Skyscript Newsletter, #15 - February 2024

#15 February 2024

Newsletter Edited by Deborah Houlding

– Contents – • Saturn’s Purging Powers • Lincoln’s Dreams • How does the Horoscope keep working after Death?

• Planetary Themes for February and March • When will my Tax Refund arrive?

• Babylonian Myths, II: the Divine Triad – 436 • The Sphere of Manilius (latest extract) • Book review: Eureka, by N. Kollerstrom

Contributors: Jason Burns • Wade Caves • Ray Grasse Abigail Joy • Kirk Little • Sheila Roher

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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Forgive me if this sounds pompous ….

No Skyscript news or notes on developments in this issue – sorry: ran out of time!

SOJOURNING WITH SATURN I always find satisfaction in how the newsletter issues gather around a fundamental theme, or find some way in which the content of one article highlights, supports or continues a point being made in another. And because I spend time musing on that underlying issue as I put everything together, it’s never too surprising how the whole thing draws out a transit or progression in my nativity – allowing me to experience the transit and learn from it, even if my lifestyle has become too monotonously attached to sitting at my desk.

Saturn, currently transiting my MC, parked its indelible presence into this one, which has turned into the most substantial issue so far. Remember, this is a transit for me, not my new norm – I might find a balance by using up a Mercury/Mars transit for another issue, which will be a threepage rant about something annoying, delivered super-quick, ahead of deadline. I am Moon-ruled; consistency is not my strong point.

But here we are with Saturn. Abigail Joy kicks off with a beautifully researched reminder about the importance of keeping a healthy relationship with that melancholy planet and valuing the process of elimination. Saturn never looks appealing close-up – its effects are best appreciated in hindsight or from the broader, long-term view. Ray Grasse offers that perspective in a piece that is not-so-Saturnine, yet it plumbs a philosophical depth in considering the phenomenon every astrologer has noticed, offering his weighty thoughts as to why the horoscope continues to ‘work’ after death. Jason Burns brings us straight back to Earth by talking about tax returns (I’m still getting over my last tax deadline trauma, so don’t get me started on that – Saturn doesn’t even try to hide itself in that concern).

OK, so what (I hear you ask) has Saturn to do with the extended mundane feature brought to life with the narrative of Wade Caves? Well, this is an interesting issue where we provide news of an upcoming lunation from an angle not many Astro-journals employ – hindsight. Saturn’s themes not only remind us of deadlines, its transits also sometimes make them impossible to achieve. It calls for the realisation that we are fallible, and in some situations, we can only do our best. Still, with the benefit of hindsight, I find it enjoyably curious that the period of the (now lapsed) New Moon of 9th Feb was indeed a time when my mind was wrapped up in principles of divination, as that was when I made an early release of Sheila Roher’s enigmatic, inspiring and “perfectly pitched” (according to feedback received) astro-tour of Abraham Lincoln’s prophetic dreams.

This issue also includes a seriously intelligent and engaging book review by Kirk Little. I admit, the narrative here strains more towards Uranus, but it’s exquisitely put together, so we’ll overlook that. If you are looking for perfection in the realm of Saturn, you must learn to be more realistic.

Altogether, there is a wonderful collection of elegantly written, informative and thoughtprovoking content here. I’ve had my mind expanded as I’ve had the privilege of bringing it all together, and after going deep with Saturn, I ended up feeling raised to new philosophical heights.

Sheila’s article, mixed with Ray’s reminder of how the consequence of life is never fully lost, left me contemplating the deeper levels of poignancy in Lincoln’s assassination. Focusing closely on that event, in reviewing it astrologically, reignites the sense of heartbreak embedded within it – it is hard not to feel affected by it, even from this distance in time. And yet … with hindsight … we can appreciate how the long-term effect of that tragedy was to underline Lincoln’s political achievements, helping to secure their lasting effects. The man was lost at that point, but the consequence of what he had lived for got cemented in the act designed to silence him, as shock united the nation and brought an overwhelmingly unified appreciation of his larger issues, devoid of the less consequential trivia that is generally sucking up space.

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And so it is with the news, just released, of the death of Alexei Navalny, which has left me both shocked and saddened – more than should be the case, probably because I’ve been dissociating from disaster stories lately (the world is too bonkers, sometimes; hard to take it all in). But I’ve been following whatever news there has been of Navalny with sympathy, hoping some future regime shift might give him better odds of freedom to fight his cause. Against a dire global theme of war-fuelled conflicts and so many families suffering, thoughts of one individual death become the catalyst for all sorts of feelings of lost hope, as the sharpened recognition of rottenness in inept and corrupt political regimes gets underscored by the gloom of impotence in wondering what can be done about it (other than to observe from a distance, with a sense of despair).

At times like this, I am reminded of some of the nonsense sayings my mum would come out with, which I never understood as a child. “When God shuts a door, he opens a window” was one that especially got on my nerves – it was expected to be the answer to all my sorrows while failing to provide any kind of spiritual imagery I could draw strength from. Just doors and windows … I would think about it as cleaning doors and windows, thinking how, for all God’s omnipotence, we’re still left with the issue of dirt. Sometimes, Mum would say it another way: “A door must be shut for a window to open”, even morphing it into “unless a door is shut, we don’t realise how dark it is to open a window”. All of this drove me crazy. My mother has never been versed in scripture or dedicated to religion, and I envied the kind of quiet, deep-souled guidance that would have been delivered to children raised in Buddhist households.

But I ‘get it’ today, and I cling to it: how the loss of something activates the re-emergence of it. Like Lincoln, Navalny stood for something greater than the circumstances of his own life. He knew this, and was committed to it – “forgive me if this sounds pompous, but it’s better to die standing up than live on your knees” (quoted in 'New Yorker' interview). Though the tragedy remains in close-up, some small comfort is found in Saturn’s long-range perspective, and the already evident fact that attempts to silence the political voice of this courageous man have seriously backfired, making it infinitely louder as it is sharpened and crystalised into a framework of martyrdom. His loss is felt and makes the world seem darker – too dark now; a light source needs to be found.

The outer ring of the bi-wheel shows Navalny’s current solar return (10:17 pm BAT, 4 Jun 23) If you wish to comment on his chart, there is a discussion thread about him in the Skyscript forum

You are not here merely to make a living, you are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand — Woodrow Wilson (US President,1913-21 - chart).

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Saturn’s Purging Powers

by Abigail Joy

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Illustration uses ‘The Grim Reaper’ by Gevatter Tod, 1905

www.seebystarlight.com

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very person must confront the reality that, at some point, we cease to exist.

Someday, our bodies will stop functioning, and our souls will pass through whatever portal divides the living from the dead. Metaphysically, the mystical, outermost ‘sphere’ of Saturn guards the passage from existence to transcendence with sombre chill. Saturn’s realm moves material to the immaterial, separating manifested life from the abstract heavenly realm of the fixed stars – which is why this planet depicts processes of decay, death, and the discarded, and why it signifies older ages, cemeteries and “stinking muddy places”1 where bacteria break down matter into dirt.

Similarly, inside the home, Saturn rules the rubbish bin, where discarded pieces of daily life are sent on to their next form of existence. There was a song several decades ago on the children’s show, Sesame Street, sung by their character ‘Oscar the Grouch’: I love trash! Anything dirty or dingy or dusty.

Anything ragged or rotten or rusty. Yes, I love trash!2

Grouchy Oscar embodied Saturn. Living in a trash can with his pet worm, he displayed the quintessentially Saturnian attitudes of cynicism, misanthropy and disdain. But Oscar was not a villain; he was an accepted friend, even when the other characters didn’t agree with him. The show writers wisely understood that negativity is an important part of life that children need to grapple with. Likewise, we must remember that discarded and decaying pieces of ‘trash’ are necessary components in the cycle of life.

Everything in existence must eventually be broken down and moved along to make way for the next generation. Saturn, lover of trash, oversees this difficult transition.

