On Differing Views of Magic

Since the 1990s there has been a relatively constant war in astrological communities along the lines of modern practices vs. more ancient ones.  This sentiment has become more pronounced in areas where the two practices comingle.  You find it in astrological forums or groups online, writers will bash the ideas of others in books or articles, and you can find it in little jabs written into a lecture.  This sort of spirited rivalry is common among many fields and is a relatively healthy thing when working properly.  Rivalries like this are meant to keep each group honest with itself and with the general public. Unfortunately, the general public isn’t really looking into astrology that deeply to see it as two different camps fighting for their place on top, but merely see it as contradictory sets of rules within a supposedly unified system of astrology.  The common man isn’t aware of the discussions going back and forth in astrology any more than they are aware of competing theories in physics.  The absence of the general public’s awareness is what makes it a problem.  Without an unconnected group to watch out for the traditional vs. modern dichotomy becomes a much more personal war within those astrological groups and really just divides them for the sake of division.

We can go on all day about the current state of astrological literature.  One only needs to look at the table of contents for most major astrological periodicals (such as The Mountain Astrologer magazine) to see that the majority of things being written are clearly from a more modern or psychological point of view.  Where we are now or where we will be in the future isn’t really that much of a concern; something much more interesting is understanding how we got here.

I’m sure most know the story.  Astrology can trace a straight line through Babylon, Egypt, Greece, the Middle East, then the whole of Europe until the Enlightenment essentially wiped it out.  The theosophists retooled it later on to sort of fit the more “high demand” aspects of it.  This isn’t a real history lesson, and there’s much more you can look into if that’s what you’re interested in.  Instead, I’d prefer to focus on the 1970s, this is really when the New Age movement became popular and people started to adopt more spiritual – but not necessarily religious – attitudes.  What the New Age movement spurred was an increased focus on the self.  Now, more modern practices of astrology have always been focused more on the self and its own development as it had to skirt the waters of anti-vagrant or anti-fortune telling laws which punished astrologers from foretelling future events.  The advent of the New Age also brought us new ideas about magic and mysticism through various Neo-Pagan traditions (which, ironically, were no more traditional than anything else) which conflicted not only with the more orthodox religions people were raised with, but also with the older ideas of magic.

For a while in high school, I subscribed to the Wiccan faith.  In Wicca, practitioners are told that the magic is inside themselves.  The tools that they use are just objects with no special powers but the practitioner brings those powers to the tools through their own practice.  It is something inherent in themselves that they then pass on to something else.  It’s not quite a “your mind makes it real” type of scenario as much as it is a “you give it power” situation.  A similar phenomenon occurred with Eastern ideas, t’ai chi ch’uan and other internal martial arts have had their internal qualities so over emphasized that many people are unaware that there are external, martial qualities to it.

This really highlights the different worldviews that make reconciling ancient and modern practices impossible.  For ancient techniques in both the East and West, powers existed outside of people.  The planets did not need us to give them names and significations, they already had them.  Plants, rocks, and animals didn’t need us to categorize them into groups based on similarities they had, they merely exhibited those similarities naturally and belonged.   Whereas the Hermetic mystic learns and respects the powers of the planets as their own entities, New Age ideas lead us to believe that these powers can’t harm us anymore than we allow them to.

It’s difficult to not like the more modern ideas of magic and astrology.  If you don’t like your situation, you can change it because the expressions of those planets is entirely within you, no outside force is stopping you from standing up and saying “Enough!”.  It’s also a very selfish worldview where it’s easy to demonize others for their bad luck in life.  If they were really upset by their situation, they would just change it, right?  Nowhere is this idea more evident than the idea of the Secret and the Law of Attraction.  This philosophy states that we create our own reality by choosing to either focus on positive or negative experiences which will attract their own kind to manifest future events.  Is that a bill or a check in that envelope you pulled out of the mail today?  That’s up to where you land on the sliding scale of optimism vs. pessimism.

That’s not to say that the more ancient ideas don’t have their own positives and negatives.  On the one hand, free will is a concept that more or less non-existent when thinking about ancient ideas of magic.  If things outside of you have their own power, then they can impose that on your will and leave you few, if any, options to alter it.  Though, on the other hand, this is probably the more realistic scenario, even if it can lull the more weak-willed into a sense of hopeless complacency (“Who cares?  It’s all preordained anyway?”).  Even in mundane life, others impose their will on us and our goals in life.  Want to buy a house?  Better hope the bank clears you for the loan.  Fortunately, more Hermetic ideas of magic and astrology give us ways to alter our fortunes by using the powers of the planets against themselves.  By working with the planets in the form of Hermetic or ritual remedies, we can encourage them to work with us.

This idea that the differences in understanding magic and where the power of it lies also relates to another conflict within astrology; do the planets cause events, or do they signify them?  Jung established the idea of “synchronicity” which most modern practitioners of magic or astrology have adopted as their own philosophy towards their practices.  This is that two seemingly unrelated events that are unlikely to occur together do occur together in a meaningful manner.  This is an elegant answer to a rather difficult problem for modern practitioners.  How do we say planets have no power themselves but yet seem to cause things?  Well, synchronicity.  They don’t really cause things, they merely happen alongside events in a meaningful manner.

That is not to say that non-causality in astrology is a modern idea, it’s a debate that has gone on through most of astrology’s history.  Many different writers have their own opinions on it influenced in some way through their own history or religious beliefs.  Some writers were Aristotelian and believed that astrology was causal and effected everything.  Others were Platonic and believed that astrology was still causal but that people could rise above it and make their own decisions through awareness.  There were also writers who were Stoic and believed that astrology was causal and predeteriminism was high and the purpose of astrology was to fortify ourselves against the future.  Finally, the Hermetics which believed a lot like the Stoics, but people could overcome it with Hermetic ritual and sympathies.

I’d like to take a brief reprieve from discussing the Western world and its ideas of magic or inherent power and focus on the East.  Chinese Taoism holds that the Tao is not a concept that can be explained or named by humans, it is something that exists outside of us and can only be experienced – but not owned – by us.  Tao is not its name, but it is only what humans call it.  Taoism emphasizes humility and instructs us to mimic the natural world (as nature inherently understands and experiences Tao) to reach enlightenment.  Due to this philosophy we are instructed to be still like water to reflect heaven, to be constant like the evergreen pine tree, to be flexible like bamboo in the wind, and (my personal favorite) to be imperceptible yet shaping like a comb.  A great emphasis is put on the spirit of tools in Taoism and Chinese martial arts.  You don’t mess with another person’s tools or weapon without their consent or knowledge as through their practice the tool or weapon and practitioner have essentially merged souls.  It’s also noticeable in the Chinese practice of feng shui where the emphasis is on living in harmony with the natural world around you.  Feng shui remedies are not given their remedial powers by peoples’ expectations of them, but by their own nature.  Fortunately, the Eastern ideas have remained more or less true to form.

Switching back to the West, there are some practices in the Neo-Pagan traditions that are reminiscent of the more ancient, Hermetic philosophies.  The idea of sympathetic magic (where one uses terrestrial objects, colors, sounds, etc to assist in their practice) is very much akin to the ideas of celestial sympathies.  Unfortunately, this new wave of sympathies is very obviously modern and doesn’t seem to have any connection with those Hermetic practices it seeks to replicate.  For instance, the color green is used to help in wealth spells.  Why?  Green is a Venus color, wouldn’t it make more sense to use blue or purple for Mercury (business) or Jupiter (wealth)?  You use green because money is green.  Red is used to assist in love spells even though using a Venus color is more appropriate than using a Mars color, but red is utilized because of its connection with the color of heart.  It’s in these ways that modern magic is obviously very individual and culture based and lacks any sort of real backbone to assist its practitioners.

This discrepancy is the biggest rift in the astrological community as it filters down to influence everything we think about the subject.  Unfortunately it’s far too ingrained and personal to change easily, and no amount of proselytizing is going to change anyone’s mind.  Those who follow New Age ideas will see the lack of free will as too fatalistic, while those who follow more ancient philosophies will see the emphasis on the self as playing make-believe.  The most we can do is simply be respectful, though it almost seems too bad to say that realizing that this sentiment dooms the community in half.

A Sign of the Times

Astrology is a product of its time and often shows wear and tear from its age.  The biggest complaint about traditional astrology from modern day astrologers is the different worldview that’s necessary to understand it and the implications and political incorrectness that often comes with it.  Many modern day astrologers attempt to change things in traditional astrology to reflect modern values.  Unfortunately these changes often carry even more unfortunate implications.  There’s nothing wrong with trying to be more politically correct and it is this very action that has made our world a much more open and tolerant place than it was even 50 years ago.  Even with all this progress, there are times when some things just don’t feel right when reflected upon for some time.  The most readily apparent example of this is the change in sexual significators in some forms of astrology.

In horary astrology, when presented a question about a relationship, the astrologer assigns the Sun and Venus to be secondary significators for the two individuals involved.  The Sun takes signification of the male participant and Venus takes the female.  Basically, no matter what else is happening in the chart and not considering any other factors, the relationship between Venus and the Sun will speak about the state of the relationship.  If Venus is separating from the Sun in a “Will she come back to me?” question, it’s not likely she will.  The same could be said for a “Should I play hard to get?” question where the Sun’s inability to catch up with Venus likely spells out the man’s disinterest.  The primary significators must be considered first, of course, but these secondary ones can often give another interpretive layer.

The origin of these significators is based on the unique synodic cycle of the Sun and Venus.  Venus cannot be more than 47° distant from the Sun, and so these two share a very visible dance where Venus conjoins with the Sun, moves away from the Sun, stations, turns retrograde back to mutually apply to the Sun, goes her maximum distance away from the Sun, stations, turns direct and applies to the Sun again, to start the dance over.  A more personified example of these two would be a king and his consort who tends to him.

The implication that is usually seen here is that men are greater than women.  Men are the Sun, a luminary, the brightest planet in astrology, whereas women are merely an inferior planet.  Women don’t get to be the Moon, a luminary which would put them on the same level as men, but they are a level below men in this paradigm.  This is more apparent in electional astrology when choosing a wedding date; the Sun and Venus are also secondary significators in this type of chart for the groom and bride respectively.  Again, the woman gets the inferior planet that is not on the same level as the man’s significator.  This could be seen as values dissonance now, as back then in a marriage the man was the master and owner of his wife.  We have since redefined marriage to be more of an equal partnership, but we still fall into society’s gender roles where women are still expected to cook and clean and men are more likely to supervise.

Due to this implication and the evolution that the mainstream social ideas of femininity and gender equality have undergone during the various women’s liberation movements, many have seen this as an opportunity to streamline astrology into something that is more in line with today’s most common stance on gender issues.  The most important feature is leveling the playing field for men and women and having both start off as equal players.  The best way to accomplish this was to recast men to Mars while keeping women as Venus, this way no one is ahead, they are both mere planets, not luminaries, and power struggles can be avoided.

We often hear that “men are from Mars and women are from Venus”, and this is likely where this saying originated.  However, assigning Mars as a general signficator for men was not a random choice.  As you may have noticed, the planetary glyphs for Mars and Venus are used in biology to represent male and female animals.  This decision by the scientific community was not at all based on any sort of astrological knowledge or idea, but its utilization by science and the general public to denote male and female is probably the main reason why this paradigm was the chosen successor to the previous Sun/Venus one.  The first scientific use of the glyphs of Mars and Venus were in Carl Linnaeus’s 1751 dissertation on plants Plantae Hybrida wherein he marked the supposed female parent of a hybrid with the Venus glyph, the male parent with a Mars glyph, and the hybrid itself with a Mercury glyph.  Later in his Species Plantarum (1753) he would use the planetary glyphs in more general ways to denote certain characteristics of the plants he documented (such as the Sun glyph for an annual planet and the Jupiter glyph for a perennial plant) as well as continuing to use Mars and Venus to show the gender of particular hybrid plants or plant parts.  This trend would later catch on in zoology and biology.

This new idea of men being signified by Mars is not technically incorrect, it’s merely incomplete.  As children, both genders are signified by Mercury, the androgynous, asexual planet.  They retain this signification until puberty, where they split paths, young men become Mars and young women become Venus.  Women will retain the Venus signification essentially until menopause; afterwards they will become the Moon.  This reflects the biological function of women with Venus being the fertile maiden who is able to bear children, and the Moon as the nurturing, older mother figure.  The male path is a bit more complex.  Men will stay with Mars until around the age of 25-30 (for a more astrologically appropriate time, let’s say until their first Saturn return), afterwards they will become the Sun.  This change is more in line with the maturity rate of men who are often more impetuous and impulsive in their younger years.  When men age a bit further (perhaps after their second Saturn return), they become Saturn who typically has significance over grandfathers and old wise men.

The most unfortunate part of this shift is the new batch of implications that have risen from changing the roles.  Men get the most apparent unfortunate implications due to having had a shift in their astrological significator, while the implications for women are a bit more subtle since theirs has not changed.  Instead, the implications for women seem to come more from a comparison to men’s new significator as an easily identifiable dichotomy.

