Anthony Louis's Blog, page 32

Ebenezer Sibly's Use of Placidus Houses in the late 1700s

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The British astrologer Ebenezer Sibly (1751 – c. 1799) is perhaps most noted for the chart he published for the July 4th 1776 Independence Day of the United States of America. In discussing with Chris Brennan on The Astrology Podcast the increasing popularity of Placidus houses in England beginning at the end of the 17th century, I cited a reference to Sibly’s translation of Placidus from page 441 the 1898 book The Elements of Astrology by Luke Dennis Broughton:

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Although the above direct quote from Broughton’s text indicates that E. Sibly translated the 1850 book by Placidus from Latin into English, the wikipedia entry on Sibly states that the translation was done by his brother Manoah Sibly (1757 – 1840) who was a linguist. In any case, it seems clear that Ebenezer Sibly had access to, and made use of, the translated works of Placidus in the year 1789. Judging from E. Sibly’s published horoscope charts, he was using Placidus houses in his astrological practice at the end of the 18th century.

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The following image of the USA Independence chart is taken from Figure No. 53 following page 1055 of Ebenezer Sibly’s A New and Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology, published posthumously in 1826.

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Sibly’s chart for “America Independence” is cast for London at around 10 pm on 4 July 1776. In London 19 Aquarius 49 is rising on the Ascendant and 13 Sagittarius 12 is the degree of the Midheaven. Modern computer calculations indicate that the “birth time” for this chart is 9:53:14 pm LMT in London, UK. This would correspond to a time of 4:53:15 pm LMT in Philadelphia, PA.

The evidence that Ebenezer Sibly is using Placidus cusps can be seen in the intermediate houses. Sibly’s 2nd house cusp at 20 Aries 00 corresponds to the modern computer calculation of 19 Aries 54 as the 2nd Placidus cusp. Sibly’s 3rd house cusp at 23 Taurus 00 corresponds to the modern calculation of 22 Taurus 25 as the 3rd Placidus cusp. Sibly’s 12th house cusp at 20 Capricorn 00 corresponds to the modern values of 19 Capricorn 46 as the 12th Placidus cusp. Finally, Sibly’s 11th house cusp at 1 Capricorn 0 corresponds to the modern calculation of 0 Capricorn 40 as the 11th Placidus cusp. In fact, Sibly appears to have rounded his numbers to the nearest degree.

The point of this historical interlude is that the influential British astrologer Ebenezer Sibly, who died around 1799, was influenced by the writings of Placidus, perhaps through his brother’s translations, and was advocating the use of Placidus houses in the final decades of the 18th century, well before the popularization of Tables of Placidus Houses in England in the 1820s. One could argue that Sibly’s adoption of Placidus houses was one of the forces that prompted the adoption of Placidus as the dominant house system in England in the 19th century.

How Placidus Became the Dominant House System

This month Chris Brennan invited me to discuss the history of the Placidus house system in England and America on his site The Astrology Podcast. It was a lot of fun and I think it went well. I learned a lot both from preparing for the presentation and from Chris’ expertise in the history of astrology.

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Zadkiel’s Rejection of Regiomontanus Houses

On Friday 21 February 2020 I had the great pleasure of chatting with Chris Brennan of The Astrology Podcast about a blog post I did regarding the switch from Regiomontanus to Placidus houses in England, starting at the end of the 17th century. This podcast is due to be published by the end of February.

One of the questions Chris raised, which I couldn’t answer off the top of my head, was whether Zadkiel in his 1852 abridged version of Lilly’s Christian Astrology had converted Lilly’s charts from Regiomontanus to Placidus. Having dug out my copy of Zadkiel’s book, I can now say that the answer is “no.” Zadkiel simply copied Lilly’s charts verbatim with their Regiomontanus cusps. As far as I have been able to discern, however, nowhere does Zadkiel explain that despite his advocacy of Placidus houses, he is presenting Lilly’s charts in Regiomontanus form.

