Editing Imum coeli (section)

==Astrological significance==
The ''Imum Coeli'' is said to refer to people's roots and also to the least conscious part of the self. It symbolizes foundations, beginnings in life, what may have been experienced through parental inheritance and homeland influences, need for security and relationships with the home and family life. It also may describe the circumstances that someone will encounter at the end of their life.<ref>{{cite book |title=Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart: a Comprehensive Guide to Classical Interpretation |first=Kevin |last=Burk |year=2001 |isbn=9781567180886 |publisher=[[Llewellyn Publications]] |page=177}}</ref> Because this house was the most distant point possible from the visible part of the [[horoscope]], [[Hellenistic]] astrologers considered the IC to be the home of the underworld, or [[Hades]].

In many cases the IC refers to a parent&mdash;traditionally, the mother.<ref name=key>{{cite book|title=Key Words for Astrology |last1=Banzhaf |first1=Hajo |last2=Haebler |first2=Anna |publisher=[[Weiser Books]] |year=1996|isbn=9780877288756 |page=121 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xDzMSUXTL2EC&q=imum |access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref> Modern astrologers may use the IC as a significator for the father,<ref name=key /> or for both parents. There is no consensus in modern usage for which parent is best represented by the IC. The point is moot for [[Hellenistic]] astrologers who considered the [[Angular house|fourth house]] the house of the father, but did not use the ''Imum Coeli'' as the cusp of the fourth house.

Using the natural houses system (see [[cadent houses]]) and modern quadrant house systems in which the IC is the cusp of the [[Angular house|fourth house]], some modern astrologers see a correspondence between the fourth house and the [[astrological sign]] [[Cancer (astrology)|Cancer]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Only Way to Learn Astrology |volume=1 |page=35 |last1=March |first1=Marion |last2=McEvers |first2=Joan |publisher=Astro Computing Services |year=1980 |isbn=0917086007}}</ref> However, traditional astrologers, using whole-sign houses, never made this connection.

In whole-sign house systems the signs and houses have the same boundaries; hence the ''Imum Coeli'' can actually appear in the [[cadent houses|third house]], the [[angular house|fourth house]] or [[succedent houses|fifth house]]; in cases of extreme terrestrial [[latitude]], it may even fall in the [[succedent houses|second]] or [[cadent houses|sixth]] houses.<ref>{{cite book |title=Science of Astrology |author=Ben Fitch |year=2016 |isbn= 9781456627072 |publisher=eBookit.com}}</ref>