Books explaining mid points etc

[Neptune Rising]

Hello

Could anyone recommend a good book, easy to understand, about mid points and how they work?

Many thanks indeed if anyone can!

NR

[Spin]

The only book I can think of right now is The Combination of Stellar Influences by Reinhold Ebertin.

[unukalhai]

Don McBroom - Midpoints: Identify & Integrate Midpoints Into Horoscope Synthesis
http://www.amazon.com/Midpoints-Integrate-Horoscope-Synthesis-Astrology/dp/0738709832/ref=sr_1_1/103-9792170-9648600?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185007863&sr=8-1

[Neptune Rising]

Thats great info, thanks very much indeed!

NR

[tikana]

horoscope symbols by Robert Hand

[unukalhai]

Thats great info, thanks very much indeed!

NR

YW :) This is the newest work, published only a month ago, on Midpoints and is a nice addition to the limited amount of midpoint books out there. As midpoints gain popularity I'd bet we'll see more in the coming years.

Author's website here: http://www.donmc.com/
Book announcement on his teacher's forum: http://www.noeltyl.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl?read=169841

Also...
Noel also demonstrates midpoints in his massive "Synthesis and Counseling" work, as a part of many other techniques, and also demonstrates midpoints in Solar Arc work in his book on Solar Arc prediction, chapter 3, "Indirect Arcs: Creative Work With Midpoint Pictures".

Either of Noel's books (S&C or Solar Arcs) also include midpoint picture analysis guidelines, a sentence for each picture giving you a starting point for synthesis. This information is similar to the midpoint pictures covered in "Combination Of Stellar Influences" but focuses more on the psychological rather than cosmobiological interpretation, although there are many similarities. I find it useful to consult both Tyl's and Ebertin's picture guidelines.

Also, Noel's site has four useful articles on Midpoint work.
http://www.noeltyl.com/techniques/010330.html
http://www.noeltyl.com/techniques/001230.html
http://www.noeltyl.com/techniques/030129.html
http://www.noeltyl.com/techniques/020629.html

[Neptune Rising]

Tik, cheers! That does look like a book I'll explore, I like Robert Hands work, this book seems to have everything in it.

unukalhai, thanks for those links. That will keep me busy for some time! I'm currently reading 'Solar Arcs' by Tyl. Interesting book with loads of info on arcs.

Thanks a lot!

NR

[tikana]

Neptune

Robert Hand is probably an only astrologer I would rely on .. his views are sober and straight to the point, no bs.

Tik

[Neptune Rising]

I agree Tik, I have his 'Planets in Transit' book, I find it easy to understand, a lot of it rings true to what I've experneiced in the various transits.

NR

[tikana]

NR

Planets in Transit hmmm i dont think it is successful book if you ask me.. it does not cover semisquares and sesquads. Then it has multiple possible effects from a single transit.. Like i was reading when i had pluto sq venus ... Robert said that i will be attracted to unavailable man or fatally attracted to someone.. well.. neithr of that happend. Then he does not go in explaining that 1 transit does not trigger an event.

shrug
Tik

[Neptune Rising]

True, I would love to know more about sesquiquadrates, this book misses those.

NR

[Virinchi]

i still sometimes remain doubted about midpoints
if ascendant is calculated at 10th degree of aries, then what is mid point of ascendant ?
25th degree or aries or 10th degress is itself midpoint and ASC stretches from -15 to +15 degrees to that point ?

[unukalhai]

A midpoint, by definition, is the point between two different objects in the chart. The ascendant by itself has no midpoint. However, the ascendant can form a midpoint with another object.

Lets say, for example, the ascendant was 0Cancer and Jupiter was at 0Virgo. The point exactly in between these two objects would be 0Leo.

In midpoint-speak this would be the AS/JU midpoint, and if we happened to have an object within a degree of either side of 0Leo, say Saturn, we would then have a "midpoint picture" of AS/JU=SA. If Saturn happened to be transiting 0Leo, usually folks will flip the order around, saying SA=AS/JU to indicate a transit, although I'm guilty of forgetting this detail often... :)

Calculating midpoints "the hard way" by actually doing the math is pretty simple, just sum the decimal positions of the objects and divide by two.

0Cancer = 90 degrees, 0Virgo = 150 Degrees
90 + 150 = 240
240/2 = 120 = 0Leo.

Most modern astrology software saves us the trouble and will provide either a sorted list of midpoints or actually insert them into the chart.

