There are signs and houses that popular astrology tends to trivialise. When this is the case, it is frequently the product of an inadequate understanding of the spiritual process. The Earth signs and houses tend to fare particularly badly because, oddly, they are perceived to lack spiritual significance. In the Earth signs and houses we ground awareness. Is this not what spiritual teachers and we ourselves, as spiritual aspirants, aim to do?

The Second House (H2) is the House of Taurus, one of the four Houses of Personal Consciousness. The job that this house does for consciousness is to encourage awareness to focus upon what gives our lives value, what matters to us, and to what we are prepared to give time and resources. This awareness is not only part of knowing who we are, but it is the way we give ourselves something to build our lives upon. Ambivalence about what truly matters, or a conflicting system of values is deleterious of energy. Putting our money where our mouth is, is a good test of how important anything is to us

Money is intimately connected to House 2, because it is through the expenditure of money that, mostly, we will expect to secure what we want. Money is the agent; but H2 is far more than the House of Money. H2 reveals what we need to realise in order to make life and effort meaningful.

The orthodox planetary ruler of H2 is Venus

The esoteric planetary ruler of H2 is Vulcan, and this becomes of significance when the cusp of H2 is viewed as one of the arms of the Fixed Cross

The sign on the cusp of the house will categorise and indicate in broad terms a person’s values; what they perceive they must have if life is to be fulfilling. For example, with Aries on the cusp of H2 we will use money and resources to secure personal freedom and influence; with Pisces, we will seek to help others by sharing what we have and relinquishing possessiveness and acquisitiveness.

When they are on the cusp, Sagittarius, Aquarius and Pisces lessen the material focus of this house. With these signs, money is a means to an end, and frequently, one that is handled with a sense of unease.

The house location of the significator of H2 will indicate the area of life where a person will find what he wants.

It is worth examining the relationship between H2, its significator, and the Part of Fortune, to see how consciously a person is integrating his conscious sense of what he needs with the urge that has driven awareness back into incarnation.

Planets in H2 will indicate the kind of experiences we can expect, as we build a lifestyle around what we value. If there are no planets in H1, a planet in H2 will be the First Across the Ascendant, and as such, will stamp its quality upon the way a person interacts with the outer world. As the First Across, an H2 planet will pick up a forceful Aries influence. When combined with the Taurean influence of H2, this makes for single-minded, stubborn assertiveness. This kind of H2 person is a force to be reckoned with.

Of themselves, however, planets in H2 are not outwardly assertive in their expression, because Taurus and its opposite Scorpio are magnetic signs. They attract through the power and fixity of the desire. The same dynamic is in evidence through the Houses that these signs rule. They bring in rather than give out. In these houses we learn to use Will.

Those in H2 amass and invest, rather than speculate, although the presence of Mars and Jupiter will make a person more expansive and bolder with their resources.

The Sun in H2 will give a dominating interest in having money to secure whatever values the sign signifies, but it does not, of itself give affluence, which is why viewing H2 as the House of Money can encourage a misleading impression that H2, in some way confers wealth when, rather, it confers the desire to have it, which directs energy. Money may well follow, but it may not translate into wealth and substance. The losses and crashes through H2 are legendary.

The writer, Mark Twain, whose life was a money-driven roller-coaster, had Sun, Venus and Mars in Sagittarius in H2, and like many who desire freedom, he enslaved himself with the possessions that his wealth gave him the freedom to buy.

With inner and superior planets in H2, which receive stressful aspects from other, slower–moving planets, a person can expect their experiences with money to challenge their values throughout the course of the life. Harmonious aspects to these planets indicate support from the area of life of the aspecting planet.

Saturn in H2 indicates a perception that it is difficult to realise what is considered important for living. In this magnetic house, thought-form is especially powerful. This placement of Saturn does not preclude wealth, but it denies the sense of it; and so a person with Saturn in H2 will always be aware of scarcity, which will be a source of anxiety, and they will take no pleasure in spending money.

Uranus shakes a person free from a reliance upon material security by means of repeated challenges experienced throughout the life. Feasts and famines are a feature of Uranus in H2, and neither is a lasting condition.

H2 rules the neck and the throat, and whatever it is that we want to attract we should be prepared to make the subject of affirmations or chanting.

Suzanne Rough
DKF-Koruna
May 2015