Classically, Mars is known as the lesser malefic.  This planet destroys things through injury, separation, war, recklessness, and conquest.  By removing men from the Sun and relocating them to the Mars significator, we deprive men of solar qualities.  It suggests that we no longer expect them to be mature and stable, but that they are forever expected to be violent and hateful.  Essentially we have cast men into a villain role by assigning them one of the villains in astrology.  This echoes throughout modern culture in the way that we interact with strangers.  We’re more likely to mistrust men and trust women as pillars of morality – and this is where the unfortunate implications for women start – because we assume that women are less capable of harm or action by comparison.  Who are you more likely to ask to watch your bag at the airport; a man you’ve never met before or a woman you’ve never met before?  This is called the Women are Wonderful Effect which was observed in studies where participants associated more positive words and images to women than to men.

With the new Mars and Venus pairing we can also see the active/passive dichotomy being stressed or accentuated more.  Men are associated with active qualities while women are associated with passive qualities.  We can boil this down into a simple adage: men act, women are.  Basically, men are defined by the actions they take or the honors they acquire, while women are defined by being women or by the people they are related to.  For women this becomes interesting, their relationships to other people (usually who happen to be men) is what sets them apart more than the actions they take themselves.  Not everyone can be the President’s daughter, but this highlights women as only being important if they are possessed in some way (through a relationship) by a man who is important.  In media, when we see female heroes, they tend to be daughters or sisters of some man important to the plot, and are only involved because of that relationship with those male characters.  We also see this in the modern view of virginity.  Women are considered pure through virtue of their chastity (an inherent quality), which spills over into society’s sense of women’s morality.  A woman who is a virgin is considered more morally pure, while a woman who is sexually active is seen as lacking in morals.

On the other hand, men must act or seek to achieve something that others could call a goal.  A man who is passive or more hesitant to get things done is often considered less of a man.  This plays itself out in many different ways.  Draft dodgers are often considered cowards who are too weak or afraid to join the military and fight for their country.  This is the default expectation of others around them, completely disregarding whatever other motives a person could possibly have for not wanting to go to war.  Men are expected to want to fight (there’s that Mars again) and we expect there is something wrong with them when they don’t.  House husbands are considered lazy because they aren’t actively employed.  Society still sees men as being the one who has to go to work and financially support his family and those who elect to prioritize their family over their careers are considered strange or incompetent.  This shows a stark contrast between a housewife, who is often seen as having made a values choice to place the well-being of her children above her own ideas of personal achievement, men usually aren’t given this option.  We also see an opposite viewpoint in regards to virginity.  There is something that society considers wrong about a man who does not take action to change the innate quality of virginity.  Men don’t get the option of having made a moral choice to wait for “the one” like women do, but instead must be functionally imperfect in some aspect since they have not attracted a woman.

Finally, and perhaps the most important social issue this change highlights, is that men are expendable and women are helpless.  This basically relates to how society and audiences sympathize with characters of either sex or issues like violence.  For men, the implications are that they are not special or that their lives aren’t worth as much as the lives of women.  So, when tragedy strikes, men are looked at to put their lives on the line to fix it.  By default, men are viewed as less sympathetic and less likely to obtain sympathy or support, whereas it is more socially acceptable for women to seek help and support and they are also more likely to get it.  There are a myriad of social problems that disproportionately affect men because of this mindset.  Men are more likely to be homeless and to be victims of violent crime, and any man who is a victim of domestic abuse should be able to handle it himself, and if he can’t, well then there’s something wrong.  In military matters, most countries refuse to assign females to active combat roles, but are more than willing to throw the lives of young men at their problems.  This has a unique vicious circle quality to it as it’s almost impossible to raise the issues that men face to the public eye because advertisements about social issues are more likely to catch people’s attention and inspire action if they point out how women are affected.

Ironically, women get the shorter end of the stick on this issue, but only because it casts a much wider net.  The idea is that women are helpless and need to be protected by a man, the other side of this is when the man fails to protect a woman, he’s seen as less of a man, regardless of which of them is actually more capable.  We have the phrase “women and children first” which prioritizes women and children over men (again, men are expendable) in extreme cases of emergency or we’ll say someone killed “women and children” to highlight the horror of their crime.  What makes this so terrible is that children are dependent and helpless, often incapable of being able to defend themselves and needing an adult to fill this role for them.  This saying implies the same thing for women; women are as helpless as children and in need of special protection.  In the same vein of thought, violence against women is often seen as worse than violence against men because women are viewed as less capable of defending themselves.  A man who failed to defend himself wasn’t man enough and deserved it, but a woman who failed to defend herself was overwhelmed and vulnerable.  There was nothing she could have done.  On top of that, because women are helpless their achievements aren’t as worthy of praise as the achievements of a man, because if she fails, well, she’s a woman and it’s not her fault if she can’t pull it together and fails which implies she didn’t work as hard or want it as badly.

Now, there is an inverse relationship between capability and sympathy, a woman who is able to put up a fight but still loses is seen as more capable and less sympathetic because they’ve shown they have some skill, they just didn’t have enough.  This gives them an equal share of “not man enough” and “she’s just a woman” for an interesting double dip.  On the one hand she’s viewed as not being good enough to defend herself, but she’s still a woman who can’t be blamed for her shortcomings because no one expected her to be able to do anything in the first place.

Though their intentions are pure, the attempts of modern day astrologers to correct the sexism that is often used as an argument against traditional astrology only serves to complicate the matter.  Sexism is not so much lessened as it is spread out and perhaps now with more unfortunate implications lying underneath.  Modern astrology has now also become a sign of the times, where our modern gender issues and identities are projected onto the stars much like the astrologers of old who we are supposed to be more politically correct than.  This does not assume that the change from Sun/Venus to Mars/Venus created these gender issues, it’s likely that they are as old as time itself, but that it merely shows a change of focus.  Today, we’re more likely to focus on equality in name rather than in reality.  It is considered better for society that women are legally equal to men rather than being functionally equal to men while just pretending that gender inequality is a thing of the past; in reality, as long as little boys are instructed to not hit little girls (as opposed to not hitting anyone), society will continue to struggle with gender inequality issues.

 

 

 

Stearn, William T. “The Origin of the Male and Female Symbols of Biology.” International Association for Plant Taxonomy 11.4 (1962): 109-113. Web.

Eagly, A.H.; Mladinic, A.; Otto, S. (1991), “Are women evaluated more favorably than men? An analysis of attitudes, beliefs and emotions”, Psychology of Women Quarterly 15: 203–216

 

Ophiuchus: Must Have Been A Slow News Day

Ophiuchus has been in the news recently and has received odd reactions from people of various backgrounds.  It was officially announced to be the 13^th zodiacal constellation on January 11^th, 2011 much to the clamor of casual newspaper horoscope readers while receiving a massive shrug from the astrological community.  Why two vastly different responses?  Well, for most of the people doing the clamoring, it’s probably the first they’ve ever heard of it whereas it’s pretty common knowledge in the astrological community.  Ophiuchus is hardly a secret, and the topic of it being the 13^th sign of the zodiac is something that’s been actively discussed for the past 50-60 years.

Ophiuchus’s relation to the ecliptic and the process of Precession of the Equinoxes has been known by astronomers and astrologers since BCE and is credit for discovery goes to Hipparchus.  This essentially makes any attempts by the scientific community to paint astrologers as “ignorant” and “silly” vanish.  They were aware of it, they just didn’t really care.  Essentially there were bigger fish to fry on the ecliptic, and one star crossing it wasn’t enough to register on anyone’s radar when you have the massive dual constellation Scorpio/Libra on one side and Sagittarius on the other.

It needs to be stated that this new official statement does not change your zodiac sign and the statement itself is rather nonsensical in an astrological sense.  Firstly, astrology has never been anything but geocentric.  It’s centered around the Earth and what is observable from it as it’s our only reasonable vantage point.  When the heliocentric universe was discovered astrologers didn’t start casting charts with the sun at the center (though some do) as it would be impractical since no one lives on the sun.  Similarly, Ophiuchus won’t be inserted in any real astrological material or charts because it’s a mathematical impossibility.  The Tropical Zodiac (the one that is most mainstream and holds that you’re an Aries if you were born between March 21^st and April 20^th or somewhere close to that) isn’t based on the actual physical constellations.  The tropical zodiac is based on the seasons.  The first day of Aries is always the Spring Equinox.  The first day of Cancer is always the Summer Solstice.  The first day of Libra is always the Autumnal Equinox.  The first day of Capricorn is always the Winter Solstice.  Nothing will change that as the signs of the zodiac are 12 equal divisions of a 360 degree sky where all 12 signs are allotted 30 degree sections.  360 cannot be evenly divided between 13, and doing so would seriously throw off the seasonal correlations.

To astrologers:  Ophiuchus is just a passing phase, keep doing what you’re doing.

To readers:  Your sign doesn’t change and be wary of places and people who try to convince you it does to sell you new or different astrological services based on your “new sign”.

Uranus opposed Saturn round 4

I tend to stand as a contradiction to all of my traditional friends, as I am the walking embodiment of Uranus energy being beat up by Neptune transits and foggy reasoning.  My chart co ruler is Uranus by modern methods.  Uranus is conjunct Pluto (as most of my generation) for that extra punch.  Relationships tend to last for me one cycle of Uranus.  I have had 3 serious relationships when the men each had turned 40… I think on some wall in a bathroom stall in Omaha (Pluto conj, remember) my number must be painted along with “For a good time during your midlife (Uranus) crisis, and no responsibility… be the artist you always pretended to be, who needs work… call Theresa at……..

I am learning, really.  First marriage when Uranus and Saturn conjunct.   Children with their Uranus (and Neptune) on my Asc and Merc conj Mars…. all deposited by Saturn.  Another marriage when Uranus and Saturn squared.  And now… We have had years of the opposition.  And so far so good, no marriage happened

The first round of Uranus and Saturn opposing set up the stage for many long term relationships and marriages to be tested.  Traditional beliefs vs unconventional freedoms.  No wonder marriage was on the chopping block.  Off hand I can think of a half dozen explosions (personally, not just the Tiger Woods and the Bullock/James blow ups).  Some where very close to home and quite painful, and that was not even being a participant.  My heart goes out to the ones that Uranus got a hold of….behaving in a socially unacceptable manner, but it came down to breath free or suffocate.   Then the flip side, the blow from no where…. What happened, everything seemed fine, and the dizzying disorientation that may never orient… because there was no reason or logic.

Not being involved with anyone, but some sideline dating was probably the best thing that could have happened to me (not that you would know it from all the “I can’t find a guy” whining I did and do.   I did have time to interact with my children at a time that Uranus vs Saturn visited my abode.  There were trips to therapists, medications, interventions…. what you would expect from kids with Uranus square the Moon in their natals…. but here at the fourth round… an eerie peacefulness.  As I came to accept the strange ways of my offspring and they finally understand, I am never going to be the archetype Mother they thought I had to be… a truce.  The only deal is “you need to grow up safe and we need to prepare you for adulthood”.   The result we should see when the next time the two grumpy giant planets oppose (in a few months after Saturn goes direct again)  The fifth pass should be like the celestial final exam.   The outer planets, when dealing with Retrogrades, go back and forth 5 times… it takes years and it is grinding excruciatingly slow, especially with hits to the natal.  During this one…. on a direct opposition, Obama took the Presidency that day…. that might help you wrap around your head the power struggles we all have went through.

I am glad that I did not actually start a relationship during this time.  I can’t imagine the first meeting chart to be too pretty.  With the dating, I met some interest people.   A pilot, who at this point I am not sure what he did with his 20 year marriage, or his other girlfriends…. but I think I was involved with him because I find Narcissistic personalities adorable (go figure) and this time I didn’t make a mistake…. I let him go, knowing he was bad for me. ( a first!) and then the floodgate opened up and the test became like a drill.  I can knock them out of the running on one date now!  Before it was over look this, we can change that…. but now it is. Wow, we spent an entire evening together and I know all about how life has been unfair and amazing you know nothing new about me…. NEXT… and it goes on and on…. from the cross dressing truck driver (really I could deal with that, but I was never a subject in our conversations, except to ask if he could raid my closet) to an overgrown Iron Maiden ex-groupie that likes body hair on women….. OMG, could that have waited a few dates in?  And now with the RX Saturn, last time to apologize.  I have had maybe’s from the past come up and say sorry…. but still somehow try to hold me responsible for their mistakes.  LOL and I am not worried about him/them reading this, cause none of them cared enough to know what I think.    Score one for me, I have avoided another round of being 12th house invisible and only a support system for someone else.  This was my own personal demon, and I have broken away from the conventional I have known.

One of the Uranus casualties and I were out shopping together last night.  I mentioned the opposition again (we have talked about it before) and she said…. yeah, 25 years destroyed, a new relationship destroyed (happened this round) and I have nothing to show for it.  And in someways that is true, looking for a goldmine that isn’t there… but in otherways she has changed the course of lives and no one will ever be the same.