[Virinchi]

ok
if asc. is 1 degree aries and 2nd house is 1degree taurus
and a planet is at 25 degrees aries, then is it in 1st house or 2nd house?

[Spin]

Virinchi, the planet is in the 1st house

[Neptune Rising]

I love reading unukalhai explainations, they make things so clear to me!

NR

[Neptune Rising]

ok
if asc. is 1 degree aries and 2nd house is 1degree taurus
and a planet is at 25 degrees aries, then is it in 1st house or 2nd house?

I am wondering if this vedic or western astrology method?

[unukalhai]

Must be all the Virgo in my chart, Neptune :)

Virinchi, I'm not aware of midpoints affecting house positions, or more extensively, house positions being used in midpoint work. In typical midpoint practice, most work is done on the 90 or 22.5 degree dials, and house and sign positions are not even considered. Most of the time, the angles are also ignored unless the chart is known to be of very high accuracy, such as an event chart when the exact moment of the event is established or a natal chart from birth certificate verified and possibly tweaked by careful rectification.

[joannski3]

There is a GREAT book for midpoints, as a beginner, i wholeheartedly recommend it, my mentor, who is a professional political astrologer steered me to it, and i'm very pleased: "MIDPOINTS" by Don McBroom I have started to compile a very extensive libary on many different topics in astrology, plus a huge wish list, so I can help you with many great books if you are getting started. Plus, my mentor is a book and software reviewer, so I am lucky to be able to get all the good books without wasting my time on garbage.
Also, try out Amazon, and if you haven't heard of it before, there is a great site for secondhand books (which i use because I buy so many books all the time, and mark them when i'm learning) its www.abebooks.com (http://www.abebooks.com). I think Amazon has excellent sellers, and some great prices, but the "supersaver" shipping prices are more expensive books, and all the cheaper books end up costing the same because shipping is always $3.99 no matter what. When you shop from abe books, you can read the description of the book, i find the sellers honest too, and you can get really old books for less than $5.00, and you can choose your shipping method. If you get the standard shipping on Amazon, media mail, it still takes the same time from the seller, whereas on abebooks, the sellers have to compete with each other, so often the book is shipped priority, or can be shipped priority for maybe $1 more.
My last recommendation is to not be afraid of underlining and highliting books. i love books and have a huge library, my husband calls me a "book owner" and have so many astrology books i haven't opened yet, but its a lot easier. just don't highlight the whole page, remember what you did in school. i find when i highlight, or underline, its easier to reference later, and i remember it better. i used to take notes and compile them in my binder, but it took me way too long to read bc i was writing down everything. now i only write down charts, tables, critical degrees, or strange things that caught my interest.
Good luck,
and what software do you use, if you use any? I bought Astrograph and i think it *****. Its really buggy, and it doesn't do midpoints, and you can't compare progressions, transits, and natal chart on one page.:mad: i am saving for the solarfire instead of upgrading to the advanced specifically because i want midpoints.

once you study midpoints, you won't know how you did without them!

-Joanna

[Neptune Rising]

Hi Joanna

Many thanks for all the advice! It sounds like you have a great library there! Books are the one thing I tend to keep too, they are so heavy when it comes time to moving house. I do remember studying, great days! I used to make loads of notes, I have to get into that habit again, it was a great way to learn and easy to refer back to those notes.

Funny enough, I just ordered Don McBrooms Midpoints from Amazon. I'm gonna look on www.abebooks.com (http://www.abebooks.com/) from now on though if the post deals are better. Thanks for the site.

I use TimePassages Astrograph software for astrology too . IT was fairly cheap to purchase at the time. Its a shame it doesn't do mid-points, have to figure them out the hard way. I would love to get Kepler software, I've read so many good things about it, it seems to have everything you could possible need. A bit pricey for me at the moment, maybe for Christmas. I would love a software programme that includes mid-points, the current phase of the moon, eclipses. I haven't read very much about Solarfire, does it include more features than Astrograph?

NR

[AquarianEssence]

The most comprehensive and complete book on midpoints, by far, that I've seen and read, is Michael Munkasey's Midpoints: Unleashing the power of the planets. It is very good. It covers each midpoint, midpoint picture with the 3rd body as it relates to mundane, relationships, politics, business, etc.

[Neptune Rising]

Thank you very much for the reference AquarianEssence. I'm definately gonna have a little trip into London to find my favourite astrology shop in and read up, then get them for a bit less £ on the net.

Its a fantastice form this, so many recommandations.

Thanks all!

