Occult Aspects II

Greetings, and welcome back to Journeys! For my last message of both the year and the decade I will add to the article I presented last month on Occult Aspects. In the process we will open up Mary Shelleys birthchart…

Last month we explored the areas of parallel and contra-parallel aspects, ways in which planets can be connected visually in the sky but which are not represented in a two-dimensional birth chart, and out of bounds planets, which have a degree of independence from the order of being imposed by the Sun. This month I had planned to add a second part covering two topics, but in the planning and then later in the writing I found that these two topics were so massive that I couldn’t really do justice to them in a single post, so I decided to make a three-part post instead of a two-part post, and I’ll share the last part next month.

Both topics are fundamentally about the principle of sacred geometry and the magic of number, in particular how these things are expressed in the zodiac and the aspects used in astrology. Although both of these subjects are fields of interest that have only recently been opened by the advent of the use of computers and software, they are, even when considered individually, still massive areas of exploration which an astrologer could easily spend their entire life dedicated to investigating. These articles will serve only as an introduction to both topics but I will also try to present simple techniques that you can easily apply and use in your toolbox as an astrologer without delving too deeply into their use. If you have a computer program like Solar Fire you will find it much easier to work with these techniques as it will do all of the calculations for you.

NUMBER & THE ZODIAC

First we need to cover some general ground about the relationship between numbers and the zodiac.

Working with numbers is an integral part of being an astrologer. First there are the building blocks of 12 signs split into 4 Elements with 3 modalities and the basic building blocks of aspects which divide the circle of 360° by specific numbers, numbers which imply shapes. For example the aspect of 90° is called a square because it creates a square out of the 360° of the circle.

0° – conjunction, the shape of the circle itself (1×360° = 360°)
60° – sextile, one side of the shape of a perfect hexagon (6×60° = 360°)
90° – square, one side of the shape of a perfect square (4×90° = 360°)
120°– trine, one side of the shape of a perfect triangle (3×120° = 360°)
180°– opposition, the shape of a straight line, or semi-circle (2×180° = 360°)

This shows a geometric relationship between certain aspects and certain numbers. The number 1 is related to the conjunction, the number 2 to the opposition, the number 3 to the trine, the number 4 to the square and the number 6 to the sextile. Notice that the number 5 is missing from the sequence. Expressed within a circle this number produces an aspect of 72°, one which is not widely used in astrology, and which produces a pentagon. Why is the 72° aspect ignored? We will have to return to this question in a moment.

In The 26 Keys I also explain the relationship between the visible planets and Lights with the aspects. The Sun and the Moon, having but one sign each, are cosmic Fluid condensers and are connected to the conjunction aspect, therefore to the number 1. Venus is connected to the sextile aspect, therefore to the number 6. Mars is connected to the square aspect, therefore to the number 4. Jupiter is connected to the trine aspect, therefore to the number 3, and Saturn is connected to the opposition aspect, therefore to the number 2. The connection that planets have to aspects is based on their ruling signs distance from the signs of the two Lights, Cancer and Leo. For example, the two signs of Mars, Aries and Scorpio, are both 90° away from one of the two signs ruled by the Lights (Aries is 90° away from Cancer and Scorpio is 90° away from Leo). Notice here that the planet Mercury, whose signs are both 30° away from one of the signs ruled by the Lights, is not generally given the same weight because astrologers do not generally use the 30° aspect, considering it a “minor aspect” along with the 45° (division of the circle by 8) and 72° (division of the circle by 5), among others. The primary explanation for this is similar to the reason why aspects from transiting Mercury are not usually given a great deal of consideration in astrological consultation – they represent small details more often than not, and much of the time only serve to trigger or activate more powerful transits. However, according to the scheme Mercury lends its nature to the semi-sextile aspect of 30°. It is therefore an aspect of hearsay, chat messaging and curiosities and tends to influence the mental awareness.