Several factors make it clear that Zadkiel uses Placidus houses. First, he has eliminated Lilly’s tables of Regiomontanus houses from the beginning of the abridged version. Oddly, he has not provided any tables of houses but instead refers students to use a Table of Houses when casting charts without specifying a publisher or specific text. Perhaps there was a standard table of houses in use in England in the 1850s, so there may have been no need to be more specific. Historically the tables of houses published in the mid- to late 19th century in England were of Placidus houses. R.C. Smith (aka Raphael) published a popular astrological almanac with tables of Placidus houses in 1821, making the Placidus system widely available to the public from that date forward.

What makes it clear that Zadkiel is using Placidus houses is his example chart on page 20 in which he is showing students how to cast a horoscope. This chart is clearly cast with Placidus cusps.

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 On page 21 Zadkiel writes: “If the student look for 0 [degrees] Cancer on the 10th house [cusp] in the table of houses for London, he will find the longitude of the six eastern houses, as here noted …”   In this horoscope the cusps are of Placidus houses, so Zadkiel is clearly using a Placidus table of hosues to construct his chart. Starting in the late 17th century under the influence of the prominent astrologer John Partridge, British astrologers began to reject the use of Regiomontanus houses and instead adopt Placidus houses as their standard of practice.

Nonetheless, when Zadkiel reproduces Lilly’s charts, he simply copies Lilly’s original cusps, which are Regiomontanus and he does not explain, as far as I have been able to find, that Lilly was using Regiomontanus.  When I first read Zadkiel’s book back in the 1970s, I assumed that everything was done in Placidus houses. It was not until the Regulus edition appeared mid-80s that I realized Lilly was using Regiomontanus.

An online copy of Zadkiel’s abbreviated version of Lilly’s 1647 text can be found at this link: An Introduction to Astrology

Zadkiel's Rejection of Regiomontanus Houses

On Friday 21 February 2020 I had the great pleasure of chatting with Chris Brennan of The Astrology Podcast about a blog post I did regarding the switch from Regiomontanus to Placidus houses in England, starting at the end of the 17th century. This podcast is due to be published by the end of February.

One of the questions Chris raised, which I couldn’t answer off the top of my head, was whether Zadkiel in his 1852 abridged version of Lilly’s Christian Astrology had converted Lilly’s charts from Regiomontanus to Placidus. Having dug out my copy of Zadkiel’s book, I can now say that the answer is “no.” Zadkiel simply copied Lilly’s charts verbatim with their Regiomontanus cusps. As far as I have been able to discern, however, nowhere does Zadkiel explain that despite his advocacy of Placidus houses, he is presenting Lilly’s charts in Regiomontanus form.

Several factors make it clear that Zadkiel uses Placidus houses. First, he has eliminated Lilly’s tables of Regiomontanus houses from the beginning of the abridged version. Oddly, he has not provided any tables of houses but instead refers students to use a Table of Houses when casting charts without specifying a publisher or specific text. Perhaps there was a standard table of houses in use in England in the 1850s, so there may have been no need to be more specific. Historically the tables of houses published in the mid- to late 19th century in England were of Placidus houses. R.C. Smith (aka Raphael) published a popular astrological almanac with tables of Placidus houses in 1821, making the Placidus system widely available to the public from that date forward.

What makes it clear that Zadkiel is using Placidus houses is his example chart on page 20 in which he is showing students how to cast a horoscope. This chart is clearly cast with Placidus cusps.

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 On page 21 Zadkiel writes: “If the student look for 0 [degrees] Cancer on the 10th house [cusp] in the table of houses for London, he will find the longitude of the six eastern houses, as here noted …”   In this horoscope the cusps are of Placidus houses, so Zadkiel is clearly using a Placidus table to construct his chart. Starting in the late 17th century under the influence of the prominent astrologer John Partridge, British astrologers began to reject the use of Regiomontanus houses and instead adopt Placidus houses as their standard of practice.

Nonetheless, when Zadkiel reproduces Lilly’s charts, he simply copies Lilly’s original cusps, which are Regiomontanus and he does not explain, as far as I have been able to find, that Lilly was using Regiomontanus.  When I first read Zadkiel’s book back in the 1970s, I assumed that everything was done in Placidus houses. It was not until the Regulus edition appeared mid-80s that I realized Lilly was using Regiomontanus.

