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Imum Coeli

The Imum Coeli (IC), Latin for the bottom of the sky, is the degree of the zodiac on the lower meridian at the moment and place of birth: the point where the ecliptic crosses the meridian beneath the Earth. It lies exactly opposite the Midheaven, and it is where the Sun stands at local midnight. It marks the foot of the chart, and with the Midheaven it forms the meridian axis.

The cusp of the fourth house

In the quadrant house systems the IC is the cusp of the Fourth House. Lilly called it the angle of the earth and the north angle, and ranked the fourth house fourth of the twelve in strength. In equal and whole sign houses the IC is still shown but may fall in the third or fifth house, so the house system in use matters here as it does for the Midheaven.

What it signifies

Where the Midheaven is the most public point of the chart, the IC is the most private. Traditionally it signifies the father, land and property, inheritance, and the end of matters: how things finally come to rest. Modern astrologers read it as roots and origins, home and family, the emotional foundation laid in early life, a sense of belonging, and the private self that sustains a person's public efforts. Howard Sasportas saw the fourth house as the root of the chart, the ground a person needs to make peace with in order to stand firmly. Planets close to the IC tend to work deeply but out of public view, and the sign on it describes the atmosphere of a person's inner home.

Why the birth time matters

Like the Midheaven, the IC moves through the whole zodiac in a day, about a degree every four minutes on average. An inexact birth time leaves it, and the house of home and roots, uncertain.

Reading it

The IC describes the soil a life grows from: the inheritance, the attachments and the need for a place to belong. It inclines; it does not confine a person to where they started, and many people find that understanding their roots is what frees them to grow.

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