The Fourth House

Where do we come from? Where are we going? The fourth-tenth house axis responds to these important questions, or at least tries to give us a picture of the situation we find ourselves in. The fourth house represents in fact our origin, ancestry, and family. Moreover, it forms the place where we can (hopefully) feel emotionally secure and protected. Basically, it is the astrological house of home and family—also traditionally associated to the father figure as the family name bearer.

Ideally, the cusp of the fourth stands for the center of the earth and our deepest connection with it. Along with the second (which relates to the territory in general) the fourth describes our roots—whether physical, mental or spiritual. As a metaphor for the subsoil, it is also regarded by astrologers as the place “where everything begins and where everything ends”. To the very same earth we came from, one day we will return.

What do you like most, staying at home or hanging out? What’s more important for you, family or career? How do you relate to your family, and especially to your father? Do you enjoy family life or does it rather make you feel trapped? Looking at the fourth house in your Natal Chart enables you to answer to such questions. Obviously things in life are not always black or white. Family is one of them.

Analyzing the fourth also allows us to better understand our inner foundation—the fundamental sense of our Self. Some astrologers think of it even as our true, hidden personality. Surely we can say it represents the safe ground on which we build everything else, both physically and psychologically. After all, only a nurturing and supporting family—that feeling of being at home—can give us the confidence we need to create our future.

Key Words

• Home, house, family, protection, security, shelter
• Origin, lineage, ancestry, descent, kin, kith
• The end of things, the grave, earth connection
• Subsoil, underground, basement