1 Lilly, CA, p.60. For an account of the historical-hermetical philosophy of the soul ascent through planetary

spheres, see ‘Seven Bodies of Man in Hermetic Astrology’, by Denis Labouré, skyscript.co.uk/7bodies.html.

2 ‘I Love Trash’ ©1969 Jeff Moss; view at sesamestreet.org/videos?vid=3280

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Within the body, trash removal is handled by the lymphatic system. As organs and tissues perform their many functions, by-products are produced, which, when no longer necessary, need to be eliminated.

Cells also die and need to be cleared away to make room for new cells. These waste products are all sent into the lymphatic system, which filters them out and returns clean moisture to the bloodstream. The lymphatic system interacts with every organ in the body, including the brain, providing crucial wasteremoving services. The spleen, ruled by Saturn, is the largest and primary organ in the lymphatic system.

Calling the spleen a ‘primary organ’ is somewhat misleading, since the lymphatic system is actually a decentralised network (Saturn’s enmity with the Sun makes it the natural ruler of decentralised systems, in contrast to the Sun’s natural signification of centralised authority). There are hundreds of nodes in the network; the spleen just happens to be the largest node. It can regrow itself if damaged, and it can duplicate itself. In fact, about 14.5% of people have more than one spleen!3

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NATIVITY OF SOMEONE WITH THREE SPLEENS

NATIVITY OF SOMEONE WITH AN EXTRA ACCESSORY SPLEEN

9:25 pm PDT 24 September 1990 Walnut Creek, CA, USA

9:04 am PDT 19 May 1978 Fresno, CA, USA

Regio cusps

Regio cusps

Saturn, dignified by sign, is stationing direct after being retrograde (symbolising repetition) and trines a dignified Mercury, a signifier of multiplicity. Mars in Gemini (multiplicity) is also in a tight (1°) contraantiscia with Saturn.

In this chart, Saturn is in detriment, but we see, again, connections with both Mars and Mercury.

Mars is applying to conjunction with Saturn, and Mercury is connected with Saturn by a tight (1°) antiscia arrangement.

ASTRO-RULERSHIP & ANCIENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPLEEN The spleen is determined to be the ‘seat’ of the melancholic humour, and astrologers generally attribute its rulership to Saturn (which governs that humour) while often recognising an association with the Moon. Valens attributed it solely to the Moon, but such authors as Ptolemy, Al-Qabisi, Magnus, Ficino, Lilly and Culpeper gave it to Saturn, while some (e.g., Al-Biruni and Bonatti), associate it with both Saturn and the Moon. Additionally, some authors (e.g., Al-Qabisi and Dariot) don’t mention a direct association with the Moon but associate it with the planet Saturn, and the sign of Cancer (as well as the 4th house) – the logic here appears to be that signs and houses rule regions of the body, while planets rule specific organs; i.e., Cancer rules the stomach and upper torso, and the spleen is located in that area of the body.

The spleen is (usually) a fist-sized organ in the upper left side of the abdomen, next to the stomach and behind the left ribs

3 J. Vikse et al. ‘The Prevalence & Morphometry of an Accessory Spleen’; International Journal of Surgery 45 (Sep. 2017): 18–28.

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The Moon, as ruler of the Water element, is an understandable choice of co-significator since lymphatic fluid is clear like water. The primary assignment to Saturn is more intriguing: the purgative function of the lymphatic system is not obvious without a microscope, and considering the limitations of their technology, it is impressive how much ancient physicians managed to deduce about what the spleen actually does. Still, compared to other major organs in the body, the spleen has been much less written about in ancient works, and overall, its role was – in the words of Galen – “full of mystery”.4 From the most ancient sources, there is recognition of a role to keep the liver clean. Plato said of this:

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Whenever the surface of the liver gains some impurities, as a result of physical ill-health, the spleen with its porousness – its pitted and bloodless fabric – cleans them all up. Hence, as it absorbs the matter it has cleaned off the liver, it swells up and festers; but then, once the body has been purged, the swelling goes down and it reduces back to its normal size.5

This comment falls within the context of a passage discussing how the soul interacts with the body. Plato believed the liver was responsible for receiving divination – an impure liver would be unable to receive accurate visions from the gods, so the spleen’s job of purifying the liver held spiritual, as well as physical, importance.

Aristotle also described the spleen as a complementary organ to the liver – the spleen performing on the left side of the body what the liver does on the right, with both organs assisting each other in the generation of blood and humours. The spleen was assumed to be much more absorptive than the liver, its job being to absorb excess fluids from the stomach. If too much food is eaten, or illness causes digestive disruption, the spleen is said to swell with fluid and become hard.6 It was deemed especially prone to absorbing black bile, the heavy melancholic humour, the successful absorption and elimination of which was expected to generate a ‘lighter spirit’ and laughter.7 But ancient understanding of the spleen was marred with divided opinion. The eminent Greek physician Erasistratus (said by Pliny to be Aristotle’s grandson) believed it useless, and Rufus of Ephesus wrote in the 2nd century that the spleen is “idle and serves no purpose” (possibly noting that a major vein terminates within it, with no obvious outlet). Modern Western medicine tended to agree with this view until the mid-20th century. Spleens were considered functionless, passive cavities prone to infections, and splenectomies were performed in response to nearly every ailment, or even ‘preventatively’ for decades. The 1952 discovery that people without spleens are actually much more susceptible to septic infections put pause to this practice.

Further studies showed higher rates of pneumonia and other infections in people without spleens, so doctors are more judicious in prescribing splenectomies now.8 Back in the classical era, the physician Galen – always ahead of his time – railed against notions of the spleen being useless, showing rare emotive outbursts and ‘venting his own spleen’ by writing an entire chapter to illustrate the “absurd” ignorance of Erasistratus and his followers. He accuses Erasistratus of making a “havoc of it a thousand times over”, suggesting he has “little more anatomical knowledge than a butcher” and proposing his intelligence to be “perfectly torpid”.9 Galen points to how spleens become inflamed and enlarged in diseases such as dropsy (oedema), jaundice and dysentery, as evidence of an essential role in regulating the health of the body.

Within this work, Galen differentiates two types of jaundice: yellow and black. The former is associated with a malfunctioning gallbladder and excess choler, which causes the skin to turn yellow. The latter is linked to a malfunctioning spleen and excess melancholy, which causes the skin to darken. From the disease of black jaundice, he deduced that the spleen was responsible for the melancholy humour (‘black bile’), one of the four essential humours of the body. Properly managed, black bile is necessary for health, but out of place and in excess, it causes pain, depression, black jaundice, and other diseases.10 G. Paraskevas et al. ‘Knowledge of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Spleen throughout Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages’, Anatomical Science International 91, no. 1 (Jan. 2016): 43–55.

5 Plato, (c. 360 BCE), Timaeus, III.38; Robin Waterfield translation from Timaeus and Critias (Oxford University Press) 2008, p.72.

6 Aristotle, (c. 330 BCE), On the Parts of Animals, III.7.

7 Aristotle’s Book of Problems, ‘Of the Gall and the Spleen’. F. Rosner’s Medicine in the Bible and the Talmud (1995, pp. 102–107), shows that ancient Jewish traditions associate the spleen with laughter for the same reason. The Mishnah, a collection of oral traditions written around 200 CE, explains that the spleen generates laughter because it purges the blood of unclean matter.

8 Rufus of Ephesus, (c. 200 CE) On the Names of the Parts of the Body, 31. For more on this see R. Dionigi et al. ‘History of Splenectomy.’

International Journal of Surgery 11 (Dec. 2013): 42–43.

9 Galen, (c. 200 CE) On the Natural Faculties, II, translated by A. J. Brock, 1916; quotes on pages 143 and 171.

10 Since melancholy was considered the densest of the humours, this may have been the logic behind the astonishing ancient practice of performing splenectomies on runners and horses. The reasoning behind this is not given in extant literature, except claiming it would help them run faster! Perhaps they believed that the weight of excess black bile slowed the body down.