On round four, I have found a few of us interested in May/December type relationships.  Don’t know exactly what that means or the why it is happening.   Maybe, and this is what has happened with me, as I confronted my old beliefs and demons, I can now see what is really important.  Maybe the exuberance of youth is appealing?  I had a friend that now in retrospect, I can see “adored” me, and I dismissed him over age and the need for structure and providence that an older family man would (haaa in my case) provide.  I never considered that older did not mean more mature.  Uranus VS Saturn.   I listened and watched the link below and thought of this friend and those heavy sorrow laden fat teardrops started falling.  You know, the honest ones.  That friend may be gone… I am sure he tired of my ignoring him… after all it was Saturn opposed Uranus for him too…. but he taught me an important Uranus lesson.  Listen with your heart and live true to yourself.

Sue Ward’s Outer Planet Paper

Recently, I read a paper written by Sue Ward titled Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto:  An Investigation into the Sources of their Symbolism.  This paper definitely lives up to its name as an investigative paper as Ward tracks down the sometimes obscure origins of the three newer planets.

As any astrologer of the traditional persuasion will tell you, the outer planets haven’t been around long enough to assimilate the depth of symbolism that they have in modern astrological practices.  Ward points this out in her paper, but also goes farther into the discussion by pointing out just what exactly went wrong.  She attributes much of the confusion and the seemingly random associations with a lack of understanding the astrological philosophy, theosophical dogma, and random harebrained ideas.

Ward does an exceptional job at breaking down the symbolism of the outer planets and offering questions to think about at the end.   At the end of the day, though traditional astrologers will see it as reaffirming what they’ve thought while modern astrologers will mostly see it as an attack on their system.  No matter what side of the fence you sit on in this Great Debate, you’ll learn something about astrological history, and knowledge is a good thing.

The paper can be purchased at Sue Ward’s website for 5 British Pounds, which translates into about 8 USD.  It’s an amazing deal as the paper is 82 pages long and is full of information about this difficult and confusing time in astrology’s past where everyone was trying to figure out how to deal with the three curve balls Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

So go get it!

For those of you who have read this paper, please comment on what you thought of it, or for those who don’t wish to read, comment about what you think about the Outers.

The Gift of the Magi

Recently, a longtime reader and friend of the blog brought up the idea of Magi astrology.  This was something that hasn’t entered my mind for quite some time, so I was happy with the reawakening of the memories.  That was, until I realized the memories that were awakened were unpleasant ones.

For those of you who don’t know, Magi astrology is a name given to this new style of astrology that supposedly came out of the woodwork in around 1995 with the publication of the Magi Society’s first book “Astrology Really Works!”.  Apparently the Magi Society were afraid that there would be no interest from readers if it was the same old astrology just repackaged, so they decided to shake things up a bit by reassigning significations, renaming terms, and abandoning “outdated” techniques.  Bashing traditional astrology and sun sign techniques, throwing out the “incorrect” idea of astrological houses, dignity and just about everything else, Magi astrology has somehow successfully distanced themselves from traditional astrological techniques.  Most likely due to them not being able to cite an actual traditional astrological technique if their lives depended on it.  Apparently their idea of traditional astrology is something similar to newspaper horoscopes and sun sign compatibility reports, though I do wonder if I’m misunderstanding what they mean by “traditional”.  “Traditional” as in pre-1800s astrology?  Or “traditional” as in not Magi astrology.  I guess it could go either way, but meaning one or the other doesn’t necessarily excuse them for their ignorance of real Hellenistic astrological technique and their attempt to hide the “real” astrology behind the facade of popular astrology in order to sell their books and ideas.

After having discovered that house systems were all wrong thanks to the discoveries of their statistical, scientific research which isn’t readily available for review, they threw out the concept of houses.  For unknown reasons, there doesn’t seem to be any references to signs or the concepts of planetary dignities.  So, after all of that is thrown out, what’s left for Magi astrology to glean significance from?  Planetary aspects and geometry.

A more interesting aspect of Magi astrology is its work with lesser astrological bodies.  Much of the Magi Society’s relationship work seems to revolve around Chrion and Juno (Venus having been demoted to mere ceremony) and even relatively new discoveries like Sedna seem to catch their eye.  While this work may be seen as innovative by some, it appears to be less of an act of curiosity and discovery than an act of necessity.  Having deleted house symbolism, dignity symbolism, most sign symbolism, and mixing up planetary symbolism, the only obvious solution to the emptiness of the system is the inclusion of more and more planets.  Since planetary symbolism and aspectual contact are the only considerations that passed the test, these are the only two areas that can be added on to.  It’s probably too difficult to invent new aspects, but there are millions of celestial bodies to be potential candidates.  Easy pickings, really.

Magi astrology claims to be useful for relationship analysis and financial advice.  This limited field of applicable utilization makes me wonder just how useful this type of astrology is to more serious astrologers.  While the Magi Society’s definition of “traditional astrology” is somewhat up for interpretation, that very field of astrology it claims to out perform is somehow infinitely more applicable than it is.

I’d also like to make a quick point that I find it almost comical that the central tenant in Magi’s relationship analysis appears to be “Trines are good, Squares are bad”.  I haven’t read any of the books published by the Magi Society, but after going over their website, that appears to be the case.  I find it comical because this system so quickly attempts to differentiate from “traditional astrology” – whatever that means – but then quickly gets back in line with its main tenant heralding back to astrological aspectual theory.

I had more things I wanted to say, but then I came to the bottom of the webpage and saw this:

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: By reading any of the material on this website you agree to our DISCLAIMER:
The Magi Society and The Magi Associates, Inc. make no claims whatsoever concerning the validity
of the information provided herein, and will not be held liable for any use thereof. No information
or opinion expressed here is a solicitation to buy or sell securities, bonds, real estate, commodities,
options, futures or any financial instruments whatsoever.

The disclaimer does two things.  First, it separates the Magi Society from the responsibilities of any predictions made by the Society itself or from predictions made by other people utilizing Magi Astrological techniques.  Secondly, the disclaimer completely undermines the one thing that supposedly separates it from the rest of astrology: statistical proof.  It’s difficult to take this idea seriously with this newly discovered self-contradiction.  On the one hand, the Society wants us to believe in its techniques and the scientific and statistical proof used to validate them, but then on the other hand, their own disclaimer undermines any attempt to take the validity of their techniques seriously.  It’s this self-contradiction that makes Magi Society astrological techniques a literal gift of the magi just like the combs for Della and the gold chain for Jim.  Sure, we’ve got them, but it’s not like we can use them.

The Ruler of Them All

There’s a term in today’s astrological dictionary that is a rather confusing one, especially when you consider how young it is.  The term “chart ruler” is a rather new term that carries a lot of weight to it, but what exactly is the chart ruler and what purpose does it serve in the chart and how does it exemplify itself to the native?  There are several different ideas as to what it does, and I’ll attempt to cover them all in this article.  The most important question is how do we know what the chart ruler is.

As it turns out, there are several candidates as to what the chart ruler could be, some are as new as the term “chart ruler” and some date back to the classical Hellenistic period and perhaps a couple go farther back.

Ruler of Ascendant

I cannot find the origin of this idea, but I can say it has taken off.  Doing a search for the term “chart ruler” brings back a swarm of articles all claiming that it’s the ruler of the ascendant.  Why though?  That’s the question.  There’s really no reason why the ruler of the ascendant would be the ruler of the chart and have any sort of special treatment.  It only serves to hype up this planet to an unnecessary level.  The first house ruler governs our physical health and helps to shade our physical appearance, while this is important, there’s no reason to make it anymore significant than any other house lord by deeming it the ruler of the entire chart.  Also, no exceptions are included in this rule, so it appears that the ruler of a chart could be heavily debilitated and that too is acceptable.

In horary astrology, the ruler of the Ascendant signifies the person asking the question.  I suppose it is possible that someone misunderstood what this was saying and decided to make it rule the entire chart.  However, this idea is based on weak logic, as this idea of the Ascendant ruler signifying someone entirely is only based in the branch of horary astrology, whereas the chart ruler is something that is only mentioned in reference to the branch of natal astrology.  Switching rules across the branches of astrology never works out due to the original philosophies that made the rules.

Hyleg

The Hyleg is also called the Prorogator of Life, which is the planet or point that has the greatest influence on vitality.  It was used to calculate the length of life and also used to mark periods of danger to the native’s life.

To calculate one’s Hyleg, you must first determine if your chart is diurnal or nocturnal.  We’ll begin with the diurnal chart’s calculations.  Take the Sun and make sure he is within one of the hylegical positions, these are (in order of preference) the First, Tenth, Eleventh, Seventh, or Ninth houses.  If he is not in these, then take the Moon and see if she is in any of these houses.  If not the Moon, then take the degree of the most recent New Moon prior to the birth and discover the almuten of this degree (the almuten is the planet who has the most essential dignity in a particular degree, so if the New Moon that preceded the birth was in 19° Aries, the almuten is the Sun), if the almuten of this degree is in one of the hylegical houses, then take that planet as Hyleg.  If none of these work out, then just take the Ascendant as Hyleg.

For those of us born after sunset, take the Moon primarily and see if she falls within those hylegical houses.  If she does not, then you’re supposed to take the Sun and see if he falls within the first house (as, by rule, the Sun can’t be in Tenth, Ninth, Seventh, or Eleventh houses in a nocturnal chart), if he doesn’t fall within this house, then see what planet is almuten of the degree of the Moon, the degree of the preceding Full Moon, or the place of the Part of Fortune.  If any of these planets are in the hylegical houses, take it as Hyleg, if not, take the Ascendant.

I propose the Hyleg as the ruler of the chart as it is the most significant point in predicting the length of the native’s life.  However, it is not the candidate who I personally endorse.  As you saw, there are instances where the Hyleg may be the Ascendant, but it doesn’t account for the lord of the Ascendant such as the modern chart ruler.

Alchocoden

The alchocoden is simply the almuten of the Hyleg.  So, the planet who has the most essential dignities in the degree of the Hyleg is the alchocoden.  The purpose of the alchocoden is called the “giver of years” and the planet that serves as alchocoden allows us to live as many years as that planet has.  Each planet is assigned three numbers to serve as its greater, mean, or lesser years.  The quality of the planet would judge which years were to be allowed if the native were free of dangers and suffered no unfortunate directions (progressions).  The alchocoden could be seen as the lord of the chart, as it gives the number of natural years the native is supposed to live, but again, it is not the candidate I personally endorse.

Lord of Geniture

The lord of geniture (also known as the lord of nativity), is simply the most dignified planet in the most elevated place in a chart.  To find one’s lord of geniture, one must simply add up the different essential and accidental dignities and take into account house placement.  A strong Venus in the Sixth might be beaten out for the title of lord of geniture by a weaker Mercury in the First.  Elevation and other forms of accidental dignity should be accounted for.  However, there is another way to decide the lord of geniture that was authored by Julius Firmicus Maturnus.  Maturnus suggests that the lord of geniture is the ruling planet of the Sign that follows the native’s lunar placement.  So, according to this idea, if Luna is in Libra, then Mars is the lord of geniture because Mars rules the next Sign Scorpio.  It seems Maturnus is alone in this thinking, though.

I endorse the lord of geniture as the ruler of a chart.  Firstly because the name means “lord of birth” and other names that have been used for it throughout history are “lord of nativity” and “lord of the figure”.  The classical authors gave their opinion on this just by the name itself.  Secondly, it makes the most sense to suggest that the ruler of the chart is the most powerful planet in the chart, not only does it give it a domineering sense as “ruler” (no other planet can compare), but it also gives the planet strength to act in the chart and be a dominate planet for the native to exemplify.  Lilly writes “…the whole actions of the native will more or less partake of the nature of the planet and so his conditions, complexion, temperament, and manners shall be much regulated to the properties assigned that planet.”  So, the lord of geniture not only plays an important part as being the most active and powerful planet in our chart, but it also flavors everything that we are.

Lord of Manners

The lord of manners judges just what it says it does.  The manners of the native, how the native acts and the way the native thinks as well as how they experience and respond to stimuli.  As opposed to the lord of geniture, Sol and Luna cannot be lords of manners, and so it is left to the other five planets to take up this job.

To discover the lord of manners, the first place to look is the first house.  Any planet in this house is the primary significator of manners.  If there is more than one planet, then they are all counted as having a mixed influence, with the one having the most dignities considered to overshadow the manners signified by the other planets.  Also, Luna’s progression to those planets will show times of increased dominance by that planet.  If no planet is in the first house, then look to planets that are conjoined with Luna and Mercury and judge them as the lord of manners.  If no planet joins to Luna or Mercury, take the lord of the ascendant as lord of manners.

It is also important to look to the dispositor of the lord of manners and see if he is a benevolent planet or a malevolent one.  If the dispositor is benevolent or in aspect to a benefic, then the manners are said to be “laudable and complete” according to his nature, however, if the dispositor is malevolent or afflicted by a malefic, the manners are then corrupted and weak as to the nature of the lord of manners.  A weak benefic as dispositor brings good and wholesome manners in show but are said to be “muddled, obscure, or very simple inwardly” whereas a strong malefic as dispositor shows good and pretty manners, but they are said to be mixed with a bit of poison.

