Anthony Louis's Blog, page 15

Did William Lilly use Signs as Houses?

The recent Whole Sign brouhaha online has got me thinking a lot about houses and noticing references to whole signs and house as I read various texts. I have previously documented how the use of whole signs as astrological houses has dominated popular astrology for at least the past century. I have also cited passages from the 17th century text of Morinus in which he indisputably associates house significations from the numerical order of the zodiac signs with respect to the rising sign.

Anyone who has read William Lilly knows that he associates the first sign of the tropical year, Aries, with the 1st House as a con-significator. He also associates the 1st planet in Chaldean order, Saturn, with the 1st House. In this system, which Lilly probably learned from reading the medieval Arabic and Persian astrologers, the numerical order of a sign or planet is used to associate it with the significations of the astrological house of the same number. I believe that Lilly mainly used this “sign = house” equivalence when delineating physical descriptions and medical ailments.

Note how the Sextile Aspect bears a 3rd House relationship to the 0 Point of the Diagram.
Figure from wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12_astrological_aspects.png

What many readers of Lilly may not realize is that he also associated specific astrological aspects with astrological house significations.

For example, in discussing short journeys, Lilly writes: “… if the Moon apply to the Lord of the third [House], or to any Planet posited in the third, or be in the third, or cast her SEXTILE aspect to the Sign ascending, or her SQUARE in Signs of short ascensions, in any house whatsoever, or if she be swift in motion, all, or any of these are arguments that the party shall go on his short Journey, and with good success …” (CA 196).

The 3rd House signifies short journeys and the Moon is a co-significator in all questions. It so happens that the Moon “rejoices” in the 3rd house, “for if she be posited therein, especially in a movable [cardinal] sign, it’s an argument of much travel, trotting and trudging, or of being seldom quiet” {CA 52). Lilly also tells us that the 3rd is a “masculine” house whose con-significators are Gemini [the 3rd sign from Aries] and the planet Mars [the 3rd sign in Chaldean order].

Of all the aspects which the Moon may form, why does Lilly single out the SEXTILE to the Ascendant and the SQUARE in signs of short ascension, which he believes can behave like a sextile. The reason is that the sextile to the Ascendant is of the nature of a 3rd House relationship and has 3rd House significations, especially for the Moon because of her special relationship to the 3rd House and to travel.

Much like Morinus, Lilly is arguing by analogy that signs can convey significations of astrological houses, as can planets according to their place in the sequence of the Chaldean order, and also specific Ptolomaic aspects according to the analogy between the arc of the aspect and the angular spacing of the houses. Apparently, Lilly thought a lot more flexibly and analogically about signs, aspects and houses than many modern astrologers are accustomed to.

The House Wars, Part II — Witte’s Perspective

Not wanting to get caught up in the current vitriol in the astrology community, I’m a bit reluctant to post this since it could be perceived as taking sides or attacking a colleague. In truth I have great respect for both Deb Houlding and Chris Brennan, and I have learned a lot from each of them. Nonetheless, I’d like to comment astrologically, not as a partisan of either camp, about the war that is being raged online.

Although unrest had been brewing for a long time, it seems to me that the war broke out when Deb posted her video which was openly and provocatively critical of the Chris’s teachings about Whole Sign Houses. A study of the chart for that moment ought to be instructive. The data is 4 February 2023 at 8:31 PM (according to Deb’s site) and I believe the location was Mansfield, UK.

Recently I’ve been experimenting with the astrology of Alfred Witte, of which I’ve been skeptical for years because of the use of hypothetic planets which have never been shown to exist. In addition, there are so many combinations of planets that form planetary pictures that each degree of the zodiac has reference to a large number of the planets and points used in Witte’s system, so you will always hit on something that is relevant — kind of like using 1000 asteroids in a 360-degree wheel.

On the other hand, Witte’s specific planetary pictures are often on target in an uncanny way. Partly to test Witte’s ideas, I cast the chart for the debut of Deb’s video to the entire online community with Witte’s Transneptunians included. My hypothesis was that, if Witte is correct, then this chart should show the outbreak of open conflict related to an ideological viewpoint. In “Uranian” terms, the factors Uranus, Zeus, Poseidon, the Earth Point, etc., should be prominent. I also looked up Witte’s planetary picture for ardent belief or religious zeal and found it to be Venus + Poseidon – Mars, which makes sense given the nature of these three “planets” — love, ideology, and assertive energy (Venus, Poseidon, Mars). Here is the chart cast as a 360 degree dial.

360-dial for the moment that Deb posted the video of her criticism of whole sign houses for public viewing on the internet. The Pointer is set as Witte’s planetary picture related to religious zeal.

Witte’s Picture for ardent beliefs in this chart is intimately connected by hard aspect to the Sun, Poseidon, Uranus, Zeus, 0 degrees of the cardinal signs. To me, this was impressive for many reasons.

The planetary picture for ardent belief is tightly connected to the Sun at the moment the video was posted.

Zeus connected to Uranus is associated with the outbreak of war, and when connected with the Sun can represent a military leader who takes a strong stance.

Zeus plus Poseidon connected to the cardinal axis is interpreted as meaning that the world in general “must witness something [bear witness to something], must prove something, must show its conviction.”

Uranus connected to Poseidon is associated with both enlightenment and propaganda, as well as with the general public becoming highly excited by an idea. In combination with Zeus, Uranus/Poseidon signifies the expenditure of great energy toward one point.

