The Second House In Astrology Represents Money And Material Possessions

Ever gotten the chills from an accurate AF horoscope prediction? Let’s say the stars were adamant about some “big changes” heading your way. Lo and behold, your best friend begins a new relationship, your aunt gets a new haircut, and you get a juicy little raise at work. These all fit the baseline prediction, but are very different in the specifics. That’s where the houses in astrology come in. The 12 houses each rule over different planes of life: Your aunt is experiencing shifts around her first house of self, your bestie is going through some seventh house of partnerships changes, and you have experienced the planets lighting up your second house of income and possessions.

As it’s a material world, the second house is a major topic of discussion among astrologers and astro enthusiasts. But really, anyone can learn about their own second house in astrology to piece together their relationship with money and the physical world.

But first, what the heck are houses and why should you care? Fair question. As Hellenistic astrologer Dalanah of the Moon Matters astrology podcast puts it, there are four instrumental parts of astrology that build the full cosmic picture: zodiac signs, planets, aspects, and houses. “If planets are the subject matter, and zodiac signs are sort of the flavor, then the house is where it's happening,” Dalanah explains. The houses map out the flight path of your life and detail the happenings of each nook and cranny.

When you look at your birth chart, you’ll notice you have planets in different signs, which then fall into a numbered house. For example, you could have your moon sign (your inner world, emotions, what makes you feel at home) be in free-spirited Sagittarius, all happening within the second house. You might be someone who yearns for adventure and personal freedom, especially as it relates to your income and possessions. Your emotional world would also be highly tied to your sense of financial and earthly security, but with Sag here, you may be a bit impulsive with spending, especially on things like comfort items.

Houses one through six cover personal areas of your life, while houses seven through 12 describe your interactions with others. As a “you” house, the second house is where astrologers look for information on a person’s dealings and attitudes toward the physical world. Here is everything to know about your second house in astrology:

How Do You Know Your Second House?

First, you’ll have to find out which zodiac sign is on your second house cusp. This can’t happen without an accurate birth date, time, and location. Your exact birth time will determine which sign was rising over the eastern horizon when you were born, which gives you your first house (your rising sign) — the anchor of your chart. Then, the rest of your houses fall in line after that.

Once you have all the necessary info, just pop it into an online birth chart calculator. The site will then compute your whole birth chart, including all of your houses. But — yes, there’s a but — there are numerous methods of determining the houses, so the actual sign of your second house will vary. (*Panics in astrology newbie*.) It’s OK, don’t sweat it — here’s what you need to know:

Your birth chart is a screenshot of the sky the second you were born. The different house systems are just different methods of divvying up the sky into slices for your circle chart. You’ll always begin with the same sign in the first house no matter which system you’re using, but from there, the calculations to stack up the rest of the houses differ by method. You might have a birth chart on one astrology app saying you have these signs in this and that house, while another website will show something totally different. That’s because each is using a separate approach to compute the houses.

The two most common techniques are the Whole Sign system and the Placidus system. The latter is often the default setting for various chart calculators, so be sure to note which one is used. With Placidus, the houses are determined based on the apparent timing of the sun traveling through the sky. The division of houses are not equal, so it’s possible for certain signs to get skipped and not belong to any house with Placidus.

Whole Sign, on the other hand, is just what it sounds like: One whole sign takes up one whole house. Each sign is represented by a house, taking up an even 30-degree wedge. It’s a clean divide beginning with the first house, then assigning the following signs to houses in zodiacal order. When you’re using Whole Sign, you can determine each house placement of a person based solely on their ascendant. For example, if you know someone is a Libra rising (first house), then their second house would be the next sign, Scorpio, and so on.

There are tons of other formulas of splitting up the houses, but most often astrologers will use one of these two. It’s a matter of personal preference which you choose, but it’s worth noting that Whole Sign is much simpler to picture and understand and doesn’t exclude any of the signs. It’s also the recommended method for those born at extreme latitudes, which can get all kinds of messy using Placidus.

What Is The Second House In Astrology?

The second house is thought to represent what happens after you’re born. “If the first house is you coming into the world, the second house is very much the physical world itself,” Dalanah offers. Often referred to as the “house of value” or the “house of possessions,” the second house encompasses everything that has to do with material goods, security, stability, and resources. “Resources are not just money,” Dalanah clarifies, “but also time, energy, [and] emotional resources.” As sustenance for the body, food is also seen as a second house topic, she adds. Income, currency, worldly resources, the things you own, and indulgence all fall within the realm of the second house.

Familiarizing yourself with your own second house will detail your attitude toward money, spending and saving, and what you think about material “stuff.” As Dalanah details, “Are you someone who cares more about sentimental value, or are you someone who is a really big go-getter and wants to make money all the time?” Do you get attached to material things? Are you a big foodie? Super saver? Whatever you have going on here is “going to give you the attitude or the flavor towards the events of the second house,” says Dalanah.

