The other day I somewhere read that Abu Mashar correlated the Chaldean sequence with the housewheel.
Well known: SA JU MA SU VE ME MO
According to Abu Mashar SA should be placed in the first house, followed by JU, MA in the 3rd house ... MO in the 7th, then again SA ... until VE in the 12th.
I must admit that I do not find this very satisfying - although produced by this renowned astrologer.
Thinking it over I finally came to this alternative:
SA must certainly be placed in a cardinal house - but I don't find it satisfying at all seeing it in house one.

I suggest placing SA in house 10.
So: 1oth house SA / 11th: JU / 12th: MA / 1st: SU / 2nd: VE / 3rd: ME / 4th: MO / 5th: SA -
but now 6th house not JU but ME - why?
From 10th to the 5th the sequence is anti-clockwise,
the second sequence is clockwise, again starting with SA in 10, but now - clockwise - : 9th: JU / 8th: MA / 7th: VE / 6th: ME / and finally again SA in the 5th.

I think SU in 1 (east, morning, sunrise) and MO in 4 (night) are very convincing - and so are VE in 7 (sunset, west ) and SA in house 10 .
Every planet except SU and MO rules two signs - and accordingly these five planets appear twice each, and the "Lights" only once each.
Taurus- VE in 2, Libra VE in 7, Gemini ME in 3, Virgo ME in 6 - well-fitting, and so are MA in 8 (I think it must be Scorpio-MA) followed by JU in 9.
JU in 9 and 11 - traditionally JU has its joys in 11.
Hmm, what about SA ? In 10 it's Capricorn- SA, in 5 it's Aquarius- SA. House 5: games etc. - a marked Uranian influence, but every game has its more or less strict rules, so I think SA in 5 is quite appropriate, too.

Hi Lunlumo,

For further reading on this topic you might want to check out John Frawley's book The Real Astrology. He discusses the significance of this Chaldean order schema as applied to the houses in the chapter on houses. Also, Anthony Louis has an article on his blog which you might find of interest here

Thx Jason,
Being confronted with these oustanding astrologers makes it difficult for me to further suggest my view. Neverheless, I still feel that the planets in the cardinal houses ( 1 SU, 4 MO, 7 VE, 10 SA) do make sense.
I'll have a close look at Liily's and Frawley's views.

I don't think there's anything wrong with questioning/exploring the reasoning behind given theories, Lunlumo. In fact, I think it's good to do so and should be encouraged. So please do keep on. i just figured giving you some additional resources to check out might help you formulate your stance further either way.