The lord of manner is a good candidate for the ruler of the chart as it does seem to signify the personality of the native and accounts for several things in a person’s psychological make-up.  However, I don’t feel it’s as good as the lord of geniture, as the lord of geniture shades everything in the native, including manners.

Traditional natal astrology has an overabundance of difficult terms and complicated calculations that get to the head and heart of a native and their situation in life.  The ideas of these astrologers are slowly coming back to light thanks to translations and re-publications of their works and it’s necessary to take a look back and figure out what was going on in their minds to understand the heart and mechanics of astrology itself.  It’s easy for modern authors to come up with contrived theories about things and pass them down as fact, but now that we have the opportunity to go back and see for ourselves if these things are right or wrong, we should.  It is plausible that the notion of the modern chart ruler was based on one of the significators above, but I don’t feel this is possible as the early modern astrologers had no access to classical material.

For full information about the above significators, refer to William Lilly’s Christian Astrology volume 3, though I’m sure you can find information about them by examining the works of Lilly’s predecessors and contemporaries as well.

Border Patrol: Working With Cusps

There is a very common misconception in astrology today concerning the usage of cusps in interpretational matters.  It seems there is a very popular myth running around that says that someone who is born on a “cusp” of a Sign can carry characteristics of both the Sign Sol is counted as being in or the one adjacent to it depending on the day.  Basically, it is assumed that someone born around August 21-24 is supposed to have characteristics of both the Signs Leo and Virgo based on the idea that Sol is too new into Virgo to have completely left behind the influences of Leo, so there are still some Leonine influences intermingled into the Virgo.  While this is a very incorrect idea, I can see some ways to explain the original misunderstanding; however, I do think the assumptions made about cusps are based on a certain degree of unforgivable ignorance.

First, I think it’s wise to take a moment and define a cusp because I feel it is obvious where the first mistake is being made concerning this grave assumption.  Deborah Houlding is an expert on classical astrology, so in times of need, I often turn to her writings, and I’ll do so here.  In her book The Houses: Temples of the Sky, Houlding defines a cusp as “the dividing line between one house (or sign) and the next.  Planets close to the house cusps are considered to have more powerful influences than those removed from the cusps.”  This definition perfectly illustrates what I believe is happening with this cusp influence myth.  As you can see, Houlding does define a cusp as “the dividing line between one house (or sign)…” so we do see an automatic similarity.  I believe what happens is people understand that a cusp is the same thing for a house and a Sign (the dividing lines between) and assume that the same rules apply to them.  However, the fact of the matter is that house cusps and Sign cusps are similar only in the manner of the duty they perform in dividing them from one another.  In this way, the cusps are as similar as apples and oranges, they are both fruit, but that’s about it.

In Houlding’s definition, she is sure to put a distinct difference between house cusps and Sign cusps when she says that planets close to the house cusps have a more powerful influence.  She says nothing about planets being close to Sign cusps being more or less of an influence in any Sign, so it would seem that there is no interpretational difference, only spatial.  Also, in William Lilly’s book on natal astrology, he offers no differences for planets near the beginning or ending of a Sign.  Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos doesn’t even contain the word “cusp” and Robson’s treatise on electional astrology only speaks of cusps in relation to houses.  So, it seems that the idea of carried-over influences from one Sign to the next is not at all founded in astrological traditional history.

Now that the idea of cross-overs occurring across Sign cusps have been dispelled from the astrological tradition, I feel it’s necessary to explore a bit more in the area of “where does this come from”.  I can think of a couple situations in which a planet or cusp being near the end or beginning of a Sign has some special interpretational value.  However, it is necessary to specify that these rules and situations are only applicable to the fields of horary or electional astrology and are not translatable to the field of natal astrology which is the field where this argument is based.

The first situation in horary astrology is where the Ascendant is in an early (0°-2°) or late degree of a Sign (27°-29°).  In interpretation, the astrologer would judge this as saying the situation inquired about has not fully developed (if the Ascending degree is early), or that the person asking the question already knows the answer or has already made up their mind and the chart won’t change it.  Now, this has nothing to do with individual planets, and so I feel cannot entirely be used as evidence to support the Sign Characteristic Cross-Over myth as we are discussing house cusps in relation to Sign cusps, not planets in relation to Sign cusps.

The other situation is exactly what we’re looking for.  When a planet is near the end of a Sign about to enter another one, it shows that the state of the person signified by that planet is about to change.  For example, when Venus is in the last degrees of Leo, it means that whoever is signified by Venus’s state is going to worsen because Venus is going from a status of wandering to a status of essential depression in the following Sign of Virgo.  Now, this fall has not occurred yet, but it will occur in the near future.  Similarly, Venus in the first degrees of Libra signifies that the state of the person signified by Venus has recently greatly improved as Venus has moved from her depression in Virgo into her domicile of Libra.  Now, the basic interpretation does not change, Venus at 28° Leo would be interpreted the exact same as Venus in 15° Leo, the only difference is that there would be a disclaimer involved mentioning the fall in the near future.  This is the nearest actual instance of a planet near a Sign cusp being considered different than a planet in the middle of a Sign that I can think of that would possibly evolve into the Sign Characteristic Cross-Over myth, however I still cannot understand the great jump in assumption from saying that a planet’s dignity in the adjacent Sign is considered in interpretation to saying that someone born with Sol near a cusp exhibits both Sign characteristics.

The problem with this idea is that – frankly – it’s shallow astrology.  The idea is that Sol – thanks to the theosophists – has become the most important planet in astrology.  This runs contrary to the millennia of astrological tradition which holds Sol as just one planetary energy among seven.  If Sol is close to a Sign cusp, then he must exhibit qualities of both.  This is ridiculous as a planet is either in a Sign or it is not, there is no in between as there is with house cusps due to the fact that Sign cusps are not as permeable as house cusps because Sign cusps are permanent, unlike house cusps which change based on time and location.  Now, I’m sure there are people who relate more to a Sign that is not their Solar Sign, this can be explained three different ways.  The first is that if Sol is in Aquarius and someone feels they are more like a Pisces, they may be overlooking their Mercury and Venus placements which are bound by the position of Sol in the Zodiac.  Mercury cannot be more than 27° away from Sol and Venus cannot be more than 47° away.  So, Mercury and Venus may very well be in Pisces, making you feel more sympathetic to the Pisces qualities.  Secondly, the other six planets are not being taken into account, you may find that several of them are in this other Sign you feel you relate to more, or perhaps some of the planets you have are conjoined with stars that exhibit qualities and natures similar to Signs you feel you relate to.  Lastly, the Lord of Geniture is not being taken into account, and that will have a lot to do with it.  The Lord of Geniture is the strongest planet in your birth chart, and the planet and Sign that planet occupies may speak a lot about your nature and explain why it is you feel you relate more to another Sign (say you’re an Aquarius with Jupiter as your Lord of Geniture and you feel like you relate to Pisces more).

Sign Characteristic Cross-Over myth: debunked.

Aspects: Eye of the Beholder

Introduction

Like most everything in astrology, the aspects are an often debated topic. Astrologers have basically all agreed upon the mannerisms of aspects, but the types acceptable, the orb, and the power of the aspects are topics that will probably never be resolved, leading the individual astrologers to make up their own minds based on what they read and understand from various other authors, as well as what they have themselves observed through their own astrological career. This is rather unfortunate, really, as there are so many better things astrologers could be bickering over. However, like many things in astrology, the foundation is either ignored or forgotten, and I think that’s the best place to start. It is my astrological opinion that all new things in astrology must be founded off of the tradition of astrology as the basis of the entire art. There is a philosophy for everything in astrology, and I feel that “add-ons” to the system are welcome, but they must obviously follow the rules of the original astrological philosophy to be applicable. After all, all of the “original” members of the set had to follow these rules, so why should any new additions be exempt from following the rules of the team?

The Major Aspects

The “Ptolemaic” aspects are the Opposition, Inconjunction, Trine, Square, Sextile, and the Semi-sextile. These aspects are based off of the Signs themselves and how they view one another. You can see an illustration of this below. However, to call these aspects Ptolemaic is a misnomer, when in fact they are handed to us by Marcus Manilius from even more ancient sources. The origin of these aspects is based on numerology and geometric figures inscribed in the sky by the casting of the aspectual contact. It is a misnomer to call the conjunction an aspect as the word aspect comes from a Latin word meaning “to regard”, however, similar words were used to describe the way planets viewed or saw one another. As far as the conjunction is concerned, the planets do not see one another, but are actually physically joined. The opposition is based off of the shape of the geometric line, a symbol of division by two. The opposition is interpreted as two opposing forces that are in constant disagreement. It is a very strong and direct aspect, as the two Signs involved have a clear and direct view of one another.

It is also a misnomer to call the semi-sextile and inconjunction aspects, in that Signs that share this relationship are literally unable to see one another. The semi-sextile is considered slightly fortunate, but since the line of sight between the Signs involved is obscured, it is not as fortunate as it could be, and in fact it holds no sway over judgment without any other factors to back up what the semi-sextile is suggesting. Planets five Signs apart are in an inconjunction aspect, however, since there is no geometric figure that links these Signs together, they seek to avoid one another. Houlding states: “Such a relationship was considered unfortunate or ‘alien’ and the signs were said to turn away from each other, indicating an almost malevolent lack of sympathy. In classical literature the term ablepton meaning ‘not seen’ or ‘blind’ is frequently encountered, as is asyndeton meaning ‘unconnected’, aversum ‘turned away from’, and alienum ‘unfamiliar’.” The trine is based off of the number three which is a number that is often associated with harmony, and in fact with find Holy Trinities all of the world in various cultures and philosophical systems, whether they are the Holy Trinity of the Christian faith, or a trinity regarding the balance of mind, body, and spirit many philosophical and occult studies hold, the harmony and balance implied in the shape of the triangle is almost universal. The harmony this aspect allows gives the planets the ability to sympathize with one another, but the idea that the trine is always beneficial is incorrect, it just allows the planets to work well together, and sometimes there are planetary pairs we don’t want working in cahoots. The square is a forceful and brunt aspect based on the shape of…a square! This is not an entirely negative aspect as – after all – it is better to have planets in square than in no aspect whatsoever. The reception between the planets involved can bring about very fortunate outcomes, but it seems the power flowing between the planets is overwhelming, which often leads to the undesirable end.

The Minor Aspects

Now, let me introduce to you to the modern aspects. There are really quite a few of them, however, there are three that are a bit different than the rest. The quintile, bi-quintile, and sesqui-quadrate were all originally developed by Johannes Kepler. It seems that Kepler took a page out of Ptolemy’s book and continued his thoughts on the aspects being connected with notes in a musical scale with a conjunction being the same notes played in unison, the sextile being a minor third, square a perfect fourth, trine a perfect fifth, and opposition an octave. Once he was able to break from focusing on the Zodiac Signs, Kepler was able to come up with more aspects that continued a musical correlation. The quintile became associated with a major third, the sesqui-quadrate with a minor sixth, and the bi-quintile with a major sixth.

Other aspects don’t have such a famous and ancient origin from Kepler, as the other modern aspects attempt to finish off the rest of the circle, dividing it (or more correctly, forcing it to divide) by other numbers. The quintile (72°) is a division of the circle by five, however, apparently it is “totally in line” with harmonic theory to continue to divide by multiples of five and get the biquintile (144°, division by 2.5), vigintile (18°, division by 20), decile (36°, 10), and quindecile (24°, 15). Other numbers include an attempt to divide the circle by seven which gives us the Septile aspect of 51° degrees, the semi-square (45°) is a division by eight, now by dividing by nine we get the novile of 40°, we also get the undecile (32°) in an ugly attempt to divide by 11, and an even uglier attempt of dividing the circle by a third (3.333) gives us the tredicile aspect of 108°.

So, what do all of these aspects mean exactly? That’s a very good question. About the quintile and bi-quintile, Sue Tompkins writes: “Hamblin has isolated and promoted the notion of ‘style’ as being descriptive of the quintile aspect, so that a quintile aspect will say something not only about an individual’s personal style, but also about the style and technical quality of their creative work.” It is apparent that the derivation of the number five is important in the character of the aspect. Also, the idea that Mercury is also associated with the number five in numerology has been used to come up with ideas as to what the quintile could possibly mean. The quintile has become associated with artistic manifestiation, creative impulses, how we communicate and how we give form to our mental processes. I can find no differentiation in the interpretations of the rest of the quintile family.

The septile (division by seven) can apparently be either beneficial or negative depending on the Signs and planets involved, however it is said its focus is on perfecting something. It is also suggested that a septile is a consequence, reaction, or an effect. The semi-square maintains its parent aspect’s (the square) association with frustration and conflict, though to a lesser extent, and it seems the sesqui-quadrate joins it in these associations. It is said also that disruptions the semi-square and sesqui-quadrate cause are more deeply buried in the psyche, which apparently makes them more outwardly explosive in terms of events that cause their revelation. The novile (40°) is considered a constriction between the planets involved and can be used to unlock an area of self-enhancement. The tredecile (108°) is associated with a social creativity and a need to withdraw and inspect oneself for external originality. Finally, the undecile (32°) is associated with social consciousness and the ability to reach beyond oneself for assistance. There are, of course, other minor aspects, but they are so minor that they don’t even have special interpretations, but are, instead, interpreted off of their parent aspect. So we won’t get into them here.

