Anthony Louis's Blog, page 29

My two cents on the recent protests and riots in the USA

May 25th of 2020 was an eventful day for race relations in the United States. In NYC a white woman in Central Park threatened to call the police on a black man, who was bird-watching, because she was unhappy that he asked her to leash her dog. She knew instinctively that the responding police might agree with her that bird-watching while black is a heinous crime in America. On the same day, responding to a complaint that a man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis had passed a fake $20 bill, police arrived at the scene and forced the man to the ground, after which one officer compressed the black man’s neck with his knee until the man fell unconscious at about 8:01 PM according to the NY Time reconstruction of the incident. The officer then continued the pressure for a couple more minutes, and Mr. Floyd man was later pronounced dead. Following the May 25th incidents of overt racism in Central Park and the murder of a black man in Minnesota because of a counterfeit $20 bill, the country understandably has experienced daily protests, some of which have turned into violent riots.

I wondered how these incidents would be reflected in the July 4th USA chart with Gemini rising. Gemini is the sign of the Twins, and it is interesting that the murder of Mr. Floyd, which took place in the so-called Twin cities, became a matter of such national prominence.

I prefer the symbolic chart with about 7 Gemini 23 rising. Gemini is the sign which 19th century astrologers assigned to the USA. In the symbolic Gemini rising chart for the Declaration of Independence, Uranus (rebellion) and Mars (war) are rising in the 1st house. Here is the Gemini rising chart with the moment that the police compressed the neck of George Floyd enough so that he became unconscious.

[image error]This is a busy diagram. Note transiting Mars in Pisces near the top of the chart forming a close square to natal Uranus in Gemini the 1st house. Note also transiting Neptune in Pisces forming a close square to natal Mars in Gemini the 1st house. Thus, the two natal planets, Mars & Uranus, which are symbolic of the American demand from freedom from oppressive Britain, are being stimulated by transiting squares. In addition, the transiting Sun, which will enter into an eclipse in the near future, is applying to conjoin the natal ASC and natal Uranus. Also, transiting Jupiter is stimulating natal Pluto in Capricorn, the 8th whole sign which has to do with crises and death.

Not shown in the above diagram is that the MC of the moment that Mr. Floyd was rendered unconscious by the policeman’s knee lies opposite the secondary progress USA Sun, which lies at 14 Pisces 59, and in square to the upcoming Lunar Eclipse of June 5th which takes place in 15 degrees of Gemini/Sagittarius. Here is the USA chart with the June 5th Eclipse superimposed.

[image error]Note how transiting Mars in Pisces of the eclipse ch
art lies in square to the eclipse itself. The Asc of the eclipse chart conjoins the USA natal Saturn, ruler of the natal 8th house. Eclipse Uranus in Taurus in the USA 12th is closely semi-sextile natal Uranus.

Not shown in the above chart are the positions of the MC of the George Floyd going unconscious chart at 14 Virgo 51, in square to the eclipse, and the USA progressed Sun at 14 Pisces 59, also in square to the eclipse. The next diagram shows the USA chart inside, surrounded by the eclipse chart in the middle and the secondary progressed chart (solar arc in RA) on the outside.

[image error]Note the progressed Sun at 14 Pisces 59 at the top of the chart, conjunct Mars in 15 Pisces in the eclipse chart, and square the eclipse Sun/Moon opposition in 15 Gemini/Sagittarius from the 1st to the 7th houses of the USA Gemini rising chart.

Given the prominence of Mars in the above charts, I looked up what Abu Ma’Shar wrote about Mars in this book Flowers regarding mundane astrology. He writes (italics mine):

“Mars signifies agents of wars and the authors of battles, and those rising up against the king; also sudden death with a multitude of infirmities, severe fevers and the cutting of roads [aka highway robbery], sheddings of blood, and attacks of fires, and the wasting of the river.” (Dykes translation, 2014, p319)

Abu Ma’Shar could easily be describing the events of the past week in the USA.

Back in March I wrote that I expected a resurgence of the pandemic in mid-June 2020 as transiting Pluto approached its exact opposition to the natal Mercury of the USA chart. At the time I believed it would be a result of opening the country after a prolonged period of lockdown. Given the events of the past week, it is more likely that the new spike in covid-19 cases around mid-June of 2020 will be the result of large groups of people protesting in the streets with little social distancing.

Sibly on Length of Life in Horary Astrology

Recently I was browsing through Sibly’s 1817 book on astrology and studying some of his sample horary charts. Not long ago a colleague asked me about time limits for horary charts, whether they were of short duration or could span the lifetime of the querent. What struck me about one of Sibly’s charts was that he directly addressed a length of life question from a querent, based on the horary figure. Sibly also has some interesting comments to make about the judgment of timing in horary, so I thought it would be useful to post the chart here with some additional comments of my own.

On 16 April 1783 at 11 o’clock in the morning a man of some prominence in the British Navy asked Sibly whether it would be advisable to purchase life-annuities, the answer to which depended by how soon he was likely to die. Here is Sibly’s chart in which he used Placidus houses which were the standard system of domification in England in the 18th century.

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Except for his calculation of the Part of Fortune, Sibly’s chart is remarkably close to one done by modern computer:

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Sibly begins by determining whether the chart is radical and fit to be judged. The question was asked on a Wednesday (ruled by Mercury) during a Sun hour. The fact that the Sun rules both the Ascendant and the planetary hour is an indicator of a radical chart. Sibly also matches the chart to the physical appearance of the querent and decides that the close fit also indicates that the chart is radical.

