Whole Sign Houses - The Oldest House System - An Ancient Method in Modern Application

Oct 13, 2026

Whole Sign Houses explores the earliest astrological house system as an approach where zodiac signs function as houses, using the rising degree to define the 1st house and progressing sign-by-sign. It details consequences of this ecliptic-based method, discusses benefic and malefic aspects and their historical origins, and outlines modern applications, including whole-sign cusps and examples. The work also includes chart data, sources, and appendices on horary astrology and term definitions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages52

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

The Oldest House System: Whole Sign Houses

The Notion of Place or Topos

The Horoscope

Examples

Conclusions

Chart Data and Sources

Appendix 1 – Horary Astrology and Whole-Sign Houses

Appendix 2 – Glossary of Terms

Appendix 3 – Are Only the Major (Ptolemaic) Aspects Valid?

Index

Whole Sign Houses The Oldest House System An Ancient Method in Modern Application by Robert Hand ARHAT Publications ARHAT Ltd. 410 S. Rampart Blvd. Suite 390 Las Vegas, NV 89145 Copyright © 2000 Robert Hand Table of Contents Preface.................................................. ii The Oldest House System: Whole Sign Houses..................................... 1 The Notion of Place or Topos............................. 2 The Horoscope........................................ 2 “Places” Aspecting the Horoscopic Sign.................... 3 Angular Houses Versus “Malefic” Aspects................... 7 The Origin of “Benefic” and “Malefic” Aspects............... 7 Historical Development.................................. 9 The Problem of Julius Firmicus Maternus.................. 14 The Advent of the Modern Type of House System............ 16 A Modern Solution to the Midheaven Problem............... 17 The Modern Practice with Whole-Sign Houses.............. 21 Whole-Sign Houses or Places Computed from Lots........... 23 The Whole-Sign House “Cusps”.......................... 24 Examples............................................ 26 Conclusions.......................................... 34 Chart Data and Sources................................. 34 Appendix 1 – Horary Astrology and Whole-Sign Houses.......... 36 Appendix 2 – Glossary of Terms............................. 41 Appendix 3 – Are Only the Major (Ptolemaic) Aspects Valid?...... 45 Index................................................... 47 Preface The material contained in this book originally appeared in The Mountain Astrologer in the summer and fall of 1999. For the purposes of this publication there have been considerable revision and enlargement. First of all there have been some discoveries. In the original articles I stated that there was only one unambiguous reference to anything other than the system of houses presented here, and that was in the writings of Julius Firmicus Maternus (see page 14) . According to the existing translation he appears to have used the Equal House system. Since then I have consulted the original Latin in which it appears that his use of equal houses is not as clearly established as I had previously thought. Also we now have the writings of Olympiodorus in English translation for the first time (soon to be published by ARHAT). And these, it seems, have things to tell us about the early history of house division and the uses ofthe Lots of Fortune and Spirit. In addition to these I have made a number of additions that will make the text more useful to those who might want to probe more deeply into the material. Words and texts and Greek and Latin are given in the text and in notes. These might not have been entirely suitable in articles written for general consumption, but they are useful in a book. I have also added an entirely new section on horary astrology (see Appendix 1) . At the time of my writing ofthe articles I was not certain as to the usefulness of Whole-Sign houses in horary, but since then I have come to use them routinely for all astrological functions including Horaryand Electional Astrology (the Astrology of picking times taking action) and I have found these houses to be extremely effective. In Appendix 1 I present one of several cases that I have encountered where the use of Whole-Sign houses (along with other ancient and medieval techniques) greatly enhanced the clarity of the answer that the chart gave to a question. And in any case, articles that appear in magazines eventually become difficult to obtain, so ARHAT’s presentation of these articles in book form will make them accessible to those who can no longer find the magazines. Robert Hand – Sept. 2000 The Oldest House System: Whole Sign Houses After1 several years of research into the oldest texts of our astrological tradition we now know what the earliest house system was. And in a

FAQs

What is the Whole-Sign House System described in the book?

It treats the zodiac signs themselves as houses: the rising degree indicates the sign that becomes the 1st house, and subsequent signs become the 2nd, 3rd, and so on, with no separate twelve-fold division.

How does this system define the start and end of a house?

The beginning of a house is always 0° within its sign, and the end is always 30° of that sign.

How is the method applied in horary astrology?

The book adds a section arguing that whole-sign houses can be used routinely for horary and electional astrology, improving clarity in chart answers through examples.

Oct 13, 2026

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