Horoscope Houses in Astrology
Welcome to Horoscope Houses in Astrology, a series on the twelve houses of your birth chart, and their meaning. This time the Ninth House of your natal chart (personal horoscope) is in focus. Of course, the houses have the same meaning no matter if we are looking at your public predictions (your zodiac sign) or your private predictions. If you are a Premium Member and have your own birth chart from me, though, you’ll get the most from what you’re about to read.
A really simple way to know yourself at a glance is to find which zodiac signs dominate. Which house (or slice of the wheel) has the most factors?
Horoscope Houses in Astrology – The Ninth House
The Ninth House of your horoscope is ruled by Sagittarius and Jupiter. It describes travel and travel in the mind. Real journeys and intellectual, educational, academic or spiritual journeys.
The Ninth House can show emigration. Globalisation. Export. Import. Foreign languages. Vast distances and vast subjects too, like history, sociology, quantum mechanics or literature.
The Ninth House is relative to your own experience and age. Transits here will show up on whatever level you are ready for them. If you are only nine years old, it may be your family’s trip to the Pacific Islands and your new best friend, who comes from a completely different world to you – and lends you her books. If you are approaching retirement, and already a graduate, it may be time to teach, voluntarily, in another part of the world.
If you have been a lifelong sceptic whose career has been based on science, a transit of Uranus, the planet of revolution, in your Ninth House may see you become a born-again Christian. Beliefs of all kinds belong to the Ninth House and your personal philosophy or faith in something or someone greater than yourself, is a measure of this area of your chart. Islam, Afghanistan and Iraq may seem like Ninth House ‘foreign’ areas of belief and culture for an American living in New York who does not believe in God. For a true believer living in Kabul, it is the American who seems foreign.
So many university or college subjects involve drawing heavily on foreign discoveries and names, visiting professors or foreign exchange students that inevitably, learning about the world means some kind of cultural exchange.
Less ambitiously, if you never leave the small town where you were born, the arrival of a migrant from another part of your country and his/her impact on your life – perhaps educating you – can feel as seismic as emigrating might, for a person leaving Britain for Canada.
As I’m sure you can see, the Ninth House depends on time, money, opportunity and a willingness to travel or move more ambitiously.
The planets, asteroids, angles or Nodes in the Ninth House will reveal your attitude towards foreign people and places, and foreign ideas. If you have Mars in Sagittarius in the Ninth House, for example, you may be rather pushy, occasionally aggressive, impatient or combative as a traveller and may well be the kind of person who gets into religious arguments with foreign people. If you have Venus in Sagittarius in the Ninth House then your sexual relationships with people from different backgrounds, with unfamiliar accents, language and beliefs will expand your horizons – even if the marriage or affair is extremely complicated.
Writing in Horoscope Symbols (Whitford Press 1981) Robert Hand notes the connection of the Ninth House not only with the higher mind, long journeys, philosophy and religion – but also the law. As we discussed at the International Astrology Conference in Melbourne in January 2018, law brings in questions about what is legal, permitted or banned in different countries and one will find the laws of the land in the United Arab Emirates very different to those in London. Often, such laws do in fact stem from what is considered to be ethical, moral or ‘right’ – this in turn derives from what people believe. Their religious faith, or even their embrace of non-religious philosophies like feminism and so on. Hand also says “Long journeys place one in an unfamiliar situation and hence expand one’s consciousness.”
This last point is important because I have known at least one reader experience the Ninth House (he has Neptune in Sagittarius in the Ninth House) as a series of trips on Magic Mushrooms over a summer of experimentation. He claims these experiences expanded his awareness of the way life works. Of course – were he to have taken these in a country which bans drug use – he would soon be in trouble with the law.
It is reading the individual horoscope factors in the Ninth House and seeing the aspects, or patterns, they make that can help you step back from yourself and your life to understand what is going on – and who you are. Who you potentially are, too.