He then begins to answer the question, noting that the Sun signifies the life-force and is posited in its exaltation sign Aries in the powerful 10th house. It is favorable that the Sun receives no aspects from the lords of the 6th, 8th, 4th or 2nd houses. There is some concern that the Moon, ruler of the 12th of undoing and confinement, applies to oppose the Ascendant-ruler Sun. After squaring the Sun, the Moon will enter Scorpio where it will square the Ascendant degree and then sextile Saturn in Capricorn in the 6th house. Sibly continues:

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Sibly notes that the Moon lies in Libra, ruled by Venus, which in turn occupies Taurus and is about to semi-sextile the Asc-ruler Sun. As the Moon rules the 12th of secret enemies, he tells the querent that he will be injured by some female connection (both Moon and Venus can signify women) who is just pretending to be a friend. I don’t know how he calculated the P.F. in his chart, but Sibly argues that the Moon disposes Fortuna and so the querent will lose part of his fortune through this relationship with a deceptive woman.

Sibly then looks at future aspects of the Moon. He says, incorrectly, that the Moon will square the Ascendant degree from an airy sign (Libra) but in reality the Moon will lie in Scorpio when that square perfects. Perhaps he is thinking that the square will become in orb in the airy sign Libra. In any case he predicts health problems from Moon square Asc, such as “wind cholic” or problems with the bowels and kidneys. These problems won’t kill him because the Asc-ruler Sun is so strong.

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In the above section Sibly talks about the querent’s recent past. He notes that the North Lunar Node in the 9th Placidus house shows success in a recent voyage. However, Saturn’s opposition to Sibly’s incorrectly calculated Part of Fortune and the Moon’s separation from the Moon’s South Node in the 3rd (a travel house) and from the opposition to Mercury (a signifier of winds) in Aries in the 9th of voyages indicates that a recent hurricane had threatened the ship.

Next Sibly is asked to time when the illnesses he foresaw would occur. He calculates that Moon in his horary chart will oppose Sun in 11 degrees 59 minutes of arc. Sibly then takes the latitude of the Moon (1 degree 39 minutes S) and adds it to the arc between the Moon and the Sun’s opposition, to arrive at 13 degrees 32 minutes of arc. Because the Moon lies in Libra and the Sun in Aries (both cardinal or movable signs) Sibly converts the arc which he calculated into weeks and days and predicts that the querent will fall ill around July 20, 1783 and that he will survive the illness. By modern computer the latitude of the Moon is 1 degree 29 minute S, slightly different than Sibly’s value:

[image error] Planetary Data for Sibly’s Horary Chart



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Sibly concludes by telling the reader that he ran into the querent some time later and, of course, his predictions were right on target. On the basis of Sibly’s accuracy the querent decided to invest in life annuities, firm in the knowledge that he would not die until he reach 69 years of age. Unfortunately, Sibly does not explain how he arrived at age 69 for the demise of this querent.

The Centre of the World in Ancient Astrology

Recently I was reading an article by Shlomo Sela about A Newly Discovered Treatise by Abraham Ibn Ezra (c.1089–c.1161) in which Sela discussed some of the astrological work done by Ibn Ezra during his stay in England. Among the many things that caught my attention was the discussion of three horoscopes, the first of which was for “the entry of the Sun into Aries in 1067 at the centre of the world” (italics mine). This horoscope varies from one calculated by modern computer and astronomical observations. It is set for March 15, 1067 at 7:24 AM at the “centre of the world” which is considered to be a point on the Equator south of India. The Ascendant is given in the text as 25 Aries 24 but the diagram in the article appears to have placed it at 25 Pisces 24. The second horoscope is set for Winchester, UK, and the third one is for the syzygy (Full Moon) preceding the great conjunction of Jupiter/Saturn, set for the centre of the world. According to the article, “the great conjunction is said to have occurred on 6 September 1067 and the preceding syzygy on 26 August.”

The reconstructed chart for the Aries Ingress of 1067 at the centre of the world from page 254 of the article looks like this:

[image error]1067 Aries Ingress at the Centre of the World at Aryn on the Equator (This chart reproduced from the article by Sela may be incorrectly drawn because the stated Ascendant in the text is at 2t ARIES 24, not 25 Pisces 24 as shown above.)

Sela points out that the “centre of the world” was said to be a place called Arin or Aryn. He also notes the following:

“The idea of casting horoscopes of great conjunctions for the centre of the world is in tune with Abraham Ibn Ezra’s teaching and is also found in the second treatise attributed to al-Kindī. Likewise, casting horoscopes for both the entry of the Sun into Aries and the syzygy preceding the great conjunction is what seems to be advocated in the present tripartite text (Part I, §3.3:3–4; Part II, §2:5–8; Part III, §2:2–3). It should be noted, however, that this stands in sharp contradiction to Abraham Ibn Ezra, who resorts to syzygy horoscopes only and strongly rejects the horoscope of the Sun’s entry into Aries.”

