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Title: Astrology - How to Make and Read Your Own Horoscope
Author: Sepharial
Language: English
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This e-text is based on the 1920 edition. Punctuation errors have
been tacitly corrected. The Table of Contents has been completed
to match the text. Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling (e.g.,
‘every-day’/‘everyday’; ‘formulæ’/‘formulae’) have been retained. Large
tables have been split and rearranged.
The following typographical errors have been corrected:
# p. 6: ‘sublinary’ → ‘sublunary’; ‘towhich’ → ‘to which’
# p. 62: ‘Shakspeare’ → ‘Shakespeare’
# p. 107: ‘intuite’ → ‘intuit’
# p. 132: ‘Sagitarius’ → ‘Sagittarius’
# p. 135: ‘Viola’ → ‘Voila’
Italic text passages have been symbolised by underscores (_italic_);
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ASTROLOGY:
HOW TO MAKE AND READ
YOUR OWN HOROSCOPE
By
SEPHARIAL
EDITOR OF “MOORE’S” AND “OLD MOORE’S” ALMANACS
AUTHOR OF “THE MANUAL OF ASTROLOGY,” “PROGNOSTIC ASTRONOMY,”
“THE BIRTHDAY BOOK OF DESTINY,” “THE CRYSTAL
AND THE SEER,” ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED_
ADVANCED THOUGHT PUB. CO.
216 WEST AUSTIN AVE.
CHICAGO, ILL.
Copyright, 1920
Chicago, Ill.
Preface to the Revised and Enlarged Edition
Since the publication of this small manual of practical Astrology,
two editions of which have been exhausted, the attention given to the
subject has so far extended as to create an increased demand for a
concise work of this nature, designed for the initial use of students
and offered at a price that is within the means of all. It is believed
that the revision and enlargement of the present work will render it
even more popular than hitherto with beginners.
The practical uses of Astrology are daily more and more recognized and
appreciated, and although some of the higher and later developments of
Astrology in its relation to every-day problems have necessarily been
withheld from these pages, yet it is to be hoped that so much as is here
presented of an abstruse and recondite science will enable the student
to pursue the subject with increasing assurance and satisfaction, in
which case doubtless he will readily discover for himself, and without
any special pointing on my part, that Astrology is primarily and finally
a practical and useful study.
There are, of course, many aspects of this fascinating subject which
find no place in this small work, which deals solely with Genethliacal
Astrology, or the doctrine of Nativities. Yet if it be true, as I
think to be the case, that “the proper study for mankind is man,” then
undoubtedly we are right in selecting this phase of Astrological Science
as that to which the student should first devote himself.
When we have thoroughly arrived at an understanding of the complex
nature of human character and the primary causes of variety in
expression, when we have seen for ourselves how the many-coloured dome
of Life overarches us of this sublunary world with its kaleidoscopic
interplay of forces, we shall be to some extent better equipped not only
to deal with character as we find it, but also to direct the forces of
the human mind along channels which lead to the preservation of our
social economy, and that not by any restrictive measures or harmful
suppression of natural passions and powers, but by conversion of them
into forms that are conservative and useful.
To apply oneself to the specialization of inherent faculty, to find the
line of least resistance, and to discover the measure of one’s own soul
in the universe and the limit to which ambition can safely aspire, these
are things necessary to be known and things that Astrology makes clear
to the mind in the very earliest stages of our study.
And apart from the scientific verities to which the science of planetary
influence directs us, there are other not less important and fascinating
truths of a purely philosophic nature to which it inevitably impels
the mind and which cannot fail to exercise a tremendous influence in
the shaping of our thought in regard to the purpose of life. It places
the thoughtful student in an entirely new position with regard to many
of the deeper problems of existence, and it is certainly the fact that
to those who newly come to its study, Astrology is a revelation, an
enlightenment, and a conviction from which there is no possible or
desirable escape.
SEPHARIAL.
Astrology
Introduction
From the earliest ages of the world’s history the subject of Astrology
has excited the interest of, and exercised a great influence over, the
minds of a certain order of thinking men. The science has never been
universal in its acceptance, though it is safe to say that, with its
countless adherents in the East and the ever-increasing number of its
advocates in the West, there is no faith which has a more universal
application than the belief in the influence of the heavenly bodies over
the destinies of human beings. It is not possible within the limits of
a small handbook such as this to adequately consider the philosophic
paradox which makes of Freewill in man a “necessity in play”; but it is
obvious that the concept is not altogether unscientific, seeing that
it is customary to speak of the “free path of vibration” in chemical
atoms while at the same time it is known that these atoms have their
restricted characteristics, modes of motion, &c., and are all subject
to the general laws controlling the bodies of which they form integral
parts. Let it suffice that if we can trace an actual connectedness
between the disposition of the heavenly bodies at the moment of a birth
and the known life and character of the individual then born, and an
exact correspondence between the course of events in that life with the
changes occurring in the heavens subsequent to the moment of birth, we
shall do well to accept the fact for what it is worth, and arrange our
philosophic notions accordingly.
As far back as the year B.C. 2154, we find mention of the
great importance attaching to the celestial phenomena in the minds
of Chinese rulers. It is recorded in the Historical Classic of China
that at that time the astrologers Hi and Ho neglected their duties
so that when, on the 10th of October, there was a great eclipse of
the Sun at Peking between seven and nine o’clock in the morning, the
people were wholly unprepared for it, and “ran about here and there in
the utmost consternation.” For this offence Hi and Ho were deprived
of their offices, their estates were confiscated and they were driven
from the kingdom. Among the Hindus we have the classical writers Garga,
Parashara, and Mihira, together with their legions of commentators.
The Assyrian records are full of astrological allusions regarding the
influence of planetary conjunctions and stellar positions. The Greek
mythology is nothing but a vast system of cosmographical astrology,
and there is no other history in it than what you may read in the
constellations of the heavens and the corresponding evolution of the
human race. Aristotle made it a part of his philosophy. Hipparchus,
Hippocrates, Thales, Galenius, and others subscribed an intelligent
belief in its principles. To Claudius Ptolemy, however, we are indebted
for the first concise and scientific statement of its principles and
practice, so far as Europe is concerned. He wrote the Tetrabiblos, or
Four Books, and laid the foundations of a true astrological science.
Julius Firmicus confirmed Ptolemy and enlarged upon his observations.
The subsequent discovery of the planets Uranus and Neptune by Herschel
and Adams, widened the field of research and gave to later astrologers
the clue to much that hitherto had been imperfectly understood. Not
that these discoveries overturned the whole system of astrology, as
some have imagined and foolishly stated, or that they negatived the
conclusions drawn from the observed effects of the seven anciently
known bodies of the solar system, but it became possible after a
lapse of time to fill in the blank spaces and to account for certain
events which had not been traced to the action of any of the already
known planets. The discovery of argon did not destroy our conclusions
regarding the nature and characteristics of oxygen or hydrogen or
nitrogen, nor give an entirely new meaning to the word “atmosphere.”
If even so many as seven new planets should be discovered, there would
yet not be a single paragraph of this book which would need revising.
What is known regarding planetary action in human life is known with
great certainty, and the effects of one planet can never be confounded
with those of another. Incomplete as it must needs be, it is yet a
veritable science both as to its principles and practice. It claims
for itself a place among the sciences for the sole reason that it is
capable of mathematical demonstration, and deals only with the observed
positions and motions of the heavenly bodies; and the man who holds
to the principia of Newton, the solidarity of the solar system, the
interaction of the planetary bodies and their consequent electrostatic
effects upon the Earth, cannot, while subject to the air he breathes,
deny the foundation principles of astrology. The application of these
principles to the facts of everyday life is solely a matter of prolonged
research and tabulation upon an elaborate scale which has been going on
for thousands of years in all parts of the world, so that all the reader
has to do is to make his own horoscope and put the science to the test
of true or false. The present writer is in a position to know that the
study of astrology at the present day is no less sincere than widely
spread, but few care to let their studies be known, for, as Prof. F.
Max Müller recently said, “So great is the ignorance which confounds
a science requiring the highest education, with that of the ordinary
gipsy fortune-teller.” That to which the great Kepler was compelled
“by his unfailing experience of the course of events in harmony with
the changes taking place in the heavens,” to subscribe “an unwilling
belief,” the science which was practised and advocated by Tycho Brahe
under all assaults of fortune and adverse opinion, the art that arrested
the attention of the young Newton and set him pondering upon the
problems of force and matter, which fascinated the minds of such men as
Francis Bacon, Archbishop Usher, Haley, Sir George Witchell, Flamstead,
and a host of others, is to-day the favourite theme of thousands of
intelligent minds and bids fair to become a subject of popular inquiry.
It is believed that the present work will be of considerable assistance
to those who seriously contemplate an initial study of the science of
horoscopy, and although it by no means exhausts what is known on the
subject, yet it will be found accurate and reliable as far as it goes,
and will enable any one of ordinary intelligence to test the claims of
Astrology for himself. This is as much as can be expected in the limits
of a small handbook. The literature of the subject is considerable, and
the present writer only takes credit to himself so far as his own wide
experience and practice have enabled him to present the subject in a
simple and brief manner.
Contents
SECTION I
THE ALPHABET OF THE HEAVENS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE PLANETS, THEIR NATURES AND TYPES 17
II. THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC 24
III. THE CELESTIAL HOUSES 29
IV. THE ASTRONOMICAL ASPECTS 31
SECTION II
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A HOROSCOPE
I. THE EPHEMERIS AND ITS USES 34
II. TO ERECT A FIGURE OF THE HEAVENS 36
III. THE TABLES OF HOUSES 39
IV. PLANETARY TRANSITS 43
V. TABLE OF ECLIPSES 47
SECTION III
HOW TO READ THE HOROSCOPE
I. THE PLANETS IN THE HOUSES 51
II. THE CONSTITUTION 54
III. HEALTH AND SICKNESS 56
IV. HOW TO READ CHARACTER AND DISPOSITION 59
V. FINANCIAL PROSPECTS 64
VI. THE POSITION IN LIFE 69
VII. THE CHOICE OF OCCUPATION 72
VIII. MARRIAGE CIRCUMSTANCES 76
IX. INDICATIONS OF PROGENY 81
X. VOYAGES AND JOURNEYS 84
XI. OF FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 87
XII. THE END OF LIFE 91
SECTION IV
THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES
I. THE TIME-MEASURE 94
II. THE EFFECTS OF TRANSITS 101
III. HOW TO SUMMARISE A HOROSCOPE 105
IV. HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL ASTROLOGER 108
V. A POPULAR ILLUSTRATION 114
VI. PLANETARY PERIODS, ETC. 127
VII. REVOLUTIONS, ECLIPSES, INGRESSES, ETC. 137
SECTION I
THE ALPHABET OF THE HEAVENS
CHAPTER I
THE PLANETS, THEIR NATURES AND TYPES
The luminaries and planets are known to astronomers under the following
names and symbols:--
The Sun ☉, Moon ☽, Neptune ♆, Uranus ♅, Saturn ♄, Jupiter ♃, Mars ♂,
Venus ♀, and Mercury ☿.
Neptune revolves around the Sun in its distant orbit once in about 165
years. Uranus completes its orbital revolution in 84 years, Jupiter in
12 years, Mars in about 15 months, Venus in 11 months, and Mercury in
18 weeks. If you imagine these bodies to be revolving in a plane around
the Sun and yourself to be standing within the Sun, the motions of these
bodies will appear almost uniform and always in one direction. Were the
orbits of the planets circular and the Sun holding the centre of the
circle, their motions would be constant, that is to say, always in the
same direction and at the same rate. But the orbits are elliptical,
and the Sun holds a position in one of the foci of each ellipse.
Consequently the planets are at times further from the Sun than at
others, and they are then said to be in their aphelion, the opposite
point of the orbit where they are nearest to the Sun being called the
perihelion. When at aphelion the planets move slower, and when at
perihelion they move quicker than at the mean distance. Astronomers
employ an imaginary circular orbit for the planets, in which they move
at an uniform rate of velocity, which is called the mean motion. This is
subject to an equation depending on the position of the planet in its
orbit, and it determines the difference between the imaginary planet and
the true planet. The equation itself depends on the eccentricity of the
orbit, that is to say, its relation to a circle drawn around the same
focal centre. The Earth follows the same laws as all other bodies of the
same system.
But if we imagine the Earth to be stationary in space and the centre
around which the planets revolve, their motions present several
irregularities. Mercury and Venus will then appear to revolve around the
Sun while the Sun revolves around the Earth, sometimes being between the
Earth and the Sun, which is called an Inferior conjunction, sometimes on
the further side of the Sun away from the Earth, as at their Superior
conjunction; and again, at other times to the right or left of the Sun,
in East or West elongation. The other planets, having orbits greater
than that of the Earth, will appear to revolve around it at constantly
varying distances and velocities. At certain points in their orbits they
will appear to remain stationary in the same part of the Zodiac. The
annexed illustration will assist the lay reader perhaps. The body M is
Mercury when at Inferior conjunction with the Sun, as seen from the
Earth. The letter V is the planet Venus at Superior conjunction with
the Sun. The points W and E are the points of greatest elongation West
and East, and the letter S shows the points in the orbit at which those
bodies appear to be stationary when viewed from the Earth, at G. As seen
from the Earth, Venus would appear to be direct and Mercury retrograde.
[Illustration]
Astrologically we regard the Earth as the passive subject of planetary
influence, and we have therefore to regard it as the centre of the
field of activity. If we were making a horoscope for an inhabitant of
the planet Mars, we should make Mars the centre of the system. The
planets’ positions are therefore taken as from the centre of the Earth
(Geocentric), and not as from the centre of the Sun (Heliocentric).
An astrological Ephemeris of the planets’ motions is employed for this
purpose (see Sect. II., chap, i.), and there are 480,000 of these sold
to astrologers or students of astrology every year, from which fact it
is possible to draw one’s own conclusions as to the state of Astrology
in the West. These figures, of course, do not include the millions
of almanac readers nor the Oriental students, who prepare their own
ephemerides.
Knowing the simple natures of the several planets we are able to arrive
at an estimate of their effects when acting in combination.
_Neptune_ acts upon the mind of man to produce a highly-strung nervous
temperament, often allied to either insanity or genius; neurosis,
aphasia, &c. It produces complications in business and an involved
state of affairs generally. Disposes to fraud, double-dealing, and
irresponsible actions. In the body it produces waste of tissue and a
consumptive habit.
_Uranus_ gives an eccentric mind, waywardness, originality,
inventiveness. Acting on the affairs of business, it produces sudden
and unexpected developments, irregularities, rapid rise and fall,
instability, unexpected turns of good and bad fortune. In the body
it has relation to the nervous system, and its diseases are those of
paralysis, lesion, and nervous derangement.
_Saturn_ produces a thoughtful, sober, ponderable mind; steadfastness,
patience, and endurance; disposition to routine and habit, method. In
financial affairs it gives steady results commensurate with labour,
success that is slow but sure, durance, hardships, privations. In the
body it is related to the osseous system, and its effects are brought
about by obstructions, chills, and inhibition of function.
_Jupiter_ gives joviality, optimism, bountifulness, generosity, a rich
and fruitful mind. It renders the subject fortunate in his affairs,
giving success and frequently opulence. With this planet strong in the
horoscope a person never “goes under.” In the body it has relation
to the arterial process, and its diseases are those which arise from
surfeit, congestion, and plethora.
_Mars_ confers a sense of freedom, much ambition and executive ability,
frankness, truthfulness, and scorn of consequence. It renders the mind
forceful and militant, stimulates to new projects and enterprises, and
in the body of man has relation to the muscular system. Its diseases are
those which arise from inflammatory action in the tissues.
_Venus_ confers poesy, good taste, fine feeling, artistic powers,
gentleness, docility, dalliance, and love of pleasure. It renders the
affairs pleasant and prosperous, giving profit from both artistic and
rustic pursuits. Next to Jupiter it is the most benefic of the planets
in its action on mankind. In the body it has relation to the venous
system, and its diseases are those which arise from impurities of the
blood, scorbutic and zymotic diseases, eczema, smallpox, measles, &c.
_Mercury_ renders its subjects active, versatile, apt and business-like,
disposed to much commerce, whether of the mind or the market, and eager
in the pursuit of knowledge; alert, and well-informed. Its influence on
affairs of life is variable, for it always translates the nature of that
planet to which at birth it is in nearest aspect (Sect. I., chap. iv.).
In the body it is related to the sensorium, the centres of sensation,
and reflexly controls the nerves of action.
_The Moon_ gives gracefulness of manner and suavity of speech, softness
and adaptability of nature, variableness, love of change, romance,
and adventure; disposed to exploration and voyaging. In the body
it corresponds to the glandular system, and its diseases are those
incidental to the lymphatic glands and vascular tissue.
_The Sun_ renders its subjects magnanimous, noble, proud, despising all
mean and sordid actions; loyal, truthful, and fearless. It produces
honours and the favour of dignitaries, and renders the subject fortunate
in the control of his affairs. In the body it controls the vital
principle.
The types of persons produced by the various planets are very distinct,
the chief features of each being as follows:--
_Neptune_--Thin, nervous-looking people, blue eyes, soft, silky hair,
thin and usually long faces, frequently wearing a strained or startled
look. _Uranus_--Tall, wiry, and energetic figures, alert, muscular,
spasmodic, and with some touch of eccentricity. _Saturn_--Dark and
lean people, small, deep-set eyes, heavy brows, long noses, thin lips,
and sallow complexions. _Jupiter_--Full bodied, robust men, large and
expressive blue or brown eyes, arched brows, high foreheads, oval faces,
and rich brown hair. _Mars_--Strong, muscular, and athletic bodies,
ruddy complexion, grey eyes, prominent brows, sloping forehead, and
usually some mark or scar in the face. _Sun_--Fresh, clear complexion,
blue or grey eyes, round head, broad shoulders, strong jaws, upright
and dignified carriage. _Venus_--Elegant, well-groomed, and often
dainty-looking people, with blue or soft brown eyes, brown hair,
fine teeth and finger-nails, small feet and short fleshy hands.
_Mercury_--Thin, tall, and active bodies, alert appearance, small
and usually dark eyes; wide, thin lips, long arms and slender hands.
Frequently great talkers and quick walkers. _Moon_--Rather short and
fleshy people, with pale face, soft limpid eyes, sad brown or medium
coloured hair, fine teeth, broad chest, and a tendency to a squat
fulness of body. The forehead is usually high and broad.
Look at the people as they pass you in the street. Bring them if
possible under one or other of these types. Consider what has been said
of the planets’ natures, and you have a ready key to something of their
character and destiny.
CHAPTER II
THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC
The Zodiac is an imaginary belt of the Heavens through which the Sun and
planets move in their apparent revolutions round the Earth. It extends
from 23° 27′ above the plane of the Equator to the same distance below
it, being bounded by the Tropic of Cancer on the North and by that of
Capricorn on the South. The Ecliptic is a circle transecting this belt
at an angle of 23° 27′ to the plane of the Equator. The points where it
cuts the Equator are called the Equinoxes.
The Ecliptic is divided into twelve equal sections, counting from the
Vernal Equinox. These are called the Signs of the Zodiac. Each sign
occupies 30 degrees of the circle.
Their names and symbols are as follows:--
1. Aries, the Ram ♈
2. Taurus, the Bull ♉
3. Gemini, the Twins ♊
4. Cancer, the Crab ♋
5. Leo, the Lion ♌
6. Virgo, the Virgin ♍
7. Libra, the Balance ♎
8. Scorpio, the Scorpion ♏
9. Sagittarius, the Hunter ♐
10. Capricornus, the Goat ♑
11. Aquarius, the Waterman ♒
12. Pisces, the Fishes ♓
For Astrological purposes they are grouped according to the element and
the constitution which they represent, thus:--
ELEMENTS.
Fire--Aries, Leo, Sagittarius.
Earth--Taurus, Virgo, Capricornus.
Air--Gemini, Libra, Aquarius.
Water--Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces.
CONSTITUTIONS.
Movable--Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricornus.
Fixed--Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius.
Flexed--Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces.
Every alternate sign, beginning with Aries, is male and the rest are
female. Aries, male; Taurus, female; Gemini, male; Cancer, female, &c.
The signs Aries, Leo, Capricornus are called barren, while Taurus,
Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces are fruitful. Aries governs the East, Cancer
the North, Libra the West, and Capricornus the South.
The Double-bodied signs are Gemini, Sagittarius, and Pisces. It is
important that all these classifications should be learned, as they
form an essential part of the doctrine of Astrology, and are frequently
employed in the reading of a Horoscope.
The types of people under the various signs should also be known as
intimately as possible. A person is said to be “under” a sign--that is
to say, under its influence, when that sign is rising in the East at
the moment of birth. You will recognise these types among your friends
and associates:--
_Aries_ produces a person of lean body, long neck, high cheek-bones,
grey eyes, sandy or sad brown hair, which is either wiry and straight or
crisp and curling. The front teeth are usually large and prominent.
_Taurus_ gives a full, thick-set body, strong neck and shoulders, full
brown eyes, dark curling hair, full lips, rather wide mouth, and round,
bullet-shaped head. The hands and feet are short and fleshy.
_Gemini_ produces a tall, active, and upright body, long arms and legs,
wide, thin lips, straight and often _retroussé_ nose, lank, straight
black hair, rather wide shoulders, and thin body.
_Cancer_ denotes a rather short, squat figure, full lymphatic body, pale
complexion, round face, broad forehead, sad brown hair, large aqueous
eyes, full chest, short, fleshy hands and feet.
_Leo_ renders its subjects tall, broad shouldered, fine and manly
figures, small round head, fair complexion, blue or grey eyes, flaxen or
fair brown hair, upright and fearless carriage.
_Virgo_ renders the body thin and active, the head well developed, the
forehead broad, hair light brown and waving off the forehead, eyes blue,
shoulders broad, the type being of an intellectual or artistic form.
_Libra_ gives an elegant body, well-developed limbs, fine oval face,
straight nose, fine blue eyes (sometimes deep brown), flaxen or chestnut
hair, beautiful complexion. The highest types of beauty are to be found
under this sign.
_Scorpio_ gives a short, thick-set, and powerful figure, broad, deep
chest, dusky or sallow complexion, dark curling or crisp hair, strong
and rather bowed legs. This is a very virile and robust type.
_Sagittarius_ gives a tall person, well-made figure, elegant limbs, oval
and rather long face, brown or chestnut hair growing off the forehead,
fine expressive eyes, rather prominent and of a dark brown or blue
colour, long nose, slightly aquiline.
_Capricornus_ produces a slight and rather ill-formed person, long and
scraggy neck, prominent features, narrow chin, weak and frequently
decrepit limbs, weak chest and sloping shoulders. Frequently the figure
is wiry and suggestive of considerable powers of endurance. The brows
are prominent, the nose long, and the face thin and hard-set.
_Aquarius_ contributes the finest types of beauty next to Libra. The
Saxon type is dominant. A tall figure, well formed and rounded, fair
complexion and blue eyes, flaxen hair, straight features, well-developed
chin, and fine, clear forehead.
