Meaning
The fifth house follows the IC and is succedent, sixth in Lilly's ranking of strength. Valens calls it Good Fortune, one of the two favourable places that trine the Ascendant, and in the medieval scheme of the houses' joys Venus rejoices here.
Lilly's list for it is the most cheerful of the twelve: children, ambassadors, banquets, taverns, plays and pleasure, with one item on pregnancy that we leave out here. Modern astrology keeps the mood: creativity, play, romance, children and joyful self-expression. Our keywords are "creativity, play, romance".
In a chart
A planet in the fifth house is read for what a person makes and enjoys for its own sake: the Sun, the house's natural ruler in modern teaching, as the wish to create and be seen creating, Venus as delight in pleasure and art. Our chart gives each planet a reading for this house in our own words. The fifth house lies below the horizon, in the quadrant that climbs from the IC towards the Descendant.
Opposite it lies the eleventh house, the Good Daimon, Valens's other fortunate succedent place: the fifth for one's own delights, the eleventh for friends and hopes.
Across the traditions
The pairing with Leo and the Sun is the modern teaching device Alan Leo spread. In whole-sign houses the fifth house is the fifth sign from the rising sign, and its sign always shares the rising sign's element, which is part of why the Hellenistic writers counted it good. Jyotisha counts its fifth bhava the same way.
Our reading
Our chart describes the fifth house as the realm of creativity, pleasure, romance, play and joyful self-expression, and gives each planet its own reading here; for Venus in the fifth, for instance, it speaks of romance, creativity and play and an affectionate spirit. These are EsoTerrier's words, and like every reading of ours they describe a tone, not an event.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- Topics (Lilly, 1647)
- Children, ambassadors, banquets, taverns, plays and pleasure (his item on pregnancy left out) sourced
- Class (Lilly)
- Succedent, sixth in strength sourced
- Place name (Valens)
- Good Fortune sourced
- Natural sign and ruler
- Leo, with Sun: a modern teaching device after Alan Leo; Lilly's pairings differ sourced
- Topics (modern)
- Creativity, play, romance sourced
- One right house system
- No: a planet's house can change with the system; ours is named on the chart disputed
- Our keywords
- "creativity, play, romance" our construction
How the schools read it
- Hellenistic (Valens)
- The fifth place, counted by whole signs from the rising sign; called Good Fortune.
- Lilly (1647)
- Succedent; children, ambassadors, banquets, taverns, plays and pleasure (his item on pregnancy left out).
- Modern psychological (Alan Leo, Rudhyar and after)
- Creativity, play, romance.
- Jyotisha
- The fifth bhava, always counted by whole signs from the lagna.
- EsoTerrier
- Placidus by default, Whole Sign and Equal a tap away, Porphyry above the polar circles; a reading for each planet in the house, in our own words.
Claims about it
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There is one correct house system, and a planet's house is a fact of the sky.
disputedWhat the record shows: A planet's house depends on the division chosen: between Placidus and Whole Sign a median of twelve of sixteen objects changed house in our 56 test charts. We default to Placidus and show the system on the chart.
