Cadent House - Natural Houses

Natural Houses

In the twentieth century, a concept called "natural houses" was popular, in which it was argued that each of the twelve houses of the astrological chart corresponds to a sign of the zodiac: the first house corresponds to Aries, the second to Taurus, and so forth, continuing through the chart until the twelfth house, which is linked to Pisces.

Employing "natural houses," the third house would correspond to Gemini, the sixth house to Virgo, the ninth house to Sagittarius and the twelfth house to Pisces, and adherents of the notion borrow archetypal concepts from the signs and apply them to the corresponding houses.

The idea of numerological correspondences goes back at least as far as Pythagoras and surely was instrumental in the interpretation by ancient astrologers of the angular relationships each house has with the others, and especially with the Ascendant. This may account for similarities between the idea of Gemini and the idea of the third house. But the "natural houses" doctrine stretches these similarities to point which seriously distorts the original concepts. Hardly any of these zodiacal correspondences result in the same characteristics or dignities observed by earlier astrologers.

Furthermore, using "natural houses," cadent signs are seen to be very flexible and adaptive and correspond with the mutable signs of the zodiac. But this obscures the essentially weak and unfavorable nature of these houses. Planets positioned in them lack influence, and may even become malefic--that is, they may have an unfortunate effect.