_Pisces_ produces one of rather short stature, short limbs, lymphatic
body, pale complexion, limpid blue eyes, black or brown eyes, short
nose, full lips, round face, small hands and feet.
The short signs are Taurus, Cancer, Capricornus, and Pisces. The tall
signs are Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius, and Aquarius. The others are of
medium height.
The planets rising in each sign will always alter the type by impressing
their own characteristics on the subject.
Each sign has a Ruler, and the position of the ruler of the rising sign
has much to do with the physical conformation, as if Taurus be rising
and Venus, its ruler, be in Leo, the person will be taller and fairer
than indicated by Taurus alone. Pure types are very uncommon.
The rulership of the planets in the signs is as follows:--
Saturn governs Aquarius and Capricornus.
Jupiter governs Pisces and Sagittarius.
Mars governs Aries and Scorpio.
Venus governs Taurus and Libra.
Mercury governs Gemini and Virgo.
The Moon governs Cancer, and Leo is governed by the Sun.
When a planet is found in a sign over which it is said to govern it acts
more strongly than usual, and when in the opposite signs to those it
governs it is said to be in its “fall,” when it is weaker than usual.
Planets governing opposite signs to one another are said to be
“enemies.” Such do not produce harmonious and favourable results when
acting in conjunction.
CHAPTER III
THE CELESTIAL HOUSES
The imaginary circle which passes immediately over your head as you face
the South is called the Prime Vertical. This is divided for astrological
purposes into twelve equal divisions called Houses, six of which are
above the horizon and six below it. They are counted from the East
Horizon under the Earth to the West, and thence through the zenith to
the East again. The figure in Section IV., chapter v., will make the
idea easy of comprehension.
Each such division or House carries its own signification, and it has
been ascertained beyond all doubt or cavil that the ruling of the
Ancients in this matter is altogether reliable, however empirical it may
appear.
The First House governs the personal appearance, but chiefly the
face and head. The Second House rules over finance, movable effects,
commerce. In the body it governs the neck and throat. The Third House
governs short journeys, letters, and other means of communication, near
relations or neighbours. In the body it governs the arms and lungs.
The Fourth House governs real estate, the residence, the produce of
the earth, the mother of the subject, and the end of life. In the
body, the breasts and thorax. The Fifth House governs progeny, the
sex instincts, domestic relations, and social pleasures. In the body,
the back and heart. The Sixth House governs the health, servants, and
personal comforts of the subject, clothes, food, and other physical
requisites, sanitation, hygiene. In the body it rules over the abdomen
and lower viscera. The Seventh House has dominion over marriage,
contracts, agreements, partners, and matters of exchange. In the body
it has relation to the loins and kidneys. The Eighth House rules death,
loss, legacies and dowries, and matters appertaining to the deceased.
In the body it is related to the excretory system. The Ninth House
is said to govern long journeys, publications, religious beliefs,
foreign lands, and legal affairs. In the body it rules the thighs.
The Tenth House rules over position, honour and fame of the subject,
the father, superiors of all orders. In the body it rules over the
knees. The Eleventh House governs friends, social relations, societies
and companies with which the subject is concerned. In the body it
has relation to the legs from calf to ankle. The Twelfth House rules
ambushes, restraints, privations, imprisonments, confinements, and all
limitations of the personal freedom. In the body it rules the ankles and
feet.
Applying these significations to the interpretation of a horoscope it
will be seen that if Mars should be rising at the moment of birth there
will be a scar or mark on the face. Observations of this sort will
frequently assist to determine the time of birth when it is not known.
Similarly with other planets in the same or other Houses; but of this
more anon.
CHAPTER IV
THE ASTRONOMICAL ASPECTS
Aspects are certain angular distances measured on the Ecliptic, and they
form a fundamental part of astrological science. Any planet may be good
or bad in its effects on the character and destiny, according to the
aspect that it throws to the chief points of the Horoscope. The aspects
are: The semisquare aspect of 45 degrees, sextile of 60 degrees, square
of 90 degrees, trine of 120 degrees, sesquiquadrate of 135 degrees,
and the opposition of 180 degrees. There is also the conjunction, when
bodies are in the same degree or part of a Sign.
The good aspects are the trine and sextile; the evil being the
semisquare, square, sesquiquadrate, and opposition. The aspect of a
planet determines its effects, whether for good or evil. The conjunction
is good with good planets, such as Jupiter and Venus, and evil with
malefic planets such as Mars and Saturn.
When planets are the same distance North or South of the Equator
they are in parallel declination (p.d.), and they then act as if in
conjunction. Also when planets are in mutual disposition, that is
to say, occupying one another’s signs, they act as if they were in
conjunction.
Planets in conjunction act according to their simple natures, but when
in aspect, according to the nature of that aspect. The benefic planets
Jupiter, Venus, Sun, Moon, and also Mercury when in good disposition
with another planet or in a congenial Sign, produce good effects by
their conjunctions and by their trine and sextile aspects; but when in
square, semisquare, or sesquisquare aspect they are uniformly evil in
effect. On the other hand, the malefic planets Neptune, Uranus, Saturn,
and Mars, together with Mercury when ill-disposed or in uncongenial
Signs, are evil in their effects when in conjunction with the
significant points of the horoscope; also when in evil aspect; but they
nevertheless produce good effects when in good aspect.
The Significators.
The more important points of the Horoscope to which aspect can be
thrown are called “Significators.” The general significators in any
horoscope are the Sun, the Moon, the Midheaven (the degree which holds
the meridian of the horoscope), and the Ascendant (the degree which is
rising). But every planet can be a particular significator in its own
province, namely, in the Sign which it rules, and the House in which it
is found at birth.
In a general sense the Moon is significant of the mother, female
relations, the personal health and fortunes and the changes incident to
these. The Sun in the same way indicates the father, male relations, the
vital principle, and position. Mercury is the significator of the mind
and intellect, the faculties generally. Venus is significatrix of love
affairs, domestic relations, pleasures, and of young female relations,
sisters, &c. Mars is significator of enterprises, strifes, and young
male relations. Jupiter is significator of increase and emoluments;
Saturn of legacies, inheritance, and aged persons; Uranus of civic and
governmental bodies; Neptune of voyages and psychic experiences. The
chief points to be regarded, however, are the Midheaven, the Ascendant,
and the places of the Sun and Moon.
SECTION II
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A HOROSCOPE
CHAPTER I
THE EPHEMERIS AND ITS USES
An Ephemeris is an almanac of the planetary positions day by day
throughout any given year. They are to be obtained at a cost of one
shilling per year, in a convenient form specially adapted to the use of
astrologers. In the first column will be found the Sidereal Time for
the day, which is the Sun’s Right Ascension or distance from the Vernal
Equinox, expressed in Hours, Minutes, and Seconds, and equated to Mean
Time at Greenwich. By merely adding the time after noon, or subtracting
the hours and minutes before noon, at which the birth took place, you
will obtain the Right Ascension of the Midheaven at the moment of
birth. The use to which this is put will appear in the next chapter.
It corresponds to a particular degree of the Zodiac which is in the
Midheaven at the given time of birth.
The next column contains the Sun’s longitude at Noon for each day. By
taking the position on one day from that on the next day, the motion
of the Sun for 24 hours is obtained, and a proportion of this for the
hour of birth can easily be made. The mean motion of the Sun per day
is 2-1/2′, or 1 degree per day. In another column will be found the
Moon’s longitude, and in adjacent columns its declination and latitude.
Declination is distance North or South of the Equator, and celestial
latitude is distance North or South of the Ecliptic. The longitudes of
the other bodies are also given for each day at noon.
The mean longitudinal progress of the several bodies is as follows:
Sun, 2-1/2′ per hour, or 1 degree per day; Moon, 32′ per hour, or 13
degrees per day; Neptune, 2′ per day; Uranus, 3′ per day; Saturn, about
5′ per day; Jupiter, about 12′ per day; Mars, 45′ per day, or about 2′
per hour; Venus, 72′ per day, or 3′ per hour; Mercury, 84′ per day,
or 3-1/2′ per hour. These increments are for direct motion only; the
planets are, as already explained, sometimes retrograde and sometimes
stationary. The Horoscope of birth is only concerned with the longitudes
of the planets, but when one or more planets have the same declination
North or South, they should be noted as being in Parallel, for they then
act as if they were in conjunction.
Take in hand, then, the Ephemeris for the year of your birth and read
this chapter with it in view. After understanding its construction,
extract the Sidereal Time at Noon for the day of your birth and refer to
the next chapter.
CHAPTER II
TO ERECT A FIGURE OF THE HEAVENS
Take the Sidereal time at noon on the day of birth, and add to it the
hours and minutes after noon at which you were born, or if before noon,
subtract from it the interval between the birth and noon. This will give
the approximate Right Ascension of the Midheaven at birth. Thus, suppose
a person to be born on May 1, 1890, at 3h. 30m. p.m. in London--
The Sidereal time, noon, May 1, 1890, is 2h. 36m. 28s.
To which add time p.m. 3 30 0
Acceleration at 10″ per hour 0 0 34
---------------
Right Ascension of Midheaven at Birth 6h. 7m. 2s.
With this Right Ascension of the Midheaven you then refer to Tables
of Houses for London (see Chapter III.), and against this quantity of
Sidereal Time you will find, under the column marked 10, the sign and
degree which corresponds to it, namely, the 2nd of Cancer. This is put
at the head of the figure, and the rest of the signs are placed around
the figure in their order as shown in the Table. Only six of the Houses
are given in the Tables, because the opposite Houses will have the
_same_ degrees of the _opposite_ signs on them. Thus we read against the
Right Ascension 6h. 7m. 28s. the following:--
10 11 12 Ascen. 2 3
Cancer 2, Leo 8, Virgo 8, Libra 1.33, Libra 26, Scorp. 26.
This means that the 2nd degree of Cancer was on the cusp of the Tenth
House (the Midheaven) at the moment of the birth, Leo 8th on the cusp
of the Eleventh House, Virgo 8th on the cusp of the Twelfth, Libra 1.33
on the Ascendant or Eastern Horizon, and so of the rest. On the cusp
of the Fourth House we place Capricornus 2, because the Fourth House
is opposite the 10th and the sign Capricornus is opposite to Cancer.
On the cusp of the Fifth House we place Aquarius 8, because the Fifth
House is opposite to the Eleventh, and Aquarius is opposite to Leo. When
completed we find the cusps of the Houses as follows, opposite to those
in the Tables:--
4 5 6 7 8 9
Capric. 2, Aquar. 8, Pisces 8, Aries 1.33, Aries 26, Taur. 26.
It is then only necessary to place the planets in the figure, as
explained in the preceding chapter, and the figure of the Heavens is
complete.
To Draw a Figure of the Heavens.
Take a pair of compasses, and with a radius, of about 2-1/2 inches,
describe a circle. Within this, and with a radius of about 2 inches,
describe another. With the radius of this latter mark off six equal
divisions, and then equally divide these so as to make twelve. Within
the figure draw a small circle, concentric with the others, to represent
the Earth. From the points of division already obtained draw straight
lines to the centre of the figure until they touch the circle of the
Earth. You then have a figure which represents the Houses of the
Heavens, being a twelvefold division of the Prime Vertical. The lines
extending from the outer circles to the Earth are the cusps of the
Houses (see fig. Section IV., chap. 5).
The degrees of the Zodiac which are upon the cusps of the Houses, as
found in the Tables opposite a given Sidereal Time, are written over the
several cusps in their order between the two outer circles. Reference
to the Ephemeris for May 1, 1890, shows the Sun at noon in Taurus 11
degrees 2 minutes. Three and a half hours later it will have advanced
about 8 minutes in longitude, so that its position will be in Taurus 11
degrees 10 minutes. This longitude falls in the Eighth House, and we
therefore place the symbol of the Sun in that division of the Heavens
and place against it the figures 11.10, so that as Aries 26 is on the
cusp of the Eighth and Taurus 26 on the cusp of the Ninth House, the
Sun’s position in Taurus 11.10 will fall between these cusps, _i.e._,
in the Eighth House. The rest of the planets are placed in the figure
according to their respective longitudes.
CHAPTER III
THE TABLES OF HOUSES
The Tables of the Houses on pp. 40, 41, are calculated for the
latitude of 51° 32′ North. This will serve for London and environs,
and approximately for the South of England and the Midlands. Tables of
Houses for other latitudes may be obtained through the booksellers,
a useful set of half a dozen different latitudes being sold for one
shilling.
In order to illustrate the uses to which these Tables may be put in the
solution of astronomical problems, let us take the Sun’s position in the
horoscope for the 1st of May, 1890, and find when the Sun sets on that
day on the horizon of London. The Sun is in Taurus, 11 degrees, and it
will set when the opposite point of the Heavens is rising. Find under
the column marked “Ascen.” the 11th degree of Scorpio, and against it in
the column marked “Sidereal Time” you will find 9h. 49m. 9s. This will
be the Right Ascension of the Midheaven when the Sun sets on London.
We have already seen that the Sidereal Time at noon on the 1st of May
was 2h. 37m. 28s., and this, taken from the former Sidereal Time, gives
about 7.12 p.m. as the time of sunset. Now in the example horoscope the
birth took place at 3.30 p.m., and this time, taken from 7.12 p.m.,
gives 3h. 42m. from birth to sunset. If you multiply this by 15 to turn
it into degrees and minutes of the Equator, you will obtain 55° 30′,
which are the number of degrees which pass over the Midheaven from birth
until sunset. At the rate of 1 degree for every year of life, this
corresponds to 55-1/2 years of age, when the subject of this horoscope
would come under the adverse influence of the Sun opposition Ascendant,
and would suffer some serious ill health of a feverish nature, incident
to the throat (the part ruled by Taurus, the sign in which the Sun is
situate). This is how predictions are made, but of this more anon.
========+===+===+===+=======+===+===+========+===+===+===+======+===+===
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Sidereal|10 |11 |12 | Ascen.| 2 | 3 |Sidereal|10 |11 |12 |Ascen.| 2 | 3
Time. |♈ | ♉| ♊| ♋ | ♌ |♍ | Time. |♉ |♊ |♋ | ♌ | ♍ |♍
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | ° |H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | °
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
0 0 0| 0| 9| 22|26 36| 12| 3| 1 51 37| 0| 9| 17|16 28| 4| 28
0 3 40| 1| 10| 23|27 17| 13| 3| 1 55 27| 1| 10| 18|17 8| 5| 29
0 7 20| 2| 11| 24|27 56| 14| 4| 1 59 17| 2| 11| 19|17 48| 6| ♎
0 11 0| 3| 12| 25|28 42| 15| 5| 2 3 8| 3| 12| 19|18 28| 7| 1
0 14 41| 4| 13| 25|29 17| 15| 6| 2 6 59| 4| 13| 20|19 9| 8| 2
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
0 18 21| 5| 14| 26|29 55| 16| 7| 2 10 51| 5| 14| 21|19 49| 9| 2
0 22 2| 6| 15| 27| 0♌ 34| 17| 8| 2 14 44| 6| 15| 22|20 29| 9| 3
0 25 42| 7| 16| 28| 1 14| 18| 8| 2 18 37| 7| 16| 22|21 10| 10| 4
0 29 23| 8| 17| 29| 1 55| 18| 9| 2 22 31| 8| 17| 23|21 51| 11| 5
0 33 4| 9| 18|♋ | 2 33| 19| 10| 2 26 25| 9| 18| 24|22 32| 11| 6
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
0 36 45| 10| 19| 1| 3 14| 20| 11| 2 30 20| 10| 19| 25|23 14| 12| 7
0 40 26| 11| 20| 1| 3 54| 20| 12| 2 34 16| 11| 20| 25|23 55| 13| 8
0 44 8| 12| 21| 2| 4 33| 21| 13| 2 38 13| 12| 21| 26|24 36| 14| 9
0 47 50| 13| 22| 3| 5 12| 22| 14| 2 42 10| 13| 22| 27|25 17| 15| 10
0 51 32| 14| 23| 4| 5 52| 23| 15| 2 46 8| 14| 23| 28|25 58| 15| 11
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
0 55 14| 15| 24| 5| 6 30| 23| 15| 2 50 7| 15| 24| 29|26 40| 16| 12
0 58 5| 16| 25| 6| 7 9| 24| 16| 2 54 7| 16| 25| 29|27 22| 17| 12
1 2 40| 17| 26| 6| 7 50| 25| 17| 2 58 7| 17| 26| ♌|28 4| 18| 13
1 6 23| 18| 27| 7| 8 30| 26| 18| 3 2 8| 18| 27| 1|28 46| 18| 14
1 10 7| 19| 28| 8| 9 9| 26| 19| 3 6 9| 19| 27| 2|29 28| 19| 15
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
1 13 51| 20| 29| 9| 9 48| 27| 19| 3 10 12| 20| 28| 3| 0♍12| 20| 16
1 17 35| 21| ♊| 10|10 28| 28| 20| 3 14 15| 21| 29| 3| 0 54| 21| 17
1 21 20| 22| 1| 10|11 8| 28| 21| 3 18 19| 22|♋ | 4| 1 36| 22| 18
1 25 6| 23| 2| 11|11 48| 29| 22| 3 22 23| 23| 1| 5| 2 20| 22| 19
1 28 52| 24| 3| 12|12 28| ♍| 23| 3 26 29| 24| 2| 6| 3 2| 23| 20
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
1 32 38| 25| 4| 13|13 8| 1| 24| 3 30 35| 25| 3| 7| 3 45| 24| 21
1 36 25| 26| 5| 14|13 48| 1| 25| 3 34 41| 26| 4| 7| 4 28| 25| 22
1 40 12| 27| 6| 14|14 28| 2| 25| 3 38 49| 27| 5| 8| 5 11| 26| 23
1 44 0| 28| 7| 15|15 8| 3| 26| 3 42 57| 28| 6| 9| 5 54| 27| 24
1 47 48| 29| 8| 16|15 48| 4| 27| 3 47 6| 29| 7| 10| 6 28| 27| 25
1 51 37| 30| 9| 17|16 28| 4| 28| 3 51 15| 30| 8| 11| 7 21| 28| 25
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
========+===+=======+=======+===+===+========+===+===+===+======+===+===
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Sidereal|10 |11 |12 | Ascen.| 2 | 3 |Sidereal|10 |11 |12 |Ascen.| 2 | 3
Time. |♊ |♋ |♌ | ♍ |♍ |♎ | Time. |♋ |♌ |♍ | ♎ |♎ |♏
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---|--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | ° |H. M. S.| °| ° |° | ° ′ | ° | °
