In the classic scriptures, the houses have single word names, for example, the first house is Thanu Bhava which means the house of the body. The 2nd is Dhana Bhava, the house of wealth. In this way every house has its single word name that describes the main thing that it rules over. An astrologer gradually gains realization into what the houses govern, and as this realization becomes deeper and deeper through actual practice in real life, one's perception and appreciation of an individual house becomes very broad and, therefore, based on the planets effecting that house, one can render many detailed and accurate predictions and revelations.

The houses are always situated in space in relationship to the earth in the same way. The first house is always on the eastern horizon and the 7th house is always in the western horizon and so on. So the dial of the houses is fixed in space. The houses are sections of space surrounding us at all times and they are always the same.

The dial of signs of the zodiac however, appears to be moving in relation to us, but this is because our planet is spinning. The zodiac is stationery and the earth is spinning. So the zodiac signs appear to move- one sign every two hours across the eastern horizon up into the sky. The sign that is crossing the eastern horizon is known as the ascending sign, the ascendent, the lugna, or the rising sign.

The signs of the zodiac are always in the same order because they represent sections of the stars of space that never change. At any given time of the day, one of the twelve signs will be on the eastern horizon and since they are in the same order, then we can easily recite their names in order and know which sign is filling which house.

For example, when Aries is rising, since Taurus is always the next sign, we know that Taurus is in the second house when ever Aries is rising or in other words, when Aries is in the first house. Similarly, since Sagittarius is always 9 signs from Aries, we know that Sagittarius is in the 9th house whenever Aries is in the 1st house. If Capricorn is rising, or in other words, tenanting the 1st house, then we know that Taurus will be in the 5th house since Taurus is always five signs from Capricorn, always and forever.

So there are two dials in space, the houses and the signs. The houses rule actual things in the life like the body, the wealth and the religion, the mother, the career, etc. of the person. The signs are like "colored glasses". If you are wearing the red colored signs in your 9th house of religion, then when it comes to religion, you are red colored, or in other words, rather passionate and fiery.

If you are wearing a rainbow colored sign in the house of the spouse or the 7th house, then you will have a natural tendency to seek spouses or partners who are beautiful or who move in beautiful ways.

In this way, the signs represents natures or modes of existence, or flavors, and depending on the houses they are in at the time of the birth, they color the aspects of the life governed by the houses. So one of the early duties of a student of astrology is to learn the areas of life governed by the houses, and then learn the ways in which the twelve signs do their coloring and then begin to combine these two. Never mind the planets at first.

So the first thing to find out about a person when looking at their chart is what is the sign that was rising on the eastern horizon at the time of their birth. In other words, find out their rising sign. Their rising sign will determine where all the signs fall in their twelve houses and right away just based on this, you can say quite a bit about them.

Of course there are only 12 signs, and everyone must have only one of them as their rising sign. So basically there are only twelve types of people when it comes to rising signs because, again, in case it is not already clear, if some one has Cancer rising, then they have Leo in the 2nd house, and so on around. The person who lives next door to them who also has Cancer rising will also have Leo in the 2nd house. These two people may be very different so obviously you cannot make huge sweeping judgments based just on the rising sign and the sign placements in the persons 12 houses. But even though that is true, you can say many things that are true about these two people, just based on a their rising sign.

Also, we don't care so much about the rising sign to make predictions as much as we do about the fact that it sets up the base of this person's being upon which the artwork of the planets is drawn. For example, for Cancer rising people, since Cancer is the only sign ruled by the moon, and Cancer is a watery sign and the moon is a very sensitive planet, we, therefore come to realize that Cancer is the sign that rules emotions- and scripture confirms this. Cancer is an emotional sign because being watery, it is fluid and easily changes and moves and adjusts itself to fit its surroundings. Ruled by the sensitive Moon gives it a sensitive nature.

The Moon reflects the light of the Sun, therefore, people with Cancer rising are like the Moon. They like to reflect the light of some greater Sun whom they hold very intimate to themselves. Why is that? Because the Sun rules the 2nd house for a Cancer ascendent and the 2nd house rules those people who we hold very near and dear- like our family and other intimate persons. So Cancer people like to have some intimate near and dear person who is like a light for them. And they, being like the Moon, want to reflect that light. This is true in general for all Cancer ascendents, and this kind of generalization is possible, permissible, and works well, once you learn the things that are true for each of the 12 ascendents.

