Picture your birth chart as a home, filled with different rooms—12, in fact, representing the 12 Houses of your birth chart. Each room has a different vibe and a different purpose. Did you know there’s a difference between a living room and a family room? The living room is for guests, and the family room is for more intimate relationships. In the living room, we put on our best faces, exchange details, gain fresh knowledge, and pick up new quirks. The family room is much more relaxed; it acts as a space where relatives can convene and gather.
Catch up on the Houses:
As you might have guessed, your birth chart's 4th House is the family room. You keep your family heirlooms, generational curses, blessings, and secrets here! The family room is so sacred that not even some in-laws are allowed in—no offense to them. Due to a lack of genetic relation, some schools of belief might consider some of your family members more like community members or close partnerships. I believe in familial patterns and think that chosen family, in-laws, and even super-close-besties are part of your family. They can fall into the 4th House category.
Similarly, if there's no sense of actual familial belonging, some of your relatives might be feel like close family friends or acquaintances—which means that sorry, your involuntary family does count within your 4th House. When studying the 4th House of your birth chart, you will gain insight into how your family navigates and journeyes through the world, helping you reflect on who raised you.
How do you find your 4th House?
The 4th House is fascinating because it is one of four significant anchoring points within your birth chart. The cusp of your 4th House is marked by something called the Imum Coeli or IC. Imum Coeli is Latin for “bottom of the sky,” and it represents your origin. The 4th House tells a story about your roots. To find your 4th house, calculate your birth chart and look at the bottom of the circular chart.
This birth chart calculator was created by www.astro-seek.com in collaboration with astrologer Narayana Montúfar. Learn more about Narayana's work on her website www.naramon.com.
What are the themes of the 4th House?
The 4th House is associated with home, heritage, and family, and it also sets the foundation for our social values. We learn how to navigate the societies we are raised in, but our families may set a different law from your surrounding society's. For example, if your 4th House is in Aquarius, you may feel your family was weird and alien-like growing up, or others may have perceived you and your family as different. An Aquarius 4th House, while representing oddity in some way, also symbolizes innovation and community values. Your family might have been a part of a tight-knit community and perhaps even acted as progressive trendsetters.
According to astrology, your 4th House can give you clues as to whether you were raised in a stable home, a dysfunctional home, a home riddled with illness, or even a home in which there were generational patterns of addiction. The 4th House represents where you come from and how your early beginnings inform both the legacy you've created for yourself and the home you’ve cultivated.
Which sign and planets are associated with the 4th House?
Naturally, the caring and nurturing Cancer is associated with the 4th House of family, home, and heritage. How fitting! Cancer is represented by the crab, and most crabs dwell above the water or along the shallow parts of the ocean, though some species of crabs go deep. What an excellent analogy for how some families operate. Some families never become bonded. Some families get a little deeper, dancing between the sand and the water, catching glimpses of their relatives but never truly and fully knowing them. Other families have profound bonds as deep as the sea. They know each other without limitations and boundaries.
The planet associated with the 4th house is the Moon, which, FYI, isn’t exactly a planet (astrologer call it a luminary, along with the Sun). To be creative, I propose we consider the planet related to the 4th House to be the Earth. It is our home, representing the bottom of our sky. When we study astrology, we’re symbolically looking up, so logically, the only planet that could be associated with the 4th House is our house and home, Mother Earth.
What does it mean if you have planets in your 4th House in your birth chart?
Think of having planets in your 4th House as having meaningful items commemorating family memories or representing your cultural background. For example, having Pluto in your 4th House means you carry powerful and stunning energy about your origin story. Maybe you've have been granted privileged information about family secrets, regrets, and hidden treasures. For example, maybe a uncle who rarely opens up to anyone decided you get to be the person who knows about a cousin who lives in a different country.
The best way to understand planets in your 4th House is to understand the planet’s themes and then think about how to relate to how you interact with your family. Planets within your 4th House also set the tone for how you perceive and interact with your family. Venus in the 4th House represents a loving, harmonious, or possibly romanticized relationship with your family. You may have a financially well-off or notably beautiful family.
What does it mean when planets transit your 4th House in your horoscope?
When planets move through your 4th House, you’re being called to reflect on your relationship with your origins as they relate to that planet's themes. Planets that transit within your 4th House are like traveling salespeople bringing awareness to different emotions or themes relating to your roots. For example, when Uranus transits your 4th House, the planet may bring random, wacky, chaotic, and serendipitous experiences pertaining to home and family life. Maybe during that transit, you learn that you have a secret half-sibling, or you somehow win the New York City housing lottery and begin preparing to move. When a particular planet moves through your 4th House of family and home, you may even experience the influence of that planet on your values and beliefs—perhaps confronting your culture, challenging your family, or developing a new perspective regarding your origin story.
Monisha “Six” Holmes is an astrologer and Master of Social Work (MSW) who covers love, relationships, and wellness. She earned her MSW at Columbia University, where she specialized in contemporary social issues. Aside from writing, Monisha is the founder of Black Women Being, a media platform aimed at promoting wellness, spirituality, and justice.
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