The Primacy of Primary Motion in Astrology

A reader of my book on horary astrology recently wrote to me, asking a question about dexter and sinister aspects in astrology. Lilly had written, “Observe the dexter aspect is more forcible than the Sinister” (CA 109). When I first read this statement back in the 1980s, it reminded me of the nuns punishing my classmates in grammar school for being left-handed. Being right-handed myself, I was spared the vengeance of the Sisters of Mercy. Apparently their belief was that the good angel sat on the right (dexter) shoulder whereas the devil (sinister) sat on the left one. And, after all, Jesus sat on the right side of God and not to the left of the deity. Even the English language carries this bias. “Dexterity” refers to skillfulness or adroitness, but “sinister” means ominous, disquieting or threatening.

[image error]“ Observe the dexter aspect is more forcible than the Sinister ” (CA 109).
The schoolmaster holds the rod in his right hand (dexter) and the unfortunate student with his left hand (sinister).

Yet the idea of dexter and sinister aspects in astrology does not have to do with religious beliefs but rather with an ancient philosophical notion, probably Pythagorean, based on observation of the apparent movement of the heavens.

Ancient astrologers observed that each day the Sun rises in the east, culminates at the Midheaven and then sets in the west. This obvious and easily witnessed movement of the Sun across the sky was called “primary motion.” At night as the stars appeared, they also rose in the east, culminated at the MC, and set in the west, again following the primary motion of the heavens around the observer on Earth. This daily and obvious movement of the Sun and stars across the sky was considered fundamental and primary, hence the name “primary motion.” All heavenly bodies followed this pattern.

Looking more closely over long periods of time, the ancients noticed that a tiny group of “stars” seemed to “wander” and these wanderers were called in English “planets” from the Greek word planētēs ‘wanderer, planet’, from planan ‘wander’. The odd thing about these wanderers is that even though they followed primary motion across the sky every day, they also appeared to have a “secondary motion” in the opposite direction, that is from west toward east, in contrast to their daily “primary motion” from east toward west. This secondary motion appeared to be unique to this small group of planets.

Our astrology developed in regions on Earth which lay north of the ecliptic circle so that astrologers had to look to the south to observe the movement of planets along the ecliptic. As a result, we tend to draw our horoscope charts as wheels with the Ascendant or eastern horizon on the left, the MC to the south, and the western horizon or Descendant on the right.

If we picture ourselves standing at the center of a horoscope wheel and looking at the MC, the natural primary motion of the sky flows from the Ascendant at our left in the east, in a rightward or clockwise direction up to the MC in the south, and continuing rightward or clockwise toward the western horizon in the west. Thus, the natural flow, or the primary motion, has sense of being “dexter” or toward the right-hand side of the observer. Aspects cast in this dexter or clockwise direction with respect to the observer at the center of the wheel are therefore considered more natural, fundamental, and in the normal flow of things. That’s just how the whole sky moves. Being in tune with nature, dexter aspects were considered, as Lilly said, more forcible.

The sinister aspects are simply aspects cast by a planet toward the left-hand side of the observer looking at the planet from the middle of the wheel. Movement toward the left is in the counterclockwise direction of “secondary motion,” which is unique to the small group planets. Secondary motion, and sinister aspects which are related to this concept, are an oddity and a bit unnatural because only seven visible celestial object (Sun, Moon, and five visible planets) exhibit secondary motion to the naked eye. They are like fish swimming again a powerful current. Being unnatural and attempting to move against the flow of the entire sky, sinister aspects were considered less forcible than dexter ones.

In other words, a planet casts its dexter aspects in the direction of the flow of the heavens around the earth, and its sinister aspects against the flow or in the opposite direction of the primary motion of the heavens around the earth, as viewed by an observer on earth.

[image error]The Sun casts its sinister square to the left, counterclockwise in the direction of secondary motion, to Jupiter and its dexter square clockwise, in the direction of primary motion to Mars. The sky rises in the east, culminates in the south, and sets in the west: the so-called “primary motion” of the heavens. The planets also have a “secondary motion” in an opposite direction with respect to the primary motion.
Original Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exaltation_Degrees_of_the_Planets.jpg

Because dexter aspects are cast in the direction of the diurnal flow of the heavens around the Earth, they were considered to be more natural, uncomplicated, powerful and effective. Sinister aspects, on the other hand, were cast against the flow of the heavens and were thus considered less natural and less effective. A motorboat can travel more effectively and efficiently downstream, with the current of a river, than upstream and against the water’s flow.