The Number 4- My Family
The Fourth House represents family, home, roots and security. The Number 4 cares for herself and her relatives. She births and nurtures the family. She tirelessly feeds everyone to whom she is related. 4 belongs to the selective group called tribe or family. All the people around her are part of her tradition and her biology. Intimacy is key. With the number 4, you are included because you are born. You don’t do anything to become special. You are special because of genetics. Your birth welcomes you into the tribe.
Children learn to believe what their parents tell them as they feed and care for them. The feeding and touching and smelling of the inside of private rooms that the family shares are the literal domain of 4. Inside the four walls or out on the treacherous path, they inform us of our heritage and they teach us survival. Sometimes they are kind, but sometimes they are harsh, but either way, we feel loyalty toward them because they have taught us that we belong to and with them for better or for worse.
Tribal energy is expanded into greater and greater sections of real estate until we get nationalism at the top. I live in a neighborhood and that identifies me locally, but I also live in a city; Tucson. I am a Tucsonan. I don’t care for Phoenix, two hours away, because of reasons x, y and z. Phoenicians think Tucsonans are provincial and we think Phoenicians are snobs and it’s too hot there anyway. And so it goes, except that we are all Arizonans. When the going gets tough, the tough are all desert rats. This is our state. Then there is our country, right or wrong. But it doesn’t get bigger than that these days. The Global unity thing is still to new for us to identify with. Remember, this is an issue of intimacy. The 4 is about connection and how can I feel connected to some desert rats on the other side of the world that make their women wear bee keeper suits in the summer? Can’t go there.
The Fourth House of Astrology
The cusp of the fourth house is a special angle called the IC (ImmumCoeli) and is also called the nadir. That means “the bottom.” It’s very important in your chart because it tells if you are shy or a homebody.
It embodies psychological foundations and roots, family, home life (both the childhood home & the current home), mother, Matrix, ancestry, sense of security, domestic life, and real estate; family, land, personal foundations (inner emotional security and self-image), your roots. This is also said to rule the conditions at the end of life, and graves. A person’s upbringing is associated with this House.
The Tao of the Moon
Collective memory.
Captured liquid.
Transmitted from breast to mouth.
Eye to tiny eye. Skin to thirsty skin.
Geometry Unspoken
Poetry in motion, meaning in a glance
She told me I am earth, moon, and star
The single aspen
A grove of many
With common root
Moist interior cavern of memory
Now filled with endless liquid Light
- Jewell Starsinger
The Moon/Earth
The vessel of attraction called The Moon represents the autonomic nervous system. It is the part of life that runs on automatic. You don’t need to think to make your heart beat or to draw breath. It also includes muscle memory. In other words, the tasks that you learn and incorporate become unconscious. When learning to drive a car, you have to pay attention to many assorted details, but once you learn and practice, it becomes second nature. All second nature activities are ruled by the Moon.
In astrology we don’t use the Earth as a symbol; we use the Moon to represent our tribal heritage. This archetype is associated with community. The community is the vehicle for survival of the individuals within it. Whether written or spoken, the community contains laws of behavior that support relationships. People are born into community systems that shape their thoughts and behaviors on a subconscious level, making it both the repository of all that is and the source of all we are.
Scientists believe that the Moon was born from the Earth. When the child matures she will replace her mother and become the next mother. Through the millennia, this mystical feeding creates the feeling of belonging, a sense of place. Shekinah is the Soul of the Earth. In Kabbala, Shekinah is the feminine spirit of Earth. When we feel a magical presence of love, she is with us.
The Earth/Moon complex is a powerful cyclic force. Some say that Earth would not work properly without the Moon. Together they represent the symbiotic life support system of the Mother/Child interdependence. A nursing baby receives nutrition and love from its mother as the mother is bathed in delicious hormones of harmony, peace and sensual gratification. So when speaking of the Moon we are also speaking of cycles of life on Earth. Many indigenous peoples would agree with me and would say we are not returning the good hormones to our Mother who feeds us. They would say that She requires gratitude and we are in a state of psychosis because of our disconnection with Her. The realistic manifestation of this psychosis is overpopulation, abuse of resources and unrelenting natural catastrophes.
We walk on Mother Earth and she is our first chakra. She is outside our bodies, but within our magnetic fields. Our souls are connected to Her. The Moon is her child and cannot exist without Her. We cannot know our spiritual parents except through our physical existence on Earth with the Moon circling over our heads.
The astrology chart is calculated to your time and place of birth. As such, it defines you at the core of your collective entry into this Kingdom. It can tell you what you are here for and what you expect to learn in this life. It defines the nature of your communal experience. Were you bottle or breast-fed? Were you left alone to cry it out or were you rocked to sleep? Were you spanked or given time-outs? All these paradigms shaped you and colored your adult perspective.
The urge to protect and nurture has long been assigned to women. That assignment continues to be appropriate, in my opinion. If we looked at a bell curve, most women would be assigned to the nurturing side and some men would. Most men will tell you that, generally speaking, they aren’t interested in babies.
