Each month, the Moon journeys through the Twelve Houses of our birth chart - the mountain vistas and drylands, the caverns and ravines, the meadows and shorelines, the ancient woodlands and jungle terrain - illuminating the hidden currents that flow through each one.

Continuing our series on lunar astrology, I wanted to share with you the guide I wrote about the Moon visiting the First House. This is part of a year long series exploring the Moon in each of the Twelve Houses of the birth chart that students of The Lunar Apothecary and my patrons have access to. My hope with series like these is to not only provide practitioners with additional storytelling tools for their practice, but make astrology feel like an accessible form of reflection and connection.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read my guide to the Moon in the Houses to better understand what I’ll be sharing about the First House. But, briefly, rather than focusing on the Natal Moon (e.g. the place where the Moon was located at the time of your birth), we’re exploring the transiting or visiting Moon. If the Full Moon is in Virgo, for example, the Moon in the Houses guide is meant to help you understand what energies the Full Moon in Virgo will be stirring up in your birth chart (or the birth charts of the clients you work with).

I’ll be sharing the guide to the First House, but if you’d like access to the full series please check out The Lunar Apothecary or consider becoming a patron. Not only will you get access to a ton of exclusive resources, but you’ll be supporting my ability to offer the majority of what I do for free or at a low-cost.

The First House is a place of important storytelling in astrology - it sets the stage for the rest of the birth chart, containing not only the Ascendent or Rising Sign, but acting like a compass for the rest of the energies we find in all the other Houses. A lunar visitor to our First House (which will happen at various times throughout the year whenever the Moon is in the sign of our Ascendant) can illuminate our depths in ways that can help us understand the wisdom of our feeling-body and the waters of our intuitive pattern-sensing self. It’s a great place to start our journey, so let’s begin!

The First House

Key Concepts: You, individual identity, self-expression, inherent vitality, health constitution, and physical form. Who am I and what am I feeling?

Guardian Sign & Element: Aries & Fire

House Type: Angular

Lunar Phrase: I am feeling…

Lunar Focus: The Moon focuses on or reveals how we intuit information as well as how we express what we feel (or want to feel) through our physical appearance throughout different areas in our life.

Healing Opportunities: Re-examining how we want to be perceived in the world versus our own perceptions of ourself. Calling home all parts of ourselves back to our bodies. Ritual styles that speak to our unique sense of self. Reconnecting with a sense of wonder and possibility for life. Gathering up energy to start a new project that is meaningful to who we are and want to be. Releasing outmoded ways of being that no longer align with who we currently are. Sacred body blessings of all kinds. Naming and renaming ceremonies.

Inner Landscape: The place where you feel most free to be able to express yourself wholly and completely, without reservation or fear, but with ease and encouragement.

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Note: Your Rising Sign or Ascendant will always be in your First House. While the Ascendant, the sign which shapes our perception of the world and how we want to be perceived, is not the focus of this profile, it is inherently tied up with the energy of the First House and is worth exploring further.

It is from the First House that we look out across our birth chart. While we'll find ourselves engaged with the energy of other Houses throughout our life, it is from the First House that we first woke up at the dawn of our life. Representing our self and the perspective from which we view our life and experiences, the First House is where we are able to gain the widest vision of our inner world. In other words, the First House is our most comfortable vantage point at which to view the rest of our life.

We get to know ourselves in all areas of our chart, but it is in the First House that we come to know what it is we inherited (from our inherent vitality, physical features, and genetic disposition) as well as how we choose to adorn and express ourselves. These choices shift throughout our life as they're are based partly on what we've chose to leave behind or carry forward from what we've inherited biologically, emotionally, culturally and spiritually as well as from our ongoing lived experiences. Through the First House we understand ourselves as individuals within the collective from our families, relationships of all kinds including with place and beyond-human kin. While other parts of the birth chart can feel like places we visit or where we are visited upon, the First House carries the energy of the self, where we are at, and the place from which we perceive everything happening in our life. For that reason, planets that show up in the First House feel more tied to our sense of self than when they appear in other parts of the chart. If we were to imagine that every planet (or celestial body like an asteroid) in our birth chart has an audible tone, the ones that are in the First House are the tones we hear the clearest and most consistently.

