Eleventh House

The eleventh house is the house of friends and hopes. Traditionally it governs friendship and the faithfulness or falseness of friends, hope, trust and confidence, praise and reputation among one's peers, and, for those in power, their favourites, counsellors and allies. Older astrologers called it the house of the good spirit. Modern astrologers read it as friendships and networks, clubs, societies and communities, collective causes and social ideals, and the hopes and long-term goals a person works towards. Howard Sasportas called it the visionary, the house where a person contributes to the collective without losing the authenticity of their own vision.

Angular, succedent or cadent

The eleventh house is succedent, following the angle of the Midheaven. It is the strongest of the succedent houses: Lilly ranked it fifth of the twelve and wrote that in virtue it is equivalent to the seventh or fourth. It beholds the Ascendant by sextile, and planets here tend to act through other people's goodwill.

Natural sign and ruler

The eleventh house corresponds to the eleventh sign, Aquarius, and to its traditional ruler Saturn; many modern astrologers give Aquarius to Uranus as well. Together they speak of shared structures, fellowship and the wish to improve the common lot. Jupiter has his joy here, and Lilly says he especially rejoices in this house.

Lilly's significations

Lilly gives the eleventh house friends and friendship, hope, trust and confidence, the praise or dispraise of anyone, and the fidelity or falseness of friends. For kings it shows their favourites, counsellors and servants, their associates and allies, their money, exchequer and treasure, and in war their ammunition and soldiers; in a city governed by a council, it is the council itself. It rules the legs to the ankles. Its colour is saffron or yellow. It is masculine, and its cosignificators are Aquarius and the Sun.

Planets here, and the ruler elsewhere

A planet in the eleventh house tends to describe the friends and groups a person gathers and the hopes they hold: Venus here may favour warm, sociable friendships, Saturn fewer but loyal ones built over years, or a sense of responsibility within a group. The ruler of the eleventh elsewhere links friendship and aspiration to that house's affairs, in the tenth through professional networks, in the fifth through shared pleasures. These incline what a person may hope for and who may help; the hoping and the friendship are still theirs to make.

Related

• Fifth House, the opposite house: personal creativity and pleasure
• Aquarius, Saturn and Uranus
• Jupiter, whose joy is here
• House system