An Introduction to Midpoints Part 2
Midpoint Trees
Planets, angles and midpoints together build up a picture to tell a story and add depth to our interpretation. So far we have only looked at one midpoint but there are many and it can quickly get confusing as to which midpoints are important. This is where midpoint trees become useful. In order to see midpoints as a picture it is easier to look at a 90° or 45° 'sort'. But unless you are familiar with the concept of the modal sorts it can quickly become confusing simply because there are so many midpoints (this is why it is essential to keep all orbs small) A modal 90° sort is where all midpoints are listed numerically according to their mode, ie all midpoints in cardinal signs are listed, then fixed, followed by mutable. A 45° sort takes this one step further and lists all the midpoints in the first 45 degrees of the zodicac. To illustrate this further look at the following illustration which shows visually how a 90° sort is arrived at.
As you can see we have effectively quartered the chart and
overlaid each quarter. Note that all cardinal planets wll now be
in the same 30° area as will all fixed and all mutable.
To affect a 45° sort we further dissect the chart into
45° sections. The following illustration is recreated from a
similar image in Working With Astrology, where the
author states"any 45 degree section of the chart contains a
reflection of all chart factors and their midpoints." As the
illustration here shows, we can see which midpoints are within 1
degree of the sun, therefore we can see which midpoints are
important in telling the Sun’s story.
The following illustration shows exactly the same list of midpoints to the sun, but this time they are drawn as a 'tree' structure.
Each planet's midpoint tree tells a story about that planet, a transit to said planet will hit each part of the tree in sequence. As the story unfolds the transits will show how you process the planet's meaning for you as an individual.
How Midpoint Trees Aid Interpretation
How would you distinguish how one Capricorn Sun works for one person, and differently for another? Normally you would look to see how each sun is aspected, but what if you are looking at charts of people born within a few days of each other? Most planetary aspects will still be in orb (apart from the moon). The charts below show 3 men born within 4 days of each other. As you can see all three have Sun in Capricorn.
Click each chart for a larger image and full birth
data. Now look at their Sun midpoint trees below as an example how
each of these Capricorn Suns differs from the other. Note also
how well also that each tree seems to describe each man Can you guess which one is which? Click here for the
answer. Midpoint trees are a fantastic method of defining the
difference between twins. I have amongst my clients twins born
just 10 minutes apart. I've been asked not to publish their
charts, though I do have permission to talk about their midpoint
trees. The female's ascendant is 27 Libra 08, the male's is 28
Libra 53 With less than 2 degrees difference between their respective
ascendants note that the different Asc trees. The female has
Saturn/Pluto = Neptune = Venus/Jupiter before the Asc, any
transit to the Asc will hit these points first, so this young
lady would initially practice extreme self discipline in order to
control the situation, this is followed by confusion and/or
compassion, following which she assess the effects on others
around her. Having experienced the transit she next has Sun/Venus
– so any such transit has increased her sense of self
worth. The Lad has Venus/Jupiter = Sun/Venus before the Asc, any
transit to the Asc initially increases his sociableness and
confidence, it will also increase his sense of self worth. Having
processed the transit he is then left with the transit to the
Moon/Jupiter midpoint and its excess of emotion. In my view the girl’s ascendant midpoint tree involves
others whilst the boy’s ascendant tree is more focused
around his own experiences. She grew up to become a nurse and is
currently mother to 4 children. As he grew up he never settled
for long in a job. Initially he appears happy-go-lucky. Yet
beneath that is a lad with quite a few mental health problems
who, when things get too much, tends to disappear for a few weeks
or months. So as you can see, as well as helping us define differences
between people born on or near the same time, midpoints can
further enhance our own chart stories. click to return On the left: Sly Stallone. On the right:
George W Bush. © 2008 Glenda Cole - all rights reserved
Born on the Same Day
Midpoint trees can help us further define the sun, the men above
were born within a few days of each other. The midpoint trees on
the right are those of two men born on the same day. One is an
actor the other is president of the USA. Both midpoint trees tell
a very different story.Twins
