Expert: Zane B Stein - 1/9/2008

Question
hi Zane!

Just wondering what significance, if any, you have found with synastric aspects involving the MC.  I know the traditional interpretation of the MC involves career, but it seems as though these contacts would mean more than that, especially since any aspect to the MC is also an aspect to the IC.  

I'm wondering about planetary aspects, but also aspects with other angles and points.  For example, one person's NN conjunct the other's MC.  (This one is a little confusing, because I think in many ways the MC and NN are similar, no?)

Thanks!

Answer
Hi, Jean,

Good questions.
First, let me preface my answer by saying ANY aspect between ANYTHING in one person's chart to ANYTHING in the other person's chart has some significance, but some things are so minor as to not be worth paying attention to.

You are correct about the MC being important, especially since something that aspects it almost always aspects the IC too.  So let's look at these two points.

The MC in a child is kind of like, "What I want to be when I grow up."  In an adult, there is still some of the same feel to it... it is the role a person would be happiest in in career, and in public. And often you will find it helping to define the type of career a person gets involved in, as well as the public interaction they experience.

In synastry, it shows how these things interact with the partner. If, for example, the partner's Sun is square the other's MC, the Sun person may find themselves uncomfortable with the career the MC person has, or uncomfortable with how much time they devote to their public life.  Sometimes, they may feel inside, "My partner pays more attention to his career than to me!"  
On the other hand, if the partner has a planet like Jupiter conjunct the other's MC, the Jupiter person may not only understand the MC person's career choice, but be adept at helping them promote it.  

Now the IC is as far below as the MC is above.  It is a person's roots, so helps to define the family they grew up in, and their attitude towards family now and in the future.
A square from a planet in the partner's chart to the IC can indicate problems dealing with the IC person's family, or in
the way the IC person wants to set up their home.  Good aspects can indicate a lot of comfort with these aspects of the IC person's life.

NN and MC do have a little in common, in that they are both directed.  But the MC is very subjective, whereas the NN is much more wholistict.  The MC is the direction the person would like to be going, so to speak, while the NN is the direction the person should be going in order to evolve and grow.  In synastry, a conjunction would show that they would both help each other grow, but it can also indicate that there is a tendency in the couple (because the SN conjuncts the other's IC) to take the line of least resistance, sticking to the known, rather than pushing forwards into uncharted territories.  Effort on both parts to discover new  
things will be highly rewarded, but they may have to overcome tendencies to get stuck in a rut.

I hope that helps.

Zane