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
3 51 15| 0| 8| 11| 7 21| 28| 25| 6 0 0| 0| 6| 6| 0 0| 24| 24
3 55 25| 1| 19| 12| 8 5| 29| 26| 6 4 22| 1| 7| 7| 0 47| 25| 25
3 59 36| 2| 10| 12| 8 49| ♎| 27| 6 8 43| 2| 8| 8| 1 33| 26| 26
4 3 48| 3| 10| 13| 9 33| 1| 28| 6 13 5| 3| 9| 9| 2 19| 27| 27
4 8 0| 4| 11| 14|10 17| 2| 29| 6 17 26| 4| 10| 10| 3 5| 27| 28
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---|--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
4 12 13| 5| 12| 15|11 2| 2| ♏| 6 21 48| 5| 11| 10| 3 51| 28| 29
4 16 26| 6| 13| 16|11 46| 3| 1| 6 26 9| 6| 12| 11| 4 37| 29| ♐
4 20 40| 7| 14| 17|12 30| 4| 2| 6 30 30| 7| 13| 12| 5 23| ♏| 1
4 24 55| 8| 15| 17|13 15| 5| 3| 6 34 51| 8| 14| 13| 6 9| 1| 2
4 29 10| 9| 16| 18|14 0| 6| 4| 6 39 11| 9| 15| 14| 6 55| 2| 3
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---|--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
4 33 26| 10| 17| 19|14 45| 7| 5| 6 43 31| 10| 16| 15| 7 40| 2| 4
4 37 42| 11| 18| 20|15 30| 8| 6| 6 47 51| 11| 16| 16| 8 26| 3| 4
4 41 59| 12| 19| 21|16 15| 8| 7| 6 52 11| 12| 17| 16| 9 12| 4| 5
4 46 16| 13| 20| 21|17 0| 9| 8| 6 56 31| 13| 18| 17| 9 58| 5| 6
4 50 34| 14| 21| 22|17 45| 10| 9| 7 0 50| 14| 19| 18|10 43| 6| 7
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---|--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
4 54 52| 15| 22| 23|18 30| 11| 10| 7 5 8| 15| 20| 19|11 28| 7| 8
4 59 10| 16| 23| 24|19 16| 12| 11| 7 9 26| 16| 21| 20|12 14| 8| 9
5 3 29| 17| 24| 25|20 3| 13| 12| 7 13 44| 17| 22| 21|12 59| 8| 10
5 7 49| 18| 25| 26|20 49| 14| 13| 7 18 1| 18| 23| 22|13 45| 9| 11
5 12 9| 19| 25| 27|21 35| 14| 14| 7 22 18| 19| 24| 23|14 30| 10| 12
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---|--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
5 16 29| 20| 26| 28|22 20| 15| 14| 7 26 34| 20| 25| 24|15 15| 11| 13
5 20 49| 21| 27| 28|23 6| 16| 15| 7 30 50| 21| 26| 25|16 0| 12| 14
5 25 9| 22| 28| 29|23 51| 17| 16| 7 35 5| 22| 27| 25|16 45| 13| 15
5 29 30| 23| 29| ♍|24 37| 18| 17| 7 39 20| 23| 28| 26|17 30| 13| 16
5 33 51| 24| ♌| 1|25 23| 19| 18| 7 43 34| 24| 29| 27|18 15| 14| 17
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---|--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
5 38 12| 25| 1| 2|26 9| 20| 19| 7 47 47| 25| ♍| 28|18 59| 15| 18
5 42 34| 26| 2| 3|26 55| 21| 20| 7 52 0| 26| 1| 29|19 43| 16| 19
5 46 55| 27| 3| 4|27 41| 21| 21| 7 56 12| 27| 2| 29|20 27| 17| 20
5 51 17| 28| 4| 4|28 27| 22| 22| 8 0 24| 28| 3| ♎|21 11| 18| 20
5 55 38| 29| 5| 5|29 13| 23| 23| 8 4 35| 29| 4| 1|21 56| 18| 21
6 0 0| 30| 6| 6|30 0| 24| 24| 8 8 45| 30| 5| 2|22 40| 19| 22
========+===+===+===+=======+===+===+========+===+===+===+======+===+===
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Sidereal|10 |11 |12 | Ascen.| 2 | 3 |Sidereal|10 |11 |12 |Ascen.| 2 | 3
Time. |♌ | ♍| ♎ | ♎ |♏ |♐ | Time. |♍ |♎ |♎ | ♏ | ♐ |♑
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | ° |H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | °
| | | | | | | | | | | |
8 8 45| 0| 5| 2|23 40| 19| 22|10 8 23| 0| 2| 26|13 33| 13| 20
8 12 54| 1| 5| 3|23 24| 20| 23|10 12 12| 1| 3| 26|14 13| 14| 21
8 17 3| 2| 6| 3|24 7| 21| 24|10 16 0| 2| 4| 27|14 53| 15| 22
8 21 11| 3| 7| 4|24 50| 22| 25|10 19 48| 3| 5| 28|15 38| 15| 23
8 25 19| 4| 8| 5|25 34| 23| 26|10 23 35| 4| 5| 29|16 13| 16| 24
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
8 29 26| 5| 9| 6|26 18| 23| 27|10 27 22| 5| 6| 29|16 52| 17| 25
8 33 31| 6| 10| 7|27 1| 24| 28|10 31 8| 6| 7| ♏|17 32| 18| 26
8 37 37| 7| 11| 8|27 44| 25| 29|10 34 54| 7| 8| 1|18 13| 19| 27
8 41 41| 8| 12| 8|28 26| 26| ♑|10 38 40| 8| 9| 2|18 52| 20| 28
8 45 45| 9| 13| 9|29 8| 27| 1|10 42 25| 9| 10| 2|19 31| 20| 29
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
8 49 48| 10| 14| 10|29 50| 27| 2|10 46 9| 10| 11| 3|20 11| 21| ♒
8 53 51| 11| 15| 11| 0♏ 32| 28| 3|10 49 53| 11| 11| 4|20 50| 22| 1
8 57 52| 12| 16| 12| 1 15| 29| 4|10 53 37| 12| 12| 4|21 30| 23| 2
9 1 53| 13| 17| 12| 1 58| ♐| 4|10 57 20| 13| 13| 5|22 9| 24| 3
9 5 53| 14| 18| 13| 2 39| 1| 5|11 1 3| 14| 14| 6|22 49| 24| 4
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
9 9 53| 15| 18| 14| 3 21| 1| 6|11 4 46| 15| 15| 7|23 23| 25| 5
9 13 52| 16| 19| 15| 4 3| 2| 7|11 8 28| 16| 16| 7|24 8| 26| 6
9 17 50| 17| 20| 16| 4 44| 3| 8|11 12 10| 17| 17| 8|24 47| 27| 8
9 21 47| 18| 21| 16| 5 26| 3| 9|11 15 22| 18| 17| 9|25 27| 28| 9
9 25 44| 19| 22| 17| 6 7| 4| 10|11 19 34| 19| 18| 10|26 5| 29| 10
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
9 29 40| 20| 23| 18| 6 48| 5| 11|11 23 15| 20| 19| 10|26 45| ♑| 11
9 33 35| 21| 24| 18| 7 29| 5| 12|11 26 56| 21| 20| 11|27 25| 0| 12
9 37 29| 22| 25| 19| 8 9| 6| 13|11 30 37| 22| 21| 12|28 5| 1| 13
9 41 23| 23| 26| 20| 8 50| 7| 14|11 34 18| 23| 22| 13|28 44| 2| 14
9 45 16| 24| 27| 21| 9 31| 8| 15|11 37 58| 24| 23| 13|29 24| 3| 15
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
9 49 9| 25| 28| 22|10 11| 9| 16|11 41 39| 25| 23| 14|0 ♐ 3| 4| 16
9 53 1| 26| 28| 23|10 51| 9| 17|11 45 19| 26| 24| 15|0 43| 5| 17
9 56 52| 27| 29| 23|11 32| 10| 18|11 49 0| 27| 25| 15|1 23| 6| 18
10 0 43| 28| ♎| 24|12 12| 11| 19|11 52 40| 28| 26| 16|2 3| 6| 19
10 4 33| 29| 1| 25|12 53| 12| 20|11 56 20| 29| 27| 17|2 43| 7| 20
10 8 23| 30| 2| 26|13 33| 13| 20|12 0 0| 30| 27| 17|3 23| 8| 20
========+===+===+===+=======+===+===+========+===+===+===+======+===+===
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Sidereal|10 |11 |12 | Ascen.| 2 | 3 |Sidereal|10 |11 |12 |Ascen.| 2 | 3
Time. |♎ |♎ |♏| ♐ | ♑ |♒ | Time. |♏ |♏ |♐ | ♐ | ♒| ♓
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | ° |H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | °
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
12 0 0| 0| 27| 17| 3 23| 8| 21|13 51 37| 0| 22| 10|25 20| 10| 27
12 3 40| 1| 28| 18| 4 4| 9| 23|13 55 27| 1| 23| 11|26 10| 11| 28
12 7 20| 2| 29| 19| 4 45| 10| 24|13 59 17| 2| 24| 11|27 2| 12| ♈
12 11 0| 3| ♏| 20| 5 26| 11| 25|14 3 8| 3| 25| 12|27 53| 14| 1
12 14 41| 4| 1| 20| 6 7| 12| 26|14 6 59| 4| 26| 13|28 45| 15| 2
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
12 18 21| 5| 1| 21| 6 48| 13| 27|14 10 51| 5| 26| 14|29 36| 16| 4
12 22 2| 6| 2| 22| 7 29| 14| 28|14 14 44| 6| 27| 15| 0♑29| 18| 5
12 25 42| 7| 3| 23| 8 10| 15| 29|14 18 37| 7| 28| 15| 1 23| 19| 6
12 29 23| 8| 4| 23| 8 51| 16| ♓|14 22 31| 8| 29| 16| 2 18| 20| 8
12 33 4| 9| 5| 24| 9 33| 17| 2|14 26 25| 9| ♐| 17| 3 14| 22| 9
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
12 36 45| 10| 6| 25|10 15| 18| 3|14 30 20| 10| 1| 18| 4 11| 23| 10
12 40 26| 11| 6| 25|10 57| 19| 4|14 34 16| 11| 2| 19| 5 9| 25| 11
12 44 8| 12| 7| 26|11 40| 20| 5|14 38 13| 12| 2| 20| 6 7| 26| 13
12 47 50| 13| 8| 27|12 22| 21| 6|14 42 10| 13| 3| 20| 7 6| 28| 14
12 51 32| 14| 9| 28|13 4| 22| 7|14 46 8| 14| 4| 21| 8 6| 29| 15
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
12 55 14| 15| 10| 28|13 47| 23| 9|14 50 7| 15| 5| 22| 9 8| ♓| 17
12 58 5| 16| 11| 29|14 30| 24| 10|14 54 7| 16| 6| 23|10 11| 2| 18
13 2 40| 17| 11| ♐|15 14| 25| 11|14 58 7| 17| 7| 24|11 15| 4| 19
13 6 23| 18| 12| 1|15 59| 26| 12|15 2 8| 18| 8| 25|12 20| 6| 21
13 10 7| 19| 13| 1|16 44| 27| 13|15 6 9| 19| 9| 26|13 27| 8| 22
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
13 13 51| 20| 14| 2|17 29| 28| 15|15 10 12| 20| 9| 27|14 35| 9| 23
13 17 35| 21| 15| 3|18 14| 29| 16|15 14 15| 21| 10| 27|15 43| 11| 24
13 21 20| 22| 16| 4|19 0| ♒| 17|15 18 19| 22| 11| 28|16 52| 13| 26
13 25 6| 23| 16| 4|19 45| 1| 18|15 22 23| 23| 12| 29|18 3| 14| 27
13 28 52| 24| 17| 5|20 31| 2| 20|15 26 29| 24| 13| ♑|19 16| 16| 28
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
13 32 38| 25| 18| 6|21 18| 4| 21|15 30 35| 25| 14| 1|20 32| 17| 29
13 36 25| 26| 19| 7|22 6| 5| 22|15 34 41| 26| 15| 2|21 48| 19| ♉
13 40 12| 27| 20| 7|22 54| 6| 23|15 38 49| 27| 16| 3|23 8| 21| 2
13 44 0| 28| 21| 8|23 42| 7| 25|15 42 57| 28| 17| 4|24 29| 22| 3
13 47 48| 29| 21| 9|24 31| 8| 26|15 47 6| 29| 18| 5|25 51| 24| 5
13 51 37| 30| 22| 10|25 20| 10| 27|15 51 15| 30| 18| 6|27 15| 26| 6
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
========+===+===+===+=======+===+===+========+===+===+===+======+===+===
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Sidereal|10 |11 |12 | Ascen.| 2 | 3 |Sidereal|10 |11 |12 |Ascen.| 2 | 3
Time. |♐ | ♐| ♑ | ♑ | ♓|♉ | Time. |♑ |♑ | ♒| ♈ |♉ |♊
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | ° |H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | °
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
15 51 15| 0| 18| 6|27 15| 26| 6|18 0 0| 0 | 18| 13| 0 0| 17| 11
15 55 25| 1| 19| 7|28 42| 28| 7|18 4 22| 1 | 20| 14| 2 39| 19| 13
15 59 36| 2| 20| 8| 0♒ 11| ♈| 9|18 8 43| 2 | 21| 16| 5 19| 20| 14
16 3 48| 3| 21| 9| 1 42| 1| 10|18 13 5| 3 | 22| 17| 7 55| 22| 15
16 8 0| 4| 22| 10| 3 16| 3| 11|18 17 26| 4 | 23| 19|10 29| 23| 16
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
16 12 13| 5| 23| 11| 4 53| 5| 12|18 21 48| 5 | 24| 20|13 2| 25| 17
16 16 26| 6| 24| 12| 6 22| 7| 14|18 26 9| 6 | 25| 22|15 36| 26| 18
16 20 40| 7| 25| 13| 8 13| 9| 15|18 30 30| 7 | 26| 23|18 6| 28| 19
16 24 55| 8| 26| 14| 9 57| 11| 16|18 34 51| 8 | 27| 25|20 34| 29| 20
16 29 10| 9| 27| 16|11 44| 12| 17|18 39 11| 9 | 29| 27|22 59| ♊| 21
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
16 33 26| 10| 28| 17|13 34| 14| 18|18 43 31| 10| ♒| 28|25 22| 1| 22
16 37 42| 11| 29| 18|15 26| 16| 20|18 47 51| 11| 1| ♓|27 42| 2| 23
16 41 59| 12| ♑| 19|17 20| 18| 21|18 52 11| 12| 2| 2|29 58| 4| 24
16 46 16| 13| 1| 20|19 18| 20| 22|18 56 31| 13| 3| 3| 2♉13| 5| 25
16 50 34| 14| 2| 21|21 22| 21| 23|19 0 50| 14| 4| 5| 4 24| 6| 26
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
16 54 52| 15| 3| 22|23 29| 23| 25|19 5 8| 15| 6| 7| 6 30| 8| 27
16 59 10| 16| 4| 24|25 36| 25| 26|19 9 26| 16| 7| 9| 8 36| 9| 28
17 3 29| 17| 5| 25|27 46| 27| 27|19 13 44| 17| 8| 10|10 40| 10| 29
17 7 49| 18| 6| 26|30 0| 28| 28|19 18 1| 18| 9| 12|12 39| 11| ♋
17 12 9| 19| 7| 27| 2♓ 19| ♉| 29|19 22 18| 19| 10| 14|14 35| 12| 1
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
17 16 29| 20| 8| 29| 4 40| 2|♊ |19 26 34| 20| 12| 16|16 28| 13| 2
17 20 49| 21| 9| ♒| 7 2| 3| 1|19 30 50| 21| 13| 18|18 17| 14| 3
17 25 9| 22| 10| 1| 9 26| 5| 2|19 35 5| 22| 14| 19|20 3| 16| 4
17 29 30| 23| 11| 3|11 54| 7| 3|19 39 20| 23| 15| 21|21 48| 17| 5
17 33 51| 24| 12| 4|14 24| 8| 5|19 43 34| 24| 16| 23|23 29| 18| 6
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
17 38 12| 25| 13| 5|17 0| 10| 6|19 47 47| 25| 18| 25|25 9| 19| 7
17 42 34| 26| 14| 7|19 33| 11| 7|19 52 0| 26| 19| 27|26 45| 20| 8
17 46 55| 27| 15| 8|22 6| 13| 8|19 56 12| 27| 20| 28|28 18| 21| 9
17 51 17| 28| 16| 10|24 40| 14| 9|20 0 24| 28| 21|♈ |29 49| 22| 10
17 55 38| 29| 17| 11|27 23| 16| 10|20 4 35| 29| 23| 2| 1♊19| 23| 11
18 0 0| 30| 18| 13|30 0| 17| 11|20 8 45| 30| 24| 4| 2 45| 24| 12
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
========+===+===+===+=======+===+===+========+===+===+===+======+===+===
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Sidereal|10 |11 |12 | Ascen.| 2 | 3 |Sidereal|10 |11 |12 |Ascen.| 2 | 3
Time. |♒ | ♒| ♈ | ♊ |♊ |♋ | Time. |♓ |♈ |♉ | ♋ | ♋ |♌
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | ° |H. M. S.| ° | ° | ° | ° ′ | ° | °
| | | | | | | | | | | |
20 8 45| 0| 24| 4| 2 45| 24| 12|22 8 23| 0| 3| 20| 4 38| 20| 8
20 12 54| 1| 25| 6| 4 9| 25| 12|22 12 12| 1| 4| 21| 5 28| 21| 8
20 17 3| 2| 27| 7| 5 32| 26| 13|22 16 0| 2| 6| 23| 6 17| 22| 9
20 21 11| 3| 28| 9| 6 53| 27| 14|22 19 48| 3| 7| 24| 7 5| 23| 10
20 25 19| 4| 29| 11| 8 12| 28| 15|22 23 35| 4| 8| 25| 7 53| 23| 11
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
20 29 26| 5| ♓| 13| 9 27| 29| 16|22 27 22| 5| 9| 26| 8 42| 24| 12
20 33 31| 6| 2| 14|10 43|♋ | 17|22 31 8| 6| 10| 28| 9 29| 25| 13
20 37 37| 7| 3| 16|11 58| 1| 18|22 34 54| 7| 12| 29|10 16| 26| 14
20 41 41| 8| 4| 18|13 9| 2| 19|22 38 40| 8| 13|♊ |11 2| 26| 14
20 45 45| 9| 6| 19|14 18| 3| 20|22 42 25| 9| 14| 1|11 47| 27| 15
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
20 49 48| 10| 7| 21|15 25| 3| 21|22 46 9| 10| 15| 2|12 31| 28| 16
20 53 51| 11| 8| 23|16 32| 4| 21|22 49 53| 11| 17| 3|13 16| 29| 17
20 57 52| 12| 9| 24|17 39| 5| 22|22 53 37| 12| 18| 4|14 1| 29| 18
21 1 53| 13| 11| 26|18 44| 6| 23|22 57 20| 13| 19| 5|14 45| ♌| 19
21 5 53| 14| 12| 28|19 48| 7| 24|23 1 3| 14| 20| 6|15 28| 1| 19
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
21 9 53| 15| 13| 29|20 51| 8| 25|23 4 46| 15| 21| 7|16 11| 2| 20
21 13 52| 16| 15| ♉|21 53| 9| 26|23 8 28| 16| 23| 8|16 54| 2| 21
21 17 50| 17| 16| 2|22 53| 10| 27|23 12 10| 17| 24| 9|17 57| 3| 22
21 21 47| 18| 17| 4|23 52| 10| 28|23 15 22| 18| 25| 10|18 20| 4| 23
21 25 44| 19| 19| 5|24 51| 11| 28|23 19 34| 19| 26| 11|19 3| 5| 24
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
21 29 40| 20| 20| 7|25 48| 12| 29|23 23 15| 20| 27| 12|19 45| 5| 24
21 33 35| 21| 22| 8|26 44| 13| ♌|23 26 56| 21| 29| 13|20 26| 6| 25
21 37 29| 22| 23| 10|27 40| 14| 1|23 30 37| 22| ♉| 14|21 8| 7| 26
21 41 23| 23| 24| 11|28 34| 15| 2|23 34 18| 23| 1| 15|21 50| 7| 27
21 45 16| 24| 25| 13|29 29| 15| 3|23 37 58| 24| 2| 16|22 31| 8| 28
--------+---+---+---+-------+---+---+--------+---+---+---+------+---+---
21 49 9| 25| 26| 14| 0♋ 22| 16| 4|23 41 39| 25| 3| 17|23 12| 9| 28
21 53 1| 26| 28| 15| 1 15| 17| 4|23 45 19| 26| 4| 18|23 53| 9| 29
21 56 52| 27| 29| 16| 2 7| 18| 5|23 49 0| 27| 5| 19|24 33| 10| ♍
22 0 43| 28|♈ | 18| 2 57| 19| 6|23 52 40| 22| 6| 20|25 15| 11| 1
22 4 33| 29| 2| 19| 3 48| 19| 7|23 56 20| 29| 8| 21|25 56| 12| 2
22 8 23| 30| 3| 20| 4 38| 20| 8|24 0 0| 30| 9| 22|26 36| 12| 3
If I wished to know what particular part of the Zodiac one is subject to
in any particular year of life--that is to say, what part of the Zodiac
is rising--I add 1 degree for every year to the Midheaven at birth and
thus obtain a new Midheaven, under which, in the Tables of Houses, I
find the Ascendant which rules the year. Thus in the case of one born on
the 1st of May at 3.30 p.m. the 30th year comes under the Midheaven of
Leo 2, which is 30 degrees further advanced than Cancer 2, and under Leo
2 in the 10th House I find the Ascendant to be in Libra 24.7, which is
the Ascendant governing that year of life. The meaning and importance of
these calculations will appear at a later stage of this exposition.
When a degree is on the Midheaven or the 10th House it is said to
“culminate,” and when on the horizon Eastward it is said to “ascend.”
The Midheaven is often called the “M.C.” (Medium Coeli), and the
opposite point is called the “I.C.” (Imaum Coeli). They are the points
of the Ecliptic which cut through the meridian of a place at any given
time.
CHAPTER IV
PLANETARY TRANSITS
In order that prognostications made from the horoscope of birth may be
pointed as to time it is necessary to know the positions of the planets
for several years in advance. Such calculations are easily effected by
a knowledge of the periods of the planets--that is to say, the times in
which they return to the same positions about the same time of the year.
Thus Uranus returns to its place after a period of 84 years, Saturn does
so after 59 years, Jupiter in 83 years, Mars in 79 years, in all cases
almost to the day. Mercury also returns in 79 years. But as very few
people possess records of the planets’ places for these long periods,
the following table of the longitudes of the planets for the next 12
years has been prepared. The positions are given for the 1st of each
month, and the longitudes held by the planets are given in even degrees.
These tables are very useful in tracing the transits that occur in
connection with the horoscope for the year. Thus we have found that
by adding the number of degrees corresponding to the age of a person
to the Midheaven at birth, we obtain the Progressed Midheaven, and
in the Tables of Houses we may also find the corresponding Progressed
Ascendant. By adding the same number of degrees to the place of the Sun
at birth we obtain also the Progressed position of the Sun.
---------+------------------------++------------------------
| 1905. || 1906.
Month. +----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
| ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ || ♆ | ♅ |♄ |♃ | ♂
---------+----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
January |♋ 6| ♑ 0|♒19|♈21|♎24||♋ 9|♑ 5|♒29|♉27|♓ 4
February | 5| 2| 22| 24|♏10|| 8| 6|♓ 3| 27| 27
March | 4| 3| 26| 29| 20|| 7| 8| 6| 29|♈18
April | 5| 4| 29| ♉5| 26|| 8| 8| 10|♊ 4|♉11
May | 6| 4|♓ 1| 12| 19|| 9| 8| 13| 10|♊ 2
June | 7| 3| 3| 20| 10|| 10| 7| 14| 17| 23
July | 8| 2| 2| 26| 11|| 11| 6| 15| 24|♋13
August | 9| 0| 1|♊ 2| 21|| 12| 5| 14|♋ 0|♌ 3
September| 9| 0|♒29| 6|♐ 6|| 12| 4| 12| 6| 23
October | 10| 0| 27| 6| 25|| 13| 4| 9| 10|♍12
November | 10| 1| 26| 4|♑17|| 13| 5| 8| 11|♎ 1
December | 9| 3| 27| 0|♒11|| 12| 7| 8| 9| 20
=========+====+====+====+====+====++====+====+====+====+====
| 1907. || 1908.
Month. +----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
| ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ || ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ |♂
---------+----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
January |♋11|♑ 9| ♓ 9| ♋5|♏11||♋13|♑13|♓22|♌12|♓24
February | 10| 10| 14| 2| 29|| 12| 14| 25| 8|♈16
March | 9| 12| 17| 1|♐15|| 11| 16| 28| 5|♉ 5
April | 10| 12| 21| 3|♑ 2|| 12| 17| ♈2| 4| 26
May | 11| 12| 24| 7| 13|| 13| 17| 5| 5|♊16
June | 12| 12| 26| 13| 18|| 14| 16| 8| 9|♋ 7
July | 13| 11| 27| 19| 13|| 15| 15| 10| 14| 26
August | 14| 9| 27| 26| 6|| 16| 14| 10| 21|♌16
September| 14| 8| 25|♌ 3| 11|| 16| 13| 8| 28|♍ 5
October | 15| 8| 23| 8| 24|| 17| 13| 6|♍ 4| 24
November | 15| 9| 21| 12|♒13|| 17| 13| 4| 9|♎14
December | 14| 11| 21| 14|♓ 2|| 16| 14| 3| 13|♏ 4
=========+====+====+====+====+====++====+====+====+====+====
| 1909. || 1910.
Month. +----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
| ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ |♂ || ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ |♂
---------+----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
January |♋15|♑16|♈ 4| ♍14|♏24||♋17|♑20|♈16|♎13|♈18
February | 14| 18| 6| 13|♐15|| 16| 22| 18| 14|♉ 5
March | 13| 20| 9| 9|♑ 4|| 15| 24| 21| 13| 22
April | 14| 21| 13| 6| 24|| 16| 25| 24| 9|♊11
May | 15| 21| 17| 4|♒14|| 17| 25| 28| 6|♋ 0
June | 16| 20| 20| 6|♓ 4|| 18| 25|♉ 1| 4| 19
July | 17| 19| 22| 9| 22|| 19| 24| 4| 6|♌ 8
August | 18| 18| 23| 15|♈ 4|| 20| 22| 6| 9| 27
September| 18| 17| 22| 21| 3|| 20| 21| 6| 15|♍17
October | 19| 17| 20| 28|♓26|| 21| 21| 4| 21|♎ 6
November | 19| 17| 18|♎ 4| 25|| 21| 22| 2| 28| 27
December | 18| 19| 16| 9|♈ 4|| 20| 23| 0|♏ 4|♏17
=========+====+====+====+====+====++====+====+====+====+====
| 1911. || 1912.