Orbs

Lately there has been a huge push to constrict the effect of orbs. Obviously this is the work of modern astrologers and proponents of the modern/minor aspects. After all, they’ve nearly tripled the number of aspects in astrology, so having the orbs that were allowed in classical astrology still applicable would make the same pair of planets in a couple of different aspects. This would obviously lead to confusion about which aspect is more applicable, and would make the new, minor aspects seem superfluous (as if they didn’t appear that way already).

The Faculty of Astrological Studies has handed down a suggested table for aspectual orbs. These orbs are based on the importance and supposed power an aspect has in some sort of hierarchy of aspectual power. The table is as follows:

Conjunction	8°	Quintile	2°
Opposition	8°	Bi-Quintile	2°
Trine	8°	Semi-Square	2°
Square	8°	Sesqui-quadrate	2°
Sextile	6°	Semi-sextile	2°
Inconjunction	2°

I suppose this table could be useful to some, but I find it a bit ignorant of a few traditional points. In traditional astrology, the orbs are based on the planets involved, not the type of aspect formed. These orbs were based off of the luminosity of the planet itself when viewed as stars from Earth. For example, the Sun was given an orb of 17° as this 17° mark is when planets disappear in the light of the Sun and are invisible to us on Earth, this is when a planet is visibly obscured and gave rise to the condition of Under the Sun’s Beams. Luna was given a 12° orb as it is 12° after he conjunction with Sol (the New Moon) that we are able to see her as a waxing crescent once more. The other planets seem to be based off of helical obscurity, or when a planet first appears as a morning or evening star (far away enough to shine just before the sun rises or just after it sets). Adjustments were later made for the superior planets (Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), and the inferior planets (Mercury and Venus) which ended up giving us an orb of 8° for Mars, 9° for Jupiter and Saturn, and 7° for Mercury and Venus. This means that, in all, the planets get twice the amount of the orb I’ve written as the orb goes of influence envelops them wholly, which mean it shows on both sides of the planet. So, while I’ve stated that Sol has a 17° orb, in reality he holds a 34° orb as he has 17° on either side of his body.

These huge allowances for orbs may make the jaws of some astrologers drop, but don’t worry, we’re about to get a bit smaller. Dariot wrote that application of planets did not begin until the moiety (meaning middle) of the planets’ orbs began to meet. So while the orbs of the planets are based on the halo of visible light surrounding the body, the moiety is half of this and so we start to get the physical body of the planet involved as well. While planets are in aspect the moment they come within orb of one another, they do not produce recognizable effects until the middle of these orbs touch one another. A table is given below for orb and moiety of the individual planets.

Planet	Full Orb (both sides)	Orb (one side)	Moeity (middle of orb)
Luna	24°	12°	6°
Mercury	14°	7°	3 ½°
Venus	14°	7°	3 ½°
Sol	34°	17°	8 ½°
Mars	16°	8°	4°
Jupiter	18°	9°	4 ½°
Saturn	18°	9°	4 ½°

The way you figure out if planets are in orb is to take the mean of their moiety. So, an aspect between Sol and Saturn is 8 ½ + 4 ½ = 13, then divide 13 in half to get 6 ½°. Whereas an aspect between Saturn and Venus would call for a smaller orb as the mean of their moieties would obviously be smaller (3 ½ + 4 ½ = 8, divided in half gives us 4°). This system is obviously more complex, but takes into account things that modern astrology leaves out, the differing levels of planetary importance and Earth-based observations among other things.

Arguments: Point One

So then, where did things go wrong? One of the biggest deviances, I feel, is the idea that the aspects were based off of numerology. While this is partially correct, it is more correct to state that the aspectual relationships were based off of the geometric figures inscribed in the heavens. Obviously, the conjunction did not share this, but since the conjoined bodies appear as one body in the sky, they are based off of the unity implied by what they saw. The opposition, however, is where we begin to see this take form. The opposition splits the sky in half by a line, this is where the idea of division and conflict arise. A completed sextile pattern creates two hexagons which are related to a weaker trine aspect, completed square patterns form three different squares, and completed trine patterns form four different triangles. Now, the semi-sextile and inconjunction are considered to be minor-major aspects because (while they do meet one criteria) they fail to create a significant geometric figure, while this may seem silly to some, it is the geometric figure that sets the tone for the aspect’s influence. The semi-sextile pattern forms a dodecagon, which was seen as unimportant, and the inconjunction forms a dodecagram (twelve-point star) which isn’t a real geometric figure as the lines cross up. Also, with these two patterns it is impossible to create another set using different Zodiac Signs as they are all used up. You can see the aspect charts for the Ptolemaic aspects below.

Opposition, Sextile, Square, Trine, Semi-Sextile, and Inconjunction charts.

So, it would seem that the modern aspects must inscribe a closed geometric figure that is capable of being reproduced using different Signs of the Zodiac without using the same ones twice. Let’s see if any of these aspects do that. With the quintile, it is possible to create a geometric figure (the pentagon) twice without doubling up on Signs, however, if I were to start one with Aries and another with Taurus, I would leave Pisces and Libra excluded and if I did start another pentagon starting with Pisces (as Cancer has already been used), the Signs of Taurus, Cancer, and Sagittarius would be used twice. The bi-quintile forms a similar pattern excluding Pisces and Libra and doubling on Taurus, Cancer, and Sagittarius, except this time we are forming a pentagram which is not a geometric figure as it closes in on itself with the lines crossing. The sesqui-quadrate forms an octogram who is not a geometric figure as the lines cross up, and again Signs of the Zodiac are left out (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces) and to do it a second time has Signs doubling up on Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. The vigintile automatically doubles up on Aries and forms a figure I’m not sure what to call, though it seems closer to a circle than anything. The decile seeks to skip Pisces and Virgo, and doing a second pattern doubles on Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Capricorn. The quindecile repeats the mistakes of the vigintile. The septile completes a septagon in the Zodiac, however it is impossible to make a second with the Signs left over from the first (Gemini, Leo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces) without doubling on Aries, Cancer, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Aquarius. The semi-square acts very similarly to the sesqui-quadrate except forming an octagon instead of a star, and leaving out and doubling on the same Signs. The novile aspect forms a neat little nonagon, but fails to include Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, when a second is done to include them, all but Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius are doubled. The tredecile creates a decagon, but excludes Pisces and Virgo, while doubling up on just about everyone else when making a second pattern to include them. The undecile basically creates a big circle, looping around the Zodiac numerous times before finally closing. The patterns can be seen below.

Quintile, Bi-quintile, Sesqui-quadrate, Decile, Septile, Semi-square, Novile, and Tredecile charts.

None of the modern aspects are able to produce a geometric figure that includes all of the Zodiac Signs without doubling up on any of them in a way similar to the major, Ptolemaic aspects. The trines, squares, and sextiles are able to operate independently of one another, without the same Sign being placed in two different triangles or two different squares, however, it is obvious that the modern, minor aspects are unable to carry this on, as each displayed an inability to create independent shapes whilst including the entirety of the Zodiac.

Arguments: Point Two

Something else that has differed in the classical and modern times is that the modern aspects are no longer based on the same number. In other words, the classical aspects were all based off of the number 12, the number of Signs in the Zodiac, and the important aspects were based off of numbers that are prominent for one reason or another in the Zodiac. The conjunction aside (we’ve discussed why this one is different earlier), the opposition is based off of the number two, the number of polarities (masculine and feminine) in the Zodiac, this give us the number six (as twelve divided by two is six), which is the number of oppositions that can form. The trine is based on dividing the Zodiac by the number three which is the number of modes or qualities in the Zodiac (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable), this division leaves us with the number of four (12 / 3 = 4), which is the number of triangles that can be formed in the Zodiac (giving us the Fire, Earth, Water, and Air Triangles). The square is derived from the division of the Zodiac by four which corresponds with the number of elements (Fire, Earth, Air, and Water) and it leaves us with the number 3, which gives us the number of possible squares we can inscribe in the Zodiac (which gives us the Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable squares). The sextile is based off of the number six, which represents the number of Signs involved in each polarity (Masculine: Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius. Feminine: Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces), this division leaves us with the number two, which is the number of hexagons that can be formed out of the Zodiac with the sextile aspect, linking the members of the same gender. The semi-sextile serves to represent the number twelve itself, which just links the twelve Signs of the Zodiac together in a semi-helpful fashion. The inconjunction, however, is a very different aspect as there is no important association with the Zodiac and the number five, it’s this lacking that has given this aspect its strange qualities.

Now, the modern aspects are all based off of the number 360, which – obviously – is how many degrees are contained within the circle of the Zodiac. This move here represents and interesting switch in perspective. The focus used to be the Signs of the Zodiac, now the focus is the degrees of the Signs of the Zodiac. It shows an interesting trend in the modern perspective to put more emphasis on the individual degrees of the Zodiac. You can find this trend echoed in various techniques that I won’t go into here, but I thought it was an interesting correlation. However, the very idea is that the modern aspects are using the wrong base number as the emphasis in tradition and the classical era has always been on the unquestioned power and significance of the Signs is a bit strange. Especially when compared to the questioned and debated topic of degree influences, after all, is there really any difference between 9° Taurus and 10° Taurus in terms of significance? I don’t think so. However, the differences between Taurus and Aries are obviously apparent.

Arguments: Point Three

This point only works with some of the aspects, but I feel it’s enough to get some thoughts going. If we were to use the traditional orbs of moiety, then we would find that some of the minor aspects are, in fact, major aspects. Case in point, the bi-quintile of 144°; if we were to get a planetary duo whose mean moiety was 6°, this would be an inconjunction. The basic ideas of these aspects are contradictory, the bi-quintile being harmonious and the inconjunction being nasty. So I find this idea bit difficult to believe. This is echoed in the idea that the decile (36°), quindecile (24°), and undecile (32°) are really just semi-sextiles (30°).

Sources

Wikipedia. Astrology Notes: Septile. 1 Mar. 2006.

<http://astrologynotes.org/wiki/Septile>.

Wikipedia. Astrological Aspects. 8 Aug. 2008.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_aspect>.

Houlding, Deborah. The Classical Origin and Traditional Use of Aspects. 1 July 2004. <http://www.skyscript.co.uk/aspects.html>.

Tompkins, Sue. Aspects in Astrology: A Guide to Understanding Planetary Relationships in the Horoscope. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 2002.

Clash of the Temples

Introduction
For a long time now, I’ve been pushing for a separation from the ideas of the X=Y=Z system, with the argument that it’s completely destroyed the traditional philosophy of astrology. One of my friends actually proposed the idea that I seriously write this little article wherein I compare and contrast the modern X=Y=Z system and the Traditional system. It’s actually something I’m a little embarrassed about. Embarrassed that I didn’t really want to do this before, and that I was too arrogant to realize that I wasn’t always aware of this differentiation between the systems, and that I turn around and expect the world to have come to a similar realization around the same time I did. It doesn’t work this way.

Certainly, the world of astrology would be so much easier if everyone agreed on the same system, but we all know this is not the case and will most likely never be the case. However, as my friend pointed out to me, it’s not always people’s faults that they are ignorant of other systems and are only using the system (no matter how right or wrong that system is) that they have been introduced to. Looking at this in the same way, I was also ignorant of the traditional system, fully content to accept the modern X=Y=Z system that I learned from “crappy books” (again, quoting my friend).

In an attempt to dispel as much ignorance in the world as I can, I’m going to present both systems here. It doesn’t much matter to me what system you ultimately decide to choose and stick with, I’m not trying to convince anyone to switch thinking, but you are not allowed to be ignorant after reading this. That’s the only rule.

Before we begin, perhaps it’s best to show what I mean.

Also, be sure to commit this to memory as well.

X=Y=Z?
To begin with, it’s best to explain this term. You won’t find “X=Y=Z” in any sort of astrological glossary, it’s a term I’ve coined myself and spread to other astrologers via excessive usage in much frustrated ranting. In astrological usage, the three variables can be switched for particular astrological objects. X is a house, Y is a Sign of the Zodiac, and Z is a planet. This system is generally used in modern astrology cookbooks, perhaps they are used for the sake of simplicity, but in the end they only serve to confuse students who will eventually be faced with a different system later on in their astrological career. There are fifteen astrological formulas that fall under the jurisdiction of the X=Y=Z mentality, in text, they generally look like this:

“The First house, ruled by Aries and thus Mars, is linked with our physical appearance, expression, etc.”