This chart from the perspective of Alfred Witte does seem to describe the moment quite accurately. That said, it would be interesting to know what an experienced Uranian astrologer would make of this chart, since I’m a novice at this branch of astrology.

Looking at one of Valens’ charts — WSH or Porphyry?

Given the current brouhaha about house systems in ancient astrology, I thought it would be useful to take one of the charts described by Vettius Valens to see what we could glean from his text, making deductions by routine astrological methods. Let’s start with Valens’s words, and without bias see where they lead us. Since I don’t read ancient Greek, I will use Mark Riley’s translation. Here is the first example which Valens gives:

“21K;22P. Examples for the Preceding Chapters.
For clarification of the previous points, we will use examples, taking first a distinguished nativity: Sun in Scorpio, moon in Cancer, Saturn in Aquarius, Jupiter in Sagittarius, Mars in Scorpio, Venus in Libra, Mercury in Scorpio, Ascendant in Libra.
Since the birth was at night, I investigate the moon: this happens to be in Cancer, trine with Mars. We find Mars rising just after the Ascendant and in its own house , triangle , and sect .
Then we find Venus sharing rulership with Mars, being in the Ascendant and in its own house .
Third, we find the moon at MC in its own house . It is obvious that the nativity is distinguished, since the houserulers are configured so appropriately.
Investigating the Lot of Fortune, I find it in Aquarius; Saturn is there, the ruler and in Good Fortune, in its own house and /80P/ triangle . Likewise the 11th Place from the Lot of Fortune, i.e. the Place of Accomplishment, is , and Jupiter is there.
I also found the exaltation of the nativity: from the moon to Taurus is eleven signs, and the same distance from the Ascendant in Libra brings me to Leo, in Good Daimon. The sun is the ruler of this and since it is found to be at MC with respect to the Lot of Fortune, it made the birth even more illustrious and distinguished.”

Valens does not mention where this person was born, so I will study a chart cast for Alexandria, Egypt. What can we deduce from Valens’ comments?

We can date the chart by the sign positions which Valens mentions. Saturn lies in Aquarius, Jupiter in Sagittarius, and Mars in Scorpio. Valens, writing in the mid-2nd century CE, is not using the tropical zodiac. I have found with Valens’s chart that the sidereal zodiac with the Raman ayanamsa gives results close to his values. Looking in the ephemeris we find that the planets occupied these positions in the year 0050 CE. Because the Sun lies in Scorpio and the Moon in Cancer, the date of birth must be around 24 October 0050 CE. At Noon on that date the Sun was at 4 Scorpio, Moon at 12 Cancer, Mercury at 15 Scorpio, Venus at 25 Libra 30, Mars at 1 Scorpio, Jupiter at 6 Sagittarius, and Saturn at 14 Aquarius (these are rounded to the degree). A 25 October 0050 birth date would also work with the data given.

Because the Moon travels about 12 degrees daily, the position of the moon in this birth must lies between 6 and 18 of Cancer. However, Valens tells us that it was a night birth, and we know that sunrise occurred about 6:14 AM when the Moon was at 10 Cancer (rounded to degree). At midnight, the Moon was at 6 Cancer (rounded), so we can be confident that the Moon at birth was somewhere between 6 and 10 of Cancer.

Libra rises the MC is Cancer. This narrows the time of birth to between about 3:39 AM and 5:48 AM.

Mars rises “just after the Ascendant” and “we find Venus sharing rulership with Mars, being in the Ascendant and in its own house .” This is an odd statement. Odd, because Mars lies in Scorpio in the 2nd Place, but shares rulership of the Libra Ascendant with Venus. Valens makes it a point to emphasize that “we find Mars rising just after the Ascendant.” Why? What is Valens trying to imply by this statement? Why does it matter that Mars rises so close to the Ascendant and just after it? 

Or, in other words, Venus lies in Libra, the rising sign, and Venus SHARES RULERSHIP with Mars, which occupies the sign in the 2nd Place. I assume Valens means that Venus and Mars share rulership of the Ascendant degree.

How are Mars and Venus “sharing rulership”? Does he mean that Mars is so close to the ASC degree that it shares rulership of the Ascendant (1st Place) with Venus? We know that Venus lies near the end of Libra and Mars near the beginning of Scorpio. Does Valens statement that Mars and Venus share rulership mean that the Ascendant-degree lies near the end of Libra so that either planet falls within a 3-degree orb of the Asc?

If we assume that Mars sharing with Venus the rulership of the Ascendant means that Mars lies within 3 degrees of the Asc, then the degree of the Asc must be about 28 Libra. This would place the MC degree at 29 Cancer 47′. The resulting chart for this eminent person would then be as follows, if he were born near Alexandria.

My assumption is that “Mars rises just after the Ascendant” and Venus shares rulership of the Ascendant with Mars means that Mars is conjunct the Ascendant which lies very near the end of Libra. [After receiving feedback from readers and carefully rereading Valens’ comments about the chart, I have changed my mind and now feel that he was born about 4:16 AM with an MC of about 8.5 degrees of Cancer. See the Addendum at the end of this post.]

This chart is cast is the Whole Sign House format. I tried casting it in Porphyry (and other quadrant systems) but then it did not match Valens’ description. For example, Valens tells us that the Part of Fortune lies with Saturn in the 5th Place of Good Fortune. In the quadrant house, Fortuna and Saturn appear in the 4th house (or one in the 4th and the other in the 5th), not both in the 5th.