Month. +----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
| ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ || ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂
---------+----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
January |♋20| ♑24|♈29|♏ 9| ♐8||♋22|♑28|♉13|♐ 5|♉24
February | 20| 26|♉ 0| 13|♑ 1|| 21|♒ 0| 13| 10|♊ 1
March | 19| 28| 2| 14| 22|| 20| 1| 15| 14| 12
April | 20| 29| 6| 13|♒14|| 21| 3| 18| 15| 29
May | 20| 29| 10| 9|♓ 7|| 22| 3| 22| 14|♋14
June | 21| 29| 14| 6|♈ 0|| 23| 3| 26| 10|♌ 2
July | 22| 28| 17| 5| 21|| 24| 2| 29| 7| 20
August | 23| 27| 19| 6|♉12|| 25| 1|♊ 2| 5|♍10
September| 23| 26| 20| 10| 29|| 25| 0| 4| 7| 29
October | 24| 25| 19| 15|♊ 9|| 26|♑29| 3| 10|♎19
November | 24| 25| 17| 22| 9|| 26| 29| 2| 16|♏10
December | 23| 27| 14| 28|♉28|| 25|♒ 0|♉29| 23| ♐1
=========+====+====+====+====+====++====+====+====+====+====
| 1913. || 1914.
Month. +----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
| ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ || ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ |♂
---------+----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
January |♋24|♒ 3|♉ 27|♑ 0|♐23||♋26| ♒7|♊12|♑25|♋16
February | 24| 4| 27| 6|♑17|| 25| 8| 11|♒ 3| 7
March | 23| 5| 28| 12|♒ 8|| 24| 9| 11| 9| 8
April | 24| 7|♊ 0| 16|♓ 2|| 25| 11| 13| 15| 17
May | 24| 7| 4| 18| 25|| 26| 11| 16| 20|♌ 1
June | 25| 7| 8| 17|♈18|| 27| 11| 20| 22| 17
July | 26| 6| 12| 13|♉10|| 28| 10| 24| 22|♍ 3
August | 27| 5| 15| 10|♊ 2|| 29| 9| 28| 19| 22
September| 27| 4| 17| 8| 21||♌ 0| 8|♋ 0| 15|♎12
October | 28| 3| 18| 9|♋ 9|| 0| 7| 2| 13|♏ 1
November | 28| 3| 17| 13| 21|| 0| 7| 2| 13| 23
December | 27| 4| 15| 18| 24||♋29| 8| 0| 17|♐15
=========+====+====+====+====+====++====+====+====+====+====
| 1915. || 1916.
Month. +----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
| ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ || ♆ | ♅ | ♄ | ♃ |♂
---------+----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----
January | ♋28|♒10|♊27|♒23|♑8 ||♌ 1|♒14|♋13|♓23|♍ 1
February | 28| 12| 26| 29|♒2 || 0| 15| 10| 28|♌23
March | 27| 13| 25|♓ 6| 25||♋29| 17| 9|♈ 4| 13
April | 28| 15| 26| 14|♓16|| ♌0| 18| 10| 12| 13
May | 28| 15| 29| 20|♈12|| 1| 19| 11| 19| 20
June | 29| 14|♋ 3| 25|♉ 6|| 2| 19| 15| 26|♍ 2
July |♌ 0| 13| 6| 28| 27|| 3| 19| 19|♉ 1| 17
August | 1| 12| 10| 28|♊19|| 4| 18| 23| 5|♎ 6
September| 1| 11| 13| 26|♋ 9|| 4| 17| 26| 6| 25
October | 2| 11| 15| 22| 27|| 5| 16| 29| 3|♏16
November | 2| 12| 16| 19|♌14|| 5| 16|♌ 0|♈29|♐ 8
December | 1| 12| 15| 19| 25|| 4| 16| 0| 26|♑ 0
----------------------------------++------------------------
Now a transit of one of the major planets over any of these points,
namely, the Midheaven or Ascendant at birth, the Sun or Moon at birth,
the Midheaven, Ascendant, and Sun in the progress, will produce marked
effects on the fortunes and health of the Subject, corresponding to the
nature of the planet which makes the transit.
Thus we have seen that the Midheaven at the birth on the 1st of May,
1890, at 3.30 p.m., was Cancer 2 degrees, and the Ascendant Libra
2. Referring to the Tables, we find that in 1905 Saturn will form
the opposition of the Midheaven in Capricornus 2 in February, July,
and November, so that these will be periods of reversal, sudden and
unexpected complications and changes. Also the Sun at birth being in
Taurus 11 receives the transit of Jupiter in April, 1905, so that this
month will be productive of some amelioration of evils, or direct
benefits.
When two or more planets concur in a transit of any of the Significators
the results are so much the more forcible and effective.
CHAPTER V
TABLE OF ECLIPSES
The following Table of the Eclipses that will take place during the
next twelve years will be found of considerable use in forecasting the
effects which will follow, not only on the individual, but also on
nations and countries. Thus should any of the Eclipses fall on the place
of a Significator in a horoscope, it will have the most sinister effect
upon the life and fortunes. Certain countries are ruled by certain
signs, a matter which has been determined from observation ever since
the days of Claudius Ptolemy A.D. 130, and Eclipses falling
therein have the effect of disturbing the government of those countries,
producing effects of the worst kind. (See Sect. IV., chap. 6).
TABLE OF ECLIPSES, 1905-1916.
1905.--18th February, Moon eclipsed in Leo 29.
5th March, Sun eclipsed in Pisces 14.
14th August, Moon eclipsed in Aquarius 21.
30th August, Sun eclipsed in Virgo 6.
1906.--8th February, Moon eclipsed in Leo 19.
22nd February, Sun eclipsed in Pisces 3.
20th July, Sun eclipsed in Cancer 27.
3rd August, Moon eclipsed in Aquarius 10.
18th August, Sun eclipsed in Leo 24.
14th January, Sun eclipsed in Capricornus 23.
1907.--28th January, Moon eclipsed in Aquarius 7.
9th July, Sun eclipsed in Cancer 16.
23rd July, Moon eclipsed in Leo 4.
1908.--3rd January, Sun eclipsed in Capricornus 12.
28th August, Sun eclipsed in Virgo 4.
7th December, Moon eclipsed in Gemini 14.
22nd December, Sun eclipsed in Sagittarius 30.
1909.--3rd June, Moon eclipsed in Sagittarius 12.
17th June, Sun eclipsed in Gemini 25.
26th November, Moon eclipsed in Gemini 3.
12th December, Sun eclipsed in Sagittarius 19.
1910.--9th May, Sun eclipsed in Taurus 18.
22nd May, Moon eclipsed in Sagittarius 0.
1st November, Sun eclipsed in Scorpio 7.
15th November, Moon eclipsed in Taurus 21.
1911.--28th April, Sun eclipsed in Taurus 7.
20th October, Sun eclipsed in Libra 26.
1912.--1st April, Moon eclipsed in Libra 11.
16th April, Sun eclipsed in Aries 25.
25th September, Moon eclipsed in Aries 1.
10th October, Sun eclipsed in Libra 16.
1913.--21st March, Moon eclipsed in Virgo 30.
5th April, Sun eclipsed in Aries 15.
30th August, Sun eclipsed in Virgo 7.
14th September, Moon eclipsed in Virgo 20.
28th September, Sun eclipsed in Libra 4.
1914.--24th February, Sun eclipsed in Pisces 5.
9th March, Moon eclipsed in Virgo 18.
21st August, Moon eclipsed in Aquarius 27.
3rd September, Sun eclipsed in Virgo 10.
1915.--13th February, Sun eclipsed in Aquarius 24.
9th August, Sun eclipsed in Leo 16.
1916.--18th January, Moon eclipsed in Cancer 27.
3rd February, Sun eclipsed in Aquarius 13.
14th July, Moon eclipsed in Capricornus 21.
29th July, Sun eclipsed in Leo 5.
In illustration of the effects of Eclipses in the horoscope of birth,
we may refer to the horoscope of His Majesty King Edward VII., wherein
we find the sun situated in the 17th degree of the sign Scorpio, which
rules the excretory system. In May, 1902, there was an Eclipse of the
Sun in opposition to this position, and within five weeks of the Eclipse
the King was struck down with appendicitis on the eve of the Coronation
Ceremony. This was foretold in many of the journals devoted to the
exposition of Astrology, and in Moore’s Almanac for the month of June,
1902, the hieroglyphic clearly pointed to the danger that beset the
august Sovereign. Indeed, I was able to say with perfect assurance that
the Coronation would not take place on the date appointed, and gave the
exact date at which the King would be struck down with what I conceived
to be a mortal illness. But fortunately at that time the Moon was
conjoined to Jupiter in the progress and this saved the life. The Moon
was then setting in the horoscope of birth, according to the measure of
time already given, namely, one degree of Right Ascension for one year
of life, and Saturn was on the Midheaven.
The Eclipse of June 6, 1853, was in the Midheaven at Cumana on the
Spanish Main and in five weeks there followed a terrible earthquake
which killed 4,000 people and destroyed all the property. In May, 1901,
there was an Eclipse on the 8th of May which fell in the meridian of St.
Pierre, Martinique, and the same day there was a fearful devastation of
the place by the eruption of Mont Pelée.
Instances might be multiplied to show that the effects of Eclipses are
of the most striking and effective nature.
SECTION III
HOW TO READ THE HOROSCOPE
CHAPTER I
THE PLANETS IN THE HOUSES
It is impossible to categorically state the effects which are due to
the positions of the planets in the several Houses, because very much
depends upon the signs they are in and the aspects they have from other
planets.
The means of judging the effects is very simple, when once the natures
of the planets and the dominion of the several Houses have been
thoroughly digested. Thus, it is first necessary to see in what House
a planet is situated. Then consider the nature of the planet in the
following concrete manner:
Neptune means chaos, confusion, deception.
Uranus, eccentricity, originality, estrangement.
Saturn, privation, hindrance, denial.
Jupiter, affluence, fruitfulness, increase.
Sun, dignities, honours.
Mars, excess, impulse, quarrels.
Venus, peace, happiness, agreement
Mercury, commerce, versatility, adaptability.
Moon, changes, publicity.
Now look to the things that are governed by the House in which any
particular planet is situated at the moment of birth (Sect. I., chap.
iii.).
Suppose Saturn to be found in the 11th House. Saturn is “privation”
and the 11th House is the domain of “Friends.” Hence a paucity of
friends, or such as there may be are evil or unfortunate to the subject.
Jupiter in the 2nd House, in the same manner, would signify “increase”
of “money and possessions.” Mars in the 7th would indicate “quarrels”
with “partners”; and so on. Each planet reflects its own nature upon
the affairs governed by the House in which it is found at the moment of
birth.
It will not infrequently happen, however, that there are more than one
planet in the same House. Suppose two planets to occupy the same House.
In such case one may be good (Jupiter), and the other evil (Mars). It
is then necessary to take first that which first comes to the horizon
or Midheaven, that is to say, the one which is in the earlier part of
the House, and next that which follows. Thus Saturn followed by Jupiter
in the 11th House, would signify misfortune by means of advisers and
friends, followed at a later period in the life by some great good
through the same source. The degrees which separate the planets will
indicate the years which elapse between these changes of fortune.
Similarly if there be more than two planets in the same House; in such
cases you may safely predict many changes in that department of life
which the House is said to rule.
But the fact of a planet being in a House is not of itself sufficient
evidence from which to make a judgment. The aspects which that planet
has must also be considered, for in this matter Saturn when throwing a
good aspect to any of the Significators--the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or
Midheaven, and well aspected by other planets, is to be preferred to
Jupiter when the latter is badly placed and aspected; for Jupiter has
his own ill effects, and Saturn has his good influences. Jupiter is only
a benefic when acting by conjunction or good aspect with another planet,
and Saturn is only a malefic when acting by conjunction or evil aspect.
These things being duly considered, it is possible to arrive, with even
brief experience, at the results that are signified by the planets in
the several Houses.
CHAPTER II
THE CONSTITUTION
The Sun is the chief significator of the constitution, and the aspects
he holds to the other planets are to be considered. Thus if he be found
in good aspect, or at least not in evil aspect, to the other planets,
the constitution may be judged as sound.
When, however, the Sun is afflicted by some planets and assisted by
others, there will be only a moderate constitution, and judgment has to
be made as to which influence predominates, the good or evil. When the
afflicting planets are angular--that is to say, in the 1st, 4th, 7th, or
10th Houses--the congenital or hereditary tendency to organic disease
is by that circumstance so much the stronger. But when the assisting
planets are angular, the predisposition to disease is considerably
mitigated, and in most cases entirely overcome.
The predisposition of the body to affections of a constitutional nature
is to be judged from the prevalence of evil aspects to the Sun, and the
parts of the body liable to be affected are judged from the Signs which
are occupied by the afflicting bodies.
The various affections due to the several planets have already been
cited (Sect. I., chap. i.). The Signs are grouped for purposes of
pathological study as follows:--
The Movable Signs--Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricornus--have relation
to the head, stomach, skin, kidneys, liver, and spine.
The Fixed Signs--Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius--are related to the
throat, heart, blood, and excretory system.
The Common Signs--Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces--are related to
the lungs, bowels, and nervous system.
It will also be advisable to read Sect. I., chap. ii., in order to
determine the special points liable to affections, the nature of the
affection being judged solely by the planet which casts the malefic
aspect to the Sun.
When the Sun is found to be afflicted by several planets, and at the
same time there is no assistance from the good aspects or conjunctions
of other bodies, then the constitution is deemed faulty and liable to
early disruption. But when there are several planets afflicting and at
the same time some benefic influences from others, it is probable that
there will be prolonged disease and physical weakness, though life will
continue.
Death in infancy occurs when the malefic planets are immediately rising
or culminating at the birth in evil aspect to the luminary which at
the time may be above the horizon. Also when there are malefic planets
immediately setting or passing the nadir, in evil aspect to the luminary
below the horizon. But when there are mitigating influences from the
good aspects of the benefic planets, or the luminaries, the malefic
planets will not induce death, but there will be great difficulty in
rearing.
CHAPTER III
HEALTH AND SICKNESS
The aspects of the moon are the chief consideration in the matter of
sickness. If the Moon be found to be afflicted by the evil aspects
of several planets, and no assistance be given by the good aspects
of others, then the health will be precarious and frequent spells of
illness will result. The Moon being well aspected and not in any way
afflicted, shows that the health will be well established, and that
there will be immunity from sickness of all sorts.
The considerations necessary to be made in this matter are similar to
those which have been cited in regard to the Sun and the constitution,
except that we substitute the Moon for the Sun. For, whereas the Sun
governs the vital power in man, the Moon governs the functional powers,
and whereas the Sun denotes those affections which are congenital or
hereditary, the Moon denotes such as are brought about by causes after
birth. Similarly, the Sun denotes affections which are incidental to the
body, while the Moon denotes such as are accidental thereto.
These points being borne in mind, they may be memorised at sight:--
SUN. MOON.
Organic. Functional.
Hereditary. Acquired.
Incidental. Accidental.
But it should be observed that the constitution may be strong and the
health may be at the same time very bad, or, on the other hand, the
health may be good and the constitution may be weak. In the first case,
there would be a long life of considerable suffering from ill-health;
and in the second case, there would be little or no ill-health for some
considerable time, but the constitution would give way and the vital
powers become depleted by the first serious illness that occurred.
Only when the Sun and Moon are both unafflicted by evil aspects or
conjunctions, the health and constitution are both good, and there is
every indication of a robust and vigorous life reaching to a ripe old
age.
When the Sun and Moon are both heavily afflicted, and there is no
assistance given by good aspects, there is every probability of death in
infancy, or before reaching maturity.
For reasons which are allied to the connection existing between the
constitution and the health, the good aspect of the Moon to the Sun at
birth is an excellent augury, for it indicates co-ordination between the
organic and functional. Where this co-ordination exists there is always
considerable power of recuperation, so that illness is easily overcome
and the balance of power restored in the system.
Malefic planets rising and afflicting either the Sun or Moon indicate
prolonged ill-health, and most frequently some permanent hurt to the
body.
When predisposition to illness is shown in the horoscope, the particular
affection can be determined by the Sign which the afflicting planets
hold. Thus if Saturn afflict the Moon from Aries, you will judge some
hurts and obstructions in the head, chills and colds, influenza, coryza,
&c. Similarly Mars in Leo would indicate functional defects of the heart
due to accelerated action and overstrain, such as result from fevers.
A good aspect of the planets Jupiter and Venus is of material help in
counteracting the influence of malefic aspects or evil positions.
Thus it will be seen that the health may be judged entirely apart from
the constitution, the planets which are in aspect to the Moon being of
first consideration, and next those which may be rising at the time of
birth.
CHAPTER IV
HOW TO READ CHARACTER AND DISPOSITION
Ptolemy says: “Mercury is the ruler of the rational soul, the Moon of
the animal soul.” By this he would mean, no doubt, that Mercury has
relation to the faculty of the mind, while the Moon is related to brain
function. There are certain attributes of the mind which are distinctive
of the human being, and certain other qualities which are common to man
and the lower animals. These latter are under the dominion of the Moon,
while Mercury has chief signification of the rational faculties.
The position and aspects of the Moon and Mercury are therefore to be
considered in making judgment of the mental endowments and disposition
of the subject.
Planets that are in conjunction or aspect to either the Moon or Mercury
will impress their nature strongly on the character and disposition.
The natures of the planets have already been recited (Sect. I., chap.
i.), and it is therefore only necessary to consider further, in this
connection, the nature of the aspect that is thrown to the Mental
Significators by the other bodies. Thus the Sun being in trine to the
Moon will give a proper degree of independence and dignity, while the
square aspect or opposition of the Sun would indicate an excess of
pride, harmful to the subject in his ordinary relationships. In the same
manner, the good aspect of Jupiter would show benevolence and regulated
philanthropy, while the opposition or other evil aspect of the same body
would indicate extravagance and ostentatious display of charity.
The good and bad aspects of the planets may be summed up in a few lines
as follows:--
IN GOOD ASPECT. IN EVIL ASPECT.
Neptune--Genius, inspiration. Insanity, obsession.
Uranus--Originality, invention. Obstinacy, eccentricity.
Saturn--Steadfastness, fidelity. Deceitfulness, suspicion.
Jupiter--Benevolence, joviality. Ostentation, profligacy.
Mars--Energy, executiveness. Impulse, destructiveness.
Sun--Dignity, independence. Vanity, egotism.
Venus--Affability, art. Self-indulgence, disorderliness.
Mercury--Alertness, ingenuity. Inquisitiveness, meddling.
Moon--Grace, idealism. Inconstancy, awkwardness.
The general trend of the disposition and habit of mind is judged by the
position of the majority of the planets, according to the “Constitution”
of the Signs they occupy. Thus, the majority of the planets being in--
Cardinal or Movable Signs indicates executive ability, business
aptitude, pioneer spirit, ambition, capability to cut out a line in life
for oneself, and to make headway against difficulties. Such persons are
usually the foremost in their particular sphere of life, and are always
found in the most progressive movements, reforms, &c.
Fixed Signs--Stability, patience, endurance, method, caution, and
diplomacy. Such persons are apt to become the originators of schools
of thought, policies, and schemes. They have fixity of purpose,
determination, independence, and pivotal stability. They sit still and
the world revolves around them.
Flexed or Common Signs--Versatility, flexibility, suavity, adaptability,
and lack of originality. Such people usually have too many irons in
the fire, and take in hand more than they can bring to satisfactory
conclusion. This is due to their versatility. They have a superficial
knowledge of many things, but lack the persistence to bring that
knowledge to practical effect. At the same time their adaptability
is the occasion of many successes in life, and their agreeableness,
sympathy, and suavity create many friends for them.
In the Wheel of Life the cardinal signs denote the rim or tyre which is
ever on the move, having the greatest acceleration. The Common Signs
represent the spokes of the wheel, uniting the tyre to the nave, and
in that sense representing the power of adaptability. The Fixed Signs
represent the nave, which remains quiescent and still, being useful by
that pivotal stability and apparent non-entity.
Thus, while the Sign-groupings of the planets are useful in giving the
keynote of the nature and disposition, the particular faculties and
characteristics are to be judged only from the aspects of the planets to
the Moon and Mercury. Further, it will be noted that those planets which
occupy the 3rd and 9th Houses, and those also which are just rising at
the moment of birth, will strongly impress themselves on the nature,
apart from any aspects they may hold to the Mental Rulers. This is on
account of the natural relationship of those Houses to the mind and its
means of expression.
Due attention must be paid to the position and aspects of those planets
which are in aspect to the Mental Rulers, for if they be badly placed,
in uncongenial signs, and themselves badly aspected by other planets,
they will not act with the same directness and force as they otherwise
would do.
It is of course admitted, in all astrological inquiries, that the
effects of heredity, training and association count for something. A
man who is generated from a vitiated parentage, badly nourished and
imperfectly trained, cannot be expected, even with the best aspects,
to manifest the highest faculties in their fullest or most perfect
expressions. I have not the slightest doubt that many a clodpole was
born under similar aspects to those which obtained at the birth of
Shakespeare, Raphael, Newton, or Cæsar. I am not dismayed. _Non gli
astri muovono solamente per Roma!_ Who shall tell the tale of the
world’s starved, neglected, and submerged genius? We are doing the right
thing, at all events, in keeping the school-door wide open.
But to continue. The inspirational and ardent temperament is indicated
by the majority of planets being in Fiery signs. The mental or
intellectual temperament is shown by the majority in Aerial signs. The
psychic or emotional temperament by the majority in Watery signs, and
the practical or sordid temperament by the majority being in Earthy
signs.
The rising sign at birth often impresses itself strongly on the mind
of the Subject, and its characteristics are those which belong to the
planet which governs it, and the “elemental” nature of the sign itself.
Thus you have the chief keys to the estimate of character in the
individual, and when once the student is convinced by experience of the
paramount reliability of this method of character-delineation, its uses
will need no special pointing.
Mental and Brain Disorders.
When either the Moon or Mercury is afflicted by the malefic planets,
that is to say, when Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, or Mars are in conjunction
or evil aspect with the mental Significators, and there be no relieving
aspect from the benefic planets, Jupiter, Venus, or the Sun, then there
is every predisposition to affections of the brain and nervous system.
This is the more to be feared when the Moon or Mercury is afflicted in
the flexed or common signs. This observation has been scientifically
established by Mr. A. G. Trent, in his little work entitled “The
Soul and the Stars,” to which the student is referred for a mass of
statistical evidence.
CHAPTER V
FINANCIAL PROSPECTS
Look to the planets which are in the 2nd House, and the aspects to them.
If any planet be therein, and well aspected by others, the financial
condition will be competent. If a benefic (Jupiter or Venus) be therein,
and free from evil aspects, the same effect will accrue. But if the
benefic in the 2nd should have good aspects from other planets, then
there will be considerable wealth.
Any planet in the 2nd House, badly aspected, will produce difficulty in
acquiring money, and if it be a malefic planet which occupies the 2nd
House under these conditions, there will be times of stress and even
poverty.
Continual hardship and poverty is shown by malefic planets in the 2nd
House, in evil aspect to the Moon or Sun; while at the same time the
planets in the 2nd House will be severely afflicted by others.
Saturn in the Midheaven afflicting the Sun or Moon is an indication
of reversal of fortune, and such persons usually attain considerable
position in the world and are then depleted of everything.
