When we talk about astrology, most people know their sun sign, and lately you will find folks who know their moon sign too. The millennials seem to be savvy enough to know their rising sign (Ascendant) as well. This is the sign that was rising at the time you were born, it is the cusp of the first house. If you were born at sunrise, it will be the same sign as your Sun sign. If you were born at sunset, it will be the opposite sign.
Sun, moon and Ascendant are the trifecta that defines in part your astrological signature. What most don't realize is there is a fourth point that is equally important. This is the midheaven, or medium coeli, from the Latin for middle of the sky, so MC for short. The midheaven is the cusp of the 10th house, and the sign at the top of your chart.
This sign plays a key role relating to your career, your social standing, one or both of your parents, your attitudes toward authority and more. In addition, I have often found that children are born under the same sign as the parents MC. I have a Cancer MC and both my children are born under the sign Cancer.
The fact that the MC was key to who we are was shown to me when I was taking an aerobics class. The teacher was the women's rugby coach at the University of Wisconsin. She was very fit and very athletic. As I followed along with her, I kept thinking, she must have so much more fire in her chart than I do. Fire signs, Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are the most naturally athletic signs. Jane Fonda, for example, is a Sagittarius.
So I asked my rugby teacher when her birthday was. To my surprise it was the same day as mine. Then I asked her, what year? Same year! Then I asked her the time, and went home and ran her chart. She had a Sagittarius midheaven. And that was really the key difference between our two charts. So from then on I really paid attention to the MC.
Another reason you want to understand the angles is they are key in forming friendships and relationships. The Ascendant Descendant angle is you and the other, or you and unexpressed parts of yourself you seek to find in a mate or a business partner. The MC -nadir (signs on house 4 and 10) are equally key. If someone has an angle or inner planet on your nadir then you will feel at home with them. If someone's MC is equal to your Ascendant, you may be friends for life.
Planets on an angle play a big role in your life. Angelina Jolie's natal chart is a perfect example of this. She has Jupiter at 17 Aries on the Midheaven, which is the career, and she has had quite a career. It also shows her international travel. Then the goddess of love and beauty, Venus, in the maternal sign of Cancer, is exactly on her Ascendant. She is not only beautiful but very loving and maternal toward children in general and her 6 in particular.
Progressed angles are key in prediction. If the progressed Ascendant changes signs, then so does the progressed Descendant. If you are married, you might divorce. If you are single, you may marry. Angelina Jolie had her progressed Ascendant move from Leo to the more solitary and discriminating sign Virgo when she and her spouse Brad Pitt split up. They split up on Sept. 15, 2016 when her progressed Ascendant was 0 Virgo 39. Note that the progressed Ascendant also squared her nodes at the time of the split, which also deal with our relationships with others. However, that does not mean she will stay single forever. Within the next year Angelina's progressed Sun moves from 27 Cancer 13 to 28 Cancer to conjunct her natal Venus and Ascendant. Another great love is likely in her near future.
A person close to me married when her progressed Ascendant moved into the fixed sign Scorpio which put the equally stable Taurus on the descendant. Then years later when the Ascendant moved into independent Sagittarius and the Descendent into Gemini, the marriage was over. The mutable signs signal change.
Of course there are plenty of couples who stay married when their progressed Ascendant changes signs, but the relationship is likely to change. At the very least, you will rethink your approach to relationships.