Returning to the question of why the 72° aspect is not widely used in astrology and the absence of the number 5 from the first six numbers attributed to the planets/Lights, we can see now that one possible rationale is that the 72° aspect is not measured in increments of 30°. Its planetary nature lies somewhere between that of Venus (60°) and Mars (90°), but is closer to that of Venus. It is something like astral force (Venus) transitioning towards or through individual will (Mars).

The question of the analogy between planets and numbers is a confused and complicated one because different systems apply different thought processes to the matter. The Kabbalistic Tree (in actuality, the Trees, since there are different versions of it) is for example one model which assigns numbers to planets, numbers which differ from those I have just presented, which arise from zodiacal aspects (additionally the numbers of the planetary sephiroth on the Tree/s are analogous to the spheres named after those planets, not the astrological nature of the planets themselves). When considering the relationship between numerology or number magic and astrology, such distinctions are very important to keep in mind. What we are going to be talking about here are deeper levels of connections which involve number in the mechanics of the zodiac. We are not talking about Kabbalah or any other model which draws parallels between the planets and numbers. This is a zodiacal model, and in fact it is not a rigid model but is itself approachable from a number of different directions. Nor is it the only one we could use, it is just the one that I present here.

The two techniques we will talk about this month and next, midpoints and harmonics, dive more deeply into the territory of this basic understanding of geometric patterns. In doing so many questions will be raised as this is a vast area to begin exploring. An excellent resource on both of these topics is the YouTube channel of astrologer David Cochrane. David has provided a vast amount of free material of a very high quality not only on these topics but on others which you may find very interesting. Of particular interest is his video lasting about 30 minutes on the Fibonacci numbers as a basis for the zodiac, something which I highly recommend you watch, because it puts you in the right frame of mind for appreciating the spectacle of symmetry and balance we are dealing with.

The Fibonacci sequence is a key creative tool of nature and is displayed in the patterns of the branching of trees and the arrangement of leaves on stems, the spirals of the shell and pine cone, the flowering of blossoms and the family tree of honeybees, among many other things. The first 9 Fibonacci numbers are 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13, and 21. Each number in the sequence is the sum of the two previous numbers, starting with 0+1. When the Fibonacci sequence is filtered through a base of 10 (i.e. each time the sum of the numbers goes higher than 10, you drop the first digit so that for example 21 becomes 1), the first 9 numbers become 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,3,1. If you keep doing this until the numbers begin to repeat the exact same sequence, you end up with a repeating string of 60 single digit numbers. The interesting astrological patterns begin to emerge when you plot these numbers into a circle as Davids video clearly shows. The patterns around the numbers 0 and 5 are especially significant.

What this patterning clearly shows is that the division of the tropical zodiac circle into 12 signs of 30° and the placement of the Active or Cardinal signs which initiate the seasons is directly harmonic with the Fibonacci sequence. It also magnificently displays the complex relationship between the mathematics of number and the formation of resonant geometric shapes, which are essentially what astrological aspects are, and the significance of spin or rotation. It makes clear in a very visual way the essential point of this message, the number one takeaway in probably all of astrology – everything is interconnected by the circle, and the circle (or spiral) is the fundamental shape of all life. The aspects that are presented in our birth chart which show the connections between planets in the circle of the zodiac – conjunction, sextile, square, trine and opposition – are called the ‘major aspects’ because they are the ones which are easier to recognise, not really because they are always more important. The Self is whole, the awareness of that Self, however, is partial, with some features rising to prominence and others remaining occulted until we bring our awareness to them.

The video by David Cochrane outlines another zodiac based number system we could use via the Fibonacci sequence, but odd numbers are more represented than even numbers in this system and each number is given 6° of the zodiac before a new number takes over from it. It would be nice if we had only one system for everything, but unfortunately nature and the law of analogy do not quite work like that. Every system will have oddities and ambiguities in it, for example in the zodiacal system I use there is no distinction between the Sun and the Moon, since they are both attributed the number 1. Using the Fibonacci sequence, odd numbers are twice as commonly distributed, and you have to work with 0 as a concept.

