If the Sun sign is the hour handle and the Moon sign is the minute handle then the Ascendant(and/or Midheaven) is/are the second handles. The other planets are also time handles but we have chosen the most basic or important ones.

When assessing transits, we look at the outer planets -Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto for monthly or yearly trends, and the inner planets -Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and especially the Moon for daily trends. What about the Ascendant and Midheaven which move much faster? Are they not valid transits as well? There is very little information on this.

One of the few books that makes a point of using the Ascendant and Midheaven as transits or timing mechanisms is Vocational Guidance by Astrology (1962) by Charles E. Luntz. In the 12th chapter of his book Luntz primarily uses the transiting Sun and Moon to key or favorable natal planets to choose the best day for a job interview and the transiting Asc and Mc to key or favorable natal planets to hone it down to the minute. I tend to agree with this methodology.

The quick-transiting Ascendant and Midheaven complete their cycles in just 24 hours, or roughly 2 hours per sign and 4 minutes per degree(average), and are dependant on one's geographic location. This requires a lot of calculation or precision but thanks to computers it can be done quickly and accurately.

One of the biggest snags in calculating the Ascendant and/or Midheaven is daylight savings or war time. The difference of one hour or two can totally throw off either factor by as much as one sign or thirty degrees. DST is the biggest curse to serious or true astrology as the Ascendant and Midheaven are the foundations of the astrological birth chart. Countries like India do well not to accept or incorporate DST, but they have other problems.

Transits of the Ascendant or Midheaven to natal planets are quick and fleeting but eventful nonetheless. They accurately pinpoint, to the minute, happenings or events occuring throughout the day. Ascendant transits appear to focus more on personal events whereas Midheaven transits appear to highlight more public events, although the two can often be interchangeable. Asc and MC transits can also be used for rectification, astrolocality(quickly bringing the angles to your planets, rather than the other way around), or testing or spotting unseen influences or bodies not yet discovered. The best part is that results can be noted quickly(within minutes or hours) rather than days, weeks, months, or years as is the case for the regular planets. The Moon transits are pretty quick as well but it takes almost a month rather than a day to get all the results in, and longer if they need to be repeated.

It would be nice to have an astrowatch on one's wrist readily indicating the exact Asc and MC positions for one's particular location, and my sense is that this already exists except it is not commonly available. The next best thing is an astroclock which many astrology computer programs or services offer. This digital real-time clock, wheel, or chart of the planetary positions and/or Ascendant and Midheaven can be freely activated or downloaded and easily referred to at all times. It must of course be set or adjusted to your particular time zone or location.

One of the most popular downloads is the Air Software clock at alphee.com. I have used this freely for many years and find it very handy for knowing where all the planets and angles are at the current moment. Through this, you can easily see when the Asc or MC makes an aspect to any one of your natal planets and assess the influence. Clocks that can go back or forward are of course even better, but you probably need a more sophisticated program for this.