So, you would transform this text into the first of the X=Y=Z formula to get: First=Aries=Mars wherein they all equal the same thing, in this case physical appearance and expression. Now, remember, there are fifteen of these formulas and they are:

First=Aries=Mars
Second=Taurus=Venus
Third=Gemini=Mercury
Fourth=Cancer=Moon
Fifth=Leo=Sun
Sixth=Virgo=Mercury
Seventh=Libra=Venus
Eighth=Scorpio=Pluto
Ninth=Sagittarius=Jupiter
Tenth=Capricorn=Saturn
Eleventh=Aquarius=Uranus
Twelfth=Pisces=Neptune

Depending on the astrological opinion of the author, you may also see these three formulas, though they are much less commonly acknowledged:

Eighth=Scorpio=Mars
Eleventh=Aquarius=Saturn
Twelfth=Pisces=Jupiter

Now, the big question: what’s wrong with this system? Well, besides the fact that it is far too watered down and it completely disregards the traditional astrological philosophy that has set the foundation of the very art we study, not much. Unfortunately, to answer this question fully and intelligently will take some time and effort, and is definitely far too difficult to squish into one sizeable tablet for easy digestion. I will, however, attempt to tackle it, part by part.

Traditional Philosophy?
Since I’ve given a brief overview of the definition of X=Y=Z, I feel I should do the same for traditional philosophy. The short definition would be the ideas and reasons traditional authors have been writing since the foundation of astrology. Such authors as Manilius, Al Biruni, Culpeper, Lilly, and Ramesey, who set, continued, and expanded astrology as it is today, or at least, as it would have been without the interference of X=Y=Z.

Beginning of X=Y=Z
It’s difficult to find the first mentions of X=Y=Z in astrology, but perhaps 17th century astrologer William Lilly inadvertently set the stage for its appearance in his Christian Astrology book. In it, Lilly assigns the Signs to houses as ‘co-significators’, these ‘co-significators’ match up to the X=Y=Z formulas in the respect that Lilly did write Aries to co-signify the First, Taurus the Second and so on.

Apparently, the only thing the Signs and houses have always had in common was rulership of specific parts of the anatomy. This was the basis of Lilly’s co-significator system relating houses and Signs together. It seems that Lilly noticed this scheme was constant throughout astrological tradition, or at least had very little variation through the ages and he saw it a strong enough link between Signs and houses to relate them to each other. This does not mean that he agreed with the notion that Signs and houses were in some way related and that the houses derived their meanings from the Signs assigned to them as co-significator, but just that he noticed this astrological anatomical connection between these two fields and felt it significant enough to connect them in this manner. Little did Lilly know that he was setting the stage for someone to misinterpret his intent, and thus may be the first idea of Signs and houses being equated with one another. This idea, though, only accounts for the X=Y, but where did the Z in X=Y=Z come from? Was it a misunderstanding based on ignorance due to a lack of information? Or was it simply the result of dumbing-down well established tradition for the consumption of the masses?

Smackdown: Traditional Vs. Modern
Now begins the fun part – and the meat – of this whole article. In this rather lengthy section, I will put the traditional and modern systems side-by-side and attempt to describe them both to the best of my ability. Again, my intention is not to change anyone’s mind, but to dispel ignorance.

The first point to address should perhaps be the different theories as to where the meanings of the houses originated. Oddly, you’ll find that there are three ‘possibilities’ even though there are only two systems. Obviously, this means one of the two systems must have two theories. We’ll begin with the traditional system.

The traditional system of house associations is based on philosophy, mysticism, mythology, and astronomy. Basically, the houses begin with the Ascendant, as the sun rises it aspects all the other house cusps by a Semi-sextile, Sextile, Square, Trine, Inconjunction, or Opposition. It’s through both the nature of the aspect cast (challenging/harmonious) and the amount of light shed from the Ascendant to the houses (aspects in order of brightness [most to least]: Opposition, Trine, Square, Sextile, Inconjunction, Semi-sextile) that cements the nature of the house. Some houses also are said to have a planet joy within them, and these planetary joy relationships also helped to shade the house meanings even farther.

One modern system states the houses absorbed the meanings of the Signs (X=Y=Z!). An author sums this idea up most effectively in his book:

“Both [houses and Signs] simply represent two ways of looking at the same concept which is inherent in the root idea of the sign itself, be it Aries, Taurus, Gemini, or any of the others…Thus the basic meaning of the first house is neither ‘appearance, disposition, outlook, carriage, health, vitality or inherent condition’, but only ‘Aries’. This in the end contains all that needs to be said.” –Ralph Holden

I’m sure we can all see the inherent problems in this. Holden seems to suggest that we can safely remove one of the four basic foundations of astrology (houses, Signs, planets, and aspects) seeing as how “Aries… contains all that needs to be said” as far as significations of the First house go. Continuing with this idea where he left off, it now means nothing for one’s Sol to be positioned in Ninth house, as only ‘Sagittarius’ needs to be said to get the gist of what Sol here means, regardless of the Sign Sol actually resides in.

Arguments against this occur as early as Culpeper’s works, as he writes:

“Some authors hold an opinion that the signs carry the same signification in order that the houses of heaven do, and Aries should signify life, Taurus estate, Gemini brethren and short journeys, you know the rest. Truly, my own opinion is that many authors invented whimsies, and when they had done, had set them down to posterity for truth; who taking them up without trial, clothed tradition in plush and left poor reason to go in rags. An author said so, ergo ‘tis true, right or wrong’.”

A second modern idea is linked to the new view of astrology used in psychological counseling. That being the houses seem to represent a “Wheel of Life” concerning psychological developmental milestones when listed in their numerical order. The offered list is as follows:

First house: Emergence of the individual
Second house: Awareness of the tangible
Third house: Development of ‘mental ego’
Fourth house: Separation from parents
Fifth house: Discovery of creativity
Sixth house: Discovery of responsibility
Seventh house: Discovery of relationships
Eighth house: Discovery of sex
Ninth house: Discovery of higher truths
Tenth house: Fulfillment of ambition
Eleventh house: Awareness of social issues
Twelfth house: Loss of identity into collective.

Houlding offers better analysis of this system than I could ever hope to.

“Thereafter [the third house], the logic of the theory starts to drift apart and it offers no rational explanation as to why the Eighth house of death should precede the Tenth house of career and aspirations; or why the Fifth house of pregnancy and children should precede the Seventh house of partnership and marriage. Attempts to reconcile tradition and contemporary use are clearly contrived, and points in favor are supported by creative suggestions rather than historical research and study. Again, the theory relies heavily on modern rulerships which find no verification in traditional practice, perpetuating an ever increasing distortion of the traditional house meanings in order to make the hypothesis fit.” – Deborah Houlding

Round One, First house: Mars/Aries vs. Saturn/Aries/Mercury
Modernly, it is said that the Sign Aries and planet Mars are the most obvious connections for the First house, and perhaps does serve some usage in the lives of beginning astrology students, making the ideas shown by the First house make sense. Life, vitality, disposition, such keywords of the First house as this have some connection to the strength, passion, and energy attributed to the Fire Star and Ram. However, after this, some strange rulerships have come from the incorrect association of Mars; words such as ‘action, adventure, and newcomers’ which have no basis in tradition.

Traditionally, the houses start with the ascendant as the day begins with the sun rising above the eastern horizon (which is the physical boundary that sets the Ascendant). Thanks to this astronomical event, the sun’s rays hit the earth, animals stir and awaken, plants quickly switch to actively drawing in the light instead of passively converting and ‘digesting’ the nutrients during the night, thus giving ‘life’ to the world. It is because of this reason that the First house was attributed to that of ‘life’ and since in this world life needs to be contained within a body, it came to signify the conditions of the body.

Fire Soul
While in the modern era we often consider ‘vitality’ and ‘will’ to fall under the domain of Mars – the Soldier of Passion – you won’t find any such reference in traditional texts, instead, these key points fell under the domain of Sol himself as the giver of life and will to the entirety of the world. Also, you will find no mention of Mars as the master of form, in that there is nothing in traditional texts linking Mars to the condition of the body, he is however, said to give it a tint of red and burns or marks. So, there is no real traditional connection between this house’s significations and Mars, it’s obvious he was only associated here for the sake of simplicity as the ruler of Aries.

So, why then was Aries assigned to this house of there was not supposed to be any real connection between the two? Well, to this we can only thank William Lilly as mentioned above. Anatomically, the First house is said to rule the head and as such rules the entirety of the head and face, or “whatever is above the first vertebra of the neck”, as Culpeper tells us. Also, astrologers will tell you that Aries holds sway over this area as well, and indeed it does. Thus the connection is established.

Silent Wall
Why then is Saturn – the greater malefic – attributed to the First house of life and spirit? We are told that the First house describes our bodies, even though it is only said to hold special signification of the head, Saturn as the lord of ruin certainly is an odd choice to ascribe to such a fortuitous house. However, we often forget that Saturn also has anatomical hold of our entire bodies. We all are aware of Saturn’s meanings of restrictions, limitations, and barriers and how these can be bad things, but also they can be very, very good things. In this case, perhaps the best thing we could ever hope for. In order to live, we must have a body to occupy, and this is what Saturn supplies for us – a form.

Soldier of Intellect
One other planet has had a hand in shading the meaning of the First house. Traditionally, Mercury is said to joy in this house. Manilius specifically refers to this house as the “Temple of Mercury”. In the modern era, we have switched around the house meanings to inadvertently relieve the First house of all of its Mercurial significations. However, in the traditional scheme, the First house was also said to hold sway not only of the condition and appearance of our body, but also the condition of our mind, intellect, and reasoning abilities.

Just why does Mercury joy in the First house? Mercury is an asexual planet, being neither masculine nor feminine and thus can enjoy the station of both depending on his aspectual relationship to other planets and thus mimicking the gender of the planet he’s of the closest relation to. Due to this, Mercury is very well situated in the First house, the house were light (masculinity) and dark (femininity) are balanced within morning twilight.

Round Two, Twelfth House: Neptune/Pisces vs. Venus/Pisces/Saturn
At first it may seem strange that I’m choosing to work ‘backwards’ through the houses. No doubt we all think of the houses as going in numerological order, counter-clockwise throughout the wheel. However, to get a better understanding of the traditional schemes of houses, it’s best to think of them in their daily motion or – as the ancient astrologers called it – the natural motion of heaven. This idea holds that the planets move in both directions at the same time; forward and backwards. The sky will show a planet in the First house being in the Twelfth house just an hour or so later, and then after that the planet will be in the Eleventh house, and then the Tenth, and so on. While we think in terms of the planets’ motions throughout the Zodiacal wheel and compare it to this, there are in fact, two different wheels that should not be confused, but often are. So, while the planets are also slowly traveling throughout their Sign, they are also moving from house to house, wherein they are doomed to climb to an angle in a succeedent house, be in power in an angular house, and then fall from power into a cadent house and so on throughout the houses of heaven.

The Twelfth house has been interpreted as a house of solitude and imprisonment, the place we go, willingly or unwillingly to be alone and cut off from the rest of the world. Also through Modern absorption, this house has come to be associated with all sorts of spiritual matters and is often thought of as the ‘collective wherein which we return’; a sort of gateway to the entirety of the universe. Psychic matters such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, and scrying have also been put to this house, also the negative side of this, witchcraft and those that hurt us unknown and from afar fall under this house.

In ancient times referred to as ‘The house of bad spirit’, it’s no wonder the idea to sugar-coat it’s meanings of hidden enemies, ruin, self-imprisonment, addiction, and other such not nice things came about. The very fact is that, traditionally, weak is bad, and strong is good, regardless of what other creative terms that are thrown in the pot to make the bad seem better. The Twelfth house is the most difficult and hostile area of the entire scheme of heaven, owing its bad reputation to its inability to see the Ascendant but through the minor unhelpful Semi-sextile aspect. Also, the rule of cadency making it weaker is not assisting it in being a positive area, as well as the astronomical ability for stars and planets in this house to seem fuzzy and not easily observable at the rising of Sol, making them technically ‘combust’ (thus having an association with the hidden) and seriously debilitated.

Deep Submerge
Thanks to the association of Pisces to the Twelfth house, Neptune has come to be seen as the ruler of this house and thus the implications of spirituality and connections with the All Mighty are drawn. Add to it the Piscean sensitivity to gather all sorts of psychic connotations to it, and the Neptunian ability to dissolve and you’ve got yourself one ueber connected house; connected to the will of all and the power of the universe. However, also thanks to Neptune and the Piscean sensitivity we are also given the deep connotations of this house of imprisonment and addiction, cementing this traditional signification to this house for some time to come. For some reason, however, another modern connotation is the Twelfth house seems to have hold over such large institutions as hospitals, for which I have no explanation. Obviously there is no mentality behind connecting this house with Neptune aside from the fact it is the modern ruler of Pisces (seeing as how Neptune was unknown to the ancient world), however the idea of Pisces being connected to this house is also purely anatomical, with both the house and Sign having signification over the feet.

Venus Love-Me Chain
How then, could the planet of love and glamour be associated with the unfortunate Twelfth house? No surprise that this idea may be astronomical as well. In some cases, Venus is the morning star, being in this position would put her right in the company of the Twelfth house, she would be combust of Sol as he rose, but still be bright enough to be noticed in the sky. Perhaps her continual and repeated position in this part of the sky led astrologers to believe she enjoyed being here for some reason. Also, Venus represents the allure, the sorceress, if you will; prompting us to spend more than we could ever afford, for example. Venus represents both allure and mystery, and as such straddles the fence of pleasurable activity and lethal addictions which can be as strong as an iron chain.

