The hyleg is a planet that grants life in a horoscope and the alcocodon is the planet that represents the number of years you have to live.  There are many different ideas as to how this works and people tend to face a philosophical brick wall when they learn of this technique.  Is it right to look into this?  How do you stop yourself from looking into people you care about after you learn the technique?  There are a few different ideas on what the alcocodon’s years really mean, though very few people tend to accept that the alcocodon is an expiration date.  The most prevalent theory is that the alcocodon represents how many safe years you have, and once these years run out you can face difficult health related incidents from transits and directions to your natal chart.  So, in this respect the alcocodon is said to serve more as a guarantee, shielding you from health complications until its time is up and after this point is when the native is supposed to take their health more seriously.

I’m still somewhat of a newbie when it comes to this technique, so if someone sees a place where I’ve messed up, please correct me.  All examples will show Bonatti’s technique first, then Lilly’s.

• For Bonatti’s method, you ascertain if the chart is diurnal or nocturnal, and if it’s preventional or conjunctional (full moon before birth or new moon before birth).
• In a day chart, you check to see if the Sun is in the First, Eleventh, Tenth, Ninth, or Seventh house, if he’s not, check to see if the Moon is in one of those houses, in a night chart you reverse this order, but check for the Sun in the Second house, or in the Fourth or Fifth houses in a masculine Sign.
• If neither of those and the chart is conjunctional, check the Part of Fortune to see if it is in the First, Eleventh, Tenth, Ninth, or Seventh house.  If it is, see if any of its lords aspect it, if so, PoF is Hyleg.
• If PoF is not in one of those houses, take the lord that aspects it as hyleg.
• If none of its rulers aspects the Hyleg, check the degree of the prior lunation, see if its almuten is in a hylegal place (First, Eleventh, Tenth, Ninth, Seventh), take that planet as Hyleg.
• If none of those, you can take the degree of the last lunation if it aspects one of its rulers.
• If none of those, the hyleg is said to be frustrated and the native dies young.
• A hyleg must aspect either its domicile, exaltation, triplicity, face, or term lord, as that planet will be the alcocodon.

Lilly’s method is a bit more straightforward.

• Diurnal charts- Check for the Sun in a hylegal place, if not, check for the Moon there.
• If neither Sun nor Moon, check the rulers of the previous New Moon
• If not, check the PoF and its rulers.
• If not, check the Ascendant and its rulers.
• If not, the Hyleg is frustrated.
• The only difference between nocturnal and dirunal charts is you check the Moon first, then the Sun, then you check the degree of the previous Full Moon.

Our first presidential test subject will be Woodrow Wilson (also requested from Wintersprite).  All of these charts will be done in Bonatti’s technique first, followed by Lilly’s.  I’ll outline the technique as we go and make points about it towards the end.

Woodrow Wilson 12-29-1856, 0045, Staunton, VA

Woodrow Wilson has a nocturnal chart, and there was a New Moon prior to his birth, making his chart conjunctional.  His Moon is not hyleg because it’s below the horizon at night, his Sun is not hyleg because it’s in a feminine sign and in a cadent house.  Bonatti then tells us to check the Ascendant.  We see the Ascendant makes a Trine to its domicile Lord Venus, so we take his Ascendant to be his Hyleg and Venus to be his alcocodon.  Venus is peregrine and succeedant, so we’ll take her middle years of 45.  She is unafflicted by Mars and Saturn, and is not assisted by Jupiter, so there is no calculation necessary.  Wilson’s years are 45.

Lilly takes us down a different path.  Neither the Moon nor Sun are hyleg, so we check the degree of the prevention since it’s a night chart.  The last full moon fell on 21° Gemini.  Mercury and the Sun do not aspect this point in Wilson’s natal chart, but Saturn does.  Saturn is our hyleg and he makes an opposition to Mercury who is his face lord, and thus becomes our alcocodon.  Mercury has 48 years as its middling, but it receives the full force of that opposition from a debilitated Saturn which would have us subtract 30 years, leaving us with 18.

Woodrow Wilson passed when he was 67.

John F. Kennedy 5-29-1917 1500, Brookline MA

John Kennedy has a diurnal chart, so we start with the Sun who is not hyleg in the 8th house.  The Moon though, can be hyleg since she’s in a feminine sign and in the Eleventh.  The Moon is forming a tight Square with its triplicity and face lord Venus who will then serve as our alcocodon.  Venus is unaspected by any malefic or benefic planet, and so signifies her middle years of 45.

