The Fourth House: Welcome Home

Natural Sign: Cancer

Ruling Planet: The Moon

Quadrant: 2^nd (Bottom Right)

House Type: Angular Secret

Represents: family role, home environment, the nurturing parent, parenting style, private sphere

The Fourth House is all about roots. It’s about family, genealogy, and how you were raised. It’s associated with the sign Cancer, as well as the Moon. Everyone comes from somewhere, and the place from where we come sets the tone for most (if not all) of the rest of our lives. Your family, particularly your parents, had a huge part in molding who you are today, regardless of whether or not you consciously keep those experiences or leave them behind. However a person is feeling—whether happy, angry, depressed, worried, etc.—nine times out of ten, you can attribute it to something going on within the home or family. And the role you play at home, and what you do about those situations before and after you leave the nest can make or break your life. That’s why the Fourth House is the bottommost point of the natal chart: it’s your foundation.

Several houses cover family members, friends, and other people in our lives; the Fourth House is, by no means, an exception. This house is the house of the parent who nurtured you, or the parent who was more present in your life. The sign and planets in that house show how you viewed this parent and the nature of your relationship with him/her. Someone with Aquarius in the Fourth House may see their nurturing parent as someone quirky, unusual, aloof, and/or very friendly. With Leo in the Fourth House, their parent can seem like the center of attention, confident, charismatic, and proud in every way. Mercury and Mars conjunct¹ in this house can show a parent who can think fast on his/her feet, or a parent who’s great at debate. Jupiter in this house can show an optimistic parent, while Saturn here can show a sterner parent.

If the Fourth House shows your more involved parent, then it would naturally show your home environment. Whether your home was (or is) loud or quiet, large or small, colorful or neutral, or calm or stormy can definitely be answered by looking into this house. It also shows what attitude you have towards your home, or what part of your personality focuses on home life. Virgo on the Fourth House cusp could signal a very clean, organized environment, a home focused on necessity, or a home with many books. Gemini there would be a lively and conversational home where no one skips a beat. Someone with their Sun in Libra in the Fourth House could have pride in having a peaceful and balanced home with a graceful family. Mars here can bring conflict or competition, or a family focused on exercise. Neptune could show a home close to water, or it could signal a family with a lot of secrets.

Your Fourth House, along with your moon, can also show how you are as a parent. Since one’s beginnings have a large impact on one’s personality, people tend to take the traits they developed in their parents’ home and use them in childrearing. Scorpio here could make someone a helicopter parent, over-worrying and overprotective of their children. Taurus in this house could make for a more relaxed (though still protective) parent, but one whose stubbornness knows no bounds. Venus here will result in a very loving parent; Saturn, a very strict one; Neptune, an artistic, hard-to-define or, in some cases, absent parent. The more planets that lie in the Fourth House, the more complex you would be when it comes to raising your kids, especially if those planets contrast with the house’s sign, and/or with each other. Think about Jupiter and Saturn in Leo, for instance. Knowing your Fourth House helps show the strengths and areas for improvement in your home life, past as well as (possibly) the present.

Next Article: “The Fifth House: Let’s Party”