The Midheaven (MC) in your astrology birth chart is the exact point that represents the most public parts of your life.
Hello fame! Andy Warhol said everyone gets at least 15 minutes of it. But your astrology chart has an exact point called the Midheaven that defines your reputation, status and career path.Learn what the Midheaven (MC) represents in your birth chart.
What is the Midheaven in astrology?
In astrology, the Midheaven is the topmost point on a zodiac chart wheel. It is often marked MC for “medium coeli,” which is Latin for “middle of the sky.”
At the zenith of your natal chart and marking the start of your tenth house, the Midheaven represents the most public parts of your life. It signifies your career, vocation and noteworthy achievements.It points to how you “pop” on public platforms and where you find prestige.
While the Midheaven can confer celebrity status, the zodiac sign of your MC also determines your professional responsibilities and crowning achievements.
Find your Midheaven and its placement in your birth chart, free on Astrostyle.com
How does the Midheaven work in an astrology chart?
In your birth chart, the Midheaven is associated with a specific zodiac sign. Here’s how to find the MC:
- The Midheaven is the starting borderline (cusp) of the tenth house. In most birth charts, the Midheaven is indicated by a thick line with an up arrow.
- The MC arrow intersects the thin outer ring of the chart, which contains the 12 zodiac signs.
- Whichever zodiac sign the MC intersects is the sign of your Midheaven. So you’d say, “I have a Scorpio Midheaven” or “My Midheaven is in Capricorn.”
How the Midheaven is different from other career and money houses in your astrology chart
Astrology works on a system of opposites. The Midheaven can be fully understood by also looking at the Imum Coeli or IC for short. The source of your outward success is based on the foundation of your emotions, upbringing and roots, all determined by your fourth house (IC).
The MC is distinct from the other “work” houses, which include:
- the second house of self-value, work habits and daily income
- the sixth house of systems, employees and service
The second and sixth houses are more about the day-to-day routines and processes of work. The tenth house Midheaven relates to your life’s calling, purpose or vocation.
The tenth house is associated with Capricorn (no matter what your MC zodiac sign). So the themes of Midheaven are: paying dues, hard-won effort, expertise, elderhood, wisdom and enduring leadership.
Whether fame is part of the equation or not, the Midheaven is a mountain with no peak. For some people it’s a long climb to reach that summit. The Midheaven is your potential to contribute to the world in the largest sense, making it well worth the journey.
Will I be famous? More about the tenth house
The tenth house rules career, your contribution to society, your dominant parent, your reputation and positions of power, and your influence on others.
In the Placidus house system (which is used by most Western or Tropical astrologers), the cusp of your tenth house is the Midheaven, like the door to the roof of a building. It’s the corporate office where your public appearances are scheduled. It’s also how you receive recognition for your accomplishments in life.
Your life path may or may not be related to your chosen career, but when you think of your vocation or calling, the sign on the cusp of your tenth house points the way.
The tenth house also relates to authority figures and policy makers, and the cultural, social, and familial expectations you uphold.
What does your Midheaven sign mean?
After you find your Midheaven in your chart, learn what its placement means:
Aries Midheaven
Aries Midheaven
You are confident, optimistic, and actively pursue your goals. With your Aries Midheaven ruled by Mars, look to the house where Mars resides in your natal chart to see the area of life where your vocation can powerfully be expressed. You have known what you want in life from a young age. While it may take time to uncover, you have the strength to follow your vision and see it to fruition.
Best Aries MC careers include: life coaching, project management, athleticism, leadership training and development, and anything that has you in action and blazing a solo trail. The Midheaven in Aries empowers you to innovate. You show initiative and an ability to lead the way.
Taurus Midheaven
Taurus Midheaven
You are persistent, consistent, and driven by security. With your Taurus Midheaven ruled by Venus, look to the house where Venus resides in your natal chart for your calling. Not easily deterred, you invest in your natural, creative power. You enjoy the finer things in life and appreciate your desires for sensual pleasures and healthy routines.
Best Taurus MC careers pertain to art and design, engineering, financial management, and anything working with the earth, like winemaking or architecture. The Midheaven in Taurus is opulent yet simple. You are driven by love for what you do and seeing it to completion.
You are adaptable, logical, and carefree while serious. Mercury rules your Gemini Midheaven, so look to the house where Mercury is in your birth chart to illuminate which area of life holds the keys to your vocational self-expression. You are simultaneously easygoing and deep, quick to act, and may have more than one type of career.
Best Gemini MC careers include: content creation, brand strategizing, community management, and anything related to words and writing. The Midheaven in Gemini can remain calm in a crisis, emotionally detached but effective, and driven by communication and connection.
