The Tenth House is a very public house. As it's opposite the Fourth House was at the bottom of the chart and very much about roots and origins, the Tenth House is at the top of the chart and about being out in the public eye and shining in the process. If you were to look at the planets when a child was born, the Tenth House planets would be high overhead showing themselves in their full glory. In a similar way this is where a person needs to get out and show himself and his talents. In our analogy this is our child who now an adult has to go out and leave his mark in the world. Will he be a respected scholar or teacher or businessman or philanthropist ? What mark will he leave on the world ? The Tenth House is very much the area of Career. It is our public face. It is not the private face of the fourth house but it is the face our business colleagues will see every day. It is a house of public recognition.
Being naturally ruled by the sign of Capricorn and having many of the same characteristics, this is a place of tradition and hierarchy. Recognition in this house often comes with hard work and dedication and adherence to rules and structure and tradition. It is also the last of the Earth Houses. This is a place where a person manifests something with their talents and all they have learnt up to now. This could be said to be the xenith of a person, the very height of their expression.
The Fourth House is traditionally associated with the Mother and the Tenth House the Father. This is the traditional dominant figure and breadwinner of the house we look up too, much like the midday sun high overhead. However nowadays it can be the other way around with the Mother represented by the Tenth House.
A Person with many planets in the Tenth House will have much of the focus of their lives out in the public eye. They may well have very prominant careers. They are likely to be successful business people and will be pillars of society in the traditional sense. They may be attracted to social status and may be overly bound to their reputations and public image.
With Saturn in the Tenth House a person is likely to be a very successful businessman but probably only after much hard work and possibly a few failures. With Jupiter in the Tenth House a person could be an inspirational schoolteacher, much like the character Mr Keating played by Robin Williams in the movie 'Dead Poets Society'. With Venus in the Tenth House a person may be attracted to social status and will favour traditional or older people.