How Do Others See You?

If you know a little bit about astrology, then you probably know that your sun sign tells you what your personality is like. Once you get past the basics, you learn that your sun sign is not the indicator for your personality, your Ascendant sign is. In fact, if you know just a little bit about astrology, your next step is to find out and investigate your Ascendant sign, because you'll probably find it fascinating. The Ascendant has a lot to say about how others see you. It's very interesting to get a glimpse into how others perceive you. If you're old enough to be a boomer, though, there's another relevant element to how others see you, and that's your Midheaven.

The Midheaven is, in my opinion, one of the most mysterious elements of your birth chart. It is the sign that sits at the very pinnacle of your chart, the line that indicates the beginning of your 10th house of career, reputation, public standing, contribution to the community and so on. It represents the peak of your identity.

If you're a boomer, you're approaching, at, or past the age when it is time for you to come to terms with who you are in the larger sense of your role in the community. The Midheaven (sometimes referred to as the M.C.) in some ways represents your aspirations, or at least your birth chart's aspirations. As you get older, people can theoretically see more of your character as revealed by how you have chosen to contribute or participate in the larger world. This may be tangibly evidenced by how you have chosen to contribute in terms of work or a career, or it may be evidenced by the reputation you have garnered among your friends, family, and colleagues.

One of the fascinating things to me is how time changes our perceptions of people, simply because they have endured. I see this frequently with public figures. Elvis in his youth was a rebel; at least that was part of his image. Elvis in his later years was an icon and I'm not exactly sure what else.

The image we retain of public figures often tends to be the image we form of them in their later years. This is an example of the Midheaven at work--the image we accumulate over time after the enthusiasms, follies, and missteps of our youthful years have faded away. It is the image people have of us after they have forgotten what we really used to be like, what it took for us to become who we are.  

The Midheaven is how the story turns out--how the story of our lives takes shape after we know the outcome of some of the soap opera episodes of our earlier lives. Who would have thought that Bill Gates, ruthless entrepreneur, would turn out to be Bill Gates, the philanthropist dedicated to saving the developing world from the ravages of AIDS?

I myself am 48 years old. I am just approaching a confrontation with my Midheaven. I don't feel like I know how the story turns out yet. Maybe no one ever does. Or maybe, once one has confronted one's Midheaven, a certain story does take shape. Maybe one feels like one does know who he or she has been--the man who decoded the secrets of DNA, the dedicated family man, the woman who has always been a free spirit at heart, the woman who finally got the money and beautiful home she had always aspired to.

Someone did a mini-psychic reading on me not long ago (very mini). She said something to the effect of "I see great determination. I see climbing; I see an image of climbing, all this determined climbing. (pause) This isn't the whole story; there is another side, but that is the image that comes to mind."

I happen to have Capricorn on my Midheaven. The image for Capricorn happens to be a goat climbing a mountainside. Capricorn is known for its determination to make the climb. You might say that is the destiny of Capricorn, to climb a mountain others find too daunting or simply unappealing. That is how Capricorn survives, by climbing.

So is that my story? Is that who I am, or who I have become? The endless climber? Is that what people are to see of me? A willingness to climb?

As the psychic said, there is more to the story. I have a number of planets in the 11th and 12th houses of my chart, including some rather important ones. The story is not over yet. But I feel in my heart that as I grow older, I must come to terms with this Midheaven. I must come to terms with the climbing elements of my nature. I need to understand what exactly I am climbing and why. I need to understand the purpose of this aspiration.

When I do the charts of younger people, I can often tell that their Midheaven placement dogs them, haunts them. It is a symbol of the thing they keep reaching for, that they keep feeling that they are being pulled away from. I did the chart of an aspiring singer once, a Pisces with Taurus on the Midheaven. I could tell she was approaching a confrontation with her Midheaven and she was desperate to get there. Her entire being was straining like an animal on a leash to experience that Midheaven. The intensity of her desire (Mars in the 10th) was literally making her sick.

In real life, and in her chart, she had to move from one identity, that of a married woman (sun in the 7th house) to another one to reach her Midheaven. She had to end her self-sacrificing marriage. It was a wrenching decision. She made it with no real hope of a particular outcome; she only knew the stress of not being the person represented by her Midheaven was killing her.

Within months after she ended the marriage, she had moved back home (Taurus often correlates with going home) and gotten a record contract (Taurus also often correlates with music in my experience, although it can represent other things as well). Watching the soap opera of her experiences impressed upon me how psychically important it is that we strive, and that we honor our strivings.

Now this woman is a full-time performing musician and this is how others see her. This is how her story turns out. For years, people saw her as one half of a marriage--now they see her Midheaven, and the soap opera of her marriage has faded from view. Her new fans don't even know she was ever married.

So, how does or did your story turn out? Do you know the sign on your Midheaven; are you familiar with the planets near it, or aspecting it? Have you confronted and integrated this aspect of your nature? Can you look back on your life and see how your reputation has evolved?

Are you different from the person you were when you were younger? Impetuous at 20, curious at 60? Are you more or less joyful? Did you believe things when you were younger that you've changed your mind about now? Does this impact how others relate to who you are as an older person? Has your accumulated wisdom and life experience made you happier or bitter?

Do you recall the aspirations of your younger years and did you achieve them? Did those aspirations evolve over time? If you did achieve them, did they bring you what you wanted? If you did not achieve them, how do you feel about that now? Are you content with how others see you? Have you made peace with your Midheaven?