An online copy of Zadkiel’s abbreviated version of Lilly’s 1647 text can be found at this link: An Introduction to Astrology

A Pleasant Surprise

On 4 February 2020 I received a surprise in the mail. Llewellyn Publishers sent me copies of my book Tarot Plain and Simple translated into Russian. Here is a photo.

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In my natal chart, transiting Moon was exactly conjunct my natal Uranus in Gemini in the 9th house when the books arrived.

There is also a Spanish translation, which has been well received in Spain according to amazon.es:

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Bias in astrological data collection?

Hillary Clinton has been making the news recently because of her negative comments about Bernie Sanders. During the last election cycle there was much debate about the accurate birth time of Hillary Clinton. Interestingly AstroDataBank (astro.com) lists two birth times: one of 8:02 AM rated as DD (“dirty” or conflicting data) and the other of 8 PM, which is not rated at all despite the fact that it is what Hillary herself quotes as her own birth time and it is supported by a 1993 article in the Chicago Sun Times. Normally when data is quoted by the person it receives an A rating, or if it is drawn from a news source it might receive a B rating. Why Hillary’s own statement of her birth time goes unrated and is put in second place in AstroDataBank is baffling. I recall Chris Brennan in one of his podcasts saying that he personally asked Hillary for her birth time at a book signing and she responded “8 PM”. Shouldn’t this time take precedence in our data collection?

Here is a copy of the 1993 article in which the reporter apparently interviewed the family and saw copies of some birth documents.

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To facilitate reading, I have highlighted the following section below:

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“Early on Oct 26, 1947” Hillary’s mother arrived at Edgewater Hospital to deliver her first child. “Some 12 hours later” she welcomed Hillary into the world.

According to this 1993 article by Lynn Sweet, based on interviews and documents from Hillary’s family, Hillary was born “some 12 hours” after an early morning time, which would mean she was born in the afternoon or early evening. If her mother arrived at the hospital around 7 or 8 AM, then “some 12 hours later” would place the time of birth around 8 PM, which is what Hillary says when she is asked, apparently from a memory of what her mother told her.

Usually astrologers believe what their clients tell them and then try to look for corroborating evidence as to the birth time. In Hillary’s case there were comments by astrologers that maybe she was lying or trying to deceive astrologers so that they could not accurately comment about her chart. To me this view is utter nonsense because Hillary probably give little credence to astrology. In fact some astrologers got caught publicly lying about having documentation of the actual birth time. The likelihood is that Hillary was indeed born around 8 PM as she maintains and as is suggested by the 1993 article in the Chicago Sun Times.

Many astrologers in 2016 chose to ignore Hillary’s own stated birth time and instead used the 8:02 AM time to forecast the outcome of the election. Most of them got the prediciton wrong, suggesting by astrological reasoning that the morning birth time is probably inaccurate.

The Death of Kobe Bryant

Today (26 Jan 2020) there was shocking news from California. Basketball star Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash. Bryant was born on 23 August 1978 in Philadelphia. The time of birth is not independently verified but one source gives it as 5 pm EDT, Rodden rating C. Here is the 5 pm birth chart in the tropical zodiac with Placidus houses.

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In judging death we would consider the 8th house, its ruler and occupants; the 12th house of dissolution, limitation and loss; and the 4th house of final endings and the grave. If this 5 pm chart is accurate, the 8th house is ruled by the Sun and contains Mercury, the Sun and Saturn. The Sun has dignity only by decan (face). Both Saturn and Mercury are totally without essential dignity and is thus peregrine. In addition, Saturn is combust the sun. The lack of essential dignity and the presence of malefic Saturn in the 8th raise the possibility of a shorter than average life span. The conjunction of 9th whole sign ruler Mercury with the 8th Placidus cusp is consistent with death related to air travel. The conjunction of 4th ruler Mars with Pluto could symbolize some type of violence at the end of life.

Now let us consider the solar return for the current year. Here is the natal 5 pm chart with the solar return at the birthplace superimposed.

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In the combined chart, we see that transiting Saturn, South Node and Pluto are in the natal 1st house rising toward the Ascendant, suggesting that themes related to these planets will be a major focus during the year. Saturn rules the natal Ascendant and occupies the natal 8th house. Solar return Mars almost exactly conjoins natal Saturn in the 8th house. Mars is his out-of-sect malefic in the natal chart, so its aspects can be particularly difficult. SR Mercury, which rules the natal 9th whole sign, conjoins the natal 8th cusp in the return chart. SR Venus, which rules the natal 9th Placidus cusp, conjoins natal Saturn in the natal 8th house, again linking 8th house matters with the 9th house of air travel.

We should also consider the profected Ascendant. At age 41 Bryant’s profected Ascendant lies in the sign Gemini, ruled by Mercury. Gemini is both the 6th whole sign and the 6th Placidus house, thus issues of bodily injury become a major theme for the year. Natal Mercury at the cusp of the 8th house raises the possibility of death from such injuries. In addition, the SR Ascendant is closely conjunct SR Jupiter which rules the natal 12th house.

If we consider primary directions, the Venus term/bound of Pisces has risen to the horizon at age 41 so that his “distributor” or “divisor” for this period is Venus, which is partnered by the Sun, ruler of the natal 8th house of death because the opposition of the Sun from the natal 8th Placidus house has risen to the horizon most recently before the bound of Venus. SR Venus conjoins natal Saturn and SR Mars in the natal 8th this year, again raising the risk of death.

Regarding primary directions, we see the following calculated by Placidus semi-arc with the Naibod key, with and without latitude:

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He began the year with the opposition of Saturn coming to the Ascendant by primary direction. This is especially prominent because Saturn rules the natal Ascendant, and the SR Saturn occupies the natal first house during this solar return year. The period when the Ascendant ruler opposes the Ascendant usually indicates potential harm to the physical body through illness or injury.

If we look at Bryant’s chart from a Hindu perspective with the Lahiri ayanamsa, we see the following:

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Sidereal chart with Lahirii ayanamsa

In the sidereal chart Sagittarius rises. On the date of the helicopter crash the Vimshottari dasa is Rahu/Saturn/Saturn/Saturn. Rahu lies in the 10th sign from the Lagna with the Placidus 9th cusp (air travel). Rahu is disposed by Mercury, which rules the 7th sign from the Lagna, so Mercury is a maraka or killer planet. Saturn rules the 2nd sign from the Lagna and is also a maraka or killer planet. Thus, the crash occurs during a period when both marakas are activated in the Vimshottari dasa system. In addition, Saturn occupies the 9th sign from the Lagna where the 8th Placidus cusp also resides. In the Chara dasa (KN Rao version), Bryant is running a Leo/Leo period. Leo is the 9th sign from the Lagna and contains the maraka Saturn and the cusp of the Placidus 8th house cusp.

Even though the 5 pm birth time has not yet been verified by other sources, the chart it produces is consistent with the potential for death in his 41st year.

Addendum (27 Jan 2020): in a comment, Patrick Ross pointed out the true lunar nodes in this year’s solar return are stationary and turning direct. I have repeatedly found that when the true nodes are stationary at the time of the solar return, the individual has a year marked by dramatic changes and unexpected events. In Koby Bryant’s solar return for the date of the helicopter accident, the true nodes are not only stationary but they are closely conjunct the Placidus 2nd/8th house axis and they fall in the whole sign 2nd and 8th houses, which have to do with the native’s mortality. The South Node (Ketu) is not only stationary but it also conjoins and lies between two cruel planets, Saturn and Pluto.

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Reflections on a Fallen Mars

Recently I read a discussion in a traditional astrology group about combustion, planetary dignity, the effect of sect on the so-called “malefic” planets, Mars and Saturn. Combustion occurs when a planet is obscured by the light of the sun due to its close proximity. Sect refers to whether the sun was above or below the horizon at the time of birth. A Hellenistic principle is that Saturn, as a diurnal planet, acts more favorably with day-time births, whereas the nocturnal planet Mars behaves in a more beneficial way in the lives of natives born between sunset and sunrise. Dignity refers to a planet being posited in a section of the zodiac which it rules as a home sign (domicile), a sign where it is exalted, a triplicity sign, a term or bound region of a sign, or a decan (face). Opposite the sign of exaltation of a planet is the sign of its “depression” or “fall.”

One of the charts discussed in the forum was that of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps whose birth time in unknown. For unknown birth times I generally use a sunrise chart because the symbolism of the rising sun corresponds to the phenomenon of birth. Here is Phelps’ chart in the tropical zodiac set for sunrise because his birth time is unknown.

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There is a proposed chart for Phelps floating around the internet with a birth time of 5:55 AM, but it is a speculative chart based on a rectification by a Hindu astrologer V.K. Choudry. In my opinion, rectified charts rarely match the actual birth time, so I am using the sunrise chart which has a solid symbolic rationale.

Because the birth time is unknown, we don’t know whether Phelp’s Mars is in sect (sun below the horizon) or out of sect (sun above the horizon) at the time of birth. If he were born at night, as Choudry’s rectified chart suggests, then Mars would feel at home in the nocturnal chart and would be more beneficial than if Phelps were born during the daytime.

Regardless of sect, Mars is not in great shape in this chart, a fact which might seem surprising in such a great athlete. The red planet is both combust (obscured by the light of the sun) and in Cancer, the sign of its “depression” or fall. William Lilly relates the state of combustion to feeling overpowered by a greater force. The water sign Cancer, ruled by the Moon, is considered a maternal, nurturing, sensitive and emotional sign. In contrast, Mars is a “warrior” planet devoted to action and getting things done in a direct and “hard-ball” manner. Mars doesn’t want to talk about feelings, which are the bread and butter of the sign Cancer.

Michael Phelps has been quite open about his struggles with depression, drugs and alcohol — themes which likely related to his combust and fallen Mars, regardless of the sect of the chart. An argument in favor of a night birth is that Mars, though quite afflicted, has been able to express itself in his remarkable athletic prowess while at the same time being symbolic of his feeling overpowered by emotions during his bouts of depression and his struggle to deal with dependence on drugs and alcohol.

Let me quote from a 2018 interview he gave at Brookhaven Hospital (it is worth reading the interview in its entirety because it fits so well with the symbolism in Phelp’s chart):

“Really, after every Olympics I think I fell into a major state of depression,” said Phelps when asked to pinpoint when his trouble began. He noticed a pattern of emotion “that just wasn’t right” at “a certain time during every year,” around the beginning of October or November, he said. “I would say ’04 was probably the first depression spell I went through.”

… He said drugs were his ways of running from “whatever it was I wanted to run from.” He continued, “It would be just me self-medicating myself, basically daily, to try to fix whatever it was I was trying to run from.”

It is noteworthy that Phelps times the onset of his recurrent seasonal depressions to October and November annually. During these months the Sun is transiting through tropical Libra and Scorpio. Each year in October the transiting Sun stimulates Venus, the ruler of Libra, thus activating his natal Venus opposite Saturn/South Node. As the Sun moves into Scorpio in the late fall, it stimulates the same Venus – Saturn/Ketu opposition from its Scorpio side. Pluto is also activated at this time.

Here is a typical delineation of Saturn opposing Venus quoted from the site Astromatrix: “The opposition between Venus and Saturn shows emotional frustrations. This is a difficult aspect as the harshness of Saturn weighs heavily on the affairs of Venus such as happiness, harmonious relationships, artistic endeavors, and financial security. You may look at your accomplishments with continuous dissatisfaction, underestimating your self-worth.”

Although we can’t reliably use Phelp’s chart to comment about sect, it does provide a good example of the value of delineating planets in combustion and in the sign of their fall or depression. It also demonstrates the way that the transiting sun activates each sign, its occupants and ruler, as it makes its way around the zodiac each year.

Tropical vs Sidereal Years in Calculating Solar Returns

There is a disagreement in the literature about the best way to calculate solar returns. Should we have the Sun return to its birth position with respect to the vernal point or with respect to the fixed stars? Should charts cast in the tropical zodiac be “corrected” for precession of the equinoxes? Should charts cast in the sidereal zodiac be “corrected” so that the natal sun returns to its position with respect to the vernal point?

As an aside, let us note that the solar return was traditionally cast for the birth place, and this practice was in effect until Morinus in the 17th century tried to make astrology look more scientific by ridding it of all traces of divination. He thus insisted that the planets can only exert their measurable objective forces at the location of the native at the moment of the solar return and that any type of symbolic “influence” (profections, lots, symbolic directions, firdaria and other time-lord techniques, etc.) was superstitious nonsense. Unfortunately, Morinus seems to have thrown out the baby with the bathwater.

Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecliptic_path.jpg

The earliest “solar returns” of Hellenistic times were most likely the transiting planets to the birth chart on the day that the sun was observed to be at its natal position in the heavens. I’m not sure what type of instruments the ancients used to measure the position of the sun, but if they relied on shadows cast by the sun, then they were using the tropical year as a basis for measurement. For example, as explained at the site Windows to the Universe (italics mine): “In 240 B.C., the Greek astronomer Erathosthenes made the first good measurement of the size of Earth. By noting the angles of shadows in two cities on the Summer Solstice, and by performing the right calculations using his knowledge of geometry and the distance between the cities, Eratosthenes was able to make a remarkably accurate calculation of the circumference of Earth.”

In his notes about Abu Ma’Shar’s On the Revolutions of the Years of Nativities, translator and astrologer Benjamin Dykes comments that Abu Ma’Shar calculates solar returns using the tropical year as defined by Ptolemy (quoting Hipparchus) of 365.24667 days per year. The current value of the tropical year is 365.24219 days. Thus, Abu Ma’Shar’s tropical year was a little longer than the current value by about 6.45 minutes of time. In Ma’Shar’s mundane work, however, he followed the sidereal model of earlier astrologers like Masha’allah and the Persians, and used 365.259 days (or 365.2590278 days, as Masha’allah had it), while our modern sidereal year is 365.256363 days.” In short, Abu Ma’Shar used the topical year for solar returns but the sidereal year for mundane charts. Note that one can use the tropical year for timing in a chart cast in the sidereal zodiac. In fact, many Hindu astrologers time the activation of their various dasas (a sidereal technique) in terms of the tropical year of 365.24219 days.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the Hindu astrologers who learned about solar returns from the Persians apparently also followed this practice of using the tropical year for measuring when the Sun would return to its natal position. To quote from the distinguished scholar P.V.R. Narashima Rao in his essay Redefining Tajaka Varshaphal Charts: “In the teachings of Maharshi Parasara to Maitreya in ‘Vishnu Purana’ chapter 2.8. Maharshi Pararsara taught Maitreya that a solar year consists of 2 ayanas and that each ayana consists of 3 ritus (seasons). This link to seasons clearly points to tropical zodiac. A solar year based on tropical zodiac (i.e. the time Sun takes to complete exactly one rotation around the tropical zodiac) is tied to seasons. … If we take the sidereal zodiac, it is not tied to seasons” (italics mine).

The above quote from Parashara is similar to what Abu Ma’Shar writes in his first chapter about solar returns (p. 53, Dykes translation, 2010): “… the year is divived into four seasons … These seasons being completed, the year is restored to its first disposition …” In other words, a return of the sun to its “first disposition” or natal position occurs in the length of exactly four seasons, which is the measurement of the topical year.

P.V.R. Rao draws the following conclusions from the teachings of Maharashi Parasara cited above and the choice of tropical versus sidereal years:

Rao concludes that “both tropical and sidereal zodiacs are needed:
• Sidereal zodiac: Used for all matters related to space, i.e. definition of rasi chart and divisional charts
• Tropical zodiac: Used for all matters related to time, i.e. definition of months, seasons, ayanas and years.
• Tajaka varshaphal chart is cast every year when Sun is exactly at the same tropical longitude as at birth.” (bold mine)

In other words, according to the the classic Hindu text and teachings of Parashara, because the solar return is a time-based technique, it depends on the tropical zodiac for measurement. The implication for Hindu astrologers is that they should calculate the sun’s return to its tropical position in the birth chart. Most Western astrologers, following the teachings of Abu Ma’Shar, already measure the sun’s return in the tropical zodiac. Nonetheless, some Western astrologers advocate “correcting for precession” but this method lacks support in the traditional literature.

A video on Yogini Dasas

Recently Aswin Balaji invited me to discuss Yogini dasas on his channel. Click on this link to watch the video on YouTube.