Your Fourth House: The House of Family and Home

The Fourth House is often referred to as The House of Family and Home. In astrology, it pertains to domestic life, the mother, father, home, childhood, and the private inner world of the individual. It also encompasses real estate, heritage, our past and our ancestral roots.

The fourth house is an angular house and therefore considered very significant in one’s birth chart. This house constitutes the private home and very personal side of our lives that only our closest connections will be privy to. The fourth house is also known as the Imum Coeli or IC and represents the lowest point or nadir of the persons birth chart. Some astrologers also associate the fourth house with our past lives. Moreover, it is linked with the outcome of events.

Your Personal and Private life

The main theme or focus of the fourth house is the personal and private world of the individual. It relates to a fundamental desire to connect with our roots and origins. Our sense of patriotism and belonging to a group, particularly that of cultural and hereditary significance.

The fourth house concerns the more authentic and intimate side of ourselves, in contrast to our public persona or image that we project through our tenth house…that is also known as the midheaven or medium coeli, MC. People that have a prominent or very active fourth house are more likely to be very private and/or attached to their family and inner circle. They may likely be introverted and reserved or otherwise seem highly possessive or territorial about what is theirs and entitled to them, based on their heritage and birthright.

Prominent Placements

Those with a prominent fourth house can engender a conservative mindset and also a tendency to romanticize the past. The fourth house governs our memories and childhood. Here, experiences both positive and negative can live and fester within the confines of this house.

This house indicates whether the individual has positive and healthy relations with the mother and family in general…or a negative and toxic one. People with an afflicted fourth house will by and large signify a contentious and fractured home life that can bring about unresolved anger that manifests into other aspects of one’s life.

Furthermore, those with a strong emphasis in the fourth house are likely to be homebodies who prefer to spend most of their time in the comfort of their  home as opposed to going out often.

What Shapes Us

The fourth house is concerned with the inner soul and private emotions of the individual. It concerns the need for the security and foundations upon which the individual needs to build upon and grow. The fourth house is also associated with the past and our personal memories of our childhood and those experiences that are both good and bad.

A lot of what goes on in the fourth house can shape us as a person. Those who are imprisoned by their past, are more likely to experience a lot of emotional turmoil and reluctance to move on with their life. Coming to terms with the past and the pain associated with it is necessary for cultivating a healthy and positive fourth house.

Planetary Aspects

In our birth chart, whatever planets and aspects that are formed in the fourth house will indicate the nature of your ties to family members. For example, Mars in the fourth house can manifest as a person who is notably passionate and protective of their family members. Such a person may be very active in their home and domestic roles and perform them with passion, flair and energy. They have protective instincts and their motivations often stem from a desire to support their loved ones.

Someone with Mercury in their fourth house, may find themselves maintaining close ties and communications with their family throughout their lives through zoom, text, calls, or emails. They are likely to be more talkative at home, then at work or any other setting. They take a special interest in learning about their family history, genealogy and the history of places and locations where they grew up. This may even extend to an interest in history in general, as a well as a joy in spending time at home reading books.

Those with Saturn in the fourth house can bring about a tendency to be more isolated at home and less involved with other family members. Saturn is restricting, so generally this person is not so likely to be born with special privileges. It is possible that they are born into a strict household or one where finances were tight and they barely scraped by. On a more personal level, someone with this placement is bound to feel inhibited or constrained by obligations to home and family although they may feel duty bound to do so.

Internal Impressions

The fourth house also represents our physical home but also the internal sanctum of our thoughts and emotions. The memories and impressions that we gather from the outside world that seep into our subconscious. This is where a lot of our insecurities and worries, as well as, resentments and pains, can collect and accumulate over time. Additionally, the fourth house represents what we need in order to feel secure and gather our spirit and recharge our soul.

Interested in the different houses of astrology? Check out our post about the 2nd house of astrology here. You can also check out some of our videos here.