The Moon in the First House illuminates the deep, true-to-us stories and beliefs that we carry within, share with few people, but that shape our instinctual reactions and the intuitive impulses, both internal and external, to the world around us. Lunar illumination in our First House helps to draw these stories out from deep within us so that they can dance closer to our skin, letting us see how these stories find resonance or dissonance with our current self-expression. The Moon draws close and asks us to consider the shape of our individual spirit and what that spirit is feeling in our current life. What are the stories we are relying on to perceive ourselves and what we want others to perceive about us? If the First House represents us awakening to the world and then making choices in how we want to participate in it, the Moon asks us to check in with what feelings are behind our choices and initiatives.

The Moon in the First House helps us explore the tension between our private self and our public self, including our private self that feels called to the path of the herbalist or healer and the public self who is that herbalist or healer in the world. As we work as herbalists, it's important to know where our edges begin and end as we work with clients so that our story doesn't get muddled up in their needs. There is an inherent and ongoing exploration of personal boundaries within the First House as we examine what parts of the world outside of us we invite in, what we keep out, and what we are reconsidering. The return of the Moon to the First House, especially when in the Full Moon phase, is like sitting down with a precious and beloved companion - It's you! I see all of you! How beautiful you are!

If we are struggling with our sense of self and self-expression, the appearance of the Moon in the First House can be a helpful spotlight directing us towards the stories that carry the hope of liberation for us. Working with the New Moon or Dark Moon in our First House can help to clear out the old myths and welcome in more empowering tales of wonder.

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Lunar Affirmations of the First House

🌕 The Full Moon: I energize the fullest expression of my self so it may flow unhindered throughout my life.

🌒 The New Moon: I clear the path around me and make space for my self-expression.

🌑 The Dark Moon: I let go of self-censorship and old stories, embracing the wisdom of discernment.

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Sacred Inquiry for the First House

I most easily express myself when I feel ___________.
My intuition is strengthened through ___________.
I express my Moon through my physical experience by ___________.

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Lunar Rituals of the First House

Think about your favorite types of rituals, the loveliest experiences where you feel most in tune with who you are and your magick - these are the rituals of the First House. There is value in putting in the effort to invite all parts of yourself to a First House ritual, whether that is getting dressed up, doing a more complex spiritual cleansing practice beforehand, playing your favorite album at top volume while working candle magick, etc. Whatever your ritual might be, let it be you.

Body blessings to help you embrace healing self-expression
Rituals working with your ascendant energy
Wayfinding rituals to help you return to your self
Uncrossing rituals to help remove obstacles that hinder your self-expression
Energy hygiene rituals to support your work as a practicing herbalist
Soul calling and retrieving rituals
Rituals to call in newness
Celebratory rituals honoring changes and transitions

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First House Remedies

Ascendant/Rising Sign supporting blends including teas, flower essences, and baths
Aries remedies of all kinds, including remedies for head, face, eyes, hair, blood, and brain
Elemental fire remedies of all kinds
Body & hair oils
Facial toners
Perfumes and remedies that have strong scents aligned to your preferences
Herbal remedies that support strong personal boundaries
Daily blends aligned to supporting your unique energetic needs to achieve a sense of ease and balance (e.g. daily tonics that are energizing versus relaxing)
Plant allies that support sense of self, gifts of discernment, and self-expression

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What astrological myths are you most drawn to?

When we approach astrology as storytelling and mnemonic device that connects us to our herbal ancestors while contributing to the ever-expanding present, it can be such an interesting and healing tool to work with. While I choose to focus on the lunar aspects of astrology, especially as tied to herbal practice, astrology is a vast library of myth and to draw upon and I hope you’re feeling inspired.

If you’d like to explore the other Houses of the birth chart, you can find the complete series in The Lunar Apothecary as well as in my patreon community. And for other lunar-focused resources, check out my Moon Studies archive or my Astroherbology archive for a broader astrological focus.

Until we meet again, whether under the light of the Full Moon or the sliver of silver at the New Moon, I hope all your lunar journeys are revealing, full of magick, and thick with myth.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

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The Moon in the First House: A Study in Lunar Astrology

The First House