"As explorers of the cosmos, astronauts are the pioneer voyagers of distant worlds in the immensity of space. But who is exploring the inner cosmos of our souls and our destiny? The answer is: the astrologers."
-- Michel Gauquelin, Cosmic Influences on Human Behavior.
Features of Hellenistic Astrological Techniques by Joseph Crane, MA
Here I address not the historian and scholar of the Hellenistic world, but instead I address the person who is trained in modern astrology and comes to this astrological tradition for the first time.
There are several issues that one who is familiar with other astrological traditions must confront immediately. For some people, it would be easier to learn Vedic or Chinese astrology, which appears sufficiently different from custom to require any adjustments.
No Outer Planets: all of a sudden the natal chart looks more barren and appears to give much less information. This means that we have to find more information from the visible planets than we are used to finding. There is one consolation: Hellenistic astrology uses some additional positions in the birth chart: fixes stars and lots. The natal chart will not seem so barren for long. Full Article.
"Lunations – There are a New or Full Moon which coincide with, or immediately precede, a dangerous accident or severe illness, and are important influences to study in connection with an illness, or the nature and immediate cause of an accident, hurt or injury."
-- Howard Leslie Cornell, MD, Encyclopaedia of Medical Astrology (3rd ed.)
The Moon's Nodes by Enid Newberg, MA
As we have another eclipse this Sunday, July 11, it seems a good time to consider the Moon's nodes. Astronomically, the nodes are the points where the Moon's orbit around the earth intersects the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun (and planets) around the Earth. Whether it is a north or south node is determined by whether the Moon's orbit is has crossed the ecliptic going toward the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. When this intersection of the Moon's orbit and the apparent path of the Sun and planets occurs during a new or full moon, we have an eclipse.
Astrologically, there are different schools of thought with regard to interpretation of the nodes. In general, traditional astrology treated the South node as malefic and the north node as tentatively benefic. Vedic astrologers in India do not like either one. Here are some early interpretations:
Centiloquium of Hermes Trismegistus (1262):
"The North Node with the infortunes denotes terrible mischiefs, for he increases their malice; but with the fortunes he works good, and augments their benignity. But the significations of the Dragon's tail are to be noted the contrary way."
Guido Bonatti (1296-1300 CE).
“Indeed, the Head of the Dragon is naturally a benefic, and of a masculine nature; but by accident it is sometimes a malefic. For its nature is composed of the nature of Jupiter and of the nature of Venus, and this signifies increase … Indeed its Tail is naturally malefic, and of a feminine nature; but if by accident it sometimes becomes a benefic. And its nature is composed of the nature of Saturn and Mars. And it signifies decrease, namely dejection and a fall and poverty, and the decrease of every good thing and every fortune.”
Later, the concepts of fate, karma and reincarnation became associated with the nodes. In this view, the south node represents the past and the north node represents this life or what the person should be striving toward. On Molly's Astrology Blog is a good example of the karmic interpretation: "In a karmic sense, the Moon’s Nodes represent lessons to be learned in this Earthly incarnation. These lessons almost always have to do with the way we connect with others."
Personally, I seldom use the Nodes in interpretation unless they are within 3 degrees of being conjunct another planet or in a partill aspect. How do you use the Nodes? Do you find them useful? Join the discussion on Facebook.
The 1848 Uranus-Pluto Conjunction and Franz Joseph of Austria. Blog by J. Lee Lehman, PhD
1848 rattled Europe more than anything since the French Revolution – and for many of the same reasons. To begin with, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel's Communist Manifesto was published. Riots, uprisings, revolutions and protests broke out across Europe: France, Hungary, Germany, Italy, and the Balkans. The California Gold Rush began. Switzerland, France and the Netherlands got new constitutions. And Wagner began writing Der Ring des Nibelungen (the Ring Cycle). And furthermore, the Irish potato famine was still running its course, resulting in staggering death and emigration.
Examining the chart for 1848 for Vienna (the angles will obviously differ in other parts of the globe), the Sun was in a partile conjunction to the South Node! One of the symbols of the Sun is the king: and here, authority figures were being destroyed – or at least challenged. Click here to read the full article.