It does appear then, that in this case example Valens is using the signs as houses (Places) and that the quadrant house systems do not correspond with his textual description. Even experimenting with an earlier time of birth, Pars Fortuna only appears in the 5th Place with Saturn in the Whole Sign method.

This analysis requires many assumptions, which may or may not be warranted. I welcome any feedback or corrections in the comments.

Addendum 15 Feb 2023: (Please read the following because I have changed my view of the chart after re-reading Valens and receiving feedback from several readers.)

Some readers have commented that Valens meant that the Asc degree was in the bounds of Mars in Libra, so that Mars shared rulership of the Libra Ascendant with Venus through his bounds, which Valens gives as the last 4 degrees of Libra. If that interpretation is correct, then the Asc degree lies in the region from the 26 to 30 degrees of Libra, which narrows the birth time to between 5:38 and 5:48 AM and we are able to narrow the birth data to within a 10-minute interval on a specific date, simply by using the written data which Valens provided. We also have a very close approximation to the Asc- and MC-degrees.

Another reader felt that Valens meant that Mars has rulership in the chart because it is a night chart and Mars rules the water triplicity, with the Moon, ruler of the night sect, being in Cancer. If this is the case, then the Ascendant could be anywhere in Libra and not just the last 4 degrees.

These various opinions, expressed by experienced astrologers, demonstrate how difficult it is to understand these old texts and come to a consensus about what they mean.

In reading over Valens’ comments I realize that I did not account for his statements that the Moon was “at MC” and the Sun was “at MC with respect to the Part of Fortune” in Aquarius. I have now put these comments in bold in Valens’ text. Thus, two charts are possible that meet these criteria:

On 24 October 0050, the Moon was at MC at 4:16 AM. Both the Moon and the MC are at about 9 Cancer at that time, and the Part of Fortune and the sun are each at about 4 degrees of their respective signs, Aquarius and Scorpio. The October 24th meets these criteria exactly.

On 25 October 0050, the Moon was at MC at 5:08 AM. At that time the Moon and the MC are at about 21 Cancer 30′, the Sun is at almost 5 Scorpio and the Part of Fortune at almost 4 Aquarius.

Thus, if the Mars sharing rulership with Venus refers to Mars ruling the night triplicity of the sign of the Moon, this chart would look as follows:

Upon reflection, I believe that this chart is more likely to be the one Valens was describing because it accounts quite exactly for the Moon being “at MC” and the Sun being “at MC with respect to the Part of Fortune.” If my reasoning is correct, we have a fairly precisely timed chart for this native, complete with the degree of the Ascendant and the MC. Valens appears to be referring to the degree of the Sun corresponding numerically and almost exactly to the degree of the Lot of Fortune when he states, “The sun is the ruler of this [Place XI of the Good Daimon] and since it is found to be at MC with respect to the Lot of Fortune, it made the birth even more illustrious and distinguished.”

Whole Sign Houses in 20th Century Astrology

After listening to the multiple arguments on social media about Whole Sign Houses (WSH), it occurred to me that this method has been the most widely used system of House division in the English-speaking world for more than a century. I was certainly familiar with it in the 1950s when I first started studying astrology. At that time my “teachers” were the books by Evangeline Adams (some co-authored by Aleister Crowley), Charles Carter (one of my favorite authors), and Dell Horoscope Magazine which always had a yearly forecast for the current Sun sign based on whole sign houses.

I don’t know when the practice of using WSH in popular astrology began but Evangeline Adams used it in her book Astrology, Your Place in the Stars, published in 1930. Randomly checking my collection of old astrological books and articles, I pulled out the February 1936 issue of Wynn’s Astrology Magazine, which contains an article on how Jupiter in Sagittarius would affect readers during the coming year on the basis of Whole Sign Houses. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Clearly the author of this article, Marshall Waterman, is using Whole Sign Houses to generate an annual forecast for each zodiac sign.

Charles E.O. Carter in the U.K. in the first half of the 20th century was strongly advocating the use of an Equal House System, which he most likely learned about from reading Ptolemy. I recall astrologers here in the USA referring to the Equal System as the “British House System” because of Carter’s emphatic endorsement: “The ancient and simple method of house division … has of late years had a strong revival in Britain and is now being accorded some attention on the continent of Europe. Without totally rejecting the significance of the Placidean cusps, I must state that only by using equal houses for natal work will the student be able to do justice to himself and his art.” — published in American Astrology Magazine, October 1950.

Inspired by Charles Carter, British astrologer Margaret E. Hone advocated use of the Equal House system in her influential textbook of astrology, published in 1951.

Equal Houses begin at the Ascendant degree and divide the zodiac circle into 12 equal 30-degree segments — a close cousin to Whole Sign Houses.

The late Alan Oken urged his beginning students to use either Solar Houses or Natural Houses to study their birth charts. The Solar Chart places the degree of the Sun on the Ascendant and measures 12 equal houses from that point. The Natural House chart place 0 degrees of Aries on the Ascendant, so that each sign of the zodiac becomes a whole sign houses measured from Aries as the 1st house — this is a true whole sign house system, which Alan Oken was advocating, I believe since the 1960s. Chris Brennan interviewed Alan Oken on his Astrology Podcast with the introductory words: “One of the first books I bought when I got started studying astrology was by Alan Oken, so it was an honor to have him on the podcast.” Apparently, Alan’s teaching took root in Chris Brennan’s psyche and led to an abiding interest in Whole Sign Houses.

