ASCENDANT AND MIDHEAVEN: THE ANGLES

By Jeff Mayo

You have learned that the planets represent life-principles in man, which function through any of 12 basic types or modes of expression (signs). Each life-principles and each of the 12 basic types are contained within you and me, as essential energy and substance of being, but as individuals we each respond more readily to certain of these factors than we do to others. The predominant factors are responsible for distinguishing characteristics and behaviour. Later you will learn how to assess the predominant factors.

Two very important factors, which are always predominant in an individual’s personal make-up are the Ascendant and the Midheaven (the latter usually called M.C., from Latin: Medium Coeli). These refer to what are called the angles. They can only be calculated when the time, or approximate time, of birth is known. At present chapter, I will introduce you briefly to their derivation and their functions in the general psychological structure of any one of us.

The Ascendant is determined by the degree of the ecliptic which is rising (due to the rotation of the Earth on its axis) on the eastern horizon at birth, that is, at a given moment of time, viewed at a horizontal angle from the birthplace. You must get it clear that the Ascendant is only a fixed point in the birth-chart. In reality, because the Earth is continually rotating, there is a new degree of the ecliptic rising over the horizon every moment of the day and night. This rising degree, as it is called, is always the degree on the cusp of the 1^sthouse of the birth-chart.

The Ascendant is more than just this single degree. It is the whole zodiacal sign containing the Rising Degree. We call its opposite sign, containing the degree which at the same moment is descending below the western horizon, the Descendant. This is always the degree on the cusp of the 7^th house. For instance, if the Ascendant were Leo 5º, the Descendant would be Aquarius 5º. The Midheaven refers to that degree where the ecliptic reaches its highest point (in its above the horizon) at the meridian of any place at a given time. This degree is also called the culminating degree.

The Midheaven is more than just this single degree. It is the whole zodiacal sign containing the culminating degree. We call the opposite degree, which at the same moment is the lowest point of the ecliptic below the horizon and intersecting the meridian of the birthplace, the I.C. If Taurus 7º were on the M.C., Scorpio 7º would be on the I.C.

The Descendant and I.C. in the psychological sense are of considerably less importance to the Ascendant and M.C. They have a distinct value in regard to the house (sphere of life) they correspond to in the chart, and also indicate complementary characteristics to those associated with the particular Ascendant and M.C., signs. For example, a person with an Aries Ascendant will have a typically assertive, me first, impulsive personality, but will need to balance these powerful traits by exercising the more cooperative and less fiery attributes of its polarity, Libra, on the Descendant.

We get a clue to the astrologer’s interpretation of the Ascendant when we remember that the Sun rises every morning on the eastern horizon, and sets each evening on the western horizon, wherever you view this phenomenon from on Earth. Of course, the Sun is not going to be actually on the eastern horizon at the birth moment of each one of us, simply because the Ascendant refers to degree rising on the eastern horizon. The Sun will only be close to the Ascendant in the charts of those born around sunrise; as it will always be close to the M.C. in the charts of those born around noon; and close to the Descendant in the charts of those born around sunset; and close to the I.C., in the charts of those born around midnight.

The Ascendant has a significant relationship to awakening self-consciousness in man, hence the personality. We see the analogy here, the eastern horizon representing dawn, the darkness of night (as the unconscious) broken by the first light of a new day. The M.C. has a significant relationship to established self-consciousness, hence the Ego. At noon the influence of the Sun is most powerful, the light of day is brightest, analogous to consciousness at its most “wide awake”.

The Ascendant, therefore, corresponds to that aspect of man we call the personality. Jung speaks of the Persona, from the Greek persona, meaning a mask, a pretended character, worn by an actor. Because the Ascendant derives from the horizon of a person’s birthplace, and is determined by the Earth’s rotation, an interesting yet nevertheless consistent fact becomes clear: the personality or Persona is an adopted attitude largely conditioned and impressed upon an individual by his particular Earth-environment. According to which zodiacal type represents the Ascendant so will that individual draw on its characteristics with which to mould this mask, this pose, between his real nature and the outside world of his environment. The Persona is one’s form of adjustment and immediate response to the world-outside-oneself.  It can be the face a man wears whilst he projects himself into his business and social activities, concealing much of his true character that only his intimates –and often not even they- know exists. 

The Ascendant, however, does not supply the complete picture of the Persona, but the essential part or it. We must also realize that the Persona is not entirely some sort of mask or false nature we hide behind. True, the more sophisticated we become the more powerfully the Persona shuts off our natural self. But it is also through the mode of the Ascendant or Persona that we will learn to differentiate between what we find within our true self and what we recognize in others.

When assessing the personality or Persona, therefore, you must look primarily to the Ascendant for the strength and mode of one’s conscious adjustment to environment, according to the sign on the Ascendant. The Ascendant is like the lens of a camera: all other factor in the chart have to be “focused through” the Ascendant, and so become modified by its attitude.

The definition of the Ego varies with different writers. I prefer Jung’s suggestion that it is essentially the focal point of consciousness. The conscious aspect of ourselves might be compared to the visible part an island jutting from de see; all that is the island below the sea is our unconscious; the sea itself is the collective unconscious we share with all mankind. The visible island is the Ego, that part of ourselves which identifies ourselves as a separate being.

Jupiter and Saturn in a chart indicate the ability to express oneself consciously, and therefore are important significators of the quality and growth of the Ego. The essential focal point of the Ego, however, for its objective function of consciously experiencing oneself, is through the zodiacal type or sign at the M.C.