House 2 - Resources and Values

It is in the 2nd house that we have the possibility to concretize, fix and give shape to what we have started under the impulse of the 1st house. In this area of life, we get in touch with our resources, our values, belongings, and possessions, being the sector of the chart where we deal with the concepts of valuation, security, and stability that we will use during life, coming from our ability to transform talents into money, benefits, and returns that bring. It represents everything that a person calls "Mine", being the materialization of our personal energy and our libido into something tangible.

It is the place where we are able to direct our energy into something we can touch, hold, or use, a natural consequence of our manifestation in the world coming from the first worldly house. It is considered the gateway to our survival instinct, the food we eat to satisfy our energy hunger, which strengthens our body and makes possible the thoughts and the way of reasoning, subjects of the next house.

Within a neo-liberal society, it means the ability to have autonomy of subsistence and freedom of existential decisions.

It governs our money, the things we want to have in life, willingness to obtain and manage resources, the foods we like best, the influence our mode of consumption has on our financial situation throughout life, and our possessions in general, as well as our attitude toward them.

This house can also bring us clues to how we manage our funds, how we manage our bank account, monthly earnings and expenses, salary, operating and maintenance costs.

It also gives clues to the kind of work we like to do or engage in, as well as our inherited skills. It tells what kind of material things we want: money, good looks, healthy bodies, cars, houses... but what we actually get depends on how well we align those desires with what we do every day to earn them, and astrologically it depends on the position of the luminaries and angles like the Ascendant and Midheaven.

It also shows the efforts, the kinds of products or services that we can engage with throughout life as well as the kind of value we place on what we have and all that we do, and is the place that defines the most basic level of our material purpose in the current existence.

It speaks to the kind of personal fulfillment that comes from material matters, how we accept them and how they satisfy, feed and fulfill us.

It was once called "Hades' Gate" by the ancients, alluding to the Greek God of the underworld and his temptations, because it is a house that deals with very tempting themes that give rise to sensorial seductions or exacerbated materialism, behaviors that can make many people lose their way or stagnate their evolution because of hedonism or greed.

Of course, there is exaggeration in the way these interpretations have been made. In many cases, the interpretative bias has been intoxicated by religious views that only total detachment from possessions leads us to heaven after death.

Popularly it is known as "The House of Money", but its meaning, as seen above, goes far beyond this. The planets that interact with the second house of the chart can describe our attitude to money, part of our financial capability (as well as the lack of it). It also represents how some of our habits influence our thoughts.

When they are in good harmony with our desires and goals, the second house can produce quality thoughts related to the ability to transform talents into financial opportunities, but when there is tension in this area, bad choices or feelings can appear, and can create consumer addictions, compulsions, and unnecessary risks, depending on the context of the chart as a whole.

To have a good astrological interaction in the 2nd house, that is, planets and signs with good aspects, especially if they are compatible with the Sun, the Moon, the Ascendant, and the Midheaven, can imply in good material fertility. On the other hand, the lack of this affinity can cause attachment, material dependence and avarice, and depending on how the signs, stars and rulers are involved, chaoticism and difficulty in economic management.

A maintenance tip regarding the notion of corporeality of the second house is to eat a healthy diet, for example, as this can cleanse us of harmful substances.

The sign that has a natural affinity with the 2nd house is Taurus, a fixed sign, and the planet is Venus.

The real value of what we have

House 2, as the "House of Possessions", deals with everything we possess, but not necessarily tangible, physical things. As said before, it deals with everything we call "Mine" in life.

These are interaction resources that we develop throughout life as a result of our appearance in the world. It also describes our ambition to accumulate wealth, property, and whether we have the will to grow in that direction.

This sector shows how we can use, buy and sell things, manage values given to us, and take care to preserve them. Attachment in general is involved, that is, the concept of "mine" as an unconscious way of dealing with the world and things is present. We can project the sense of incompleteness that we bring from childhood onto the objects around us, getting what is called an "object relationship" with processes and situations.

