Angular

Meaning

A planet is angular when it is in one of the four houses that begin at the angles of the chart: the 1st (the Ascendant, where the eastern horizon meets the zodiac), the 10th (the Midheaven, the culminating point), the 7th (the Descendant, the western horizon) and the 4th (the lowest point, below the earth). These are the four places where planets rise, culminate, set and reach the bottom of their daily circuit.

Angular planets are the most conspicuous in a chart. Traditional writers describe them as the strongest and most able to bring about what they signify, quickly and visibly. A planet in an angle is "on stage"; the same planet elsewhere may be working in the background or not at all.

Origin and history

The Greek word for an angle is kentron, a goad or the fixed point of a pair of compasses; English translators render it "pivot", "cardine" (from Latin cardo, a hinge) or "angle". In the translation of Paulus Alexandrinus the four are called the pivots of the Horoskopos, the Midheaven, the setting place and the subterraneous place [1]. Hellenistic astrologers treated each pivot as the first member of a group of three places: the pivot, the place rising after it (epanaphora) and the place declining from it (apoklima) [1][6].

Almost every early author ranks the angles above the other places. Dorotheus gives the order of excellence as the Ascendant first, then the Midheaven, then the eleventh, the fifth, the seventh, the fourth and the ninth [2]. Ptolemy, discussing the places that can signify length of life, puts the Midheaven first, then the rising place, then the eleventh, then the setting place [3]. He defines the rising place as the 30° from 5° above the horizon to 25° below it, a hint that the strength of an angle begins a little before the angle itself [3]. Paulus notes that even a planet in a declining place can become active when it casts a trine within three degrees of an angle [1], a sign of how much weight the angles carried.

Arabic-language astrologers kept the scheme. Al-Bīrūnī links the angles to prosperity (iqbāl) and the cadent houses to adversity (idbār), and notes that the angles themselves are not equal in dignity [4].

Lilly repeats the three-fold division and gives a strength order for all twelve houses: 1, 10, 7, 4, 11, 5, 9, 3, 2, 8, 6, 12 [5]. So for Lilly the Ascendant is slightly stronger than the Midheaven, and the 4th is the weakest of the angles. His table of fortitudes gives +5 for the 1st and 10th and +4 for the 7th and 4th [5].

How it is used

Points on this site. A planet in any of the four angular houses scores +4. This follows Lilly's table in giving the angles the highest house score, but uses one value for all four rather than Lilly's +5/+4 split [5].

Whole-sign and quadrant houses. In the Hellenistic period the pivots were usually whole signs: the entire rising sign was the first place, the sign on which the Midheaven fell was often, but not always, treated as the tenth [6]. Later practice, including Lilly's, used quadrant house systems in which the angles are exact degrees and a planet's angularity depends on its house cusp position [5][6]. The two approaches can disagree: a planet in the tenth sign from the Ascendant may fall in the 9th or 11th quadrant house, and a planet in the 9th whole sign may sit on the Midheaven degree. The house system chosen for a chart therefore affects this score.

Nearness to the angle. Many practitioners give extra weight to a planet close to the degree of an angle, and some count a planet just before an angle (a few degrees on the cadent side) as already angular, following Ptolemy's 5° rule [3]. The site's score depends only on the house the planet is in.

Not all angles are equal. Ptolemy and Lilly both rank the 1st and 10th, the two angles that bound the eastern quarter of the chart, above the 7th and 4th; the 4th, below the earth, is the most hidden [3][5]. Some also distinguish the angle's nature: the Ascendant for life and body, the Midheaven for action and reputation, the Descendant for others and partnership, the 4th for endings, land and family.

Angularity is not goodness. An angular malefic is strong, which can mean strongly harmful. The angle shows how effective a planet is, and its essential dignity and sect show whether that effect is helpful.

Examples

• Jupiter conjunct the Ascendant in the 1st house: angular (+4), prominent in the native's life and character.
• Saturn in the 10th house close to the Midheaven: angular (+4). Its effects on career and reputation are visible; whether they help or hinder depends on its essential state and sect.
• A planet 3° above the Ascendant, in the 12th quadrant house: cadent by house (−2 here), but many astrologers following Ptolemy's rule would treat it as effectively rising.

See also

The next two classes are described under succedent and cadent; the traditional house of each planet's "joy" is described under planetary joys.