Welcome to my Astro Advice Column! If you subscribe to my Astro-Kats or Star Kids Club groups you are able to ask me questions about astrology for this advice column.
How should I interpret my chart when some of my houses are in different signs based on whether I'm using the placidus or whole sign system? For example, my placidus midheaven is at 25 deg of Aquarius, but with whole sign, it's in Pisces... Likewise, I don't know if my nadir should be in Leo or Virgo... Does the story of my natal chart change completely based on the system? How do I know whether an Aquarius or Pisces midheaven is more true to me -- or should I be holding both truths? Thank you in advance!
—Murky Midheaven
I’m so sorry, Murky Midheaven—houses are so, so confusing. There are so many different systems that map to different things at different angles from different historical time periods and they come in and out of vogue all the time.
Your midheaven should not change no matter what house system you are using.
Troubleshoot your chart calculations for a second here. Are you confusing the midheaven for the cusp of the tenth house? Are you confusing it for another symbol? Are you using a different astrology software to calculate the same chart viewed within a different house system and do you happen to be born in a region that had a relatively recent political or time zone change? Astrology software isn’t perfect all the time and I’ve noticed some errors now and then. I usually double check with both Time Passages and AstroGold.
Your midheaven should be either an MC symbol or a circle with a vertical line running through it. It can look similar to the symbol for the part of fortune which is a circle with a cross running through it.
Don’t sweat. You’re not the first person to run into confusion on this.
There are many different house systems but they can easily be divided into quadrant house systems and non-quadrant house systems. If you’re used to using quadrant houses, you’re going to be used to assuming that the cusp of the tenth house is the midheaven. In non-quadrant house systems such as whole sign houses or equal houses, the midheaven doesn’t necessarily begin or even live in the tenth house. It can be anything in houses seven to twelfth.
If you use m-houses, which is a lesser known non-quadrant house system, your midheaven will be in the tenth house but your ascendant doesn’t already end up in the first house. Confusing? I know!
Different house systems simply show the same chart but highlight different things about that chart.
If you use m-houses, you’re fixing the midheaven to the tenth house. You’re essentially interpreting a chart based on the position of the midheaven, which include your lineage, your experience of the world around you, and what you represent. When you look at the chart from the perspective of your midheaven, your ascendant could show up in many different places. If you use whole sign houses or equal sign houses, you’re fixing the ascendant to the first house. You’re essentially fixing the ascendant to the first house. You’re interpreting the chart based on the matters that are made prominent by the ascendant, which include you, your conditions of birth, and your body. When you look at chart chart from the perspective of your ascendant, your midheaven can show up in a variety of places.
I’ve worked with Placidus before and, these days, I mostly use it when I want to look at events and not people. This is because Placicus is a time based quadrant house system. I’ve worked with an astrologer who uses Porphyry before and I didn’t ask why. I know that Porphyry is more space based. Both these systems fixed the ascendant and the midheaven to the first and tenth house respectively. Because of this, they both run into the issue of intercepted houses especially for those who are born farther away from the equator.
Play around with different house systems. It’s kind of like how there are so many different types of astrology with different histories that are used to tell different stories. You can use different house systems to tell different stories.
But under western astrology, your midheaven does not change based on the house system. Maybe that’s a feature and maybe it’s a flaw. You tell me.
