The Second House: Money, Money, Money in the Horoscope

Dear Readers,

This has been a good – but busy – week:

1. I completely revamped my website

2. I did the first episode of The Gryphon Astrology Radio Show

The radio show was a great deal of fun, and our theme was the 1^st/7^th house axis, which is always interesting and super-important to everyone, including our clients. To hear the show and look at the charts that we analyzed, click here.

The next show will air on Sunday, August 6^th, 2006, and our theme will be the second house. If you have a money-related question (horary or natal) you’d like to submit to the show and hear it analyzed on the air, email me at nina@gryphonastrology.info.

---Gryphon AKA Nina

I have to confess, the second house is one of my favorites in the whole chart. No foofy talk here about self-actualization and archetypal realization; this is all verifiable, real-world information. The second house tells you immediately the reality of someone’s existence; even if they drive a late-model European sports car, one look at their second house will tell you if there is money in the bank to back that up, or if the Porsche is bought on 1000 easy payments of just $9.95 a month, at 20% interest. I like to think of it as the traditional astrologer’s X-ray vision, if you will. I like the second house so much that I even wrote an article about finding wealth in the chart for the fall ’06 issue of Astrologia Restaurata; if you read German, so much the better.

William Lilly, who by all accounts was not totally averse to the second house himself (especially the packed second houses of his spouses), spends a good amount of time on the topic in his Christian Astrology.

In general, Lilly writes that one must look at the 2^nd house and any associated planets either in the house or ruling the house – or both, and then observe what other planets, if any, influence those significators for good or ill.

After some amount of throat clearing, Lilly says that wealth is given when the lights are with eminent fixed stars or the Fortunes. Undoubtedly, this is a very helpful sign. In our article recently about Margaret Thatcher, her Moon is on Regulus, probably THE most eminent fixed star. For a grocer’s daughter, she did well; she married one of the nobility, and managed to amass a respectable fortune during her climb to and residence at the top.

Conversely, Lilly finds that the Moon with Saturn reduces the native to poverty, “though a King.” This is most likely because the Moon is such a powerful force of sheer fertility and generation in the chart; fertility of body, but also of the pocket. With Saturn, the Moon is a shriveled up, dessicated, reduced thing; once a grape, now a raisin.

Lilly then goes on to discuss the many ways one may come to wealth or poverty, by judging the planets that either help or hinder the native’s finances. Saturn, as we might expect, has everything to do with farming, mining, treasures, real estate, usury, prisons, ancient men and farmers. We would imagine, too, profit from funeral parlors or the construction industry. Jupiter, on the other hand, brings money from “dignities ecclesiastical” and religion in general, government, and the upper classes. Too, Jupiter is associated with the law; judges, advocates and lawyers can all help or hinder the native’s wealth. Mars brings or takes money via lawsuits, warfare, quarrels, tyranny and horsemanship, while specific people bringing about increase or decrease in wealth are soldiers, lawyers and thieves.

The Sun shows gain or loss from kingdoms, nobility, public office and royal favor granted by rulers, nobility, and those in authority. Venus brings or loses money via friends, women in general, art and music, jewels and beauty products, gambling, and the wife or mother. Mercury is all about contracts, negotiations, “all manner of subtle arts,” such as computers, divination, and the sciences. The associated helpful or harmful people are scholars, philosophers, merchants, lawyers, and “witty and ingenious tradesmen.” The Moon brings or takes money via anything wet, such as drinks or the sea, women, the common people and messengers/ambassadors.

The house location of each relevant planet will show the area from which wealth or losses will accrue. Too, the strength or weakness of each planet and its interplay with financial significators will show whether the person’s wealth will grow throughout the life or whether they will suffer serious losses.

Let us examine the chart of Ivana Trump (Donald Trump’s first of several wives), an Eastern European skier and model, who divorced Trump for a settlement of approximately $14M plus annual maintenance fees. Ivana came from rather modest circumstances in Czechoslovakia, so we would expect a fairly dramatic improvement in finances in the chart. And Ivana does not disappoint in this regard.

When we look at the second house, we see it is ruled by Jupiter, which is itself posited in the second house, but in its fall in Capricorn. The weakness of Jupiter here causes it to act as an accidental malefic, but in a Jovial fashion. That is, the finances will improve from the level into which she was born (Jupiter as ruler of 2^nd in the 2^nd) but will look far better than they really are (Jupiter in fall). Too, the fact that Jupiter is in a cardinal sign shows that money will arrive quickly, but can just as quickly leave by the back door. Given Ivana’s somewhat phlegmatic temperament, we can assume that any losses will be caused by the desire nature; this woman is a big spender, and is fairly changeable in her tastes, which is an expensive habit.

Where will the money come from? Jupiter types, to be sure, so the rich and the upper classes. Note, however, that Jupiter is disposed by Saturn in the 9^th house, which immediately makes us think of older foreigners. This is true for Ivana’s two husbands, both of whom were older and foreign.

The Part of Marriage falls on 1 Pisces, conjunct the Sun, which rules the 9^th house of foreigners, as well as the Part of Fortune; this is yet another indication that the marriage will involve foreigners, and will be intimately connected to Ivana’s good fortune throughout the life. The Moon, symbolizing travel, aspects the Part of Marriage from the first house, again suggesting travel associated with marriage.

As you can see, Lilly’s rules hold true, though it’s the application that can be tricky, and requires a patient picking out of themes in the chart.