In summary, in the English-speaking world we have been using Whole Sign Houses for well over a century. Given the popularity of astrological forecasts in the media, it would be fair to say that whole sign houses, which often went without being called by name, have been the most widely used house system for at least the past 100 years. This popular system of domification certainly passes the duck test: “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

The House Wars of Astrology

Recently I watched a video on astrological domification posted by Deborah Houlding, whose work I have followed and admired for many years. Deb expressed her concern that the current popularity of what are called “Whole Sign Houses” might interfere with the newer generation of astrologers being able to understand the conceptual underpinnings of mundane houses. Unfortunately, Deb was somewhat polemical and provocative in her presentation and at times made factually inaccurate statements, which her critics have pounced on rather than trying to understand the gist of her presentation. Nonetheless, I felt that Deb’s argument was worth pondering, and I posted a link to her video on my Facebook page.

The response to the link to Deb’s video was quite startling. I felt like a tourist visiting the Holy Land when the Crusades broke out. It was like being in the midst of a religious war with opposing cults battling each other to the death over whose dogma had God’s blessing. In any case, the back and forth discussion did produce several valuable statements and references, which I’d like to summarize.

My name became linked to the controversy because about 20 years ago I had translated Morin’s Book 18 from Latin to English and discovered, to my great surprise, that he sometimes used the relative position of the signs with respect to the rising sign to derive house-related meanings of position of planets in those signs. For example, a planet in the 8th house is determined toward death but if the planet lies in the 9th sign from the Ascendant, it is also determined toward activities in a foreign land. At first I did not want to believe that Morin treated signs in this way, but after finding many instances in his chart examples I had to concede that Morin sometimes read house significations from the signs in which they planets resided.

Upon further reflection I realized that in my own experience I had noticed signs at times acting like houses. When I was first learning astrology in my teens I kept a journal of the planets conjoining my house cusps (Placidus at the time) and noticed that often an event related to the meaning of the house took place close to the conjunction with the cusp but also when the planet entered the sign on the house cusp. This seemed odd to me, but it occurred repeatedly. It was as if the planet conjoining the cusp of the Sign on the house cusp “triggered” an event related to the cusp of the house of the same Sign.

At the same time popular astrology was using whole signs as houses in newspaper forecasts. Since the astrologer did not know the birth times of millions of readers, he or she could cast a chart with the Sun sign rising and all the other signs acting as houses. Then, it was easy to forecast the month ahead for thousands of readers at a time if they shared the same sun sign. The modern use of Whole Sign Houses has been with us since the early days of pop astrology and sun-sign horoscopes in the press. Sophisticated astrologers tended to poo-poo sun-sign pop astrology based on Whole Sign Houses as not being genuine astrology, which requires a chart with an accurate birth time and quadrant houses that begin at the degree of the Ascendant.

One thing I learned from the postings on Facebook was that a similar controversy was going on in ancient Egypt between the pop or lay astrologers and the more sophisticated astrologers of the period. Chris Brennan, who has been a pioneer in teaching and promoting Hellenistic astrology, provided the following quote about the Egyptian  “Vulgärastrologen,” from a German text by Koch and Knappich on the Houses translated by Jenn Zahrt:

Reading this text by Knappich, a respected authority on the history of house systems, we see that in ancient Egypt the “lay” or pop astrologers were in “absolute rebellion” against the hard-ball nerdy mathematically-mined astrologers who were into precise astronomical calculations, ascensional times, the use of the cardines, etc. To me this sounds like the ancient Egyptian warring camps of astrologers were debating whether to use a quadrant system of house division or to use the whole signs as if they were houses as do the sun-sign pop astrologers today. There appears to be no doubt historicaly that whole signs were used as what we now call Houses by a vocal group of pop astrologers in ancient Egypt. For those who read German, here is the original German text by Knappich and Koch:

Michel Ibarra added some historical perspective to the debate: “For some needed perspective, there are 278 extant horoscopes from the 1st to the 6th century CE. Out of those, 32 note the degrees of the Ascendant and the Midheaven, 21 note the degree of the Ascendant only, and the remaining 225 only note the Sign of the Ascendant.”

If, centuries from now, we were to look back on all the horoscopes mentioned in writing in the 20th century we would most likely find that sun-sign horoscopes with whole signs as houses dominated the astrological writings of the 20th century. They appear often in a large number of news papers and magazines. What could we conclude about the modern practice of astrology from such statistics? Would it be reasonable to conclude that sun-sign pop astrology is the best practice of the celestial art?

Interestingly, one of the sources cited in the too-and-fro about astrological Houses was a recent academic article by Martin Gansten, an excellent astrologer and a respected academic expert on the topic. Here is an abstract of Gansten’s paper (bold is mine) in which he argues that the use of whole signs as houses was a matter of convenience (as with modern pop astrology in newspaper columns) but that the calculation of the cusps of the “places” by degree was considered the more accurate and useful way to do astrology by knowledgeable practitioners (which is essentially the argument that Deb Houlding makes in her polemical video):

Abstract

“From the ancient practice, implied by many textual sources although never formally prescribed, of identifying the twelve horoscopic places (the δωδεκάτροπος dōdekatropos) with the zodiacal signs, recent scholarship has often concluded that such identification constituted a tenet of ancient astrology even at a conceptual level. On the basis of a close reading of Vettius Valens’ Anthologies, supported by other ancient sources, this paper argues that while the places, like other elements of horoscopic practice, were often provisionally approximated by sign position alone, calculation of places by degree, with boundaries differing from those of the zodiacal signs, was consistently upheld in principle as more accurate and useful. Specifically, Valens’ preference appears to have been for places calculated from the quadrants formed by the intersections of horizon and meridian, a method also occasionally used in the Anthologies for defining planetary configurations and for annual transmission (παράδοσις paradosis). In several cases, such methods are explicitly employed even for horoscopes presented in a simple, signs-only format.”