Where exactly is the “center of the world” which is called Aryn? Again quoting the translation of the newly discovered treatise from the article: “we already know that the longitude of Winchester from the Occident is 19° and that its longitude from the middle of the world is 71°, which amount to 4 hours and 44 minutes, and the uniform motion of the Sun in these hours and minutes is 11 minutes and 40 seconds.” In other words, the longitude of Winchester, UK, is 71 degrees along the Equator from Aryn, the center of the world. The authors of the article go on to correct these values somewhat, but we can form a preliminary estimate for the longitude of Aryn by measuring 71 degrees of longitude from Winchester, England:

In our modern coordinate system Winchester lies at 51.0598° N, 1.3101° W, so that moving 71 degrees to the east of Winchester would give a longitude of 69.69899° E for Aryn on the Equator. Some sources state that Aryn (Arin) refers to the city of Ujjain in India, which is not on the Equator, but the centre of the world, according to Ptolemy, is a point on the Equator which is more or less a midpoint of the known inhabited portion of the world in Ptolemy’s time.

The 1903 text  Hobson-Jobson: A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, gives some clarification of the meaning of Arin (bold mine):

“OOJYNE, n.p. Ujjayani, or, in the modern vernacular, Ujjain, one of the most ancient of Indian cities, and one of their seven sacred cities. It was the capital of King Vikramaditya, and was the first meridian of Hindu astronomers, from which they calculated their longitudes.”

“The name of Ujjain long led to a curious imbroglio in the interpretation of the Arabian geographers. Its meridian, as we have just mentioned, was the zero of longitude among the Hindus. The Arab writers borrowing from the Hindus wrote the name apparently Azin, but this by the mere omission of a diacritical point became Arin, and from the Arabs passed to medieval Christian geographers as the name of an imaginary point on the equator, the intersection of the central meridian with that circle. Further, this point, or transposed city, had probably been represented on maps, as we often see cities on medieval maps, by a cupola or the like. And hence the “Cupola of Arin or Arum,” or the “Cupola of the Earth” (Al-kubba alardh) became an established common place for centuries in geographical tables or statements. The idea was that just 180° of the earth’s circumference was habitable, or at any rate cognizable as such, and this meridian of Arin bisected this habitable hemisphere. But as the western limit extended to the Fortunate Isles, it became manifest to the Arabs that the central meridian could not be so far east as the Hindu meridian of Arin (or of Lanka, i.e. Ceylon).”

“They therefore shifted it westward, but shifted the mystic Arin along the equator westward also. We find also among medieval European students (as with Roger Bacon, below), a confusion between Arin and Syene. This Reinaud supposes to have arisen from…Ptolemy, a place which he locates on the Zanzibar coast, and approximating to the shifted position of Arin. But it is perhaps more likely that the confusion arose from some survival of the real name Azln. Many conjectures were vainly made as to the origin of Arym, and M. Sedillot was very positive that nothing more could be learned of it than he had been able to learn. But the late M. Reinaud completely solved the mystery by pointing out that Arin was simply a corruption of Ujjain. Even in Arabic the mistake had been thoroughly ingrained, insomuch that the word Arm had been adopted as a generic name for a place of medium temperature or qualities.” (Hobson-Jobson, 1903, p637)

Hobson-Jobson clarifies that the longitutde of the centre of the inhabited world (the mystical point Arin on the Equator, which served as a prime meridian for ancient Hindu astrologers) may have originally been considered to be that of Ujjain, India (23.1765° N, 75.7885° E) but that Arab astrologers tweaked the longtiude from 75.7885° E to move it westward by several degrees. This tweaking would account for the value used by Ibn Ezra of about 69.69899° E for Aryn.

The next two charts shown the Aries Ingress of 1067 cast for the “centre of the world.” The first chart is set for the longitude of Ujjain, India and the second chart to the value of the longitude of Arin used in the treatise by Ibn Ezra which in the original text has an Ascendant of 25 Aries 24 but the modern computer version has an Ascendant of 25 Taurus 51.

[image error]1067 Aries Ingress at the Centre of the World taken as the longitude of Ujjain, India, on the Equator at 075E46.




[image error]1067 Aries Ingress at the Centre of the World taken as the mysitical point Aryn on the Equator at 69d 42m East, about 6 degrees west of the longitude of Ujjain, India, as modified by Arab astrologers.

Ben Dykes in Astrology of the World: II (2014) refers to the Centre of the World as “Tarah” and on page 414 he translated al-Rijal as stating:

“Know that when Ptolemy wanted to know the longitude of the tract of the Earth, he took from the well-known Canary Islands in the Roman sea (it is not known what comes after them except that the Sun sets there), to the remotest city of China in the east — and it is not known what is beyond that place as well, except that the Sun rises from it”

Ptolemy then took the midpoint along the Equator of the two remotest parts of the Earth (assuming a 180-degree span from the Canary Islands in the west to the easternmost point in China) to be the Centre of the World. In this scheme the Centre of the World lies 90 degrees to the east of the Canary Islands. The westermost point of the Canary islands lies at 16.6291° W, moving to the east 90 degrees would place the Centre of the World at about 73E22, which is close to the longitude of Ujjain at 75E46.

Interestingly, some Hindu astrologers continue to use the longitude of Ujjain to calculate the planetary day and hour lords for their horary and electional work. There is yet another and even older prime meridian in Hindu astrology set for the longitude of the mythical Yamakoti, which Ernst Wilhelm places at 00N00 latitude and 165E46 longitude in today’s coordinates, probably based on some ancient theory about the extent of the habitable world. It makes little sense to use these ancient prime meridians today because we now live in a world that is inhabited in all of its 360 degrees.

