What kind of "houses" do you use for your chart ?Koch/Placidus etc?

Question

What kind of "houses" do you use for your chart ?Koch/Placidus etc?

Answer 1

I too use placidus, probably because I first tried Koch when I wanted to "chart" my own chart. I found that it didn't feel right to me. Astro.com uses placidus, obviously the older and generally more revered system, and that is how I came to use it. It made more sense to me and I went with it. I do agree with leftie....you have to use intuition or you won't get all that far in this field. Indeed, the Koch system won't make you better or worse. I just always prefered Placidus, but that's just me.



I know that many astrologers recommend Koch for a beginner and then move on the Placidus, just because Koch is easier for most to read and understand. When you're starting out and someone says "hey, by the way, not every house is 30°....actually in some birth charts none are! Good luck now."....you'd probably be confused. I just think that although using Koch isn't bad or less correct by any means, I feel that Placidus gets the core of astrology better. If you live on the equator, there is no difference between Koch and Placidus (well, basically...). However, I don't recall having someone give me there info and them saying "I was born on the equator". Certainly it's possible but not likely. When you start moving, that's when you see the houses change and degrees change as well. So all in all, neither is wrong, but I prefer Placidus.



Interesting Q Isabelle.... You never fail to keep my mind goin!





edit: Yes, my venus is in either th 4th or 5th, depending on if I use Koch or Placidus. I personally feel more like a venus in the 4th person, and it can be tricky with aspects. Also, my MC changes to libra with the Koch system, and libra MC is not me. There is a book, I believe it's called "The Astrology Sourcebook"...anyway it is very good, you might want to check it out. Also, you can post a separate question asking about books on the topic....see what you get. I'll edit more if I think of another book, or if I find one of my own that describes it.

Answer 2

This is the astrological version of the baseball question who was better, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? There is no absolute answer. Before computers, when astrologers had to calculate houses "by hand" the only two tables of houses (required for chart calculation) that were readily available were Koch and Placidus. Now computer programs give a couple of dozen choices. The problem is that while all house systems are available to astrologers, few people know the reasons behind any of them.



I started with Koch and switched to Placidus because that was what my teacher used. After computers I took up horary astrology for a time, I used, and still use Regiomontanus for that, and that is what most horary astrologers still use. It was the preferred house system of William Lilly the great 17th century English astrologer and he was a master of horary.



Most recently I'm looking at Alcabitius semi arc system because a medieval astrologer I know gets some really good results with it.



We can eliminate most of the problems that occur when, in one system, a planet is in one house and in another system it is in another house by adopting the so called "five-degree rule." This is based on something Ptolemy said in the 2nd century AD, that may have been misunderstood. The idea is that the house does not begin with the cusp but five degrees sooner. So if your 5th house is 25 Taurus and Jupiter is at 23 Taurus you would treat Jupiter as though it were in the 5th house not the 4th. What this does is eliminate the problem caused by one house system putting the planet in the fourth and another in the 5th. The exception occurs when the following cusp is in a different sign than the planet. So if Jupiter is at 28 Sagittarius and the 5th cusp is 1 Capricorn, Jupiter is in the 4th house even though he is within 5 degrees of the 5th cusp.



If this sounds too quirky to use, remember this: the word "cusp" comes from a Latin word that originally meant "sensitive point." It does not mean "beginning." So the closer the planet is to the sensitive point the more powerful its effects. In a home the most important place is usually the living room or dining room not the front door. Try it out look at the planet as if it were in one house then the other and see what makes more sense.



Also eliminate all problems that occur with quadrant house systems and use Whole signs. This is the system used by the Hellenistic Greeks. You determine the ascendant in the usual way. Then the first "house" is the whole first sign that holds the ASC. So if your ascendant is 13 Virgo, all of Virgo is the first house. All of Libra the second, all of Scorpio the third etc. This has the interesting effect of sometimes putting the MC in a house other than the 10th. For example George Bush has his MC in the 9th sign from his Leo ASC - Aries ruled by Mars god of war . The MC is what we are known for and he is known for his strong religious beliefs (9th house) and foreign wars (Mars ruled 9th house). No more intercepted houses or cusps to worry about. Try it.

Answer 3

Whichever one where all the houses are NOT equal... that's the one I use.

Answer 4

Hi Isabelle,

I am a creature of habit in some respects. I have always used Placidus because I am more comfortable reading charts using Placidus. I have a big collection of charts which I use for comparison. If I changed to Koch, it would throw off my system of understanding astrology. I guess that at some point, I should get out of my comfort zone and study charts using the Koch house system.

Answer 5

I think you'll find that most Western astrologers who haven't researched the house systems will use Placidus. That's the biggy.



We did research where I used to work (www.alabe.com), and discovered this. It's kind of a pain in the butt to change house systems (unless you've got a good software program that will do that for you!), 'specially after one has been doing charts using one partic system for awhile.



But curious astrologers want to know. We all used the Koch system. It's all a matter of personal preference.

Answer 6

I prefer placidus, as I find them to be the most comfortable and accurate in my case. I learned to read charts by first casting my own and using myself as an example....the Koch houses didn't quite do it for me.



**sorry, didn't mean to confuse...**



**Thumbs down are for the insecure.... Hi sindy...evidentally, even mundane personal preferences such as houses are eligible for attack from intolerant and close-minded people, eh?.**



**Thomas C--do you have any references or books that you can recommend on that method? TY**