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There is a way to cure diseases by Sympathy, so every planet cures his own disease: the Sun and Moon by their Herbs cure the Eyes, Saturn the Spleen, Jupiter the Liver, Mars the Gall and Diseases of Choler, and Venus diseases in the instruments of Generation

– Nicholas Culpeper, ‘Epistle to the Reader’, English Physician Enlarged (1653)

SATURNINE THEMES IN MODERN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPLEEN Though the spleen’s attribution to Saturn no doubt arose through the shared association of both with the humoral principles of melancholic black bile, the aptness of Saturn for the lymphatic system gains even more relevance in light of modern medical knowledge.

We now understand the lymphatic system to be an important part of the immune system: the body’s barrier between Self and Not-self. Saturn’s place in the outermost sphere, and even its possession of dramatic icy rings, makes it a fitting symbol for all barriers, including the body’s own immune barrier.

Image from Gray’s Anatomy (1913) showing the spleen in the upper right beneath the stomach

Consider how Saturn’s bitter rulership over the barrier of death is sweetened only by its additional rulership over the function of memory – though the body of a loved one may die, the memory of that person lives on.

Biologically, as well as psychologically, memory is a crucial part of the immune system too. When immune cells fight off a pathogen, they create antigen cells whose function is to remember how to defeat that pathogen, so that if it ever attacks again they can take it down quickly. These memory cells live in the body for decades, ready to activate at the first sign of trouble; they are ‘trained’ in lymph nodes such as the spleen, yet produced in the bone marrow, which is also, of course, ruled by Saturn.

Another resonance with Saturn is the notably slow movement of lymphatic fluid. It may not contain literal ‘black bile’ to weight it down, but unlike the cardiovascular system, it is passive. The lymphatic system has no pump to move the lymph around; it relies on proximity to other moving parts to push its liquid through its vessels. And because lymph is only pushed when muscles move, it can easily become stagnant through sedentary lifestyles. Stagnant lymph can lead to inflammation, and its pile-up of waste causes blockages, or its fluids can swell (edema) so that vessels press against nerves, causing pain and loss of function. This is one reason why regular exercise, stretching, and deep breathing are vitally important for all-round good health, in helping to keep our lymph flowing freely.

And while we no longer believe that ‘black bile’ is a literal substance that causes sadness, we do know that sedentary lifestyles increase the risk of depression, and that regular moderate exercise improves symptoms in most patients with clinical depression.11 Science has not yet explained the mechanism behind this, but it is probable that enhanced lymphatic flow plays a role. The ancients, if they could see us today, would lament how modern lifestyles – in which most of us sit most of the time – are causing our spleens to swell up and release too much black bile, which causes us to stop laughing! Science has only recently begun to investigate the role of the immune system in the disease of depression, but we now know that depression suppresses the immune system and increases inflammatory cells in the lymph and blood.12 More interesting discoveries are sure to follow as research continues.

11 L. Zhai et al. ‘Sedentary Behaviour and the Risk of Depression’, British Journal of Sports Medicine 49, no. 11 (Jun. 2015): 705; L. Craft

& F. Perna ‘Benefits of Exercise for the Clinically Depressed’ Primary Care Companion For CNS Disorders 6, 3 (Jun. 2004).

12 B. Leonard ‘The Concept of Depression as a Dysfunction of the Immune System’ Current Immunology Reviews 6, no. 3 (Aug. 2010):

205–12; A. Atli et al. ‘Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder Undergoing No Pharmacological Therapy’, Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Aug. 2015): 2253.

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Meanwhile, herbalists have long known that exercise is not the only tool for enlivening lymphatic flow – plants can help as well. Lymphatic herbs stimulate the movement and purgation of the body’s lymph, to assist with conditions of stagnancy, whether physical (edema) or emotional (depression). Calendula, for example, ruled by the Sun, is an excellent lymphatic herb, and we see the principle of antipathy at work since the Sun is opposite to Saturn. By contrast, a lymphatic herb that works by sympathy is Glechoma Hederacea, often commonly known as ‘Ground Ivy’, ‘Creeping Charlie’, or ‘Alehoof’.

GROUND IVY – A LOWLY LYMPHATIC Culpeper places Alehoof (Ground Ivy) under the rulership of Venus, and though I am loath to argue with the great English Physician, a good case can also be made for Saturn. Firstly, this is one of the rare evergreen plants that can be harvested during Saturn’s coldest winter months, which coincide with higher incidences of respiratory illnesses, when the herb proves most useful for relieving sinus congestion and body aches.

A small, creeping groundcover plant of the mint family, Ground Ivy thrives in most parts of the world. It can be eaten as food, although its bitter taste makes it best served mixed into a salad or soup with other flavours.

Rich in vitamin C and minerals, its bitterness promotes healthy digestion and also gently restores a diminished appetite, so it is helpful when sadness, illness, or hormonal problems cause someone to forget to eat. We see here a cure by sympathy – a positive Saturnian herb helping to relieve the negative effects of too much Saturn, such as wasting away. A cure by sympathy is also suggested in Culpeper’s report that the plant eases gripping pains or “choleric humours in the stomach, spleen or belly” and acts as a cure for melancholy “by opening the stoppings of the spleen”.13 The Saturnine nature of the herb is also evident in its association with ailments of the ears, which, again, are governed by Saturn.14 Modern herbalists primarily recommend Ground Ivy for ear aches, ear infections, excessive build-up of earwax, and tinnitus (applications also noted by Culpeper and Hildegard von Bingen, who advocated a warm compress infused with Ground Ivy to help with “bad humours in the head that cause one’s ears to ring”).15 I take a tincture of Glechoma Hederacea at the first sign of ear infection – 30 drops per hour until the symptoms subside; it is wonderfully soothing.

Ear pain is often caused by lymphatic swelling in the sinuses during respiratory infections, and while Ground Ivy is effective at moving lymph in the head, it is also a good all-around lymph mover for the whole of the body. The Roman physician Dioscorides advised drinking three cups of Ground Ivy tea daily as a treatment for sciatica, which is sometimes caused by edema putting pressure on the nerves, so it makes sense that a lymphatic herb would provide a helpful remedy.16 It is good to keep Ground Ivy on hand while fighting a cold virus, chest infection, or any case of congestion, swollen lymph nodes, or build-up of fluids. Like all lymphatic herbs, it helps the body remove waste products, which increases the effectiveness of the immune system and helps maintain a healthy flow so that the cycle of cellular life and death can continue smoothly. In this way, it is under the rulership of stately Saturn— guardian of the barrier between worlds, lover of the discarded, and mighty master of the slow march of time.

13 N. Culpeper, English Physician Enlarged, 1653; entry for ‘Alehoof’, p.8.

14 Saturn is widely associated with the ears and as Lilly notes (CA, p.572): “The two infortunes pronounce debility in hearing, especially

Saturn”. This association perhaps amused Galileo, who, when he viewed Saturn through his telescope and noted the elongated bulges on either side (Saturn’s rings) described this planet as having ‘ears’.

15 P. Throop. Hildegard von Bingen’s Physica, (Healing Arts Press, 1998), p.55.

16 Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 1st CE) De Materia Medica IV, ‘Chamaikissos’.

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

Long COVID Research Study CAN YOU HELP? Abigail Joy and Denise Hancock have recently launched a research project looking into potential ASTROLOGICAL SIGNATURES of people who develop Long COVID Syndrome.

While most people completely recover after a COVID-19 infection, many people (possibly up to 20%) go on to develop Long COVID syndrome. Many people who were previously healthy, with no conditions that would put them in an ‘at-risk’ category, become debilitated for a significant length of time. Why is that? What conditions might predispose a person to developing Long COVID? Of course, there are probably many factors that go into this complex disease, but for the purposes of this study, we would like to focus on the birth charts, to see if there may be any baseline predispositions we might discover.

The success of a study like this depends on getting an adequate sample size. We need as many birth charts as we can get, to be able to make a solid case. Would you please help?

We need charts from people who DID develop Long Covid and from people who DID NOT develop it, to be able to compare the two groups. So if you’re saying right now, “I’d like to help, but I never got Long Covid”… well, you’re in luck. Your chart can still be helpful to use as a comparison! As long as you’ve gotten infected with COVID-19 at least once (and is there anyone who hasn’t, at this point?) you can jump right in.