Soldier of Ruin
After reading the above, it’s perhaps no surprise that this became known as the Temple of Saturn, the house wherein he joys. Concerning this Lilly writes:

“Saturn does much joy in that House [the Twelfth], for naturally Saturn is author of mischief.”

Saturn’s reputation as the greater malefic is usually noted as being he enjoys to make people suffer, so it’s no surprise that he joys in the most unfortunate and hostile area of all, being unable to see the light Sol brings to the world in this house, he seems quite comfortable living in the darkness and silently spreading malice through it. It is also this reason that electional astrologers are told to keep Saturn out of the Twelfth, for fear of him ruining the matter through unknown interventions.

Round Three, Eleventh House: Uranus/Aquarius vs. Sol/Aquarius/Jupiter
The Eleventh house has been seen to signify such things as wide social circles and acquaintances, perhaps owing this distinction to being affiliated with the cold, logical Aquarius who doesn’t always like to be so personal. Such distinctions must make some sense for this house, which has also since been given hold over such things as ‘brotherhoods, business income, civic groups, club members and the club itself, conventions, communities and social gatherings.’ Hampar lists such things as ‘club entrance and alliances’ as falling under consideration of the Eleventh house. Another new object under the reign of the Eleventh house is that of sciences and even astrology itself. Very interesting in that the modern system completely destroys the need of the Ninth house by placing half of its significations in the Twelfth and the other half in the Eleventh so that very little remains.

According to Manilius, the Eleventh house is seen as the most fortunate of all, surpassing even the First and Tenth. Since planets in this house have freed themselves from the unfortunate confines of the Twelfth house, and even then have the zenith to aspire towards, it is taken as a very fortunate house with the significations of freedom and liberty associated with it. The Eleventh house is also far enough to receive the light of Sol as he rises with the friendly Sextile aspect, and being associated with the greater benefic Jupiter has definitely given this house some power behind it. Traditionally known as ‘The House of Good Spirit’ and being a diurnal house have perhaps cemented this house as the most fortunate of all.

World Shaking
Unfortunately, thanks to the interventions of the idea of assigning this house to Aquarius due to the shared anatomical region of the shins to the ankles – even though Aquarius rules systems that are unrelated to this thanks to its traditional ruler such as bones, joints, and teeth – the Eleventh house has been quite misrepresented. Due to the interference of Uranus, the Eleventh house has become a place of science and astrology as Uranus is attributed to electricity and technological advancement, and somehow has earned the title of astrology lord. Uranus having lordship makes no logical sense considering the fact that authors writing around the time of his discovery described him as ‘extremely frigid’ and ‘a malefic of equal or greater power than Saturn’. So, assigning this admittedly evil planet with this most fortunate house does not seem to add up.

Shining Rays
Running to the exact opposite end of the spectrum from Uranus, Sol and his warm and giving nature is the perfect significator for the Eleventh house. Since this house represents our friends and benefactors, it’s no surprise that Sol is associated with this house as the house shows people who ‘help us shine’. Astronomically, Sol has a lot of power in this house, as he’s almost reached his highest point in the sky, so he is associated with this house as he still has room to ‘grow’ in the sky before he reaches his highest seat. Also, this house is associated with hope, faith, and trust, which serve as perfect metaphors for Sol’s light as hope, faith, and trust help us cut through the darkness of depression so that we may persevere through the hard times.

Soldier of Fortune
The greater benefic Jupiter joys in this house and adds his helping hand which compounds the beneficial connotations of this house. Natural influences of Jupiter are described as giving, liberating, and optimistic, which all fit in perfectly with the significations of the Eleventh house. His significations of relief and comfort also give this house the hold over such things as hospitals and asylums which are usually associated with the Twelfth. Being in a ‘friendly’ aspect with the Ascendant also helps cement Jupiter’s association with this house.

Round Four, Tenth House: Saturn/Capricorn vs. Mars/Capricorn
The Tenth house of fame, honor, awards, and achievement has been given a less dramatic make-over. Perhaps due to the fact that both Saturn and Mars have a large amount of power in Capricorn and seem to be able to get the same thing done. The Tenth house is attributed to our aspirations, successes, business, our professional selves, and the public eye. Hampar lists such things as ‘the business itself’ to the Tenth, as well as ‘authority and the dominant parent’.

Since this house holds a good view of the Ascendant by a strong Square aspect, that’s what this house has become known for. Strength and the effort to overcome the obstacles that are in our way to achieve that which we desire. Planets in this house have reached their highest daily station, and unfortunately are only doomed to fall into the cadent Ninth house. While they are in this highest station, they are clearly visible overhead and may be the reason as to why this house is linked with the public eye. Also, the ability for planets in this house to powerfully impose their influence on the Earth below may also have linked this house with the ideas of authority and dominance.

Silence Glaive Surprise
Thanks to the associations of this house with Capricorn due to the shared anatomical region of the knees it has thus also been linked with the ruler of Capricorn, Saturn. Due to this, Saturn has given this house hold over all things with an apparent structure and hierarchy; businesses and nations most notably. Also, Saturn’s significance of the father and grandfather have spread to this house to completely reverse the traditional scheme of the father being the Fourth and the mother the Tenth. However, sometimes you will find astrologers like Hampar – who instead of specifically identifying a parent with a house – who prefer to label this house as that of the ‘dominant parent’. Even then, though, this signification makes no sense as the Tenth house represents where we are trying to get to and the ‘power’ we express outwards with the Fourth representing the driving force to get us there or our influences which in many cases would turn out to be that ‘dominant parent’.

Mars Flame Sniper
With Mars being an excessively hot and dry planet, it’s no surprise that he finds himself employed as co-significator of the Tenth house which marks the Southern most part of the sky. Also, he accidentally finds himself partnered with Capricorn – his Sign of exaltation – as the most Southern Sign. Lilly says Mars itself is one of the three planets that can discern profession (the other two being Mercury and Venus) and when coupled with any other planet (except Saturn) Mars seems to enhance the quality of profession. Perhaps it is that Mars represents our passion and interests that would most easily form into a profitable career and thus was attributed to the Tenth.

Round Five, Ninth House: Jupiter/Sagittarius vs. Jupiter/Sagittarius/Sol
This house is one of the two more boring ones, meaning this is one of the two instances where the modern ruler just so happened to be the same as the traditional co-significator. You would think, though, that with this fortunate happenstance the meanings of this house wouldn’t be too badly damaged, how wrong you would be. Modernly, it seems this house has lost all connection of religion and learning and has become a solely foreign house, relating to places outside of our comfort zone and country. This becomes most obvious when you consider the added on associations with spirituality to the Twelfth and science to the Eleventh I touched on in their respective rounds which originally came from this house and were traded over.

This house has a very beneficial view of the Ascendant, aspecting it via the easy flowing Trine, fortunately for it; this lessens the debilitating factor of its cadency. Also, having the same lords as the Eleventh – granted though now their jobs have switched – has made this house the most fortunate cadent house of all of them. The influences of these two planets – Sol and Jupiter – have given this house signification of fate, divination, and spirituality, as well as any place we go to learn.

Sparkling Wide Pressure
Since this house fortunately enjoys the same modern ruler and traditional ruler, it makes it difficult to discuss the difference. However, I’ll attempt to look at this in two different ways. It seems the modern associations of Jupiter with this house has completely overlooked this house’s properties of learning and religion, instead spreading these influences out into other houses based on their modern rulers and maintaining Jupiter’s hold over foreign travel and affairs with this house. Sagittarius was associated with the Ninth house due to the shared anatomical region of the buttocks, hips, and thighs, and thus the modern association with Jupiter.

Supreme Thunder
What we forget, though, is that the sphere of Jupiter is also intimately connected with divinity and thus the spirituality traditionally connected with this house makes sense. In several cultures throughout the world, the star of Jupiter was associated with the king of that culture’s pantheon, be that Zeus or Marduk. The Romans saw the natural phenomena of lightening as the voice (usually the angry voice) of the god Jupiter himself. Being associated with divinity also leads to the association with philosophy and other such belief systems, be they academic or mystic. About Jupiter’s placement here, Lilly writes:

“For if Jupiter be herein placed it naturally signifies a devout man in his religion, or one modestly given…”

Soldier of Life
Sol joys in this house as it is when he is positioned here that his light shines brightest (perhaps thanks to the angle of the earth), and we feel more of the solar radiation we are often warned against. Adding his own attributes of prophecy and divinity to this house makes the Ninth an even more spiritual seat, seeing as how several cultures around the world saw Sol as the face of god. Anciently named ‘the house of god’, this house has everything to do with spirituality and philosophy, but also is associated with the distant travel and foreign places modern astrology would hold it to, as it is linked with the longer Solar orbit as opposed to the shorter Lunar orbit. Many people worldwide pray to a deity of some sort for understanding of situations beyond their comprehension, and so too is this house linked with people and places we go to understand things more clearly; clergy, teachers, university, etc.

Round Six, Eighth House: Pluto/Scorpio vs. Saturn/Scorpio
To be honest, this was the house I was looking most forward to getting to. This house has had such a modern twist to it that it’s almost unrecognizable when compared to its traditional form. Such things as sex and even some occult elements have also been added into this house, somehow derived from the rulership of Pluto. Also, such things as ‘profound emotional experiences’ and other such events which must change the way someone views something have made this house the poster child for the modern/traditional smackdown. The bleak outlook of ruin brought to us by Saturn has been changed into the more positively accepted transformations via the powers of Pluto.

To the Greeks, this house was known as Epicataphora, which is translated as ‘to be cast down into the underworld’ and this Eighth house serves as one of the two gates to the underworld symbolized by the hemisphere that is under the earth; this house represents the entrance gate to Hell. Not beholding the light of Sol as he rises doesn’t help this house get any sort of beneficial placements (no, unfortunately the inconjunction doesn’t help much).

Dead Scream
Thanks to the powers of the modern ruler of Scorpio, this house has become known as the house of ‘profound emotions’ and apparently demonstrates things on a purely psychological level, perhaps owing that particular association with the Sign Scorpio itself. Scorpio was assigned to this house over a shared region of the genitalia and most likely the idea of sexuality came from this association as well. Also, with Pluto being associated with the underworld – a place where no mortal man may tread – it seems this house has also become known as a house of taboo (conveniently forgetting that taboos are purely relative to time, culture, background, and personality) and even deep mysteries like occultism.

Bringing Down the Glaive
Under the signification of Saturn, however, the Eighth house retains its picture as that which ruins everything. Following the idea of Saturn as a god of the harvest, this house symbolizes the end of the harvest season, when the fields are cleared and loss is accepted. It’s death in a very literal and metaphoric sense. This house is also said to rule other people’s finances, being Second from the Seventh, and while this is true, the meanings of loss and grief associated with this house are here to remind us that our loss can be someone else’s gain. Thanks to Saturn being the most barren planet, this house also signifies a loss of creativity and works again to show this house as a house of ruin and decay.
Round Seven, Seventh House: Venus/Libra vs. Luna/Libra
The modern ruler of this house has a bit of a stronger argument for its usefulness than do some of the others; the star of love being associated with the house of marriage makes sense. Those people we fall in love with and the other people we are generally attracted to are associated with this house, and thus the tint of Venus can easily be seen. Libra being associated with the balance of the forces of nature also reinforces the idea for this house signifying other people; those important people who serve to complete the other half of our whole.

Traditionally, the Descendant was seen as a hostile angle, one where we put ourselves in the most danger as the very light of the sun died on this western horizon. Lying in opposition to the Ascendant, the Descendant quickly came to signify people other than ourselves, but since this was a critically hostile angle thanks to what it does to the sun, it seems to have been initially set up to signify enemies only. (Manilius writes that the Tenth house was the Temple of Venus and signified marriage, which would make marriage or relational partners the Tenth house, thus leaving the Seventh house only for enemies).

Venus Love and Beauty Shock
While Venus ruling this house has preserved it as one of marriage, there are a few situations that don’t seem to make Venus operate well in this house. No doubt romantic partnerships and marriage fall nicely under her scheme as the goddess of love, but other partnerships Venus doesn’t seem to fancy. Astrologically, Venus has no association with business partnerships and contracts that fall under Mercury’s dominion. Those nasty open enemies of ours also don’t seem too well under the cheerful Venetian façade. Venus’s rulership of this house obviously came about under the association of Libra with the Seventh house, as both house and Sign come to rule the bladder, womb, and lower intestines.

Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss
Since Sol is associated with the Ascendant via his life-giving powers when he crosses over it, so to – by law of opposition – must Luna come to signify the house opposite this one; the Seventh. By astrological rules, Luna finds great strength in the Seventh for here she is ‘full’ of the light given by Sol on the Ascendant and is thus weakened into her ‘new’ stage while in the First house. Associations of Luna with women in general and the wife have also helped her being assigned co-significator of this house.

Round Eight, Sixth House: Mercury/Virgo vs. Mercury/Virgo/Mars
This is the second house which isn’t much fun at all either. Fortunately finding itself associated with Mercury in both the modern and traditional texts, there’s really not much that can be said about that. While Mercury was associated here for its command over life-force itself traditionally, modern systems seem to only find the superficial connection between Sign, house, and planet enough to lock this planet onto this house.

