by Lynn Hayes
At the holidays there is a focus on family which often necessitates an examination of what family means to us as individuals. Many of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s remember the paintings which turned Norman Rockwell into an adjective as well as a painter “the Norman Rockwell family, the Norman Rockwell holiday.” For those of us in a family experience which was less than idyllic, which I would guess is most of us, these images evoked a fantasy of comfort and security and safety in the bosom of a group of people who loved us unconditionally.
This is the ideal that lives in the fourth house in the astrological chart. In the fourth house we look for a sense of home and family that nourishes and nurtures us and which offers a sanctum from the outer world. In the fourth house we discover the essence of who we are by becoming deeply integrated with our inner selves and the core essence of who we are.
In the fourth house we also discover the ancestral roots that have fed our genetic history, and our psychological history from those roots also play a large part in forming the inner selves that are deeply protected within us. From the core Self within we build a home and network of family relationships, and these are also found in the fourth house. Sometimes we are rejected by our family of origin, or we detach from them and create our own family; however, it is the actual family lineage that lives in the fourth house rather than an adoptive family.
The sign on the cusp of the fourth house (which we also call the “nadir”) and planets in the fourth house describe our relationship to this family lineage, our home and real estate that we own, as well as the way we create a sense of home within us. In my view, too much importance is often placed on the fourth house as being the actual house in which we live. That is certainly a part of what we find in the fourth house, but there are many deeper layers of meaning there and at the core of the fourth house we have our inner world and the place in which we find our Self. The family environment provides the nest in which we develop as an individual, for better or for worse.
The fourth house is often associated with the father or mother, and there is some debate as to which parent is represented by the fourth and which by the tenth. If you consider that we find the style of nurturing and home life in the fourth and development of a public persona in the tenth, you can see why the mother has traditionally been assigned to the fourth house and the father to the tenth. However, family dynamics have changed and we rarely find this traditional balance any more. I generally find the more nurturing parent in the fourth and the parent who was perhaps more distant or more of a role model in the tenth.
posted November 27, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Hi Lynn-
I’ve got a question for you…hope you will indulge me. I am dating a man and we both have ours Sun in the 4th. He is a Cap…Libra Rising and I am Libra…Cancer Rising. His MC is just about right on my AC and likewise his IC is very closely aligned to my DC. We are both “lovey dovey…homebody…family people…that is for sure. Also we both tend to be quite driven…his Cap sun…my Cap DC. Things are feeling quite karmic. Any thoughts?
S
posted November 27, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Lynn -
I agree with you that the fourth is way more than just one’s physical dwelling (though that is subsumed there as well, of course, as you note). I have a phrase from a William Butler Yeats poem which I love and apply to the fourth house – “The deep heart’s core.” I think it is the home of our heart, of our soul – our deeper yearnings. And yes, that Norman Rockwell-ish sense of security and being safely tucked in.
With Saturn on one cusp of the fourth (abutting the third) and the moon in Libra on the other (abutting the fifth) I’m a very 4th house-y girl. Thanks for another great (and timlely) post.
Diane
posted November 27, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Thanks Diane, and for the beautiful expressions you added to the post.
“Your name,” when the planets or angles of one individual conjoins the angles in another’s chart, there is definitely a sense of immediate connection and a fated feeling. It sounds like a nice relationship!
posted November 28, 2009 at 8:31 am
Hello Lynn,
Well with Mars in Taurus (4th) right on my IC and my Mum’s a Gemini looks like the “wars” with my mother’s family/home are there to see!! Maybe that explains my “fight” not to be like them, constantly arguing, very negative and draining. My mother lives with me so I have to deal with it every day, though compared to her siblings she’s relatively easy.
Got Jupiter in Scorpio (10th) on my MC. Don’t know what that might signify or any connection to my Dad, a Leo, the opp sign to my Sun in Aquarius.
I hope your Thanksgiving was a peaceful and loving one. Our turkeys here in the UK have a few more weeks to go yet before Xmas.
posted November 28, 2009 at 10:27 am
Dear Lynn, I was born 1-4-1951,at 7:40 p.m. Pittsburgh, PA, with Moon in Sag, in my 4th house. My husband of 25 yrs. is a musician, born 11-26-1954, Dayton, OH,at 4:37 p.m. with his Pluto in 4th house. We’ve never had a “traditional” marriage, and neither of us wanted one. I DON’T cook, and don’t like most “domestic” chores that I grew up associating with being a “wife”. I’ve had both of our natal charts done, and also something called a “Composite” chart. We’ve had some real power struggles at times, especially when first living together, but as we’ve matured, we’ve been able to work them out. I had a very violent older sister as a child, and that also affected me. I am curious about what a “Progressed chart” actually is, and if one has one’s Progressed chart done, then does that make the birth chart more or less “obsolete” and should one go by one’s progressed chart? I know I’m inundating you with too many questions here, and I should just save up my money and call you for an actual reading, since I have so much interest and a lot to learn about astrology and its workings in one’s life. I’m not really expecting you to answer all of these questions, just responding to another Excellent post regarding the 4th house! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us all!! Dianne
posted November 28, 2009 at 3:54 pm
I’ve always been much interested in 4th house information. I have my Sun, Chiron & Mercury in the 4th. Sun @ 17 Aquarius & Chiron& Mercury in Pisces.
My home life growing up was not supportive. Not ideal as you point out Lynn from the Norman Rockwell images though I’ve always searched for that.
I’m really working hard know to make my current home a safe and nourishing, nurturing place.
I was always searching for ‘the safe home’ and realize it’s right within me.
Great article. Would love to hear more.
posted November 29, 2009 at 7:23 am
Dianne, the question about the progressed chart deserves a post on its own. I’m not really sure what your question is here, but it does sound like a consultation would benefit you, and I always incorporate some astrology lessons into my readings. The composite chart combines the two charts and creates a chart for the couple.
posted November 29, 2009 at 8:49 pm
As someone whose sun is in the fourth house and who grew up eating Thanksgiving dinner around the very table pictured in that painting, I feel compelled to remind those whose lives are not so idyllic as a Norman Rockwell painting that the world in his work was a fantasy not just for his fans but for the artist himself. He grew up poor, was cared for by indifferent parents, and was an indifferent parent himself. His paintings portrayed an ideal, and perhaps unattainable world in which everyone was safe, tables overflowed with plenty and humanity was endowed with an essential decency. I should also note what my mother always likes to point out, which is that our impression that the table in that painting is overflowing with food is a false one, and that the table is essentially empty, save for the turkey. Therein is the genius of an Aquarian painter who managed to weave together a reflection of the fantasies of our society and hold them up for us to see. We don’t realize that what we see is the fantasy and not the actual details of the image itself.
posted November 30, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I have a very powerful fourth house a stellium of Moon Mercury Venus & Mars in Capricorn also all trine Uranus/Pluto in Virgo in the 12th and square Jupiter in Aries. I was born a few hours before Brad Pitt if this is ringing bells for you.
AS a child we moved a lot and to say I hated it would be an understatement. I designed my current home myself – have lived here for 17 years & I look out across a harbor – and if that is not fourth house bliss what is?
Fourth house dramas was mainly with the mother for me, we were just on very different pages. She did not have a nuturing bone I think that is quite common with heavily tenanted 4th’s
Also ,must thank you for your post on thanksgiving it was very uplifting
Thank you for a great blog too