The aspects—being a manifestation of harmonics and harmonic reality—are the most universal feature of the astrological system and its 4 pillars—the aspects, planets, signs, and houses. The aspects divide the circle of the zodiac into 2, 3, 4 pieces, etc. just as a string divided into 2, 3, 4 pieces produces the harmonic series. The harmonic series that emerges from the basic nature of number and vibration, and that manifests in solar systems as the aspects, would be valid and true in any solar system in our cosmos. However, since the aspects only exist as the underlying reality of number, ratio, and relation, they are more subtle, more ghostly in a way. The aspects require real entities that they then put into relationship (ratio). For example, without a real taut nylon string that is plucked, and then divided in half and plucked again, the octave cannot sound in reality. The octave remains an idea and a possibility in the realm of concepts until something real—the string—makes it manifest, makes it truly audible in this case. In the case of the astrological aspects, these less invisible, more real entities are the planets.

In contrast to the aspects, the planets are actual physical bodies, huge masses of gas and rock hurtling spirally through space around their fiery central sun. And while the planets correspond to an archetypal reality that transcends them, the specific make-up of any given solar system is contingent rather than universal. For example, there didn’t have to be four outer planets (and of course the debate rages about what counts as a planet, what bodies have astrological significance, to what degree, and so on). And simply the shift from the ancient system of 7 planets to the modern system of 10 planets demonstrates the contingency of any given planetary array. However, the coexistence and compatibility of the ancient and modern systems points toward the underlying universal archetypal meaning being expressed through 2 different contingent systems. We could imagine a far-off solar system with 5 or 15 planets whose astrology functioned and correlated to their reality just as well as ours, and expressed similar universal archetypes of Love, Beauty, Anger, Justice, etc. though articulated through a somewhat differently structured system.

The zodiac signs are entities brought about by the interplay of the aspects and the planets. The aspects play out upon the Sun-Earth system to create the zodiac cusps via the lowest harmonics (or simplest aspects) projected from the 4 solstitial and equinoctial points. The planets then inhabit/dwell-within/come-to-rule the signs via a human-cosmic act of participation & co-creation. The assignment of exaltations and rulerships and their converses is a human imposed system that takes its cue from a cosmically suggested likeness between seasonal-realities & aspect-realities belonging to the signs on the one hand, and the more primary symbolic-realities of the planets themselves on the other (e.g. the blossoming quality of Spring in the northern hemisphere has a natural affinity with the initiating strength of Aries and its ruler Mars). These zodiacal regions/territories/place-qualities relate to one another in very definite ways via the mantras, elements, modalities & polarities, which are determined by the basic quality of number-harmonics-aspects. Planets passing through such territories feel these inherently relational energies. (The counterfactual represented by the southern hemisphere only strengthens the argument that zodiacal meaning is cocreated, as it was in the northern hemisphere where astrology was originally developed).

The houses finally, arise from the rotation of the earth itself, more local even than the Sun-Earth system that determines the seasonal solstitial and equinoctial points. We moved from the cosmic domain of the aspects, to the solar-systemic domain of the planets, to the Sun-Earth domain of the tropical zodiac signs, to the terrestrial domain of the houses. The houses arise from a similar human act of participation and co-creation with:

• First, the astronomical reality of diurnal motion: the real astronomical points of ASC, MC, DSC, IC and their symbolism (e.g. MC as most visible point in sky corresponds to cusp of 10^th house associated with public life). This grounds the meaning of the angular houses.
• Second, the logical notion of cadent and succedent houses on either side of the angular houses, which creates meaning based on succession forward from the angular house, or cadent falling away from an angular house (e.g. 2^nd house of possessions is succedent to 1^st house of self; the resources belonging to a person naturally follows from the primary notion of a self who possesses them; while the 12^th house of self-undoing is a cadent falling away from the 1^st house self).
• Third, the Planetary Joys scheme which imports planetary meaning into the houses in a way similar to rulership & exaltation (e.g. Venus has her Joy in the 5^th, pointing to the love that leads to children).
• Fourth, the more recent assignment of similarity of meaning between the zodiacal signs (and their rulers and exaltations) and the corresponding houses (e.g. Leo corresponds to the 5^th house, pointing to the creativity that leads to children, but also other brain-children such as poetry).

All of this makes the houses the most synthetic and least universal of the 4-pillar gradient I’ve sketched—a conclusion that would be supported by the interminable house-system debates. However, as with the signs, this is not necessarily a detriment or an invalidation, but rather an acknowledgement of the profound human act of participation that has given birth to and co-created the very real and enduring morphogenetic field and thought-forms that are the houses.