House 4 - Roots, Foundations and Private Life

The 4th House, which has its cusp (initial line) in the so-called "Bottom of Heaven", is the second angular house in the drawing of an astrological chart, and basically represents our origins, our past, our emotional, psychic, genetic, family, and physical roots, the habits and perceptions formed early in life, and some personality traits that come from within, from our roots. The local meridian (local system of astronomical references) cuts across the ecliptic below the horizon. This point of the zodiac is called Sky Bottom.

The complete analysis of the house complements the analysis of the bottom of the sky (cusp of the 4th house), in the same way that the complete analysis of what happens in the 1st house complements the indications given by the Ascendant (cusp of the 1st house). For this reason, the study of an astrological chart (birth chart) can never be done only by evaluating the parts in isolation, but always as a whole.

It is located in the lower part of the birth chart, in the quadrant below the horizon, which divides the night from the dawn, opposite the 10th House (Midheaven) and deals with the two types of personal residence: our house (physical and material aspect of it) and our home (emotional aspect of refuge and shelter). In it, we deal with the emotional experience concerning everything that has been lived in the previous three houses.

We analyze the so-called "childhood memories" and that feeling of belonging to a home. It is in this worldly home that the integration of mind, body and feelings come together as one. Thus, emotional and non-rational memories are studied there.

From them we can extract information from the sensations and impressions of childhood, the oral, anal, phallic and latency periods, which in psychoanalysis represent stages of formation of our relationship with our parents, the adaptation to the close and protective world, the search therefore for emotional comforts in what is known.

The fourth house is commonly referred to as the "House of the Home", and is considered the gateway to analysis of the themes of our own physical home. When we reflect on the word "home," we usually think of that place where we have our roots or that is comfortable to us, that place that inspires the phrase "there is no place like home!"

So the fourth house refers both to the house, the street, the community, and the city with which we exchange these emotional impressions, and also to the concept of home, shelter, protection, and caregivers.

It is a mysterious place, because it so powerfully affects our unconscious, and intimate, of all the things we love and hold dear. A place of family, intimacy and welcome, of maternal feelings, as well as private matters and the constant closeness to another Being. It also refers to the possible traumas, ruptures between relatives and caregivers, abrupt changes of residences, the conditions of organization and subsistence during the first years, etc.

It also points out important issues of the relationship we build with a parent. People with pronounced fourth homes may be collectors who have a fear of change, deeply rooted in the need to maintain familiar feelings, of what is already known. It can show how we relate to our parents and the fantasies we have of them. It indicates how we regularly deal with people in the place we call home, whether with your family or someone who lives with us.

It is the mother house, our base of operations, our roots, our refuge and center of personal power, the place that recharges (or drains, depending on the astrological configuration) our strength.

In antiquity, medievalism and the Renaissance, it referred to the education and transfer of knowledge from parents to their children, their knowledge, aiming at a preparation for the 10th house (professional), because of the way professions and study opportunities were made available. We are talking about artisan schools that migrated from father to son, mother to daughter, etc.

It governs everything to do with shelters, refuges, and childhood homes, as well as the emotional experience of the beginning and end of life, our genealogy. It also deals with our family history, our self-development, the quality of our memories, our past, and the richness (or poverty) of our inner world, and looking at the whole map and confirming it.

She also tells us about the last years of our life, our old age, when we need more care, shelter, support, and stay more at home. It is not death, but the last years of life.

This is the house that represents our emotional core and our capacity to be content, happy, and heartwarming, and the best way to understand the affairs of the fourth house is through the closeness we have with our mother or those we laugh with, cuddle with, and care for, those who melt our hearts in the most difficult times.

Sometimes this house can indicate our adversities, disagreements, and also the rejections we have felt and that we need to discover if they were internal sensations only or if they were also present on the outside.

It can give clues to how we behave when we are at home, how our personal tree is growing (where the top would be the 10th house, the house of our reputation and achievements) and how our upbringing was.

Analyzing the fourth house well can help us understand how to eliminate destructive habits that are rooted in our emotional foundations, in the home and family. We can also see the values transferred at this stage by parents and caregivers.

The sign that has a natural affinity with the 4th house is Cancer, and the star is the Moon.

Where we come from...

The 4th house makes a complete circle (the infinity symbol is also connected to this house), dealing with the beginning of life, old age, and our final resting place, as we have already mentioned. Much of the emphasis of the fourth worldly house, however, is on the concept of home, where we establish ourselves, put down roots, and what we need to move on to the Midheaven. It indicates how characteristics acquired early in childhood influence the decisions we make adulthood.