Jupiter or Venus in the 10th House, and near the meridian, are signs of
good fortune and success in life, and the same results are due to their
rising at birth.
In a general manner the aspects to the Moon in a male horoscope or
the Sun in a female horoscope should be consulted, and the planets in
good aspect thereto will show the means of good fortune, while those
in evil aspect will indicate the sources of loss and hurt, according
to the Houses the afflicting or assisting planets occupy. Thus Jupiter
in good aspect to the Moon from the 11th House shows gain by friends,
advisers, and co-operative measures, because the 11th House rules these
relationships and Jupiter is the index of increase. Similarly, Uranus in
the 7th House would show gain by the marriage partner if in good aspect
to the Moon, or loss thereby if in evil aspect.
Mars in the 2nd House shows good earning capacity, because Mars is an
ambitious and industrious planet (_i.e._, it produces such effects in
the person), and the 2nd House is the domain of finance. But at the same
time it shows extravagance and inability to save money, for Mars is
impulsive and lacking thrift.
The 6th House well occupied shows faithful and advantageous servants and
employés, such as will augment the fortunes and do good work for the
Subject.
Neptune in the 2nd shows complications and an involved state of finance,
and frequently it shows loss by fraud and imposition; though in good
aspect to other planets it shows gain by such nefarious means. Uranus
indicates many ups and downs of fortune, sudden and unexpected rises and
falls.
Thus each planet is judged according to its nature and the aspect it
throws to the Moon or Sun, while the planets in the 2nd House are
judged by their own natures and the aspects which they receive.
Inheritance is shown by a benefic planet in the 5th or 11th House in
good aspect to Saturn; but indirect inheritance can be the result of
Saturn in good aspect to Jupiter from any part of the figure.
Legacies are shown by good planets, or planets well aspected, in the
8th House; or by Jupiter in good aspect to Uranus from any part of the
heavens.
Gain by marriage is shown by benefic planets in the 8th House, because
the 8th is 2nd from the 7th, and the 7th House rules over the partner.
The potential of each horoscope is capable of being increased by
due attention to the sources of gain, as shown by the position and
aspects of the planets in various parts of the heavens; but chiefly by
associating oneself with persons whose horoscopes are in harmony with
one’s own. Thus it happens that individuals are lifted to position and
affluence through their association with persons whose horoscopes are in
sympathy with theirs. (See Chap. XI. of this Section.)
The Sun and Moon being in good aspect to one another will prevent
disaster, or will always provide a means of restoration of fortunes,
because it is an index of general good fortune and continual support.
Such persons as have this aspect in their horoscopes need never fear
misfortune, for if they should fall into disasters in one place, they
will always turn up in another with a complete adjustment of their
position. But when the Sun and Moon are in evil aspect, and particularly
when the malefic planets are in elevation in the heavens, continual
misfortune dogs the footsteps, and though there be spells of good
fortune, they are brief and attended with troubles.
The benefic planets, Jupiter, Venus, and Sun, being well elevated in the
heavens, that is to say, in the 10th or 11th Houses, it is a sign of
preponderating good fortune. But when the malefics are in elevation the
reverse results happen.
The Line of Least Resistance.
It is a law in Nature that the line of least resistance is that of
greatest progress. The lightning flash does not come straight to earth,
but zigzag by the line of least resistance. The great rivers do not come
by a direct course to the ocean, but by many turns and backward reaches,
because they follow the path of least resistance. When one comes to take
account of the years of human life that are spent in the vain endeavour
to achieve the impossible, the lessons of Nature are worth reciting. But
what is impossible to one man is facile to another, and the greatest
economy of effort is therefore to be secured by proper regard to
suitability of occupation and direction of effort.
The principles of Astrology enable us to determine the line of action
which at all times will be the most fruitful of results, and in the
matter of money-making the matter is decided in the following manner:
That planet which has a trine or sextile aspect of the Moon, and is at
the same time elevated above the malefic planets, especially if it be
itself assisted by the good aspects of other planets, receives first
consideration. The House it is in will indicate the source of benefit,
but the Sign it is in will show the means through which it will come.
Thus if Uranus should be in the Midheaven, in trine aspect to the Moon,
and itself receiving a good aspect from either the Sun, Jupiter, or
Venus, it will indicate gain through governmental bodies, authorities,
and persons of high rank. If Uranus should be in the sign Cancer, it
would point to matters associated with the ocean, marine affairs, or
those in which water is the element in chief employ; as in marine
engineering, shipping, dock building, &c. But if Uranus had been in the
11th House, and in the sign Scorpio, then the source of gain would be by
means of companies, syndicates, and associations of a collective nature,
and the sign Scorpio would show it to be connected with naval defence
(because Scorpio is a martial and watery sign) or the utilisation of
waste materials, inflammable oils, &c., or by systems of drainage, which
represent the excretory system of a town. By looking chiefly to the
nature of the planet concerned, and that of the sign it occupies, a good
artist will readily describe the particular line which is to be pursued.
But here, as in every other matter upon which judgment is made,
attention must be paid to the character and disposition of the Subject,
his aptitudes and qualifications, for it is obviously of little use
recommending literature or the law to one whose sole capabilities lie
in unintellectual directions. Natural aptitude, supplemented by the
necessary training, are the first considerations, for without these
success in any direction is but ill assured.
CHAPTER VI
THE POSITION IN LIFE
This is to be judged from the position of the majority of the planets,
but principally from the Midheaven, the planets therein and its aspects.
Thus, if you find the majority of the planets rising, that is to say,
in the 10th, 11th, 12th, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Houses the Subject will be
a candidate for responsibility, ambitious of honours and position, and
generally independent. If these or the majority of them be well aspected
he will become a man of position, employing others; or, if a woman, will
hold an important position in her sphere of life, and be esteemed in the
social world.
If the degree on the Midheaven receives good aspects from the major
planets, the position will be honourable and secure.
Venus or Jupiter, or the Sun well aspected, in the Midheaven, denotes
a superior position, honours, and distinction. The same will result if
these be rising.
When the majority of the planets are above the horizon, even though
they be not rising, the Subject will have responsibilities thrust upon
him, even though he should not desire them. If the majority of these
planets be well aspected, he will acquit himself creditably and attain
to honours.
It is always fortunate for the position that there should be planets
exactly on the cusps of either the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th, or 12th
Houses, for then there will be every opportunity of securing fame and
advancement in life.
But when any of the malefic planets are found exactly on or nearest to
the meridian, whether above or below the horizon, there will be loss of
position, reversal, a sinister fame, or disgrace.
The 10th House represents the fame and honour of a person, and the 4th
House represents the end of life and that which militates against the
fame and honour. Therefore when there are good planets in these places,
the Subject will meet with rewards and honours commensurate with his
efforts; but when evil planets occupy the meridian, he will at best
sustain his position in life with great difficulty.
It is futile for any one to suppose that the position of a benefic
planet in the meridian of the horoscope will bring him to fame and
elevate him in the world irrespective of his own endeavours. The planets
operate on human affairs in terms of human thought and action, and that
by fixed laws; never adventitiously. That “the Gods help those who help
themselves” to the extent that natural laws permit, is a truth which
astrology fully provides for. Fitness and fortune are as cause and
effect to one another in respect of planetary action in human life.
Many planets in cardinal signs will dispose a man to seek fame, and when
the Midheaven of the horoscope is well aspected or there be fortunate
planets therein, he will attain it. Cardinal signs on the angles of the
horoscope (the meridian and horizon), produce fame outlasting death. The
same if either of the luminaries be exactly on the equinoxes.
Venus in the Midheaven gives social elevation and lifts a person above
the sphere of birth. Good planets in the 11th show patronage.
But when the luminaries are heavily afflicted there will be an
inconstant fortune and many reverses, so that position gained will be
lost again.
Most of the planets under the horizon shows success and position in the
latter part of life, while if they be between the 4th and 7th cusps,
there will be advantages after marriage, or by means of partnerships.
In judging of the means by which the position will be sustained, respect
must be had to the positions of those planets which are in good aspect
to the Midheaven, or to benefic planets in the Midheaven, and if none
be so situated, then those which hold benefic aspect to either the Sun
or Moon at birth must be taken, and judgment made according to the
nature of the planet and the sign it occupies. Preference should always
be given to that planet which has the strongest aspect for good. Thus
if two planets were in trine, that which is in elevation should be
preferred, especially if it be strengthened by the good aspects of other
planets.
CHAPTER VII
THE CHOICE OF OCCUPATION
The enormous waste of force and time entailed by the experimental trip
upon which most young men embark at the outset of their career in life,
might be greatly reduced by a proper knowledge of individual aptitude
in relation to circumstances. The average boy cannot readily make up
his mind as to what occupation he will follow, because he does not know
either enough of his own powers or of the world in which he is called
upon to use them. Parents are in the same difficulty. They must needs
wait to see how a boy will shape out. They study his inclinations to
the best of their ability, but without coming to a definite conclusion
any sooner than the boy himself. Given a fair education, such as may
fit him for almost anything, but which specialises him for nothing in
particular, he is put to some desk or bench and there left to his own
resources. By a fortunate chance, he may find himself suited to his
post. More frequently he is several years in finding out that he has
missed his vocation, that his inclinations and his work are not in
accord, that he has misapplied his energies for some time, and that he
has made a false start. Fortunately circumstanced at birth he may have
been equipped by higher education for some distinctive profession, to
which he gains access after the payment of large fees or premiums. The
man has a strong dramatic faculty and the stage claims him after all.
Here is both waste of time and money. Astrology, as a reliable key to
character and inclination, deserves some recognition on the grounds of
social economy.
The inclinations of the Subject are judged from the position of the
majority of the planets, for if they should be found in the aerial
signs, Gemini, Libra, or Aquarius, the inclination will be towards
mental occupations, especially science and literature. In fiery signs
there is a predisposition to a more robust and active life, such as
is afforded by military service, travelling, prospecting, exploring,
&c. In earthy signs the aptitude lies in the direction of agriculture,
experimental science, surveying, dealing in real estate, broking, &c. In
watery signs there is special inclination to pursuits connected with the
water, such as sailors, watermen, and others; but frequently to other
occupation in which fluids are predominant, such as publicans, wine and
spirit merchants, chemists, and oil merchants.
Each sign has its special tendency, and the exact occupation can
often be decided thereby, when regard is had to the planet in closest
aspect to the Sun or Moon and the sign it occupies. Thus Aries denotes
soldiers and pioneers of movements; Taurus shows dealers in real estate,
house agents and brokers; Gemini, literary men and writers of all
sorts; Cancer, sailors and publicans; Leo, actors and artists; Virgo,
clothes dealers and sellers of confectionery and bread; Libra, valuers,
assayers, money-changers, and pawnbrokers; Scorpio, naval sailors,
chemists, dealers in oils and spirits; Sagittarius, explorers, divines,
lawyers; Capricornus, political agents and ministers of the State;
Aquarius, electricians, company promoters, syndics, and scientific
researchers; Pisces, dealers in fish and sea produce, warders, and those
connected with places of confinement, such as prisons and hospitals.
Taking, therefore, the dominant planet and the signs that hold the
majority of the planets, the line along which the Subject will make the
most progress in the world and acquit himself most successfully, may be
readily determined.
No person will make a good soldier who has not Mars as a dominant
planet, nor will he succeed with the public if the Moon be not elevated
and well aspected, nor become a successful artist, musician, or poet if
Venus be not conspicuous in the horoscope.
Generally the inclination is derived from a consideration of the
dominant planet, and the degree of success attendant upon the occupation
is judged from the aspect which that planet throws to the Sun or Moon,
and there can be no great advantage from following an inclination
which does not promise some measure of success, as is the case when
the dominant planet is in evil aspect to the luminaries. Thus it
happens that some men follow unprofitable callings, their judgment
being dominated by an inclination adverse to their natural welfare. Yet
never was good work done in the world without a strong inclination and
considerable enthusiasm, and Heaven makes its own slaves, its martyrs,
and its scapegoats. And always, the following of an inclination means
the sacrifice of some of the benefits of life. “Take what thou wilt,
but pay the price!” is the Divine mandate, according to Emerson.
But unquestionably, the science which enables a man to choose the line
of least resistance, which prevents a youth of intellectual tendencies
from wasting the best years of his life in drudgery at the desk or
bench, is worth a little study. “Hitch your waggon to a star,” is good
advice if only we hitch it to the right one.
CHAPTER VIII
MARRIAGE CIRCUMSTANCES
The question as to how, when, and where marriage will take place is
an all-absorbing one to the majority of men and women, and no less
important than interesting. Astrology has made it possible to answer
these questions categorically and with particular precision and verity.
The conditions of connubial life are judged (in a male horoscope) from
the condition of the Moon and Venus, and (in a female horoscope) from
that of the Sun and Mars. The planet to which the luminary first forms
an aspect after birth (that which it “applies” to) denotes the marriage
partner. If the aspect be good there will be agreement and the choice of
a partner will be fortunate. But if the aspect be evil, there will be
trouble after marriage. The nature of the planet to which the luminary
forms its aspect after birth ought also to be considered, for if it be
that the luminary applies by a good aspect to a benefic planet, or to
one that is well-placed and aspected, then there will be considerable
happiness and fortune in marriage. On the other hand, if both the aspect
and the planet be evil--as if the Moon were applying to the opposition
of Saturn or Uranus or Mars--then the fate in marriage will be extremely
unhappy and disagreements will be frequent and even permanent.
When the aspect and the nature of the planet are at variance, as when
the Moon has a good aspect to Saturn, or a bad aspect to Jupiter, there
will be a mingled fortune of good and ill in marriage. There is no
better sign of happiness and harmony in marriage than a good aspect
between the Sun and Moon.
Moreover, it may happen that the Moon applies by good aspect to a planet
after birth, and that there is at the same time a malefic body in the
7th House. This indicates that there will be agreement in the connubial
life, but that bereavement will soon follow.
When the Moon applies to Neptune there will be some peculiarity or touch
of genius in the partner, according as Neptune may be aspected. Uranus
shows eccentricity and sometimes wilfulness. Saturn shows steadiness,
industry; or jealousy and coldness. Jupiter indicates a good nature,
bountiful and honest, but may be given to excess and extravagance. Mars
induces industry and practicality, but it gives a strong temper and
considerable independence. The Sun shows dignity and loyalty, but may
indicate ostentation and foolish pride. Venus denotes peacefulness and a
genial, refined nature, but its perversion brings indifference, neglect
and disorderliness. Mercury denotes an active and energetic nature, but
may produce a busybody and meddler.
Everything depends on the aspect which the significant luminary throws
to the planet it applies to, for if the aspect be good it will indicate
the better qualities of that planet; but if evil, then there is
frequently the unfortunate consequence of choosing a partner in whom
the perverted qualities of the planet are predominant.
Good planets in the 7th House indicate a good partner, but when at the
same time the aspect of the luminary is evil, it will denote a good
marriage, followed by bereavement.
Marriage to a widow (or widower) occurs when Mars and Saturn are the
planets concerned in the indications, as if Mars be in the 7th House
and in aspect to Saturn, or if the Moon apply to Mars when aspected by
Saturn, or when one of them is in the 5th House and the other in the
7th.
Love affairs before marriage are indicated by the 5th House, the planets
therein and their aspects, and in a general sense by Venus in a male
horoscope and Mars in a female horoscope.
Thus if Venus (or Mars) be afflicted by Saturn or Uranus there will be
disappointment in the early affections. Uranus in aspect to Venus gives
romantic attachments and much influence over the other sex. Neptune in
aspect shows idealism, and when afflicting Venus it produces chaos and
entanglement, danger of seduction. Mars afflicting Venus gives ardour
and impulse.
More than one Marriage
is indicated when the luminary is in aspect to more than one planet in a
double-bodied sign, _e.g._, Gemini, Sagittarius, or Pisces. Or, if the
luminary itself be in a double sign and in aspect to any planet other
than one which may be in the 7th House. Also a double sign being on the
cusp of the 7th House, and the luminary in a fruitful sign, Cancer,
Scorpio, or Pisces, or in aspect to planets in those signs. All these
are signs of more than one marriage during life.
Signs of separation or divorce are as follows: The luminary applying to
the ill aspect of a malefic planet, Venus afflicted, and Uranus in the
7th House or afflicting the Moon or Venus. In female horoscopes change
the Significators, taking the Sun and Mars instead of the Moon and
Venus, and judge the same.
Where more than one marriage is shown, the ruler of the 7th House
denotes the first partner, and the planet ruling the sign it occupies is
called its “dispositor” or “displacer.” This dispositor represents the
second partner.
The planet to which the significant luminary applies is that which is
taken to describe the partner, according to the sign it is in. But
if this planet be retrograde, i.e., going backwards in the zodiac by
apparent motion, then it only represents an attachment which will be
broken off. Its dispositor then becomes the significator of the partner.
But the ruler of the 7th House is taken for the condition and fortunes
of the partner, and if it be afflicted or badly placed and weak in the
horoscope, then the marriage will be ill-assorted, unfortunate, and full
of dissatisfaction. The contrary is the case when the significant planet
is well placed and aspected.
The place or circumstances under which the partner will be met may
be known from the sign and house occupied by the planet to which the
luminary first applies after birth. Thus if it be in the 11th House,
the partner will be met among friends, at the house of a friend, or
introduced by a friend. If in the 3rd House, then on a short journey or
in correspondence; in the 5th, at a place of amusement; in the 10th, in
the course of business; and so on, judgment being made according to the
places and circumstances ruled by the House occupied by the planet.
CHAPTER IX
INDICATIONS OF PROGENY
The 5th House, the planets therein and the position and aspects of the
Moon, have to be considered in this matter.
If the 5th House be occupied by benefic planets, or planets well
aspected by others, then the progeny will be a source of satisfaction
and credit to the Subject, and will be reared to maturity. But the
contrary is the case when the 5th House is occupied by malefic planets
and such as may be heavily afflicted.
The Moon represents the tendency in the male and the capacity in the
female, and when well aspected, or free from evil aspects and well
placed, then there will be good fortune in connection with the progeny.
When Uranus afflicts a planet in the 5th House, there will be some
premature births, and generally it will be observed that when planets
are opposed from the 11th and 5th Houses, or malefic planets occupy
those houses, there is trouble through the progeny, and usually the loss
of one or more during infancy is to be feared.
As to the number of children, no empirical rules exist for the judgment
of this matter, which necessarily is a difficult one owing to the fact
that we have no means of comparing the horoscopes of man and wife, but
the nature of the sign on the cusp of the 5th House is usually to be
depended upon for an approximation. Thus Aries, Leo, and Capricornus
give small families. Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, and Pisces give
large families, and the other signs yield a moderate family. When the
Moon is strong, angular, and not afflicted, the number is increased.
Twins are born from double-bodied signs occupying the cusp of the 5th
House, or planets in the 5th in a double-bodied sign.
The condition of each child is known in a general manner from the
alternate Houses, commencing with the 5th. Thus the first child is (in a
male horoscope) ruled by the 5th House, and planets therein; the second
child by the 7th House; the third by the 9th House, and so on. In a
female horoscope the first child is ruled by the 4th House; the second
by the 6th House, and so on.
Thus if it be found that there is probability of loss of some of the
progeny, the children most liable to affliction may be known by this
method; for the Houses which contain the malefic planets, or the
afflicted planets, correspond to the afflicted progeny.
Illustrious children are born to the Subject when the ruler of the 5th
House is in elevation and well aspected, and in a congenial sign. But if
the ruler of the 5th House be badly placed and aspected and in a sign of
debility, _i.e._, opposite to one over which it rules, then the progeny
are ill-equipped for the battle of life, either mentally or morally. The
particular qualities and fortunes of the progeny can only be known from
their individual horoscopes.
When malefic planets hold the 12th House in a female horoscope, there
will be danger in confinement; and the same happens if either of the
luminaries, but particularly the Moon, be afflicted in the 5th House.
CHAPTER X
VOYAGES AND JOURNEYS
The indications of short journeys, inland and around the coast, are to
be judged from the 3rd House and the planets therein. If a movable sign
be on the cusp of the 3rd House, or planets in a movable sign occupy the
3rd House, then there will be much travelling and many short journeys
to and fro. The aspects to these planets in the 3rd will indicate
whether such journeys will be mainly successful or not. When there are
no aspects to the planet or planets in the 3rd House the fortune of
short journeys is to be judged from the nature of the planet in the 3rd,
as if Jupiter, they will be fortunate and lucrative; but if Saturn,
unfortunate and subject to many hindrances and delays. When malefic
planets are afflicted in the 3rd House, or malefic planets in the 3rd
throw evil aspects to the Sun or Moon, then there will be dangers and
accidents.
Watery signs on the cusp of the 3rd House, or planets in watery signs in
the 3rd, indicate cruising and yachting, short journeys by water around
the coast. If the Moon be in good aspect to these planets, then there
will be safety in passage; but if afflicted by the planets in the 3rd
there will be danger of collision, capsizing, &c., according to the
nature of the planet in the 3rd House.
Long voyages are to be judged in exactly similar manner from the 9th
House, the planets therein and their aspects.
The 4th House indicates the place of birth, and if this House hold a
benefic planet, or either the Sun or Moon, well aspected, then there is
fortune in the place of birth, and journeys should only be undertaken
when they are without doubt fortunate in their issues and admit of a
return to the native place. When, however, the 4th House is occupied
by evil planets or planets heavily afflicted, it will be advisable to
remove from the place of birth and seek fortune in more propitious
localities.
In this matter the choice is made by reference to that planet which
holds the greatest power for good in the horoscope of birth, and the
quarter of the Heavens which it occupies will indicate the direction, as
from the place of birth, to which the Subject should repair.
Thus, if between the East horizon and the meridian, South-east; between
the meridian and the West horizon, South-west; and so of the rest. The
points of the compass follow the cardinal points of the Heavens, the
Midheaven being South; the Nadir, North; the Ascendant, East; and the
Descendant, West. If a malefic planet is rising or setting at birth it
is advisable to fix the place of residence so much to the Eastward of
the birthplace as will suffice to bring the malefic planets out of the
angles of the horoscope. The same if malefic planets occupy the 10th
or 4th Houses. On the contrary, if benefic planets are in the 3rd and
9th Houses the Subject should move Westward so as to bring the benefic
influences into the 10th and 4th Houses.
When benefic planets or planets well aspected occupy the angles of the
figure at birth the Subject should not travel far, nor reside long away
from the place of birth.
Indications of many voyages are as follows: Many planets in watery
signs, Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, and also in the sign Virgo. When the
majority of the planets are in cardinal and flexed signs, Aries, Gemini,
Cancer, Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Pisces, there will
be many changes and journeys. Also if the Sun, Moon, Mars, and Mercury
are in either the 3rd, 9th, 12th, or 6th Houses, there will be many
journeys and long explorations in foreign countries.
When planets are afflicted in watery signs there will be danger in
voyages, and if the Moon or Sun be afflicted in Virgo there will be
submersion due to wreck.