In this case, possession is related to the ability to control and therefore avoid the lack of control that brings us closer to the idea of death.

The second house demonstrates the way we value things: how much a product costs, whether it is worth buying or not, etc. It indicates our attitude toward what we own, how we obtain things, how we treat them, how we manage them, how we keep them, and how we take advantage of them.

In other terms: "Our way of making money or ability to get and keep it".

Ideally, resources should always improve our lives, providing for our survival, but also for those around us. Analyzing the second house can give us clues as to how the person behaves in the sense of acquiring and maintaining resources.

It also represents everything that the person receives from the cradle. His body, his life forces, his heredity - both parental and cultural. It indicates everything we "gain" at birth, the innate abilities, including our talents, the five sensory senses, etc.

It incites fundamental questions in the interpretation of an astrological chart, such as "What do I value?", "Why do I value this?", "Who do I value?", "What do I really own and what do I want to own - and why?", "Do I know how well to measure the value of each thing?".

The answers to these and other questions are part of the scope of the interpretation of the 2nd House, always associated and subordinated to the luminaries and angles, and which also indicates what resources we have or want to have in order to feel secure and important.

It indicates how we conquer the means to survive, and how we acquire and use our goods that have more liquidity, those that we can sell, exchange, or negotiate quickly. This is very important, because we can own land, houses, and the like (real estate), but if we don't have money (liquidity) to pay our expenses, it's no use, so knowing how to balance, administer, and have a good sense in managing these matters is very important.

Therefore, the second house is also about our survival, because nowadays our money is used to buy food and shelter. In a more primitive life, we needed to hunt and have agricultural skills to survive, so the 2nd house deals with whatever talents and abilities we can use to have a better chance of survival.

It is the area of the chart that shows everything that a person feels is necessary for his or her security, the resources and attributes that give our lives a sense of value. And this includes our income (and our ability to influence it up or down), as well as investments and moveable property (cars, clothes, objects, collectibles, jewelry, and the like). In other words, a home with capitalist characteristics, consumption, and varied options for consumption of services or products.

The way we look at money, the acquisition of wealth and debts (not only profits, debts also come into play here), financial luck and setbacks, saving, budgeting, and all sorts of similar situations. So it means our ability to save and spend on the little things that give small profits or small losses that over time generate reserve funds, losses or major financial woes.

That fundamental question of whether or not "money brings happiness" is something to be analyzed within the scope of the 2nd house. This whole context of possessions and goods certainly is something that helps us during life in our maintenance, support, obtaining a higher social position and recognition, but the real success, in this case, will depend on how we behave towards these issues. Thus, the second house can bring us information about the financial result of our operations and uses of our talents.

We must have the ability to use our possessions in an honest and balanced way, so that there is a better energetic flow and a reuse for a greater good. This is a sector of the chart that must always be balanced so that our security and resources are provided correctly.

The types of valuation

We attach importance to many things in our lives, but each person values what they have in a different way. We divide our resources and possessions into a few levels. Which one is more valuable to you?

• Material and concrete: the objects we own, our physical body as an element of self-worth, our income, the objects themselves, etc.
• Psychological: the intangible values, such as the ability to administer, manage the internal drives and not project them onto the consumption of products and services, and the psychological abilities to deal with subsistence.
• Self-management: Our way of relating these values to our personal life, the ability to use this to our advantage or problems in managing matters such as marriage, society, children, travel, etc.

Thus we see that the second house indicates not only "having", but also "using" and "managing", activities here seen as complementary to "Being".

Extra Interpretations

For interpretations beyond the birth horoscope, as in horary and world astrology seeking answers for specific events, places, governments, or situations, the 2nd house basically means the wealth of a nation or place, aspects of revenue, income, treasury, and all activities related to the obtaining of money, price and valuation, such as banks, stock exchanges, financial institutions, markets, inflation, interest, the banking system, regulations, small financing, credit cards, and commerce.

The influence of the stars located in the House 2 of the Birth Chart

Learn about all astrological houses