Latin names: Life (Vita) · Rising (Ortus).
Greek names: Ascendant (Ανατελλων — Anatellōn) · Ascension (Αναφορα — Anaphora) · Helm (Οιαξ — Oiax) · Hour-Divider or Hour-Regulator (Ωρονομος — Hōronomos) · Rising (Ανατολη — Anatolē) · the Hour (Ωρα — Hōra).
Arabic name: House of Life (بيت الحياة — Bayt al-Hayāh).
Alternative names: Ascendant · Hour-Marker · the East Angle · the Horoscope.
House type: cardinal (angle).
House of ‘Joy’: for the figures of B Mercury (Albus, Conjunctio).
Mundane Planetary Ruler: L Saturn.
Direction: east.
At its core, the first house embodies the idea of “I”—the primal recognition and feeling that emerges in an infant upon initial interaction with reality. With growth, this “I” evolves into a multifaceted notion and acquires specific meanings:
- the body, name, and temperament (innate bodily character, termed corpus in ancient sources);
- the mind, manners, innate talents (ingenium) or professional abilities;
- vital forces and innate health potential (Vita—Life).
In general health questions, the first house represents the querent’s body as a whole. When specific body parts are involved, the entire chart symbolizes the body, with the first house denoting only the head from crown to chin.
The first house signifies not only the querent but also their current location and related circumstances. Thus, it also governs:
- current residence (home, district, locality, country) in relocation questions; here the first house denotes life in the “present place,” while the seventh house represents potential life in any “new place” (not the ninth house, as often mistakenly assumed);
- the querent’s location and weather there at the time of the question;
- any vehicle the querent uses or plans to use for travel.
Key Notes on the First House
- In questions about a group with which the querent strongly identifies, both the querent and the group pertain to the first house—applicable in queries about sports contests, military actions, elections, etc. Strong emotional identification with the group is required.
- In questions about joint actions with a spouse, the couple may be signified by the first house as a unit or separately: querent as first house, spouse as seventh. When signified as a unit, figures in the first house corresponding to double-bodied signs (Albus, Conjunctio, Acquisitio, Lætitia) testify that both spouses are represented by the same house.
Common Error
Causes of ill health are analyzed through the first house, not the sixth. Illness is a disruption of vital forces—an imbalance of natural temperament—which pertains to the first house. The sixth house describes illness as an actual event or fated obstacle.
Examples of First House Questions
- Will changing my real name to a pseudonym benefit my career?
- Am I suffering from an illness?
- What will the weather be like next week where I live?
- Is the airplane reliable for my travel?
- Will my favorite team win the upcoming match?
- Will my country win the war?
- Will the candidate I support be elected?
Quotes on the First House
The beginning of the houses is the sign that rises from the earth, like an infant emerging from its mother’s womb. Therefore the sages assigned this sign to life and to the body. In interrogations it signifies the hidden thought that comes into manifestation. This is the first pillar.
The first house, which is the angle of the East and called the Horoscope, signifies the life and body of him that is born or that asks the question, and is the beginning of all things, as of elections, life, and birth, and is therefore called Life. It also signifies health, sickness, complexion, spirit, the first age, and all accidents of the body… It rules the head.
And there is a certain similarity between the first house and those who are born or those who ask questions. For this house ascends from that part of the heaven which is hidden from our sight under the horizon to a higher part which is visible above the earth, coming from the hidden to the illuminated and from hidden parts to manifested ones; just as he who is born comes out from the darkness and tightness of his mother’s womb to the light of this world and the airy expanses. And he who asks a question discloses his plan and the secrets of his heart, whereby what was initially secret becomes manifest and open.
The first house is called the East Angle or Ascendant; and in a question or nativity it signifies the life of man, his disposition, complexion, and understanding. Of the parts of man’s body, it represents the head and face.
It signifies the life of man, his stature, colour, complexion, form and shape, and of him that propounds the question or is born… And as it is the first house, it represents the head and face of man.
