1st house

The 1st house begins at the Ascendant — the eastern horizon at your moment of birth — and represents the most immediately personal area of life: your physical body, your appearance, your mannerisms, your style of meeting new situations. The sign on the 1st-house cusp is your Rising sign and sets the tone for how you arrive. Planets in the 1st house are loudly expressed — they're part of how strangers experience you within minutes. A Mars in the 1st arrives with intensity; a Saturn in the 1st arrives with reserve and weight. The 1st house also rules the first chapter of any new endeavor — the moment of stepping in, before anyone has formed an opinion. In medical astrology it rules the head and overall physical vitality.