The 2022 paper by Molina Escolano-Poveda which describes three new ancient Egyptian horoscopes from the 1st century BCE appears to support Martin Gansten’s position, especially in their use of the 4 Angles (Cardines) in calculating the horoscope chart.

A recent YouTube video by David Cochrane gives a useful perspective on the issue of zodiac signs versus mundane houses in astrology. He visually demonstrates the astronomical difference between the ecliptic (the home of the zodiac signs) and the equator, upon which mundane houses are based.

In summary, as I understand the arguments, there appears to be no doubt that whole zodiacal signs were used in ancient Egypt in the manner in which we use mundane Houses today. Their use was extremely popular among the group of lay or pop astrologers who revolted against the more rigorous mathematically and astronomically minded astrologers of the period who insisted on precise measurements and the use of cardines (the four Angles).

To rephrase Deb Houlding’s argument (I hope accurately): As modern astrologers, do we want to practice ancient Egyptian pop astrology, similar to the sun-sign astrology of newspaper columns today, or do we want to become nerdy, more mathematically precise astrologers who work from a sophisticated understanding of the 3-dimensional astronomy that underlies our art?

My own view is strongly influenced by my long study of the work of Morinus who advocated the use of quadrant houses based on the diurnal rotation of the Earth and the projection of the Earth’s Equator onto the Celestial Sphere. For theoretical reasons, I lean more toward Placidus than Regiomontanus, which Morinus favored (partly because they made him look so intellectually superior in his own natal chart). Even Morin, however, at times used the zodiac signs in his delineations as being analogous to mundane houses, so he found a theoretically satisfactory way to combine the two distinct systems.

In the end, it will come down to the experience each astrologer has with a chosen house system. I lean toward the more nerdy approach to house division, but it may turn out that the highly simplified whole sign system works just as well, or even better, in practice with clients, and I am grateful to Chris Brennan for teaching me about the whole sign system. The proof of the pudding, however, will always in the eating.

Morin on King Gustavus Adolphus in Book 18

There has been some discussion of my translation of Morin’s comments about King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden on social media. This blog is intended to clarify what I wrote and my translation of Book 18 back in 2004.

In the early 2000s Robert Corre obtained a copy of Spanish astrologer and Latin scholar Pepa Sanchís Llacer’s translation of Morin’s Book 18 from Latin into Spanish. Robert Corre asked if I would be willing to translate it into English in collaboration with James Holden. I obtained photocopies of the original Latin text of Book 18, and using Pepa’s translation as an aid, I proceeded to translate Morin’s Latin text. Whenever I had questions about what Morin wrote, I contacted Pepa in Spain about her Spanish translation or James Holden here in the USA to get his opinion about whether my understanding of Morin’s Latin was correct. I also carefully researched the individuals Morin used as examples. Morin did not include chart images in Book 18 because he had already included them in early books of his Astrologia Gallica. I did my best to reproduce Morin’s original charts with modern software and included them in my translation of Book 18.

One of Morin’s favorite examples was that of King Gustavus Adophus of Sweden. Morin did not have access to AstroDataBank, which gives the king’s data (rated AA from BC/BR) as 9 December 1594 Julian or 19 December 1594 Gregorian at 7:30 AM LMT. The AA rated chart has an Ascendant of 9 Sag 06′ 45″ and an MC of 21 Libra 38′ 55″. Morin used the data from his sources (and he may have rectified the chart, I’m not sure) and came up with the following chart, which he published in Book 17:

Morin’s chart for King Gustav Adolf from Book 17

In Book 18 Morin frequently commented about “formal” versus “accidental” features of birth charts. I have included some of the relevant Latin texts. By “formal” Morin meant that the feature was essential or present by the very definition of the feature. By “accidental” Morin meant that a feature was present by accident, that is, in accordance with where a planet happened to be at the time, and not because of some essential feature that planet possessed in the chart.

Morin gives the EXAMPLE of a planet residing within a house. Because the planet lies within the boundaries (cusps) of a house, it is formally determined to the meanings of that house. However, that planet may also conjoin the cusp of the next house if, by accident, it falls near the end of the house which it formally occupies. In such a case, the planet is accidentally determined with respect to the significations of the next house, which it does not formally occupy.

Note that Morin’s example of an accidental feature in a chart is not a definition of accidental.  By “accidental” Morin means that something occurs by accident, by chance, and not because of its essential nature. There are many accidental features in a chart. A planet conjoining the cusp of the next house is only one such accident.

Morin also used “formal” and “accidental” with reference to signs accidentally acting as if they were houses. I was very surprised when I first read this section of Book 18, so I checked with James Holden to be sure I was reading the Latin text correctly, and he agreed.

Morin was familiar with many of the ancient texts, and I believe he may have adopted this notion that zodiac signs could accidentally serve as houses from his reading of Masha’allah who described two methods of reckoning the 12 “places.” Masha’allah mentioned “counting” each zodiac sign as a place beginning from the ascending sign as the 1st Place. He described another method of reckoning the 12 places “by division,” which entails measuring equal 30-degree arcs along the ecliptic from the Ascendant degree.

