Anything to do with traditions, family, and home is ruled by the 4th house of your astrology birth chart.
Home in this instance means not just building, but the environment within your home, too. The cusp of the 4th house is the second Cardinal point of the birth chart, with the Ascendant being the first one. The name given to this point is the Imum Coeli, or the IC, for short.
The fourth astrological house relates to your parents. It’s also a very spiritual part of your birth chart and reveals much about your spirituality and the cultures and customs that are important to you.
It’s a Cardinal house and is ruled by the Sun sign of Cancer and the Moon.
What Does the 4th House Mean?
1. It Brings Structure
When most people think of home they think of a building into which they retreat for security, comfort, and replenishment. It’s a place where they can relax and unwind, where they can lock the doors and feel safe in their beds. The nature of this place is reflected in the 4th house of astrology, too.
It’s all about stability and security.
It also expands to include the geographical location, even the type of soil and the flowers and other plants that grow there.
While this area of your chart does hint at the actual building you call home, it’s really got more to do with your emotional connection to what supported you there.
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2. Shows Your Real Estate
Of course, your house has to sit on a plot of land, even if you’re only renting an apartment. That land is your real estate; all of the Earth provides you with soil and rocks and minerals. Your relationship with the land and the other lifeforms that dwell there is also echoed in the 4th house.
You have to have some kind of grounding energy, some kind of base, something that you return to in times of stress. Perhaps your favorite place is the coastline or maybe it’s at the mouth of a cave or on the front porch of your grandfather’s farmhouse. Whatever your relationship with houses and dwellings, you perceive your kinship with the land under your feet.
It’s impossible to live on this Earth without being connected to it in some way, to some particular place.
The 4th house—with the sign on the cusp and any natal planets that are there—brings you a lot of insight about that connection and your particular real estate on this Earth.
3. Reveals Your Roots
What does home mean to you? When you think of home, where does your heart go?
Parents, the house you grew up in, your family environment, your religious beliefs, your cultural background, your ancestors?
All of these are your foundations and give you roots to grow into who you are.
The home you grew up in and the environment around that place is indicated in the 4th house. Although it’s less to do with the building, and more to do with the support—or lack of it—that you find in the place that you call home.
In addition, it can reveal if you think you had a happy childhood or not.
4. Acts as a Refuge
The 4th house has the potential to be a very comforting place. Whether you actually return to a childhood home, revisit it in your memories, or immerse yourself in your spiritual customs and traditions. This area of your chart represents what makes you feel secure.
Plus, as you go through your life, this place changes.
When you leave your parents’ home, you have to set up your own home base. You create that personal sanctuary for yourself and perhaps pass on your own traditions to your own children.
The sign on the cusp of the 4th house indicates what reaches deep into the center of your being, to your core, and where you find your own roots and stability.
What Sign is Your 4th House in?
The 4th house reveals how you feel about tradition and family and how these have played out in your life. It shows you where you came from and honors your roots.
It also gives you structure and shows where you should head when you need refuge from the world.
But, the 3rd house is only one of twelve houses you need to learn about to gain more insight into your birth chart.
Catch up: All About the 3rd House of Communication in Astrology & Read next: All About the 5th House of Pleasure in Astrology