Anthony Louis's Blog, page 40

Hellenistic Time Lords and Epigenetics

When I lecture about time lords to groups of astrologers, I use the analogy that the natal chart is like our DNA and the time lords are among the factors that determine how and when our “astrological DNA” will manifest. This idea is implicit in the writings of Hellenistic astrologers like Vettius Valens and has found its way into modern biology as the field of epigenetics.

We all know from high school biology that our DNA in our genes contains the instructions about how our bodies will develop and function over our lifetimes. Epigenetics is the branch of genetics which studies the factors that, without changing or modifying the instructions stored in our genes, affects how and when that information will be manifested in the real world. This is exactly analogous to Valens’ account of how and when the astrological information stored in our natal chart will manifest in the real world during the course of our lifetime.

The following public domain diagram from NIH, though a bit technical, illustrates the concept.

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The NIH caption explains:  “Epigenetic mechanisms are affected by several factors and processes including development in utero and in childhood, environmental chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, aging, and diet. DNA methylation is what occurs when methyl groups, an epigenetic factor found in some dietary sources, can tag DNA and activate or repress genes. Histones are proteins around which DNA can wind for compaction and gene regulation. Histone modification occurs when the binding of epigenetic factors to histone “tails” alters the extent to which DNA is wrapped around histones and the availability of genes in the DNA to be activated. All of these factors and processes can have an effect on people’s health and influence their health possibly resulting in cancer, autoimmune disease, mental disorders, or diabetes among other illnesses.”

The basic idea is that certain foods that we eat can tag parts of our DNA (see the methyl groups in the diagram), thereby activating or repressing certain genes. The outcome will be that certain genes will, or will not, be expressed at certain times in our life, affecting how our bodies develop and the state of our health over time.

Just as astrologers believe that the expression of the birth chart is modified by environmental factors, so too do geneticists believe that “epigenetic” factors modify the manifestation of the information contained in our DNA. As you can see in the diagram, these factors include what the organism is exposed to in the utero and in childhood, environmental chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, ageing, diet, and so on.

To see how this works in a natal chart, let’s consider actor James Dean who died in a car accident on 30 September 1955.  His zodiacal releasing from Daemon (Spirit), which lies at 25 Cancer 23 natally, looks like this:

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Note that on the day he died, the time lord steering his life switched from the Moon (ruling Cancer) to the Sun (ruling Leo), thus activating the sign Leo, any planets in Leo, and the natal Sun in Aquarius in his birth chart (Placidus houses):

[image error]  As you can see, when Leo and the Sun took over as time lords on the day of his death, the planet Mars Rx in Leo became activated.  Mars rules his natal 8th of death and opposes Mercury, ruler of his 3rd of local travel — which could symbolize death in a car accident. Mars, which got activated on 30 Sep 1955 when the time lord switched to Leo/Sun, also squares the Moon in the 8th Whole Sign house of death, with the Moon ruling the 4th of endings.

The activation of the Sun, which is peregrine and in Aquarius (the sign of its detriment) and ruler of the unfortunate Placidus 6th house, is potentially problematic. Being peregrine, the Sun relies on its dispositor Saturn, which is strong in Capricorn in the 10th.  Saturn, however, closely opposes Pluto (two planets associated with death), and Pluto lies in the 4th of final endings.

All in all, the “epigenetic” time lord pattern played itself out quite precisely on the date of the actor’s demise.

Writer Irvine Welsh: Placidus vs Whole Sign Houses

Recently I watched a video by astrologer Patrick Watson in which he discussed the birth chart of Scottish writer Irvine Welsh from both a Whole Sign and a Placidus house perspective.  After presenting Welsh’s birth chart, Patrick maintained that his profession as a fiction writer “is not information that you would get from looking at this chart in quadrant houses — you would only see this by looking at the chart in Whole Sign houses, and it’s completely lost in a quadrant based house system.”

There is no question that Patrick is a gifted astrologer, but his claim about being unable to see Irvine Welsh’s profession with Placidus houses does not stand up to scrutiny.  To be clear, I have great respect for Patrick as an astrologer and I enjoy his videos and posts.  I simply disagree with him about his suggestion that Whole Sign houses are the single best system.

My own practice is to consider both Whole Sign and quadrant houses because they supply complementary information about a native from different perspectives.  It’s not that one house system is better than the other.  Both systems work and provide valuable information.  The great French astrologer Morinus preferred Regiomontanus houses but he also used Whole Sign houses (which he called “accidental houses”) to supplement what the Regiomontanus houses showed him.  I think this is the better path to follow.

Let’s look at the Placidus chart of Irvine Welsh to determine whether it is impossible, as Patrick claims, to see his profession as a writer with this quadrant house system.

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Welsh has Sagittarius rising, with Jupiter ruling his Ascendant. We could say that he sees life as an adventure and loves to explore the world and the world of ideas in a Jupiterean fashion.  With Jupiter ruling his Placidus 12th cusp, we could say that an interest in the downtrodden, disabled, drug-addicted and/or neglected members of society is important to his sense of identity.