Likewise, Lilly concurs with the above.  Moon is hyleg, Venus is alcocodon.  45 years.

JFK passed when he was 46.

Gerald Ford, 7-14-1913 0043, Omaha, NE

Gerald Ford has a nocturnal chart conjunctional chart.  The Moon can’t be hyleg because it doesn’t aspect any of its rulers.  The Sun can’t be hyleg in a feminine sign under the earth.  The Ascendant, then, is hyleg and aspects Mercury who is its term ruler and then becomes the alcocodon.  Mercury suffers a Square to Mars.  We take Mercury’s middle years of 48 and subtract Mars’s minor of 15, which gives us 33.

Lilly’s method gives us the almuten of the prevention (Mars) as his hyleg and Jupiter as his alcocodon.  Jupiter forms no aspects to a benefic or malefic planet and so gives us his middle years of 45.5

Gearald Ford passed at the age of 93.

James Garfield, 11-19-1831, 0200, Orange, OH

James Garfield has a nocturnal and conjunctional chart.  His Moon is his hyleg and and Jupiter is his alcocodon.  Jupiter receives a Trine from Venus and a Square from Mars.  So we take Jupiter’s middle years of 45.5 and add Venus’s lesser years of 8 which gives us 53.6, but then we must subtract Mars’s lesser years of 15 and gives us 38.

Lilly’s technique gives us the same results.

James Garfield passed away at age 49

William Taft; 9-15-1857, 2000, Cincinnati, OH

Taft has a nocturnal and preventional chart.  His Moon isn’t hyleg under the earth, Sun isn’t hyleg, and the PoF isn’t hyleg either.  So we’ll check the degree of the Full Moon prior to birth, and that was at 11° Pisces.  That degree does sextile his natal Jupiter, so we’ll take Jupiter to be his alcocodon while his preventional degree is his hyleg.  Jupiter does take a Square from Mars, though, and we’ll take the middle years of Jupiter (45) and subtract from then Mars’s lesser years (15), and get our length of 30.

Lilly takes a different road and instead suggests taking the almuten of the prevention as the hyleg.  Jupiter is in the first house and can serve as hyleg.  Jupiter closely squares its domicile lord Venus who will serve as our alcocodon.  Venus aspects a benefic Mercury (taking on the nature of the planet it is closest in aspect to) and so we’ll add 45 + 20 (Mercury’s lesser years) and arrive at 65.

William Taft passed away at 72.

Ulysses Grant, 4-27-1822, 0547, Point Pleasant, OH

Ulysses Grant has a diurnal and conjunctional chart.  The Sun can’t be hyleg in the 12th, but the Moon can be hyleg in the Fourth in a feminine sign.  The Moon receives a Trine from Venus who serves as her triplicity ruler.  So the Moon is hyleg and Venus is the alcocodon.  Venus has no aspects to a benefic or malefic.  So we’ll take her middle years of 45.

Lilly’s technique concurs with Bonatti’s exactly and gives 45 years.

Ulysses Grant lived until he was 63.

Warren Harding, 11-2-1865, 1430, Blooming Grove, OH

Warren Harding has a diurnal and conjunctional chart.  This one is a really tricky one.  His Sun, Moon, and Ascendant are all not eligible to be hyleg, so we have to go with the prior lunation degree which was a New Moon at 26° Libra.  Natal Jupiter aspects this place, so Jupiter becomes our alcocodon.  Harding has a wonderfully strong Jupiter, so we’ll take his greater years of 79.

According to Lilly’s technique, Warren Harding would not have a hyleg and it would be considered frustrated.  This would typically mean that the native wouldn’t live to be an adult.

Warren Harding passed away at age 57.

Rutherford Hayes, 10-4-1822, 2130, Delaware, OH

Rutherford Hayes has a nocturnal preventional chart.  The Moon cannot be hyleg in the 12th house.  The Sun cannot be hyleg because it does not aspect any of its rulers.  The Part of Fortune has a similar tale.  So we’ll go with the last lunation which occured at 7° Aries.  The Sun opposes this point, so we’ll take him to be our alcocodon as exaltation lord of the syzgy.  The Sun’s middle years are 69, and he trines Jupiter to get an additional 12 years which makes our total 81.

Lilly’s technique would agree, but arrive at the prior lunation at a sooner step.

Rutherford Hayes passed away at 70 years old.