Cancer Midheaven
Cancer Midheaven
You are sensitive, empathic, and emotionally attuned. With your Cancer Midheaven ruled by the moon, look to the moon’s placement in your natal chart for the area of life where your vocation is most vocal. You go with the flow in your professional dealings, and may experience waxing and waning phases as your self-expression evolves. You may be drawn to run a family business or to focus on something related to children or a legacy project.
Best Cancer MC careers could be in counseling, teaching, healthcare, the culinary arts, and anything that gives you a sense of both fulfillment and security. The Midheaven in Cancer means you enjoy feeling at home while at work; always nurturing the humanity of those in your sphere of influence.
Leo Midheaven
Leo Midheaven
You are courageous, tenacious, and noble in your dealings. With your Leo Midheaven ruled by the Sun, look to the house where the Sun resides in your chart for the area of life most impacted by your shine. You present yourself as in charge, with the power to attain your big-picture goals. Be mindful of arrogance and be intentional in boosting morale in your royal court; your regal nature causes those around you to stand at attention.
Best Leo MC careers include: acting, modeling, sales, social media, and being a brand ambassador where your magnetism effortlessly builds a following. Persistence pays off for the Midheaven in Leo, and following your heart gives you the energy and confidence to materialize goals.
Virgo Midheaven
Virgo Midheaven
You are precise, analytical, and pristine with a purpose. Mercury rules your Virgo Midheaven, so look to where Mercury is in your birth chart for the area of life where your leadership plays out. With such keen attention to detail, judgment of self and others can often show up, so forgive perceived shortcomings.
Best Virgo MC careers include: being a civil servant, data analyst, systems administrator, caregiver, housekeeper, or a dentist or surgeon. With the Midheaven in Virgo, intentionality in every endeavor gives you the power to create your own lane and flourish in the most impeccable ways.
Libra Midheaven
Libra Midheaven
You are dedicated, balanced, and you work well with others. Venus rules your Libra Midheaven. Look to which house Venus is in your chart for the area of life where your vocation radiates. You have the natural charisma to create partnership with purpose in your relationships, or may enjoy building a professional life with the ones you love.
Best Libra MC careers might look like interior design, public relations, personal styling, makeup artistry, and anything related to the law, government, and politics. With the Midheaven in Libra, you have the diplomacy to beautify any environment and create a harmonious hybrid of a personal and professional life.
Scorpio Midheaven
Scorpio Midheaven
You are deep and self-motivated. You are a transformation catalyst. Pluto rules your Scorpio Midheaven. Check which house is home to Pluto in your birth chart to see the area of life where your vocation is best expressed. There is little room for superficiality when it comes to your profession. You will go to any length to make your mark on the world. It serves you to prioritize having a place to retreat to your depths and harness your intuitive guidance.
Best Scorpio MC careers include: research, psychology, private investigation, the legal field, or anything that puts you on the edge like extreme sports, stunt doubling or race car driving. With the Midheaven in Scorpio, your calling is to unearth deep truths. Create what hasn’t existed before, and elevate others in the process.
Sagittarius Midheaven
Sagittarius Midheaven
You are adventurous, knowledgeable, and see the bigger picture. With your Sagittarius Midheaven ruled by Jupiter, look to Jupiter’s house in your natal chart for the area of life where your vocation finds power. Expansive and scattered, try to master one thing before adding to your plate. Studying or working abroad enhances your worldview, and networking internationally expands your professional horizons.
Best Sagittarius MC careers involve travel, investments, philosophical and spiritual teaching, or any work that sparks joy and has you interact with people around the globe.
Capricorn Midheaven
Capricorn Midheaven
You are ambitious, socially responsible and committed for the long haul. With your Capricorn Midheaven ruled by Saturn, the house in your chart where Saturn resides points to your vocational playing field. Consistency is the key to success for you, and your dedication yields breakthrough results. Your leadership relies on integrity. Your accomplishments appear effortless, but you don’t cut corners. As a natural expert in whatever you endeavor, your air of authority is respectable and you welcome competition.
Best Capricorn MC careers involve being an entrepreneur, mentor, executive, board member, or venture capitalist, and working any environment where you can elevate over time. The Midheaven in Capricorn has you climb a mountain with no peak, and pragmatic practicality is your guiding compass.