Where is his Ascendant ruler Jupiter?  It exactly conjoins the Placidus 9th house cusp of books, publishing, travel, higher learning, church affairs, foreign interests, etc.  Although Welsh was born in Scotland, he has lived in Dublin and now lives in Chicago, so the theme of international travel is prominent. Professionally he has made a number of book tours in which he traveled around the world.

The 9th house, according to Lilly,  gives judgments of “voyages or long journeys beyond seas; of religious men, or clergy of any kind, whether bishops or inferior ministers; dreams, visions, foreign countries; of books, learning, church livings, or benefices, advowsons; of the kindred of one’s wife, & sic e contrario.”  Welsh’s Ascendant ruler conjunct the 9th cusp is one indicator that books and publishing will play an important role in his life.

Jupiter at 10 Libra 12 lies in the terms or bounds of Mercury (writing) and is disposed by Venus (ruler of the 9th of literature and publishing).  The reason I look at the bound ruler where Jupiter lies is that Jupiter (Ascendant-ruler) signifies the life purpose of the individual.  As Charles Obert explains in his book on Dignities (p. 61), the bound ruler “is in charge of how things are done, and does them ‘on their own terms’, with their own set of rules. … The domicile ruler needs to work through the bound ruler to implement its agenda…”  In Welsh’s chart, Mercury (the bound ruler of Jupiter’s location) is in charge of fulfilling Jupiter’s agenda in his life. He fulfills his life Jupiterean purpose by doing Mercury-related things, such as writing and traveling.

Furthermore, 9th ruler Venus lies in the 10th of his career, indicating that writing and publishing may play a role in his career choice.  Venus also rules his Placidus 5th house cusp of children, fun activities and creative projects, which could include writing books. In other words, his personal creativity (Venus ruling 5th) shows up in his 10th house of career (Venus in Scorpio in 10th).

Ninth ruler Venus closely conjoins the Moon’s North Node (a fortunate and expansive point of the nature of Jupiter) very close to the Placidus 10th house cusp.  A basic interpretation would be that Welsh’s career expands and benefits greatly from doing things related to Venus (artistic pursuits) and the houses that she rules (4th, 5th and 9th, creative writing about his homeland).

The 9th ruler Venus in the 10th of career is also closely sextile Mercury (writing), dignified in Virgo in the 8th of death, its quality and nature, loss, fear an anguish of mind, the privy parts, poisons, etc. (according to Lilly).  Deborah Houlding notes that “traditional astrology relates the eighth house to crisis, hidden matters, anguish of mind, poison and deadly fears.”  Irvine writes stories about the depravity of the drug culture and gives a brutal depiction of the sordid (Venus in Scorpio, Mars in Libra) side of Ediburgh life, as you might expect with such an 8th house emphasis.

According to wikipedia: “As well as recreational drug use, Welsh’s fiction and non-fiction is dominated by the question of working class and Scottish identity in the period spanning the 1960s to the present day. Within this, explores the rise and fall of the council housing scheme, denial of opportunity, sectarianism, football, hooliganism, sex, suppressed homosexuality, dance clubs, low-paid work, freemasonry, Irish republicanism, sodomy [Lilly’s 8th house ‘privy parts’], class divisions, emigration and, perhaps most of all, the humour, prejudices and axioms of the Scots.”  (highlights mine)

Welsh’s Placidus 10th cusp (the MC) lies in Scorpio and is ruled by Mars, which conjoins Ascendant-ruler Jupiter within 8 degrees.  Mars is in detriment in Libra and also peregrine, so he must act through his dispositor Venus, ruler of the 9th of literature in the 10th of occupation.  This combination suggests that Irvine will write about depravity (Mars in detriment in the 8th) as part of his career activities (Venus in the 10th disposing Mars in Libra in the 8th).

Mars, the ruler of his 10th of career, also rules his Placidus Aries 3rd house of writing and communication.

The modern planet Neptune, associated with fantasy and imagination, in the 9th could be interpreted as the potential to write fiction.  Neptune in Scorpio is disposed by Mars, so that the way in which he expresses the Neptune archetype gets filtered into his career (Mars ruling the 10th) and also has to do with 8th house themes (Mars in 8th).

We often associate the 6th house with our day-to-day work, menial jobs, and the working classes.  Mercury rules the 6th and occupies the 8th where it sextiles Venus (ruler of the 9th) in the 10th of career.  This combination not only depicts Welsh’s daily work as a writer but also the themes he writes about.

In summary, although I greatly respect Patrick Watson as an astrologer, I believe that his claim that Irvine Welsh’s career as a writer “is not information that you would get from looking at this chart in quadrant houses” does not hold water; it is simply not true.  In the Placidus system, the ruler of the 9th lies in the 10th and each one occupies the other’s domicile, the same planet rules the 3rd and the 10th, and the ruler of the 9th also rules the 5th of creative projects and closely sextiles Mercury, a natural signifier of writing. How could this not be interpreted as a potential career as a writer? Thus, I would urge astrologers to avoid the trap of trying to settle on a single best house system. Both quadrant and whole sign houses work; they merely provide complementary information from different perspectives, as I think the chart of Irvine Welsh demonstrates.

