← Encyclopedia of Astrology · lesson 86/235
Angles
What the angles are
A chart is drawn on two crossing lines. The horizon is the line between the sky you can see and the sky below the Earth; the meridian runs from north to south through the point overhead. Where each of these crosses the zodiac gives two points, so together they give four — the angles:
- the Ascendant (ASC), the degree rising on the eastern horizon — the cusp of the 1st house;
- the Imum Coeli (IC), the lowest point, where the meridian passes beneath the Earth — the cusp of the 4th;
- the Descendant (DSC), the degree setting on the western horizon — the cusp of the 7th;
- the Midheaven (MC, medium coeli), where the meridian culminates overhead — the cusp of the 10th.
They come in two pairs, each pair exactly opposite: the Ascendant–Descendant axis (the horizon) and the MC–IC axis (the meridian). The Greek astrologers called them the kentra, the pivots or "centres", on which the whole chart turns; deVore calls them "the most powerful and important arcs in Astrology". They are not bodies but intersections of circles, which is why they have no speed of their own and no dignity.
What they mean together
Each angle has its own entry. As a group they are often read as the chart's four directions of life:
- the Ascendant, the self and the body, how a person meets the world;
- the Descendant, the other — partners, open opponents, whoever stands opposite;
- the Midheaven, public life, vocation and reputation, what is visible;
- the IC, roots, home and family, what lies underneath and what comes at the end.
The two axes are read as pairs of balances: self and other across the horizon, private and public across the meridian.
Why they matter so much
Planets on the angles are prominent. A planet close to an angle is read as unmistakable in the life, for good or ill according to its nature and condition. Lilly gives a planet in the Midheaven or Ascendant the highest of his accidental house scores, and Steven Forrest describes angular planets as "placed on center stage". The houses that begin at the angles, the angular houses, share some of that strength.
The angles carry the birth time. The whole zodiac turns past the angles once a day, so the Ascendant moves on average about a degree every four minutes. That is what makes a chart personal to a moment and a place, and why a birth time that is only roughly known leaves the angles, and every house built on them, uncertain. The planets' signs barely change in that time; the angles change a great deal.
They are timing points. In transits, progressions and directions, a planet crossing an angle is among the most closely watched events, and the ruler of the sign on the Ascendant, the chart ruler, is followed through the whole chart.
Angles and house systems
In the quadrant house systems (Placidus, Koch, Regiomontanus and others) the four angles are the cusps of the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses. In Whole Sign houses the Ascendant falls somewhere inside the 1st house, and in Equal houses the Midheaven floats, landing anywhere from the 9th to the 11th. The angles themselves do not change with the house system — only whether they mark house cusps.
How the angles are shown here
Below the Houses table, the angles table lists the Ascendant and the Midheaven with their sign and degree. The Descendant and IC are the points exactly opposite, so they share their degrees in the opposite signs; the wheel draws all four. The table also lists the Vertex, a point where the prime vertical (the great circle through the east and west points and the point overhead) meets the ecliptic in the west. It is not one of the four angles; some astrologers read it as a point of meetings and turning points that seem to arrive from outside.
In the charts here the Ascendant and Midheaven are allowed an orb of 7° in aspects, and a planet within 3° of any angle counts most towards its prominence, within 8° a little less.