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The DK Foundation Seven The
Seventh House House of
Libra Element: Air Ruling
Planet: Venus Area of Consciousness Relating Awareness
through Relating Sun
in House 7 The Sun in the 7th House
indicates that consciousness is being balanced and expanded by
interpersonal relating. The sign and position of the Moon will indicate
whether the area of Relative consciousness is a new field of experience or
whether there has been previous experience of relating but from a position
of dominance or subservience. The 7th House experience leads a person
eventually to accept nothing less than equality. As the relationships he forms
during his lifetime are the very means of his self-discovery it is common
for a person with the Sun in H7 to start out with a very weak sense of
identity. In his early years he commonly experiences difficulty in
giving one lifestyle preference over another: intellectually he
understands that, unless they involve the exploitation of others, they are
equally valid. Often the way out of the impasse is to bring a sense of
direction into his life by means of an ambitious partner whom he supports
and, to an extent, gets an identity from. It will not be long however,
before the influence of this area of the horoscope causes him to react
against the inequality of the relationship and the expectations his
partner has of him. Then he will strike out with a clearer sense of
direction and purpose. This process may have to happen a
number of times before a 7th House person is able to define what he
perceives himself to be. What he learns of himself through his experiences
adds to his understanding of others: if he becomes aware of his own
distinctiveness he has to acknowledge that of others; and if he
acknowledges how different is the reality of each person then this calls
into question the desirability of trying to fit with another in a binding,
long-term commitment. Surprisingly, perhaps, the Sun in
the House of Venus may produce tolerant and reasonable people but it does
not produce willing candidates for marriage. It is notable that 7th House
people of both sexes tend to marry late - if at all. Women with the Sun in
the H7, in particular, possibly as a reaction to experiences with dominant
partners early in their lives, tend to feel that they stand to lose too
much of themselves in a conventional marriage and become very
self-sufficient. People
with the Sun in the 7th House tend to be happy in work in which there is
plenty of scope for personal interaction, and in personnel, public
relations and counseling work in particular. As teachers they tend to owe
their effectiveness to their willingness to relate to their pupils as
equals. Mercury Mercury
in the 7th House with the Sun confers objectivity. This ready ability to
see another’s point of view does not make it easy, however, for a person
to define and promote his own stance, especially if this contravenes the
interests and expectations of another. When Mercury is in H7 and the Sun
in H6, then a person is more inclined to behave as an equal and expect
equality in his dealings with others than if both are in H6. When Mercury
is in H7 and the Sun in H8 a person is able to achieve a degree of
detachment from his own emotional states. This combination, however,
heightens a person’s sensitivity to the expectations of others and
creates a correspondingly greater difficulty in defining and supporting
his own stance. Venus With
Venus in the 7th House a person feels a great need for a committed
relationship in order to bring love into his life. With this placement
there is frequently a marked lack of self-love: self-worth comes from
being in a partnership. Venus in its own House is usually faithful and
anxious to fulfill the partners expectations but the eagerness to get into
a relationship may make a person indiscriminate in his choice and too
willing to expect the formal trappings of marriage to be a substitute for
true compatibility. In relationships of all kinds there is a tendency for
the Venus person to place too much faith in the superficial indications of
suitability. Yet no matter how many adverse experiences there may be, a
person with Venus in H7 tends to keep alive the hope that he may one day
meet his soul mate. Mars A person
with Mars in the 7th House experiences difficulty in accepting that he
could be self-sufficient and is driven therefore to seek out a partner,
usually a forceful personality, to champion his interests and make things
happen for him. In return for this service the Mars person will invest his
energies in the relationship; should he feel, however, that the
relationship is not serving his interests then he is likely to withdraw.