When Planets Enter a New Sign

Back in the 1960s when I was first learning astrology I decided to keep a log of the transit of planets through my natal chart and corresponding occurrences in my life.  One thing that stood out was that an event often took place on the day that a planet made its ingress into a new sign, or sometimes in the following day or two.  In addition, the nature of the event was symbolically connected to the house which had that sign on its cusp, even though zero degrees of the sign was inside the previous Placidus house.  For example, on the day of a planetary ingress into Scorpio I might have to deal with some financial matter; zero Scorpio lies in my 1st Placidus house but my 2nd Placidus house has about 9 Scorpio on the cusp.  In hindsight I think what I was observing was the significance of whole sign houses.

When I was learning horary in the 1980s I carefully read Lilly’s Christian Astrology several times and noticed the following passage regarding the whereabouts of a thief (CA 345): “Behold the Significator of the Thief, if thou find him in the end of the Sign direct, or separating from Combustion, or applying to a Planet in the 3rd or 9th house; say, he is gone or going out of the Town, for the removing of the Significator out of one Sign into another denoteth change of Lodging or removing, if it be a superior Planet, the rule is infallible.”

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to discuss this passage with Wade Caves who said that as far as he knows it is the only time that Lilly rated one of his guidelines as “infallible”.  Wade added that he too had found this principle to be very reliable in horary charts, but he extended the principle from thieves to meaning a significant change regarding the matter inquired about.  Following Wade’s lead, we might re-phrase Lilly’s quote as: the removing of the Significator out of one Sign into another denoteth a significant change related to the matter of the Question; and if it be a superior Planet, the rule is infallible.

Recently I was watching a YouTube video by astrologer Patrick Watson in which he was discussing the change of sign by Retrograde Mars on Sunday evening 12 August 2018 (Eastern Daylight Time, USA) when the red planet moved from Aquarius back into Capricorn.  Patrick suggested that Mars’ change of sign should show up as some type of event linking the adjacent Whole Sign houses, Aquarius and Capricorn, in one’s natal chart.  Curious, I looked at my own chart to make an interpretation.  Here is my natal chart:

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On 12 August 2018, transiting Mars was moving backward from Aquarius to Capricorn.  In my natal chart, Aquarius rules the 5th house (both Placidus and Whole Sign) of children, fun and creative projects.  Capricorn rules the 4th house of home, family, parents and foundations.  Mars rules the 2nd house of money and income and the 7th house of marriage, partnerships and contracts.  Mars made the change from Aquarius to Capriorn about 10 PM EDT on Sunday evening, 12 August 2018.

How did this play out as an event?  My son (5th house) had been having some water problems (Mars ruling water sign Scorpio and being the malefic out of sect) in the basement of his home (4th house).  To remedy the problems he had to hire a contractor (7th house) to do some fairly expensive modifications to the basement of his home (4th house).  He had asked to borrow some money (2nd house) from me and my wife (7th house) to be able to pay the contractor.  As a result, on Monday, 13 August 2018, about 12 hours after Mars moved from Aquarius to Capricorn, my son (5th house) used my credit card (2nd house) to pay the contractor (7th house) to make the needed repairs to the foundation of his home (4th house).

It does seem as if planets crossing the boundary between signs, whether by retrograde or direct motion, are worth paying attention to in many branches of astrology.

 

 

Primary Directions and the Crisis in Venezuela

Recently I’ve been experimenting with the Hellenistic technique of “distributions” which involves looking at the planetary ruler of the bound (or term) which the directed Ascendant is traversing as you advance a chart using primary directions.  You also consider any planets, aspects, lots, etc., which the primary directed Ascendant may encounter as it passes through each bound.  The lord of the bound or term is called the “distributor” and the planets or plantary aspects it meets along the way are considered its “partners” in describing the nature of the period under consideration.

Recently I happened to read a post by the noted Spanish astrologer Pepa Sanchis in the Facebook group Prima Luce in which she looks at the natal chart of Venezuela and its symbolic progressions with Mars currently opposed to Saturn.  It occurred to me that the chart of Venezuela would be a good testing ground for the Hellenistic theory of distributions.  The data for the chart are given in AstroDataBank as July 5, 1811 at 3 PM LMT in Caracas (Rodden rating A):

The crisis in Venezuela has been ongoing since 2010 with ever-increasing shortages due to the fall in the value of crude oil as well as  gross mismanagement by the Venezuelan government.  President Chavez was in power when the crisis began.  After his death on March 5, 2013, Nicolas Maduro took over and continued the decline.

Using Janus Software I calculated the distributions for the period from 1989 to 2028 to get an overview of the crisis period and its antecedents.  Here is the list:

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The primary directed Ascendant of Venezula entered the sign Gemini in 1990 and passed into the bounds of Mars in November of 2007, initiating the earliest beginnings of the crisis.  This Mars-as-distributor period lasted until June of 2015 when Saturn took over.

There had been an Asc/Venus conjunction in August of 2007, making Venus the partner to Mars during this period.  Venus in 16 Gemini had some dignity by term but was opposed by Saturn and squared by Pluto, which did not allow Venus to be very benefic.

The next aspect the Asc made was a conjunction to Jupiter in December of 2011.  Jupiter as partner to Mars cannot be very helpful because he is in his detriment in Gemini and is also opposed by Saturn and squared by Pluto.