A fascinating part of the story of the “centre of the world” is the transmission of ideas back and forth among Indian, Persian, Jewish and Arab astrologers and the attempts of European translators to make sense of the Arabic and Hebrew texts when they translated them into Latin.

Addendum (29 May 2020):

Rok Koritnik left the following informative comment on FaceBook, so I decided to reproduce it below, along with his map. Looking at the map it occurs to me that Romaka may correspond to the western boundary of Africa or the Canary Islands, which were believed to be the line of demarcation of the inhabited world to the west because beyond that point was only ocean. Then the other points or meridians may simply have been mathematical constructs, 90 degrees apart, to divide the world into equal quarters, only the first two of which were inhabited by humans. Thus, Lanka (Aryn, Ujjain) was the “centre of the inhabited world” and Yamakoti was its easternmost boundary. Siddhauri would then be the point on the Equator exactly opposite the centre of the world. It is possible that ROMAKA refers to the westernmost boundary of the ROMAN Empire in the Canary Islands. Here is Rok’s comment with his map:

“Surya Siddhanta mentions four places, 90 degrees apart on the equator: Yamakoti, Lanka, Romaka and Siddhapuri.

I’ve created a map to show where they were located, because the distance from Ujjain to Yamakoti is known.

It would be nice to know why it was Yamakoti that served as the ancient prime meridian for the people of India and then later Ujjain became one.

In one way, when I think about this it would make sense to me that Giza is the center of the world, because it is situated at the center of Earth’s landmass. But it is not on the equator, so…“

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Tweaking the USA Gemini Rising Symbolic Chart

For many years my favorite chart for forecasting regarding the USA has been the Gemini rising chart with the 8th degree of Gemini rising. In the 19th century the British-American astrologer Luke Dennis Broughton (1828 – 1898) taught that the USA fell under the sign Gemini. Around the end of the 19th century some U.S. astrologers began experimenting with a USA chart that had roughly 7 Gemini 35 rising, which was the chart popularized by Elbert Benjamine of the Brotherhood of Light.

During my early days in astrology one of my favorite astrologers, Don Jacobs, and his son Jayj used historical events to validate the 7 Gemini 35 chart with a “birth time” of about 2:14:14 AM LMT in Phildelphia on July 4, 1776. There is another popular chart reported by Carolyn Dodson with 7 Gemini 14 rising (time 2:13 AM LMT). Back in 2013 I used the Boston Massacre to tweak the time of this chart slightly to about 2:13:43 AM LMT. Here is my “rectified” USA chart with Regiomontanus houses.

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It occurred to me that a further check on this chart would be the current pandemic, which I thought would be reflected in the superimposition of of the December 26, 2019 Solar Eclipse chart onto the Gemini rising chart. Here is the Gemini rising chart with the December 26, 2019 eclipse superimposed.

[image error]Note that the Solar Eclipse of December 26, 2019 fall exactly on the 8th Regiomontanus cusp of the Gemini rising USA chart, suggesting a period of massive death. This eclipse also opposes the “natal” Venus-Jupiter conjunction on the 2nd cusp of the USA chart, suggesting a financial downturn. In addition, Venus rules the 6th Regiomontanus cusp of disease in the USA chart. Also, transiting Venus in the eclipse chart falls on the lunar nodal axis of the USA chart.

Finally, here is the eclipse chart as a stand-alone figure set for Philadelphia:

[image error]In the eclipse chart set for Philadelphia there is a close conjunction of Sun-Moon-Jupiter-Ketu on the I.C., with Jupiter in the sign of its Fall and ruling the 6th house of disease. In the superimposed charts diagram this conjunction falls on the 8th Regiomontaus cusp of the USA Gemini rising chart, suggesting a disease outbreak with a high mortality in the population.

Further Reflections on Triplicity Lords

In the previous post I commented on a view of triplicity rulers that was prevalent in the 15th century. Having recently watched an interview with Jenn Zahrt done by Mychal A. Bryan, I was interested in comparing what Jenn had to say with the 1485 text of Diego of Torres who taught astrology to university students in Salamanca. One of the comments that Jenn made, which garnered a lot of interest, was the idea that the third triplicity lord of the 9th house had to do with one’s relationship to astrology and divination.

For those unfamiliar with triplicity rulers, let me give a brief overview. Triplcity is one of the five so-called essential dignities of Western astrology. Most astrologers are familiar with dignity by domicile, the home sign(s) of a planet. For example, the home signs or domiciles of Mercury are Gemini and Virgo. A planet’s home is his castle, where he rules and decides what happens there. The next essential dignity is exaltation, where a planet is “raised on high” and treated like an honored and distinguished guest. Planets that are placed at such a high or powerful level usually feel quite happy about it, but sometimes it can “go to their heads” and they can become somewhat haughty or arrogant.