Lyndon Johnson, 8-27-1908, 0500, Hye TX

Lyndon Johnson has a nocturnal and conjunctional chart. Luckily, the Moon can be hyleg in the first house and she is closely conjoined to her domicile and exaltation lord, so no need to look far for our alcocodon.  Mercury is wonderfully strong, so we’ll take its greater years of 76, and it does not receive aspects from any of the benefics or malefics.

Lilly’s technique concurs with Bonatti’s.

Lyndon Johnson passed away at 64.

Chester Arthur, 10-5-1829, 0607, Fairfield VA

Chester Arthur has a diurnal and conjunctional chart.  This one is pretty slam dunk.  Sun is hyleg on the Ascendant, it aspects its exaltation lord Saturn, who serves as our alcocodon.  Saturn is in detriment, but accidentally fortified, so we’ll get his middle years of 43.5.  Saturn also trines Jupiter, who will then add his lesser years of 12 into the equation which gives us 55.5 years of life.

Lilly’s technique would give us much the same answer.

Chester Arthur passed away at 57.

Of the ten examples, John F. Kennedy and Chester Arthur were pretty spot on while others were quite off.  Lilly himself expressed displeasure at this technique, so I guess it’s no surprise that it didn’t come out so well.  The ones who outlived their alcocodons would probably be the norm, but the ones who didn’t outlive theirs are the ones to be concerned about as far as technique applications go.  Modern medicine is a wonderful thing, so it’s really no surprise that people would live longer.

Facebook was the vehicle for my own self  undoing.  I had friends, friends of friends, and friends that had a few thousand other friends.  Vulnerable and ever trusting, I took it all to be honest.  Blogs popped up everywhere.  Some from authors I greatly respect, many others by those that are sharing what they have learned, others by…. well anyone with a computer can run a blog.   I notice some would say “achoo” and get thirty responses of “bless you”… I felt so lonesome with my on my status getting one like…. and that being a family member.  I cultivated  wonderful friendships, made out of late night messaging, dealing with dramas and life altering moments, the stuff love is made of.  Then these new friends friended my old friends, the familiarity they used publishing comments took me back.  I did start seriously questioning my abilities and how stingy I was not showering everyone with what I reserve for those I care for.  Then the final straw, my self esteem plummeted to new lows.  People that I have respected for various reasons were now announcing to Facebook, their spending habits and showing off what was purchased, or how much a bill was for something.  There were thumbs up all over those posts and chatty conversations about their purchases or preferences.  It really read as very hollow, once forgotten and then it would happen again and again.  I wondered where my friends, and where my life went.  Over a year of Facebook and it seemed to be challenging all of my beliefs and where I draw boundaries.  I found I was crippled and didn’t want to face realities (such as bills) and didn’t feel competent enough to write and lost interest in Astrology.

Pluto has hit my Sun conjunct once and then retrograde and now back again.  I joined up as a moderator on an Astrology forum.  I needed to be surrounded by Astrologers and students.  With transit Saturn going through the ninth house, limitations in Astrology the forum moderating fit the bill.  I wanted to unfriend many on Facebook, but feared a chain reaction not seens since the declarations of WWI and the inner-fighting and posturing of allies.  I eventually realized that, well…. that I am not that important.  So I did cut away mostly people that had over 200 friends, figuring I was just a number, not a person.  I still have friends that are considered important that also concentrate on material acquisitions, and am okay with it…. I have an intercepted Leo in the seventh.  Maybe I need these friends as a reminder, we are here in physical forms in a physical world.  The name dropping, took a bit but I did finally notice that the authors never name drop or acknowledge their name dropping friend.  As for those blogs written by anyone that can figure out how to use WordPress… well hell, I may just very well be one of them and busy projecting my own doubts and fears.

Some of you following along with different posts here and there know that I am having some health issues.  Walking is almost impossible now.  I do use a cane if I am going anywer… but it is a matter of time I will have to get a wheel chair.  This last month as Pluto zoned in an exact conjunct, my sister (whom I rely on greatly) had a surgery that kept her home bound.  I had to rely on others (that I even paid, mind you) and the resentment was palatable.   There is the conference happening in New Orleans this year, and I was all set to go… but things didn’t pan out that way.  Honestly, I am grateful that I am not going.   I would need to rely on someone to just get around or a “hey, could you go get me a soda”.  That didn’t set well with me… and there are going to be people there I have met here online and shared notes and such.  I would like to meet these people full on my feet and healthy.  I know, it doesn’t matter does it?  Well, just using a cane, I find people will speak slowly and louder while nodding their heads at me.  If I am with another person, they will talk to that person about me in third person… like I am zoned out and standing  there drooling.   So for now, it is all good… hoping by the next retrograde over my Sun, I will let the feeling sorry for myself dissolve and find how I can take charge.  There are many others who have had bigger limitations not stop them.

