Seventh House in the Horoscope

The 7th House governs all your partnerships, not just your love life, although that partnership tends to dominate the House as well as your life. It can also be business partners, allies of one kind or other, and so on. So, the House is not necessarily about love, but about the characteristics of your partnerships and how they work out.

     The starting point of the House (cusp) is exactly opposite the Ascendant, since it marks the western horizon (the Ascendant is at the eastern horizon). Because of this it's called the Descendant. Some astrologers give it the significance of an astrological point of its own, much like the Ascendant. I don't. It's relation to the Ascendant is anyway evident by their oppositon aspect (see below), especially if there's a planet in that vicinity.

Zodiac sign and Planet

If the House changes Zodiac sign somewhere in its span, that means your partnership characteristics change significantly sometime in your life. Usually, but not necessarily, it also means the change of partners. If most of your House is in a single Zodiac sign it doesn't have to mean that you stay with the same partners all your life - but it's more likely than otherwise. But even if you change partners, your relation is probably not changing character that much.

     Planets in the 7th House indicate that a lot happens in your partnerships and that it's a particularly important part of your life. One single planet might indicate one particularly important partner, but it can also suggest several, at once or in succession - of equal importance. Notice that the House is important to you even when empty, because of its position right above the western horizon.

     Here are simple keywords describing your partnerships, depending on what Zodiac sign you have in the 7th House:

• Aries intense
• Taurus secure
• Gemini playful
• Cancer devoted
• Leo proud
• Virgo scrutinizing
• Libra balanced
• Scorpio passionate
• Sagittarius unattached
• Capricorn ambitious
• Aquarius unconventional
• Pisces self-sacrificing

     Here are keywords for how your partners affect you (or vice versa) if you have a planet in your 7th House:

• Sun dominant
• Moon longing
• Mercury talkative
• Venus pleasing
• Mars challenging
• Jupiter expanding
• Saturn strict
• Uranus revealing
• Neptune amazing
• Pluto dramatic

     The keywords are just simple clues to understand the 7th House. You need to consider the whole before deciding on the meaning of one single ingredient.

Aspects

The 7th House has the following aspect relations to other Houses:

• Opposition 180° 1st House
• Trine 120° 11th House, 3rd House
• Square 90° 10th House, 4th House
• Sextile 60°9th House, 5th House

     These relations between the Houses are quite important when analyzing their influence. The opposition aspect to the 1st House, that of identity, is simlpy the conflict between individual aspirations and the adaption to a partner. Your priorities cannot be equally with both, a choice has to be made between them.

     The trine to the 11th House, that of your ideals, responds well to committing to a partner. So does the 3rd House, that of friends. We often find our partners among our friends. Also, a substantial part of partnership is suddenly doubling our friendship base.

     The square to the 10th House, career, points out the conflict often the case between managing one's career and one's personal relationships. The square with the 4th House seems odd, since we often form our families with a partner. But we soon find out that the relation with the partner is disturbed by that with the family as a whole. In both these cases, though, the complications are possible to solve, albeit not that easily at times.

     The sextile to the 9th House, travel and change, implies the adaption needed for new partnerships to work - also the increased chance of finding them when moving to new places. The sextile to the 5th House shows that leisure and partnership easily connect. If they don't, either the partner or the leisure-life needs to be changed.

© Stefan Stenudd
The planets
The Zodiac
The Houses
The aspects