The third essential dignity is triplicity, which refers to a type of rulership related to the elemental nature of the signs (Fire, Earth, Air, Water). Each element is allotted a community of three triplicity lords, one that comes first in day charts, one that comes first in night charts and one that comes in third all the time. The Fire and Air signs are considered diurnal, masculine, yang or of positive valence, and their lords come from the group of diurnal planets: Sun, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury which rules and Air sign and is diurnal when it rises before the Sun. The Earth and Water signs are considered nocturnal, feminine, yin and of negative valence, and their lords come from the community of nocturnal planets: Moon, Venus and Mars. Even though Mercury rules Virgo, an Earth sign, and is nocturnal when it rises after the Sun, Mercury is omitted from the group of nocturnal triplicity rulers. Thus, the traditional scheme of triplcity rulership looks like this:

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The fourth essential dignity is called term or bound, and it refers to divisions of signs into five unequal parts, each of which is ruled by a non-luminary visible planet. William Lilly used the terms or bounds as descriptors of the physical appearance of clients and as symbols of material manifestation. In a sense the terms are like your extended kin who bear some physical resemblance to you because they are blood relations.

The fifth essential dignity is called face or decan. Face is the weakest of the essential dignities. Jenn Zahrt mentions that in Renaissance astrology the dignity of face by analogy is like a stranger who is allowed to stay in a foreign land because he or she possesses some special skill or talent.

Triplicity Lords in Chart Delineation

Many astrologers primarily utilize the domicile lord of the sign on the cusp of a house to signify the matters assigned to that house. Two millennia ago Dorotheus proposed using the triplicity lords to futher refine the delineation of particular areas of life. A post in Seven Stars Astrology makes it clear that Dorotheus regarded all three triplicity rulers to be active all the time but in a particular order of predominance:

“The triplicity of Aries: its lords by day are the Sun, then Jupiter, then Saturn; and by night Jupiter, then the Sun, then Saturn.” (Dorotheus, Book I, Ch. 1, #4, Dykes trans., 2017, p. 61-62)

In other words, in a day chart, the 3-member community of triplicity lords of the diurnal Fire sign Aries are, in order: Sun, Jupiter, Saturn but …

in a night chart, the 3-member community of triplicity lords of the diurnal Fire sign Aries are, in order: Jupiter, Sun, Saturn, all of which are ruling the Fire triplicity in a nocturnal chart in this order.

It appears that medieval and Renaissance astrologers may have misunderstood Dorotheus and thus mistakenly believed that one of the triplicity rulers got turned off when the Sun went down. Instead, Dorotheus seems to be stating that all three triplicity lord are active all the time but that the first one predominates and is modified by the other two.

A further twist on triplicity lords was to use them to assign the many significations of a house of particular planets which belong to the triplicity’s 3-lord community. The following is a very brief summary of such a subdivision based on the writings of Al-Andarzaghar (6th century?), Al-Qabisi (Alcabitius, 10th century), Ibn Ezra (12th century), Bonatti (13th century) and Diego de Torres (15th century). There are some slight disagreements among these authors about which triplicity lord rules which significations of the house in question.

1st House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: the life, life force, preferences, desires and nature of the native; the first years of life, the start of any undertaking
Second Lord: the life, body and strength of the native; the middle years of life
Third Lord: the life, body and strength of the native, the final years and the end stage of life

2nd House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: acquiring possessions, food and wealth at the beginning of life
Second Lord: acquiring possessions, wealth in the middle of life
Third Lord: acquiring possessions, wealth in the later years of the life

3rd House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: older siblings (born before the native)
Second Lord: middle siblings (close in age to the native)
Third Lord: younger siblings (born after the native)

4th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: Parents (father and mother), the father (Ibn Ezra)
Second Lord: lands, field, countries, real estate, homes, cultivated lands, buried treasure, concealed objects
Third Lord: final outcomes, endings, prison, the final period of life, the end of anything

5th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: children, offspring, pregnancy
Second Lord: pleasures, vices, enjoyments, clothing, gifts (Ibn Ezra); eating, drinking and being merry
Third Lord: messengers, emissaries; giving of gifts for benefit (Bonatti)

6th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: illness and recovery from illness, disease, sickness, defects, wounds, poor health
Second Lord: slaves, servants, maids, employees
Third Lord: the activity and benefits of slaves/servants/employees to the native, small cattle, domestic animals, prison, calumny and confinement

7th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: spouse, intimate partner, women, coitus (sexual intercourse)
Second Lord: conflict, controversies, disputes, war, adversarial relationships, litigation, thieves, open enemies
Third Lord: covenants, formal agreements, business partnerships, social intercourse

8th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: death, fear, grief, ruin
Second Lord: very old things, anything ancient
Third Lord: inheritances and legacies from the dead

9th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: journeys, travels and their suitability
Second Lord: religion, faith, religious observance, eminence in matters of religion
Third Lord: science, knowledge, wisdom, visions, premonitions, omens, divination, astrology, and the truth or falsehood of such matters

10th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: authority, honor, high rank, governance, career; the mother (Ibn Ezra)
Second Lord: reputation, fame, bravery, the ability to command
Third Lord: professions, the stability and endurance of one’s authority or fame

11th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: hopes, things given in trust, recognition from others
Second Lord: friends, companions, patrons
Third Lord: benefit or harm from friends or patrons

12th House Triplicity Lords:

First Lord: sorrow, grief, poverty, fear, disgrace; enemies (al-Andarzagar), secret enemies (Bonatti)
Second Lord: imprisonment, fortune or misfortune; laborers (Bonatti)
Third Lord: large animals that you can ride; enemies (Ibn Ezra)

Triplicity Rulers in 15th Century Spain

A couple years ago I came across a 15th century manuscript entitled Opus Astrologicum by Diego de Torres, a university professor at the Colegio de San Bartolomé in Salamanca, Spain. The text appears to be his handwritten notes used for teaching a basic astrology course to college students during the late 1400s. One source dates it to about 1485, but the author cites Summa Anglicana by John of Ashenden, which was published in 1489, so the manuscript may have been written around that date or the reference may have been added later to the original text.

Diego de Torres was born in Salamanca on January 27, 1435 and attended the university there, where he studied arts and medicine. He functioned as chair of astrology at the University of Salamanca during the period 1482-1496. Diego de Torres drew upon many medieval texts which had been translated from Arabic into Latin during the Middle Ages. I’ve been slowly working my way through the manuscript, written in old Castilian Spanish, to see how astrology was understood and taught to students late in the 15th century.

[image error]El Colegio Mayor San Bartolomé, fundado en 1.401, es un centro propio de la Universidad de Salamanca que combina las modernas instalaciones en las que actualmente se encuentra, junto al Campus Unamuno, con el sabor de la tradición que nos da el ser el Colegio Mayor más antiguo de España.

Having recently watched an interview which Mychal A. Bryan did with Jenn Zahrt regarding triplicity rulers, I was inspired to reread the section of Diego de Torres’s 15th century manuscript on this topic. Below I have translated the section of the manuscript regarding the use of triplicity rulers in natal chart delineation, as it was taught to astrology students in 15th century Spain. I have tried to keep the translation fairly verbatim but on occasion have worded the text to make it flow more easily in modern English. I would ask that anyone quoting this translation give due credit to its source. An interesting feature of this text is that Diego de Torres utilizes the state and condition of the third or participating triplicity lord to modify the action of the first two lords. In other words, the third triplicity is always active during the life of the native and is always modifying the influence of the first two lords.

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Here is my first draft of a translation of this section of Diego de Torres on Triplicity Rulers:

“If in the judgment [of a birth chart], in addition to the above, we would like to follow Ali Abenragel, we would judge the nativity by the lords of the triplicity of each house, of which there are three, and each has its meaning according to its state, strength and fortune.

For example, suppose that the ascendant is the 1st degree of Libra, where Saturn, Mercury and Jupiter have triplicity. The first [triplicity lord] means life because the ascendant signifies the life and nature of the native, as well as the good and evil that will happen to him in the beginning of his life, and [suppose that the first triplicity lord Saturn] was located in the 12th house, which is cadent and signifies enemies, but [the 12th] being home to Saturn’s joy and being oriental of the sun, it’s not so bad.

From this [the first triplicity lord of the ascendant sign] we will judge the beginning of his life and how he will be raised in the third [the first of three parts] of his life, namely, his early childhood which lasts 4 years. If it [the first triplicity lord] were retrograde or combust it would imply bad parenting and poor nourishment, but if fortunate and strong it would mean the opposite.

The second lord of this [Air] triplicity is Mercury, which has signification regarding the life force, the body and the half of the life, which is judged according to the house where it has strength or fortune in itself and with the other planets. The third [Air triplicity ruler] is Jupiter, which accompanies [participates with] the other two and signifies the end of man’s years, and should it [Jupiter] be weak it thusly influences the other two lords, but if it be strong it gives [both of] them strength. In this case, it means that the final years of the native’s life will be good.

Once this is known, observe the second house and which sign is located there [on its cusp] and who are the lords of the triplicity of that sign. The first triplicity lord will signify wealth at the beginning of life, according to the house it is in, [for example] if the sign of Scorpio is on the second house cusp and Venus [the first triplicity lord of Water signs in day charts] is in the 3rd house, then although Venus is the lord of the first triplicity [of Scorpio], we will judge by [Venus being in] the 3rd house and not by the sign of the triplicity, which is the sign of Scorpio, considering her strength as I pointed out earlier.

In the 3rd house the lords of the triplicity signify as follows: the first lord, the older siblings; the second, the middle ones; and the third, the youngest ones.

In the fourth house, the first triplicity lord signifies the father; the second, the lands; and the third, the end of all things.

In the 5th house, the first triplicity lord signifies the children; the second one, the vices; and the third, messengers. And you must proceed like this with the remaining houses, as taught by Ali Abenragel, taking into account that if the birth was by day, it is [the diurnal] order [of triplicity rulers] and if the birth is at night, the second lord is the first, the first is the second, and the third [participating] lord does not vary.

And this applies to any birth either of man or woman, except for a few differences: in the case of wanting to know if the marriage will be good or not, for a man’s nativity we observe the place of Venus and the Moon and for the woman we observe the place of the Sun; and if she will marry well or not, we look to Mars. To find out if the woman will be chaste or lustful we observe the place of the Sun and the Moon, if they be in female signs she will be chaste but if they be in male signs she will be lustful and perhaps even infertile. The same [principle] is true when applied to a male nativity. If you want to know more, I refer you to the specific books about this topic.”

End of Translation

Afterthought: In this passage Professor Diego de Torres demonstrates his skill as a teacher of university students. He spends a lot of time explaining to the young men how to judge whether their girlfriends are likely to be chaste or to be lusting after sexual intimacy with little chance of getting pregnant.

