BINGO! Nicely done tsmall! Father was 97% absent. However, he did provide financial support and some nice vacations. I was really curious if traditional astrology would pick up all the nuances of this here.
There are more "nuances" to be found. The problem is that it takes longer to explain them than it does to find them. 4th sign is intercepted by Virgo/Mercury, with Mercury posited in the radical 5th, which is the turned second. As to the financial support/vacations, look to Jupiter in Aquarius on the cusp of the 8th. Dad supports, and dad leaves an inheritance.
Didn't know traditional astrology used intercepted houses.
This made me laugh. Intercepted signs are not a modern invention. Quadrant based house systems have existed even going back to the Hellenistic era, and no matter which system you choose, including Porphyry, you will have signs intercepted at one time or another.
Is there anything else you can pick up about the 4th house? Stable childhood or did I move?
I don't know. Did you? Probably, as cusp of the 4th is in a mutable sign, with the 4th sign being cardinal = initiating action. But you would be better able to answer that question. As to stability, well, it looks to me like (again going back to those nuances mentioned earlier) that Mom did double duty, as the exaltation ruler of the 10th sign is in the 4th sign. In fall (I know quite a bit about fallen Suns) but angular. Add to that Mars retrograde and I'd say that Mom had some stuff of her own to overcome. This would likely have influenced you quite a bit.
In light of this, can we say that as a result of a missing father, house 7 affairs were impaired?
Correlation does not imply causation. We are all born into this world with things about ourselves that we need to learn and grow with. Studying astrology isn't about looking for someone else to blame, or even looking at circumstances to blame. If anything, learning about our past, present and future places more responsibility on US to accept our own faults, and either accept them as they are or learn how to change ourselves in order to live fuller lives. It is also necessary to understand that traditional astrology grew out of a couple of very large philosophical viewpoints. There is Stoicism, which suggests, ala Ptolemy, that prescience is useful in order to accept that what will happen will happen, and to adjust ourselves to be calm in spirit about it (which, btw, led Vettius Valens, who must have seen something in his own chart, to isolate himself from love and most of the world) and (skipping about four or five others) there is Hermeticism...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism
In traditional astrology, each planet can wear many hats, and it is necessary to be able to separate out those hats when delineating a chart. You asked about 4th house matters. Then you asked about 7th house matters. These two are not going to be the same. It may be a result of an absentee father (that's probably for you and a therapist to determine) but the rulers of your 7th (Saturn and Mars) are both impeded in and of themselves. In a sense, Saturn is in joy in the 12th, happily making you miserable and in full view of the ASC. Mars well into his retrograde position, and in detriment, is like...turning away all comers by what ever means necessary.
Saturn is making a phasis in your chart, and completely out of sect in his first station to boot. You have a very frightened Saturn in your 12th house of self undoing, in the same sign as the ASC so therefore right in your face about it, separating from out of reception with the exaltation ruler of your 7th house who is retrograde and debilitated. Saturn colors every aspect of your life. You need to learn to love this, understand this, in order to overcome this.
Ok
I apologize, but consider that a natal chart is the blueprint for an entire life, and must be treated as such. There is a reason that consulting traditional natal astrologers charge upwards of $300 for a chart reading, and even then must still distill it down to a couple of questions pertaining to what the querent wishes to explore in the moment, and then cast multiple derivative charts to boil down the answer.
and thank you! Glad your house didn't burn down.
You and me both!