Fourth House: the House of Home (Meaning and Astrology)

The 4th house represents one’s home, family, upbringing, and one’s private life. It can speak to foundational experiences that shaped one’s childhood, as well as the driving factors to establish secure foundations in our adult lives. In horoscopes, the planet which rules the zodiac sign on the 4th house is traditionally thought to represent the father, but it can speak to one’s relationship with either parent.

The 4th house symbolically corresponds to midnight, the darkest part of the chart that represents what is hidden from view—one’s lineage, family history, and what has been inherited from the past. It can speak to where one’s family of origin comes from as well as what memories, stories, traumas, gifts, or blessings continue to live on through you.

The 4th house is one of four Angular houses (1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th)—the houses that mark the four angles of a chart and represent the foundational themes and areas of life. The fourth house cusp is called the IC (short for Imum Coeli), which is Latin for “bottom of the sky.”

Key Concepts

• List of 5 keywords:

  • Parents

  • Childhood

  • Roots

  • Home

  • Land

What Does the 4th House Rule?

The 4th house is known on the astrological birth chart as the House of Home. It describes the foundations of one’s life by illuminating the nature of the relationship with one’s parents, family of origin, and experiences in childhood that shaped the identity. The ruling planet of the sign on the 4th house cusp can convey more detailed information about one’s father or, more generally, one’s parents of either gender.

Parents

The 4th house can describe the nature of one’s relationship with one’s father or one’s parents and any challenging or supportive qualities of this bond. Aspects to the ruling planet of the 4th house can reveal how we experienced a parent, the ways that we learned to give and receive love from an early age, and our security needs in partnerships as adults.

Childhood

Planets in the fourth house in astrology can describe formative experiences in childhood or qualities that characterized the early experiences of a person’s life. Planets here can also reveal family complexes and dynamics that have become animated in one’s own psyche and personality.

Home

The sign on the 4th house can describe both the conditions of one’s home and family life growing up, as well as the qualities and ideals that one seeks to incorporate into their home life as adults. It can describe what allows us to feel safe, protected from the world, and comforted in our environment.

Transits in the Fourth House

Transits to the 4th house can correspond with a move, undertaking renovations, or organizing and redecorating one’s living space. Transits here can correspond to shifts in the family, either by welcoming in new members or through experiences of loss. They can also initiate changes to one’s psychic foundations through a process of reflecting on and shifting one’s relationship to one’s inner child.

Depending on the person’s time of birth and the planet involved, transits can either be experienced as an expansion of home through moving, growing one’s family, or inheriting land or real estate or, otherwise, as unexpected changes or challenges to the home environment through maintenance issues, loss, or an internal restructuring of one’s relationship to one’s family of origin.

Planets in the Fourth House

Sun: The Sun in the 4th house suggests that one’s core identity is intimately tied to one’s family of origin and that part of one’s driving motivation is to create a sense of comfort, compatibility, and security through the establishment of home, both in the material and the psychological sense. This placement suggests that one feels most oneself when supported by a secure home environment.

Moon: Because the Moon is the fastest moving celestial body, when placed in the 4th house, it can indicate that many moves or changes were part of the fabric of one’s childhood, which may have felt destabilizing. As a result, one may be driven to establish a sense of security and comfort by creating a sense of home for oneself as an adult.

Mercury: Those with Mercury in the 4th house may have experienced a childhood rich with books, language, educational experiences, or intellectual pursuits that carry over into adulthood and old age. There can be a deep connection to and interest in one’s family or origin or the stories and myths of one’s cultural background.

Venus: Venus in the 4th house suggests a desire to have one’s home reflect one’s aesthetic sensibilities and to create a beautiful, comfortable, and inviting home environment. There may be a strong identification with the values and ideals of one’s family or culture of origin, along with secure bonds of love, support, and affection with one’s family members.

Mars: Mars in the 4th house may indicate that early childhood life was characterized by arguments, battles of will, or contentious relationships with one’s parents or siblings. Mars here can impart a desire for independence from the family of origin and galvanize one to find one’s authentic definition of home and family as an adult.

Jupiter: Jupiter in the 4th house may suggest that one experiences blessings, gifts, and a sense of expansion through the family of origin. This may present as a material inheritance of land, real estate or wealth, or a psychological sense of confidence and optimism fostered at home.

Saturn: Saturn in the 4th house can symbolize the presence of restrictive authority figures during one’s childhood or a feeling of limited material or emotional resources at home. The need to learn adult lessons at a young age may compel an early sense of maturity and resilience. Later, Saturn here suggests that one of the foundational life lessons is around defining and concretizing a sense of home for oneself.

Uranus: Uranus in the 4th house suggests a childhood characterized by erratic changes, either because of frequent moves or a feeling of emotional instability within the family unit. As an adult, one may desire an unconventional family life that prioritizes individual freedom, personal expression, and the crafting of an original and unique family legacy.

Neptune: Neptune in the 4th house can present as either an idealization of one’s childhood as a result of deep enmeshment with one’s parents or, otherwise, a desire to recreate what was lost or missing in one’s youth, perhaps due to a physically or emotionally absent parent, the presence of addiction, or the feeling of not belonging in some way to the family unit. Neptune here can compel one to create a harmonious vision of home that acts as a protective sanctuary from the outside world.

Pluto: Pluto in the 4th house can indicate that one’s family of origin and childhood present some of the most profound and challenging life lessons, with the potential for extreme confrontations and power struggles with one’s parental figures that compel one to undergo profound psychic and emotional transformations.