Astrology & Astronomy in the News
- On Sunday, 2010 July 11, a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses Earth's southern Hemisphere. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow crosses the South Pacific Ocean where it makes no landfall except for Mangaia (Cook Islands) and Easter Island (Isla de Pascua). The path of totality ends just after reaching southern Chile and Argentina. The Moon's penumbral shadow produces a partial eclipse visible from a much larger region covering the South Pacific and southern South America. More from NASA.
- The French World Cup Soccer coach received a lot of criticism for admitting that astrology has had an influence on his decisions. Read more here and here.
- The holy month of Ramadan will start on August 11 this year, a UAE astronomer has calculated. The Ramadan moon will be visible on August 10, making the next day the first day of the month of fasting, said Ibrahim al Jarwan, astronomy researcher and supervisor of the Sharjah Planetarium. Read article.
- If you are interested in how Ramadan is calculated (and some of the controversy around how that calculation is done), click here for a PDF article The Astronomical Calculations and Ramadan by Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah.
- Saturn is living up to its reputation as the great teacher. "Astronomers have been able to use the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft to track what are believed to be half-mile wide moons embedded in the planet’s outermost dense ring, known as the A ring." This is helping them understand how our solar systems was formed. Read article.
- An interesting article is on the Philosophy of Science portal: "‘Astronomy’ or ‘Astrology’: A brief history of an apparent confusion" by A.Losev. "The modern usage of the words astronomy and astrology is traced back to distinctions, largely ignored in recent scholarship. Three interpretations of celestial phenomena (in a geometrical, a substantialist and a prognostic form) coexisted during the Hellenistic period. From Plato to Isidore of Seville, semantic changes are evidenced and their later development is sketched.
Response from the discussion board
(Kepler College Facebook Group)
In response to the question about identifying evil in the chart, Carol Hunt replied:
I do not think that you can see who is capable of evil acts from a birthchart. People are not born evil. Charts indicate tendencies, and parents can adapt their behaviors based on the response and need of the child that is indicated in the birthchart. If we can’t adapt our behavior to prevent poor responses, astrology is a waste of time.
You can look at the assumed birth chart of Adolf Hitler and there is nothing in the chart that indicates mass murder. All anyone would likely assume among other facts, is that he is an artist, a persuasive public speaker, who has a need for control, and possibly he has very pronounced fears. Another example of this inability to tell would be Timothy McVeigh. His Pisces Moon trine Neptune doesn't really strike the mind as the kind of thing that would make a person blow down a building even though the negative of Pisces is the tendency to be paranoid and often have delusions in regard to the government; the absences of his mother in his teenage years was certain difficult for him. Looking in hindsight one might suspect that his shyness and sensitivity contributed to his inability to socialize-- which developed into a very serious problem for him that he masked behind an intellectual front (Gemini rising). I don't see how you can tell the difference between a Taurus that is going to blow down a building and one that is just irritatingly stubborn from the natal chart without knowing more about the person. Once you know the circumstances, the behaviors are more explainable, but truthfully much of it is hindsight.
The better question might be how are going to define evil. It is more likely that these people actually are not evil, but that negative behavior is the result of people being extremely mistaken and misguided. Hilter thought that he was beautifying the world. Ignorance looks like evil and it doesn’t have any limitations. It seems more likely that people are capable of the most destructive acts simply because there is some extreme lack in their education, and it is going to be hard to pinpoint that on a birthchart.
Click here to join the discussion
Quiz Time
1) According to Alan Leo, what astrological sign is said to rule the following attributes: proud, arrogant, bossy, self-centered, children, romance, and gambling?
a. Aries
b. Leo
c. Gemini
d. Sagittarius
2) Ptolemy’s use of triangles is approximately the same as the modern astrological use of …?
a. Elements
b. Triplicity
c. Aspects
d. Signs
3) The Mayan used what math system for their astrology and calendar calculations?
a. hexadecimal
b. sexagesimal
c. binary
d. vigesimal
Answers to last month's quiz:
1) According to William Lilly, what astrological sign rules the following attributes: apoplexy, baldness, butchers, cart makers, ceiling of houses, Denmark, east, England, epilepsy, feedlot, Florence, France, Germany, hare lip, head, headaches, and hilly ground? Aries
2) What two planets are called “morning and evening stars”? Venus and Mercury
3) An inferior planet refers to a planet that is: Closer to the sun than the earth
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