Aquarius Midheaven
Aquarius Midheaven
You are dynamic, creative, and bring the future to the present moment. Uranus rules your Aquarius Midheaven. Look to the house where Uranus is for your vocation’s innovation. Friendly by default, your equanimity has you treat everyone equally. Your leadership is eccentric and unique. As you continually develop the mind, you thrive. Ground your daily routine to properly channel your lightning-sharp power. Stay open to consider other points of view.
Best Aquarius MC careers involve activism, community organization, production management, or live events, and, ideally, working with groups. The Midheaven in Aquarius aligns you with universal cycles. Your creative power is revolutionary and limitless.
Pisces Midheaven
Pisces Midheaven
You are passionate, intuitive, and bigger than your body. With your Pisces Midheaven ruled by Neptune, the house where Neptune resides in your chart shows the realm of your vocational possibilities. Multi-potentiality is the name of the game. Be mindful of dependency and create parameters for your partnerships. You may move through many vocational callings over your lifetime. Your talents are ever-unfolding.
Best Pisces MC careers are artistically creative, involving music, acting, painting, graphic design, photography, or anything that has a numinous element to it. The Midheaven in Pisces has you shine bright like a diamond to impact and influence any environment.
Deeper Dive on the Midheaven: The 4 Angular Points of the Horoscope
On an astrology chart, there are four key points:
- The Ascendant (AC) – cusp of the 1st house (self)
- The Descendant (DC) – cusp of the 7th house (relationship)
- The Midheaven (MC) – cusp of the 10th house (career)
- The Imum Coeli (IC) – cusp of the 4th house (home/family)
The angles in an astrology chart are the primary “doors” that open you to the outside world.
The ASC/AC (Ascendant), DC (Descendant), the MC (Midheaven), and IC (Imum Coeli) are the four points which signify:
- self (Ascendant)
- other (Descendant)
- from where you’re coming (Imum Coeli)
- to where you’re going (Midheaven)
These axes reflect the four cardinal points in astrology, resonating with the symbolism of Aries (self), Libra (other), Cancer (home) and Capricorn (career). The axes are found at 0°, 90°, 180°, and 360° on the natal chart, respectively, or 9:00, 3:00, 6:00 and 12:00 on a clock face.
What do the IC, the ASC, and the DC mean in astrology?
Astrology works with points of polarity—in other words, opposite zodiac signs. To understand the MC and your public life, you must also know its opposite placement in the birth chart, called the IC. The Midheaven and IC are often linked to your ancestral lineage, in particular, your parents.
To balance the horoscope wheel, you also want to understand the other axis, the Ascendant (ASC), which is your first house of self—and the Descendant (DC), which is the cusp of your seventh house of partnership. Let’s get into it!
The Imum Coeli (IC)
The Imum Coeli, at the cusp of your fourth house, represents the private, protected and personal parts of your life.
At the very bottom (the Nadir) of a chart, the IC links to your home, heritage, family and foundations; it also links to the most deep, hidden parts of you.
The sign on the IC also influences where you reside, who you live with, or the sentiment of your living arrangements. It can color how you feel about settling down in a space, and your perception of home and the environment. It represents your feelings around where you come from.
The Ascendant (ASC/AC)
In most house systems, the Ascendant is the cusp of your first house of self; it’s also known as your rising sign.
The AC points to how you see and interact with the world, and colors the first impressions others have of you in their own perceptions.
The rising sign is your self-expression, and influences the way you meet life and approach new situations.
The Descendant (DC)
The Descendant is the cusp of your seventh house of partnership and is all about the other.
The DC is the back door to your chart where you attract and interact with other human beings. You recognize in others (and are often drawn to) the qualities of your Descendant. You may feel you yourself are missing those ways of being. In effect, you experience the qualities of your DC externally through others, meeting with the themes of that sign through them, or identifying them with its characteristics.
What are the angular houses in astrology?
As mentioned earlier, the angles on a chart are usually also house cusps, but not always—depending on the house system you’re using to cast a chart (we use Placidus).
Houses can be either angular, succedent, or cadent. The angular houses are 1, 4, 7, and 10.
Action-oriented, they represent the basic needs and foundations of life. In the Placidus house system, the cusps of these houses are the angles of your chart–the Ascendant (1st house), IC (4th), Descendent (7th) and Midheaven (10th).
- The sign on the Ascendant (cusp of 1st) describes people’s first impression of you, your personality, your identity, and your physical characteristics.
- The sign on the Descendant (cusp of 7th) describes what you look for in a partner, and aspects of the self that influence attraction.
- The sign on the IC (cusp of 4th) describes your early emotional environment, family of origin, how you like your home to be, and emotional safety.
- The sign on the MC (cusp of 10th) describes your career, achievements and ambitions, and how the world remembers you.