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All original text in this post is copyright Anthony Louis 2020

Luke Broughton on Gemini as the zodiac sign of the USA

The 19th century British-American astrologer Luke Broughton (1828-1899) popularized the idea that the USA was a nation ruled by the sign Gemini. This notion was repeated by other astrologers of the time, such as Raphael in his book on Mundane Astrology. I’m not sure where the idea originated, whether Broughton learned it from his teachers in England or whether he came up with the association on his own. In the pages below, reproduced from his 1860s Monthly Reader, Broughton points out that the entry of Uranus into Gemini corresponds with a period of war in the USA, and in particular that when Uranus reaches about 9 degrees of Gemini there is a declaration of independence. Here is a reproduction of his original text.

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Constellational Astrology

Recently I’ve gotten interested in what has been called “astronomical astrology” or “true sidereal astrology” which is a form of sidereal or fixed-star-based astrology in which the planets are located in the actual constellations or star groups as they appear in the sky. For example, if you were born with the Moon in the middle of the group of stars we call Leo, your Moon would be considered a “Leo Moon” rather than being a Moon in the tropical sign Cancer. Constellational astrology is a kind of “what you see is what you get” form of the art, which is based strictly on direct observation of the position of planets in the sky against the backdrop of the fixed stars.

While both tropical and sidereal astrology divide the zodiac into equal 30-degree signs, “constellational astrology” partitions the zodiac circle (or path of the Sun) into thirteen constellations of unequal size. Some constellations are bigger than others and occupy more space along the zodiac. In addition, the foot of the physician snake-bearer constellation Ophiuchus crosses the zodiac circle, so that Ophiuchus is allotted a portion of the zodiac circle. The image below shows how Ophichus occupies about 18.6 degrees of the ecliptic (the blue line) between Scorpio and Sagittarius.

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Ophiuchus is associated with the myth of Asclepius , the noted healer of Greek legend, but he may also be related to the Babylonian god Nirah, a serpent deity whose upper half was human and lower half consisted of serpents for legs (not unlike Sagittarius whose upper half is human and lower half is that of a horse).

[image error]Asclepius in mythology represents the healing aspect of the medical arts..

As mentioned, each IAU designated constellation will occupy a distinct portion of the ecliptic circle. The following lists gives the number of degrees along the ecliptic that is allotted to each of the 13 zodiacal constellations (note that these are star-groups rather than the traditional “signs” of the zodiac which are always 30-degrees in length). The listing is compiled for the date J2000.0 and gives the number of ecliptic degrees in each constellation along the ecliptic, the duration in days and the date on which the Sun enters that constellation.

Aries: 24.7303 degrees (lasts ~ 25 days, starting around April 18 Gregorian)Taurus: 36.7229 degrees (lasts ~ 37 days, starting around May 14 Gregorian)Gemini: 27.8479 degrees (lasts ~ 28 days, starting around June 21 Gregorian)Cancer: 20.0504 degrees (lasts ~ 20 days, starting around July 20 Gregorian)Leo: 35.8124 degrees (lasts ~ 36 days, starting around August 10 Gregorian)Virgo: 43.9593 degrees (lasts ~ 45 days, starting around September 16 Gregorian)Libra: 23.2372 degrees (lasts ~ 23 days, starting around October 31 Gregorian)Scorpio: 6.5905 degrees (lasts ~ 6 days, starting around November 23 Gregorian)Ophiuchus: 18.5999 degrees (lasts ~ 19 days, starting around November 29 Gregorian)Sagittarius: 33.4184 degrees (lasts ~ 34 days, starting around December 17 Gregorian)Capricorn: 27.8315 degrees (lasts ~ 29 days, starting around January 19 Gregorian)Aquarius: 24.1635 degrees (lasts ~ 24 days, starting around February 16 Gregorian)Pisces: 37.0368 degrees (lasts ~ 38 days, starting around March 12 Gregorian)

For dates other that J2000.0, the values in the above listing for the number of degrees per constellation along the ecliptic will vary slightly due to precession as the ecliptic will tilt slightly with respect to the Earth’s equator. For example, in the year 0, Ophiuchus occupies 18.5672 degrees along the ecliptic. By the year 1000, Ophiuchus was covering 18.5834 ecliptic degrees; in the year 2000, 18.5999 degrees; and in the year 3000, Ophiuchus, due to the tilting of the Earth’s axis in its precession, will span 18.6167 degrees.

Now that we have established the sizes of the IAU designated constellations, a standardized measure agreed to among astronomers, all that remains is to determine where to start the zodiac, that is, which point to choose as 0 degrees of the constellation Aries. As usual, there are differing opinions about which value to select as the ayanamsa (the difference in degrees between the starting point of tropical and the sidereal zodiac).

For example, one site by Bruce McClure, using the boundaries for constellations set by the International Astronomical Union in the 1930s. notes that on 19 April 2019 the Sun entered the constellation Aries at 29.09 ecliptic degrees of tropical sign Aries. This corresponds to a chart set for 11:33 AM BST in Greenwich, UK, on 19 April 2019 (as calculated in Solar Fire v9.0.26). In the sidereal zodiac with the popular Lahiri ayanamsa, this would place the Sun at 4 Aries 58 sidereal. Thus, if we were to add 4 degrees 58 minutes to the Lahiri ayanamsa for the year 2019, we would place the Sun at 0 Aries sidereal.