Next the primary directed Ascendant opposes Saturn, making Saturn the partner to Mars beginning around February 26, 2013.  With both malefics now acting as time lords, Hugo Chavez dies right on cue on March 5, 2013, and conditions continue to deteriorate for the people of Venezuela.  Here is the natal chart of Venezuela with the primary directed chart for March 5, 2013 outside, showing the directed Ascendant (red arrow) at 21 Gemini 56 opposite natal Saturn at 21 Gemini 55.  This chart was calculated online at https://carta-natal.es/direcciones-primarias.php.

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On June 5, 2015 Saturn takes over as both the distributor and partner.  The severe decline continues and worsens.  Mercury at 24 Gemini 03 becomes partner to Saturn in June of 2015 but Mercury, though dignified in Gemini, is opposed by Saturn and Pluto and is also the ruler of the 8th (both Placidus and Whole Sign) of loss and death.  Not long afterward, the directed Ascendant conjoins the natal Placidus 8th house at 25 Gemini 16 (which in Regiomontanus is at 24 Gemini 25).  With the primary directed Ascendant now in the quadrant 8th house, people start dying in riots against the government in the ensuing period.

Saturn remains distributor until January of 2022, but then Mars takes over again as the directed Ascendant moves into Cancer.

At least in this example, the Hellenistic method of distributions is quite impressive, especially in pinpointing the death of Hugo Chavez within 7 days of the event.

 

Average Daily Motion of Planets in Horary

There is a discrepancy in the horary literature about the average daily motion of the planets, specifically with regard to Mercury and Venus.  The problem arises because from a geocentric viewpoint, Mercury and Venus travel in “epicycles” around the Sun.  Thus, the triune system of Sun-Mercury-Venus travels annually around the Earth at a mean rate of 00d 59m 08s per day, and each member of that system is allotted an average daily motion of 00d 59m 08s from the point of view of an observer on Earth.

The results of this approach are summarized by William Lilly in the following list (in Chaldean order) of the average number of degrees, minute and seconds traveled daily by each planet:

Saturn – 2 minutes 1 second
Jupiter – 4 minutes 59 seconds
Mars – 31 minutes 27 seconds
Sun – 59 minutes 8 seconds
Venus – 59 minutes 8 seconds
Mercury – 59 minutes 8 seconds
Moon – 13 degrees, 10 minutes, 36 seconds

Horary astrologers other than Lilly sometimes used as the average daily motion of the planets different values for Mercury and Venus.  For example, Ivy Jacobson-Goldstein used the following list in Horary Astrology Simplified (p. 5):

Saturn – 2 minutes 0 second
Jupiter – 4 minutes 59 seconds
Mars – 33 minutes 28 seconds
Sun – 59 minutes 8 seconds
Venus – 1 minutes 12 seconds
Mercury – 1 minutes 23 seconds
Moon – 13 degrees, 11 minutes

I believe that Jacobson made a typo with Mars; she must have meant to write 31 minute 28 seconds. The values for Mercury and Venus, however, are not typos; they represent an alternate view of mean planetary motion.  Let me explain.

To arrive at Lilly’s table, you take the distance traveled daily by each planet, adding that distance when the planet is direct and subtracting that distance when the planet is retrograde with respect to the Earth.  Thus, in the course of a year, the Sun, Mercury and Venus all travel an average of 00d 59m 08s, because they travel as a triune unit around the Earth.

Ivy Jacobson-Goldstein, respecting the origins of astrology in a geocentric universe, decided to use Ptolemy’s notion of epicycles to find the average daily motion of the planets.  In this system, the Sun is always traveling in direct motion around the Earth, and Mercury and Venus are revolving around the Sun; thus, these two planets will be covering more distance each day than does the Sun.  It’s kind of like walking your dog; you go in a straight line but your dog goes in circles around you, thus traversing a lot more distance than you do during the walk.

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In this system of epicycles, imagine that the red dot is Mercury or Venus which travel around the Sun.  The Sun is the little blue dot orbiting around the Earth at a rate of 00d 59m 08s per day.  Mercury and Venus are traveling at that same rate PLUS they have their own daily motion around the Sun, so that the average daily DISTANCE covered by Mercury and Venus is more than that covered by the Sun.  In other words, the Sun simply has to travel in its orbit, whereas Mercury and Venus must travel along with the Sun around the Earth and must additionally travel in their own circles (epicycles) around the Sun.

To get Ivy’s values for Mercury and Venus, you would take the angular distance traveled by Mercury and Venus daily, regardless of whether they were direct or retrograde.  You just want to know the distance traveled, so you don’t subtract for retrograde motion.  It’s like using a pedometer.  If you go for a 1 mile walk to and from your home, you have traveled two miles.  You don’t go + 1 mile away from home and – 1 mile to return to your home, for an average distance of 0 miles walked.  You have actually traveled 2 miles.  (In mathematical terms, you add the absolute values of the distances traveled.