Mars in the house of its Detriment puts relationships of all kinds under
pressure because of the tendency of the Mars person to view his associates
as agents for the fulfillment of his own wishes. Moreover his attraction
to forceful partners makes it likely that this
behaviour will be met with anger and aggression. So acrimonious
can be the scenarios that a person may eventually learn self-sufficiency
as the result of a cynical withdrawal from relationship situations. Jupiter With
Jupiter in the 7th House, a person tends to look to his partner to supply
experience and positive, directing energy. In his younger years the
Jupiter person is likely to view himself as the junior partner who has
much to learn about relationships and life from his associates, both
intimate and non-intimate. The effect of Jupiter in H7 is not unlike that
of the Sun in that it inclines towards a multiplicity of relationships as
the didactic nature of the experience usually means that the associations
are eventually outgrown and left behind. It is in the nature of Jupiter to
understand this process, however, and a person with this placement is
usually able to respect the partner both during and after the relationship. Saturn Saturn
in the 7th House indicates that in the current lifetime partnerships will
be a disciplining and restraining force. It
is this placement, rather than Venus or Jupiter in H7, as is so readily
assumed, which manifests the marriage of longevity. A person with Saturn
in H7 frequently makes a commitment to another relatively young in life
and it is in the context of this relationship that his own development
takes place. Saturn
in H7 is frequently found with the Moon in a fire sign or house,
indicating that the past life experience has been self-expressive and unconstrained
by responsibility to another. In the present lifetime commitments to
associates, and to the marriage partner in particular, will give structure
to the life. Unless Uranus or Pluto is in stressful aspect to Saturn, a
person with this placement demonstrates a willingness to make his
commitments legally binding so that his responsibilities are definable and
difficult to avoid. It appears to be this tendency, given all that can
result from litigation in the event of a break-up, be it of a marriage or
a business association, which accounts for the view
popularised by Sepharial, that Saturn in H7 signifies
misfortune at the hands of partners. Whilst this placement means that
partnerships will be a constraint on personal freedom it does not of
itself indicate that the experience of the partners will be negative. Uranus Uranus
in the 7th House is evidence of a developmental need to be freed from
dependency upon another. This placement is commonly found with the Sun in
H1 or H2, and the Moon in the sign Libra or one of the houses of Relative
consciousness. By a miscellany of means, Uranus removes the partners
should dependency develop. The principal targets of Uranian activity are
the partnerships made in a person’s adult years, although the primary
relationships of childhood may also be affected. As this placement of
Uranus is so often found in charts which indicate that past life
experience has been characterised by
dependency, then it is often the case that a person with Uranus in H7
experiences much loss in his life as a consequence of repeating this way
of relating. Neptune With
Neptune in the 7th House a person has an
idealised
view of relationships and is willing to sacrifice much for his partner.
With this placement there tends to be an attraction to people who are
obviously needy, often as a result of drink or drug dependencies, and who
are unable to return the devotion, which is given by the Neptunian. The
Neptunian, however, has the satisfaction of believing that the
relationship is saving his partner and has such a need to feel useful to
another that the situation, far from being one-sided is more likely to be
one of co-dependency. This
placement of Neptune is found in charts where there is evidence that past
life experience was characterised
by a way of relating which was either selfish or predatory. Pluto Pluto
in the 7th House is an indication that the soul has been working, possibly
over many lifetimes, to attain a balance between self and other: between
being an individual whilst respecting the individuality of others. This
balance will be achieved only when the soul has experienced the spectrum
of relating possibilities, which has servility at one end and dominance at
the other. The
situations, which Pluto will manifest in a person's life, will depend upon
the nature of the relating experience with which the personality is
required to deal. Whether Pluto in H7 manifests a partner with the power
to transform a person’s perception of who he is or whether it takes away
a controlling spouse, the experience will rank as the most significant of
the lifetime. Moon The
Moon in the 7th House is an indication that the past life experience has
been one in which partnerships were integral to the development. The
memory of having been one of a partnership is usually so strong that a
person with this placement tends to demonstrate a precocious interest in
the opposite sex and frequently makes an early marriage. Only the overall
pattern of the chart will indicate whether this desire to settle into a
committed relationship can be made part of the present lifetime or whether
there is a developmental need to strike out alone in order to develop a
new facet of consciousness. It is notable that many of the early marriages
made by a person with a H7 Moon end after the Saturn Return and it is
frequently the Moon person who, usually with much regret, initiates the
separation because he is aware that he has other lifestyles to explore.
These separations are commonly the cause of mutual regret because if the
Moon person felt comfortable in the relationship
situation the other party experienced him as a ‘good’ partner. People
with the Moon in H7 are likely to be born to parents who pulled together
in their relationships and retained their enthusiasm for the partnership
even after any early passion may have gone. People with the Moon in H7
tend to be comfortable in relating situations of all kinds from a very
early age, and children with this placement may demonstrate a reluctance
to develop capabilities, which could set them apart from their friends. AUTHOR’S
NOTE: Of
the twelve houses, the House of Libra appears to be one of the least well
understood, probably because popular astrology tends to trivialise the sign Libra and because in the West we have assumptions about
relationships, especially those involving intimacy, which are at odds with
the experience of the 7th House. The 7th House is in the service of
balance and understanding, not the Romantic ideal. In this house a person
gains awareness about self and other through his relationship experiences;
relationships are not an end in themselves. All the inner planets
represent energies, which a person can find within himself: they do not
have to be brought into his life by another. The fact that in reality this
happens to any appreciable degree only when the Sun, the planet of
consciousness, is involved, is an indication of the extent to which the
Romantic ideal has us in its grip. Self-sufficiency is not, in general,
highly prized. |