MIDPOINTS

With midpoints it is like we are looking at the zodiac through a high-powered and very adjustable microscope. With harmonics it is more like changing the lens of a camera so that it focuses in on a particular dimension or state of awareness by applying a coloured filter. Both topics also allow us to work more easily and insightfully with the so-called ‘minor aspects’. The first topic to examine, midpoints, will help us to work with the 45° and 135° aspects (half divisions of the 90° arc), while the second topic, harmonics, will help us work with the 30°, 32°42’, 36°, 40°, 45°, 51°24’ and 72° aspects (divisions of the circle by 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 and 5 respectively). They will do this in different ways, but both topics give us a deeper understanding of how objects within the circle are interconnected to one another by being collectively present upon its circumference.

First, if you know anything about astrology and aspects already, you are already familiar with the idea of midpoints in their most basic form. The fact that charts have aspect patterns has taught you this. A square can be placed between an opposition and also in opposition to another planet on the other side of the zodiac that is also in a square with the same points, an aspect pattern which is called a Grand Cross because it is made of 4×90° aspects arranged in a perfect square and bisected by a cross that connects each of the opposite corners. Basically a square (90°) is half of an opposition (180°). A sextile (60°) is also half of a trine (120°) and one third of an opposition (180°) in the same way.

For example your Sun could be 12° Leo in opposition to your Moon at 12° Aquarius. Meanwhile, your Mars could be exactly square to both of them at 12° of Taurus. In its simplest form we would say that your Mars is at the midpoint of your Sun and Moon. It’s literally at the middle point between them in the zodiac being 90° apart from both of them, while they are 180° apart from one another. An astrologer would not miss this midpoint because they would interpret the squares between the Sun and Mars and the Moon and Mars as well as the opposition between the Sun and the Moon, because they all involve major aspects. This midpoint can be compactly expressed as the formula Sun + Moon = Mars.

However, midpoints exist between every pairing of objects in the birth chart, not just between those which are in a major aspect. So if instead your Sun is at Leo 12° and your Moon is at Libra 12°, while your Mars is at Virgo 12°, your Mars is still at the midpoint of the Sun and Moon because it is exactly 30° apart from both of them. Likewise, if your Sun is at Leo 10° and your Moon is at Virgo 16°, then they are 36° apart, the midpoint or half way point being 18° from the Sun’s Leo 10° position, thus at 28° of Leo. Any planet at 28° of Leo will then be at the midpoint between the Sun and the Moon. Even though it is 18° away from both of them, it will be intimately connected to each of them almost at a chemical level in terms of the astrology involved.

This doesn’t mean that midpoints are like having the planets in a major aspect or pattern in your birth chart, because midpoints do not have the prominence that those aspects do. If you have your Aries Sun and Libra Moon in opposition and with a Cancerian Mars square to both of them, that’s a major aspect pattern called a T-square while also being an expression of the midpoint Sun + Moon = Mars. If instead your Sun is in Taurus and your Moon is in Libra while your Mars in Leo is at their midpoint, that’s just Sun + Moon = Mars and not a major aspect (unless there is a sextile between Moon and Mars or square between Sun and Mars, which would still matter of course). The signs are important in the midpoint formula, and so are temples/houses. If the signs/degrees are not in a natural square relationship to one another, there is no square.

To help you calculate the distance between two planets quickly it is very helpful to memorize the places in the zodiac where the 12 signs begin and to do the calculation by degree of the zodiac, not degree of sign. For example Aries is from 0° to 30°, Taurus is from 30° to 60°, Gemini from 60° to 90° and so on. So the position of a planet at 6° of Gemini is actually 66° in the zodiac. Below is the order to memorize:

0-30: Aries
30-60: Taurus
60-90: Gemini
90-120: Cancer
120-150: Leo
150-180: Virgo
180-210: Libra
210-240: Scorpio
240-270: Sagittarius
270-300: Capricorn
300-330: Aquarius
330-360: Pisces

To calculate a midpoint between two objects in your birth chart simply follow these 5 steps:

1) Figure out what each object’s position is in the zodiac (i.e. 0 to 360°) using the ordering above.
2) Deduct the lower number from the higher number.
3) Divide the result by 2.
4) Add the result from 3) to the lower number from 2).
5) Then reconvert the result back into a sign position using the ordering again. This is the midpoint.

