When someone does their Natal Astrology Chart for the first time, often they will use any of the free chart generator services floating around the internet. One of the most popular site to do this is www.astro.com. Astro is one of the best free software programs out there and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to to start getting more proficient in astrology.
Like so many of the free online chart generators, astro has default settings, one of them being the default House system, which they have set to the Placidus House System. It isn’t just Astro that does this, Co-Star and Cafe Astrology also default to Placidus. To the person who is just starting out, the amount of information in a chart can be overwhelming and the last thing a person is usually thinking of, is fooling around in the settings and trying to change their House System.
Although House Systems are seemingly one of the more complicated astrological concepts that many newbies have difficulty with, they are a core astrological concept and therefore it’s important to have that set up intentionally from the get go. I used the default Placidus system for many years and got fine results during readings. However it wasn’t until I switched over to the Whole Sign House System that everything really clicked together and I started to really make progress.
For myself, and many others, switching between the house systems creates significant shifts in which Houses the planets fall. For understanding my own chart, I felt that the Whole Signs painted a picture of my life that I deeply resonated with. This carried over into my readings, I was able to delve deeply into people’s charts with greater accuracy and understanding.
No one house system is correct, but Astrology is a language that has many different dialects. No one is more true than the other, but I think it’s important that people new to astrology have the opportunity to be exposed to these different dialects and decide for themselves which one they favor. For me beginning to analyze charts with whole sign houses lead to a significant number of break throughs.
With Whole Sign Houses the entire sign becomes that house and areas of meaning in people’s lives become more coherent. No longer worrying bout cusps and differences within the houses, I feel that Whole Signs gives clarify of thought and understanding.
One strong objection to the Whole Signs Houses it that this system makes it so that the Angls (MC/IC) can fall into houses that are outside of it’s typical home of the 10th house. Personally I find that this gives additional layers of insight and is helpful during chart readings. The MC is the highest point of a person’s chart, generally seen as their career or the area where they are most visible. By not always being in the 10th house, you can get insights onto other areas of a person’s life that will be deeply connected to their career and that visibility.
I acknowledge that this is a debate that will not be solved by one person and has been, and will continue to go on, for many generations. However, I think it is important for newbies to know that there are other House system options out there then what is the default. Although I am partial to Whole Sign Houses, I encourage each person to try them both, as well as the others out there, and see which one works best fo them.
For a more detailed argument in favor of Whole Sign Houses, I recommend checking out Robert Hand’s work on the subject here: link.
How to Change the House Settings in astro com:
