Meridian

Definition

The meridian is the imaginary vertical axis that runs through the chart from the highest point to the deepest point at the moment of birth. It cuts the chart into eastern and western halves, and its two endpoints carry their own names: the upper meridian is the Midheaven and the lower is the Imum Coeli. The meridian frames where the life rises into visibility and where it goes home.

In context

The meridian and the horizon together split a chart into four hemispheres, and the angular cusps sit where these two axes meet the zodiac. Reading the meridian means reading the Midheaven and the Imum Coeli as a pair: the upper end describes what the life moves outward into (vocation, public face) and the lower end describes the inner ground that work comes home to.

To go deeper

The meridian belongs to the angular framework of the chart:

• Midheaven: upper end of the meridian.
• Imum Coeli: lower end of the meridian.
• Horizon: the east-to-west axis.