House Placement by Chakra
May 2015
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First Chakra
In the 1st chakra, where the focus is on safety and protection, do you suppose that the soul would feel more at home in the north or south of the chart? Given that the purpose of the soul in the 1st chakra is to create a platform upon which he or she can build a viable life, where do you suppose the soul would prefer to be when dealing with 1st chakra issues, east or west? Given these preferences, we might assume that 1st chakra patterns – involving Moon, Saturn and Pluto – become more potent when they are focused in the NE quadrant.
In addition, we would note that the 4th house, which is associated with home, in every sense of that word, would be a natural venue – would it not – for a soul seeking safety and protection. Again given that the soul in the 1st chakra, desires to live a full and satisfactory life within the world, we might extend the area preferred by the 1st chakra soul to the area in the 3rd house, just across the Nadir and still conjunct to it, by whatever orb you normally allow for a conjunction to the angles.
This particular area of the chart, around the Nadir, is where the soul makes its decision to incarnate. This is essentially a 1st chakra decision, requiring a strong, healthy and secure 1st chakra to execute. Thus when one or more 1st chakra planets are concentrated in this area of the chart, it is an indication that a 1st chakra pattern is potentially brewing.
To this, we would add two additional areas. The area just below the horizon in the 6th house, when the Sun has just set, is also an area of relative safety, as this is where the soul is able to sink into invisibility, which affords a kind of protection not available in the area above the horizon.
Lastly, the area just above the horizon in the 12th house serves a similar purpose, albeit in a radically different way. This is where the soul first encounters the world surrounding its birth and picks up the subtle cues from parents, family, teachers at school, and others in a position of influence about what it takes to survive in the world. Putting these cues together, the soul develops what Jung called the persona, or mask, which again affords a kind of protection, through a different kind of invisibility. Astrologers conventionally associate the Ascendant with the persona, but I would refine this designation by assigning it to the area of the chart just above the Ascendant in the 12th house, which along with the persona is 1st chakra territory. 1st house planets are generally more straightforward features of personality.
Thus when Moon, Saturn and Pluto are placed in one or more of these sections of the chart in mutual aspect to each other, you have a rather potent 1st chakra signature.
Second Chakra
In the 2nd chakra, where the focus is on creating a pleasurable life, the focus is still internal and subjective. Safety and protection are still important. The process is still somewhat unconscious or instinctual. In the 2nd chakra, we gravitate relatively blindly toward that which draws us for reasons we don’t entirely understand. So, in the 2nd chakra, we are still very much in the north. The difference is that we are now reaching out to the other, making contact, forming a relationship to life, responding through a process of attraction. This puts us in the west. Thus 2nd chakra patterns become more potent when they are focused in the 2nd quadrant, or the NW.
Within the 2nd quadrant, the most powerful house, at least as far as the 2nd chakra is concerned, is the 5th. It is no accident that conventional astrology associates the 5th house with romantic love and sexuality, as this becomes the focal point of the 2nd chakra experience. Succedent houses in general focalize the energy of any quadrant, because this is where we are most involved and most engaged in the process of the quadrant. Thus planets in any succedent house will carry some 2nd quadrant connotation, in the erotic sense of total immersion in our experience – especially the 8th, which includes the psychological dynamics of relationship, and the 2nd, which is where we develop our most fundamental sense of self-worth, including body image, and fundamental relationship to the sensory dimensions of our experience.
Thus whenever Venus, Mars and either Neptune or Pluto or both form mutual aspects to one another within the 2nd quadrant, or between the 2nd, 5th and 8th houses, we have a strong 2nd chakra pattern.
Third Chakra
In the 3rd chakra, where our focus is on taking our place within the world, we naturally gravitate to the south and east, or the SE quadrant, which conventional astrology associates with career, function in society, and our relationship to the institutions of culture.
In addition, since our task in the 3rd chakra requires the cultivation of strong identity, we would include the angular houses – especially the 1st and 10th. To a lesser extent, we include the 7th, because this is where we meet our competitors, our open enemies – those with whom we vie for position in the world, and also our business partners – those with whom we cooperate.
When Sun and Mars, plus one or more planets of excess or deficiency form mutual aspects in the 4th or SE quadrant, or aspects that span the 1st, 7th and 10th houses, we have a strong 3rd chakra pattern.
Fourth Chakra
In the 4th chakra, where the focus is relationship, we naturally gravitate to the 3rd or SW quadrant of relationships. As with the 2nd chakra, the focus in the 4th is on total immersion and involvement, so again we gravitate to the succedent houses. Here we would include the 11th house, since beyond career, this is the house of dharma, where our passion and our vision guides our actions in the world, even more so that the 10th, where we pursue a worldly career that may or may not entirely fit who we are in the essence of our being. The 10th house may be career, but the 11th house is where we find the cutting edge of our passion.
When Sun, Moon and Venus form mutual aspects, possibly also involving one or more major asteroids, in the SW quadrant, or spanning the succcedent houses, we have a strong 4th chakra pattern.
Fifth and Sixth Chakra
In the 5th and 6th chakras, we move into a more self-reflective space, examining our lives in every aspect, to ensure that we are aligned with our deepest sense of integrity (5th chakra) and our most visionary sense of who we are in relation to the collective (6th chakra). This self-reflection, sifting and sorting of experiences, and reordering of our lives takes place in the cadent houses.
When Mercury, Jupiter and either Chiron, Uranus, and/or Neptune form mutual aspects spanning the cadent houses, we have a strong 5th chakra pattern.
When Moon, Venus, Jupiter and either Neptune and/or Pluto form mutual aspects spanning the cadent houses, we have a strong 6th chakra pattern.
Seventh Chakra
Lastly, when we get to the 7th chakra, in which all of soul space becomes integrated as a unified whole, it doesn’t really matter any more where in the houses, a 7th chakra pattern lies. Any Full Moon forming mutual aspects from Sun and Moon to Uranus, Neptune and/or Pluto constitutes a strong 7th chakra pattern.
Signs and the Astro-Chakra System
The last dimension of this system involves the signs in which the planets are placed, and more specifically the elements associated with the signs, which determine the koshas, or levels of manifestation between pure matter and pure spirit, on which the dynamics of a given chakra signature are likely to manifest. I won’t go into this aspect of the system here, although I do cover it extensively in my book Tracking the Soul.
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