The study is completely anonymous, and we keep all your data absolutely confidential. No personal data will be published; study results will be aggregated.

It should take less than 5 minutes to answer a few simple questions, and that’s it!

To participate or learn more about the study go to Abigail Joy’s blogpost at: www.seebystarlight.com/COVID-study About the researchers Denise Hancock PhD, RN, NPD-BC, is a New Orleans-based astrologer and Registered Nurse. She has prior research experience in the healthcare field and teaches graduate research courses.Denise has completed courses from the CITI Program (citiprogram.org) in Social-Behavioral-Educational Research, Responsible Conduct of Research, and Information Security. She has studied astrology since 2001. Notable accomplishments include successful completion of Nitty Gritty 1-3 taught by Samuel Reynolds and a Horary Astrology certificate from the STA School of Traditional Astrology. Dr. Hancock is the Senior Editor of The Evolving Astrologer magazine, and a member of the Organization for Professional Astrology (OPA) and the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR). Learn more at AstrologyWithDenise.com.

Abigail Joy is certified in medical astrology from the STA School of Traditional Astrology, and has a certificate in Family Herbalism from the Commonwealth School of Holistic Herbalism. She is a member of the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR) and the Organization for Professional Astrology (OPA). She has a Masters in Instructional Design and has worked in higher education for ten years, both teaching courses and administering programs in multiple departments. She has been practicing astrology for twelve years and has formally practiced herbalism for two years.

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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Lincoln’s Dreams

by Sheila R. Roher, MPH astrologyforgrowth.com

When Mars drives the 9th house Title image shows a detail from ‘Penelope’s Dream’ by John Flaxman (1805)

Traditional astrology assigns dreams to the 9th house, along with divination (including astrology), theology, law, science, and long-distance travel. Previous articles in this series1 reviewed techniques to assess whether specific dreams hold significance for waking life, considering the dream in the context of 9th house symbolism. Here we look at a fascinating example that highlights the role of the malefics bringing gifts in a most disturbing garb.

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n the morning of April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln excitedly confided to members of his Cabinet that his sleep had been disturbed by a strange dream:

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I seemed to be in a singular and indescribable vessel that was moving with great rapidity towards an indefinite shore …. I had this same dream preceding the firing on Sumter, the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Stone’s River, Vicksburg, Wilmington, and others.2 Though victory has not always followed it, some important event has. I have no doubt this time that a battle has taken place, or is about to be fought, and that Johnston will be defeated. My dream must relate to Sherman. My thoughts are in that direction, and I know of no other very important event which is very likely just now to occur. 3

Lincoln was partly right. He knew by this time that Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses Grant. Before the month was out, Confederate General Johnston, who was fighting Sherman in North Carolina, would do the same. On the same day Lincoln reported his dream, Johnston sent a message to Sherman requesting terms of concession. The formal surrender of the last major Confederate army took place on April 26, 1865. Lincoln was right that the dream presaged a significant victory for Sherman, and yet there was no battle – and there was, in fact, another “very important event” about to occur.

The same evening Lincoln had this dream, he went to watch a performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater, Washington. He was assassinated that night by John Wilkes Booth, at 10:13 pm.

Another dream, from that same fateful month, is more well-known among both Lincoln aficionados and those interested in paranormal events. Three days earlier, Lincoln had told his friend and biographer Ward Hill Lamon (as well as his wife and some others) about a strangely disturbing dream: See issue 10 (Jul. 23: 16-19) ‘Dreams & the Ninth House’ and issue 12 (Sep. 23) ‘Mysteries of the 9th House’, by Sheila Roher.

Webb Garrison, The Lincoln No One Knows (Rutledge Hill Press, 1993), p. 147. The Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles (a copious journal writer), had recorded the dream that evening, before he learned of Lincoln’s assassination.

3 All of these are significant battles in the US Civil War which, at that time, was still ongoing.

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About ten days ago, I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible.

I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. I saw light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise.

Before me was a catafalque,4 on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments.

Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards, and there was a throng of people, gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. Who is dead in the White House? I demanded of one of the soldiers, The President, was his answer; he was killed by an assassin. Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which woke me from my dream.

I slept no more that night, and although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since.5

In this article, I’d like to explore the following questions: • how did Lincoln’s 9th house, including his profound experience of dreams, help him navigate life?

• though we lack specific times for the dreams, what can we tell from the charts for those days?

The 9th house never acts alone, so let’s start with a brief overview of his natal themes.

Lincoln’s chart rates a ‘Rodden B’, its sources including a 1927 biography and two other sources which report Lincoln was born around ‘’sunup”.

Details from Astro.com

4 5

A catafalque is a wooden framework used to support coffins during public funerals of prominent individuals.

W.H. Lamon, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln 1847-1865 (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1994) p. 116-117; online at rogerjnorton.com.

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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Saturnine melancholia Lincoln was born on Saturn’s day in the hour of Mars – not surprisingly, working with these planets and their challenges was to dominate this life. Saturn, prominently angled on the 10th house, disposes his Sun, Ascendant, Moon and (by exaltation) Mars. The 8th house Mars is square the 12th house Capricorn Moon, so whatever hidden gifts the Moon holds, it is also a vehicle for disturbing and/or fearful thoughts.

Lincoln’s melancholy was noted by all his friends and political allies. In his first 32 years, he experienced two paralyzing periods of depression. Although he recovered, the sense of melancholy was lifelong. A journalist who interviewed many of Lincoln’s colleagues wrote of it:6

“

The most marked and prominent feature in Lincoln’s organization was his predisposition to melancholy… as indicated by his facial expression when sitting alone and thus shut off from conversation with other people… Almost every man in Illinois… reminded me of it… men who never saw him could scarcely realize this tendency to melancholy, not only as reflected in his facial expression but as it affected his spirits and well-being.

The Aquarian Sun, angled prominently on the Ascendant and ruling the Descendant, shone in the company of others, as biographer Joshua Wolf Shenk observed:

“

Lincoln was reserved in personal details but quite open in showing his true emotional self, including the suffering that sometimes overtook him. Reporters, allies, and ordinary citizens who watched Lincoln rarely came away thinking they knew his secrets, but they often came away thinking they’d seen the man.

The Sun, Moon, Mars and Jupiter are all in 22°-26° of their signs, so transits in late degrees would inevitably challenge him to integrate or make sense of them all. (The two critical depressive episodes occurred when transiting Saturn made a hard aspect to his Mars or Mercury while triggering the luminaries.)

Jupiter is the saving grace. The only dignified planet in his chart, it rules the MC as well as acting as the dispositor of Mercury and the angular Saturn-Neptune conjunction. Jupiter is the background benefic, bringing the leavening grace of humour and philosophy to the President’s heavy Saturnine struggles.

Lincoln dealt with his melancholy in two ways: by embracing Saturn (accepting that life is difficult) and cultivating Jupiter (seeking wisdom and appreciating humour). It’s a tribute to his efforts that Americans grow up with an image of Lincoln sitting around telling jokes to juries and boarding housemates – he was indeed known for bringing good humour to public discussion, but the appeals to Jupiter only mitigated; they did not resolve the deeper melancholy experience.7 Lincoln’s four planets in detriment (Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars) deserve an article of their own!

For our purposes, let’s briefly recognize that with Venus in Aries, he was social with many but had only one intimate friend in life (Joshua Speed) and a difficult marriage to fiery Mary. Sensitive Mercury in Pisces was a factor in his depressive troubles, but also key to how deeply he deliberated on the larger concerns of his day. His 1st house Mercury aspects Saturn and all three outer planets, making him closely attuned to social and generational issues. With such a super-charged Mercury squaring Saturn, his thirst for learning as a child created conflict with his father (what farmer’s child can waste time reading Euclid?)

Throughout his life he worked to develop gravity and subtlety of thought, writing poetry as well as practising law, while respecting the gifts of the imagination.

