I find houses in interception to be particularly interesting when I find them in a client’s natal chart. Some astrologers disregard the idea of intercepted houses as unimportant….to each their own, everyone reads a little differently. I feel like when intercepted houses are in a client’s natal chart, to leave them out of a reading would be doing the client an injustice. Intercepted Houses are when a house is located between two separate house cusps, but the house and sign in question rule over no actual house cusp of the own. An example of this below:

As you can see from the example above, Aquarius and Leo rule over no house cusps of their own. Aquarius falls under the domain of Capricorn’s house, and Leo falls under the domain of Cancer’s house. Neither sign has any real way of easily expressing itself outwardly to the world in a specific area of life (or just in general). The sign itself, as well as any planets that may find themselves inside the interceptions, operate under a sort of “fog,” kind of like the 12th house. You may not be fully aware of the sign and/or planetary energy that resides in the intercepted house, or there may be something kind of fucked about the way this energy manifests in your life. It also tends to be that the intercepted house’s energy (and any planets that find themselves in them) were not taught by the parents/caregivers in early childhood as something important to the native’s development (or was outright ignored or arrested). Some examples of what it can mean when planets find themselves in an intercepted house:
*The Sun-There may be some issues in fully understanding one’s own sense of self/ego/life force
*The Moon-The person may not fully understand their own emotional core (or even want to acknowledge it).
*Mercury-The person may have some difficulty in actually understanding their own mind and it could operate a little differently.
*Venus-There may be some issues with the person knowing how they need to give and recieve love, as well as knowing what/who they love in the first place
*Mars-The person’s drive, aggression and/or passion may be under a fog and not as easily accessible.
*Jupiter-The person may not feel that they can fully expand in the areas of life where the house in interception falls.
*Saturn-The person may have difficulty when it comes to taking on responsibility, as well as implementing structure in their own lives.
*Uranus-The person may have issues really hoping or wishing for things, as well as really being able to appreciate their own “specialness” or unique invidiuality.
*Neptune-Since Neptune makes things cloudy on it’s own, this placement would be ripe for causing the person to con-themselves in some way relating to the sign & house in question that it falls
*Pluto-The person may have some real issues with their own personal power and how to best use it (if they realize they have this personal power to begin with).
***Mind you, these are just examples of what it could mean when a planet is in an intercepted house. You would need to take the entire chart into account (especially the sign in interception that rules the planets as well as the house it falls in) to know exactly how having a planet intercepted would manifest in one’s life.***

And what does it mean to have the different signs in intercepted houses?
*If one has the Aries/Libra Axis in interception, this can cause the native problems/clouding with understanding themselves and the concept of the other, and with being able to understand the value of the balance between the two.
*If the Taurus/Scorpio Axis is intercepted, there can be some difficulties with really forming your own values and keeping them separate from other peoples. Also, there can be some issues in knowing when to hold on to something/someone, and when to let go (and how to do this).
*When the Gemini/Sagittarius Axis is intercepted, there are may be some issues with knowing when (or how or where) to use the “lower” mind as well as the “abstract” mind (and really trusting your abilities in these areas). There may be a sort of mistrust of the mind, and this may not be fully understood.
*If the Cancer/Capricorn Axis is in interception, there can be some issues with really being in tune with your public & private life (possibly not fully understanding them, and what you want and need in regards to them). You may also not be as not comfortable with the ideas of being caring/emotional (the Cancer part) and really coming into your own authority (the Capricorn part).
*When the Leo/Aquarius Axis is intercepted, your need to been seen and heard is clouded and hidden (the Leo part) which then causes you not to be able to embrace your unique individuality and really contribute something to the collective (the Aquarius part).
*If the Virgo/Pisces Axis is in interception, there can be problems with actually being able to function easily and be of proficient service in daily life. This can then lead to issues with actually being able to reach the dreams that you do have for yourself (possibly not knowing how to even go about this).
***Again, these are just examples of the Houses in Interception alone. You would need to take the entire chart into account to really get the full picture.***

When you have houses in interception (and if you have an intercepted house in your chart, you will also have another interception on the opposite side of the axis), it means that certain signs are also duplicated. In the above example, their 6th and 7th houses are ruled by Taurus, and their 12th and 1st houses are ruled by Scorpio. As you can imagine, this kind of throws the whole chart off balance because each sign needs to be able to openly express itself. It is important here to balance your chart by freeing these houses (and planets) from interception. And how do you do this, you may be wondering? Well, there are a few couple different ways. First, the person needs to become comfortable with the energy of the sign of the house cusp where the intercepted house falls. Using the picture above, my client would need to become intimately familiar with Capricorn’s energy as the 3rd House cusp ruler (and Uranus in the 3rd not in interception), as well as Cancer’s energy as the 9th House cusp ruler (and Venus in the 9th not in interception). Since the cusp ruler acts as a grantor or denier of access to the Intercepted Houses in question, the better the “terms” the person is on with those House cusp rulers (and the more they understand how that energy works in their life), the easier access they will have to the intercepted houses and to then pulling the houses from interception.

Another way to free the houses and planets from interception is look at where the ruler of the intercepted houses fall in the natal chart. In the example in the picture above, The Sun (the ruler of Leo) falls in the 9th House (in interception), and Uranus (the ruler of Aquarius) falls in the 3rd House (not in interception). When the ruler of an intercepted house falls IN an intercepted house, that particular planet won’t be of much help since it can’t fully express itself “properly.” In my client’s case above, they would want to to look at Uranus and the 3rd House (of which the 3rd House deals with communication and the mind, among other things) to pull the houses out of interception. I have found that only one house needs to be pulled out of interception and usually the other intercepted house follows suit.