Library › Going deeper

Angular, succedent and cadent houses

The three groups of four houses

The short version

The twelve houses fall into three groups of four. Angular houses are 1, 4, 7 and 10. Succedent houses are 2, 5, 8 and 11. Cadent houses are 3, 6, 9 and 12. The groups describe how much each house is about starting, building or adjusting. You will see the names a lot in astrology books and on chart sites, so it helps to know them.

Why there are three groups

The houses go round the wheel in a repeating pattern. Every third house sits on one of the four corners of the chart, the next one follows it, and the next one falls away before the next corner. That gives four of each. The pattern is the same as the signs' three modes: cardinal, fixed and mutable.

Angular: 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th

These sit at the four corners of the chart: the rising point, the bottom, the setting point and the top. They are the most visible houses and the ones where things begin. They cover your identity (Self), your home (Roots), your closest partnerships (Bonds) and your public life (Calling). Planets here tend to be easy for other people to spot.

The four angles

The four corners have their own names. The 1st house starts at the Ascendant, or rising sign. The 4th starts at the Imum Coeli, or IC. The 7th starts at the Descendant. The 10th starts at the Midheaven, or MC. These four points are usually the most sensitive spots in a chart.

Succedent: 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th

Succedent means following, because each one comes after an angular house. These are about building on what has started and holding on to it. They cover what you earn and value (Worth), what you create and enjoy (Desire), what you share with others (Shadow) and what you hope for with your people (Circle). They tend to be steadier and more about resources.

Cadent: 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th

Cadent means falling, as in falling away from one corner before the next. These are houses of learning, adjusting and working things out. They cover how you talk and learn (Voice), your daily routines (Ritual), your beliefs and travels (Distance) and your private inner world (Depth). They sit just before a new angular house, so they often feel like preparation.

A way to remember them

Start, build, adjust. Angular houses start things, succedent houses build them, and cadent houses adjust before the next start. If your life feels like a project, the angular houses are the launch, the succedent houses are the work that follows, and the cadent houses are the review.

Is one group better?

No. Older books called cadent houses weak, because planets there are further from the corners, but most modern astrologers see them as quieter, not worse. A planet in an angular house tends to be easier for others to see. A planet in a cadent house often works in the background, in how you think, learn and cope. Both matter.

What to do with this

Count where your planets fall. If most are angular, your chart is outward and action-led. If most are succedent, it leans towards building and keeping. If most are cadent, it leans towards thinking, learning and adapting. It is a quick way to get a feel for a chart before you read any single placement.

See your own

Use the calculator on the home page to see which houses your planets are in, then check which group each belongs to.