Another possibility is that Morin regarded the signs as acting accidentally as houses through the principle of analogy, which he used throughout Astrologia Gallica. For example, Morin regarded the 9th house as being essentially in trine to the 1st house (see his essay on the Cabal of the 12 Houses) in the Regiomontanus “rational” system which divides the Equator into 12 equal segments. In the chart of King Gustav Adolf, the sign Leo lies within the Regiomontanus 8th house but is in trine to Sagittarius in the 1st. Thus, by analogy, Leo has a 9th house trine relationship to Sagittarius, which accidentally gives Leo in this chart a 9th house determination in addition to its formal 8th house determination as a sign contained in the formal 8th house.

Morin firmly believed that the Regiomontanus system was the essential, formal or true method of house division because it was grounded in the very definition of what a mundane or terrestrial house really is. On the other hand, Morin also referred in several places to signs functioning accidentally as if they acted as houses. At the red arrow in the Latin quote below, Morin writes that Saturn is “formally” in the 8th and “accidentally” in the 9th. Saturn is formally in the 8th because it occupies the 8th Regiomontanus house of this chart, which Morin believed to be the true and essential form of house division. Saturn is “accidentally” in the 9th because, like Masha’allah, he counts Leo as being the 9th sign from the Sagittarius Ascendant.

In this example, Saturn is NOT accidentally in the 9th owing to its accidental placement at the end of the 8th house. Here Saturn at 24 Leo 35′ is about 10.5 degrees away from the cusp of the 9th house, which is at 5 Virgo. Earlier in Book 18, Morin states that the influence of Saturn extends only up to 7 degrees away from the body of Saturn. If Saturn were within 7 degrees of the cusp of the 9th, then it would be accidentally determined toward the 9th and would also be accidentally in the 9th because the sign Leo acts as if it were the 9th place “by counting.”

The next Latin quote is also from Book 18 (page 116 in my translation). The first sentence (Rursus in eadam genitura Regis Suetiae Sol dominus octavae, nonae est formalitur in prima domo & accidentaliter in secunda) in English reads: “Again, in the geniture of of the King of Sweden, the Sun, lord of the 8th and 9th, is formally in the 1st house and accidentally in the 2nd. Here, Morin is stating that the Sun rules the 8th because Leo occupies the formal 8th Regiomontanus house, and the Sun also rules the accidental 9th house because Leo “by counting” is the 9th sign counted from the Sagittarius Ascendant. Hence, Morin describes the Sun as “lord of the 8th and 9th.

He then writes that the Sun is formally in the 1st because the Sun (at 27 Sagittarius 13′), in fact, occupies the 1st house, but the Sun is accidentally in the 2nd, because the influence of the Sun extends 18 degrees from its body (to about 15 Capricorn) so that the Sun conjoins the cusp of the 2nd house (at 7 Capricorn) and its influence extends well into the 2nd house. (Interestingly, I just noticed that given Morin’s orbs, the Sun also conjoins 9th ruler Mercury, which occupies the 2nd. This would be another argument for death in a foreign land.)

I urge readers to argue as much as possible from Morin’s original Latin text, which I did my best to put into English with the help of Pepa’s Spanish translation and James Holden’s consultations about my understanding of Morin’s Latin. It is still possible I may have misunderstood something in the Latin but in reading over the comments and differing understandings expressed in social media, I believe I have rendered Morin’s words correctly in English.

Beware of Parcel Post from Walter Horsford

Annie Holmes of Huntingdon, UK, a 38-year-old widow and mother of three children, received a special package in the mail on January 7, 1897. She had been having a love affair with her 26-year-old cousin, Walter Horsford, a well-to-do farmer from nearby Spaldwick. A few months earlier, in October of 1896, the youthful farmer had married another cousin, Bessie Mash. Alas! Annie got pregnant, and Walter didn’t want his new wife to learn of the affair, so he offered to provide Annie with something to end the pregnancy.

Walter went to a local pharmacy and purchased strychnine, telling the druggist that he needed to rid his farm of rats. Instead, he prepared a special tonic for Annie to help her end the pregnancy. Annie dutifully followed the instructions which Walter included with the tonic [“one dose, take as told” and “take in a little water, it is quite harmless”]. Not long after imbibing the potion, Annie was screaming in agony. Her daughter called the doctor who arrived to find Annie dead. Walter’s abortion tonic had indeed been successful but the evidence at the scene pointed to murder, and Walter was arrested and eventually put on trial.

Having been found guilty, Walter was sentenced to death by hanging, which occurred on June 28, 1897 in Cambridge prison. TrueCrime Library reports that while imprisoned, Walter “wrote to his wife and the prison governor confessing the murder, and adding that he had murdered another girl, named Fanny James, eight years earlier. Horsford had sent her a tonic through the post, too, and when she died the inquest verdict was Death through eating a hearty supper.”

Fanny James was his former fiancée whom Walter impregnated and murdered in 1890 when he was 19 years old. She died in agony shortly after receiving the daily post with a missive from her lover Walter. In addition, Walter apparently gave a glass of beer to one of Fanny’s male relatives, who died also in agony shortly after consuming the beverage.

Investigations also revealed that yet another girlfriend, with whom Walter was intimate, died after reading one of his missives that had just arrived in the post. In all, he allegedly poisoned four people to cover up his philandering and various impregnations. His natal chart ought to be of interest to astrologers.

In 1001 Notable Nativities Alan Leo gives the birth data of Walter as March 2, 1871 with an Asc of 7 Aries 30 and an MC of 3 Capricorn. Here is a close approximation of the birth chart described by Alan Leo.

