Half-siblings

If the third house and Mercury rule siblings--which house/planet would rule half-siblings? Is there a way to tell the shared parent? Perhaps an intercepted third house--check that ruler?

MamaMinnee said:

If the third house and Mercury rule siblings--which house/planet would rule half-siblings? Is there a way to tell the shared parent? Perhaps an intercepted third house--check that ruler?

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Just looking at it logically - no books or astrologers to quote from.....

It seems to me that either the 4th or the 10th from the 3rd would denote a sibling's "other parent". I guess it depended on which parent, and which house you associate with that parent - 4th or 10th.

How does that strike you?

FL

I would still suggest the 3rd house on this. But you might try a derived house/derivative house method. This gets a little complicated because first you have to locate the shared parent as either the MC or IC. For example, some astrologers give the MC to the mother and the IC to the father: others reverse that order. Still others get more nuanced: the IC is the father of a woman, the mother of a man, the mother of one born at night. Then the MC is the father of a man, the father of one born at night, the mother of a woman born during the day-time: whew! Maybe just look at your own chart and see which one works best for you.

Then, the child of a shared parent would be either the 5th house (the house of children) counted from either the 10th (MC) or the 4th (IC) depending upon which parent is involved. For example, if half-siblings have a common father, and the IC (4th house cusp) is the best fit for that parent, then starting with the 4th house as #1, the 5th house from the 4th would be the 8th house would tell the story of one's half-sibling/s. If the 10th house signifies the shared parent, then the 5th house from the 10th would be the 2nd house, and one would look there for information.

Clear as mud? Oh, well. No one said astrology is easy!

waybread said:

I would still suggest the 3rd house on this. But you might try a derived house/derivative house method.

Then, the child of a shared parent would be either the 5th house (the house of children) counted from either the 10th (MC) or the 4th (IC) depending upon which parent is involved. For example, if half-siblings have a common father, and the IC (4th house cusp) is the best fit for that parent, then starting with the 4th house as #1, the 5th house from the 4th would be the 8th house would tell the story of one's half-sibling/s. If the 10th house signifies the shared parent, then the 5th house from the 10th would be the 2nd house, and one would look there for information.

Clear as mud? Oh, well. No one said astrology is easy!

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Hey Way! Sounds good, but in practice--does this work? I have two half-siblings (brothers) and we shared a mother--my eighth house is empty and ruled by Venus conjunct Jupiter; and with Koch--my second house holds Neptune and is ruled by Pluto conjunct Sun (new school) or Mars conjunct Mercury retrograde (old school). One is Virgo and one is Cancer, so in this case the ruling planets do not indicate both of their signs; but is there anything else this reveals?

I don't think derivative houses would necessarily give you your half-brothers' sun-signs. Rather, they might say something about how your brothers appear in your life. As mentioned above, there is a lot of debate among astrologers as to which angle represents one's mother: some would say the 4th and others, the 10th; partly depending upon whether you have a day or night birth (and you have the chart of a woman, which might be different than the angles in a man's chart.)

I may be missing something, but it seems to me that your 8th house, with Leo on the cusp, is ruled by the sun; and your 2nd house by Uranus (Aquarius).

What strikes me is the Uranian flavour to both your mother symbolized by your moon in Aquarius, as well as Uranus in the 8th and Aquarius on the cusp of your 2nd house. So I wouldn't interpret this as suggesting that your sibs were Aquarians, but perhaps that there was something unconventional, emotionally aloof, unexpected, or novel about how you feel about your mom and brothers.

Your moon makes that one major aspect, a close sextile to your sun, suggesting that even if your family life was unconventional, you basically emerged with a good sense of self-confidence [sun]. Nevertheless, Uranus/Pluto opposite Chiron/Ceres with chart-ruler Saturn in the 2nd involved in some squares suggests some unhappy speed bumps along the way.

If we look at your half-brothers as third house matters (which is probably best, after all, if you were raised together from childhood), we find 3rd house cusp ruler Neptune on the cusp of the 11th. It is well aspected, suggesting you might be good friends, after all.

I would recommend that you play around with different house systems, to see what fits you best. I have a book on planetary rulerships, and interestingly, there doesn't seem to be a separate listing for half-vs. full-siblings.

I should also mention that derived houses can get a lot more complicated! [Eek.] For example, some astrologers give different houses to one's children, depending upon their birth order. Basically, this would give the 5th house to one's first child, but then the 7th house to the 2nd child (as the sibling of one's child). Then a third child would be the 9th, as the sibling of child #2. Freedom lover has an interesting idea--that you could work this as the parent of one's sibling (4th or 10th from the 3rd.) There's no end to this!

Maybe the best thing is just to work up your family's charts individually, and look for some synastry.

Another interesting question is Dad--would be the sun in a day birth or Saturn in a 9th birth--squared either way in your chart; although your IC/MC rulers (Venus/Mars) are well aspected.

Thanks for the info, much helps.