The Pluto transit is much like the other ones, but definitely intense.   Once you walk the uncomfortable path of fire, there is a confidence in knowing you do not know.  There is a liberation in the realization that you can not control others or the outcome.  The only thing you are in control of us your own perception and how you choose respond.  It feels like being able to take a nap in the midst of a tornado.

Compassion is the word I most associated with Neptune.  Familiarity does breed contempt, now I also associate dishonesty, apathy, delusion, and addiction with the planet.  As the Planet of  shattered dreams ebbs away from any direct hits, I have slowly realized how I created my own hell.  And how did I manage that?  Compassion was my gasoline.  I can and have made excuses for everyone.  My daughter had caught on to my pattern and reminds me that I can not date anyone I feel sorry for, yeah that has kept me at home for the last year.

I think that the love of freedom that springs from my Aquarian housed planets assumes that everyone will treat each other fairly.  My natal Neptune is on the MC, I am a beacon for lost souls.  This is not a great combination, as they square each other.  How does one show compassion and yet not keep the cycle going?  One is to realize that nothing is as it seems.  What might be uncomfortable is just that, rarely is it a matter of life or death.   Is the quick fix and giving in really doing anyone a favor?  Probably not, and often the peripheral damage is the worst. (just ask children of alcoholics what I mean)

So now that I no longer want to encourage ill behaviors, how can I change it?  The fog has lifted, I can only change myself.  I have to set boundaries and enforce them.  I am not taking away from anyone, just protecting myself…. and in the long run giving the dependent  person their own set of guidelines on how to deal with me.  All around it sounds healthy, right?  Accepting anything less is the old Neptune shell game.

If you recall from earlier solar returns, you’ll remember that Theresa has had failing health these past couple of years.  This year seems to maintain the status quo, with Venus as lord of the first peregrine in Leo.  Venus is unafflicted by other planets, which is good, but she’s not being assisted by another benefic planet either.  I would suggest Theresa be extra careful, the fifth house is usually associated with fun and games and such, but it could show injuries and accidents due to those games.  The threat of this doesn’t appear to be very real, though, as Venus is unafflicted.

The lord of the sixth house is Jupiter who resides in Taurus and is received by the lord of the first.  This does not bode well for health in the coming year as this reception signifies the lady of life allowing the lord of sickness to do what he wants in her house.  While Jupiter is naturally benefic, he is afflicted by an opposition to Saturn which makes him less capable of doing good which could wind up being dangerous to our native.  It looks as if health continues to be a challenging issue this year and continues to worsen.  Specifically, I’m concerned about hypothyroidism or other such disorders in the glands within and around (lymph nodes) the neck.

Finances for the next year are signified by Mars.  Mars is peregrine and in the 12^th house, which is not a good sign for wealth in the upcoming year.  Saturn on the 2^nd house cusp shows that the budget will likely be tightened more.  This Mars also shows our natives prospective relationships for the next year, and its unfortunate station will show in that area of life as well; most likely showing long distance relationships that don’t work out with Mars being in a cadent house.

Career is shown by the Moon, and it doesn’t seem to be very beneficial either.  She is peregrine and in a cadent house, and she is also afflicted by Mars.  This can show difficulty in getting ideas or projects completed or recognized as well as an inability to acquire a good station or receive “brand recognition”.

The solar return’s ascendant is in Therea’s natal Ninth house, and could show a more prominent focus on ninth house matters this year.  This may give Theresa renewed desire to learn and study subjects she may have cast aside, or it could convince her to become a nun.  More likely, though, it will give her more energy to complete astrological study and check off a few goals from her list.  Her natal Ascendant is in the solar return chart’s Fourth house, which can show a renewed focus on the home and domestic matters (she currently has several projects underway as she’s attempting to remodel parts of her house) or perhaps an interest in preparing her will other other posthumous preparations.

This year also marks Theresa’s 12^th house profection, meaning that twelfth house affairs will come more to the front this year.  This could result in increased isolative and depressed tendencies which should be avoided.  Jupiter is lord of her twelfth in the third, showing an emphasis on communicating and could show a return to her work in writing.  Her Sun is also in her twelfth house, which could show some contemplation being had about what she wants to do in life and how she feels she could accomplish it.