Saturn, prominent on the MC in Sagittarius, portrays the seriousness with which he approached the concerns of that sign, including divination, law, justice, and government. The conjunction with Neptune (an MC signature he shared with President John F. Kennedy) shows his rigorous approach to philosophy and the law was infused with a sense of intuited vastness which dwarfs certainty. Unlike many American presidents, Lincoln lived with both strong ideals and a profound sense of humility and uncertainty.8 Quoted in J.W. Shenk, Lincoln’s Melancholy (Houghton Mifflin, 2005; hereafter ‘Shenk’); quotes from p. 109 and 133.

Lincoln was critical of the contemporary medical models about depression. During one particularly bad episode (when friends feared he might commit suicide), he received treatments including bleeding and purging, which, far from working, only caused more suffering. He was interested in the ‘new’ idea that he had a nervous temperament (a general cause) that made him more susceptible to various transient stresses.

8 Lincoln and Kennedy were the only US presidents born with iok on their Midheavens. Both felled by assassinations, their deaths in the public imagination carried a sense of sacrifice to a greater cause, of high ideals cut down by opponents of progress.

6 7

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Rapidity dream April 14, 1865 “I seemed to be in a singular and indescribable vessel …moving with great rapidity towards an indefinite shore” 7:00 am day: ` hour: _ Washington, DC Placidus

Mars ruling the 9th house As ruler of the 9th house, Mars is charged with navigating Lincoln’s view of God or divinity. Mars ruling the 9th is known for heresy or (in my reading) those who must forge their own path towards philosophy; s/he cannot take any already trodden path for granted. Lincoln was a non-believer or doubter earlier in his life but – through serious study of the Bible and other philosophies – he developed his own theology.

The Saturn/Neptune conjunction on the MC imbibed him with a feel for the tragic vastness of life that belied any refuge in easy or simple answers. However, it was Mars, in Libra, ruling the 9th, that impelled him to find meaning in action towards the good. He felt that, although he could not eliminate his suffering, he could make it worthwhile by working towards a larger purpose. Writing privately in his journal while in the White House, Lincoln avowed, “I shall do nothing in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing”. That is admirable. But what is astonishing is his recognition that the use of will without malice (a lovely description of Mars in Libra!) is worth pursuing even, when our pursuit of the good is destined to be incomplete and deeply flawed at best. Again, from his private papers:

“

In this present civil war, it is quite possible that God’s Purpose is something different from the purpose of either party – and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect this.9

He shared this idea in his Second Inaugural, arguing that none of us can truly know God’s Will even as we are charged with doing our best in the world. His closing line calling for “malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right” is a beautiful expression of Saturnian humility driven by Mars in Libra.

Lincoln’s debilitated Mars, in the 8th house (of fear and anguish of Mind), squares the Capricorn Moon in the 12th, attuning him to “Sorrows, Tribulations… all manner of afflictions”.10 Put another way: the MarsMoon square links the shadowy houses of secrets (8th) and what has not yet emerged (the 12th). Yet Mars stands between both of his luminaries, with an applying trine from the Sun as well as a closely separating square from the Moon, so what is hidden and secret gets exposed by the radiance of the Sun. Along with his sensitive yet penetrating Mercury conjunct Pluto in Pisces, this extraordinary configuration of Mars and the luminaries explains why Lincoln’s subconscious was so active and why his subliminally powerful dreams were able to pick up pregnant hints from the houses of secrets and not yet emergent issues and convey them to his Sun’s conscious awareness.

9

Shenk, p. 198.

10 William Lilly, Christian Astrology, (1647), p. 54.

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The Dream of Great Rapidity Let’s now consider the Astro-themes of the two reported dreams, starting with the one recounted on the morning of Lincoln’s death (14 April 1865), said to have been relayed in an “almost euphoric” manner by Lincoln, who interpreted it as an indication of impending military victory or “some important event”.

Since nothing in Lincoln’s retelling suggests he woke early or had his usual sleep pattern disturbed (as sometimes happens with troubling dreams), I set this chart for 7am, the time of his usual awakening in the White House [chart shown on previous page].

Following the guidelines for dream interpretation given by Bonatti and Lilly, we first consider the ruler of the 9th house, and any planets placed within the 9th, to identify the topic of the dream. Then we consider whether the 9th-ruler is angular, which would validate the dream’s significance to waking life.

In this case, Saturn rules the 9th, but is cadent in the 6th so is not (according to traditional guidelines) promising something of practical significance. We then look to see if any other planets are angular because, if so, they tell us what topics are important.

Both Venus and the Moon are angular. Venus, ruling the Ascendant and placed upon it, is powerful and in its sign of dignity, suggesting the relevance of the dream directly concerns the dreamer and that their position within the situation alluded to is strong. The angular Moon opposes from the 7th house, so picks up themes of ‘open enemies’, which can naturally be related to the Confederate leader Johnston, whose army was Lincoln’s main concern at that time. (I would read the angular Moon getting ready to fall under the Descendant as indicating that Johnston will fall – as Lincoln himself predicted from this dream – especially since the 7th-ruler, Mars, is in its own sign of fall in Johnston’s turned 8th house of anguish.)

But what about the Sun and Saturn, both exalted and mutually applying to opposition from cadent, destructive houses? These two planets rule the MC-IC axis, and with Saturn acting as the 9th-ruler, this detail perhaps gives the most vivid dream indications of unrealised disaster ahead. Such concerns trigger a glance to the 8th house, ruled by Jupiter, which sits within it and draws an element of heavy emphasis as it turns from direct to retrograde motion and is now stationed in the final (anaretic) degree of its sign.

Putting the dream chart into a biwheel around Lincoln’s nativity helps to focus its symbolism. Now we see how the transiting Sun-Saturn opposition lines up directly with Lincoln’s 8th-house Mars, activating his natal Mars-Moon square, so stimulating his capacity to intuit the ‘unknown’ impending threat to his life via dreams. The transiting Moon also gains consequence by joining Lincoln’s 10th house Saturn, showing the dream holds significance for him professionally and personally, since Saturn rules his Ascendant and disposits both luminaries.

But notice: at the same time both malefics throw highlight to the 8th house, by Saturn’s conjunction of Mars within it, transiting Mars makes a partile square to Lincoln’s natal 8th-ruler, Venus.

Venus is seemingly benefic as it rises in the dream chart until we consider the role Venus plays natally and note its conjunction with the violent fixed star Algol (then at 24°17 Ä) the malevolent connotations of which, (when tied to destructive alignments) include death, trauma, themes of revenge, tragedy, and injuries to the head. This transit would still be in effect at the time of the assassination, hours later, when Lincoln was shot by Booth in the back of his head (at a ‘Venusian event’ as he watched a comedic theatre play).

INNER WHEEL LINCOLN’S NATIVITY

OUTER WHEEL DREAM: 2 APR 1865

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The Catafalque Dream The time of Lincoln’s catafalque dream is unknown. He usually retired to bed at 10 pm but he stayed up “very late” on this evening.

I cast the chart for 1 am, expecting it could be anytime between midnight and 2 am (the way Lincoln told the story suggests he soon awoke from it: “I slept no more that night”).

Because we don’t have a reliable time, I am not working with houses in this example, but include the dream chart to make it easier to view its aspects before we place it alongside Lincoln’s nativity.

Lincoln’s dream April 14, 1865 Catafalque dream “I seemed to be in a singular and April 2, 1865 indescribable vessel …moving with great rapidity towards an “There seemed shore” to be a deathindefinite like stillness about me”

Lincoln’s natal Moon-Mars square is echoed in the disturbing dream chart’s Moon-Mars conjunction. It is an ominous sign that the Moon is translating the light of Mars as it next squares the exalted Sun.

7:00 am day: ` hour: _ 1:00 am LMT Washington, DC Washington, DC Placidus Placidus

The mutually applying Mercury-Saturn opposition is also significant. Saturn would rule the Ascendant (signifying Lincoln) had he awoken anytime between 12:45-3:45 am, so it is safe to assume the Mercury-Saturn opposition is speaking of Lincoln himself. The significations of hard Mercury-Saturn aspects involve boundaries, endings, and limitations. This dream presaged lamentations over the death of a president, so the exalted Saturn (as well as the exalted Sun under threat from Mars) give resonance to endings or shocking changes concerning principles of presidency.

