This 48 page ring bound booklet started off as a series of articles for the Mountain Astrologer Magazine, which was revised and updated for the purposes of this book.

In his usual scholarly fashion, Rob Hand has done a thorough analysis and comparison on the origins and use of the whole sign houses system. This house system appears to predate all others and is the system of choice for Vedic and Hellenistic astrology, which share many other similarities.

In case you are unfamiliar with it, it is the system whereby the sign of the Ascendant is taken to be the first house, in its entirety. If you have your ascendant at 25 Gemini, then the rising sign would start at 0 Ò of Gemini and end at 29 Ò 59' of Gemini with the Ascendant point somewhere near the end of the house. The implications of this are that the Midheaven could then lie anywhere from the 7th to the 12th house. Initially this was thought to be obscure and limited in its usage, but Hand has gone back to all the original sources such as Ptolemy and Firmicus Maternus which were initially thought to point to the use of the equal house system and has re-translated the passages pertaining to the house divisions. He has shown with great detail how these may have been mis-translated. He suggests that fewer errors need to be attributed to Ptolemy, and more to Robbins and Ashmand who translated his Tetrabiblos. If you are curious enough he has included the original Greek and Latin text.

This book may be small in size, but its scope is very wide. No paragraph is wasted in idle musings. Hand writes about the complex and intricate interplay between the houses and their rulers, the aspects they make, and the meanings of the houses.

The last third of the book is taken up with examples, where he compares the Koch to Whole sign systems. I found the example of King Edward VII most interesting. In the whole sign chart, his Midheaven falls in the 12th , and his IC is placed in the 6th house. In ancient eastern and western astrology, the 6th house was the place of enemies, as well as illness and servitude. The enemy of the 6th was different to the enemy of the 7th who was seen as an opponent. The enemy of the 6th was more likely to be destructive for the sake of destruction. Because the 6th house does not aspect the ASC, what it stands for does not support life. With the MC or place of action, situated in the 12th , his mission to become king was hidden. His parents were his enemies, and indeed they did their best to keep him from assuming any aspect of his professional role.

The last chapter in the book looks at the use of Whole sign houses in Horary questions.

A very informative book, even if you have no interest in switching to whole sign houses anytime soon. It is well referenced and well researched – just as I expected.