Many well wishes to Theresa in the coming year, take care of yourself and keep your strength up!!

Reception is defined as when planet A is in any part of the zodiac that planet B has dignities.  Mercury (planet B) receives any planet (planet A) that is in Gemini, Virgo, the air signs in a night chart, and in its Face or any of its terms.  This is the same for any other planet and is somewhat correct in all forms of the reception model.  A more modern and incorrect model of reception would hold the reception to be the other way around, where any planet in those signs is receiving Mercury, which isn’t the case.

Planets in this relationship have a similar function to host and guest.  The receiving planet is obligated to care for or attend to the planet that is currently visiting its place in the zodiac.  With our above example, Mercury would receive and feel obligated to tend to Mars in Gemini as best as Mercury was capable of doing.  This brings us to our final discrepancy in the various reception models where some astrologers hold they have a love/hate paradigm instead of a host/guest.  Mercury is neutral to Mars in Gemini, and Mars feels the same way towards Mercury.  Reception does not show love or like, but shows willingness which – depending on context – can be interpreted as something very similar to love or hate, but it is not always the case.  It is best to stick to the host/guest paradigm where the host planet is willing to allow the guest planet to do what it wants and provide for it to work towards that goal.

Mutual Reception and Single Reception

A major form of reception is the mutual reception, wherein two planets receive each other simultaneously.  Mars in Gemini and Mercury in Aries is an example of mutual reception by domicile, which is an excellent set up to have in a horary where Mercury and Mars are significators.  Mutual reception can also occur through differing levels of reception, such as Mars in Gemini and Mercury in Capricorn where Mercury receives Mars by domicile, and Mars receives Mercury through exaltation.  This example would merely be a toned down version of the first example.

Mutual reception is not the only form of reception.  Individual planets can receive others without being received in turn; such as the Moon in Sagittarius is received by Jupiter, without Jupiter necessarily needing to be in any of the Moon’s dignities.  This example shows Jupiter’s willingness to provide for and assist the Moon in her endeavors, without showing the Moon’s willingness to return the favor.   

Direction of Reception

Due to the host/guest idea, there is some real room for abuse and many warnings handed down to us about who receives whom.  In electional astrology, we’re told that if mutual reception is impossible, we want the quesited to receive the querent.  Basically, if we can’t guarantee mutual agreement, we want our querent to come out ahead (they are the ones paying us, after all).  If Mercury is our querent and Mars is our queisted, we want Mars to receive Mercury.  If Mercury is Mars’s guest, then Mercury is able to do what he wants and Mars is more likely to give in to Mercury’s requests.  More dramatically, we see these rules spelled out for us in Christian Astrology where Lilly tells us to beware of the Lord of the First receiving the Lord of the Eighth, as it’s an argument of death.  In this example, think of the Lord of the Eighth as a vampire that the Lord of the First has unwittingly invited into its home.  Now the Lord of the First has to tend to this vampire and let it do what it wants as its humble host.  Too bad the Lord of the Eighth wants to kill it.  However, if it was reversed and the Lord of the Eighth received the Lord of the First, our Lord of Death will allow the Lord of Life to do what it wants to do, which is to continue living.  So pay careful attention to the direction of reception to see who is helping whom.

Perfect Reception and Aspects

Not all forms of dignity are equal, and once we move away from the major dignities of domicile and exaltation and start going towards the lesser dignities of triplicity, face, and term, we need to start stacking dignities.  Individual planets have more control over the signs they have major dignities in, and don’t have as much control over the areas where they have minor dignities.  The Moon at 1°Cancer is not being received by Mars, because being in Mars’s Term is not a strong enough dignity to be able to receive on its own.  However, if it’s during a night chart, then Mars will also receive the Moon by triplicity, which makes it a perfect reception because it’s two forms of minor reception.  The same interpretations are applied to this form of reception as are applied to the major receptions by domicile and exaltation.

Typically, reception needs an aspect to mediate the planets.  We’ll consider a reception between significators a “will” to work together, and consider the aspect between them the “way” in which to do it.  Planets in reception but lacking aspectual contact show a will without a way.  So, our Jupiter in Capricorn might have the will to work with or assist the Moon in Sagittarius, but since they are in signs that don’t behold one another, there is not a way for Jupiter to do this.

