Midpoint

Meaning

A midpoint is the degree of the zodiac that lies exactly halfway between two planets or points. In German it is the Halbsumme, the "half-sum", because in the simplest case it is found by adding the two longitudes and halving the result; Ebertin gives the rule as (a + c) ÷ 2 = b (p. 4) [7]. If the Sun is at 10° Aries and the Moon at 20° Aries, the Sun/Moon midpoint is 15° Aries.

The idea behind the technique is that the two factors meet at this point. Nothing need be there: an empty midpoint is still a sensitive degree. When a third planet or an angle stands on it, or in hard aspect to it, the three are read together as a unit. That combination is called a planetary picture and is written C = A/B, "C on the midpoint of A and B" [1] [2].

Two midpoints for every pair. Any two points on a circle divide it into two arcs, and each arc has its own halfway point. The two points are always exactly opposite each other, as Ebertin notes: on the dial they are the two ends of one diameter (p. 26) [7].

• The midpoint of the shorter arc is the one normally meant. Sun at 10° Aries and Moon at 20° Aries: the short arc is 10° long and its midpoint is 15° Aries.
• The midpoint of the longer arc lies directly opposite, at 15° Libra.

Because midpoint work mostly counts oppositions and squares to the midpoint as well as conjunctions, both points are live, and so are the two degrees square to them (15° Cancer and 15° Capricorn in the example). On the 90° midpoint dial all four fall on the same spot.

Direct and indirect. These words are used in more than one way, so it is worth checking what a given author means.

• Ebertin uses them mainly for the contact. In a direct midpoint a factor stands on the midpoint itself. In an indirect midpoint nothing stands there; instead a factor is square, semi-square or sesquiquadrate to it, and the 90° dial is what makes these easy to see (pp. 4, 24) [7]. In his directions he also gives, beside a midpoint's own degree, its "indirect position" 45° away (p. 44) [7].
• Some other writers use the words for the degree: the shorter-arc point is the direct midpoint, and the point opposite it (and sometimes the squares and semi-squares to it) the indirect midpoint(s).
• Orbs differ too. Ebertin gives one orb, 1½°, for midpoint contacts (p. 23) [7]; one introduction to cosmobiology says the indirect contact should be within one degree [6].

Origin and history

Adding and subtracting longitudes is old: the ancient Lots, such as the Lot of Fortune, are sums and differences of positions. As a systematic method of interpretation, however, midpoints are a twentieth-century development.

The method was built up by the Hamburg surveyor and astrologer Alfred Witte (1878–1941) and his circle, the Hamburg School. Their rulebook, the Regelwerk für Planetenbilder, arranged by Ludwig Rudolph from Witte's material, first appeared in 1928 and went through further editions. An English translation appeared in the United States in 1939, and the Witte-Verlag's own translation by Curt Knupfer in 1974 [1] [5]. Witte treated the half-sum as one case of a wider arithmetic of half-sums, sums, differences and sensitive points, and worked with a rotating dial to see the relationships at a glance [5].

Reinhold Ebertin (1901–1988), who had studied the Hamburg methods, kept the midpoints and dropped the Hamburg School's hypothetical planets. He called his approach cosmobiology. His Kombination der Gestirneinflüsse, translated as The Combination of Stellar Influences, gives a short interpretation for the combinations of two factors and of a third factor on their midpoint, and became a standard reference for midpoint work [2]. Ebertin's own list of his books dates its first edition to Erfurt, 1935 (p. 201) [7]; other sources give 1938 or 1940 (see cosmobiology). His manual of the 90° dial, in German from 1949 and in English as Applied Cosmobiology (1972), shows the method at work, with the dial as the main tool for finding midpoints (pp. v, 1–4) [7].

In the English-speaking world the method spread through Ebertin's translations and later through books such as Michael Munkasey's Midpoints (1991) [3] and Harding and Harvey's Working with Astrology (1990), which set midpoints alongside harmonics [4].

How it is used

• Which points. Usually the ten planets, the Moon's Node, the Ascendant and the Midheaven. Ebertin calls these together the factors: the Sun, Moon and planets (which he prefers to call "bodies") plus the Midheaven, Ascendant and Moon's Node (p. 4) [7]. Uranian astrologers add the Aries Point and the eight Hamburg hypothetical planets [1] [5]; Ebertin's cosmobiology leaves the hypothetical planets out.
• Which contacts. Conjunction, opposition and square to the midpoint in every school. Ebertin also counts the semi-square and sesquiquadrate, and treats every angle that is a multiple of 45° as of about equal value (pp. 3–4) [7].
• Orb. Much tighter than for ordinary aspects. Ebertin allows only 1½° for midpoints and says 3° is too large (pp. 23, 27) [7]; other writers use figures between about 1° and 2°. See orb.
• Timing. A transiting or directed planet reaching a natal midpoint is taken to trigger the picture. Ebertin allows about 1° here (pp. 69, 107) [7].

Midpoints can be read one pair at a time, but in practice they are grouped: all the pairs that fall on one planet form a midpoint tree; all the midpoints in dial order form the midpoint sort; and several midpoints bunched together make a midpoint cluster.

On this site. The Midpoints panel uses the shorter-arc midpoint of each pair, then folds every longitude onto the chosen dial (90° by default; 45°, 22.5° and the full 360° are also available), so the opposite point and the squares are picked up automatically. The points used are the ten planets, the Moon's Node, the Ascendant and Midheaven when the birth time is known, and optionally the Aries Point; the Node and the two angles can also be switched off. The orb is set with a slider between 0.5° and 3° (default 1.5°).

Examples

Albert Einstein (born 14 March 1879, 11:30 local mean time, Ulm), tropical positions:

• A planet on the midpoint. Jupiter is at 27°29′ Aquarius and Neptune at 7°52′ Taurus. The short arc between them is about 70°, and its midpoint is 2°41′ Aries. Mercury is at 3°09′ Aries, 0°28′ away: Mercury = Jupiter/Neptune, by conjunction.
• A planet by aspect. Uranus is at 1°17′ Virgo and Neptune at 7°52′ Taurus. Their shorter-arc midpoint is 4°35′ Cancer, and the far midpoint 4°35′ Capricorn. Saturn at 4°11′ Aries stands square to both, 0°23′ from exact: Saturn = Uranus/Neptune.
• An empty midpoint. Sun (23°30′ Pisces) and Mars (26°55′ Capricorn) have their midpoint at 25°13′ Aquarius. No planet is on it (Jupiter, at 27°29′ Aquarius, is 2°16′ away, outside the usual orb), but Pluto at 24°44′ Taurus is square to it within 0°29′.