Midpoint

MID-poynt

Definition

A midpoint, also called a half-sum, is the degree of the zodiac that sits exactly halfway between two planets or chart points. Take two points A and B, and the midpoint falls at (A + B) / 2 — with a second midpoint 180° opposite that. Cosmobiology, a modern midpoint-based school, writes a midpoint that a third planet activates as A/B = C.

In Tradition

Western astrologers treat a midpoint as a sensitive degree — a spot where the combined meaning of the two planets bracketing it gathers. When a third planet lands on that midpoint, the tradition reads it as switching on the themes of all three planets at once.

In Practice

Astrologers work out midpoints to surface combined planetary themes that the ordinary aspects do not show. They are central to Cosmobiology, the method developed by Reinhold Ebertin, where they are the main analytical framework rather than a side technique.

Historical Origin

Midpoints as a systematic technique are a 20th-century development, given form mainly through the work of Reinhold Ebertin and the wider Uranian astrology movement.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading