Morin on Delineating Primary Directions

Next week I’ll be giving a presentation on primary directions for the Astrological Society of Connecticut. In preparation, I’ve been reading through Morin’s Book 22 on Directions (Holden translation) and working with his various example charts. On page 17, Morin states his well-known maxim: “the bodily position of a planet in any house is stronger than its rulership in another, accoring to that common [rule], the presence of a planet is more effective than the rulership of an absent [planet].” Morin cites as an example his own chart which has Mars toward the end of the 3rd House and notes that he, like Louis Tronson who has a similar configuration, has experienced the deaths of his siblings.

On page 19 Morin presents a hypothetical example: suppose that Mars rules the 4th (of parents) and occupies the 6th (servants, small animals). Suppose also that the Moon occupies the 10th (actions of the native) and casts it square aspect into the 7th (disputes, lawsuits. At some point in this native’s adult life the 7th house square of the Moon will be carried by primary motion of the heavens to the natal position of Mars in the 6th. How should the astrologer delineate such a primary direction?

To be able to visualize Morin’s example I created a chart that met his hypothetical specifications. To the best of my knowledge this chart is purely fictitious and is created solely to illustrate Morin’s example of the Moon in the 10th, square of the Moon in the 7th, and the 4th-ruler Mars in 6th. All other planetary positions are irrelevant to Morin’s original text.

This is a hypothetical chart in which Mars rules the 4th, occupies the 6th and will at around age 30 be affected by the primary direction of the 7th house square of the 10th house Moon. The lunar square falls at 25 CANCER 11′ in the 7th House.

In this hypothetical chart Mars rules the Aries 4th cusp and occupies the 6ths of servants and small animals. The Moon in Libra in the 10th sends its square to 25 Cancer 11′ in the 7th. By the semi-arc method of Ptolemy and Placidus the square of the Moon will reach the natal position of Mars when this native is about 29 years old.

Primary directions, Placidus semi-arc, Naibod key. By the Regiomontanus method, which approximates Ptolemy’s method, this direction would perfect at age 28.8 with the Naibod key.

Morin advises his readers that “only the signification of the Moon’s square in the 7th should be combined with the signification of Mars: therefore, for the native lawsuits are predicted, or disputes with the parents or the servants, or both, or because of [small] animals, since of course the effect of the direction must be referred primarily to the native …” (pp. 19-20).

As I understand Morin’s reasoning, it goes as follows. The Moon in the 10th House is determined toward the actions of the native in the world (praxis). The Square from the Moon then signifies difficulties related to the native’s actions and because the lunar square occupies the 7th house, those difficulties are connected with disputes or lawsuits. Primary motion will carry the 7th house square of the Moon (disputes) to the natal position of Mars in the 6th, which is determined toward 6th house matters (servants, small animals) and also toward 4th house matters because Mars rules Aries on the 4th cusp (parents).

In my hypothetical example, the Moon happens to rule the 7th cusp, so maybe the native’s spouse also gets involved in the dispute with parents, servants and animals when she is 29 years old.