Walter Horsford, serial killer

Walter was born on a Jupiter day during a Jupiter hour. Jupiter is a traditional symbol of children and procreation.

Aries rises with Chiron closely conjunct the horizon. Asc-ruler Mars in Libra opposes Chiron (the wounded healer) and Venus in Aries. Venus rules his 7th house of partnerships. Mars rules the 8th of death. The Venus-Mars mutual reception probably relates to his ease in finding new romantic partners whom he could impregnate and murder (exchanging 8th house death with 7th house sexual partners). Mars in Libra, and Venus in Aries, are each in the sign of their detriment, so the mutual reception did not foster their best behavior.

Saturn, dignified in Capricorn, conjoins the South Lunar Node at the MC, squares the planets near the horizon, and opposes the Moon in Cancer in the 4th. This Cardinal Grand Cross dominates the chart. I was unable to find much biographical information about Walter online. One wonders what childhood influences could have led to his becoming an amorous serial killer. Between ages 5 and 6, by primary direction Neptune would have crossed the eastern horizon as the Saturn-South Lunar Node conjunction crossed the MC. This must have been a difficult period in his life. He committed an early murder (Fanny James) at age 19 as Pluto was crossing the eastern horizon by primary direction.

Interestingly, on the day of his execution by hanging, his secondary progressed Sun exactly conjoined his natal Ascendant.

Jay Leno confronts Saturn, Mars and Zeus

Recently the comedian Jay Leno has been in the news because of a series of accidents and surgeries. An avid fan of automobiles, he suffered severe burns to his face and upper body on November 12, 2022, while working on his cars in Burbank, CA. Then, about 2 months later, he had a serious motorcycle accident on January 17, 2023, in which he broke some bones. He had surgery to address his most recent injuries on Tuesday January 24, 2023. Astrologers would expect Saturn, Mars and Uranus to be active in his chart at such times. AstroDienst gives his chart as follows (rated A).

In the natal chart, Saturn rules the 12th and 1st houses and is the contrary-to-sect malefic because he was born at night. For the past few months Saturn has been transiting over his Ascendant degree, which typically indicates a difficult period with potentially serious health issues.

Natally, Mars closely opposes Venus, the ruler of his 3rd house of local travel, which probably correlates with his fascination with cars as well as the danger involved in their use.

The next chart superimposes the Noon chart for the November 12th accident, which resulted in severe burns, over the natal chart. Astrologers would expect Mars to be active in a chart related to fire.

In this chart transiting Saturn, at almost 19 Aquarius, applies to conjoin the natal Ascendant within about 4 degrees. Saturn rules the Placidus 12th house and applies to the Ascendant from its position in the 12th house. Thus, Saturn’s 12th house impact will be strong felt on the Ascendant, which signifies the body and health of the native.

Some horary astrologers misunderstand Lilly’s “5-degree rule.” In speaking of the Ascendant, Lilly writes on page 33 of Christian Astrology: “…what Planet you shall find to be in that space, you shall say that he is in the first house; yet if he be within 5 degrees of the Cusp of any house, his virtue shall be assigned to the house whose Cusp he is nearest…”  Clearly, Lilly respects the cusps of houses as the boundaries of the houses, but he notes that a planet near the end of a house (with 5 degrees) shall have its virtue “assigned to the house whose Cusp he is nearest.” The “virtue” or significations of the planet affect the nearest cusp, but the planet stays in the house where it is located.

In Jay Leno’s chart, transiting Saturn occupies the 12th house but its “virtue” or impact is felt strongly at the Ascendant. Even though Saturn rules Aquarius, where it has the high dignity of being domicile lord, Saturn’s rulership and occupation of the 12th (where Saturn rejoices because he is the “author of mischief” according to Lilly), and its being a diurnal planet in a nocturnal chart, seem to dominate its significations.

Uranus is prominent in this accident, as the transiting Sun opposes transiting Uranus, and both square transiting Saturn, which conjoins the natal Ascendant. Transiting Uranus also squares natal Pluto in the 6th (illness).

Mars is prominent at the time of the accident, as transiting Mars squares the natal Mars/Venus opposition and also opposes natal Chiron (being wounded). Transiting Mars also squares transiting Neptune, which conjoins natal Venus (ruler of the 3rd of automobiles) and squares natal Mars.

Also indicating a difficult period, transiting Sun, Mercury and Venus all closely square the natal Ascendant.

Checking another technique, I cast the Wynn Key Return for the date of the November accident. Wynn directed the Solar Return MC to the specific date of an event and used the transits of that day and location in the chart. Here is Leno’s Wynn Key chart for 12 Nov 2022.

Quite striking in the Wynn Key chart is that on the day of the accident, transiting Uranus was conjunct the MC, opposite the Sun/Mercury/Venus grouping and square transiting Saturn, which conjoined the 7th cusp and opposed the Ascendant. The Asc degree of the Wynn Key chart lies almost exactly opposite his natal Ascendant.

For those who use the Uranian TransNeptunian Points, on the day of the fiery accident in November of 2022, natal Zeus (a fiery energy) was at the midpoint of transiting Mars with transiting Zeus was equal to natal Zeus and the natal Asc, as can be seen in the next diagram. Transiting Mars was also conjunct natal Vulcanus. The Mars/Zeus midpoint is associated with shooting flames and danger of fire. Here, Mars/Zeus by transit = natal Zeus = natal Asc.

