- In the chart below you can see that the 3rd house is in Aries.
- Mars is the ruler of Aries, so Mars is the ruler of the 3rd house.
- Mars is placed in Leo in the 7th house so this person has the ruler of the 3rd house in the 7th house.
Modern and Traditional House Rulers
- Aquarius’s traditional ruler is Saturn. The modern ruler is Uranus.
- Pisces’s traditional ruler is Jupiter. The modern ruler is Neptune.
- Scorpio’s traditional ruler is Mars. The modern ruler is Pluto.
Mars rules the 3rd house in Aries and is the traditional ruler of the 10th house in Scorpio: Ruler of the 3rd House in the 7th House and Ruler of the 10th House in the 7th House.
Some astrologers only look to the traditional ruler, some use both the modern and traditional rulers, some use only the modern ruler — it’s up to you.
Interception
- Aquarius covers the 2nd house cusp, therefore Uranus is the ruler of the 2nd house.
- The sign Pisces is completely contained within the 2nd house; it does not touch the 2nd or 3rd house cusp:
Pisces Intercepted in the 2nd House. This 2nd house example has 2 rulers and 2 co-rulers: Saturn and Uranus are the rulers of the 2nd house cusp in Aquarius while Jupiter and Neptune rule the Pisces interception.
In the chart above Saturn and Uranus are the primary rulers of the 2nd house and most important, while Jupiter and Neptune as co-rulers of the 2nd house are of secondary importance.
Double Cusps
In this example Gemini covers the 5th and 6th house cusps, so Mercury rules the 5th and 6th house.