Also, when there are planets, especially malefics, in Scorpio, Leo,
Taurus, and Aquarius, afflicted by the aspects of other planets, or
themselves afflicting the Sun or Moon, then there is danger of drowning.
When the signs of voyaging are propitious, and especially when the
indications in the 4th House are not so, then removal from the place of
birth to some other permanent centre of activity will be advisable. But
when good planets or planets well aspected are either rising or in the
4th House, the Subject should remain in his native place, and in the end
his patience will be justified.
CHAPTER XI
OF FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
The general harmony of the horoscope consists in the positions and
aspects of the planets and their relations with the luminaries. When
this is conspicuous there will be many friends and supporters, and the
associations of the Subject will be pleasant and profitable. But when
the horoscope is fraught with evil aspects and angular positions of the
malefics there will be much strife and many enmities.
In a particular sense the friends and associations of the Subject are to
be known from the 11th House and the planets therein. For if there be a
benefic planet in the 11th, especially if in good aspect to either of
the luminaries, there will be many friends and adherents.
Similarly, the enemies of the Subject are known from the 7th House, and
secret enemies from the 12th. Malefic planets therein, especially in
evil aspect to the Sun or Moon, shows many opponents.
Neptune in any malefic aspect to the Sun or Moon shows danger of
deceit and treachery being practised upon the Subject, and if violent
testimonies concur from the ill aspects of Mars or Uranus he will be
in danger of an ambush. Saturn in the 7th or 12th shows long feuds and
implacable enmities. Uranus therein shows litigation and heckling of
creditors. Mars therein is an index of violence and passionate hatred.
Mercury therein shows much scandal and many petty annoyances.
Now observe the places of the malefic planets and the Houses wherein
they are situated. Take the date when the Sun is in the same longitude
as any of these malefic planets, which will be the same in any year,
and this will be the birthday of persons who are to be avoided as
likely to bring mischief into the life. Supposing, for instance, that
Saturn is found at birth in the 10th House, in the 13th degree of the
sign Aquarius. Reference to the Ephemeris (Sect. II., chap. i.) will
show that the Sun is in Aquarius 13 on the 1st and 2nd February. Hence
it would be unfortunate for the Subject to serve any man who was born
between the 28th January and the 3rd February in any year. Also, if
Uranus were in Leo 23 in the 7th House he should not go into partnership
or marriage with anybody born on or near the 15th August in any year.
Take now the places of the benefic planets, and also the place of the
Moon, and find the corresponding Solar dates, for these will be the
birth dates of such persons as should be cultivated and drawn into close
association for mutual benefit.
Observe also the trines and sextiles of the benefic planets and of the
Moon, and the squares and oppositions of the malefics, for these will
operate in a minor degree in a similar manner as already indicated.
A comparison of the horoscopes of persons, whether kings or plebeians,
with those of others who have wrought great good or evil in their lives,
will immediately establish this observation. Indeed there is nothing
more dependable in the whole range of scientific observation than this
sympathy and antipathy of horoscopes and their corresponding results.
It is an argument for the claim of its advocates that Astrology should
be regarded in the light of a science, for if the planets act not at
all upon the dispositions and tendencies of men their squares and
oppositions in two separate horoscopes would have no signification. Let
those who are unhappily mated compare their horoscopes and they will
find the signs of discord to which reference has been made above. On
the other hand, let any man who has been lifted to wealth, fame, or
position by the patronage of another compare his horoscope with that of
his benefactor, and it will be found that the benefic planets in the
latter hold the places of the Sun, Moon, Midheaven, or Ascendant in his
own. This frequently accounts for the fact that men with comparatively
unfortunate horoscopes are sometimes found in positions of influence and
in the enjoyment of considerable fortune. The complex fabric of life has
its warp and woof wherein many coloured threads are woven together for
the completing of the grand design, and the great loom of life has its
wheels within wheels which only the Great Artificer can understand and
regulate. We here below, subjects all of interplanetary action, must
content ourselves with the design as revealed to us in the history of
mankind, or we must seek to understand the purpose of life, its motif,
the complex laws which operate to bring about the unfoldment of the
great plan, and thence to prognosticate that which hereafter shall be
revealed to the commonplace observer.
CHAPTER XII
THE END OF LIFE
The end of life is judged from the planets occupying the 8th and 4th
Houses, for the 8th denotes Death, and the 4th denotes the final
resting-place of man. When benefic planets, or the Luminaries well
aspected, occupy these Houses, you may judge that the end will be
peaceful, normal, and that death will take place in the midst of
congenial and even exceptionally agreeable surroundings.
When, however, the malefic planets hold these Houses, or afflict the
luminaries therein, you may judge greater stress and privation.
Uranus in the 8th House denotes a sudden death, and the same result is
observed when the Luminaries therein are afflicted by Uranus. Neptune
in the 8th denotes danger of trance, coma, and simulated death, and
when this position is observed it is necessary that all the signs of
mortification should be present before interment is effected. Saturn
produces death by privation and obstructions, by chills and colds. Mars
induces death by fevers and inflammatory action, and frequently by
hæmorrhage.
Planets in Fixed signs in the 8th House show death from heart or throat
affections, affections of the excretory system and the blood. In
Cardinal signs, the head, stomach, kidneys, or skin are the seats of the
fatal disease. In Flexed signs, the lungs, bowels, and nervous system
become fatally affected.
Violent or unnatural deaths are shown when either of the luminaries is
simultaneously afflicted by the evil aspects of more than one of the
malefic planets, or when both luminaries are separately afflicted by the
malefic aspects of malefic planets, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, or Mars.
When these testimonies occur, it will be found that Neptune produces
death by assassination, Uranus by sudden catastrophes, explosions,
hurts by electricity and machinery, Saturn by blows and falls, and Mars
by cuts, burns, scalds, and effusion of blood. Particular judgment is
drawn from the nature of the signs in which the significant planets are
placed. Thus Saturn in Watery signs would produce drowning; in Taurus,
strangling or decapitation; in Aries by the blow of a truncheon, &c.
Similarly, Uranus in Gemini would produce accidents on short journeys,
railway collisions, bicycle or motor accidents, and the like effects.
It is impossible to cite all the effects due to the several planets in
the different signs, but if the simple natures of the planets, signs and
Houses are thoroughly understood, a combination of their significations
will readily lead to an appreciation of exact effects. If I say that a
certain fluid is H₂SO₄, any one having a knowledge of elementary
chemistry will know that it is sulphuric acid, and similarly, if I say
that a certain horoscope contains Saturn in Cancer in the 3rd, which is
astrologically expressed ♄ ♋ 3, any one
who has read the first pages of this book with attention will be able
to say: Let the Subject beware of short journeys by water! It is all
chemistry of a kind.
When the 4th House contains benefic planets, or planets that throw good
aspects to the luminaries, there will be peace and comfort in old age,
or in the end of life whensoever it may be determined. Neptune therein
shows retirement and sequestration, and when afflicting the luminaries
or itself afflicted, it denotes death in an asylum, hospital, or other
place of detention. Uranus in the 4th, in similar conditions, denotes
a sudden and remarkable death. Saturn similarly placed and aspected
shows death in exile, privation or great trouble. Mars in the 4th House
afflicting the luminaries or itself afflicted by other adverse planets,
denotes a violent death by gunshot or wound and in the midst of strife,
or on the field of battle.
Before any catastrophic death be predicted, it should be carefully
decided whether or not the death is compassed with uncommon and violent
indications, not that one need have fear of the mere going out or coming
into the world, but there is some choice of gates, and rather than
affright the weak-minded with a sinister judgment, it is better to leave
them to find their own way.
SECTION IV
THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES
CHAPTER I
THE TIME-MEASURE
The planets, in their motions after birth, come into certain relations
with the planets in the horoscope of birth, and also form aspects among
themselves owing to the diversities of their motions in the Zodiac.
In Astrological science there are two separate means of calculating
the time of events, but both methods consist of bringing the body of
one planet to the body or aspect of another, which process is called
“Directing,” and the arc described by the moving body is called an “Arc
of Direction.”
The first of these methods is the discovery of Claudius Ptolemy, the
famous mathematician and geographer, the author of the Syntaxis, as set
forth in his work the Tetrabiblos, or Four Books on the influence of the
Stars. This method had the support and confirmation of the great Kepler.
It has respect to the rising, setting, and meridian passage of the
planets after birth, whereby they are brought to the places or aspects
of the planets in the Radix (the Root), which is the horoscope of birth.
The limits and nature of this work do not permit of a thorough
exposition of this method, which entails some little knowledge of
spherical trigonometry, but the reader who desires to perfect himself
therein is referred to the author’s work, entitled “Prognostic
Astronomy.” A facile application of the method is here given, by which
any one may, by the aid of the Tables of Houses, make certain of the
more important calculations by rule of thumb, and predict thence the
times of remarkable events.
The principle involved is this: The number of degrees which pass over
the meridian between the moment of birth and the rising or culminating
of a planet, will equal the number of years which must elapse from birth
until the influence of that planet becomes dominant.
Thus, if Jupiter at birth is coming to the meridian, that is to say,
if it be in the 10th, 11th, or 12th House, count the number of degrees
between the meridian and Jupiter, and in so many years from the time
of birth there will be an access of good fortune. Similarly, if Saturn
or other of the malefic planets be coming to the meridian, the number
of degrees between it and the Midheaven will indicate the age at which
troubles will abound.
Also, when the planets have passed the meridian, the measure is made
in the same way, by bringing the Midheaven to the place of the planet,
counting the degrees between the planet and Midheaven for the number of
years at which it will operate.
But the same and other planets may be directed to the horizon, by taking
the Table of Houses for the latitude of the birthplace (Sect. I., chap.
iii.) and finding therein under the column marked “Ascen.” (Ascendant)
the longitude held by any of the planets. Observe then what degree is
on the Midheaven in the column marked 10 (10th House), and count the
number of degrees between this Midheaven and the Midheaven at birth. The
result will give the age at which the effects of such planets will be
experienced.
Thus, for a person born in or near Liverpool or in the same latitude,
suppose the Midheaven at birth to be in Scorpio 0, and Saturn to be
in the 2nd House in Aquarius 8 degrees. I wish to bring Saturn to
the horizon. In the Table of Houses I find that Aquarius 8 is on the
Ascendant when Sagittarius 9 is on the Midheaven, and I therefore count
from Scorpio 0 to Sagittarius 9. This gives the age of 39 years, and as
Saturn is in the 2nd House at birth, I say that at 39 years of age the
Subject would experience financial disaster, and because Saturn comes
then to the Ascendant, I also say there would be serious illness and
depression of spirits.
When planets are setting at birth they are brought to the opposition
of the Ascendant in a similar manner, only the opposite point of the
zodiac must be found in the Tables under the Ascendant. Thus, if Mars
were in the 7th House at birth in the 11th degree of Cancer, I find the
opposite point (Capricornus 11) under the column of the Ascendant, and
I note that Scorpio 19 is then on the Midheaven, so that from Scorpio
0 to Scorpio 19 gives 19 years, at which age the Subject would have a
serious illness due to inflammatory action in the stomach and probably
produced by overwork and worry, as indicated by the sign Cancer and the
planet Mars, or if there be indications of an accident, then an accident
by scalding with hot water or acids would be predicted.
Planets are brought to the opposition of the Midheaven by counting the
degrees which intervene between the longitude on the lower meridian at
birth and that held by the planet.
In all such directions the conjunctions of benefic planets are
advantageous when directed to the Midheaven or Ascendant, and the
conjunctions of the malefics are indicated of periods of bad fortune.
The oppositions are uniformly evil, whether the planet involved in the
direction be a benefic or malefic. (Sect. I., chap. iv.)
These are the directions of the planets to the two Significators, the
Midheaven and Ascendant. The Midheaven appertains to honours and credit,
while the Ascendant has relation to the personal and bodily welfare and
the general fortunes.
To direct the Midheaven or Ascendant to the other aspects of the
planets, such as the sextile, trine, semisquare or square, it is only
necessary to note the degrees in which these aspects fall and bring them
to the Midheaven or Ascendant as if the body of the planet were itself
there, and in the manner already indicated.
The Sun is directed after birth by its motion in the zodiac, which can
be found in the Ephemeris for the year of birth, and the aspects it
forms to the planets in the horoscope and in the daily progress should
be tabulated. In most Ephemerides they are already calculated, so
that the labour is considerably lightened. Each day after birth will
represent one year of life, the mean motion of the Sun being about 1
degree per day. All that is necessary, therefore, is to count the number
of days from birth to the date when the Sun forms an aspect, and that
will give the age at which the planet aspected will produce its effects.
As the Sun goes through the zodiac the other bodies make progress along
with it, in which course they form aspects to the Midheaven, Ascendant,
the Sun and Moon in the horoscope of birth. These are called “Secondary”
directions, and in connection with the Sun’s aspects after birth,
constituted the system in use among the Arabian astrologers.
Minor periods of good and bad fortune, subsidiary to the above
periodic influences, are taken from the Moon’s progress after birth,
in which one day equals one year of life, and two hours equal one
month. These directions of the Moon afford a monthly prognosis of the
course of events, and are useful in the conduct of minor affairs in
life. When they are contrary to the general trend and import of the
periodic directions made to the Midheaven, Ascendant and Sun, they
act indifferently, and frequently produce only passing benefits or
annoyances; but when they are in agreement with the Primary Directions
cited above, then they accentuate and define the nature and time of
events. As if the Primaries be good and the Lunar directions evil,
then there will be a predominance of good fortune with some current
disturbances; but both being good there will be abundant success and
satisfaction; while if the Primaries be evil and the Lunar directions
good, the latter will serve only to moderate the effects for the time
being of the Primary evil indications.
An intelligent apercu of the principles of directing will greatly
enhance the value of any prognostications made from the horoscope of
birth, as it will enable the student to select those periods in the life
when the effects due to any planet are most likely to eventuate. Thus,
if Saturn be in the 2nd House at birth, it may be said that there would
follow some periods of great financial stress, and the rising of Saturn
by direction after birth would show the time when one, at all events, of
such periods would be experienced.
And here is the great fact upon which astrologers the world over are
prepared to stand or fall. If the planets have no effect in the lives of
men, their directions to the angles of the horoscope can have no effect;
but never was it found that a man had evil fortunes at the period when
the planet Jupiter was directed to the Midheaven or Ascendant, or
anything but bad fortune when Saturn was similarly directed. The fact is
there, and we cannot get away from it. The only question is as to how
far we can intelligently carry our investigations beyond that point, and
intelligibly convey our discoveries to the world by their application
to the affairs of daily life. The reader may judge for himself from a
perusal of these pages.
The directions being calculated and tabulated in order of their
occurrence, the time and general nature of the influences operating
in successive periods of the life will stand revealed. The particular
nature of the events indicated by the several directions may be known
from (_a_) the House in which the directed planet is situated; (_b_)
the Sign it occupies; and (_c_) the aspect it forms, considered in
relation to the nature of the planet. For example: If Uranus at birth
were in the 9th House and the sign Gemini, its direction to the
Midheaven would be the index of litigation in connection with writings,
publications, or means of transit; because the 9th House, among other
things, has relation to litigation and legal affairs, and Gemini (the
3rd House sign) to communications, writings, &c., while Uranus denotes
sudden and unexpected events, ruptures, alienations, and complexities.
So if Saturn were in the 6th House in the sign Aquarius, its direction
to the opposition of the Ascendant would indicate chills to the blood,
anemia, &c., constituting a serious illness with probability of low
fever; because the 6th House rules sickness, and Aquarius rules the
blood, while Saturn is the cause of chills, paucity, and impediments.
Thus the time and nature of events may be known with great certainty.
CHAPTER II
THE EFFECTS OF TRANSITS
Among the number of important indicators to which Astrologers refer in
making a forecast of concurrent events, there are the transits of the
planets over the places of the Significators at birth, the positions of
Eclipses, and those of the lunations.
The first of these chronocrators depends upon the revolutions of the
planets in their orbits. Each planet has a period in which it completes
its revolution in the heavens, in the course of which it passes the
places of the Sun, Moon, Midheaven, and Ascendant of the horoscope.
This passage over the radical Significators is technically termed its
“transit,” and it will be found that such transits afford a very precise
and reliable source of prognostication, for the time of a planet’s
transit is known in advance of its occurrence (see Sect. II., chap.
iv.), and the effects of such transit are in exact terms of the nature
of the planet concerned. It is only necessary to add that the Midheaven
and the Sun have relation to the position and honour of the Subject,
while the Moon and Ascendant have relation to the personal health and
general fortunes. The Sun and Midheaven also signify the father, and
the Moon has general signification of the mother. Venus signifies
domestic and love affairs, the affections and sentiments; while Mercury
signifies the mental disposition. So Uranus in transit over the place
of Venus will give a love affair, a romantic attachment. Mars over the
place of Venus will engender passionate love. Saturn over Venus will
give disappointment or bereavement; and Neptune thereover will bring
entanglements and complications, with danger of being led astray. Saturn
over Mercury will produce melancholy and many errors of judgment. Mars
over the same planet will excite the mind and dispose to impulse and
unreasoning anger, quarrels and disputation. Uranus over Mercury will
render the mind wayward and headstrong, disposed to erratic courses
and egotistic methods. Neptune passing the place of Mercury produces
deceits, treacheries, and apprehension of impending evil, a sense of
espionage and ambush. It involves the mind in tortuous and complicated
schemes, and disposes to secrecy and wariness.
The transits of the major planets are of chief significance, and
their effects are rendered more weighty and lasting when at the time
of transit they are retrograde in the zodiac; while their stationary
positions on the places of the Significators have almost the same power
as Primary Directions.
Of Eclipses.
An Eclipse of the Sun or Moon falling on the place of any Significator
in the horoscope of birth is of a sinister import, and cannot be too
seriously considered. Falling on the Ascendant or the Moon they affect
the health and general fortunes very seriously, and only a series of
subsequent good directions can avail to restore the Subject to his
normal condition. On the Midheaven or the Sun, the honour and fortunes
may both be affected, and in the same serious degree. The Eclipses
falling on the places of the other planets will produce effects in
accord with the nature of those planets and the Houses they occupy. To
have any appreciable effect, the Eclipses must be within two degrees of
any of the radical positions, or of their opposition aspects.
Of Lunations.
The Lunations recur in the same part of the Ecliptic every nineteen
years. Considered in relation to the current indications they afford the
means of a monthly forecast of events. Thus, if the lunation for the
month falls on the place of Jupiter in the horoscope of birth, it will
produce good effects in that department of life which is governed by the
House in which Jupiter is situated; as if in the 11th, through friends;
in the 4th, through property or rental; in the 6th, through servants and
health; in the 8th, through a financial colleague, &c.
The effects of Lunations are subsidiary to the current Lunar directions,
and these in turn are subsidiary to the transits, and the transits
to the Primary Directions. By this it is not meant that they are
inoperative, nor that they fail to indicate the events of the month, but
their power and degree of influence is subject to the greater influence
of superior causes. And as a general observation it may be affirmed that
the less frequently any celestial position occurs in a horoscope, the
greater is its influence. This fact gives to primary directions their
great influence in the life, for they can only occur once in a lifetime;
and for the same reason Eclipses have a major significance, for the same
Eclipse only recurs after an interval of 649 years. The transits of
Neptune, of Uranus, of Saturn and Jupiter and Mars follow in their order
of frequency. Neptune has a revolution of about 165 years, Uranus 84
years, Saturn 30 years, Jupiter 12 years, and Mars 1-1/4 years.
Major effects must not therefore be referred to inferior causes, and
minor effects must not be referred to superior causes. In universal or
even national cataclysms, individual fortunes are submerged.
CHAPTER III
HOW TO SUMMARISE A HOROSCOPE
Before leaving the exposition of this subject, it may be of advantage
to the reader if I give some idea of the method to be pursued in the
complete handling of a horoscope.
First, then, erect the figure of birth, taking care to use the Ephemeris
of the year of birth, and also the correct Table of Houses for the
latitude of the place of birth.
Next proceed to attempt a description of the chief personal traits of
the Subject, following in succession with a well-considered judgment on
the constitution, hereditary tendencies, the health and pathological
predispositions, the mental traits and disposition, considering these
latter in relation to the state of health indicated. Then pass to a
consideration of the environing conditions of life; the financial
condition and outlook; the position in life; the occupation; prospects
and conditions of marriage; of progeny. Judge next concerning voyages
and journeys. Finish with a statement regarding the predominance of
friends or enemies, and select dates by Solar positions, as already
instructed. In cases where it is not objected to, an approximation may
be made to the time and nature of death.
Throughout the whole of this judgment, the periods when these predicted
effects will come into force should be made by reference to the rising,
setting, and meridian passage of the planets, the solar aspects, and
transits.
Care should be taken to weigh justly and impartially the evidence set
before you in the figure of the heavens for birth. Major importance
should be given to those planets which are in angles, and those which
are in elevation, for the nearer a planet may be to the Midheaven, the
greater is its influence for good or ill, according to its nature and
aspect.
Read what you see, not what you imagine should be the destiny of an
individual. If you are in complete ignorance of his person, position,
and environment, so much the better. If you follow carefully the various
rules which are contained in this book, you may at first make some
errors of judgment, but as you become familiar with the task, even these
errors will become few and far between, and in the end the language
of the horoscope will become so intelligible and clear that it will
interpret itself, and the whole trend and potentiality for good or ill
of any birth-figure will force itself upon you in just the same way as
when a man walks into your presence with his character clearly stamped
upon his face, so that you have only to look and know.
Having become proficient in the judgment of birth-figures, you will
do well to proceed to a closer study of the mathematics of astrology,
making yourself proficient in the various methods of directing, so that
you may at any time refine upon your general prognostics, and make
predictions which are clear, sharp, and to the point.
Undoubtedly there is a modicum of intuitive perception at work in
the judgment of any horoscope, which will enable you to seize upon
the small details and exact pointing of any matter, and this perhaps
constitutes the whole difference between the rule of thumb worker and
the inspirational reasoning of the intuitive worker. The one exhausts
the books and the other embellishes them. It is so with science in
every department. The books will take you up to a certain point of
proficiency, and a strict regard for the formulæ will keep you within
the bounds of safety. But if you are ever to make a discovery or become
a recognised exponent of any science, you must be naturally gifted
with what is called the “scientific imagination,” another name for
intuition. But at no point does true intuition part company with exact
reasoning. There is no lesion. The one is an extension of the other. It
is the higher reason, which argues from the known to the unknown. And
the Astrologer is in this respect as the poet, “born, not made.” But a
moment’s reflection will suffice to convince you that the more facile
you may become with the book-learning and technique of Astrology, the
more you will leave the intuition free to act. When a lad is struggling
with his multiplication tables, his appreciation of the binomial theorem
or the differential calculus cannot be said to amount to much. And, in
the same way, a person who is stuffing down the Alphabet of Astrology
cannot be expected to intuit anything concerning the potential of the
Sun’s direction to the quadrature of Saturn.