For example, someone with Scorpio (deep and possessive) in the second house might tie sentimental value to objects and keep them forever, Dalanah explains. “Gemini in the second house,” she offers, “might be a little more loose, more free with their time, their resources, their energy.” Of course, the exact nature of the Gemini second house also depends on any aspects being made there, as well as any planets present. Do you have Saturn in the second house? Is it in a square to your moon? All these little details refine the indications of your second house.

In Vedic astrology, a traditional Hindu practice with deep spiritual significations, the houses also correlate to Hinduism’s four goals of life: Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. Dharma comes first, which describes what you’re meant to do in this life. “Then our next drive is making money so we can sustain ourselves,” Camila R. Quintero, LCSW, a licensed psychotherapist and professional Vedic astrologer, tells Elite Daily. The second house deals with that second drive, Artha. “[This is] your sense of accomplishments, your work, how financially stable you are, how you make a living, your career, and things like that,” she explains.

Which Sign Rules The Second House?

Remember how there are different methods of calculating the houses? Well, the nuances don’t stop there. There are also multiple approaches to practicing astrology as a whole, which invites a lot more confusion and controversy to the table. So, which sign rules the second house? Better yet, do zodiac signs identify with the houses at all? It really depends on the flavor of astrology you’re using.

If, say, you’re taking the Hellenistic approach like Dalanah, you’d probably err on the side of no correlation between signs and houses. “It waters down both the signs and the houses,” Dalanah says. In Hellenistic astrology, she notes that there are further significations of the houses that are not exclusively tied to the signs. With that in mind, she doesn’t recommend learning the houses in this way.

On the other hand, you have alternative schools of astrological thought. If you’re adopting Vedic practices like Quintero, you might say that the 12 houses are absolutely linked to the 12 zodiac signs. “In this practice, yes, each house relates to a sign,” Quintero affirms. “So if you view it this way, then you further divide that into the four goals of life,” she continues. According to Quintero, each goal of life in Hinduism pairs up with an element. Dharma relates to the fire houses (first, fifth, and ninth), Artha is the earth houses (second, sixth, and 10th), Kama is air (third, seventh, and 11th), and finally Moksha represents the water houses (fourth, eighth, and 12th). Each house then would tie into the sign in the corresponding seat in zodiac order. As the second sign in the zodiac, Taurus would rule the second house.

When you look at it this way, there are some additional significations to apply to the second house. Previously established as second house themes, Taurus is about indulgence and stability as it relates to the material life. “It also deals with your family,” Quintero adds. “So [learning] your second house, you will understand the way you can make money in life, how you can find stability in your life, [and] what your family life is like,” she continues.

Additionally, the zodiac signs hail over specific areas of the body, which can then correlate with the respective house, depending on the practice you’re using. In some modern branches of astrology as well as Vedic, the second house is in charge of Taurean body parts. “It's associated with your face, your voice, your throat, [and] your thyroid system,” Quintero explains. As such, it’s thought that certain second house placements and aspects can indicate things like a nice voice or face, thyroid problems, ease or hardship around making and saving money, or a predisposition to neck or throat injury.

Again, there’s no right or wrong method of astrology, but examining multiple theories can be very useful to broaden your understanding of the houses and signs.

Transits To The Second House

Circling back to the idea of horoscopes, you can predict what types of energies might be affecting your sense of stability, your finances, eating habits, and so forth by watching out for second house transits. What’s a second house transit? It sounds fancy, but it really just means the planets are currently passing through the sign that you have in your second house. Say you have Leo in the second house. When a planet makes its way through the sign of Leo, it’s activating your second house.

What does that look like? Well, you’d take the meaning of the planet — for example, Saturn (structure and boundaries) — and apply it to the themes of the second house. In this case, you’d have a transit that may trigger a reevaluation of your assets. “[This transit] will really have you restructure, redefine, and renounce whatever is not working when it comes to your finances,” Quintero offers. “It'll make you feel uneasy about your finances to the point where you have to begin taking them seriously and restructure them,” she continues. Or, if it’s Venus transiting your second house, you might go through a period of focusing on self-care or indulging in luxurious foods or beauty rituals.

The second house becomes such a useful tool when you’re trying to understand and improve your relationship with money, resources, food, and stability. Trying to make a budget? Analyze your second house. When should you ask for a raise? Second house. Why did you impulse spend your whole paycheck on Shein? Second house. This little corner of your chart has all the tea on these earthly subjects.

Experts:

Camila R. Quintero, LCSW, licensed psychotherapist and professional Vedic astrologer

Dalanah, professional Hellenistic astrologer and host of Moon Matters astrology podcast