IC in the 5th house/Midheaven in the 11th house
People who have IC in the 5th house and MC in the 11th house had much “childlike” energy wrapped up in their childhood for better and for worse, and they may find success through working within a larger organization, team, or movement. They rebel against their upbringing through through their air of inclusivity, their friend groups, the causes they believe in, and their worldview at large
Note: In some house systems, the IC is the start of the 4th house and the midheaven is the start of the 10th house. Using other house systems, like the whole sign house system, the midheaven and IC can be found in other houses. The midheaven and IC are always exactly opposite one another.
What is the IC in astrology?
The IC (or Imum Coeli, the ‘bottom of the sky’) describes our family (especially our parents) and their influence on us, childhood, ancestral lineage, physical home and sense of home, first experiences of love (or “love”) through our families, and our past more broadly. These themes obviously overlap with the 4th house; they essentially represent the same things, but the IC can add additional information about a person’s family and upbringing if it falls outside of the 4th house.
The IC contains powerful information about how we perceive(d) our family and childhood environment, how our family perceived us, and what was normalized during childhood (whether it was actually normal/healthy or not), and digging into it is a key part of inner child work. So much of who we are comes from this early experience of life.
What is the midheaven or MC in astrology?
The midheaven (or Medium Coeli, the ‘middle of the sky’) describes our career, public image, qualities we tend to hold in high regard, and the self that we shape for ourselves beyond the influence of our families. These themes obviously overlap with themes of the 10th house; they represent very similar things, but the MC can add more dimension to and provide more information on these topics if it falls outside of the 4th house.
The MC is also what we idealize, and because it opposes the IC, what was missing from childhood. It’s what we go out into the world to find; what we strive to be; qualities we elevate, idealize, and respect in ourselves and others. What we couldn’t do/find at home, we do/seek out in the world.
The midheaven can be seen as a collection of qualities that we intentionally choose to cultivate in ourselves. It’s the teenage rebellion and the ladders we climb. Oftentimes, the more difficult childhood/IC/4th house are, the more forcefully we run toward the midheaven and the more strongly we identify with it.
IC in the 5th house
IC in the 5th house indicates that you may have had a generally delightful, fun upbringing, and/or your parents acted like children, and/or your parents had substance use issues. In some cases, 5th house IC can also represent parents who were artists or worked in a creative field, though this is somewhat less common (and in fact, children of famous actors and musicians more often have their IC in the 3rd house rather than the 5th, indicating that people other than their parents may have played a huge role in raising them). With 5th house IC, 5th house themes define your family (especially parents!) and childhood in one way or another. Relevant 5th house themes include presence. indulgence, creativity, childlike energy, and play.
In the best cases, 5th house ICs experience lots of joy, playfulness, laughter and warmth in their childhood. Perhaps you felt very much loved and your family is tightly knit, your parents loved to play and spend time with you, and your childhood wonder and innocence were respected and nurtured. Perhaps you were simply allowed to be a child, did not have excessive responsibilities heaped on you, and were allowed to mature at a normal, healthy rate.
Having parents who acted like children seems to be the most common way that IC in the 5th house shows up, however. This can be in a very simple, benign way as stated above, or in other ways. Maybe you had the “cool mom”, or you had a lot of freedom because your parents were preoccupied with their own lives, or your parents acted more like friends than guardians to you. This can be fun when you’re a kid, but most adults who have experienced this as children also see the ways in which this dynamic ultimately sets them behind in life. If your 5th house IC showed up like this, it can have the inverse effect of the more positive possibility mentioned above: you may have had to step in and be a parent, or at least act like an adult, while your parents did not or could not for one reason or another.
Perhaps your parents were absent altogether because they were busy fucking off and refusing to grow up, or because they were lost in the cloudy fishbowl of substance abuse, inaccessible to their children some or all of the time. Or maybe you grew up without material security or proper guidance that kids need because your parents didn’t take life seriously or they valued their romantic relationships or having fun over responsibility or practicality. Maybe your parents didn’t have parents who knew how to parent properly either, so they just never learned. (It’s also worth noting that if you also happen to have Pluto in your 5th house, you are uniquely equipped to break this “generational curse” through developing a different relationship with indulgence and enjoying life, and through the way you raise your own children or how you interact with children in general regardless of whether or not you become a parent.)
There are many diverse ways in which the 5th house IC can show up. It’s worth mentioning that whether there were plenty of challenges or not, a good percentage of 5th house ICs seem to have a largely positive relationship with at least one of their parents.
For more information on someone’s childhood as told by your IC, take a look at the planet that rules the sign on their IC and consider its condition. This can even help you to determine which of the above possibilities is most likely for them. For example, if the IC is in Gemini and their Mercury (the planet that rules Gemini) is also in Gemini (one of the signs in which Mercury is in domicile, or quite strong), they may be more likely to have had the more positive manifestations of this placement. On the other hand, if the IC is in Gemini and their Mercury is in Sagittarius (one of the signs in which Mercury is in detriment), it is more likely that they experienced the more challenging possibilities. Mercury in Sagittarius can also indicate that despite the fact that Gemini IC can indicate a very communicative household, communication may actually have been exceptionally limited in one way or another. There is much more to take into consideration than just these few items, and none of this is definite anyway – there are always variations and anomalies – but this will at least give you an idea of where to start!
Midheaven in the 11th house
11th house midheaven can be idealistic and ambitious and they care about the impact they have on the world. 11th house midheavens may have more success while working within a larger organization, team, or movement rather than working solo.
If an 11th house midheaven desires fame, it’s wise to interact with the audience rather than standing up above the audience on some sort of pedestal; make sure that your audience sees you as human, perhaps even as a peer of sorts. The astrologer Chris Brennan is a great example of how to navigate this portion of an 11th house midheaven. While he is quite well-respected in the field of astrology (he has Saturn in his 10th house!), has much experience, and has contributed heavily to the field, he is in no way elitist and does not position himself ‘above’ other astrologers. This is evident in many different ways, but perhaps most obviously in the way that he refers to anyone who is interested in astrology as an “astrologer.” He treats his audience as his peers… because they are!
This all being said, it must be noted that of all the houses the midheaven can be in, its presence in the 11th house seems to matter the least in terms of how it impacts ones career and public image. In my many years of study, I have not yet seen many consistent examples of midheaven in the 11th house indicating any one thing. With midheaven in the 11th house, your options for how to achieve success through your career, as well as how you individuate from your family, are quite wide open.
11th house midheavens shape themselves beyond the influence of their family through their air of inclusivity, their friend groups, the causes they believe in, and their worldview at large. These are some of the primary ways in which they rebel against their upbringing.