NR

[unukalhai]

Thanks for the link to abebooks, looks like a good one :)

Astrolog32, a nice little freeware application, does midpoints. It's not as "refined" as some of the expensive commercial application, but it's also a much smaller application that runs well on older computers. I think most shy away from it because it's not as intuitive as the expensive commercial astrology programs, but it truly is quite powerful and very quick once you get used to it. I have both SF and Kepler and honestly use Astrolog32 most of the time simply because it's faster and less bulky. It opens instantly, has better animation features than either SF or Kepler, and lets me get to the data I need quickly. I tend to only open SF or Kepler when I need to take advantage of a more advanced feature, most often the midpoint transit lists or Kepler's ability to quickly show midpoints between charts, a most useful feature for relationship analysis.

Grab it for free from: http://www.orionsoft.cz/astrolog32/
(note: I just hit the site and it seems to be down at the moment, although it was up just a few days ago, so you might need to try back in a little while)

Once you get the chart casted in Astrolog32, hit Alt+M or select "Midpoints" from the "Lists" menu to show the chart's midpoints.

From the "Chart Settings" item of the "Settings" menu you can enable aspects to midpoints, which I do. You'd then enter "Aspect Settings" from the "Settings" menu and turn off everything except the 0, 90 and 180 degree aspects, so only the relevant aspects show up in the midpoint listing. I also turn down the orbs to one degree.

Be aware that unlike many other applications, if you change settings, you'll need to select "Save Current Settings" from the file menu and overwrite astrolog32.dat (the configuration file) so they don't have to be reset each time the program opens. The configuration file is a text file and can be edited directly with something like notepad, as well.

I also can't stand the white background that comes up by default, hurts my eyes, so I hit the "x" key to switch to black background, and you might want to as well. It doesn't seem to save this preference in the config file, annoyingly.

What it provides, as far as midpoints, looks like this:

1: 17Gem37 Mercury (Can) & (Tau) Mars - 51:38' degree span.
2: 27Gem12 Sun (Leo) & (Tau) Mars - 70:47' degree span.
3: 8Can28 Mars (Tau) & (Leo) Saturn - 93:19' degree span.
4: 12Can21 Venus (Vir) & (Tau) Mars - 101:04' degree span.
5: 23Can01 Sun (Leo) & (Can) Mercury - 19:09' degree span.
6: 4Leo17 Mercury (Can) & (Leo) Saturn - 41:41' degree span.
Midpoint 4Leo17 makes Con to Sun - orb: +1:40'
7: 8Leo10 Mercury (Can) & (Vir) Venus - 49:26' degree span.
8: 13Leo52 Sun (Leo) & (Leo) Saturn - 22:32' degree span.
9: 17Leo44 Sun (Leo) & (Vir) Venus - 30:17' degree span.
10: 29Leo01 Venus (Vir) & (Leo) Saturn - 7:45' degree span.
... and so on


As far as the commercial applications go... both Solar Fire and Kepler provide good midpoint support. Either will display both midpoint listings as well as sorts by harmonic degrees (90 degree sorts, etc). Both provide transiting midpoint to planet and transiting planet to midpoint listings, making forecasting with midpoints a lot easier. What Solar Fire provides, that Kepler doesn't, is a movable dial that allows you to explore the chart's midpoints, which also works in biwheel or triwheel mode. The arrow, pointing at Saturn in the image, is movable with the mouse.

http://xs317.xs.to/xs317/07304/sfdial.png

But personally, it's not worth a whole lot to me. Text listings get to the point quicker, although some would rather work visually. SF doesn't seem to provide a text output of midpoints between charts either.

Kepler provides a nice text page containing both the midpoint pictures and midpoint sorts on one screen...

http://xs317.xs.to/xs317/07304/kepmp.png

Solar fire also does the same thing, just looks a little different..

http://xs317.xs.to/xs317/07304/sftree.png
http://xs317.xs.to/xs317/07304/sfsort.png

What I haven't figured out in Solar Fire is how to get a clean list of the midpoints between two charts, quickly and easily. Kepler does this in a flash... SF very well may produce a similar list and I just haven't figure out how to obtain it yet.

http://xs317.xs.to/xs317/07304/isr07can.png

Regardless, my personal preference (of the commercial apps) is Kepler, mainly because I find it to be a more versatile application overall (beyond just it's midpoint functionality), but I suppose everyone expects different things from an application.

[unukalhai]

The most comprehensive and complete book on midpoints, by far, that I've seen and read, is Michael Munkasey's Midpoints: Unleashing the power of the planets.

I'm going to have to check this one out. Thanks :D