Rulership

Rulership, also called domicile, is the strongest of the essential dignities. A planet is in rulership when it occupies the sign it governs, as Mars does in Aries or Venus in Taurus. The old image is a planet at home: it has full use of its own resources and expresses its nature with little interference. In practice this reads as a placement that works easily and consistently, which is not the same as a good outcome, since a strong planet badly aspected simply acts strongly. Dignity describes the condition of a planet, not its virtue.