Traditionally, this house is very unfortunate, being both cadent and unable to behold the light of the sun as it rises. This house is also associated with toil, turmoil, slavery, and work that promises no advancement. The Sixth was generally viewed as a house that was associated with work done out of necessity and the respect a maid demands (that’s not much). Things we pay people to do because we do not want to do them ourselves. You’ll often find this house under the title of ‘the house of health’ but this is very wrong – as stated before – the First house rules our health and vitality, the Sixth represents afflictions to our health via injury, illness, or disease.

Shine Aqua Illusion and Bubble Spray (both at once)
While Mercury is associated here both modernly and traditionally, the modern system seems to only accept it as the ruler of Virgo (Virgo being associated here with a shared anatomical connection with the small intestine, guts, liver, and kidneys). Traditionally, Mercury is associated with pure life-force, being both masculine and feminine; this is one reason you’ll find Mercury enjoying the First house of life and spirit and now you find it co-signifying the Sixth of disease and things that attack that life-force. Appropriately, Mercury is also associated with doctors and medicines that work against diseases, both being also found in this house. Mythological, the caduceus – used today as a symbol of the healthcare profession – was Hermes’s staff.

Soldier of Passion
To understand Mars’s connection with this house, it’s necessary to take a trip back in time to when the Mesopotamians called this planet Nergal. Nergal was the lord of the underworld and also the source of diseases and sickness. The lower hemisphere of the chart represents this underworld, with the Sixth being the first house wholly under the Earth. Mars – or should we say Nergal – joying in this house only compounds the misfortunes associated with this house by spreading the diseases his Mesopotamian counterpart was most feared for.

Round Nine, Fifth House: Sol/Leo vs. Venus/Leo/Venus
The Fifth house has been mostly preserved in modern times, even though very few of the associations can be correctly attributed to Leo. Such things as recreation, sport, love, and children, are still maintained in the modern system, but some strange ideas have come up, such as the person we are dating, and the act of engagement. Perhaps this is just to serve as a differentiation between the considerably more ‘serious’ relationship of marriage associated with another house, but is awkward nonetheless. Most awkwardly, all associations with children from conception, through the process of pregnancy, and to birth are modernly recorded in this house, but sexuality has been removed.

Traditionally, the Fifth house is the most fortunate of all the houses under the horizon. Now, all of these houses carry a tint of misfortune to them, as the northern hemisphere of the chart was associated with the underworld in Egyptian times. This association has been maintained in the modern sense in that planets that reside under the Earth are more indicative of introverted forces. What assists this house in its beneficial meanings is the Trine it receives from the Ascendant, showing it easily accepts the light of Sol, even though it is under the Earth.

Star Serious Laser
No connections of Fifth house significations can be accurately traced back to Sol. Arts, children, pregnancy, sport, fun; none of these things are traditionally associated with Sol. Obviously, this rulership is only supported by the anatomical rulerships of the heart, spine, and back both Leo and the Fifth house share. Also, Leo is an awkward Sign to associate with this house as the fertile grounds this house represent are not very well represented by the traditionally barren Sign of Leo, nor the burning influence of Sol.

Rolling Heart Vibration
The Fifth house and Venus have several overlapping significations. Fun, recreation, arts, gifts, luxuries and things that make us giggle, all of these things fall under both the planet and house’s domain. Feelings of love – for partners or children – are found here, making Venus as co-significator of this house make even more sense. Children and sexuality also fit well with Venus as the fertility goddess. Here, Venus wants us to take time and enjoy ourselves in the way we want, however, it is wise to remember that innocent pleasures that fall under this house can easily become strong addictions that serve to break us down and make us slaves to them. These situations are signified by the Twelfth house; who Venus also serves as co-significator for.

Soldier of Love
Now, the reason the Fifth house and Venus fit so well with one another is that Venus also finds joy in this house and it is directly due to her placement here that the house became what it is. This is most accurately seen when looking over Manilius’s works who tells us the Fifth house is “a region of uncertainty”. In Manilius’s time, the Temple of Venus was not the Fifth, but the Tenth. As such, the Tenth became known as the house of marriages (perhaps because marriage was seen as a social standing in Manilius’s culture?), and the Fifth house seems to have lost out on its significations. However, thanks to Hellenistic astrological philosophy, Venus – as a nocturnal planet – cannot joy in a house that resides above the Earth and must thus be put into a house under the Earth. Unfortunately, all houses under the horizon carry a tint of misfortune to them, and Venus as the lesser benefic wouldn’t make sense in this set up. However, setting her in the most fortunate house under the Earth would indeed be the best thing to do, which was ultimately agreed on.

Round Ten, Fourth House: Luna/Cancer vs. Sol/Cancer
The Fourth house has also maintained a great deal of its traditional signification. The home and ancestry has been maintained, however associations with mothers, childhood, and caring have all been added in via absorption from Luna and Cancer. Conclusion of all matters is a central theme of this house that has been maintained in modern times, however, it’s become known as the beginning and ending of all things. Analogies of the Fourth/Tenth axis as a tree with the Fourth being the roots and the Tenth being the branches are perhaps the most traditionally based ideas for this particular axis. Roots do not change, but branches can grow in any direction.

The Fourth house receives the light of the Ascendant via the brunt strength of the Square aspect, signifying power and motivation. The Fourth house represents the things that drive us to the Tenth house. Where we come from and how it affects us, our father and his disposition (as ancestry is traced through the father) and our relationship with him. The Fourth house represented the very bowels of the Earth, the middle of the underworld and thus carries some rather unfortunate significations. To Manilius, this house was the Temple of Saturn and this – as well as associations with the Earth – have made this house a central focus point in agriculture and mining industries, representing what can be pulled from the Earth.

Moon Gorgeous Meditation
Associations with Luna have made this a very ‘homey’ house. Relating to our home environment and family life, also associated with deep rooted psychological experiences we have imprinted upon us during our early childhood. The parenting style reflected upon us thanks to the caring and supportive feel the house obtained through its Cancerian associations are a modern invention that can also be attributed to the idea of the great mother Moon. The biggest shift, though, is the switch of the houses signifying the parents. Modernly, the Fourth house rules the mother, as her ruler here is the caring, gentle Moon.

Star Sensitive Inferno
Even though it is philosophically awkward to associate Sol with a house that is under the horizon, the Fourth house is a good place to put him; Sol being a natural significator of men and fathers makes him at home here. Philosophically, the Fourth house marks the sun’s transitory stage between his death on the Descendant and his rebirth on the Ascendant. In school we are told the sun’s light is the source of all energy, and in ancient religious philosophy this association is maintained with the idea of the sun being the source of life and even going so far as to astrological associate him with the inner will and vitality of a native; this all fits in very nicely with the concept of the Fourth house and the power it demonstrates with its significations of the treasures of the Earth and motivating forces.

Round Eleven, Third House: Mercury/Gemini vs. Mars/Gemini/Luna
The Third house remains largely unchanged and is perhaps the closest to perfect in condition. Significations of familiar surroundings, short journeys, family members, and communication are compatible in both the modern and traditional viewpoint. Modern significations are held up by the associations of Mercury and Gemini which are said to hold rulership over this specific house.

Ancient authors knew this house by the name of “Dea” or “Goddess” after Luna who joys within this house. This house is associated with friendships due to the friendly Sextile aspect the house receives from the Ascendant, and since this house is under the Earth it is said to represent deeper, more family related friendships than the Eleventh house. Most significations of the Third house were traditionally derived from the association of this house with Luna, while that which is left over seems to have stemmed from the house’s cadency and Sextile aspect.

Mercury Aqua Rhapsody
Such convenient crossover associations of the Third house and Mercury make for some interesting debate as to the creation of the Third house and its associations. Certainly such things as communication and short journeys fit easily under both the considerations of Mercury and Gemini, so it’s difficult to rid oneself of the illusion this particular house casts with the X=Y=Z system. Speaking and other such communicating mediums are certainly very Mercurial in fashion, as are the idea of short and frequent trips, but other things such as family and the neighborhood do not seem to add up so cleanly with the Mercurial archetype. Mercury’s association with the Third house stems from the anatomical regions of the hands, arms, and lungs that Gemini and the Third house share.

Burning Mandala
Traditionally, it is said Mars is co-significator of this house as the third planet from the firmament and brothers are called the “third accident” to occur after conception. The Third house relates to our familiar environment, and Mars is the desire to relate to that environment, this mixed in with his natural signification of brethren gave Mars co-significator status over this house. William Lilly explicitly states that for these reasons, Mars (unless in conjunction with Saturn) in this house is not at all a malevolent placement. However, looking at it philosophically, one could argue that the cadency, friendly aspect, and contrary-nature (effectively taking the ‘bite’ out of Mars) might also play into the benevolence of the placement and co-signification of the house.

Soldier of Sentiment
The grand majority of Third house significations could be easily traced back to Mercury due to the obvious similarity in their significations, however, this would be the wrong sphere to point the finger at. More correctly, though, the Third house gained much signification due to Luna joying within it. Opposing the joyous Sol in the Ninth house, Luna has reached her Full phase in the Third house and enjoys ruling over the elemental world we inhabit. It is obvious that events on Earth are directly related to Luna, as the waters of the world increase and decrease with her. It is because of this that Luna (the closest sphere in relation to the Earth) came to signify neighboring environments. The idea of Luna as the messenger is most notably upheld in the branch of horary astrology, wherein Luna is most often found translating the effects of one planet to another via the Translation of Light as well as the Egyptian association of the Lunar god Thoth, scribe of the gods. Finally, the signification of short journeys was assigned to Luna due to her rapid movement through the sky and the short, monthly journey when compared to the annual voyages of the next nearest spheres.

Round Twelve, Second house: Venus/Taurus vs. Jupiter/Taurus
The Second house has also largely been unchanged. Remaining a house of material substance, however such significations as feelings and talents have entered into the mix over time as well. Ruled by Taurus – the Sign of material abundance and overindulgence – and Venus – the planet of the same – it’s no surprise that these significations seem to carry over so nicely. Venus being related to our sense of attraction may also explain why such things as self-esteem, self-worth, and skills and talents entered into the signification of the Second house.

Traditionally, the Second house stemmed from the same philosophies as the opposing Eighth house. Both houses represent a gate to the underworld, with the Second house being named ‘Anaphora’ or ‘rising up’. So, while the Eighth house is the entrance, the Second is the exit, the ultimate release from the underworld we entered six houses ago. In world mythologies, those who entered the underworld were not allowed to bring anything with them, and so had to remove their worldly possessions from their body (clothing, jewelry, etc) before entering. After anaphora (rising up) from the underworld, the body could be re-adorned with the possessions (or beliefs) originally cast aside.

Venus Wink Chain Sword
Venus’s signification over money and other goods may make sense as Venus representing luxury, but otherwise the signification doesn’t hold up well. Venus has never been considered a planet relating to commerce and trade that would normally fall under another planet’s realm entirely. Venus is over-indulgent, making us spend more than we could afford, but has no sense of temperance that would be necessary to obtain a position as a commerce-based planet. Venus’s association with the Second house stems from her rulership of Taurus who – along with the Second house – comes to rule the neck and shoulders in medical situations.

Flower Hurricane
The traditional co-significator of the Second house was awarded to Jupiter as the god of plenty and the star of wealth. The overwhelming, greater benefic powers of this sphere were an obvious match-up for the house of material wealth. Interestingly, the choices of houses for Jupiter to co-signify form a natural opposition. Jupiter co-signifies the Ninth house and the Second house, thus forming an interesting duality between the spiritual and the material significations of the respective houses.

The End of the Nightmare
By this point of this article it should be apparent that the differences in these two systems have made them incompatible, forcing astrologers to choose one or the other with no hope of rectification between the two systems. While the idea of rectifying the two systems into a one with both sides offering their unique perspectives on things and offering equal compromise would be ideal, the cold truth of the matter is that no such merging would occur. The modernists would not be so keen to give up their ideas of planetary influences on the psyche and the new and easy-to-use symbolism employed, and the traditionalists would not be so happy to give up their philosophical and mythological origins of symbolism.
Regardless of the system you as the reader employ, after reading this article you are aware of the origin of the symbols employed by your system and see the ways in which they differ. In truth, the majority of debates concerning astrological charts have stemmed through the confusion of house assignments. Hopefully this article will help relieve some of that conflict as well as fill in some holes that lead many to be confused and, in turn, doubt the traditional system of astrology.

Remember; the intention of this article is not to attempt to persuade people to adopt a particular type of astrology. The deal was that you could not be considered ignorant after completing the article.

Sources Cited
Hampar, Joann. Electional Astrology: The Art of Timing. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2005.

Holden, Ralph. The Elements of House Division. London, England: Fowler, 1977

Houlding, Deborah. The Houses: Temples of the Sky. Bournemouth, England: Wessex Astrologer, 2006.

Lilly, William. Christian Astrology 1, 2, & 3. London, England: Regulus, 1647.

Sasportas, Howard. The Twelve Houses. London, England: Aquarian Press, 1985