Those who have a lot of influence (emphasis in this sector) in the fourth house tend to follow routines and traditions of their families, collecting things to remember one day.

If we look at the 10th house as representing global and social integration, the 4th house represents personal and private integration, the center of gravity that nurtures our identity and manages our private world. It can also be seen as the launching pad for our aspirations and projections into the world, our "recharging socket".

Because it is a symbol of the home, it is a private space, hidden from public life. This is why the 4th house is the house opposite the 10th house, which corresponds precisely to the public life and social status of the individual. In the 4th house, we are "behind closed doors", which are open only to those we trust. It must be analyzed together with its natural ruler, the Moon, and its worldly ruler, a star with affinity with the sign of the cusp.

Also treated in this house are topics such as cultural norms, social conventions, the traditions, the family's past to family, what is repeated as standard by women, men, children, etc. and the individual's ways of being when derived from traditions, as well as our ancestry.

In the sense of family traditions, these serve to keep the family together and only as long as they don't cause problems and don't get in the way of a sense of responsibility, simply repeat what has always been done, like the old "I learned it this way, my mother learned it this way and this is how it is", without any revisionism.

Our parents also have great importance within the analysis of the 4th house, because they helped (or not, depending on the configuration) to create our personal foundation, nurturing us and shaping part of our being. Therefore, the fourth house also has as part of its themes the father, mother or guardian.

In other cases it is the housekeeper, the mistress "Ana", the mother of milk who always took care of everyone, the grandmother who supported us when the parents died, or even an older brother who took over the family. It also covers in its interpretation the physical structures, such as houses and real estate.

This astrological house holds at its core the essence of our private lives, both the things that happened in our childhood and the things we want to create as we mature. It also refers to what is understood as dependence, childhood, fragility. Thus, the 4th house is understood as the emotional and existential fragility.

A well aspected (with well-placed stars), fluid, and nurturing 4th House in an astrological chart may indicate a particularly potent connection to a family's history, ancestral lands, and great inheritances.

By analyzing the 4th house, we discover the tales that gave birth to who we are, our first pains, pleasures, what inspires nostalgia and old stories. It is the root of our chart, the "bottom of our sky". Thus, it can reveal attachments and parochialism with the city of birth, the customs of the place. And in this background, there is not only the surface of the earth as a limit, but also what is hidden underneath, a glimpse of our unconscious and our emotions regarding our memories, family dynamics, etc.

The analysis of the fourth house gives us clues about the way we see or feel one of our parents and the basic relationship we have with our family. It is the space that creates the concept of family, in fact, and represents not only our home, but also our inner refuge. So it can help us understand the notion of internal protection and security, whether or not they were reinforced by our parents, whether we were charged or not.

Mozart, for example, had Pluto in the fourth house and was forced by his father to study hours and hours a day blindfolded. For this reason, the classic and tenebrous "Requiem" was made for his father's death. Throughout his life, Mozart felt deeply charged and helpless of his weaknesses.

Depending on the planetary configuration that occurs in this house, some themes can express themselves more than others, be it marriage, children, the professional side, etc.

Childhood, family, home, roots

Psychically, we all have a sense of "home", a place to which we always tend to return, whether physically, to home, the foundation itself, or to those we love and are familiar with. In creating this sense of home, of belonging and mutual protection, we create a kind of "gathering place," like a sacred sanctuary, a secluded place for ourselves and for others who are very close to us. This same place can show us the powerlessness in the face of the aggressions and traumas that we suffer.

Some people feel that their home should be a fixed place where only a chosen few have access. Others, on the other hand, may feel that their home is anywhere in the world, like one big global family. In this sense of home, we integrate the Self (House 1) with all the history that came before us, something that will help shape who we are the present. It thus refers to an environment of self-protection or vulnerability and dependence.

The 4th House is about where and how we create that domestic space that comforts us, nurtures us, and serves as a base. In contrast to the Tenth House, which represents our place within the social structure, the 4th House represents our most private and deepest inner self. These positions must always be studied in conjunction with the luminaries, Sun and Moon, especially the Moon, the 12th and 8th houses (traumas, fears, death drive, sexuality, etc.).

Extra Interpretations

For interpretations beyond the natal chart, as in horary and mundane astrology seeking answers to specific events, places, governments, or situations, the 4th house basically means buildings, real estate, crops, land, and their owners, the people in contrast to the president or government. An evil planet in this house can afflict the government because of its opposition to the 10th house, which represents power structures and government. It also relates to government property, public buildings, immigrants, state-owned enterprises, the riches of the soil, and agribusiness.

The influence of the stars located in the House 4 of the Birth Chart

Learn about all astrological houses