Why are so many astrologers on the fence when it comes to cusps and interceptions? Why are so many afraid to take a stand and think for themselves rather than parrot what is already out there? From doing a Google search, it appears that most articles are in favor of the idea of cusps signs and intercepted signs, but like most subjects today, the uninformed seem to get the most attention.

Cusp signs or "being on the cusp" is idea that you partake of two signs because you're Sun(or any other planet) is at the very end or beginning of a zodiac sign. This assumption is due to the arbitrary dates given for the Sun's entry or exit from a sign not realizing that it can vary as much as a day from year to year and that a specific hour and minute is also involved. Even if born at the last or first minute of a sign, there is a clear cut point of exit or entry which then requires personal analysis or confirmation. The fact that you often "feel" like your neighbouring sign is often due to having other planets in that sign, quite often Mercury or Venus, which are never more than one or two signs away from the Sun. Cusp signs is a wishy washy and uninformed notion conjured up to confuse the issues and has no place in serious astrology.

Then there is the matter of intercepted signs. This is the product or result of using unequal house systems which become more and more unequal for births in the very northerly or southerly latitudes. The skewing can become so extreme so that the narrowest houses will cover only part of a sign while the largest will jump over one or more signs causing the inbetween signs to be skipped or "intercepted". This is a mathematical phenomenon based on an erroneous understanding of the astrological houses. It can be immediately be remedied by adopting the older and simpler Equal or Whole Sign House systems.

The Ancients saw the signs and houses as two faces or sides of the same thing and did not have to deal with the mess of house systems we have today. They in fact used almost exclusively the Whole Sign House System which Indian or vedic astrology still uses today. Once the Ascendant or Rising sign is figured out, the entire sign from 0 to 30 degrees becomes the WHOLE first house, regardless of the degree. The degree becomes the intense focal point of that sign. The MC sign or degree then becomes a "planet"(see my article "The Midheaven Planet ") anywhere in the upper half of the chart.

Degree astrology is the problem here, and has been the problem ever since the Middle Ages when the Arabian astrologers overcomplexified astrology. The Ascendant and Midheaven degrees show focal points of intensity within a sign but should not be used to start the houses. The ancients in fact used the signs of the Sun, the Moon, and the Part of Fortune as different house starters, and by extension, it is my belief that ANY planet can be used to create a house wheel.

This goes to prove what I've always suspected -that houses are little more than a sophisticated way of showing sign aspects, to the Ascendant. The Ascendant, by the way, is the influence of the Earth measured at the eastern horizon. Because Earth is the basis or foundation for our operations, the sign aspects(houses) to it are considered special, hence the "houses".