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Abano discusses matters related to the First House. and Second House

Having shown in the first book how one may know and judge (questions), we must now show some practical examples of this science according to the twelve houses of the chart, so that everyone may more easily understand what they wish to know. And this always according to the above described rule of giving the first house to the querent and the appropriate one to the quesited.

First House

Of the life of the man or woman.¹
Having made the chart and the fifteenth figure, and wanting to know one’s fortune or misfortune,² consider the figure in the first house and, depending on its meaning and the virtue of the planet ruling this figure, judge whether it is good or bad.

And if you want further clues, look whether the figure moves toward one of the angles or in more than one of them.³ And the life is all the more long and better and fortunate depending on how good the angle is, as said before.⁴ And if the figure doesn’t move, but it is still good and fortunate, it means one still has a long time to live, but is lonely.⁵ And if it moves to the second, it causes gain through one’s industriousness and solicitude. And if it moves to the third, it means getting along with younger relatives and siblings, and if to the fourth, it indicates increase of patrimony and wealth of the father or of the older relatives.

If to the fifth, it means happiness through children, and usefulness, but if to the sixth, misfortune, tragedy, accidents, but also other people’s service (to the querent), depending on whether the figure is fortunate or not. If it moves to the seventh, it means good things from the wife or girlfriend, and good deals, or gain through war or gambling, and maybe in a foreign country, depending on the quality and condition of the figure. If it moves to the eighth, the life is short, unless one is a butcher or deals in dead animals, that is, skin, wool, or if one is a loan shark.⁶

If it moves to the ninth, it means much journeying, and being a knight or a wayfarer or a churchman, and the person’s luck is better if the figure is good. If it moves to the tenth, it means honors and public office and receiving dignity from people up high, or through them, depending as the figure is fortunate or not. If it moves to the eleventh, it shows good luck with friends and from people who are noble or from the Roman Curia. If it moves to the twelfth, the person will meet his end in prison, or through long infirmity, or it shows being kidnapped or being in a remote place like some religious people do.

If the figure shows up as a Witness or as the Judge, the person’s fortune depends on how good the figure is. And what we have said of the first figure, whether it is good, mediocre or bad depends on its nature.

Second House

Of wealth, possessions and gain.
If you want to know about merchandise, one must judge the first house, whether it is good or bad, and then the second, depending on its virtue, and judge thus: if it contains one figure among Acquisitio, Major, Conjunctio, Caput and Albus, it means that gain will come from things that are easily movable from place to place, or from things that change, or that are sold by approximation (that is, without carefully weighing them).

If it were Puer it signifies gain through things sold after careful weighing. If it were Puella, it means gain through things that are easily obtained. If it were Rubeus, it means in things that cause fire or that have to do with blood. If it were Amissio, Cauda or Via, it shows little gain, and if it were Tristitia or Carcer, it means ups and downs of fortune or possessions. And if it is Laetitia or Minor, it means being able to keep one’s possessions. If it is Populus, then it depends on how good the first figure is, however by its own nature it means abundance.
Note that every entering figure indicates gain or buying, and exiting indicates loss or selling.⁷

Whether one will retrieve the lost possession.
If the question is about lost items, or stolen items, and we want to know whether we will get them back, look at the first figure, whether it is good or not, and then the second, and if they are entering or exiting. Afterwards, if you are looking for the thing, look at the tenth figure, if it is entering and good it means retrieval of the lost thing, especially if the same figure is in the second, or if here is another figure that is entering.⁸ Also look at the eleventh and the fifteenth. If instead the figures are exiting or bad, it means the opposite.

If you are looking for a stolen item, look at the seventh house, if it is entering and fortunate, and if it moves to the second or first house, which means retrieval.⁹ Similarly in the tenth, eleventh of fifteenth. And if the seventh [figure] is in the third, it means that the lost or stolen item is in the house of a sibling or relatives; if in the fourth, in or around the house of the father or of the older relatives, or near the house or place were it was originally. If it is in the fifth or sixth or eighth it means it is far away. If it is entering, however, you still will get it back.

If one will get back the money they lent to someone else.
The first figure is he who must receive back the money, the second is the thing that he wants to get back, and the seventh is the borrower. If the first and second figure, or at least one of them (especially the second) are entering, and if the seventh is exiting, it means getting it all back easily. Similarly, if the second and seventh are the same, that is, entering. But if they aren’t, it means the opposite.

MQS

Footnotes

1. The First House was often called “Life, Body and Wit/Talent” ↩︎
2. This type of question may sound vague nowadays, but it must have been common in the premodern era, as Astrology and Geomancy handbooks are full of tips on how to handle it. This was especially true at a time when one couldn’t just arrange an online meeting with the diviner and when one’s time of birth was unknown, so that one may have looked at other possible alternatives to know about their general fortune in life that didn’t involve the birth chart. ↩︎
3. the angles, i.e., the First, Tenth, Seventh and Fourth houses, are considered strong and highly performant, so they endow the figure with strength. ↩︎
4. I am not sure what Abano means here. The angles are traditionally arranged as stronger (First and Tenth) and weaker (Seventh and Fourth) though all are generally strong. He may be referring to this. Or he may be referring to the practice of assigning the angles to the four phases of life, so that maybe a good figure passing, say, in the Seventh, shows good midlife. ↩︎
5. Probably because he remains by himself. ↩︎
6. Because the eighth represents other people’s money (being the second from the seventh). ↩︎
7. “Every entering figure” probably implies “to the exception of Tristitia”. ↩︎
8. It is not clear why Abano mentions the Tenth House. It is possible that this is because the Tenth House opposes the Fourth House of buried and invisible things, and thus shows visibility and coming to light. ↩︎
9. Abano does not seem to count the Twelfth house as being next to the First. He is not the only authority to do so. Possibly this has to do with the doctrine of the Company of Houses, or simply with the fact that, on the Geomantic Shield, the First and Twelfth houses are visually distant. ↩︎