Midpoints! A very important astrological concept and one that is not talked about as frequently as they should be. So I am here to talk about them now, hahaha. A midpoint is essentially the equal distance between two planets (or celestial bodies). You can take the midpoint from planets that are aspecting one another in a chart, or planets that don’t aspect one another. Midpoints can be used either way.

How to actually calculate the midpoints for any planet/celestial body aspect? You can either use a computer generated program, or you can do them by hand. You will need to turn the degrees to the 360 degree zodiac first. The 360 degree zodiac is as follows:
Aries: 0 to 30 degrees
Taurus: 30 to 60 degrees.
Gemini: 60 to 90 degrees.
Cancer: 90 to 120 degrees
Leo: 120 to 150 degrees
Virgo: 150 to 180 degrees
Libra: 180 to 210 degrees
Scorpio: 210 to 240 degrees
Sagittarius: 240 to 270 degrees
Capricorn: 270 to 300 degrees
Aquarius: 300 to 330 degrees
Pisces: 330 to 360 degrees

So, this is my chart above. I have the Sun and Moon Circled in Yellow. The software I’m using (Astro Gold) is able to pull midpoints, but a lot of them don’t seem to be able to do this. If I wanted to find this midpoint by hand, I would have done this:
——–Turn 1 Sagittarius 45 to 241 Sagittarius 45
——–Turn 16 Capricorn 03 to 286 Capricorn 03
Then you add them together (adding the degrees and the minutes separately):
——-Degrees: 241 + 286 = 527
——-Minutes: 45 + 03 = 48
Then you divide the degrees & minutes by two:
——527/2 = 263.5 which translates to 23 degrees Sagittarius
——48/2 = 24 minutes
Then you add in the .5 + .24 (which is the minutes) and you get .78. Translate this to degrees and it looks like 1.18. Then you add:
——23 degrees Sagittarius + 1.18 and you get 24 Sagittarius 18 minutes.
**Really, you don’t even have to mess with the “minutes” part of all of this and can focus solely on the degrees. If you didn’t mess with the degrees here, you would get 23 Sagittarius 30 as the Sun/Moon Midpoint. It just depends how precise you want to be.**
***Sometimes the midpoints don’t come out completely clean like that after dividing by 2. For example, if you have your Sun at 12 degrees 00 Aries and your Moon at 24 Pisces 00, this would change them to 12 Aries 00 and 354 Pisces 00. Added together you get 366, and when diving by 2 you get 183. Now, 183 translates to 3 degrees Libra which is clearly NOT the midpoint between a Sun in Aries and Moon in Pisces. However, look to its opposition on the other end of the Axis, which is 3 degrees Aries….which absolutely IS the midpoint.

You can literally calculate the midpoint for any planets, whether or not they make an aspect. When calculating them between planets that form no aspect, the midpoint just shows where these two planetary energies meet one another halfway. For example, say your Venus and Jupiter formed no aspect, but you wanted to know where the midpoint was anyway. Finding that midpoint could show a place in our chart where we have the ability to expand (Jupiter) upon our love (Venus)..or any other Venus and Jupiter expressions. Any planets that happen to aspect the midpoint (especially the conjunction) would flavor the midpoint further. For example, say the Venus/Jupiter Midpoint was within 1° of the Moon. This might create a scenario where your emotional core (your Moon) is a vehicle to be able to expand upon the love that the Midpoint between Venus and Jupiter offers.

I think that Midpoints are most useful when looking at the midpoints not just between random planets, but planets that actually aspect one another. They show the place where the energy between the two planets is “met halfway,” either via frustration (as with the challenging aspects) or harmony (as with the easier aspects). Challenging aspects spur growth, so the midpoint of a challenging aspect (like the square) can show how and where to release the tension from the aspect. On the flip side, harmonious aspects can show where we can become lazy (like with the trine), and the midpoint of the trine might show us how to best battle that should it be an issue for the native.
—Personally, I think they’re most important when looking at the challenging aspects, the square, the opposition and the quincunx. This midpoint can help to show where and how (by house and sign) to release the tension from the square aspect, making them easier to deal with over all. For the opposition, the midpoint can show how and where we stop going back and forth between the two planets by sign and house. For the quincunx aspect, the midpoint can be the place where the planets actually are able to “see” one another. This is important for the quincunx aspect because the planets in this aspect don’t understand or see one another easily. The Midpoint gives them a way to “see.”

Some of the most important midpoints in the chart to look at generally are the the Sun/Moon Midpoint and the Ascendant/Midheaven Midpoint. The Sun/Moon Midpoint shows where the masculine & the feminine/the life force & the emotional core come together in our chart and “marry” one another. The Ascendant/Midheaven Midpoint shows where our natural sense of self & the highest and most idealized form of ourselves come together and “marry” one another, and how we are able to reconcile that struggle (and it *usually* is a struggle). As far as the your own individual chart goes, you will want to look at the two midpoints mentioned above, but also pay close attention to the square, opposition and quincunx aspects and their midpoints.

When trying to figure out what a Midpoint means, think about the energy of the planets in question. For example, with the midpoint between Moon and Pluto, you would be looking at the merging of the emotions (Moon) and intensity (Pluto)…along with other Moon & Pluto expressions. For Mars and Uranus, you would be looking at the merging of one’s drive (Mars) & liberation (Uranus)…along with other Mars & Uranus expressions.

If you would like me to read midpoints in your chart (or any kind of astrology chart reading), get a reading from me here 🙂 Also, if you are more of a watcher than a reader, head to my YouTube channel where I have a bunch of content.