Whole-sign houses
Whole-sign houses assign the entire rising sign to house one and each following sign to the next house. Mạghā labels this default view Rāśi. Compare its placements with four other house systems in the Bhāva tab.
Libra, her 1st house, holds Mercury, Rāhu, Jupiter and Venus, while the Sun at 26°40′ Virgo, only about 4° before her 0°45′ Libra Ascendant, falls in the 12th. The Moon is in the 4th, Saturn in the 5th, Ketu in the 7th and Mars in the 10th.
| House / sign / lord | Classical planets |
|---|---|
| 1st · LibraVenus | Mercury 11°12′; Rāhu 22°09′; Jupiter 23°54′; Venus 24°12′ |
| 2nd · ScorpioMars | No planets |
| 3rd · SagittariusJupiter | No planets |
| 4th · CapricornSaturn | Moon 24°15′ |
| 5th · AquariusSaturn | Saturn 12°28′ |
| 6th · PiscesJupiter | No planets |
| House / sign / lord | Classical planets |
|---|---|
| 7th · AriesMars | Ketu 22°09′ |
| 8th · TaurusVenus | No planets |
| 9th · GeminiMercury | No planets |
| 10th · CancerMoon | Mars 11°24′ |
| 11th · LeoSun | No planets |
| 12th · VirgoMercury | Sun 26°40′ |
The rising sign is the 1st house, whatever its degree
Nila Raman, was born with Libra rising at 0°45′. All of Libra is therefore her 1st house, Scorpio her 2nd, and so on round the zodiac to Virgo, her 12th.
Her Sun, at 26°40′ Virgo, sits only about 4° before the Ascendant degree, yet it belongs to the 12th house because Virgo is the sign before Libra. Jupiter and Venus, near 24° Libra, lie more than 23° past the Ascendant and still share the 1st house with Mercury and Rāhu. In this system a planet's house depends on its sign alone.
Lordship follows the signs as well. Venus rules Libra and Taurus, so it is lord of her 1st and 8th houses, and it sits in the 1st. The Moon rules Cancer, her 10th, from Capricorn, her 4th.
Vedic astrologers read every sign of the Rāśi chart as a house
The North, South and East Indian chart formats all draw each sign as one house, so a Rāśi chart is a whole-sign chart by design. Techniques built on signs rely on this. Parāśara's sign aspects (rāśi dṛṣṭi), which Jaimini astrologers use, run from sign to sign, and so do sign-based periods such as Chara Daśā.
The method also has a long Western history. The Swiss Ephemeris documentation notes its use in Hellenistic astrology, and historians of astrology including Robert Hand and Chris Brennan argue that it was the main house system in that tradition, a reading others dispute.
Houses measured by degree have their place too. Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra discusses a house that spans two signs, and some astrologers check such a bhāva view for planets near the edge of a sign.
Rāśi is the house view Mạghā opens with
Bhāva opens with Rāśi houses, listing signs, planets and lord placements. Detailed comparisons shows boundaries, centers and differences across five systems. Divisional charts count from their own Lagna; chart options can instead reference Moon or another planet. Yoga checks always count whole signs.
The Planets and Aspects house columns use equal houses centered on the Ascendant degree. Nila's Sun therefore reads house 1 there but house 12 in Rāśi.
What people ask about whole-sign houses
Does Vedic astrology use whole-sign houses?
Yes, for the main chart. The Rāśi chart treats each sign as one house, counted from the rising sign, and sign-based techniques such as Jaimini's depend on it. Some astrologers also consult houses measured from the Ascendant degree, such as Śrīpati's, for a planet near the edge of a sign. Mạghā shows Rāśi houses by default and the other systems when you choose them.
Whole sign or Placidus: which is more accurate?
Neither can be shown to be more accurate; they divide the sky in different ways. Whole-sign houses tie each house to one sign, so every house has a single lord. Placidus divides the time each degree takes to travel from the horizon to the meridian, so its houses vary in size and shift quickly with the birth time; KP uses it. Mạghā's Bhāva tab shows both for the same chart.
What is the difference between the Rāśi chart and a bhāva chart?
The Rāśi chart places planets by sign, so each sign is one house. A bhāva chart places them in houses measured from the Ascendant degree, for example with Śrīpati's method, so a planet near the edge of a sign can move to the next or previous house. Nila's Sun, at 26°40′ Virgo, is in her 12th house by sign and in her 1st by Śrīpati's houses.
Is there a free whole sign houses calculator?
Mạghā draws whole-sign houses for every chart you save, free for life like all its astrology features. Enter a birth date, time and place, open the chart and choose the Bhāva tab to see each house's sign, planets and lord. The House system list then compares the same chart in equal, Śrīpati or Placidus houses.
See your whole-sign houses in the Rāśi view
Read all twelve whole-sign houses, their planets and lords in Bhāva. The demo opens that view for Nila Raman; your saved chart supplies your own placements.
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