House IV
The Fourth House of the natal chart governs home, the family of origin, and the private foundations of life. Its cusp is the Imum Coeli, the root of the chart. Planets here describe the atmosphere of one's origins and the conditions needed to feel at home as an adult; the house also speaks of life's late season.
roots, family, intimacy
Overview
Where you come from.
The home, the family of origin, intimate and private roots. The Fourth House is the foundation upon which everything else rests.
Mythology
Medieval texts called it Genitor, 'the parent', and tied it to the father, the ancestral line and inherited land. In the Hellenistic system it was the Hypogeion, the 'place beneath the earth': the midnight point of the chart where the Sun stands at its lowest, associated with the hidden foundations of life — house and hearth, ancestry, and the grave that receives us at the end. It is the house of origins in the fullest sense: what precedes us, what shelters us, and what we return to.
Interpretation
The Fourth House governs home in every register: the physical dwelling, the family that raised us, the emotional bedrock formed in childhood and the private self that exists behind closed doors. Its cusp is the Imum Coeli, the root of the chart. Planets here describe the atmosphere of one's origins and the conditions needed to feel at home as an adult. The house also speaks of the late part of life — the return to the ground from which one grew.