When you add the absolute values for Mercury and Venus traveled each day for one year, you come up with figures of about 1d 12m daily for Venus and 1d 23m for Mercury.  The resulting table is consistent with the one that Deborah Houlding published in 2007, which I have slightly modified below:

PLANET
Mean Daily Distance Traveled


Sun
0° 59′ 08″   or    0.985555 degrees per day


Moon
13° 10′ 36” or  13.17666 degrees per day


Mercury   *
1° 23′         or    1.3833 degrees per day


Venus     *
1° 12′         or    1.2 degrees per day


Mars
0° 31′ 27″   or    0.5242 degrees per day


Jupiter
0° 4′ 59″     or    0.0831 degrees per day


Saturn
0° 2′ 01″     or    0.0336 degrees per day


Uranus
0° 0′ 42″      or   0.026666 degrees per day


Neptune
0° 0′ 24″      or   0.006668 degrees per day


Pluto
0° 0′ 15″      or   0.0041666 degrees per day

* – “Since Mercury and Venus create epicycles around the Sun, their annual average distance travelled through the zodiac will equal that of the Sun.” — Deborah Houlding.

To test this out, I picked 5 ten-day periods throughout the years from 2000 to 2005 in the Swiss Ephemeris and calculated the number of degrees traveled by Mercury, Venus and Mars during those times to find an average number of degrees per day.  Here are the results of this small sample in an Excel Spreadsheet:

Average Daily Motion of Planets – Degrees per Day – (sample of 50 days per planet)







Avg for
Mercury
Venus
Mars




January-00
10-days
1.58166
1.21333
0.775




May-02
10 days
0.81666
1.33166
0.67




July-03
10 days
2.15166
1.22333
0.275




September-04
10 days
0.485
1.068333
0.638333




November-05
10 days
0.835
0.98666
0.35166






Mercury
Venus
Mars






Degrees per day
Degrees per day
Degrees per day



Average


1.173996
1.1646626
0.5419986






1d 10m 27s
1d 9m 53s
0d 32m 31s

Most astrology software will give planetary speeds.  There is an online calculator that will give basic ephemeris data for any date and time from 1500 – 2099, including planetary speeds, at https://serennu.com/astrology/ephemeris.php

Bonatti looks at a horary by Sahl

In his Treatise 6 Bonatti discusses a classic horary by Sahl.  On July 5, 824 OS in the wee hours of the morning someone asked Sahl whether he would acquire a kingdom — a 10th house horary question.  To approximate the chart used by Bonatti and Sahl, I used the following data:

July 5, 824 Julian, 3:29 AM LMT, Usha-Shashi zodiac, near modern Basra, Iraq.  Here is the chart by modern computer, which is very close to the one that appears in Sahl.

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It is a Moon day during a Saturn hour.

The querent is ruled by Mercury (Gemini rising) and co-ruled by the Moon.

Mercury is quite dignified in Gemini and is strong (angular) in the 1st house.
Moon in the 4th is also angular (strong)  and has dignity as triplicity ruler of Virgo in a night chart.
Sahl had the Moon at 19 Virgo, which is in the terms of Jupiter

The question (career matter) is signified by Jupiter, ruler of the Pisces 10th cusp.

Jupiter is dignified in Pisces and strong (angular) in the 10th.
Jupiter is debilitated by its conjunction with the Moon’s South Node.  Sahl has the node at 22 Pisces.
Jupiter is very slow in motion, about to make a first station and turn retrograde — a severe debility.

Bonatti indicates that the querent will NOT get the kingdom desired because

Mercury (querent) has already perfected a major aspect with Jupiter (the kingdom) and is now separating.  They are moving apart rather than coming together.
The Moon (co-ruler of the querent) is applying to oppose Jupiter (the kingdom) from a minor dignity (the term or bound of Jupiter), but Jupiter is essentially stationary and turning retrograde; so that Jupiter is unable to make productive use of the opposition from the Moon, an aspect which in itself means that the matter can be perfected only with much effort and difficulty.
Bonatti makes the strange statement that the querent may not get the kingdom because of illness, arguing that Mars rules the 6th (illness) and receives the Lord of the Ascendant.  This makes no sense  because Mercury is Lord of the Ascendant and is not in any of the dignities of Mars.  Bonatti may have meant to say that Mars (ruler of the 6th of illness) disposes the Aries Part of Fortune (a symbol of material and physical well-being), in which case Mars in Taurus (its detriment) and ruling the 6th could indicate physical illness and failure to acquire the kingdom.

Emplacement

Bonatti notes that if Jupiter (which rules the quesited kingdom) were in the house of the quesited (the 10th) and were in good condition and well disposed, then it would signify that the matter will be accomplished.
However, in this case Jupiter is stationary turning Retrograde and conjoins the Moon’s South Node (of the nature of Saturn) and is thus ineffectual.  In addition, Jupiter receives no help from benefic Venus, and its last aspect to Saturn was a square.

 

 

Will the article be published?

This is an interesting horary from June of 2018. Because I initially found the chart puzzling, I discussed it with some experienced colleagues and decided to summarize the discussion here so that we all could learn something about technique. For reasons of confidentiality, I have not included the chart data.

The querent is an astrologer who had written an article making some astrological predictions about current events. He asked a horary question, wanting to know whether the article would be published if he submitted it to a certain journal dedicated to such topics. Part of his concern was that if his predictions proved accurate, it would enhance his reputation in the community, but the opposite would occur if his predictions did not pan out (as many astrologers discovered when they forecast that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election).

Here is the chart. I was recently experimenting with the seven Hermetic Lots and with the Lot of Misfortune (Asc + Mars – Saturn by day, reversed at night, aka, the Lot Illness, Accidents, or of Bitter Purgatives by al-Biruni), so I have included these Lots in the graphic. The Lots are not necessary for interpreting this chart, but they do add an interesting perspective.

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The querent (Leo rising, ruled by the Sun) asked the question on a Sun day during a Saturn hour. Saturn is a participating triplicity ruler of the rising sign Leo (a fire sign). The Sun (querent) lies in the 10th (career, public recognition) in Gemini (associated with writing), and the querent wants to know whether something he has written will be published and bring him recognition.  The chart appears radical.

The Sun (querent) is peregrine here, having no essential dignity, and must rely on its dispositor Mercury to accomplish its goals. Mercury is strong, being angular, fast in motion and in its own domicile Gemini. Unfortunately, Mercury is applying to conjoin the Sun and is combust, totally obscured by the light of the Sun. Mercury is invisible to the naked eye, so that even though he is in the very public 10th house, nobody can see him.

As an aside, I should mention that John Frawley regards Mercury combust the Sun in Gemini as equivalent to a mutual reception, such that Mercury is not debilitated by this combustion.  Frawley writes: “Treat it exactly as mutual reception. The planet has power over the Sun by dispositing it, the sun has power over the planet, by combustion. So the combustion does not harm the planet; the idea of not being able to see or bee seen still remains, however.”

If we take into account the fact that Mercury disposes the Arabic Part of Misfortune, Bitter Purgatives, Accidents and Illness, which lies at 13 Virgo 33, then its applying conjunction with the Sun may be a bitter pill to swallow.  This interpretation is reinforced by the fact that the Sun at 12 Gemini 59 is applying to and almost exactly square the Bitter Purgative Lot at 13 Virgo 33.

In short, what the peregrine Sun (querent) wants to accomplish will depend greatly on its dispositor Mercury, which is invisible to the public (combust in the 10th) and carries the signification of misfortune and a bitter purgative.

In horaries, the Moon can also symbolize the querent.  Here the Moon is cadent in the 6th house and besieged between malefic Mars and the South Node (of the nature of malefic Saturn). In addition, Mars disposes the Lot of Nemesis (at 17 Scorpio 57), which is quite prominent because it conjoins the meridian axis at the IC (at 18 Scorpio 31). Nemesis is the Hermetic Lot associated with malefic Saturn, with a signification of failure, hardship, frustration, denial, etc.

The Moon here is quite weak, being cadent, peregrine (without essential dignity), and slow in motion. In addition, the Moon rules the unfortunate 12th house of exile and undoing. In its favor, the Moon disposes the Lot of Success and Victory (at 10 Cancer 46, a lot associated with Jupiter), but Luna’s conjunction with both Mars and the South Node in the unfortunate 6th may indicate a denial of success.

We next should look for any connections between the querent (Sun or Moon) and the 7th (contractual relationships) or 9th (publishing) houses.

Saturn rules the Aquarius 7th and has no aspectual connection with either the Sun or the Moon.

Mars rules the Aries 9th of publishing. Both the Sun and the Moon are separating from an aspectual relationship with Mars, so there is no future coming together via major aspect.

However, the Moon is separating from Mars and applying to the Sun, so there is a transfer of light in the offing. The Moon carries the light of Mars and re-connects it by trine with the Sun. Unfortunately, the Moon runs into Mercury before she can reach the Sun, and Mercury is combust and disposes the Lot of Misfortune. The Moon is extremely weak and may not have the power to pull off the transfer of light, and even if the Moon could do so, Mercury stands in the way of the Moon reaching the Sun. In addition, neither the Sun nor Mercury receive the applying Moon in any of their dignities.

So far, it looks like the article will not be published. Let’s take the Libra 3rd house to signify something the querent has written. In this case, Venus rules the article. Venus also happens to rule the 10th of public recognition, and she lies in the 12th of exile, retreat and undoing, conjunct the 12th cusp. In addition, Venus in this chart is peregrine, totally without dignity, and is very weak in the unfortunate cadent 12th house.

The OUTCOME was that after carefully considering the horary, the astrologer/querent decided not to submit his article for publication.

 

 

 

Abu Ma’shar discovers astrology

In the previous post I presented a reconstruction of Abu Ma’shar’s birth chart calculated by modern computer by adjusting the start of the zodiac to give almost exactly the same natal chart which Ma’shar uses in his writings.

To check the validity of this chart I decided to look at the method of distribution, that is, directing the chart by primary motion and studying the bound (term) of the directed Ascendant for a particular time in life.  Ben Dykes tells us in Persian Nativities III that Abu Ma’shar “was initially an astrology skeptic, but around the age of 47 he is said to have been introduced to astrology by the famous al-Kindi.”  Ma’shar went on to become one of the leading astrologers of his time, and his works continue to influence how astrology is practiced today.

