Editing House (astrology) (section)

===Early forms of house division===
The [[Babylonian astrology|Babylonians]] may have been the first to set out the concept of house division.{{sfnp|Parker|Parker|1990|p=12}} Specifically, they timed the birth according to three systems of time division: (a) a three-part division of the night into watches, (b) a four-part division of the [[nychthemeron]] with respect to sunrise and sunset, and (c) a twelve-part division of the day-time into hours.{{sfnp|Rochberg|1998|p=35}} Babylonian astronomers studied the rising times of the signs and calculated tables of ascensions for their latitude,  but it would take better time measurements by the Egyptians and the introduction of the concept of ascendant, around the 2nd century BC, to give astrological houses their first recognisable structure and meaning, from the perspective of Classical Western astrology.{{sfnmp|1a1=Holden|1y=1982|2a1=Tester|2y=1990|2p=25}}

====Whole sign====
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In the whole sign house system, sometimes referred to as the 'Sign-House system', the houses are 30° each.  The ascendant designates the rising sign, and the first house begins at zero degrees of the [[zodiac sign]] in which the ascendant falls, regardless of how early or late in that sign the ascendant is. The next sign after the ascending sign then becomes the 2nd house, the sign after that the 3rd house, and so on. In other words, each house is wholly filled by one sign. This was the main system used in the [[Hellenistic astrology|Hellenistic tradition of astrology]], and is also used in [[Indian astrology]], as well as in some early traditions of [[Arab and Persian astrology|Medieval astrology]]. It is thought to be the oldest system of house division.{{sfnp|Holden|1982|p=19-28}}

The Whole Sign system may have been developed in the Hellenistic tradition of astrology sometime around the 1st or 2nd century BCE, and from there it may have passed to the [[Jyotish|Indian]] and early Medieval traditions of astrology; though the line of thought which states that it was transmitted to India from Western locales is hotly contested. At some point in the Medieval period, probably around the 10th century, whole sign houses fell into disuse in the western tradition, and by the 20th century the system was completely unknown in the western astrological community, although was continually used in India all the way into the present time. Beginning in the 1980s and 1990s the system was rediscovered and reintroduced into western astrology.

The distinction between equal houses and whole sign houses lies in the fact that in whole sign houses the cusp of the 1st house is the beginning of the sign that contains the ascendant, while in equal houses the degree of the ascendant is itself the cusp of the 1st house.{{sfnp|Hand|2000}}

====Equal house====
In the equal house system the [[ecliptic]] is also divided into twelve divisions of 30 degrees, although the houses are measured out in 30 degree increments starting from the degree of the ascendant. It begins with the ascendant, which acts as the 'cusp' or starting point of the 1st house, then the second house begins exactly 30 degrees later in zodiacal order, then the third house begins exactly 30 degrees later in zodiacal order from the 2nd house, and so on.{{sfnp|Houlding|2006}} Proponents of the equal house system claim that it is more accurate and less distorting in higher latitudes (especially above 60 degrees) than the Placidean and other quadrant house systems.{{sfnp|Parker|Parker|1990|p=175}}