DEEPER ASTROLOGY SHIT #3 THE THICK-ASS CROSS
Don’t let that beautiful name fool you. The Thick-Ass Cross is just the title for the relationship between the Ascendant, IC, Descendant, and Midheaven. If you don’t know what those four degrees are, look at this janky ass picture:
Great. Those two thick ass lines make up The Thick-Ass Cross, and that cross is gonna be your compass for your little self-discovery journey (aka Life). Understanding the significance of these four degrees is critical. They’re the context for the rest of the shit in your chart. Every chart has a Thick-Ass Cross. It helps you track your progress as you go through the process of learning how to be yourself in the world. Are the other house cusps important? Yeah. But we all know bigger is better. The thin-ass lines aren’t as crucial as these four mf-ers. So don’t worry about them for now.
First: One of the best things about Astrology is that it’s actually two things in one. When you look at your chart, you get (1) an overall snapshot of your potential and also (2) a map of how to get there. You get space and time in one. It’s a beautiful thing. For this post, we’re looking at (2) - the movement and evolution from the AC to the IC to the DC to the MC. These four degrees take you from one little feeling (AC) to a real live human being (MC). It goes like this:
THE ASCENDANT
You gotta start somewhere. So start at the beginning. The Ascendant is your pure essence. It’s the deepest, realest quality of who you are. There aren’t words to describe it - it’s something that you (and only you) feel. It is the string that holds all the beads of experiences together in your little life necklace. Every experience you have, thought you have, feeling you have grows out of the seed that is The Ascendant. The Ascendant shares the same qualities as Aries - all feeling, totally subjective, very pure. Way back when you were a little spirit fucking around out there in the ether thinking like, “damn I’m tired of being a lame ass intagible thing I wanna go get my substance on,” the Ascendant was what you planned to get out of living. This degree is so important. It’s why you’re even fucking with Life in the first place.
THE IC (IMUM COELI)
But just knowing why you’re here isn’t going to tell you how to get anywhere. Yeah, you’re a pure little thing and you can feel yourself, good for you. But you want to be real, so you’ve gotta start working that little identity out so it can beef itself up into something that can be seen and experienced and all that good stuff. So, next stop on the self-exploration train in the IC.
The IC is your identity. What’s the difference between your essence and identity? Astrologically speaking: Essence is pure and true and it is what it is; Identity is creative - it’s the persona you create for yourself. When you start defining yourself, thinking to yourself, “this is who I am,” you’ve crossed into IC territory. Defining and identifying yourself is a creative process. It has a Cancer quality. You’ve moved past just being who you are and you’ve started thinking, “shit, how am I going to turn these feelings into something real, how am I going to become myself, what the fuck even is a self?” Why do you think Cancer can become paralyzed with fear and totally unable to express itself? It’s working out some heavy questions. But. At the end of the day. You gotta develop a stable identity to move forward with your life - whatever that shit may be.
THE DESCENDANT
The Descendant is a turning point. Now, you step onto the scene for real. The Descendant is you coming face to face with some hard ass truths about yourself. It‘s all chill when you’re just hanging out developing some little ideas and opinions about yourself, but dang. The shit gets real when you gotta go out into the World and put your persona on the line. As soon as you start to test out your identity in the world, all the things you thought you knew about yourself go out the fucking window. Like Libra, the DC shows how and what you need to learn to be in relationship with the world and all the people and things in it. What actually happens when you start trying to be yourself - what does your Ascendant actually look like in action? Spolier: It looks like the Descendant.
The DC is a challenging degree. It starts the process of you actively being yourself in the World; you’re no longer just feeling yourself safely from inside your own head. The movement from Libra to Capricorn (or DC to MC, 7th house to 10th house) is where we have to come up against the reality of ourselves - we don’t always like what we see when we have to actually see ourselves reflected back at us from the World. But, like Libra, there’s two sides. Important to note that the DC is also a serious source of inspiration when we do come across the pieces of ourselves that we love and admire out in the World.
THE MIDHEAVEN
Through dealing with the reality of yourself in the world you get to come to a place where you see and accept yourself for who you are: The Midheaven is you when you’ve dealt with your shit. It’s your essence (AC) in action. You’re past engaging in some crazy ass shit, past imagining who you might be and trying to figure out who you are. The MC is you when you’re on top of your shit, when you’re confident in who you are, and when you’ve established yourself in the world. It’s the full on tree that grew from your baby Ascendant seed. You’re no longer worrying about the fucking seasons and all the conducive to growth bullshit. You’ve grown. You’ve taken an intangible, inexpressible feeling and from that you created an entire identity, then you put that identity on the damn line and you learned and you shared and now you’re solid enough in who you are that you can maybe think about dishing out some shade or some apples or whatever the fuck altruistic shit you got going on in your grown ass tree life.
The MC has a Capricorn quality. It’s you when you’re established. When you’re standing tall and you’ve turned a feeling into something tangible and real and powerful. Now you’re ready use your own power to empower others and contribute something meaningful to the World. Spoiler: your contribution is yourself.
THE ASCENDANT
Welcome back.
Last: Your chart is gonna look different to you depending on where you’re at in your life. Sometimes you’re closer to the AC, other times the MC. But if you ever feel lost and confused, the four degrees of The Thick-Ass Cross can help you get an idea of why you’re here, where you’re headed, and what moving forward in life will look like for you.
Peace, bitches.
XO BULLSHIT FREE ASTROLOGY