Another significant feature of this chart is that Uranus/Neptune = Zeus at birth, indicating the natal potential for serious or fatal injury through fire, gas explosions or automobiles. Thus, natal Zeus = natal Uranus/Neptune (danger through fire or automobiles) = natal Asc (his environment) = transiting Mars/Zeus (shooting flames), and so on as you can see in the above chart which combines the natal and transiting placements.

Jay Leno confronts Saturn and Mars

Recently the comedian Jay Leno has been in the news because of a series of accidents and surgeries. An avid fan of automobiles, he suffered severe burns to his face and upper body on November 12, 2022, while working on his cars in Burbank, CA. Then, about 2 months later, he had a serious motorcycle accident on January 17, 2023, in which he broke some bones. He had surgery to address his most recent injuries on Tuesday January 24, 2023. Astrologers would expect Saturn, Mars and Uranus to be active in his chart at such times. AstroDienst gives his chart as follows (rated A).

In the natal chart, Saturn rules the 12th and 1st houses and is the contrary-to-sect malefic because he was born at night. For the past few months Saturn has been transiting over his Ascendant degree, which typically indicates a difficult period with potentially serious health issues.

Natally, Mars closely squares Venus, the ruler of his 3rd house of local travel, which probably correlates with his fascination with cars as well as the danger involved in their use.

The next chart superimposes the Noon chart for the November 12th accident, which resulted in severe burns, over the natal chart.

In this chart transiting Saturn, at almost 19 Aquarius, applies to conjoin the natal Ascendant within about 4 degrees. Saturn rules the Placidus 12th house and applies to the Ascendant from its position in the 12th house. Thus, Saturn’s 12th house impact will be strong felt on the Ascendant, which signifies the body and health of the native.

Some horary astrologers misunderstand Lilly’s “5-degree rule.” In speaking of the Ascendant, Lilly writes on page 33 of Christian Astrology: “…what Planet you shall find to be in that space, you shall say that he is in the first house; yet if he be within 5 degrees of the Cusp of any house, his virtue shall be assigned to the house whose Cusp he is nearest…”  Clearly, Lilly respects the cusps of houses as the boundaries of the houses, but he notes that a planet near the end of a house (with 5 degrees) shall have its virtue “assigned to the house whose Cusp he is nearest.” The “virtue” or significations of the planet affect the nearest cusp, but the planet stays in the house where it is located.

In Jay Leno’s chart, transiting Saturn occupies the 12th house but its “virtue” or impact is felt strongly at the Ascendant. Even though Saturn rules Aquarius, where it has the high dignity of being domicile lord, Saturn’s rulership and occupation of the 12th (where Saturn rejoices because he is the “author of mischief” according to Lilly), and its being a diurnal planet in a nocturnal chart, seem to dominate its significations.

Uranus is prominent in this accident, as the transiting Sun opposes transiting Uranus, and both square transiting Saturn, which conjoins the natal Ascendant. Transiting Uranus also squares natal Pluto in the 6th (illness).

Mars is prominent at the time of the accident, as transiting Mars squares the natal Mars/Venus opposition and also opposes natal Chiron (being wounded). Transiting Mars also squares transiting Neptune, which conjoins natal Venus (ruler of the 3rd of automobiles) and squares natal Mars.

Also indicating a difficult period, transiting Sun, Mercury and Venus all closely square the natal Ascendant.

Checking another technique, I cast the Wynn Key Return for the date of the November accident. Wynn directed the Solar Return MC to the specific date of an event and used the transits of that day and location in the chart. Here is Leno’s Wynn Key chart for 12 Nov 2022.

Quite striking in the Wynn Key chart is that on the day of the accident, transiting Uranus was conjunct the MC, opposite the Sun/Mercury/Venus grouping and square transiting Saturn, which conjoined the 7th cusp and opposed the Ascendant. The Asc degree of the Wynn Key chart lies almost exactly opposite his natal Ascendant.

Monterey Park Mass Shooting

Frequent mass shootings have become a staple of life in the United States. The most recent gun massacre occurred on 21 January 2023 at 10:22 PM near a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey, California. It is a tragic event which has deeply affected the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in this country. I wondered if we could learn something astrologically by studying the chart of this tragedy. Unfortunately, if we wait a week or so, we will have yet another similar chart to look at.

According the CNN: “The shooting happened at 10:22 p.m. local time. … Huu Can Tran, 72, was identified as the suspect by Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. Tran was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday afternoon inside a cargo van after a standoff with police in Torrance, California. He had once been a regular presence at the dance studio, even meeting his ex-wife there, three people who knew him told CNN. It is unclear how frequently Tran visited the dance hall, if at all, in recent years.”

The gunman’s motive for the attack is still unknown. The astrological chart for the start of the event, cast on a 90-degree dial, looks like this:

Mass shooting in Monterey Park, California began at 10:22 PM PST, according to CNN.

Mars rules guns and shootings. With the Pointer placed on Mars, we see its prominent connections to other factors in the chart, especially to the personal points: 0 Aries (connections to the world at large), the Moon’s Nodes (associations and connections to others), the Moon, the Ascendant (environment) and the MC. The connections among the planets in the chart seem to reflect the nature of the incident. As the the motive of the shooter, one might speculate that Venus/Neptune = Mars could indicate unusual desires and frustrated erotic imaginings (Saturn-Venus-Neptune) leading to a sense of disillusion and dissatisfaction and provoking a sudden violent outburst (Mars-Uranus).