For all Cancer ascendents, Mars rules the two signs (Scorpio and Aries) which occupy the 5th and 10th houses. Thus, Mars rules 2 important houses for the Cancer ascendent. The 5th house governs how we deal with creativity, romance, and all types of projection that we put forth into the environment- all the creativity that we engage in in order to please other people. That is why the 5th house deals with romance because romance is what we do to attract others.

Therefore, the 5th house would also deal with trying to please a boss doing creative things to please a boss at a job. So all types of creative projection in order to satisfy the desires and wishes of other prominent people in our lives is the domain of the fifth house. The 5th also rules children because children are a creation of us in partnership with another person. The 10th house deals with status, position, our rise in life, our career, etc. The 10th house is that section of space straight over head and, therefore, at high noon when the Sun is straight over head, every one is at the peak of their daily actions, performing their daily work and their career.

Mars rules these two all important houses for a Cancer ascendent. So although Cancer ascendent people may be emotional, watery, and changeable, they are also extremely aggressive in action, because in regards to their creativity and rise in life, they apply Martian qualities because the two Mars ruled signs are the filters they feel on their houses of creativity and career- so they can be aggressive artists. They can be aggressive people in general.

In this way we can judge the way each rising sign personality type will behave in regards to the 12 main areas of life governed by the signs in their houses. So once again, in a succinct formula form, this principle works as follows:

Take any rising sign and take any one of their 12 houses, look at the sign that governs that house for that rising sign and know that the person with that rising sign will perform the activities governed by that house in the way that the sign filter dictates.

In this way, if you study each of the 12 house and sign combinations for one rising sign, you will understand the overall nature of the people who have that rising sign.

For example, let us examine the 12 houses and their filtering signs for the Aries ascendent. First of all, Aries rising people have Aries in the 1st house. The 1st house governs the body and the over-all nature in life, and how one begins things because the first house also rules "beginnings".

Since Aries is a sign that represents passion in its jittery-most form, Aries rising people begin things quickly and with a bang. In other words, they are better sprinters than long distance runners. Because Taurus rules their second house they are fond of having money because the 2nd house is the house of wealth and Taurus is the sign of pleasure. So they like to have enough money to spend on pleasures.

Because Gemini, an intellectual, Mercurial sign rules their 3rd house, the house of courage and communication, they are good communicators and would rather think or communicate their way out of a confrontation than face it physically. Also they are very fond of learning because the 3rd house rules degrees and writing and Gemini is a natural sign for this house. These two go well together to make Aries rising people fond of books and learning.

The 4th house rules mother, home, real estate and Aries rising people have Cancer in the 4th house. Therefore, they are fond of living near water since Cancer is a watery sign. They may change residence often because Cancer is a moveable sign which is also very responsive to other impulses. Since Cancer rules emotions they have a soft spot for mother, and home.

Aries rising people have Leo in the 5th house. The 5th house rules creativity and romance. Leo is the sign or filter of independence, freedom, dominance. Therefore, Aries rising people are independently creative and aggressive and dominant in their romance or affections. They are not shy in approaching others in romance- in fact, they feel fearless, like a Lion, since such a filter is ruling that house.

Aries rising people have the Virgo filter upon their 6th house which rules enemies, debts and diseases. As a filter, Virgo is a sign ruled by Mercury whose symbol is the virgin or young girl holding grains seated in a boat. Because the over all nature of the Aries person will be passion and fire, they have a natural distaste for that sign ruling their 6th house or Virgo. Virgo is an intellectual, rather nit-picky sign (according to an Aries person). The pragmatic, detailed-oriented nature of a Virgo person aggravates the passionate, quick action oriented nature of the Aries, this is why we find Virgo in the 6th house of "enemies" for an Aries ascendent.

Libra rules the 7th house for an Aries ascendent. This Venus ruled sign rules the market place and the scales of commerce. It is the sign of exaltation for Saturn which means that it is a sign very dear to the working class. Libra rules the market place. The best way to understand it is a beautiful shop full of nice things, ladies, where the workers are happy and working hard. Therefore, Aries rising people with their passionate nature tend to bond and partner up with those who are fond of beautiful things and business, trade and bustling activity. People with Libran moons are very expert at most things in regards to making nice arrangements while we are in this material world and Aries rising people find this to be an attractive and workable relationship, hence, Libra rules their 7th house.