Generosity

As an exemption from the above rule, planets that are in mutual reception do not necessarily require an aspect between them to manifest.  Venus in Scorpio and Mars in Libra receive one another and are in aversion to one another, but the force of the reception between the two can still bring about their signification if the rest of the chart is generally fortunate with few mitigating malefic influences.  A generosity is much weaker than a reception with an aspect (redundancy for clarity) as it depends on other chart features, whereas the perfect reception and aspect is generally a strong enough testimony to show manifestation, while the other chart factors are likely to describe how much effort it’s going to take to achieve it.

Negative Reception

On a final note, there is such a thing as negative reception.  This is when a planet that signifies a thing is in the detriment or fall of the querent’s significator or vice versa.  We’ll take Venus in Taurus as significator and Mars in Aquarius.  Mars has negative reception with Venus because she is in one of his signs of detriment, essentially, Venus damages Mars in some way and Mars ends up rejecting her.  This can happen the other way around where Venus can reject Mars if he is in her detriment.  This is something that isn’t as cut and dry as the receptions rules where you want the queisted receiving the querent.  It doesn’t really matter who is rejecting who as there is equal likelihood of both parties being injured or spurned in some way.  Having the querent reject the queisted could be positive and show the querent having the upper hand and turning down the queisted, or it could show the queisted injuring the querent in a way that concurs with the rest of the chart.

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

Aspectual contact between significators is necessary almost 100% of the time to bring the matter to perfection.  Without it, there’s really no hope of bringing those significators together, and without the significators coming together, nothing happens.  Each planet has its own orb of influence depending on its speed and luminosity.  You can find these individual orbs listed here.  Also at that link is the formula to figure out the correct orb of influence between the different planets.

While an aspect between significators is necessary, the nature of the aspect must be considered as well as the state the two planets making the aspect are in.  A bad aspect with two weak planets won’t net you anything other than a headache.  A basic rule of thumb is the more dignified a planet is in an aspect, the more likely it is to bring about what it has promised.  Between the two and ignoring all other possibly mitigating factors, Jupiter in Cancer is more likely to produce its desired effects than Jupiter in Virgo.  Other considerations and accidental dignity would also come into the calculation, but the rudimentary example is still solid.

Bonatti gives us his table of perfection, which is a very helpful tool for the astrologer to use.  Basically it is a hierarchy of aspects; which ones are more likely to bring about the desired result with the least amount of effort.  Of course, this table references reception (spoiler alert: coming soon), and all aspects with reception come about easier than aspects without reception between the two planets.  The table is very reminiscent of a stepladder, where the next most difficult aspect produces the same result as the previous, more favorable aspect without reception.

1. Quested in the Ascendant- Easiest matter to perfect of all.
2. Quested’s significator Trine or Conjunct, with or without reception applying to Querent – Another of the easiest matters of perfection.
3. Quested’s significator Sextile with reception applying to Querent – The final easiest manner of perfection.
4. Querent’s significator applying Trine with receptioin to Quested – Comes easy, without demand, and with no need to plan for it.
5. Querent’s significator applying Trine without reception or Sextile with reception to Quested – Comes shortly and quickly, but not without the querent’s expectation.
6. Querent’s significator applying Sextile without reception or Square with receptioin to Quested- Comes through striving and pursuit.
7. Querent’s significator applying Square without reception or Opposition with reception to Quested- Comes through great effort and persistence.
8. Querent’s significator applying Opposition without reception to Quested- Very difficult to perfect, costs a lot of resources, striving, diligence, and anxiety.  Perfects after a long time.

So here we’re given an easy working table to help us measure perfection based on the nature of aspects and reception involved in them.  Make a note of that, it’ll come in handy.  Difficulty of perfection is also shown by what houses the planets involved are in.  Greater emphasis is put on the house the applying planet is in, with angular houses being the easiest, then the succeedants, and finally the cadent houses being the most difficult.

A final note about separating aspects, Bonatti tells us in one of his considerations that if the querent’s significator recently separated from the quested’s, it means that the situation looks promising at first, but then results in nothing.  I’ve found this to be true many times, however, there is an exception to this rule if the separation is close enough.  Lilly hands us a rule saying that a separating aspect is still close enough to perfection to count if it is within 6’.  The logic here is that though the light of the planets may no longer be applying, their bodies are still comingling.  The bodies of the planets have a more pronounced effect than their rays, and so with the union of the two bodies, the matter can still perfect.