Alternatively, you can simply calculate your midpoints using a software program or online service. However, before you rush off to do so there are some other things that you need to know.

First, research has shown that a midpoint is not an isolated spot in the zodiac but is instead part of a resonant field which connects with other spots in the zodiac as part of a geometric structure. In total every midpoint has 8 sensitive locations in the zodiac. These locations then compose the structure for a single midpoint. You now need to find the other seven.

The first three of these are easy to find, while the remaining four are a little trickier mathematically. The first three are the degrees in the zodiac which are directly opposite to the midpoint as well as the degrees in the zodiac which are exactly 90° away on either side from it. So if your midpoint is at Scorpio 10°, then the first three other areas in the zodiac which are also considered the midpoint are Taurus, Leo and Aquarius 10°. In other words they are the remaining Fixed or Stable signs, and the degree is the same.

The remaining four are actually the midpoints between the four midpoints you have just found, in other words they are 45° away from each of these midpoints. So in the above example the next four midpoints are as follows:

Gemini 25° (Taurus 10° +45°, or one sign +15°)
Virgo 25° (Leo 10° +45°, or one sign +15°)
Sagittarius 25° (Scorpio 10° +45°, or one sign +15°)
Pisces 25° (Aquarius 10° +45°, or one sign +15°)

As you can see, once you have figured out one of these final four midpoints you can quickly figure out the rest just by changing the signs, because they will always belong to either all of the Cardinal/Active signs, or all of the Fixed/Stable signs all of the Mutable/Reactive signs. In the above example the first midpoint we worked out was 25° of Gemini, so we didn’t really need to work out the rest – all we really needed to do is change the sign to the other three Mutable/Reactive signs to find the remaining three midpoints. The degree is identical.

Now that you know all 8 sensitive parts of the zodiac which resonate with a particular midpoint, you need to know how big the orb of the midpoint is and the majority of astrologers agree that only 1° and no more should be used. There is a good reason for this and that is because we are metaphorically looking at the horoscope through a microscope, which tightens all of the orbs, but more importantly it is more accurate and severely restricts anything extraneous.

Now you can see why the advent of computers has made midpoints more popular even though they’ve been around for quite a few centuries at least – there is just a lot of information to calculate when you consider that every planet and object, including the ascendant and midheaven, has a midpoint with every other object and angle. Some astrologers even use the house cusps in midpoint work. With computer software all the midpoints in a chart can be calculated with the click of a button after a few selections from a menu. They have freed astrologers from the shackles that bound them and liberated them to actually do research in this area after centuries in which it has lain fallow. Almost 30 years have passed now since this became practical, and the forest floor is coming alive…

PRACTICE and INTERPRETATION

First of all assuming that you want to add midpoints to your understanding of astrology and include them in your work I advise you to calculate a couple of midpoints on your own, either in your head or on paper or with a calculator, before using any kind of astrological software to do so. It’s just better to have your own mental understanding of what you’re doing before you set the computer loose to generate reams of data. I have some advice on that below. Secondly, once you have all the data you need help interpreting it and there are some methods you can use which help you to organise it so that you can do so without losing your mind, as well as some tips on what it signifies. I have some advice on that too. Third, there are a couple of ways you can use this in conduction and during activations, as well as ways you can experiment with midpoints using these techniques. This will be all I have time and space for sharing in this article.

The first midpoints that you should calculate are the Sun/Moon and ascendant/midheaven midpoints. The latter is very dependent on you having an accurate time of birth, and in cases where this is off by more than 4 minutes the 1° orb of a midpoint will mean that you get inaccurate results. However this does mean that using the ascendant/midheaven midpoint is a way to rectify a birth time when it is obscure or possibly inaccurate, because you can use this midpoint as a way to check or fine tune a potential or likely time of birth. This is a massive task in most cases, though, even with software.