The 8th house for an Aries ascendent is ruled by Scorpio which is ruled by Mars, the lord of the 1st house. Aries rising people have the Scorpio filter applied to their 8th house which means that 8th house affairs are run through the filter of this most difficult sign of all. The 8th house is difficult, this sign is difficult, so Aries rising people can at times of their lives know the worst. But because the same Lord rules the 8th as well as their first, the 8th house troubles are somewhat familiar to them by nature- in other words, they have the grizzle to take what life dishes out. We would expect this from a Martian rising sign since Mars is, after all, an aggressive planet ruling a rather intense lineup of difficult matters such as cutting, killing, police, military, the red color, precision, etc.

The 9th sign of Aries holds the sign of Sagittarius which governs religious ashrams, military fields and other place where there is a lot of virtue and regulation applied for the sake of achieving high ideals. The symbol for Sagittarius being the arrow pointed up in the air, symbolizing the desire to attain high ideals. So when discussing the 9th house affairs for an Aries rising person, we can assume that they have a natural affinity for organized religion such as movements, ashrams and churches, and that they are goal oriented in the areas of the 9th house- religion, father, faith, God's grace, fortune, etc.

The 10th house runs through the filter of Capricorn for them. Thus, the house of career is ruled by the sign of hard work, so aries rising people can be very hard workers in their careers. When motivated, you can count on an Aries rising person to have a natural affinity for hard work. Because Capricorn as a sign likes being appreciated and recognized, and is not at all humble, Aries rising people liked to be recognized for their work. Wherever Capricorn is for someone's rising sign, that's a good place to pay compliments to the person.

The 11th house contains Aquarius which is a Saturn ruled air sign telling us that Aries rising people have ideals and desires governed either by darkness or ancient solid truths, depending on the disposition of Saturn in their chart. This sign of Aquarius can be very high and spiritual, or very low and mundane.

Lastly the 12th house for the Aries rising person is colored by the sign of Pisces. Pisces is a watery sign representing either liberation or the return to this world. Because the 12th house rules such things such as loss of all types, then there is a dissolving nature placed upon this house of loss for Aries rising people, so depending on the placement of the Lord of Pisces or Jupiter, either their losses dissolve away, or dissolve the person.

In this way by examining the effects of the signs or filter upon the houses we can understand the nature of people born under each of the 12 different rising signs. Advanced and experienced astrologers speak about each rising sign with great ease and accuracy. Overall, the sign that is rising in the first house has the greatest effect of all upon the person. The other sign that is most important in understanding a person is the sign which holds their Moon. In actual practice we find that both of these points are very sensitive and important- that is, the rising sign and the Moon sign.

Many classics recommend that a chart be judged from it's ascendent or rising sign in totality. Then, they say, it should be again judged using the Moon sign as the rising sign. When the Moon sign is used as the rising sign, that chart is called the Candra Lugna Chart. It means you simply take the Rashi chart, or the main chart, and rotate it so that whatever sign the Moon is in becomes the first house. So judging the Moon sign as the first house, we look at all the houses and planets. Rasi means signs and the rasi chart means the chart of our signs. The Candra Lugna or Moon chart is simply the Rashi chart rotated so that the sign the Moon is in becomes the first house.

In other words, our Moon sign is a lot like our ascendent. It is a very important, central and pivotal sign. To understand a person you need to examine both their rising sign as well as their Moon sign - and all other things- the houses, the lordship placements, everything, from both of these "ascendents". Both play a big part in determining the life and mentality of the person.

The rising sign in the rashi chart determines most about what will actually happen to the person in their life, whereas the Moon sign and the chart judged from the Moon sign determines more about the person's internal mental makeup. Since the Moon rules the mind, the sign the Moon is in says a lot about the overall nature of our mind and just as the 4th house from the ascendent rules happiness, the 4th house from the Moon sign rules mental happiness.

Since the rising sign, and the houses counted from it, rule our actual body and life, and since the Moon sign and houses counted from it have more to do with our mental world, therefore, anyone who has the Moon in any house other than the first house will naturally have a mental world that does not exactly match their actual world. This is true for most people since only about 1 in 12 people has Moon in the first house.

So most of us in the material world naturally have a mental world, or in other words, a world of perception and desire, which does not exactly match our actual life. Whereas people who have the Moon in the first house are often found to be very realistic in matching their mental world with their physical life.

So when talking to someone about their chart, you predict from the rising sign and the houses counted from it, which is their natural rashi chart, and you talk about their mental or emotional world based on their Moon sign and the houses judged from it. So the persons who have Moon in the first house in one sense are more congruent overall than all other persons. Of course, this is subject to great modification based on other things, but this principle needs to be understood.