Harmelia
Well-known member
A remark I saw in another thread brought up this question for me: if there's a planet in the first house, does it have a say over all areas of life, even if it's not the chart ruler?
Someone mentioned that Saturn in their first seemed to delay everything: their education, their career, entering a relationship, etc. I've tended to think of it as, the planet that rules the relevant house or is placed in it would have the most say, and planets not in or ruling a certain house (ninth for higher education, seventh for partnership, etc.) are going to be little evident if at all in that area of life. (That doesn't mean Venus has nothing to say about relationships if it's not involved in the seventh, and Sun isn't involved in some of everything, just that they won't have as strong an impact in the areas of life they're not directly involved in.)
But first house is self, and logically, would color every area of life. I don't have any first house planets myself, so I can't speak from experience on that.
For those of you who do have at least one planet in the first, do you see it coloring every area of life? Kind of as if it were ruling every house?
Edited to add: If you do not have any planets in your first house, you can't answer this question personally. Please do not post in this thread unless it's to share something you've learned from other people's personal experience with their first house planets: for example, a thread on this site about it, or your clients if you're a practicing astrologer and you've seen enough charts with first house planets to have a sense of how they play out in the clients' lives. Assertions about first house planets that are not backed up with personal experience are off topic for this thread.
Interesting topic, Osamenor! I have Virgo rising with Saturn conjunct South Node in the first house. My inclination is to answer in this way - I think the South Node has been an overwhelmingly big influence and because Saturn is conjunct it, it too, has been a huge influence. However, many people would say that about SN no matter what sign or house it is in. I do not feel that Saturn has delayed everything. I went to college right out of high school. I got a degree and went to work immediately. I knew early in life what I was interested in and went for it. I have not felt that Saturn in the first has "delayed everything" like the person you referred to. Relationships are another story, but I'm an independent Aries and I don't think my first house planet has much to do with my preferring to be alone a lot. Saturn probably contributes, but there are most certainly other influences.
For me, Saturn in the first house has felt like an inhibitor of physical activity. Virgo is a very mental sign, ruled by Mercury - and I have other things like a Sag Moon in an inward house (conjunct IC) that makes me a thinker - so I attribute Saturn as contributing to making me less inclined to be physically active. I'd rather sit and play piano, read or write, or do astrology. I was an active kid, but I lost the desire to be active as I matured. I have a lot of fire planets in inward houses and as I sit, I feel greatly energized - as if I'm being active. If Saturn didn't help inhibit physical activity, I wouldn't be able to meditate for 12 hours. I can sit and feel energized all day.
I feel my Sun, Moon and ASC fairly equally. I'm aware of how I do each. I have identified myself from an early age (teen) as a metaphysician with Sun, Mars and Mercury in Aries in the 8th and Moon in philosopher Sag in 4th. I do a lot of analyzing to understand with the Virgo rising and I do enjoy helping and teaching. So in my case, these planets did form the core of who I am.
I feel like the South Node/Saturn has been something that has needed evolving. I've needed to work on the negative Virgo stuff and turn it into positive Virgo in order to progress in life. Over time, I succeeded. It did take a long time - and maybe that is part of Saturn's role there in the first, conjunct SN. Maybe it helped me mature Virgo. Saturn put a focus there and focus on it I did. But I have been far more identified with the Sun/Mars/Mercury and Moon. I do identify with Virgo and it is definitely a part of me, but the South Node wounds - I never felt were the real me. They felt like wounds that were meant to be healed and that's how I saw them, even before astrology gave me a language to talk about it
My opinion - I don't think we can GENERALLY say that a first house planet will have an overwhelming presence and power over the whole life or chart. I can see it in some cases - especially when Sun, Moon or the ruler of the chart are there in the first. I think it's probably a case by case thing. In my opinion, lots of people seem to blame a planet for how they feel probably because they want to blame something for it. It's a thing these days for people to blame a planet.
I've been on a thread in another group where a woman blames her Mercury R on everything. It is in close conjunction to her Gemini ASC and is at a powerful 29 degrees 47 minutes of arc, and the ruler of her chart. Mercury stationed the day before she was born. She has ADD and a learning disability similar to dyslexia. Well, yes, that's one powerful Mercury. But it isn't just Mercury she could blame. Sun, Moon and Jupiter are in Gemini in the 12th for instance, and Jupiter is 7 degrees from the ASC. Uranus trines her Mercury from Aquarius 8th house - and in my opinion, is a big player in her ADD. There are plenty of people with ADD whose Mercury is aspected by Uranus in other signs and houses. That it is on her ASC probably makes it more painful to her - as she would be more aware of how it affects her in the social world. It's in her face. It's also so close to Cancer that it probably makes her ultra-sensitive. Cancer must be considered the co-ASC.
Anyway, case by case. The whole chart is Self. First house is more about the physical self - and where the self meets the world at birth. It is the battleground, so to speak - how we navigate the social world, where most of us suffer in one way or the other.
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