The next midpoints you should work out are the midpoints between the Sun and your ascendant ruler and the Moon and your ascendant ruler (assuming that they are different in each case) and then the midheaven and the ascendant ruler as well as the ascendant and the ascendant ruler. If you wish to carry on you can then do the same with the ruler of the midheaven. In most cases I consider these things to be the core chemistry of the midpoints in every chart. However if there is a particular planet I’m interested in probing more deeply then I will use midpoints to do so.

For example, suppose I want to know more about how my Venus operates. What I would do is I will calculate all of the midpoints that Venus has with everything else in the chart, and then I will check to see if there is anything in my chart that is 1° or less away from those midpoints. I might discover for example that my Venus/Jupiter midpoint is at the same spot as my natal Saturn. Then I will record that as a formula, in this case Venus + Jupiter = Saturn. Then I will use the software to generate data that shows me where Venus sits at the midpoint of other planets midpoints, for example Sun + Neptune = Venus. Here, Venus is sitting on the midpoint of somebody else, rather than having somebody else sitting on one of her midpoints. The difference between these two things is that in the first case Venus is the product of a combination while in the second case Venus is one half of two things being combined which are then expressing themselves in a certain way. When a planet is the product of the midpoint combination I call it the receptor and when it is one of the parts being combined I call it a contributor. So in the formula Venus + Jupiter = Saturn, Venus and Jupiter are contributors and Saturn is the receptor. Usually there is only one receptor but in the case of natal patterns that are very close (e.g. being born during an eclipse or a stellium within less than 1°) there can be two or more. The same is true for contributors. These are my own terms, not those of astrology as a whole.

It is common to find that a planet is the receptor for many different midpoints and in the case of certain charts (for example charts which have a Grand Cross or Grand Kite) an individual midpoint can connect with multiple receptors. From a natal interpretation perspective the midpoints which have receptors are more important than those which do not, since they will only gain receptors through progressions and transits, or by relationships with others. Therefore if you are using midpoints as a natal astrologer you can practically ignore all of the midpoints without receptors and just focus on those which do have receptors in the natal chart. Any object can be a midpoint receptor or contributer including a non-physical one like the North and South nodes of the Moon. We can call midpoints which have receptors ‘direct midpoints’ while those which do not ‘indirect midpoints’.

Many programs can organise information on direct midpoints into structures called midpoint trees which I find very helpful. As an example here are the birth chart and midpoint trees that Solar Fire generated for Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein:

Look at her Mercury midpoint tree, the last one in the list at the bottom of the report. You can see that the midpoint for Sun/Jupiter is only 14’ away, so Sun + Jupiter = Mercury. Next is Saturn/North node, so Saturn + North node = Mercury. But next in the list is the Moon. This shows that Mercury and the Moon in her chart are connected by midpoints. This is because they are in a close natal square with one another.

We can see that the Moon in Sagittarius is in a close square with Mercury in Virgo. Because of this they are both at the same degrees of different Mutable/Reactive signs and therefore any midpoints that focus on that part of the Mutable/Reactive signs will pick up both Mercury and the Moon. Also notice that I have selected a 45° modulus in the top left of the midpoint tree report – this is the modulus you must select to display the 8 midpoints I have described in this article as a tree.

If we were to just study her Mercury from its aspects and natal position, we do not see much prospect of success for her writing – even though it is a strong Mercury in Virgo on the cusp of the 5th, it squares both the Moon and the ascendant, indicating a struggle or battle to express her ideas. Look through the microscope of midpoints, however, and you see that Mercury and the Moon are part of the Sun/Jupiter midpoint, which certainly helped with her fortune, popularity and success. The Saturn/node midpoint can also be interpreted as being a sign of a lasting legacy. This was a bold Aries Jupiter in the 11th, a Jupiter capable of fulfilling hopes, and a private 4th temple Virgo Sun conjunct Uranus (weird science) that aptly describes the imaginary laboratory where her famous creation is both based and brought to life. The central question of hubris in the novel – does humanity have the right to play God? – is also certainly very resonant with a connection to the Sun/Jupiter and Saturn/node midpoint. The creature itself is pitiful but compassionate, like an abandoned child, traits we can trace to Saturn in Cancer, while its attempts to reach out to and communicate with a little deaf girl are resonant with the node in Gemini in the 12th. Mary Shelley’s Mercury in Virgo became a receptor for the combination of these ideas.

