Astrology and Intuition: The Water Houses
Part 2 of a mini-series on how your astrology reflects your intuitive nature.
Welcome back to the mini-series where we journey toward the silvery waters of intuition using your astrology chart as our field guide.
(This is Part 2, so if you missed Part 1 about the Moon, check it out here.)
Today, I want to explore what your 4th, 8th, and 12th houses reveal yet about your intuitive nature.
But once again, disclaimer before we dive in: This mini-series isn’t about defining or solving the mystery of your intuition. This is more of a waymaking journey into discovering and uncovering new facets about your unique intuition and how to access, create, and develop a relationship with this part of you. I’m here to offer you ideas and ways to work with what you’ve already got (because you’re already workin with a lot!)
The Water Houses
In astrology, your birth chart contains all 12 zodiac signs, as well as 12 houses. Each house rules over a specific area of your life:
The Water Houses are houses 4, 8, and 12. They are so named because, in the astrology wheel beginning with the sign of Aries in the 1st house, that puts all of the water signs in these houses: Cancer in the 4th house, Scorpio in the 8th house, and Pisces in the 12th house.
The element of water in astrology (and the tarot!) is associated with emotion: The water signs are known for their emotional depth and intensity, and their incredible capacity to feel.
Water is also associated with intuition. Perhaps because our intuition, like our emotions, follows its own rhythm beyond the grasp of logic or reason. Like the ocean, it’s ancient, cyclical, and far deeper than we realize.
The water houses embody this energy in their own ways.
The 4th house is the depth of your ancestry, and your connection to the ancientness of the Earth as your home.
The 8th house is your inner depths. It’s how you deepen into the bonds that connect us to each other, to your body, and to living—for better and for worse.
And the 12th house is the depths of your subconscious and the messages it sends up to you. It tells the story of why you seek to connect to something bigger than yourself, and how you hide from it.
How to interpret your chart
So, what does all of this mean for you? Let’s apply it to your birth chart. All you need to know for this section is your rising sign, which you probably already know, but if not, you can cast your chart here (I recommend Whole Sign houses for the sake of simplicity, especially if you’re an astro newbie.)
Fire Risings: (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius)
You have water signs occupying your 4th, 8th, and 12th houses. Your intuition wants you to feel deeply.
Your intuition is deep, vast, and a little slippery. It might not speak to you in concrete or obvious ways. Your intuition probably won’t come to you when you call for it or fight it’s way to the front of your thoughts. You have to seek it out.
There is a subtlety in how it communicates with you that requires you to be patient and attentive. Imagine you’re courting someone—be thoughtful, romantic, and attuned.
To understand its language, you need to be in touch with your emotional world. Your intuition is beautifully connected to your emotions, so it’s important for you to develop the skills to be emotionally present with all that you feel. Find your balance by allowing yourself to sit with your feelings—not running away from them or getting sucked under by their intense swell.
Your intuition craves safety, and it won’t show up if you don’t feel safe in your surroundings or with yourself. Creating a foundation of safety within yourself, your body, your mind, your home/environment, will help your intuition feel safe enough to open to you.
Quick line of access to your intuition: Talk to your ancestors.
Earth Risings (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn)
You have fire signs occupying your 4th, 8th, and 12th houses. Your intuition wants you to be bold.
Your intuition moves quickly, coming in hot with exactly what you need to know, but then it may be gone as fast as it arrived. Your intuition is a flame that can just as easily burn out as it can overwhelm you in its roar.
Imagine you’re tending the eternal fire in the temple at Delphi—except the fire is your intuition, and your body is the temple.
If the fire gets too small, you risk not being able to understand what it’s trying to communicate. How can you bring it back to life? By getting in touch with your joy, and finding inspiration in your surroundings and your relationships.
If the fire gets too big, you risk blurring the line between your imagination and intuition, or losing sight of the larger picture. How can you tame it? By staying grounded in your body and being emotionally present.
Sitting still and meditating may not always be the right approach for you to connect with your inner wisdom. Your intuition craves movement and action, so you may find your moments of clarity come to you in the midst of chaos or otherwise on the move.
You may feel disconnected to your intuition when you’ve lost touch with your joy, creativity, and sense of purpose. Are you doing things that make you feel alive? Are you actively creating things to bring into the world? Are you taking healthy risks that help you grow? Your intuition responds well when you incorporate a healthy balance of these things into your life.
Quick line of access to your intuition: Your creativity.
Air Risings (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius)
You have earth signs occupying your 4th, 8th, and 12th houses. Your intuition wants you to be embodied.
Your intuition is slow, steady, and consistent when you put in the work to develop a connection with it. There is a concreteness about the way it communicates with you. Once you’ve established that relationship, the answers aren’t unclear or open to interpretation: when you know, you know.
You may feel your intuition in your physical body often, so it’s important for you to take the time to really understand how your body communicates with you and find the connections and patterns. When you feel sore or pain somewhere, what is your body trying to tell you? When you feel butterflies in your tummy, what is your body trying to tell you? How can you connect your physical sensations to what’s happening in your material, mental, emotional, and spiritual realities?
Your intuition might respond well to meditation or solo journaling. It might not feel inclined to show up when you’re around a bunch of people or rarely spend intentional time alone. It craves gentle stability, so being consistent about creating and/or strengthening your relationship with it is key. The more you show up for it, the more it will show up for you.
Quick line of access to your intuition: Be in nature.
Water Risings (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces)
You have air signs occupying your 4th, 8th, and 12th houses. Your intuition wants you to trust yourself.
Your intuition is dynamic and responsive. It might show up a certain way one day, and differently the next. But the reason for that is because it’s mirroring you. You don’t always show up the same way every day, so it doesn’t either.
Because of your intuition’s changeable nature, and thus your changeable nature, it’s important that you develop a relationship of trust with yourself. You don’t have to be consistent to be trustworthy. The more you honor and make room for your own multiplicity, the more space you make for your intuition to be what it is.
You have the potential to get intuitive downloads straight into your brain, but if you don’t have a good sense of self and a strong foundation of inner trust, then you may wonder if it’s intuition, or if it’s just your own thoughts/anxiety/imagination.
You may not always connect to your intuition by being alone in a room with yourself. Your intuition craves connection and mental stimuli to respond to, so you may find your moments of clarity when you’re with other people who inspire you or otherwise fill your cup. Finding a balance of enriching mental stimulation and deep mental rest is important to keep your intuitive channels flowing.
Quick line of access to your intuition: Your community.
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