It’s an extraordinary chart: the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter are all in dignity; Saturn and the Sun are in their exaltations; and the nodes are about to change signs. Only Mercury the Trickster is peregrine.

When these positions are made radical by contrasting with Lincoln’s nativity, we see how that tight, mutually applying MercurySaturn opposition mirrors the April 14th Sun-Saturn opposition by lining up with his natal 8th house Mars and triggering his 12th house Moon (stirring subliminal themes and rousing images from the ‘not yet emerged’).

Note the transiting Moon-Mars conjunction falls in Lincoln’s 5th house, again suggestive of danger through social events (Lincoln’s assassin came in the guise of a friendly face – a trusted actor at the theatre, who timed the event for when the audience were likely to be distracted by a particularly comedic ‘laugh-line’ during the funniest part of the play). I also find the sextile between the dignified MC-ruler Jupiter on the 11th house cusp and the exalted Saturn in the 8th a weirdly apt description of a public viewing of an exalted person’s death.

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

INNER WHEEL LINCOLN’S NATIVITY

OUTER WHEEL DREAM: 2 APR 1865

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Messages from the 9th house Why do we pay attention to dreams? And why does the astrological tradition assign them to the 9th house of divination? William James, in Varieties of Religious Experiences, argues that anomalous episodes (variously termed ‘psychic’, ‘religious’, ‘paranormal’ or ‘otherworldly’) provide an experience, vision or intuition, however partial, of an ‘unseen order’. Lincoln accepted that life was difficult, but he also believed that our struggles, however anguished, play a part in a larger drama (Mars in the 8th ruling the 9th). He coped with lifelong melancholia by striving to do something of value with his life.

Writing from the Oval Office at a time when the Union army was flailing, Lincoln wrote in his private papers, as a note to himself: “The struggle of today is not altogether for today; it is for a vast future also”.11 I believe his Mars, ruling the 9th while squaring his 12th house Moon, gave him the courage to act with honour for a future which he knew would not emerge in his lifetime. Dreams which feel prophetic – however difficult – seem to have a special role in linking us with that ‘unseen order’, thereby helping us cope spiritually with the seeming chaos of difficult times in our lives.

Sheila Roher, MPH has been studying and practicing astrology for three decades, whilst pursuing a lifelong fascination with the way our stories (personal and collective) frame our experience. A playwright and social activist with a Masters degree in public health, Sheila’s availability for consultations, workshops, and speaking engagements can be found on her website: www.astrologyforgrowth.com

The inescapable shadow of 4K7

Lincoln’s solar return for 1865 gives prominence to his natal 8th-ruler, `, which co-rules the Asc and the 8th house and is strong in angularity, ok on the Descendant. ` is undergoing its own return, having recently returned to its debilitated natal position (7°~).

Abraham Lincoln

SOLAR RETURN

1865 8:53:07 pm LMT Feb 11 1865 Hodgenville, KY Placidus

The theme of Lincoln’s natal Rrc is vividly reanimated by the reappearance of that aspect here. As with the natal, the R is in the 12th, but c is in the 9th house (not the 8th) yet is ruling the 7th, so acting as the dispositor of lethal ` and receiving a partile sextile from it.

Solar returns with repeating natal aspects like this are highly significant. The Rrc (linked to Pluto in the 8th through the s of the Moon), combined with the angular 8th-ruler, `=(ok), clearly draw out themes of loss.

Against this, quite a different story – hopeful and expansive – comes from the partile sextile between dignified h and the=M. (1865 was in many ways a victory year, when the Civil War finally ended, abolishing slavery and ushering in the US Reconstruction Era.)

When we compare the solar return to Lincoln’s nativity, we see more clearly how the SR Rrc triggers his natal IC-ruler _ (10°ä). The 4th house has a lot to do with death and deep, fundamental metamorphosis, and there are enough signals that Lincoln is facing a year of major transition that I would surely have read this chart as indicating major changes in his life or relationships that might involve death. Would I have been certain this predicted his death? I am not sure about that (having been humbled by previous mistakes); in retrospect, however, given the repetition of the natal Rrc and its sextile to the prominent 8th-ruler, I am definitely struck by the angularity of natal 9th-ruler, c, as its placement in the SR aligns with the natal IC in the year that the man whose shocking assassination was so consequential to world politics was presaged so vividly by his own lucid dreams.

11

Shenk, p.183.

1 Shenk, p.183.

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Contemporary image of Lincoln’s assassination [public domain] The 26 year old actor, John Wilkes Booth, fled the scene but was cornered and killed

by Union soldiers two weeks later on 26 April 1865

.

Abraham Lincoln

ASSASINATION (shot fired) day: i hour: c= 10:13 pm 14 Apr 1865 Washington, DC Placidus

News of Lincoln’s death the morning after he was shot, as reported in the New York Herald on 16 April 1865

Lincoln’s natal Moon-Mars configuration directs the theme of the assassination chart (left), too, as those two planets dominate the chart signification. The Moon, acting as the 8th-ruler, is angular on the Ascendant, while Mars, acting as the 12th-ruler (secret enemies) was upon the 8th-cusp at the time Lincoln was shot.

Lincoln went unconscious immediately but did not die until 7:22 am the following morning, at which time this chart’s Asc-ruler, the dignified but stationary Jupiter, was exactly partile the transiting 8th house cusp.

Set against Lincoln’s birth chart (below), we find Mars in the assassination chart falls in his 5th house (danger at the theatre) in partile square to natal 8th-ruler, Venus.

The angular Moon is within 2° of Lincoln’s natal midheaven (7°á26), perfecting a square with his natal 4th-ruler Mercury (10°ä18) – he was heading home.

INNER WHEEL LINCOLN’S NATIVITY

OUTER WHEEL ASSASINATION SHOT

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DOES THE HOROSCOPE CONTINUE WORKING How does the AFTER DEATH? Horoscope keep working after Death? by

Ray Grasse www.raygrasse.com A practitioner probes a philosophical issue – adapted extract from Ray Grasse’s upcoming new book So What am I Doing Here Anyway? (April 2024; pre-order: Wessex Astrologer)

In a discipline replete with unusual features, one of the most curious in astrology is the way that transits or planetary progressions to someone’s horoscope continue working long after that person passed on.

It’s often the case that, years after the death of a celebrity or politician, they experience a huge resurgence of popularity or notoriety: a major film, TV show, or biography will appear and – lo and behold – we see strong indications in their chart of some newfound prominence or attention. Or someone’s body will be exhumed years after their death as part of an investigation, precisely as ‘resurrectional’ transits are firing up their horoscope, like Pluto crossing their Ascendant or a Saturn return. In older writings I explored mythologist Joseph Campbell’s chart as an example of this post-mortem principle; here I’ll briefly mention a few others that have also caught my eye.

Having received my degree in film, for years I closely followed the work of filmmaker Orson Welles, so I was delighted when the US Post Office announced, in 1999, that they were issuing a commemorative stamp honouring him and his film Citizen Kane.

Welles’ legacy was being touted on several other fronts during that period, with the release of the TV show RKO 281 and the Tim Robbins’ film Cradle Will Rock. Suddenly, Welles and his work were ‘hot’ again. Intrigued, I looked to see what might explain it astrologically. Among other things, I saw he was precisely in the midst of a posthumous Uranus return. Appropriate? You bet. Not only because Welles had a Moon-Uranus conjunction natally, so this was showing his life coming full-circle in a way, but due to the symbolic connection between Uranus and the media being showcased in particular.

As another example: in August 2011, an imposing statue commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. was unveiled in Washington, D.C., as part of a larger memorial to the man. His face and legacy were suddenly so omnipresent in the media I thought there must be something triggering his horoscope – and indeed, the unveiling occurred within a few days of his exact Uranus return, while close to his Jupiter return and during his Neptune half-return too. By any standards, that was a tectonic year for MLK, even if his spirit was no longer with us in physical form.