11 Responses
Hi Jessica, I really really love your posts on the houses! I have moon, uranus, fortuna and IC (I am not sure if it counts) in Sagittarius. I recently got married and moved overseas, somehow I never saw myself staying in my birth country forever. I love traveling, it energizes me and gives fuel to my life. Is there anything else you can tell from my Sagittarius house? Thank you!
Thank you! Your Ninth House is packed with Sagittarius factors and you will move once more, or travel ambitiously, in 2019 when you will be delighted by a very special part of the map which changes your life.
Hi jessica, i have five factors in my saggitarius (jupiter at 1, uranus at 5, neptune at 26, cupido at 29, south node at 24) zone, i moved to canada 2 yrs back n feel like going back to my home country, the idea with which my husband is not very convinced. Could u tell me if it wud work out for me if i move back. Wud my career make some sense and if yes, in which field and when? Btw just to tell me i have a new born whom i want to take care of!
You’re strongly Sagittarian and have moved to Canada – and now you hear home calling you. The issue is both sides of the family tree, actually. Your mother’s and your father’s – perhaps – or your husband’s family and your own family. If you moved back home in 2019 I think you would be caught between the two families and that would have a huge effect on how you feel about life. So do take that into account when you are deciding.
Hi Jessica,
I also add my thanks for so many great and educational posts recently. I was fascinated with the “Sun Sign Secrets, Tips and Tricks” and especially the reference to horoscope of countries as I have Sun 11 (Sag) and never felt at home in the UK.
The Ninth House dominates my horoscope with the Sun, Mercury, Asc, Diana, Aesculapia, Vulcano and South Node in Sagittarius but Jupiter in Gemini. I migrated from the UK to Australia and have had many moves around Australia. It now feels as if I have had too many moves to settle and perhaps the South Node does not want me to attach.
With such a heavy focus in this house I too would appreciate any further insights and if there are any links to other sources you would recommend to help understand more about this. I missed getting on for the podcasts due to crazy work hours when I was trying to sign on.
Many thanks,
Patricia
Thank you very much Patricia. You are a true Sagittarian type and should definitely pick up the Sagittarius Stellium podcast later this year. Migrants often have a stellium in that sign in the Ninth House. You are a natural gypsy and will always be on the road or on the move. You tend to use it a fair bit to ‘move on’ from emotional situations which don’t feed your needs. In fact this may even be a pattern. Jack Kerouac has nothing on you when it comes to turning your back on particular people and getting On The Road. This is fine as far as it goes and it has served you pretty well, but looking at your chart, the only thing I would say is that you left some solid gold, precious and rather valuable people behind in Britain when you left and you should go back when the time is right – or you feel right – and try to see them in a different light. And actually this applies to anyone/anything else you have left behind. Never forget how shiny and new things can look in the light of a new day. And you are a different person these days.
Thank you for your insights Jessica. Most of my moves not migration have been driven by my husband’s job and there was a lot of reluctance to go but definitely some truth in the sense of sometimes it being an escape at times. Hoping to make the trip back to the UK next year!
Hi Jessica,
I love traveling and have lived in other countries as a child and as an adult however I don’t have any Sagittarius factors. How can I determine my opportunities for future travel based on my chart?
Thanks!
Deidre
That is very unusual so I checked your chart. If your 10.05 birth time is even slightly out, your IC would be Sagittarius and not Capricorn. You have the IC at 1 Capricorn so it would not take much for it to shift to 29 Sagittarius. The IC rules your home, family tree, roots, culture and heritage – where you come from – if you travelled and lived in other countries as a child, the IC in Sagittarius would fit exactly. The angles (like the IC) are extremely time sensitive and move zodiac signs in mere minutes. One way to test this theory that your birth time is slightly out, is to watch what happens at the end of 2019 when Jupiter conjuncts 29 Sagittarius. If that’s when a huge opportunity to travel or move arises, you’ll know you had a Sagittarius IC all along, Deidre.
Very interesting Jessica ! My father grew up poor but became a successful career military officer. I then married a military pilot who is now my ex. After looking at an article you posted on IC I see so much in both Capricorn IC and Sagittarius IC that I have in common.
Thank you. That puts the tin lid on it, as they say in Australia!