When the Moon is Void, Lilly tells us “you will find that events do not go handsomely forward”, which implies a certain amount of struggle and discontinuity.  For a Void Moon, I like to imagine a trapeze artist leaping from swing to swing with each swing being the perfection of an aspect with another planet.  What happens when there are no more swings to jump to or when the next swing is too far to make?  The swing’s momentum eventually comes to a stop, much like the events of the horary.  There are many different interpretations for a Void Moon, and they are all dependent on the context of the question, but a good rule of thumb is that the matter simply stops moving forward, or the querent puts forth so much effort trying to obtain the matter, that they come to realize it wasn’t worth it.

There are two different sets of rules that define what a Void of Course Moon actually is.  The first is a more “traditional” rule which states that the Moon must simply be within orb of an applying aspect with some other planet before she leaves a sign.  The keyword here is “applying”, the aspect does not have to perfect within that same sign and can perfect in the next.  There only has to be that interlocking of orbs of influence to keep the Moon on course.  Moon at 26° Leo applying to a Trine of Saturn at 4° Taurus is not a Void Moon as they are within orb.

The more modern definition is that the Moon must be within orb of a planet and complete that aspect within the same sign.  The example given in the preceding paragraph would have been an example of a Void of Course Moon using this definition of the term.  Lilly himself used the “traditional” definition and there are several of his example charts where he continues to read off of the Moon’s aspects even if there is a shift in signs in order to perfect them.  Some of these example charts even perfected and manifested.

There is, of course, one exception to the Void rule.  Lilly shares with us that the Moon is much less impeded when she is in Cancer, Taurus, Sagittarius, or Pisces and may be able to continue on the influences by her own gumption in those signs through the blessings of the benefics Jupiter and Venus.  Essentially, the Moon cannot be Void in those signs, but merely “technically Void”.  The difference is that a Void Moon in these signs does not show an absolute loss of momentum, but merely a quiet period in the horary until the issue is continued later.  Below is an example of a technically Void Moon.  The Moon’s last aspect was a Sextile to Jupiter, but she has since moved out of orb of the separation and is not within orb of anything at this time.  All in all, a very lethargic, dead horse type horary showing no movement.  However, because of the Moon’s placement in Pisces, she is able to continue through and apply a Trine to Mars in Leo.

Technically Void Moon

The Void of Course Moon can also be used for storytelling purposes regarding the situation surrounding the question or it can be overlooked entirely to fulfill such matters.  Since the Moon’s last aspect shows the last thing to happen regarding a question, it doesn’t matter how far away that last aspect was, it is still significant.  In his horary “A ship at sea in what condition?”, Lilly uses the Moon’s last Square with Saturn to show the last thing that happened to the ship.  The problem is that the Moon and Saturn are 26° separated from their perfection of the Square, but that was the last aspect she made, and that’s what Lilly had to work with.  He then uses the long Void period before the Moon began applying to another aspect to show that there had been no news or no story.

A final thought on the Void of Course Moon, in the way that Lilly utilizes them in his practice, he does not regard sign boundaries as being cutoffs of planetary influence.  He sees them more along the lines of conditions.  If the Moon changes signs to complete an aspect, it implies a change in her condition that must happen as a foreshadowing to the manifestation of the aspect.  In other words, before whatever aspect perfects, something about the situation must change, this is especially important if the next aspect shows the perfection of the matter inquired about.

First, we have to back up.  Like many things in astrology, the Via Combusta has a complicated history of not quite being like we know of it today.  The Picatrix, an eleventh century Hermetic text, holds the Burnt Path from 18° Libra to 3° Scorpio.   Marsilo Ficino writing in the 15^th century tells us it’s from 28° Libra to 3° Scorpio.  The 17th century astrologer Dariot tells us Via Combusta was from 13° Libra to 9° Scorpio.  Bonatti (13^th century) gives us somewhat vague sentence stating that the Moon is debilitated in Capricorn, Scorpio, and the last part of Libra which seems to be a nod towards the Via Combusta in his book on Horary.  However, in Lilly’s translation of Bonatti’s Anima Astrologiae the Combust Way, he mentions that it is 30 degrees long between Libra and Scorpio.  Lilly himself does not seem to include any comments about the Via Combustia in his own horary text.  Four of his own example charts are rendered with the Moon in the Burnt Path, and yet Lilly does not reference this position.  Gadburry, a contemporary of Lilly’s, takes a similar action mentioning Via Combustia only once in his text, but then not using it in any examples.

