Yeah, Saturn turns me around as I could make a connection to the 4th house based on what I read, but also the 3rd.  It gets clearer when I see what other planets shift. In Equal I have 10th house Sun and 11th house Neptune, which doesn't resonate at ALL. I am the poster child for NO career success. 9th house sun makes sense. As a child I wanted to be a lawyer. I moved abroad 4 years ago and have no desire to go back to the States.  I have traveled extensively internationally through humanitarian work and it is quite comfortable for me- so 9th house resonates. 

I will remain curious and open minded to other house systems, but for now I think I will keep with Koch. I like Koch because it moves my cusp planets over one and that resonates. Like Mars in the 12th feels more like me than Mars in the 11th. I have several 29 degree planets

I also use equal houses. 

For me, it started with my own chart. I have five planets that change house depending on the system. Placidus and Koch have my Leo stellium in the 5th, where Equal has it in the 4th. I resisted for a looooong time. The 5th house just seemed like so much more fun! What teenager wants to be family-oriented? But as I've aged, the 4th house is clearly who I am.

On top of that, it is the difference between Neptune in the 8th or the 9th. I am someone who has always excelled and had a clear mind academically, but I do have nightmares almost every night. 8th house it is. 

Finally, when I made this decision and out it into practice, it was night and day. The charts make so much more sense. I have had several clients mention that the interpretations through equal houses just resonate more. 

So it work for me and it works for clients. I can't argue with results like that!

There are so many different elements of astrology, not just house systems! Over the years I have tried out most of them and had readings from many different kinds of astrologers.  How can all these divergent systems be right? What is the truly right system?

I thought about this a lot and finally concluded astrology is a mental state; each person uses different tools to tap into that mental state. That’s why all these people with different tools can all reach the truth. It’s not the tools so much as finding what allows you to see most clearly: kind of like switching through all those different lenses sitting in the optometrist chair.

For the equal-house proponents, how do you treat the MC/IC axis? I'm highly wedded to interpretations of my current MC and equal-house puts it into a different sign

Aspire I think this makes a lot of sense. It’s interesting topic. I’ve asked the question of those using other house systems and they are just as emphatic the house system they use works with very similar language used in this thread.  I don’t think it is right vs wrong, but just a different lens.  

An equal house chart has no 10h cusp MC, because equal houses are flat equally divided spaced houses based on the ASC degree following around in sign order. The 10h cusp on a calculated chart is also its MC and the 4h cusp is the IC. The midheaven marks the highest point where a planet culminates in the sky for that chart's time and place. But equal house still has to be calculated to get the ASC degree which is then  used around the chart following in sign order as equal houses. The calculations to get the ASC degree results in the calculation for the houses and the MC...but equal house uses no 10 cusp MC or calculated houses because equal houses are divided equally and evenly spaced based on the calculated ASC degree. If the calculated MC is placed in an equal house chart, it is not on a cusp and does not change signs because it is the calculated MC based on the time and place of birth, it represents the MC which marks the calculated angle point where the planets reach their highest point in the sky in a calculated chart. This is seen visually at local noontime sky when the Sun is at its highest point at the MC and from there on it starts to head for setting. It' s like an equal chart is flat showing an uncalculated, equally divided circular Earth horizon with the planets placed around it, and the calculated chart circular Earth horizon houses are showing more dimension by showing height and depth along with the rising and setting places of the planets and stars in the sky viewed from Earth based on an accurate birth time and place. If an equal house chart includes a MC, it does not change signs because it is not the 10h cusp of the equal house chart, it is the calculated point of the actual MC based on the time and place of the birth chart, as is the ASC.