Hemisphere Emphasis: The Key to Your Personality

Earth is the center and kept stationary in natal astrology with the Sun walking around it. The first house is always constant and falls between the point where the sun rises, which is on the eastern horizon, and the rising sign known as the Ascendant, which is on the west. So, when viewed from heaven, the directions of the hemispheres are reversed, with the left half of the circle being the eastern hemisphere, the right one being the western hemisphere, the top half being the southern hemisphere called the South Midheaven or Medium Coeli (MC), and the northern half being referred to as the northern hemisphere called the lowest heaven or Imum Coeli(IC).

With these hemispheres overlapping the twelve houses in the wheel of the horoscope, each hemisphere contains certain planets and expresses the characteristics peculiar to those occupied planets in the various houses.

Eastern hemisphere: Houses 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, and 3 comprise the Eastern hemisphere, lying on the western or left half of the pie or the wheel of the horoscope.

Western hemisphere: Houses 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 comprise the Western hemisphere, which lies on the eastern or right half of the horoscope wheel.

Northern hemisphere: Houses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 comprise the Northern hemisphere, lying on the lower half of the horoscope circle.

Southern hemisphere: Houses 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 form the southern hemisphere of the horoscope circle, which occupies the top half of the wheel of the horoscope.

The eastern hemisphere is composed of houses 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, and 3. The planets in the eastern hemisphere express honor, fame, hopes and desires, sufferings and sorrows, occult, spiritual leanings, views and outlook, natural tendencies, monetary affairs, writing, studies, and mental inclination. This hemisphere is the segment of 'strong individuality.' Strong-willed people with maximum planets in this fraction will rarely rely on others. They define their own rules and set individual boundaries. This is the place where the Ascendant rises and is the hemisphere of the Rising Sign. It's the horizon that defines the starting point both in the zodiac and in the life of the person. People with maximum planets in this hemisphere are initiators. They believe in taking action themselves rather than depending on somebody else for the outcome. For these people, their feelings, opinions, perceptions, and experiences are of the utmost importance. They are absorbed in themselves and, in the process, often ignore the opinions and ideas of others. People with maximum planets in this hemisphere chisel out their own ways and avoid asking for help from others, as they feel that asking for help from others might burden them. The eastern hemisphere is a fraction of self-motivation and courage. For people here, taking a risk signifies strength, and they love it so much as they learn to depend on their own calculations. It's a mark of an efficient leader, the one that can never be shepherded or dominated over by somebody else but can only epitomizes the 'Rising'.

Occupied by the houses 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, this hemisphere governs home, domestic affairs, pleasurable emotions, love affairs, partnerships and marriage, food and hygiene, financial matters of the partner, long journeys, and dreams in general. The Western hemisphere governs characteristics of dependency and passivity. People with maximum planets in the right half of the horoscopic circle often lack qualities of leadership and risk-taking. Adaptability is a trademark of people with this hemispheral emphasis. Less rigid and stubborn in their attitudes, they are fluid, taking the shape of any container they are poured into. The 'western hemisphere people' are the ones capable of functioning much better in groups than left alone, and being surrounded by people acts like a tonic, further helping them to perform better. They tend to function fantastically in partnerships and collaborations of all kinds. They will always allow others to take the lead rather than being bossy themselves. Subtle and passive in their manners, they can make the most of the opportunities presented to them. Western hemisphere persons are 'objective' as opposed to their 'eastern counterparts' who are purely subjective. Western hemisphere people will let others also involve in their endeavors. They love being around people, which is why fulfillment of other people's needs and wishes becomes important to them, at times more than fulfilling their own personal needs.

Houses 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 occupy the Southern Hemisphere or the South Midheaven. Dealing with people and the public in general, goods or money of others, philanthropic, philosophic, education, honour and fame, profession, employer, honour and fame, friends and associations, unexpected troubles, restraints and limitations, and spiritual tendencies are governed by these houses. In the southern hemisphere, the horoscopic circle represents sociability and friendliness. When maximum planets are wedged in this part of the entire horoscopic circle, the person becomes highly sociable and interested in dealing with others in the outside world. People with strong southern hemisphere networks have their own circles of friends and associates and are interested in contributing towards humanity in general. They tend to enjoy their public and social life to the fullest. They are also highly ambitious and wish fame for themselves, which actively turns them to the external world, where they tend to carry on their affairs with adroitness. A career and a position in public life are both very important to these people, and they syphon their energies into achieving perfection in both of these locales of their life. If the planets are tightly packed in the houses of the 8th, 9th, and 12th, then the person will display spiritual tendencies and will be highly inclined towards the occult, or hidden, self-exploration as these three houses are the abodes of all spiritual phenomena.

Houses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 occupy the northern hemisphere in the wheel of the horoscope. These houses represent the personality, natural disposition, self-interest, financial matters, short journeys, brethren, studies, home, environment, domestic affairs, children, sickness, servants, and employers. When occupying the northern chunk of the wheel, this hemisphere dictates introspection and introvertedness. People with a stronger northern hemisphere will experience a direct impact on their personalities and dispositions and are very private by nature. They often sail on their own and are subjective in their thought patterns, which often leads to extreme pensiveness and self-absorption. They are a home-body where their environment and family security significantly help them in whetting their talents and creating a fruitful pattern of action. Their home becomes their foundation, their very root, from which they prefer to operate. Their individual identity and resourcefulness make them feel confident enough to step into the outer world (if at all they have to). People with maximum planets wedged in this hemisphere are receptive to others' moods and feelings, which drastically affects their mental health and well-being. Working and living within the boundaries of their established private lives, whatever they do in their nest will skip the public eye and their achievements will lack the admiration and recognition of the general public. The 'Northern hemisphere species' are hush-hush, private, shy, and introverted, and this is why they really have to try hard to break their cocoon if they are to emerge out in public or stop themselves from completely becoming a home-body living in their own flower and willow world.

The prominence of hemispheres in relation to the houses and planets they occupy becomes an interesting outlet to sketch the personality of a person in general. Viewed from the heavens where the physical reality of earth is reversed, the natal charts and its hemispheres give an in-depth idea of the human mind and its projections on the inner and subsequent outer worlds. Astrology could be a pseudoscience for some, but the features involved in erecting horoscopes and birth charts are scientific. Looking at the heavens above from the earth, where the delicate play of innumerable elements takes place, falling in its zone of influence, astrology, if heralded correctly, can give a man a sneak peek into some serious measures for his immediate improvement and upliftment.