Here are his distributions from ages 20 to 55, as calculated by Janus software (mean solar arc rate):

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As you can see, when Abu Ma’shar was in his 40s, his directed Ascendant was in Gemini and specifically in the Saturn bound of Gemini from ages 44 to 51.  At age 46 year 5 months the directed Ascendant met up with the trine of Saturn, so that Saturn was a dominant time-lord when al-Kindi introduced Ma’shar to astrology.  The following points are noteworthy about this direction of the Ascendant (see chart below):

The bound of Saturn in Gemini coincides with the entry into Ma’shar’s Alcabitius 3rd house of mind and communication.
Saturn rules Ma’shar’s 9th (astrology, teachers, higher learning) and 10th (career) Whole Sign houses.
Natally his Saturn lies in Aquarius, which modern astrologers associate with their art.
Natally Saturn is Rx (retrograde), suggesting that its effects are likely to manifest later in life.
Saturn disposes Ma’shar’s Daemon or Lot of Spirit (at 28 Cap 35), which is associated with finding one’s direction in life.  Saturn also lies in his Alcabitius 11th house of the Good Daemon, where it conjoins the 11th cusp.
Ma’Shar’s MC (career) lies in Capricorn and is closely conjoined by Jupiter, the ruler of his Alcabitius 9th house (astrology).  The cusp of the 9th lies in the bounds of Saturn.

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The Birth Chart of Abu Ma’Shar

Abu Ma’Shar (full name Abū Maʿshar Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Balkhī أبو معشر جعفر بن محمد بن عمر البلخي) was a 9th century Persian Muslim astrologer whose books greatly influenced the development of astrology in Europe when they were translated in the Latin in the 12th century.

Ben Dykes in his translation of Abu Ma’shar’s On the Revolutions of the Years of Nativities cites David Pingree’s hypothesis that Ma’shar used his own natal chart in his writings. Based on this suppositon, Pingree estimated Ma’Shar’s birth data to be about 10 PM on 10 August 787 (OS) in Balkh, Khurasan (now Afganistan).  On page 134 of Dyke’s translation he provides his version of Ma’Shar’s birth chart.

According to the Arabic text, notes Dykes, this natal chart is for a person born in a city with a latitude of 36N.  Using this latitude and the data given, I reconstructed the chart as follows.  I assumed that Abu Ma’Shar would be fairly certain of the position of his own Ascendant at latitude 36 North and that of his natal Sun, which is the easiest to measure because of the sun’s fairly constant rate of motion from day to day.  The other planetary positions might vary from modern values due to differences in tables and methods of observation.

Because Ma’Shar was writing in the 9th century, the start of the tropical zodiac had shifted backward from Hellenistic times, as measured against the fixed stars, so I adjusted the ayanasma of the zodiac to calculate a chart which kept the following positions constant: Latitude of 36 North, Ascendant at 2 Taurus 54,  and Sun at 15 Leo 57. (Dykes noted that he changed the original 15 Leo 57 in Ma’Shar’s text to 25 Leo 57 to match the value calculated by modern methods.  I believe he should have adjusted the ayanasma rather than the position of the sun.)  Given these conditions, the resulting birth chart for Abu Ma’Shar is the following:

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This chart is cast with Whole Sign houses.  Here is a comparison of the values of this computer-generated chart with Ma’Shar’s original calculations:

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As you can see, this modern version of Ma’Shar’s birth chart differs only very slightly from the chart he used in his texts.  The Ascendant, Sun and Venus are in almost exactly the same ecliptical positions.  There is about a one degree difference in the positions of Mars and Jupiter, and about a 2 degree difference in the position of Saturn.

If you wish to recreate this chart, in Janus software you can use the following ayanasma:

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If you have Ben’s translation and would like to follow the discussion about distributions and lots on pages 135 – 136, here is the 1st house with the relevant Hermetic Lots inserted.

 

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The values for these Lots are:

Courage/Boldness (Mars) at 5 Taurus 00 in the terms of Venus.
Victory/Success (Jupiter) at 11 Taurus 37 in the terms of Mercury.
Necessity/Prudence/Reason (Mercury) at 19 Taurus 09 in the terms of Jupiter.

These values differ a bit from the ones in the original text because the position of the Moon differs by 1 degree 16 minutes of arc between the two charts, thus changing the calculation of Fortune and Spirit/Daemon by that amount. In addition, the positions of Mars and Jupiter differ by about a degree in the two charts, thus making about a 1 degree change in the values of Courage and Victory respectively.

 

 

 

Solar Returns – when does the Sun really get there?

Last weekend I gave a talk on Solar Returns to the Mid-Hudson NCGR group in New York state. We had a lively discussion, and the meeting left me wondering about several aspects of solar returns which seemed worth investigating further. One of these was the issue of when the sun in reality completes a full annual cycle. This post will explore that topic in more depth.

In the scientific world, we view the Earth as revolving around the Sun. According to Kepler’s model, the two celestial bodies actually revolve around each other in a giant elliptical pattern that approximates a circle.

