The fourth house is an angular house, and the first house in the second quadrant. It is ruled by Cancer and the Moon. This house focuses on your roots, parents, home, security, and ancestors.
Do not think of your home as the physical location but more of the feeling you get when you think of your “home”. The type of house you lived in doesn’t matter, it is the environment in which you were raised. This could be different for people depending on your upbringing. This may be a safe haven for you or it could be a place you wish to never return, but regardless, this was the space for you when you were younger. Here holds all the information and stories of your family and past ancestors, this is the house that shows how you were raised (or lack thereof), it is the story of your beginning and all of your roots. The way your family treated you and made you feel safe (or unsafe) had an extremely large effect on you, and this is the house were it all plays outs. You have to also think that in some cases, the way your parents treated you were the way their parents treated them, and it goes back all the way to your ancestors.
This house also heavily focuses on your parents. The moon is often associated with the mother, but in this case, I believe it is whatever parent you got the most nurturing from. As a child, regardless of how awful our parents could be, we still run to them when something is wrong as they are our safe spaces. Whoever this parent/guardian was to you at a young age is who you can focus on, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the mother. Whoever this “nurturing” person in your life was, how did they respond in the face of fear and adversity? What were their behaviors around certain things (holidays, religion, social interactions, rules and boundaries)? Whatever they modeled for you is all coming up in this house. Our parents also modeled how we can connect with them and the world around us. Were you able to make a close connection with a caregiver in your life? This could be how many relationships in your adult life are shaped and built on.
The fourth house can also be your deepest emotional being or your soul. This is who you really are when everything is stripped away. This is your true inner soul that just is you; this digs deep down into you roots and pulls it all out. All of your hopes, dreams, and fears reside here. Who are you when no one is looking? What are your deepest souls’ desires? Where do you go when you want to be safe and hide away? Every person needs security and stability in their life, some are lucky enough to have always had this, others have had to depend on themselves for a place of security. Those of you who believe in soul contracts and karmic debt — these are also found in the fourth house.
Regardless of what your home life was like, this also directs how you will make a home of your own. No matter what you endured in your childhood, now comes the time to lay your own roots down. What are your habits? Have you followed through with how things were as a child, or did you go the complete opposite direction? Do you have a hard time keeping the house clean or being organized? If yes, it could be that you have a lot of clearing to do around this topic. Remember that cancer is highly emotional and it is easy to build a barrier around our house if we finally have built a safe space of our own for the first times in our life.
Remember that this is just an overview of the fourth house. To dive deep into your personal house, you need your natal chart. Planets and what sign your fourth house is in will make it dramatically different for everyone.
