In this essay I am picking up on some concepts that I first began exploring in this piece I wrote back in 2021 – World Angles and the World Chart.
The key idea is that the four cardinal ingresses mark the axis points of the world, that are defined by the relation between the Earth and Sun. The are the four critical points on the Ecliptic, the circle marking the Sun’s apparent path of rotation around the earth.
The cardinal ingresses, especially the Aries Ingress at the Spring Equinox, are traditionally used as points for Mundane astrology.
What I want to explore is not just the Ingresses as four points in time, but as four points in space, power points connecting us to the world.
I did not originate this concept – the school of Uranian astrology works with what they call the Aries or vernal point, and in their system it is used to refer to all four cardinal ingress points in square relationship with each other.
Uranian astrology, and its sister Cosmobiology, both pay attention to the Harmonic 8 (H8) aspects, the in-between points, as being important. With the zero degree Cardinal points the H8 points would be at 15 degrees of the fixed signs. In the essay I wrote above I conjecture that this is why the four Royal Stars were considered important, since at the time of the Western astrology synthesis they occupied locations very near 15 degrees of the four fixed signs.
Uranian astrology describes the cardinal ingress points as places where we connect to the world, so having a planet or sensitive point at or near one of them would show something about such a connection. It makes sense that would also be true of the four cross points at 15 degrees fixed.
The use of the cardinal points this way explains something about my chart that puzzles me otherwise – my Mercury is in the last degree of Pisces, a place where it is doubly debilitated, and is late in my second house. It has no prominence in traditional terms, yet I have always made my living with Mercury, most successfully as a teacher and writer. Take into account that Mercury sits right on the point of the zero Aries axis and its prominence is obvious.
This led me to try an experiment I want to talk about here. Consider this illustration of the eight points I am talking about.
The World Axis on a Personal Chart
The idea is to take an individual horoscope map and lay out the eight angles of the World chart on it, noting which planets and other points are near the Cardinal angles, and which are near the 15 fixed cross points, to see if it can tell me something about the person’s action in the world. I allow about a ten degree orb on either side of the Cardinal points, and I’m starting with around 7 or 8 degree orb at the 15 fixed cross points.
I want to clarify that I am not using these World chart angles as house divisions, but as active points, points where we connect with the world.
I tried it with around a dozen charts, of famous people and of friends and family, and I obtained meaningful patterns for every chart I looked at. I want to share some of the examples here.
Bob Dylan
I was amused by this one since I have been a Dylan fan for years and know a lot of his work. These highlighted planets catch the flavor of the man.
First – on a cardinal axis we have Neptune and the Nodes, which have to do with connections with others, less personal than the Ascendant and more personal than the Midheaven., Dylan had a knack for connecting with a wide variety of people, and a lot of his work is very Neptunian – atmospheric, vague, colorful word-painting, and a lot of it is Neptunian in the sense of being suggestive and elusive but having no concrete content. That is particularly true of some of his distinctive work from the Sixties when he made his name.
The other planet combination is the Moon/Saturn conjunction – Dylan’s best, and best-known, work, chronicles his emotional misery – it is dark, moody, introspective and depressing.
Neptune plus Moon/Saturn catches the flavor of Dylan better than any other short summary I can think of.
Maya Angelou
Here we have another poet. Maya Angelou is an author, poet and civil rights activist, best known for her autobiographical, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
First, note her Midheaven is near 15 fixed, which could be a marker for her being visible professionally.
There are three planets in her chart that sit on the World Angles:
– Mercury and Venus – she’s a writer, a poet.
– Uranus – she is best known as part of the civil rights protest movement in the Sixties, and she was a spokesperson for black rights and women’s rights.
Again, this went right to the heart of what she is noted for. This isn’t a world-shaker chart, it’s a poet and activist chart.
Napoleon
This man had a serious impact on world history, so we should expect to see serious activity on the world angles. I think we do.
His Midheaven is 14 Leo, right on the fixed axis.
On either side of his Mideaven, in close enough orb to include, we have his Sun and Mercury (9 degree orb which may be a bit wide for a fixed axis, but with Sun and Mercury straddling his Mc I think it’s reasonable to include.)
Jupiter is dead on the fixed axis rising in the first house, and Uranus in his seventh house is quite close.
Jupiter opposite Uranus both square to his Midheaven – that sounds like an expansive, disruptive world-shaker.
With the Sun and Mercury on his Midheaven on the world axis you get his personal communicative charisma and the fact that his personality, the myth of the man, is as much a part of his legacy as anything he did.
In addition, note that on the cardinal axis we have Venus and the Nodes on either side of Cardinal Cancer – again, taking the Nodes as connections, we see his personal charm and ability to connect with others.
Margaret Thatcher
The Iron Lady. That nickname sums it up. Margaret Thatcher was a British conservative stateswoman and political leader, Prime Minister of the UK from 1979 to 1990.
Her Ascendant is dead on the mid Scorpio point, and the three planets in range of the world axes are the three harshest planets – Saturn right on her Ascendant, Mars near cardinal Libra, and Uranus near cardinal Aries on the other side. Rigid, opinionated, controlling, going her own way and sticking to her own opinions, imposing them on others if necessary regardless of cost.
Saturn, Mars, Uranus – that sounds like Thatcher. Note that again we have strong involvement of an angle.
Martin Luther King Jr.
King was a prominent preacher, orator, political activist and civil rights leader. Today he is best remembered for his assassination in 1968.
Again we see an angle his Ascendant is very near 15 fixed Taurus.
The planets on the world angles are:
Mercury, at the top of the chart in square to his Ascendant – orator, speech maker.
Uranus – civil rights activist, challenging The Powers That Be – we also saw Uranus in Maya Angelou’s chart, and as a side note, King and Angelou worked together, and Angelou’s best writing was triggered by her reaction to King’s assassination.
Mars opposite Saturn near the Cardinal axis – a man who had fierce opposition during his lifetime and is best known for having been assassinated.
Again, I think these planets encapsulate his impact on the world.
Final Notes
I want to emphasize that these points do not catch all of the dimensions of these people’s lives, nor does it mean that planets outside of these were not important. This also obviously does not mean that a chart with little or no impact on these angles shows a life that doesn’t mean much or is not fulfilling. Not all people have public impact, so this is not a statement of the worth of a person’s life.
The planets near the eight axes of the World Chart show where and how the person connects to the world.
For personal work I found doing this analysis on my own chart very useful in terms of understanding my own career – it helped me get a sense of where I intersect with the world around me and what my purpose is. It also shed light on the charts of friends and family of mine, none of whom are famous, but in each case they gave a sense of the nature of their involvement with the world around them.
For most people, planets on these world axes do not indicate fame or world involvement, but they do point to how they are involved with the world around them at whatever scale – family or extended family, community, or some vocation related community, like a community of like minded artists, or writers – or, for that matter, astrologers.
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Take into account that this is a first exploration of this technique. It needs a lot more study by other people and a lot more examples to sort out patterns for interpretation.
For a first look I think this shows enough promise that I am sharing it here. For my readers who are astrologers I encourage you to look at your own charts, and of people you know well. Look for planets, angles, and either of the major Lots near the 0 Cardinal and 15 fixed points, and see if it gives you further insight into the chart. As a starting point I used orbs of 10 degrees either side the Cardinals and around 7 or 8 degrees either side of 15 Fixed.
I plan on doing a lot more exploration of these world chart angles, and of how Cardinal Solar Ingresses intertwine with personal chart interpretation. I will be sharing what I find along the way here.