CHAPTER IV
HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL ASTROLOGER
I take it that nobody nowadays can afford to fritter away time in the
study of subjects which are not likely to become a source of benefit
to himself and others. If there be such people among my readers, which
I consider unlikely, I may dismiss them offhand with the remark that
they will never become successful astrologers, for the first word of
practical astrology is Utility. If the science had not its practical
application to the affairs of everyday life, if its principles contained
no word of assurance and hope for the myriad toilers of this world, no
word of admonition for the self-indulgent parasites of modern social
life, if, in short, it did not make for the betterment of human life
and thought, it would never have attracted the attention of Aristotle,
Cicero, Galen, Claudius Ptolemy, Thales, and others of the old world,
and such men as Bacon, Cardan, Archbishop Usher, Naibod, Mercator,
Ashmole, Kenelm Digby, Sir Christopher Heydon, Dryden, Dr. John Butler,
Sir George Wharton, Vincent Wing, George Witchel, Tycho Brahe, Kepler,
and Flamstead of more recent biography. Indeed, in whatever age or
country we may elect to make our inquiries concerning Astrology, there
are to be found a host of intelligent and even illustrious advocates in
every department of life and learning. Suffice it to say that the modern
student of this most ancient of all sciences is at all times in very
good company.
Let it first be understood that there is an object to be attained in the
study of Astrology, and that the pursuit of it in the gratification of
an idle curiosity alone will inevitably entail the waste of time which
invariably attaches to idleness of all descriptions, and we may then
profitably consider whether or not the subject is worth the labour which
it will demand from the man who has something to do in the world and
little enough time in which to do it. These are stressful times, and we
have to be economical in our efforts. We have strength enough to carry
us through, but neither strength enough to thresh the wind nor time
enough to fish in puddles.
What, then, does Astrology offer to the patient worker, the man who
would become a successful Astrologer?
First and foremost it will enable him to gain an insight into individual
motive and character which no other science can possibly afford. It will
enable him to know himself, his own strength and weakness, and so fit
him to deal harmoniously and justly with others. It will enhance his
opportunities to the extent that he is able to foresee and make use of
all benefic influences operating through his own environment. It will
give him timely warning of his approach to the quicksands and pitfalls
which occur in his passage through life. He will discern his special
physical weaknesses, and the times of his predisposition to sickness,
the nature thereof, and the precautions which are necessary. He will
know whom to cultivate and whom to avoid, and in selecting a partner in
business or a wife for his home, he will be guided by a foreknowledge of
evils to be avoided and of good things to be gained. He will choose his
path in life with the confidence that it is for him the line of least
resistance and therefore that of greatest progress. He will not become
obsessed by ambitions beyond his power to achieve. He will learn the
power of adaptation to environment, and thereby effect his work in the
world with the least possible friction and waste of force. He will know
when to make provision against sickness, accident, and death. He will
not invest capital where interest is not to be gained. He will see the
end from the beginning. It may not make him a brilliant success in the
world, but it will assuredly save him from being a failure. He will find
causes for inexplicable things, and his mind will rest content in the
knowledge hat while he is working out the highest potentialities of his
own horoscope, the major problems and intricacies of life are not of his
making or needful of his solving. And finally, when his time comes to
“shuffle off this mortal coil,” he will be prepared, and will know that
it is the will of Heaven, expressed and determined from the moment of
his birth. Rightly employed, Astrology cannot fail to improve the man
who makes of it a serious study, fitting him to be of greater use to
others and of higher service to the race at large.
But to become a successful Astrologer he must study patiently for
several years, testing each statement that is made in the books by
reference to his own and several other horoscopes. He must be able
to erect a figure of the Heavens with mathematical accuracy for any
given time and place, work out directions by the use of the sphere or
trigonometrical tables, and have a competent knowledge of the motions
and periods of the various planetary bodies. When thus satisfied in his
own mind that Astrology is a dependable science, and that he is capable
of demonstrating it under test conditions, he must be generous in the
use of it. Here and there he will find one who is opposed to the belief
that the stars have any influence in human affairs. Let him not waste
logic with such a man, but go straight to the task of convincing him by
an appeal to facts.
For preference, select a period when the directional influences are such
as seem likely to hit the sceptic with considerable force, define the
event, make a careful calculation of the time of its fulfilment, and
put them on paper, which, being yet unread by the man of Common-sense,
should be placed under cover, sealed, and endorsed to be opened only
after a certain date.
Now a man who has been hammered rather severely and in quite an
unexpected manner, is usually open to conviction of truth when he
finds that the nature and date of his disaster have been accurately
foretold. Being a man of “common-sense” and not of intuition, he will
probably think that the Astrologer might even have saved him from
the consequences of his own lack of foresight. So indeed might the
Astrologer have done had he taken the management of affairs from the
beginning; but to step in half-way to arrest causes which are already in
operation and charged with inevitable effects, is requiring too much of
any man short of a Prime Minister!
There are certain things which even the most astute deductive reasoner
cannot foresee, and these are the points that should be utilised by the
Astrologer who seeks to convince others of the truth of his science. A
man cannot reason from his doorstep to a street accident. If he could
he would avoid it. All men are not subject to accidents, however.
But almost all are subject to bereavements, losses, sicknesses, and
changes of fortune. Those are the points which the Astrologer intent
on proselytising, usually makes use of. But events need not be in
futurity to carry conviction. If it can be shown that by mathematical
calculations the events of the past can be recited with precision
and exactness, it is evident to the meanest intellect that nothing
hinders from an extension of such calculations into the future. And
once convinced of the reliability of such claims to foreknowledge, the
practical man of the world is not slow to avail himself of its uses.
But Astrology is not exhausted in the study of individual horoscopes,
for there are other departments of this extensive science. The influence
of the planets upon the weather, as embodied in Astro-meteorology; the
rise and fall of Empires, political changes, the outbreak of wars,
of revolutions, of epidemics, as defined by State Astrology so much
in repute among the Oriental rulers; the occurrence of tidal waves,
earthquakes, and other seismic phenomena, all form a part of the
complete equipment of the practical Astrologer.
It would be superfluous to recite here the numerous and strikingly
accurate forecasts which have been made by modern exponents of the
science, but it is only right to say that they reflect considerable
credit upon their authors, for the above-mentioned departments of
astrological learning are by no means in the same efficient state as
Genethliacal Astrology, to an outline of which this work is devoted.
Anciently it was otherwise, and even in the East at this day they hold
some secrets of traditional knowledge, concerning which they are unduly
mysterious and of which we have only the evidence afforded by more exact
prediction upon certain points.
Prejudice and Ignorance are the twin giants which bar the path of the
world’s progress to-day, even as they have ever done. Step by step they
have been beaten back, baffled by the light of Reason, harassed by the
arrows of Truth. The world is redeeming its ancient heritage. All that
is now required to establish the paramount truth of Astrology as a
science is an impartial and thorough investigation, preferably at the
hands of scientific men, of its methods and principles. Not that the
truth is to be ratified at the hands of modern scientists, seeing that
their own teaching constitutes a mere shifting orthodoxy, liable at
any moment to undergo a fundamental change in theory by the discovery
of a single new fact--but that to such men rightly belongs the duty
of disproving the claims of Astrology to be considered as a science,
for it is a fact to be regretted that certain members of their body
have written against the subject in a spirit of prejudice and without
adducing any data in support of their contention, which ill becomes any
man of scientific pretensions and is above all things detrimental to the
cause of Truth.
CHAPTER V
A POPULAR ILLUSTRATION
In order to summarise and illustrate the principles which have been
enunciated in the course of this work, I shall avail myself of the
horoscope of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who was born on the 8th of July,
1836, at Highbury, the time of birth being stated to have been at about
2.30 in the morning. Calculations have since enabled us to fix the exact
time of birth as at 2 h. 36 m. a.m. I subjoin the horoscopical figure
for that time, the calculation of which is as follows:--
H. M. S.
Midheaven in R.A. at Noon 7th July, 1836 7 1 58
Add time elapsed since 14 36 0
Equation for 14h. 33m. at 10 secs. 2 25
---------
Midheaven in Right Ascension at Birth 21 40 23
=========
The Constitution.
Born under the sign Gemini, with Mercury rising in the sign Cancer, the
Sun near the conjunction with Jupiter and in close sextile to the Moon,
there is little doubt that the late Colonial Secretary is by nature
gifted with an excellent constitution. The sextile of the luminaries is
a powerful co-ordinator, and whenever sickness supervenes there will be
a speedy recovery. The semisquare aspect of Mars, while disposing to
gouty affections of the hands and feet, will contribute vital energy
and power to throw off diseases, while at the same time predisposing to
accidents and wounds to the right shoulder or clavicle.
[Illustration]
The rising sign gives nervous energy and enormous capacity for work,
which is due to high nervous tension supported by a sound vitality. The
only hereditary predisposition is that indicated by Mars, which induces
to fevers, and gouty affections due to acidity.
The Health.
The Moon is strong in the sign Taurus, but not particularly well placed
in the 12th House. It has, moreover, the square aspects of Neptune and
Venus from fixed signs. These indications point to functional disorders
of the heart, throat and excretory system. On the other hand, there are
the good aspects of the Sun, Jupiter and Uranus to counteract these
adverse tendencies, and it is certain that strong recuperative powers
together with a normally good co-ordination of functions would induce a
speedy recovery from any illness to which he may be liable. Considerable
immunity from sickness of all sorts may therefore be predicated.
Character and Disposition.
The majority of the planets being in Cardinal signs, with three
planets (including the Moon) in Fixed signs, indicates a character
that is energetic, ambitious, active, sharp, ingenious, lively, and
persevering; capable of cutting out a line in life for himself and
making headway against obstacles; disposed to ride roughshod over
the weaknesses and prejudices of those who oppose him; gifted with a
pioneer spirit, incisive manner, and disposed at times to effect his
ends regardless of the feelings and opinions of others. At the same
time there is sufficient patience, method, caution, and watchfulness
to make this extreme definition of purpose very effective. Laborious,
firm (at times obstinate), systematic, and self-reliant, he is capable
of waiting for opportunities. But finally he carries his purpose with a
_tour de force_.
That which he lacks is adaptability, suavity, and ability to enter into
the feelings of others. He is too ambitious to be self-centred, but yet
too intent to be sympathetic.
The rising of Mercury in trine aspect to Saturn and Uranus gives
considerable mental capacity, a wide grasp of facts, a well-informed,
apt and business-like mind; some originality, constructiveness, and
power of marshalling facts and figures; patience, caution, and secrecy.
There is not much imagination, and the sympathies are not wide. His
methods and actions are governed by literal fact and mathematical
certainty. He is an omnivorous devourer of the accessible. He takes the
small fish by the handful and makes a meal of them; but he leaves the
ponderous whales for those of greater imagination and more leisurely
habit.
The quadrature of Mars to Uranus will induce momentary outbursts
of temper and some irritability of nature, but the character I am
delineating is not such as can easily be played upon, for it is
remarkably lacking in emotional susceptibility. Nevertheless, the
inspirational faculty is by no means absent, and the presence of
Neptune in the 9th House in trine to the rising Mercury, is an index of
considerable inventive genius, extreme range of mental perception, and
telescopic discernment of future events. Venus in the 3rd House shows
some artistic tastes and fancies, considerable appreciation of art and
culture, a fondness for flowers, bright lights, &c. But dominant above
all are the two angular influences of Uranus and Mercury, which render
the mind mathematical and precise, commercial, apt, business-like,
energetic, and eminently magnetic.
Finance.
The position of the Sun in conjunction with Jupiter in the sign Cancer,
in sextile to the Moon, is the index of a high fortune and means
exceeding a competence. It is here worthy of note that Cancer, which in
this horoscope holds the Sun, Jupiter, and Mercury, is the ruling sign
of South Africa, with which Colony Mr. Chamberlain’s fortunes have been
for a long time so intimately associated. It is also worthy of note that
both Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato were born on the same day of the
year, the 5th of July, with the Sun in the 14th degree of Cancer. In
the former case the Sun was conjoined with Moon and Venus, in sextile
to Uranus and trine to Neptune, while in the latter case the Sun was in
trine to Jupiter. In regard to Mr. Chamberlain’s horoscope, it will be
observed that Jupiter, which holds such effective power for increase in
the 2nd House, is also the ruler of the 7th, and it is to be remembered
that all partnerships, commercial or social, which he has contracted
have so far proved highly satisfactory from a merely monetary point of
view. Further, the Moon is affected with the good aspect of the Sun in
the 2nd House, which is a further indication that on a purely financial
basis Mr. Chamberlain is a man worth going into partnership with.
Position.
All the planets except Neptune and Saturn are rising, and this at once
indicates a man ambitious of independence and honours, one who is
confessedly a candidate for responsibility.
Uranus in the Midheaven and close to the meridian indicates that
association with civic and governmental bodies in which Mr. Chamberlain
has rendered himself so conspicuous a figure, and whereas the trine
aspect of Mercury in the Ascendant to Uranus in the Midheaven and
the sextile of the Moon to Uranus also are sure indications of a
wide popularity, the square aspect of Mars to Uranus from the 12th
House, will not fail to engender many veiled enmities, machinations,
and inimical plots, which have for their object the overthrow of Mr.
Chamberlain’s prestige, and which, failing, will find expression in
vituperative abuse and bitter animosity. But those who understand the
virtue of the orientality of planets in a horoscope will retain their
confidence in Mr. Chamberlain’s ability to hold his own against all
opponents.
It will be observed that the direction of the Ascendant to the place
of Uranus in the horoscope coincides with the age of Mr. Chamberlain
at the outbreak of hostilities in South Africa, while the direction
of Midheaven opposition Saturn coincides with the progress of the Boer
War. Did space permit it would be possible to adduce a long list of
directional arcs coinciding with the time and nature of all the more
important epochs in Mr. Chamberlain’s career. The student is invited to
make some test of this matter by the aid of the rules already given in
these pages.
Marriage.
Mr. Chamberlain has been thrice married. It will be observed that not
only is there a double-bodied sign on the cusp of the 7th House, but
the Moon also applies to both the Sun and Jupiter in the sign Cancer.
(See Sect. III., chap. 8.) The aspect of the Moon being benefic to
both the Sun and Jupiter, the marital state would be both harmonious
and fortunate. It is, of course, well known that Mr. Chamberlain has,
from a merely worldly point of view, married most advantageously. This
observation may be called “wise after the event,” but I would observe
that this geniture preceded my judgment of it, and the rules from which
I judge are to be found in the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy, written in the
second century, and since tested and found reliable by successive
astrologers during some seventeen centuries. Saturn’s aspect to Jupiter,
the ruler of the 7th House, and the Moon’s quadrature to Venus must be
held accountable for the successive bereavements which have disturbed
the conjugal life in this case.
Progeny.
The position of Saturn in the 5th House, and the affliction of Venus
by Neptune and the Moon, will serve to account, in connection with the
marriage conditions, for the small family which has been born to Mr.
Chamberlain, for observe that Venus is the ruler, jointly with Mercury,
of the 5th House, while Saturn is in the 5th and ruler of the 8th House.
The same positions and aspects threaten to curtail the succession.
The position of Mercury, joint ruler of the 5th, in the sign Cancer, and
just about to rise in the horoscope, promises honours and distinctions
to the first-born.
Travelling.
The Moon and Mars are cadent in the Horoscope, and Mercury, the
“winged messenger” (symbol of the trading-ship), is rising. These are
indications of many journeys and changes and constant unrest. But fixed
signs being on the cusps of the 3rd and 9th Houses, and the Moon also in
a fixed sign, will suffice to account for the fact that Mr. Chamberlain
is not a great long-distance traveller. Cancer and Leo holding the
benefics and the Sun also well aspected in Cancer, the Moon being in
Taurus, shows at once that France, South Africa, Holland, Scotland,
and Ireland are parts of the world in which the operations of Mr.
Chamberlain would meet with success, if it be not superfluous to detail
specific territories in face of the abundant evidence of general success
which this horoscope affords.
Friends and Enemies.
It was the boast of Bismarck that he was the “best-hated man in Europe,”
and it would be strange indeed if Mr. Chamberlain had passed through
life and attained so prominent a position without incurring the enmity,
or arousing the envy and malice of a considerable number of individuals.
Nevertheless, there are only two aspects in this horoscope which seem
to point to any sort of trouble from such causes. The points are those
of Neptune, which afflicts both the Moon and Venus, and of Mars which
afflicts Uranus in the Midheaven and the Sun in the 2nd House.
By referring these two points to the Ecliptic we find they correspond
to the Sun’s position on or about the 24th of May, and the 26th of
January, and I shall leave the reader to look up his Almanac and find
the individuals (illustrious they must needs be to find chronicle in
Whittaker) who were capable of filling the requirements of the case.
As to friends, Mr. Chamberlain should lack nothing. With the Moon in
sextile to the Sun and Jupiter, the ruler of the 11th House, in the same
benefic relations with the Moon, he would always be able to count upon
a strong adherence, and the only adverse indication in this matter is
that Mars, part ruler of the 11th House, holds the 12th House in square
aspect to Uranus in the Midheaven. This would be interpreted to mean
that some of his friends will be disposed to become his enemies, and to
militate, although ineffectually, against his credit and position. Why
ineffectually? Because Mercury, the ruler of the Ascendant and prime
significator of Mr. Chamberlain, is angular and well aspected, while
Mars is weak and afflicted by Uranus which is in elevation above it.
Conclusion.
Let it not be thought that the fame and position which Mr. Chamberlain
has attained in the political world is due entirely to the benefic
position of the principal planets in his horoscope of birth. Opportunity
is not everything. The ability to use it counts for much, and only a
man of exceptional industry, firmness, and decision, could have won for
himself such peculiar distinction; and only a man of singular faculty
could have sustained his position in the face of so much determined
opposition. It will doubtless be a matter of extreme interest to the
student of this horoscope, as to every one interested in the political
situation of to-day, to observe the concurrent influences at work in
the year 1904-5. Mr. Chamberlain attained his sixty-eighth birthday
anniversary on the 8th of July, 1904, and by adding that number of
degrees to the 22nd degree of Aquarius we obtain Taurus 0 as the
point which has attained the meridian by “direction.” This is called
the Progressed Midheaven. Referring this point of the Zodiac to the
places of the planets at birth, it is observed that the Midheaven is
approaching the sextile aspect of Mercury, having recently passed the
opposition of Saturn, and having attained that aspect in 1905, it passes
in 1908 to the sextile of Uranus, the planet which holds the greatest
elevation in the horoscope of birth. The Ascendant under the Midheaven
of Taurus 0 is Leo 16° 28′, which is the Progressed Ascendant for the
year 1904. It is in semisquare aspect to Mercury, and is the occasion of
many anxieties, worries, and annoyances, and some journeys by water.
It also indicates some derangement of the health due to nervous strain,
and affecting the stomach (ruled by Cancer). The Sun is directed in
similar manner to the 24th degree of the sign Virgo, where it meets
the sextile aspect of Jupiter in the 2nd House, in the sign of its
exaltation, Cancer. This gives access of good fortune, increase of honor
and prestige, and as Jupiter rules the 11th House, many adherents and
supporters. But being also in semisquare to Venus, Mr. Chamberlain is in
danger of losing a brother or other near male relative. The Moon by the
same measure is within 4 degrees of the place of Jupiter, again marking
the year 1908 as one of exceptional advantage, and in July of that year
Jupiter passes over the Progressed Ascendant.
* * * * *
During the year 1904 Saturn has been close to the Midheaven of the
radical horoscope, being in Aquarius 21, and stationary therein,
during the month of June. In March, and again in October, it transits
the opposition of the Progressed Ascendant in Aquarius 16, while in
February, June, and December Uranus is in transit over the opposition of
the radical Ascendant in Sagittarius 28° 16′.
* * * * *
In 1905, Saturn will transit the Midheaven in the horoscope of
birth, and in the summer of the same year Mars will be Stationary in
opposition to the place of the Moon at birth. Both these periods will
be fraught with cares and anxieties, and the latter influence will
act detrimentally on the health, disposing to attacks of gout and
inflammatory action in the system.
* * * * *
But while the approaching and concurrent Primary directions are of a
highly benefic nature, there will be no hint of a breakdown either in
health or reputation, and it needs only the additional good influence
of a transit or Secondary Lunar direction to carry Mr. Chamberlain at
full swing to the summit of popular esteem and political power.
The curious who seek for coincidences will not be surprised and may be
gratified to note that Merx, the root of the name of Mercury, signifies
trade, and that the planet Mercury is rising in this horoscope of Mr.
Chamberlain, who won great distinction for himself as President of the
Board of Trade. Those who in more earnest vein seek for causes will do
well to trace the transits of the major planets through this horoscope
over the places of the Significators, the Sun, Moon, Midheaven, and
Ascendant at all the important epochs in the life of the late Colonial
Secretary. The working out of the more important directional arcs
for the same period I can safely leave to the reader whose desire to
thoroughly test the claims of Astrology has been sufficiently aroused by
the perusal of these pages. It is at all times easier to dispute than to
disprove, and this apparently is the reason for so much that is said,
and so little that is shown, against Astrology.
As to the _modus operandi_ of planetary influence I conceive that
the brain cells are infilled with a nervous pabulum of such delicate
nature as to be capable of responding to the finer etheric vibrations
instituted by the planets; that the electrostatic condition of the
earth’s atmosphere at the moment of birth determines the particular mode
or modes of vibration to which the individual brain is syntonically
responsive; and I could, did space permit, immediately adduce hundreds
of instances to show that whenever the same positions or planetary
aspects recur in the heavens as were in existence at the moment of a
birth, the individual immediately responds to the excitation, and gives
instant evidence of such excitation by actions in agreement with the
nature of the planets involved.
CHAPTER VI
PLANETARY PERIODS, ETC.
We now come to the point where it will be necessary to explain more
fully the various elements with which so far the reader has only been
dealing in a more or less mechanical way. It is, of course, of first
importance that the student of Astrology should have a correct method,
and this has been given as fully as space will permit in the preceding
pages. But it is also necessary that one should know why he is doing
a thing, as well as how to do it. Henry Ward Beecher once said that
if a man turned soil with a spade knowing why he did it, the work was
more effectively done than if he did not know. For this reason it will
be convenient for the student to have a general view of the cosmical
elements that he employs in his calculations and of the factors that
enter into his consideration when studying a horoscope.
For purposes of calculation, the astronomer regards the planets as
moving around the Sun in circular orbits at a uniform rate, and the
positions thus obtained are called the mean longitudes of the planets.
But it is known that the orbit of a planet answers to the functions of
an ellipse, of which the Sun is presumed to occupy one of the foci.
Then it becomes necessary to correct the Mean Longitude of the planet by
an equation which is called the Centre equation.
Let us make this quite clear. The circular orbit supposed in the first
instance is what may be called the Mean Orbit of the planet, as compared
with its true orbit, which is elliptical. Similarly, the motion of the
planet in the circular orbit is called the Mean Motion, as compared with
the true motion, which is variable, being quickest at the perihelion and
slowest at the aphelion.
