Chapter 7 - House Rulership in Practice presents more detailed than in the previous chapters the houses rulership grouped in sections like Main Rulership, Horary Astrology, Mundane Astrology, Lawsuits, Events, Medical Matters, Commerce, Colors, Qualities, Direction, Associated Planets and Signs, Names. Here you'll find only what a house rules, not explanations, theories, principles. For example let's see some lines from the 5th house analyze:

"Main rulerships: children, pregnancy, sex of the unborn child. The health and condition of the children. If afflicted trouble and distress from the children. Romance, love affairs, lovemaking, procreation and conception. [...] Pleasure, gifts and all pleasant things. [....] Dancing, music, merriment. Clothes, fineries, rich, luxurious things. [...] Sports and places associated with it. [...]

In horary astrology: children of the querent. The possibility of pregnancy and the sex of the unborn child. [...] The father's wealth and his personal possessions. [...]

In mundane astrology: the supplies, ammunition and resources of a town under attack [...] All public places of enjoyment and recreation: parks, publicly owned state buildings, national and art galleries etc. [...]

In medical matters: the stomach, liver, heart and back. [...]"

This is only a little part, you'll find in the book approximately 2-3 pages for every house. The author is very well documented and succeeds in presenting a clear and realistic image of our current understanding about houses, focusing on the traditional astrology literature. Especially the part where she writes about house rulership in Horary Astrology is very interesting.

In Chapter 8 - Difficulties of House Division the author explains the methodology behind the most popular house systems: Morinus, Campanus, Regiomontanus, Placidus, Alcabitius, Koch, Equal-Houses, Whole Sign Houses, Porphyry. You'll find when and how they developed and what are the differences between those various systems.

In Chapter 9 - Ptolemy's Powerful Places Deborah Houlding writes about Ptolemy's method to determine the houses. Ptolemy chose 5 "powerful places" for planets: 1, 7, 9 and 11 house. After that theory, the author presents some historical facts in order to prove that traditional astrologers put a lot of efforts to determine the exact degree of the Ascendant, which is seen by the author like an argument that they were not using Whole Sign House. She, also, is an astrologer who does not sustain the Whole Sign Houses system. The problem with the best system of house division is a very confusing area of astrology, where nobody had found until now an answer accepted by all astrologers. Let's see a final thought:

"In this, I am guilty as anyone else, but my summary is that the modern astrologer, seeking to resolve the problem of house division by reference to historical sources, will ultimately conclude that those sources do not, will not and cannot provide an authoritative voice. The problem exist because there are so many valid frames of reference and it is impossible to fully recognize the symbolic potential of them all within any one technique. So, we must make our selection according to where our inclination lie."

The idea behind this conclusion, which also results from other passages of the book, is that everyone can use the house system which works better for him. That we shouldn't look for a house system which works on every situation, for any person. I saw this idea in Bernadette Brady's Predictive Astrology also, but I don't agree. I think we must find one real, reliable, true house system division that works for everyone, in every situation. I can't analyze a chart with one system and another astrologer with other house system and both to be good! It is a nonsense! For example, supposing the houses symbolizes the same things for all, if two astrologers analyze a chart and in one system the 3rd house is in Gemini, in the second system is in Taurus this will bring very different results. How can this situation be explained?

The final part of the book has an Appendix named Glossary of traditional terms, one with the planetary hours and one named Al Biruni's advice on finding the hour of birth.

MY EVALUATION: 8,2

Conclusion. Deborah Houlding's Houses Temples of the Sky is a book which comes in a very controversial territory of astrology: houses. We generally know what houses signify, but there are important debates on a decisive matter: house division, a "detail" which can change tremendously the interpretation. This book don't even try to solve that problem and, also, does not give a good explanation to another issue: the houses succession. We receive an explanation for the angles succession based on the Egyptian solar philosophy, but the other houses are explained mainly by using planetary joys, the aspects with the Ascendant and the relation with angles. Nothing about the relation of the 8th house with the 9th house, for example. More, the explanation for angles succession is based on the move of the Sun from the 1st house to 10th and 7th, so in reverse order. In conclusion, if you use the Sun symbolism in this way to explain the angles then you must be able to explain every house in this order. If you say that the Sun is born in the 1st house and mature in 10th, then explain what is happening in 12 or 11 house. In my opinion, these are the two subjects which deserved more attention from the author: house division and house succession.

Beyond that, the book is excellent and will give answers to almost any question relating houses. You'll find a detailed analyze for every house and the house symbolism not only for natal astrology, but also for horary, mundane and medical astrology. The author succeeds to make a clear synthesis of what is written about houses, paying more attention to the traditional astrology texts. My evaluation is 8,2.