice, but when I look at my chart, I can see that saturn is transiting my 11th house in Libra. What gives? What house is saturn really in for my sun/ASC? So confused...

[sandstone]

hi moonxie,

good question! there are different house systems.. you have to know more about house systems, which you might not be interested in doing at this moment.. houses are about the location of where something is, but the means of referencing location can hinge on a few different positions.. astrology is like speaking a different language.. the more you understand the language, the more it can make sense..

solar houses, are based off the sun as house 1.. saturn in libra puts saturn in your 7th solar house since you are sun in aries and libra is the 7th sign from aries - 7th sign means 7th house when using solar houses.. these houses are based off the zodiac location of your sun..

most house systems are based off the ascendant degree in some manner and often are a merging of the ascendant and midheaven axis to arrive at the many house systems in existence in astrology today.. your chart is set for placidus houses which is a merger of these 2 axis based on a time factor which i won't go into here.. another very popular system is equal houses, and also whole sign houses where the sign on the cusp of the 12th will always be the sign that precedes the ascendant sign.. if you have scorpio rising, these house systems will put libra on the cusp of the 12th.. thus the descriptions in your post are based on saturn in libra being in the 12th sign to scorpio..

it is confusing for a person new to astrology and even for those who have been doing astrology for a long time too, up to a point.. hopefully this clears up some of the confusion.

[moonxie]

Originally Posted by sandstone

solar houses, are based off the sun as house 1.. saturn in libra puts saturn in your 7th solar house since you are sun in aries and libra is the 7th sign from aries - 7th sign means 7th house when using solar houses.. these houses are based off the zodiac location of your sun...

Wow, THANKS for your quicky reply sandstone!!! I kinda already knew about the different house systems, but I think what you said clarified things up. Just to make sure:

My sun is in Aries, so:
1st house: Aries
2nd house: Taurus
3rd house: Gemini
4th house: Cancer
5th house: Leo
6th house: Virgo
7th house: Libra <--because saturn is in libra, it is in my solar 7th house
8th house: Scorpio
and so on...

And for that other house system you mentioned, it goes like this:
1st house: Scorpio
2nd house: Sagittarius

...and so forth, until...

12th house: Libra <-- because saturn is in libra, it is in my 12th house

Interesting, so that's why they keep telling me to read the forecasts for both the sun sign and the ascendant. It confused me a little because the predictions seemed right on target but then when I actually looked up my chart...I was like, whoa. So one more question: how do the houses in my birth chart mesh with this? I know the chart is in placidus...and according to it saturn is in my 11th house...so should I also read the forecast that matches up with that house? (this would make me read...sagittarius...I wonder if what I read will actually match up...)

Hope this helps any other relative newbies out there..

[sandstone]

hi moonxie,

yes, you have it! good job!

as to your last question "how do the houses in my birth chart mesh with this? I know the chart is in placidus...and according to it saturn is in my 11th house...so should I also read the forecast that matches up with that house?"

i would read the forecast for house 11 based on placidus to get a feel for which house system might make more sense to you.. you need to match up the different ideas with your experience, however subjective your view on it might be.. different astrologers work with these different house systems and are often very attached to them and swear by them.. for natal chart reading i like having continuity with the sign relationships whereby the 12th is the sign preceding the sign on the ascendant, but this is just me and others approach it differently.. i think this is where astrology becomes more art then science.. experiment and see what you find.. cheers