Houses are ASPECTS which generate ACTIVITY. Because the Ascendant or Rising Sign(representing Earth) is the most salient feature in the chart, it is used to create the houses, which are a sophisticated way of showing how the planets relate(by sign) to it. So, the Sun in the fifth house is a fancy way of saying that it is in lower or dexter trine(by sign) to the Ascendant. The lower or dexter trine in astrology is synonymous with the 5th sign of Leo, so that planets in this house of Leo will generate activities associated with that sign(love, children, creativity, etc.). In reality, every planet can have its own set of houses, but because the Ascendant marks us so strongly, aspects(houses) to it are deemed the most significant.

Planets in a house will be more important than the sign of that house. When there are no planets in a house, the sign(and its ruler) will take precedence. I must make it clear that I am using the whole sign house system here which I promote in all my articles. So if you have Mars in the 5th house, for example, you will be active in the affairs of Leo(love, affection, dating, play, games, sports, drama, theatre, show, fun, and entertainment in general). What if you have no planets here. Then the sign of your 5th house will generalize your activity there. If Cancer is there, then you will like to entertain at home or with family. Is this all? Certainly not. This is where house linkage comes in which made possible though the system RULERSHIP.

Every sign has a ruling planet. Leo, for example, is ruled the Sun, and Cancer by the Moon. Gemini and Virgo are ruled by Mercury, Taurus and Libra are ruled by Venus, Aries and Scorpio are ruled by Mars, Sagittarius and Pisces are ruled by Jupiter, and Capricorn and Aquarius are ruled by Saturn. In the last few hundred years, the dicoveries of Uranus(1781), Neptune(1846), and Pluto(12930) have taken over the rulerships of Aquarius, Pisces, and Scorpio respectively, but the old rulers still work to some degree. In the future, the signs ruled by Mercury and Venus will also have their own unique rulers.

So with Cancer on the 5th house, we look to the Moon and where it is placed in the chart. If the Moon is in Leo, then it will be placed in the 2nd house, and both the 5th and 2nd houses will be linked together in the interpretation. The house the Moon is in is more important than the sign its in and the interpretation would be as follows; This person likes to entertain at home or with family(Cancer on the 5th), but he will need money to do so(ruler in the 2nd house). If there are other planets in the the 2nd house, they must be taken into account as well -what houses do those planets rule? This will bring in other factors, and so on. Usually, linking two houses will be sufficient, as it may get too complicated after that.

What if the ruler of a house is situated in its own house(dignified planet)? Then the affairs of that house will be more simple and straightfoward with the native being fully in charge there. The next most powerful is in the case of a mutual reception where one planet rules the others' house(or sign), such as Sun in Aquarius in the 4th in mutual reception to Uranus in Leo in the 10th. Both signs and houses will be inseparably linked or taken into account when interpreted. When a house is linked to many other houses via rulership or dispositorship there are too many dependencies or variables involved and the native will have less control over the affairs of those houses. Some say this could also indicate better overall integration of the different parts of the native, but I would have to disagree here, since in the ideal chart, every planet is dignified