Significance of the Twelve houses in a Birth Chart (Kundli)
The Houses (Bhavas) are the parts of the sky as we see them rising on the east, setting in the west, over our head and in between. There are twelve houses and the first and most important one is that part of the sky that is rising at the time of birth in the East called Ascendant. The east is the direction where all planets and stars are seen when coming to view (rising) on the eastern horizon. Therefore the sight of each celestial body is"born" from the East, which makes the Ascendant represent birth in general, in addition to our body, our looks, and our life. The Rashi (Zodiac sign) that happens to be on the Eastern horizon are the background to the first house and so strongly influence the person. The houses represent the various areas of our lives such as our household (second house), our brothers and sisters (third house), and profession or livelihood (tenth house). Each house represents a range of areas of life. Whereas Grahas (planets) indicate different aspects of our understanding, the houses indicate what areas of life which consciousness is strongly connected to, projected and influenced by. The Rashis color that connection and give it very specific qualities. For example, a very simple one to show the principle, the tenth house indicates one's profession and work. The Moon in the tenth house would connect one's caring nature with professional activities. But that could be in so many ways! If Kanya (Virgo) would be in the tenth house, it would show us that the self would identify most with care in practical, detailed, down-to-earth ways indicated by Virgo. Some areas of life are represented by more than one House. The logic of how and why each of the twelve houses has been assigned its significations has four major parts: life chronology correspondence, physical correspondence, Rashi correspondence and relative counting. The 3 correspondence principles provide the foundation significations, whereas the relative counting principle extends the list to an almost limitless array of significations. The correspondence principles all have a similar basis: considering two holistic values, there are precise connections between all the major parts of each. For example, when we consider the solar system with it's planetary bodies, and the human life with all it's aspects, we can find precise correlations between each heavenly body, and specific aspects of human life. In the case of life chronology correspondence, the full span of life is mapped to the chart. The twelve houses correspond to various stages in life. The Ascendant corresponds to birth itself, the second house early childhood, etc upto the twelfth house which corresponds to death. In the case of physical correspondence, the full body is mapped to the chart. The first house corresponds to the part of our body that is born first (the crown of the head), the second house to the face, etc. upto the twelfth house which corresponds to the feet. The Rashi correspondence maps the zodiac itself to the chart. The First house corresponds to the first sign (Mesha-Aries), the second house to the second sign (Taurus-Vrishabha) etc.
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