The Seventh House - When we are new to the study of astrology, getting to grips with H7, the House of Libra, is likely to be a challenge, just as it is for those living with an emphasised Seventh House, because as we look out at life through the window of the Ascendant, H7 is behind us. It is in our blind spot. If we have planets in this house, our own personality consciousness will not automatically integrate them, and they will be expressed in our lives via the agency of other people with whom we have personal relationships of one kind or another. This brings the energies to our attention, but often in a very adverse way.

To the pre-War astrologers, H7 was the House of Open Enemies, Marriage, and Relationships of Commitment, not a combination most of us expect, or associate with moderate Libra, but in fact in this house, other people have the job of showing us that the balance between self and other is not right because we are giving a part of ourselves away to another to handle for us.

Regardless of the planets involved, this abdication of personal responsibility to another is disempowering. And disempowered is how people with Sun and planets in H7 start life.

Children with Sun in H7 do not know who they are because a domineering parent is imposing his or her view of life upon them, sometimes through the use of physical coercion. As the dominant parent is usually of the opposite sex, girls with Sun in H7 learn from the men in their lives, and boys from the women, and so the identity crisis tends get worse in adolescence and early adulthood, before it gets better.

All born with the Sun in this House are balancing out, either, a sense of superiority or inferiority. To find out which, look at the sign and house position of the Moon.

To those coming from a sense of superiority, their close relationships will mortify and disappoint them by not giving them what they expect; those coming from inferiority will be bullied and exploited until they wake up to the fact that their accommodating behaviour invites this.

H7 is a tough school, but eventually it turns out strong, independent people who in adulthood come to realise through what they experience in relationships, the ways in which they were not complete.

When the planet in H7 is Mercury, a person does not know what to think about anything, but is adept at picking up and understanding the views of others and reflecting them back.

The truth of self is a tantalising but elusive concept to the young person with Sun and Mercury in the House of Libra.

When Venus is in H7, a person must have love in their lives, which they bring in through another person to whom they are prepared to give up everything in fulfilment of the romantic ideal, but there is rarely stability or equality in their relationships, because they are disempowering themselves.

When it is Mars in H7, a person feel powerless to do anything without another's input and support.

As they mature, this reliance upon another, conferred by inner planets in H7, makes an aware person feel compromised, and viewed from this angle, in a life of a person who has not yet understood that the solution is to learn how to claim back this power, other people are a hostile, challenging presence. But who better to learn from than from those who handle their own lives with certainty? Such focused people are very attractive to those with inner planets in H7, and in their young life they will replace the domineering parent with a domineering partner who is most likely successful in his or her field of choice. This is why open enemies and marriage partners are both ruled by this house. The partner is usually both in the eyes and life of a person with planets in H7.

The (dissatisfied) marriage partners of powerful men and women in the public eye are often H7 people still on their learning curve. The next stage will be divorce and life on their own terms!

The House of Libra is both an Air house and a Cardinal house. The minds of those born with inner planets here are strengthened by it. They have an objectivity about self which is the reverse of the coin of weak identity. In adult life, most will grasp the problem of disempowerment intellectually, and then deal with it consciously in their relationship life.

When they get it, and more women get it than men, those with Sun in H7 will tend to avoid formal commitments to another, because they know they need no longer pay the price at which they come. They are complete in themselves, and they are very astute in their dealings with others. Many will choose some form of personnel, mediation, and counselling work

Conform to the romantic ideal it may not, but a Sun in H7 is very useful if you have something of your own to do with your life and time, and some of the most pioneering personalities in history have had Sun in H7. Having survived commandeering parents and partners, to be alone is a freedom to be celebrated.

The English novelist, EM Forster (1879-1970), in his work and his life demonstrates the H7 process of coming to self-awareness. His life was commandeered by his young mother, who was widowed in his babyhood, but he was fully aware of the implications of this, and in middle age, consciously sought out work in the Orient to escape her domination for periods of time. He wrote novels which examined conscience, motivation and the truth of self, and went on to became a hugely influential Man of Letters and national treasure. Reportedly, Virginia Woolf was intrigued by the depth and astuteness of a man who looked like a shabby civil servant and for most of his life lived in the Home Counties with his mother He never married, but had a long-lasting relationship with a policeman on the beat. He was open about his homosexuality, even in the risky days before 1967, when English law became more lenient towards homosexuals. EM Forster found his truth and lived it, without the trappings of a public image. This confidence to know and to be oneself is what H7 invites, but it is a long journey. Those taking it will have to find out who they are not before discovering who they are.

The astrologer, Sephariel, who was active in the middle of the Twentieth Century corroborates that the H7 dynamic and pattern is not a contemporary phenomenon. In The Manual of Astrology he comments, somewhat primly on the 'unwomanly freedom' expressed by females with Sun in H7 and how unlikely it is that the women with the Sun in this house will marry.

• The Sun in H7 denies a sense of identity in the early years and sends a person on a quest for their own truth. The house position of the Moon will contain the clues as to why this kind of experience is going to take new ground for consciousness.
• Inner planets in this house strengthen the intellect, and confer an objectivity which is the basis of self-awareness.
• Jupiter indicates multiple relationships, often with very different kinds of people, and confers a sense of having learned much about self and life from each.
• Saturn in this house binds a person to the partner, even in these days of easily obtained divorces, and insists that the two travel together through many different kinds of circumstance. It confers longevity upon relationships rather than denies them.
• Uranus in H7 protects the developmental prospects of the individual and will remove parents and partners who have fulfilled their role, often bringing in short-lived relationships with unusual and free-thinking individuals (often Aquarians) who change the way a person looks at life and self.
• Neptune confers a idealistic sense of the possibilities of committed relationships that can erode a person's sense of who they are and make them take on lifestyles that are quite unfamiliar to them. There is a tendency to attract those (often Pisceans) with escapist tendencies and problems with drink, drugs and debt. However, this creates space for a more compassionate consciousness to expand into.
• Pluto challenges a person to discover self-reliance, and through this to find out of what they are capable. Like Uranus, it will remove those who have fulfilled their role. There is a tendency to attract destructive and catalytic people (often Scorpios/ Scorpio Ascendants)

• The orthodox planetary ruler of H7 is Venus (Ray 5)
• The esoteric planetary ruler of H7 is Uranus (Ray 7).

Suzanne Rough
DKF-K
December 2015