Nor does this sort of thing happen only with the benefit of hindsight (I’m reminded of a comedian on TV years ago who played a psychic with the catch phrase, “I predict the past!”). Fifteen years ago I examined the horoscope of Vincent van Gogh and noticed his Neptune return coming up in 2017, marking a 164 year reoccurrence to 12°ä=where it was at his birth in 1853. I noted the upcoming time in my computer’s calendar, mentioned it to some friends on social media, and kept my eyes peeled for significant attention being paid to him during that time. I guessed it would take the form of some major film or TV series based on his life or work.

As it turned out, that’s when the artist cropped up in a number of places, especially in a highly celebrated film about his life: At Eternity’s Gate, directed by Julian Schnabel. Starring Willem Dafoe, it was filmed in 2017 but released in November 2018. It not only came out during van Gogh’s repeat Neptune return but within days of Neptune’s station at 13°ä, which amplified the influence of that return exponentially.

Pluto (20°à) was also crossing his Descendant at the time, suggesting a resurgence of old themes and energies from his past into the present day.

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We could cite many examples of this phenomenon, drawing on the lives of other well-known figures from history – Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney, Madame Blavatsky, and countless others – and I’m sure numerous colleagues could cite examples as well. The question is, what does a phenomenon like this say about astrology?

To my mind, such examples clearly undercut any simplistic mechanistic or ‘force-based’ theories as to how astrology works. Why? Because how could celestial energies coming down from the heavens affect ‘someone’ who is no longer even alive? Who or what is being affected in those cases, exactly?

My own take is that the explanation is almost certainly spiritual or metaphysical in nature. A chart continues working in this way because it is an imprint in the cosmic mind. Whereas the physical body comes and goes, the horoscope has a life of its own. Unlike a purely physical entity or experience, the chart is essentially a mental phenomenon in the mind of – dare I say it? – God, Allah, Brahma, or as Plotinus called it, the One. A horoscope ‘works’ in these ways not because of some tangible energy like electromagnetism or gravity affecting the body and brain, but because the personality is a living entity in the cosmic imagination, not unlike Hamlet existed in the mind of Shakespeare or Captain Ahab in Melville’s imagination. That’s not to say there are no physical energies involved with astrology, simply that they represent only a small facet of its workings. In the case of post-mortem astrology especially, it’s as though the planets continue to affect the legacy and reputation of that individual over time, beyond that person’s purely physical presence.

The horoscope doesn’t abide by strictly mechanical laws any more than an idea in your mind does; it abides by the ‘laws’ of the universal imagination.

This not only explains how a horoscope continues working after death but illumines the otherwise mysterious workings of astrology, such as ‘day for a year’ progressions, the theory of correspondences, horary astrology, and the division of both the zodiac and horoscope into twelve parts – none of which make full sense from a purely materialistic stance but which are quite sensible in a universe based on laws of the mind.

In short, one’s horoscope lingers because our presence continues to exist as a living meme in the fabric of reality itself. As a spirit, we may move on from this world, casting the body and all its works behind, but the idea of our personality, all it has done and affected, remains forever imprinted on existence, and along with it the horoscope and its celestial signature. That remains.

Vvv RG Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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PLANETARY THEMES FOR

[FEBRUARY & MARCH]

by Wade Caves of InMundo February NEW MOON (9th February 2024) February’s first lunation, at 20°â, falls in the tiny constellation of the Dolphin. The name derives from the Greek delphis, a semantically rich word that means ‘womb’ (think adelphoi for ‘siblings’) or ‘hollow’. It lends itself to the famed Delphic oracle site because this constellation’s heliacal rising signalled the festival to the god of prophecy, music, and healing, Apollo, which was when the oracular statements were issued. Legend relates that Apollo made his way to the site in the form of a dolphin, an animal that was sacred to him. The Sun, analogous to Apollo, moving through Delphinus (14° to 20°â) at the time of this lunation, draws attention to themes of divination for the whole of this month.

When divinatory themes are ringing astrologically, we should consider the subjective role humans play in all activities that demand a predictive stance.

Divination, in the modern world, extends into fields like data science, algorithms, or analytics of any kind and may not look at all like the type of things we typically associate with that word. We might also consider how divinatory messaging is used within this period. Lilly warns that the stars in the Dolphin present a cheerful disposition that can mask ulterior motives. A significator in these degrees represents “one that speaks one thing and intends another,” someone willing to conceal truths under false pretences, even among best friends.

Watery Saturn is also strongly emphasised in this New Moon as it disposits the lunation degree and four other planets (`, c in à; _, ; in â), and the Moon’s first aspect after separating from the Sun is a conjunction with Saturn in early Pisces. While this might ordinarily introduce heaviness, Saturn is still in a tight, separating sextile with its dispositor, Jupiter, which should help to raise some levity.

Jupiter-aspects tend to stir recognition of opportunity even in the dourest of minds; however, as Jupiter separates from Saturn, the Sun draws nearer to its conjunction and reminds Saturn of the time: its phase is ending – the darkness of combustion lies ahead. Saturn and all its significations are confronted with the fatigue and overwhelm that accompanies a transformation of this scale. If Jupiter’s sextile presents a good idea that promises prosperity and improvement of circumstance, the Sun’s follow-up conjunction represents the work that must be undertaken for any good idea to materialise.

Mercury’s square with Jupiter on the day after the lunation brings tension with opposites: Mercury and Jupiter rule opposing signs, so whichever houses Mercury rules in a localised chart, Jupiter will rule the opposite. The good news is that these two are in productive tension. While it would’ve been ideal for Mercury to be received, Jupiter’s agreeable nature inclines it toward extending grace to Mercury and any problems it introduces.

Mars and Venus both conjoin Pluto shortly after the lunation, successive triggers of power that are likely to leave both visible planets feeling raw and exposed. The Mars/Pluto conjunction is particularly close to the lunation, so it might be worth watching the regions where it hits the angles: west coast USA, the southern tip of South America, London, Ireland, France, Iberian nations, north and western Africa, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, eastern India, Sri Lanka, central China, and eastern Mongolia.

Venus and Mars then perfect their own conjunction on the 22nd, closing down their long, drawn-out dance. The two last aspected by sextile in March 2023 (`: 23°~/c: 23°Å). They came close to joining at the end of Leo, but Venus refrained and then stationed direct when Mars drew into another sextile in September (c was around 11°Ö, ` 13°É).

They have been struggling to connect for some time, and do so now loaded up with the heavy energies of their recent conjunction with Pluto.

DELPHINUS 14-20°â

The constellation of the Dolphin … portends one of simple looks, but cheerful, delighted in hawking, hunting, and other pleasing sports, yet of double intentions, or in plain terms, one that speaks one thing, and intends another, or dissembles with his best friends – William Lilly, CA, p.538

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HIGHLIGHTS (UT) 5 →Q 5 F; 6 L3 KNew Moon 5 K8 7 →Q 7 F; 6 →Q 5 K6 F; 3 →W 6 F7 5 →W Full Moon 6 K8 7 K8 3 F5 5 F0 3 F0

5th: 05:10 5th: 12:58 7th: 21:26 8th: 10:46 9th: 22:59 10th: 13:25 13th: 06:05 14th: 06:06 16th: 16:05 17th: 03:53 17th: 08:49 19th: 04:13 22nd: 07:15 23rd: 07:29 24th: 12:30 25th: 04:01 27th: 08:30 28th: 08:43 28th: 15:08 28th: 21:26

FEBRUARY 2024 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts

Thursday

54Q 3J4 5F;

6

4K= 44}

7

4J0 4L8 4F6 4L6L-

Saturday

1

4K7 4K5 44P 4K;

2

4L0 5J= 4a8 4J6 3K4

3

8

7J= 4J= 4F7 3K44Q 4F; 4F5

9

4K8 4K3F4

10 5 K 8

– Charles Dickens (M in â)