The scientific preference is to view this elliptical orbit from the point of view of the Sun, but astrologers on Earth prefer to view matters from their vantage point on Earth because it accords with their day-to-day experience. Thus, astrologers construct their charts with the Earth at the center and speak of the Sun revolving around the Earth. Obviously, astrologers are aware of the scientific model and accept Kepler’s first law that the planets travel around the Sun in elliptical (but nearly circular) orbits with the center of the Sun as one of the foci of the ellipse.

In any case, whether we adopt the frame of reference of the Sun revolving around the Earth, or the Earth revolving around the Sun, the question remains: how long is a year? We measure our lives in years, by which we mean the amount of time it takes, speaking geocentrically, for the Sun to reach the same point in its orbit around the Earth that it traversed at the moment of our birth — the so-called Solar Return — and we all hope to have many happy Returns.

You might think it’s an easy matter to measure a year, but in reality it turns out to be quite a complicated matter. First, there is the issue of what reference system (tropical or sidereal) we will use to measure the solar year.

Do we choose to measure movement in the solar system against the backdrop of the fixed stars, that is, using the sidereal zodiac? In the short term this system is fairly reliable, but in the long term the positions of the fixed stars are changing due to the expansion of the universe and the revolution of our solar system around the center of the Milky Way galaxy in which we reside.

Is the tropical zodiac any more reliable as a reference system for measuring the length of the year?  Probably not.  As you probably know, the tropical zodiac begins its measurement of 0 Aries at the spring equinox, that is, at the exact moment when the path of the Sun crosses the Earth’s equator (which is what gives us equal amounts of daylight and night, at the “equi-nox” or equal night). Scientists have measured the mean or average tropical year very precisely and found that it has a length of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, or 365.242189 days.

The problem is that, like the Moon’s Nodes, there are two types of tropical years: mean years and true years.  It seems that reality does not precisely follow the abstract mathematical model. One issue it that the Earth wobbles on its axis (precession), like a spinning top, so that the Earth’s axis makes a complete circle about every 26,000 years. That may seem like a long time but the practical effect is that the Earth wobbles a teeny bit every year, enough so that the Earth’s Equator shifts a tiny bit, causing about a 20 minute difference in the exact moment of the spring equinox (used to measure 0 Aries) every year.

The Earth’s wobble affects the start of the tropical zodiac

In an article about this topic, Sarah Kaplan explains that “the consequence of all this wobbling is that a tropical year ends about 20 minutes before Earth actually completes an orbit of the sun.”  The effect is that at the moment the Sun completes one tropical year to return to its birth location, the start of Aries has shifted by 20 minutes so that the reference system used to measure the sun’s motion has changed. To correct for this change in the reference system, some astrologers prefer to use “precession-corrected” solar returns, which adjust the return to the 20-minute change in the position of 0 Aries in the tropical zodiac.

An analogy might be helpful here. Suppose you enter a 100-meter race. The Start Line is marked “0 meters” and the Finish Line, “100 meters.” During the race, the referee decides to move the start line backward so that it is one meter earlier than its original position. When you have run 100 meters in the original system, the distance measured from the new Start Line indicates that you have run 101 meters because it has undergone a form of precession. This is what happens with solar returns; at the moment the sun (or earth) completes one full orbit, the start line of the tropical zodiac (0 Aries) has shifted backward a tiny bit and you are 20 minutes into a new tropical year.

Planetary gravity alters the space-time continuum within our solar system

A more significant issue is that the orbiting planets all exert gravitational effects on the sun and on the other planets of the solar system, thus, as Einstein explained, distorting the space-time continuum in which we live. As a result, the duration of the planetary orbits varies slightly from one cycle to the next. In fact, even though the mean tropical year has been measured carefully to be 365.242189 days long (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minute, 45 seconds), the exact length of a true tropical year can vary up to 30 minutes from this figure. For astrologers, this means that the exact moment of your solar return, as measured by your astrology software, may in reality be as much as 30 minutes earlier or later, depending on the gravitational patterns of the other planets in the solar system for the year in question.

If you are interested in how long your true tropical year is for any date between 1900 and the year 2100, fortunately there is a table that gives this data at https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/tropicalyearlength.html.

Here is an excerpt from a table of the length of true tropical years for the current period.  This table is based on the definition that “the length of a tropical year is the time it takes the Earth to complete a full orbit around the Sun, but it varies from year to year.”

March 2016 – March 2017
365 days
5 hours
58 minutes
36 seconds


March 2017 – March 2018
365
5
46
41


March 2018 – March 2019
365
5
43
12


March 2019 – March 2020
365
5
51
4


March 2020 – March 2021
365
5
47
55

I don’t know of any astrological software that adjusts for these differences in the length of the true tropical year from one year to the next.  Meanwhile, we have to be content with our computer programs which use the mean tropical year and give us average solar returns which may be off by a full 30 minutes from the true return of the sun to its birth location. Clearly this variability in the length of the tropical year would affect many predictive measure that we use in astrology (progressions, directions, etc., especially those for which 4 minutes = 1 degree = 1 year of life).  In some cases a 30-minute difference can radically alter the solar return chart by changing the Angles and house cusps which are essential to interpretation, so the next time your solar return interpretations completely miss the mark, you can blame the distortion of the space-time continuum by the other planets in our solar system.