It was still a struggle of course – she cannot get away from the squares of the natal Mercury, particularly the square to the Moon – but the underlying chemistry of Sun/Jupiter must have given her extra confidence and motivation in spite of her struggle to find and express her ideas, and the Saturn/node midpoint probably helped to connect her with an important authority in the form of Lord Byron. Because these two midpoints relate to both Mercury and the Moon, we can say that they are also part of the chemistry of the square between the Moon and Mercury, which enables us to extract great detail about a single aspect.

Midpoint trees are showing intricate and sensitive connections between planets, almost like the nervous system in our own bodies as opposed to the organs (the planets) and the circulatory system (aspects). These are the ways in which planets resonate with one another invisibly through the power of geometric resonance within the circle, they are basically like aspects but they are placed as wiring under the board. Touching one part of a midpoint tree (for example via a progressed planet or a transiting planet, or synastry with another person) sends ripples and waves through the entire structure of the tree, activating many parts of the chart at once. In this they are like aspect patterns (like the Grand Cross or T–Square, etc), but the effect of activation is much subtler, more diffuse and spread out throughout the entire network at once. The exception here is when there is a natal receptor being activated by a transit, i.e. when it is a direct midpoint, since in this case there will be a large focusing and gathering of energy at the point of the receptor.

To put this into clearer form, let’s take an example by putting Mary Shelley’s Mercury under the microscope. Let’s imagine that she has a Jupiter activation of this Mercury going on. This will result in a direct and very strong activation of Mercury by Jupiter, as well as an indirect but also very strong activation of her Moon and ascendant (because of the natal square between them and Mercury). Her Venus and Chiron will also be getting some Jupiter energy coming their way, because they are in conjunctions with her natal Mercury. However, the midpoint tree structure will also be activated, which means that a subtler and more diffuse and gentler but still dynamic activation of the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn and the North node will also occur. Midpoint structures of the 45° modulus are dynamic, so even though activation by midpoint is subtler they still initiate activity. The main event in this activation will still be Jupiter conjunct Mercury and square Moon and ascendant, but there will be details added by the midpoint structure that Mercury is entangled with.

Midpoint trees are therefore very useful tools, much like the sensitive points listing I have described in an earlier article. They add very specific details to your interpretation of the planets in the signs and many of the aspects between them. Like the sensitive points listing, midpoints can also add very specific and granular detail to the territory of the zodiac and the specific parts of the zodiac which are enclosed by the temples. You can take a complete list of all your sensitive points and midpoints and sort them by zodiac signs or by temples so that you can see what the overall detail of that part of your chart is like. In this way even if you have a temple in your chart that is completely empty of natal planets, you can plot and chart the course of transiting planets through that ‘empty’ area of your chart in very great detail, making observations about the effect it has when it reaches the receptive points for all of the midpoints in that sign or temple. This is one of the more effective ways to generate your own daily horoscope, simply use the transiting Sun and Moon to add great detail to your interpretation of their daily and even hourly position in relation to a chart.

You can also use Solar Fire to organise midpoints into lists, for example you can generate a list showing all of the midpoints in a planetary order (for example all the midpoints where the Sun is involved, followed by all of those where the Moon is involved, etc.) or in zodiacal order from Aries to Pisces. To do this, however, you need to change the modulus from 45° to 360° so that the report will display information in the correct form. You will then end up with a report that looks like this:

