Domicile

Domicile, more often called rulership, is the most important of the essential dignities. A planet is in domicile when it occupies the sign it rules, where it is at home and able to express its nature fully and freely. The Moon in Cancer or Mars in Aries is in domicile, working from a position of natural strength and command. A planet in its own sign acts with confidence and ease, much as a person does in their own house. It has full authority over the affairs that sign governs, and its qualities come through clearly and constructively. This is considered the strongest and most stable placement a planet can have. Every sign has a ruler, and which planet that is depends on whether you use the traditional or modern system. Some planets rule a single sign and others rule two. Rulership does more than measure strength; it also ties the chart together, because the ruler of a sign carries that sign's matters wherever it sits. The full traditional and modern rulership schemes are set out in their own subsections.