Another site, in a video by sidereal astrologer Athen Chimenti, uses a “custom” ayanamsa in which the fixed star Beta Aries (Sharatan) is set to occupy 2 Aries 15 in the “true” sidereal zodiac. This star near the beginning of the star-group Aries was at 3 Taurus 58 tropical in the year 2000. With the Lahiri ayanamsa this star would lie at about 10 Aries 07 sidereal. If we were to add about 7 degrees 52 minutes to the Lahiri ayanamsa for the year 2000, it would place Beta Aries at 2 Aries 15 sidereal.

[image error]One choice for beginning the CONSTELLATION ARIES is to position the fixed star Sheratan (Beta Aries) at 2 Aries 15 of the sidereal zodiac as a reference point.

Looking at the sky with the program Stellarium, we can see the issue more clearly. According to the sky maps, the Sun in the year 2020 should enter the constellation Aries around April 21, 2020, as can be seen in the following images, which show the transiting Sun moving along the ecliptic at a position around the end of the constellation Pisces and the beginning of the constellation Aries.

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[image error]Sky on 21 April 2020

These images are set for the period when the Sun is leaving the constellation Pisces and entering the constellation Aries. On April 20, 2020, the star Alrescha at the end of Pisces has a tropical ecliptic longitude of 29d 40m 04s. At the same time the earliest star in constellation Pisces on this map, Mesathrim, has an ecliptic longitude of 33d 28m 23.8s. Thus, the boundary between the constellations Pisces and Aries should lie somewhere between these values. If we were use the midpoint between these two stars, we would place the boundary between Pisces and Aries at 31d 34m 14s of ecliptic longitude on 20 April 2020. In the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri ayanamsa this boundary would like at 7 Aries 26 of the Lahiri sidereal zodiac. Thus, if we were to add 7 degrees 26 minutes to the Lahiri ayanamsa for the year 2020, we would place the Sun at 0 Aries sidereal in this star map. This value which we derived from Stellarium is very close to that used by sidereal astrologer Athen Chimenti, namely a “custom” ayanamsa in which the fixed star Beta Aries (Sharatan) is set to occupy 2 Aries 15 in the “true” sidereal zodiac as a standard of reference.

Below is a section of a chart cast in the “true” sidereal zodiac with Beta Aries set at 2 Aries 15 as a reference point.

[image error]This chart, from a video by Athen Chimenti, is cast in the “true” sidereal zodiac with unequal constellations which shows the positions of the planets in the constellations as they actually appear in the sky. The symbol in the black space between Scorpio and Sagittarius is the constellation Ophiuchus.

Here is the same chart as the one above but cast in the tropical zodiac with Placidus houses.

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Author Vasilis Kanatas, who wrote about about incorporating the constellation Ophiuchus into the zodiac circle give a someone different set of values that those discussed above. According to Kanatas, the number of days the Sun spends in each constellation as it travels around the ecliptic are as follows:

Number of Days in Each Sign

Aries: 25.5 days
Taurus: 38.2 days
Gemini: 29.3 days
Cancer: 21.1 days
Leo: 36.9 days
Virgo: 44.5 days
Libra: 21.1 days
Scorpio: 8.4 days
Ophiuchus: 18.4 days
Sagittarius: 33.6 days
Capricorn: 27.4 days
Aquarius: 23.9 days
Pisces: 37.7 days

The following table gives the values suggested by author Vasilis Kantas for the year 2000.

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Your Smartphone Can Help During This Pandemic

This blog is normally about astrology and tarot, but today I make an exception. In a recent article about SILENT HYPOXIA by Dr. Richard Levitan in the NY Times, the doctor commented on what he learned treating Covid-19 pneumonia at Bellevue Hospital. Specifically, he found that “these patients did not report any sensation of breathing problems, even though their chest X-rays showed diffuse pneumonia and their oxygen was below normal.” Apparently those sick with Covid-19 were suffering from silent hypoxia in which they had severely low levels of oxygen in their blood despite the lack of apparent symptoms. The low oxygen levels were not discovered until the disease had progressed to dangerous levels. Dr. Levitan wrote: “Normal oxygen saturation for most persons at sea level is 94 percent to 100 percent; Covid pneumonia patients I saw had oxygen saturations as low as 50 percent.” The next stage of the illness is often respiratory failure and the need for a ventilator.

The doctor recommended the following: “There is a way we could identify more patients who have Covid pneumonia sooner and treat them more effectively — and it would not require waiting for a coronavirus test at a hospital or doctor’s office. It requires detecting silent hypoxia early through a common medical device that can be purchased without a prescription at most pharmacies: a pulse oximeter.”

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Here’s where your smartphone comes in. Many mobile phones have a built-in pulse oximeter. My own phone is a Samsung, and the Samsung Health app has a feature to measure “stress level” which includes heart rate and blood oxygen levels. I have tested my Samsung phone on many occasions over the past year against a commercial pulse oximeter used in a hospital and the results were identical, so it is very accurate. I don’t have an iPhone, but I assume that Apple products probably have a similar feature.

Simply by checking our levels of oxygen daily to make sure they stay in the normal range (above 93%) is a way of tracking whether the virus is silently affecting our lungs. Our smartphones can be a useful tool in keeping us healthy during this crisis.

Mychal Bryan interviewed me about Evangeline Adams

In his podcast astrologer Mychal A. Bryan interviewed me about the horary method of Evangeline Adams. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOR7Va_973g&t=131s

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