I find the zodiacal order (called ‘sorted by angle’) to be more useful than the planetary sorting, since the zodiacal order is something I can use in conduction. However because we changed the modulus from 45° to 360° in order to get the zodiac back, the listing is only showing us the first of the 7 midpoints talked about in this article, the primary one from which the others were generated. The rest are missing from the list but can easily be calculated using the method I have described or by generating a different report with the program. In Solar Fire you just select midpoint modes report and change back to a 45° modulus, which will display the information below:

It can take a while to figure out what all the different options do and how to create them and then a little bit longer to work out your preferences, but once you have a handle on it after a few charts you will probably want to continue using midpoints in the future. Interpret these formula as ‘micro aspects’ or ‘cell chemistry’ in the chart. They can be remarkably accurate and informative but on a smaller scale so that they represent fascinating details and nuances to what is already present in the birth chart.

Pay special attention to the Sun/Moon midpoint, especially if you are a practicing magician. This midpoint is about how we integrate our life experiences, what we distill from them in terms of their meaning and significance. It is also a major midpoint for the expression of our character, our spirit and soul as a combined awareness and expression of life. I have found it to be especially significant for the magical equilibrium. The rhythm and pulse of the magical equilibrium is individually attuned to our astrological interaction with both of the Lights. The transit of the Moon every month over our Sun sign position acts to give us a monthly glimpse into the state of our equilibrium by showing us how we feel about where we are with it, while the annual transit of the Sun over our Moon sign position is similar but more powerful and shows us a glimpse of what our true state of equilibrium is actually like, even when we do not have it established. The Sun/Moon midpoint, however, is about our ability and opportunity to make adjustments which are in line with that individual equilibrium. Since there are 8 positions in the zodiac for the Sun/Moon midpoint there will be 8 days every year in which the midpoint is activated by the transiting Sun (i.e. the Sun becomes the temporary receptor for the Sun/Moon midpoint), and each will be about 45 days apart from the next. This phenomena will last about 1 to 2 days either side of the day the Sun becomes receptor for the midpoint, So in total there are about 24 days per year in which we are greatly assisted in making significant adjustments to our equilibrium, and the Sun/Moon midpoint shows when they occur. Similarly, there will be 8 days every month when the transiting Moon is the receptor for the Sun/Moon midpoint, spread about 3 1/2 days apart each. This phenomena is relatively short lived (like a mood as opposed to a state of being) so will only last a few hours and may entirely occur while we are asleep, which can result in extremely vivid, dramatic or powerful dreams that hold clues as to how our equilibrium is evolving or needs to adapt to situations we are experiencing.

The ascendant/midheaven midpoint is a very social midpoint connecting our public role with our conscious identity. This midpoint helps us to find our role in life, the profession or objective which we feel happy to dedicate our life’s work to, and to express who we are within that role. It enables us to engage with other people in discourse and shared planning for the future since it often falls in the 11th temple and so brings hope and companionship, community spirit. If the Sun, Moon or ruler of the midheaven or ascendant is on this midpoint it often makes it easier for us to know what we are born to do, what is innate in us to achieve, and how to achieve it. Knowing the locations of the midpoints themselves allows you to plot them onto a calendar as above, and again there will be 8 of them spread around the chart equidistant from one another, but if you stack them into trees you can also see how they relate to other objects and midpoints, and this can be even more helpful.

One final tip – I’ve noticed an interesting thing about activations (whether by transit or progression) and midpoint structures. Sometimes two different activations will activate the same midpoint tree at the same time. For example you might have Jupiter activating the Sun and Saturn activating Mars and because of the way your midpoint structure is arranged with Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all connected together these two activations then combine into a much more powerful experience. This is different to when the two activations are not connected in the midpoint tree, then they act more like separate experiences which are happening at the same time rather than a singular experience with many layers.

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If you are a patron for the site feel free to write to me and ask for all the reports I have given you in this article for any chart that you wish to examine. I’m also happy to talk about all of it with you if you wish. Those of you who are not patrons can also book time with me to discuss these options if you wish. I hope this short dip into the world of midpoints has tantalised you and made you want to dive deeper, I will be back with more in 2020. Happy New Year to all of you and may the best be yet to come! Make the world what it needs to be and don’t forget to love each other!