So, where did the Burnt Path come from and do we need to make use of it?  We really are not clear on the specifics of it, but the basis of this particular area of the Zodiac seems to come from this being a very unfortunate place for the Sun and Moon.  The Sun takes his Fall in Libra and the Moon takes hers in Scorpio.  I know, what about Capricorn and Aquarius where the luminaries both have their detriments?  Well, traditionally, it was considered a bit worse (Lilly’s point system aside) for a planet to be in their Fall than in their detriment.  Detriment is a planet that is in a place where it feels uncomfortable, but Fall is where a planet has been shunned or cast out.  Essentially if we take the opposite meanings of a planet in domicile or exaltation to be the meaning of detriment and fall, a planet in domicile has its stuff together and is competent, a planet in detriment is unprepared and ineffective.  A planet in exaltation has been put on high by others and is honored and the opposite of that is…?  So, we can see that Fall is functionally worse than detriment, and the Falls of the luminaries would show places where the life force itself is cast aside and unheard.  We see where it looks like it might get messy.

Now that the basis is out of the way, let’s discuss the varying measurements given for the Burnt Path.  As I pointed out in the introductory article to the Lunar Mansion series, it was not uncommon for astrologers to focus more on spiritual purity and perfection while sort of ignoring reality.  It would not then be out of step to use the more cosmically tidy, more commonly known measurement of 15° Libra to 15° Scorpio.  This also has the added effect of being able to contain the entire orb of the Sun within it, which links it back to why it’s such a negative place.  The Sun has an orb of 15° on either side of his body, so if he’s at 0° Scorpio, his rays will stretch the entirety of the Via Combustia.

It’s also worth noting that as I mentioned in the Libra article, Libra used to simply be another part of Scorpio.  Anciently it was referred to as Chelae, or the Claws.  However, the 15°/15° split could also be due to the placement of fixed stars.  Zuben Elgenubi is the Southern Scale of Libra and is of the nature of Saturn and Mars, this star also lies closer to Scorpio (though, paradoxically, it is earlier in Zodiacal longitude than the benefic star Zuben Elschelami).  This star is sort of like the bad half of Libra; Libra’s Mr. Hyde.  So, this second half of Libra closest to Scorpio is the realm of this malevolent star then you go through some other unfortunate stars until you get into the heart –the middle – of Scorpio and the Royal Star Antares which acts like an oasis in this unfortunate part of the sky.  It could be possible that the second half of Libra begins the Via Combusta with the dominance of Zuben Elgenubi and continues until the middle of Scorpio until we reach Antares whose promises of honors and fortune remedy and end the Burnt Path.

Now the shorter lengths of the Via Combusta are probably due to the exact falls of the luminaries.  The Sun has his exact exaltation in 19° Aries and the Moon has hers in 3° Taurus, which translates to their falls being in 19° Libra to 3° Scorpio.  This sounds pretty close to what the Picatrix, Ficino, and Dariot tells us and it does make some functional sense that the degrees between would be unfortunate.  Also it’s worth mentioning that in various Terms systems, these degrees are typically ruled by the malefics (in Egyptian Mars has 28 and 29 Libra while also taking 0-5 Scorpio, and Ptolemy gives him 23-29 Libra and 0-5 Scorpio), and Term is the rulership of the body, showing bodily distress such as sickness or death.

So, which measurement to use?  That’s probably up to each individual astrologer to decide for themselves.  Arguments have been made for both, however the Lunar Mansions for this area of the zodiac might give additional weight to an argument.  The lunar mansions function as a lunar zodiac of sorts, and common sense would dictate that areas where the Moon is weak would have malevolent meanings to them.  Three mansions take up places of the Burnt Path; Al Zubana, Al Ikll, and Al Qalb, of these three, only Al Zubana has overwhelmingly unfortunate associations.  Robson tells us this mansion is bad for everything except freeing prisoners and the Picatrix shares some rather dastardly talismans that this mansion is used for.  The other two mansions have largely positive and beneficial meanings, associations, and talismans that go with them.  The zodiacal position of Al Zubana is 12°Libra51’26” to 25°Libra42’52, not the whoe portion of the Burnt Path, but a sizeable chunk of it which contains the Fall degree of the Sun.

As for horary application, it is generally considered a consideration for judgment if the Moon is in the Burnt Path.  Bonatti tells us to make sure we understand the question completely before going forward, though the questions asked with the Moon in the Via Combusta will not go well and is an automatically negative testimony.  It is also considered a place of extreme distress of the querent who is very much troubled by the question.  Unfortunately, traditional sources are lacking in examples.  William Lilly gives us a few charts with the Moon in Via Combusta, but doesn’t say anything about it, and in a couple of those charts, the matter perfects!  Perhaps the Via Combusta isn’t as fiery as it used to be.