Advice for people with malefics in the 4th house
where you have been is not where you're going
The 4th house sits at the very bottom of the chart and therefore acts like the roots of the tree of your life or the soil you grew from. It represents the past, your family, your childhood, your early life experiences, your ancestors, generational stuff you’re carrying and processing, your first experience of love/connection, and your physical home. Developing an understanding of our 4th houses can really help with our overall healing and wellbeing, so definitely take a look at your 4th house!
Malefic planets are simply difficult planets.
Traditionally, Mars and Saturn have been considered malefic planets, meaning that they are often likely to do harm where they are. (Of course they also have other functions too!) The amount (and even the type) of harm they’re capable of doing depends on many different factors. One of the simpler ways to assess their capacity for harm is to consider sect — whether you were born at night or during the day. If you were born during the day (meaning the sun is above the ascendant/descendant axis in your natal chart), Mars may be more challenging for you than Saturn is. If you were born at night (meaning the sun is below the ascendant/descendant axis), Saturn may be more challenging for you that Mars is.
In addition to the two traditional malefics, Pluto and Lilith often behave in a malefic manner, and Neptune, Uranus, and Chiron can too.
If you have any of these planets in the 4th house or conjunct your IC, you may find the tidbits of practical and psychological advice below to be helpful. I also offer an inner child-related reading called The Root, and my books are open now. I’ll eventually be releasing a workbook on caring for your inner child with astrology as well (one of the 10,000 projects I’m working on!).