Life Matters: the Cross of Matter (Part 1)

By Mari Garcia

The Cross of Matter is a fundamental principle of Astrology and as such is the backbone of any chart. Its components are the four angles: the Ascendant, the MC, the Descendant and the IC. The concept is based on divisions of the circle described by the path of the sun and planets across the sky as seen from the earth.

Indeed, the Greek word ‘horoskopos’ means the ‘watcher of the hour’ describing the fact that originally, the celestial observers would record what stars or planets were rising at different hours of the day. These were used as markers in the construction of calendars for religious observances.

The earliest records of natal astrology go back to the Babylonians whose astrology we would describe as ‘omen’ astrology, in the sense that they used not only the planets and the stars, but the winds, the flight of birds, comets and other phenomena. These were recorded on stones and were used to describe the nature of the time in which they appeared. There was no Ascendant and therefore no other division of the celestial circle.

The Babylonians had a strongly developed system of heaven-earth correspondences. Orientation and division of space was very important. They used the four cardinal points and the notion of associating right and left with east and west are the same qualities which underpin most of the ancient world philosophies where east and right are associated with the masculine, diurnal principle while west and left are associated with the feminine nocturnal principle.

The marking of the eastern horizon has always been important and the ancient Egyptians marked it with the rising of particular stars, most important was the helical rising (rising with the Sun) of the star Sirius which signified the beginning of the Egyptian year and heralded the annual flooding of the Nile.

The East point was seen as the birth place of the Sun, the giver of life and the west was seen as the ‘dying place’ where the Sun slipped below the horizon to the place ‘of rest’ in the underworld. The underworld was the place where east and west came together and when the Sun reached the nadir, the centre of the underworld it would transform itself from the ageing deity into the newborn babe ready to be reborn at dawn.

The centre point of this underworld is what in astrology we refer to as The IC or midnight point and it is where the Sun god was transformed from an old to a new god ready for rebirth the following day. The Egyptian underworld was not a place of suffering and damnation like the hell of Christianity. It was the afterlife where the soul went for rest and renewal and prepared for reincarnation into the next life. The underworld was known as the Source from which all things emerged and that is how the IC derives its connections to beginnings and endings of all things, to the source of our lives, to parents, and to home.

Marcus Manilius the 1st century writer tells us:

"It controls the foundations of things and governs wealth; it examines to what extent desires are accomplished by the mining of metal and what gain can issue from a hidden source." 

The IC was also seen as the repository of resources of the earth e.g. metals, mining, hidden treasure and wealth. Other classical writers added reputation and lineage, family wealth (that which we inherit from family and parents), land (as most wealth would have been linked with land ownership), old age, ancestry, beginning and end of life. Father is also represented here because father is the ‘hidden’ parent – paternity was not something which could be established as obviously as maternity, hence its hidden nature but also the foundation of genetic structure.

As the Sun then began its ascent towards the horizon, the Sun god was seen to emerge into the upper world at dawn, bringing life and vitality, shedding light and warmth on the world. With the appearance of the Sun, the Egyptians saw this as the birth of the god and in astrology this ‘marker of the hour’ of birth of the individual is the Ascendant -the moment in which the child makes its entry into the world.

Manilius says:

"Within its domain lies the arbitrament of life and the formation of character; it will grant success to enterprises, open up the professions, and decide the early years that await men from their birth, the education they receive, and the station to which they are born…." 

Hence we have the Ascendant’s association with the life force, the source of character and physical appearance. It describes the person emerging into the world hence it also describes impressions, image, will, strength and vitality. The Ascendant as the beginning of life also represents beginnings generally i.e. how a person starts things, the impressions they make on others as well as their impact on the external world.

Read Part 2

Copyright Mari Garcia. Mari Garcia is a consulting astrologer who has been involved with astrology since 1990. She has lectured widely both in Australia and the USA and has published articles in Australia and overseas and writes for several local and national publications. She runs a consulting practice in Adelaide and is co-principal of ASTRO MUNDI, which offers a four year course in astrology as well as special interest workshops. Mari can be contacted via the website at www.astromundi.com.

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