The difference between the Mean longitude and the True longitude is
determined by the Anomaly, which is the distance of the planet from its
Aphelion, or farthest distance from the Sun. The anomaly is thus L-A, i.
e., longitude minus aphelion.
But it will be seen that ellipses may be of greater or less
eccentricity, and the equation to centre depends on the eccentricity.
This may need a word of explanation. Suppose a circular orbit. Draw the
two diameters at right angles to one another; they are of equal length.
Now suppose another figure in which the one diameter is longer than the
other. The circumference of this figure will be an ellipse. The greater
diameter is called the Major Axis, and the diameter at right angles to
it is the Minor Axis. The proportion of one to the other axis determines
the amount of eccentricity. Twice the eccentricity gives the equation
to centre, and to reduce this to degrees and minutes of a circle it has
to be multiplied by the chord of 60 degrees, which is 57°·29578. This
gives the maximum equation to centre when the planet is 3 signs or 90
degrees from its aphelion, and therefore on the Minor Axis.
The eccentricity of the various planets may be here stated: Mercury,
0.2055; Mars, 0.0931; Jupiter, 0.0482; Saturn, 0.9562; Uranus, 0.9467;
Earth, 0.0168; Venus, 0.0068. These quantities undergo a gradual change.
Thus it is found that Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury are increasing the
eccentricity of their orbits, while Venus, the Earth, and Saturn are
reducing it. The orbit of Venus is now almost circular, and it affords
an example of the perfect astronomical paradigm.
Thus by the mean motions and the equation to centre the true longitudes
of the planets in their heliocentric orbits are obtained. But inasmuch
as the orbits of the planets do not lie in the same plane as the Sun,
but cross its apparent path at various angles of inclination, a further
equation is due to reduce the orbital longitudes of the planets to the
ecliptic.
To further reduce these true longitudes into their geocentric
equivalents, i. e., as seen from the Earth’s centre, we have to employ
the angle of Parallax, which is the angle of difference as seen from
two different points in space. This will vary according to the relative
distances of the bodies from one another. The Moon’s longitude is always
taken geocentrically. When approximate longitudes are required, the
employment of a mean vector, which is equal to half the minor axis of
the planet, is found convenient. For the convenience of astronomical
students I may here give the constant logarithms of the values of the
tangent, which, being added to the logarithm of the tangent of half the
distance of the planet from the Sun in longitude, will give the tangent
of the complement.
LOGARITHMS
Neptune, 9.97107; Uranus, 9.95479; Saturn, 9.90858; Jupiter, 9.83114;
Mars, 9.32457; Venus, 9.20812; Mercury, 9.63210.
To these add the bog, tangent of half the angle between the planet and
Sun, taken by heliocentric longitude, which call A. Call the result B.
For major planets add A and B, and for minor planets subtract B from A.
In either case the result will be the angle of longitude between the
planet and the Sun as seen from the Earth, and hence its geocentric
longitude may be known.
But a more convenient method of obtaining the approximate longitudes
of the planets geocentrically is by means of the Planetary Geocentric
periods. Thus Uranus has a period of 84 years, after which it returns
to the same longitude on the same day of the year and will be further
advanced in its orbit by 1° 5′. Saturn has a period of 59 years, after
which it comes to the same place in the zodiac and will be further
advanced by 1° 53′. Jupiter has a period of 83 years, when it is found
to be only 4′ advanced upon its former longitude. Mars’ period is 79
years plus an advance of 2° 4′. Mercury’s period is also 79 years, and
its advance is 5° 32′. Venus has a period of 8 years, when it is further
advanced in the zodiac by 1° 32′.
For the calculation of the approximate geocentric longitude of the major
planets these periods are very useful, but are of less value in regard
to the minor planets Venus and Mercury.
Suppose I want the longitude of Uranus in the year A. D. 827. I have
its longitude on the first of January, 1912, in Capricorn 28° 17′.
Then 1912-827 gives 1,085 years, which being divided by the period of
Uranus (84 years), yields 12 periods and 77 years. The increment for 1
period being 1° 5′, that for 12 will be 13°, and 77-84ths of 1° 5′ will
be another degree, making 14 degrees. As the date is anterior, this
amount must be subtracted from its longitude on the first of January,
A. D. 827, and in effect we obtain Capricorn 14 degs. 17 mins. as the
longitude of Uranus on the first of January, 827, as seen from the
Earth.
For the purpose of determining the effects, if any, due to the presence
of a planet in its Aphelion, Perihelion, or Node, the following values
are given for the year 1800 A. D.:
Planet. Aphelion. Perihelion. Node.
S. ° ′ S. ° ′ S. ° ′
Mercury 8 14 21 2 14 21 1 15 57
Venus 10 8 36 4 8 36 2 14 52
Mars 5 2 23 11 2 23 1 18 1
Jupiter 6 11 8 0 11 8 3 8 24
Saturn 8 29 4 2 29 4 3 21 57
Uranus 11 17 21 5 17 21 2 12 51
Neptune 7 12 22 2 12 22 4 9 35
The longitudes of the Aphelia are increased in 100 years by the
following quantities: Neptune, 1° 25′; Uranus, 1° 28′; Saturn, 1° 50′;
Jupiter, 1° 35′; Mars, 1° 52′; Venus, 1° 43′; Mercury, 1° 34′. These
quantities are additive for years after 1800, and subtractive for years
before that epoch.
In the present state of astronomical science it is not certain that
these values are absolutely correct. Calculated from the Tables of
Kepler, the differences are only slight, but still sufficient to make
considerable error in testing for exact conjunctions or ingresses.
Lilly, who predicted the Great Plague and Fire of London some years
previous to the event from the ingress of the Aphelion of Mars to the
sign Virgo, evidently made use of the Rudolphine Tables constructed
by Tycho and Kepler, and according to these the ingress took place in
1654, while according to more modern Tables it did not take place
until 1672. It is probable, however, that the positions of the Aphelia
here given will be sufficiently close for all practical purposes.
A word or two may now be said regarding the periodic conjunctions of the
planets.
As will be seen from the periods given, five periods of Jupiter are
nearly equal to two of Saturn. It is found that the two planets form
their conjunctions every 20 years. Thus there was a conjunction in Virgo
in 1861, another in Taurus in 1881, and another in Capricornus in 1901.
The next will be in Virgo in 1921. The two planets are thus now forming
their successive conjunctions in the Earthly Tripicity; but in 1981 will
make their mutation conjunction by falling together in the Airy sign
Libra.
Uranus and Jupiter form their conjunctions every 14 years. Thus there
was a conjunction in Sagittarius in 1900, and there will be another in
Aquarius in 1914, another in Aries in 1928, and so on.
The conjunctions of Neptune with the other major planets are necessarily
in terms of the periods of the latter, those of Neptune and Uranus being
very infrequent, while those with Jupiter will be proportionately more
frequent. For the period of Jupiter is only 12 years, while Neptune
remains in the same sign for 15 years. The conjunction of Jupiter and
Neptune in Cancer in 1907 will be followed by another in Leo in 1919,
and this again by another in Virgo in 1932.
Obviously, if the planets by their transits effect anything whatsoever,
the double transit of major planets must have a correspondingly greater
effect. The careful student of Astrology will institute a number of
tests in order to find what effects are due to the combined action of
the planets when in conjunction at transit, and also when in opposition
or quadrature. The chief points to be noticed in connection with the
transits of the planets are the Midheaven, Ascendant, and the places of
the Sun and Moon, as already mentioned in Chapter II of this section.
The ancients also included the places of the Moon’s Nodes, and it
is usually found that the transit of the South Node over any of the
Significators is attended by unfortunate results.
With these observations as a general guide to the cosmical factors
involved in the planetary motions, the reader will be able to take a
more intelligent interest in the foundations of his study than is the
usual case from the pursuit of the subject by rule-of-thumb methods.
When we come to the consideration of the Moon as a cosmical factor we
are face to face with one of the most difficult and evasive problems.
For many centuries astronomers grappled with this inconstant factor
with small success, and at the present day the problems attaching
to the vagaries of lunar motion are in anything but a satisfactory
condition. Prior to the time of Ptolemy nothing was known of the Moon
except that it had a certain mean motion and formed its syzygies at
definite periods, the mean values of which were very closely known.
But certainly nothing was known regarding the inequalities of motion
which are found to exist. Ptolemy discovered the equation due to the
action of the Sun upon the Moon in its orbit. This is called the
Evection. Tycho later discovered that a further equation was due to the
disturbance caused by the Sun along the vector. Both these equations
were employed by Kepler. But of these, later astronomers have added
one after another equation, going so far as to employ the action due
to Venus and Jupiter, while ignoring that due to the action of the
other planets upon the Moon. Buckhardt, whose formulae were used in
the calculation of the Nautical Almanac for many years, employs no
less than 37 equations of the Moon’s mean longitude. Indeed, the whole
business has become farcical. The fact is that only three of these
equations are necessary in order to obtain the Moon’s true place in
the ecliptic at any time, and for the syzygy only one equation is
necessary. The trouble has arisen from the fact that the eccentricity
of the Moon’s orbit has been wrongly estimated, and most of these
equations now employed by astronomers are effectual only in correcting
this false estimate. Kepler gives the maximum equation to centre as
4° 59′ 59″, while modern astronomers have given it as 6° 18′ 28″.
Neither of these is quite correct, though Kepler is much nearer the
truth.
Another problem in connection with the Moon that has puzzled astronomers
for a long time and is still in the region of experimental science is
what is known as the Secular equation. It is found that by taking the
present mean motion of the Moon and applying the various equations,
found necessary to bring the calculations into line with observations of
the Moon’s position in the zodiac, a considerable difference is found to
exist between the calculated place of the Moon and its recorded position
at the time of ancient eclipses. According to our modern Tables, ancient
eclipses happened sooner than they should have done, or, in other words,
the Moon was more advanced in its orbit than our Tables require. The
inference is that the Moon was formerly moving quicker in a smaller
orbit than now, or conversely, the Moon is now receding and getting
farther from the Earth. Consequently its action on the tides must be
diminishing, and also its action on the equatorial mass of the Earth,
which is considered to be the chief factor in the production of what is
called the Precession of the Equinoxes. Yet whereas by one statement the
disturbance due to the Moon is diminishing, another statement shows that
the Precession of the Equinoxes is increasing! =Voila le debacle.=
All these anomalies and contradictions are due, as I shall show in my
new Tables and Thesis, to the importation of false factors into the
problem of the Moon’s motion, which, in fact, is extremely simple,
perfectly regular, and affected only by its anomaly or distance from the
aphelion and, where the time equation is employed, by the increase of
radius. Jupiter and Venus have no more action on the Moon than have Mars
and Saturn, in fact none at all, and the only body that has any action
upon the lunar orb is the Sun, which it exerts indirectly through its
action on the Earth.
These problems need not, however, vex the minds of the student of
Astrology. It is sufficient for him that he has the place of the Moon
calculated for him in the ephemeris reduced from the Nautical or other
official Almanac. It is important, however, that he should know that
such problems exist.
Sir Isaac Newton was first led to the subject of Astronomy by his
thoroughness and scientific propensity. He studied Astrology, and
proceeded to the study of Astronomy the better to understand and deal
with the problems that the predictive science presented. For it is
to be observed that Astrology in his day was entirely in the hands
of astronomers, who calculated their own ephemerides and pursued
the higher methods of astrological calculation as presented in my
“Profnostic Astronomy.” Kepler avowed himself to be convinced of
the truth of the science of Astrology, and showed himself to be a
competent critic as much by his understanding of the astronomical
problems involved as by his marvellous forecast of the rise and fall
of Wallenstein. Tycho, his colleague and collaborator, also a great
astronomical discoverer, was a professed Astrologer, and added to his
stipend by the calculation of horoscopes. Astrology is quite a reputable
study, and needs but to be emancipated from the service of a horde of
half-educated plagiarists and parasites in order to take its place once
more among subjects of serious consideration by the learned. Astronomy
is interesting, but to be made useful it must find interpretation in
terms of our daily life and common needs. It is in this connection that
Astrology has played Cinderella since the days of official science. The
day is not far off when it will come into its own.
CHAPTER VII
REVOLUTIONS, ECLIPSES, INGRESSES, ETC.
Beyond the various time measures and indicators mentioned in Section
IV, Chapter II, there are others which have a certain reputation among
astrological students. The chief of these, and one that has been in
vogue for many centuries, is the
Solar Revolution,
or Birthday Figure, as it is sometimes called. It consists in a map of
the heavens for the return of the Sun to the exact zodiacal position
that it held at birth, and this sidereal revolution is made the basis of
an annual forecast of the general trend of affairs in the life of the
subject. To find the time of the Sun’s return to its own place in the
zodiac is, of course, a simple matter of proportion from the ephemeris
for the current year. This is effected by comparing the radical or
birthplace of the Sun with the longitude of the Sun in the Ephemeris
on the anniversary day, which will give the increment more or less
required to be equated. Then with this difference of the two positions
of the Sun (a) at birth and (b) at noon of the anniversary, find the
diurnal proportional logarithm and subtract from this the logarithm for
the Sun’s motion in 24 hours. The result will be the logarithm for the
hours and minutes from Noon at which the Sun was in the exact position
it held at the birth. Thus you have the time of the solar return, and
all that is necessary is to erect a horoscope for this time and set the
planets in the figure.
Then, if the benefic planets are in elevation and the Lord or Ruler of
the Ascendant is well placed and aspected, there will be commensurate
results, and a beneficial year may be predicted; but if, on the
contrary, the malefic planets are elevated and the ruler of the
horoscope is badly aspected, the year ensuing will be fraught with many
troubles and vexatious events.
But inasmuch as the time-factor is here the return of the Sun to its
radical place, chief attention must be paid to the aspects of the Sun,
and conclusions agreeable to the nature of the afflicting planets or
those that favourably aspect the luminary may be made accordingly.
As regards the time at which events signified by the aspects may be
expected to transpire, I have found that they usually occur during
the transit of the Sun over the places of the planets in the annual
horoscope. Thus a person born in August may have the Sun in the annual
horoscope in square aspect to Saturn, the Sun being in Leo and Saturn in
Taurus. Then the evil signified by the aspect of Saturn to the Sun would
transpire about the date that the Sun passed the opposition of Saturn in
the sign Scorpio some time in November, or again in May of the following
year when the Sun was in conjunction with the place of Saturn in the
horoscope for the Solar return.
Events that are benefic in nature may be produced from the transit of
the Sun over the places of the benefics in the Solar figure, or over the
good aspects of the planet which in the annual horoscope gives promise
of benefit.
In similar manner the return of the Moon to its own place may be taken
as a monthly guide to the nature of ensuing events, but it is to be
observed that the Moon’s place cannot be taken with the same degree
of accuracy as that of the Sun, owing to the varied acceleration of
the Moon from hour to hour. The Nautical Almanac gives this hourly
acceleration, so that by means of it the Moon’s longitude can be
arrived at with great accuracy for any time of the day, but the cheaper
ephemerides do not contain more than the longitude for noon and
midnight. The student will find, however, that the general purposes of a
Lunar horoscope may be served with sufficient accuracy from this source
if chief regard be had to the aspects of the Moon at its return and not
to the mundane positions of the planets.
Arguing from analogy, one would suppose that a similar horoscope could
be made for the return of any of the planets to their radical places,
but until we have a popular publication in which the planets’ places
are given with a greater degree of accuracy than at present, we cannot
pretend to indicate the true time of the revolutions of these bodies.
Another means of prognosis to which some astrologers have attached
considerable importance is what is known as
The Synodical Revolution.
This consists of a horoscope set for the time of the Moon’s return to
the same distance from the Sun that it held at birth, which distance is
called the elongation. This measure is based upon the relative motions
of the Sun and Moon in the zodiac after birth. Thus if the mean motion
of the Sun for one day be taken as 59′ and that of the Moon as 13° 11′,
then the mean elongation of the Moon will be 12° 12′. But the Sun and
Moon are both subject to a variation from the mean motion, and thus the
elongation of the Moon is an inconstant quantity. The only means of
effecting the calculation, therefore, is by reference to the ephemeris
for the year of birth. Then, having the Moon’s radical elongation, the
successive dates at which this elongation is repeated are to be noted,
and each of them is accounted as one year of life. Thus for the 20th
year of life one must count 19 synods or conjunctions of the Sun and
Moon after birth, and thereafter proceed to fix the date after the last
synod at which the Moon’s elongation is the same as that of birth. This
idea seems to give grounds for the ancient belief in effects attaching
to the Moon’s age. For the Moon’s age denotes the distance of the Moon
from the last conjunction with the Sun, and if a person was born on the
tenth day of the Moon, then every tenth day of the Moon in successive
revolutions will be of importance, since the Moon will be in the same
relations with the Sun as at birth. The aspects that the Moon bears
to the other celestial bodies at these times is held to be a guide to
the nature of succeeding events. But more attention is paid to such
horoscopes thus calculated wherein the Moon falls on the place of any of
the planets at birth.
Ingresses
are of two kinds, mundane and zodiacal. A mundane ingress is made when
a planet in the heavens comes to the cusp of one of the Houses in the
horoscope of birth--that is to say, to the degree of the zodiac which
held the cusp of such House. Thus if the 8th degree of the sign Aquarius
were on the cusp of the 2nd House of the horoscope and Saturn in the
heavens made transit of that degree of the zodiac, then the Ingress of
Saturn to the 2nd House would be effected and would be followed by a
period of considerable financial stress. Similarly with other planets in
the horoscope. Each will make its periodical transit through the several
Houses of the horoscope of birth, and these will be attended by events
in terms of the nature of the planet, the House it transits and its
affections at birth.
Zodiacal ingresses are those that are made by the planets into the signs
of the zodiac successively, and it is held that a change in the trend
of affairs will take place in that department of the life ruled by the
House wherein that sign is placed at birth. This, however, appears to
be an extension of the former kind of ingress, and should be taken with
some reserve. Certainly it will be found that very marked effects are
due to the transits of the planets through the Houses of the horoscope,
and if the aspects of these planets in the ephemeris are taken into
account, it will be found that a very accurate basis for a forecast of
the various incidents of individual life is thereby afforded.
In this connection the periodical synods of the planets should be
observed, for it is evident that if we ascribe an influence to the
transit of Saturn we must set a still more important value upon the
transit of that planet when in conjunction or opposition with any
other body in the heavens. Thus the planets Mars and Saturn form their
conjunctions in successive signs after an interval of about two
years, during which period it may be said that the effects of the
last conjunction are in play. Thus Saturn and Mars formed their last
conjunction in August, 1911, in the sign Taurus, and, according to
the position of that sign in various horoscopes, effects more or less
detrimental and disturbing would be experienced during the course of two
years after that date.
Jupiter’s period of 12 years will be watched with interest by those who
are studying the effects due to its action, for it passes through one
sign or one House every year on an average, and therefore constitutes
a good chronocrator or time-marker. But Jupiter can effect little for
good if at the time of its transit it is afflicted in the heavens by
the adverse aspect or conjunction of another planet. Similarly, Saturn
or Uranus or Neptune has to be judged according to its condition and
aspects at the time of transit or ingress.
Eclipses,
whether of the Sun or Moon, are significant of evil according to their
positions and aspects in the horoscope. For if an eclipse of the Sun
happens it will afflict male members of the family, and an eclipse of
the Moon will denote evil to female members. Eclipses falling in the
sign occupying the 10th or 4th Houses will afflict the parents, and
those which fall in the 3rd House will similarly affect collateral
relatives, such as brothers and sisters, according to the sex indicated.
The effects of eclipses last for eighteen months, and will be great or
small according to the magnitude of the eclipse and considerations due
to aspects. When falling on the places of benefic planets or those well
aspected in the horoscope, the eclipse will portend good arising out of
some catastrophe or bereavement. But when falling on the places of the
malefics, or on places in the horoscope that are badly aspected by the
planets at birth, they portend nothing but evil.
Falling in other parts of the figure, they are not of such significance,
but generally it may be said that eclipses have a detrimental effect on
such affairs as are governed by the House wherein the eclipse falls.
It has been said that unless an eclipse is visible in that part of the
world where the subject was born, it will have no effect upon his health
or fortunes. But this cannot be the case, for then those planets that
are beneath the horizon at the time of birth could with equal reason be
exempt from any share in our consideration, whereas, on the contrary, we
know full well that in whatever part of the circle the planets may be
situated at the moment of birth they will affect the life and fortunes
in equal degree, but especially such department of the life as may be
ruled by the House a planet occupies.
The following is a list of the visible eclipses that will be witnessed
in Great Britain during the next ten years:
1914.--12th March, Moon eclipsed in the third hour of the morning,
nearly total.
21st August, the Sun eclipsed about noon, two-thirds of the disc
eclipsed. Total in Sweden and Norway.
1916.--9th January, Moon sets in contact with the shadow.
3rd February, the Sun sets about half eclipsed. Total across the
Atlantic.
15th July, Moon eclipsed about three-quarters of its disc in the
fifth hour of the morning.
1917.--8th January, Moon eclipsed in the eighth hour of the
morning, just before sunrise. Total.
4th July, Moon totally eclipsed in the eleventh hour of the evening.
28th December, Moon begins to be eclipsed just before setting.
1919.--7th November, in the twelfth hour at night the Moon is
partially eclipsed.
22nd November, the Sun has one-fifth of its disc obscured near
sunset. Annular in the South Atlantic.
1920.--3rd May, Moon totally eclipsed in the second hour of the
morning.
10th November, Sun sets half eclipsed.
1921.--8th April, in the ninth hour of the morning the Sun is
eclipsed, about five-sixths of the disc being obscured. Annular
eclipse in the north.
16th October, the Moon has five-sixths of its disc overshadowed at
eleventh hour of the evening.
1922.--28th March, Sun eclipsed in the third hour of the afternoon,
about one-sixth being obscured. Annular in Africa.
The years 1805 and 1917 are great eclipse years, for in both those
years there are no less than seven eclipses. From like causes we argue
like effects, and therefore we may anticipate a great convulsion in the
political world during the year 1917 and thereafter. At that time Mars
and Saturn will form their conjunction in the sign Leo together with
Neptune, and these successive conjunctions of the three major planets
cannot fail to produce great mutations, more especially in those
countries that are ruled by the sign Leo.
* * * * *
So far as individual horoscopes are concerned the effects of these
conjunctions and the eclipses which fall in the sign Capricornus and
Cancer must be judged by the particular Houses of the horoscopes in
which they occur. The general effects due to any eclipse or conjunction
of the larger planets are distributed and find their expression through
individual horoscopes, the influence filtrating as it were through a
variety of channels for the ultimate purpose of human evolution and
government.
* * * * *
Thus by many lines of evidence the patient student may confirm his
belief in the influence of the stars in human life, which involves
the yet higher concept of the government of humanity by the greater
Intelligences according to preordained laws, divine in their origin and
cosmical in their expression. To this concept as a final expression of
faith and of scientific experience we must eventually submit our beliefs
and opinions, and haply our willing compliance.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Astrology - How to Make and Read Your Own Horoscope" ***
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