House Ruler

Properly speaking, only a Sign has a Ruler. A planet in a House is generally its Ruler; or lacking a planet, the House is said to be ruled by the Ruler of the Sign appearing on its cusp. Some earlier authority attempted to clarify this by introducing the term Lord, whereby one could make the distinction: Lord of a House, and Ruler of a Sign. The intention was excellent, but the result has been an indiscriminate use of Lord and Ruler as inter-changeable terms. For a concise terminology it would appear desirable to determine the planet of strongest influence in a House, either because posited there or because it is the Ruler of the Sign on its cusp, and then refer to the selected planet as the Lord of that House. Any term would serve - except Ruler, which term has to do with a planet's strength in a Sign. In fact, the degrees of lordship are largely dependent upon the strength of the planet in, or by virtue, of its Sign-position: whether in its own Sign, exalted or debilitated.