5

Friday

4a4J7 4L=

44W

Sunday 4

4J5 44M 4J; 4K0

11 4 F 0

4J8 4J-

12 4 J 6

13 7 4 Q

14 7 F ;

15 4 J 0

16 4 F -

17 4 L 7

18 4 L 5

19 3 L 4

20 4 J -

21 4 L =

22 4 a 6

23 4 K -

24 4 4 I

25 6 K 8

26 4 a =

27 7 K 8

28 3 F 5

29 4 4 P

4F= 4J7 44E 4J;

44Y 34W 4L0 4J8

44O 4L;

4J5 6J=

4L7 4L6

3J4 4K6 44R 4K; 4K7

44U 4a;

5F0 3F0

4F8 4K5

4a7 6F7 4K8

4J= 3K4 64Q 44T 4L6 4L;

54W

4K; 5J8 4L0

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

5K6F; 4K0

4a5 3a4 4a0 4L8

4K=

4L-

22

COMING UP

March 2024 6 K- 19â38 5 F= 27ä01 7 K- 19â51 5 4 E 00~00 w NM 20ä16 6 4W 00ä00 3 EQX 00~00 6 F0 12ä26 7 4W 00ä00 5 GEE 23~19 q Lun ec 05Ö07

UT

3rd 13:18 8th 15:06 9th 22:56 10th 04:03 10th 09:00 11th 21:51 20th 03:07 21st 23:10 22nd 23:48 24th 22:34 25th 07:00

April 2024 5 SR 6 F= 6 4E w Sol ec 7 F0 5 F6 8 Fq FM 5 SD 7 F= 6 4R 7 4E

27~10 28ä00 00~00 19~24 14ä40 17~31 21Ä49 04Ü17 15~58 28ä52 00Ä00 00~00

1st 22:15 3rd 13:11 5th 04:00 8th 18:21 10th 20:36 19th 09:00 21st 02:28 23rd 11:49 25th 12:54 29th 04:31 29th 11:32 30th 15:33

In the universe we have not to do with repetitions, each time that a cycle is passed, something new is added to the world's evolution and to its human stage of development – Rudolf Steiner (M in ä=/ R in Ñ)

EPHEMERIS: FEB 2024

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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February FULL MOON (24th February 2024) February’s Full Moon is besieged: the Moon separates from the opposition of its dispositor, Mercury (debilitated in Pisces) and applies next to the opposition of Saturn. The good news is that both Mercury and Saturn are combust, and in some ways, combustion minimises the prospect that these oppositions will manifest with intense force and abrasion. But there remains the damage that can be done in secret, and this lunation warns of situations beset by circumstances that are not in plain view.

In this lunation, every visible planet either applies to Jupiter or is disposited by it, which suggests a great deal will be placed upon the shoulders of those signified by Jupiter during this period. These seem to come in through distinct groups: 1. the successive sextiles from the Sun and Mercury in Pisces, which Jupiter will feel obligated to prioritise; 2. the obnoxious squares coming from Venus (1st) and Mars (2nd), that Jupiter will be less keen to prioritise; 3. the trine from the Moon in Virgo, likely representing a growing mound of busywork.

Still, if any planet can hold this much and still make something good out of it, it’s Jupiter – that every planet is somehow configured to this planet suggests that the ‘good’ can be found if we look for it.

Coming into this Full Moon, Venus and Mars will have recently separated from Pluto and each other. Soon after the lunation, they immediately apply next to their respective squares of Jupiter. The Jupiter squares are likely to exaggerate the intensity of starting a new cycle, and possibly introduce a test of faith as the two planets make sense of what their recent conjunction meant in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes when you’re focused on something long enough, you forget why you got so fixated in the first place. Once it lands in your lap, you get hit with a new realization, “What now? I have been striving for this for so long, now it’s mine; while I was putting in all this time, did I forget to ask myself, am I happy? Is this what I want?”. Later in the lunation period, both planets will come to the square Uranus (as Jupiter itself edges towards it): perhaps something is being offloaded there.

Both Mercury and Saturn come into conjunction with the Sun a few days after the lunation, and they do so within hours of each other. In interpreting this triple conjunction, it will be paramount to be clear on what the Sun represents, as it combusts a superior and inferior planet simultaneously. Saturn and Mercury are the two planets affiliated with the melancholic humour, so a note for the melancholics in the room is this: don’t expect your standard way of thinking to solve problems around this time. Take situations as an opportunity for deeper contemplation, and if you’re lucky, a hit of enlightenment may come your way.

March NEW MOON (10th March 2024) The March New Moon precedes the Aries ingress for 2024, the official start of the new astrological year.

The Moon applies to the Sun after separating from its sextile with Jupiter, which brings the light of Jupiter into the lunation it disposes (in Pisces) and – with any luck – gives hopes of peace being more prevalent in this period. Or at least there may be a lull in activity with an emphasis shifting to back-scene events – it’s worth noting that, with the exception of the Moon’s out-ofsign application to Mercury, all planets are void of aspects to other visible planets at the time of the New Moon, a theme that appears again more sharply in the Full Moon at the end of the month.

One day after the spring equinox, Venus perfects its conjunction with Saturn in the middle of Pisces. This is likely to be experienced as welcome support by Saturn, but it’s an uncomfortable and dampening conjunction for Venus. The aspect is tight and still applying in the Aries ingress chart, and will play out differently across the world depending on whether a localised chart throws emphasis to Venus or Saturn.

Mercury also reaches its greatest elongation east during this period (on 24th March), which for an inferior planet roughly corresponds to the solar squares experienced by the superiors. Mercury will then steadily decrease in speed until it turns retrograde a few days later.

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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HIGHLIGHTS (UT) 6 K3rd: 13:18 5 F= 8th: 15:06 7 K9th: 22:56 5 →E 10th: 04:03 New Moon 10th: 09:00 6 →W 11th: 21:51 3 F= 17th: 11:23 3 →E 20th: 03:07 Equinox 20th: 03:07 6 F0 21st: 23:10 7 →W 22nd: 23:48 5 GEE 24th: 22:34 Full Moon (Ec) 25th: 07:00

Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it – Michelangelo (M & R in ä)

MARCH 2024 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday 1

3L4 4a8 4L5 4K7 3J8 4K6 4a-

2

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds – Albert Einstein (M in ä=/ R in á)

4

4J6 4K= 5J44}

5

4J0 4L8

6

Saturday 4L= 44M 4J;

Sunday 3

4K0 6K3K4 4J7 4K5

3J4 4L4J5 4J=

7 44Q

8

4F7 4K5F= 4F6

9 44W

10 5 4 E

4F; 4K8

4F0 4J8 7K3J-

4J3F4 4F= 5J;

11 4 4 E

12 4 J 7

13 4 4 R

14 4 F -

15 4 4 T

16 4 K 0

17 4 L 7

18 4 L 0

19 4 J -

20 EQX

21 4 K 8

22 4 a 7

23 4 a 0

24 4 L -

25 4 L ;

26 4 a 5

27 4 4 P

28 4 L 0

29 4 a -

30 4 K 7

31 4 K 6

4J; 4F5 64W

4J8 4K5

3a4 Lunar eclipse

4L= 3L4 44U 4a;

4J6 4K; 4J0 4F8

34E

4K; 4L7

4K7 3J4 4J=

4L5 4K3J; 6F0

6J4a8

4L; 4K6 4J5

44I 74W

4L6 4L= 44M 4J;

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

4a6 4L8

3L4 4K0

3K4 4K= 44Y 3F= 4L6

4a= 6J8 44O 5 GEE

4L5

25

COMING UP

April 2024 5 SR 6 F= 6 4E w Sol ec 7 F0 5 F6 8 Fq FM 5 SD 7 F= 6 4R 7 4E

27~10 28ä00 00~00 19~24 14ä40 17~31 21Ä49 04Ü17 15~58 28ä52 00Ä00 00~00

UT

1st 22:15 3rd 13:11 5th 04:00 8th 18:21 10th 20:36 19th 09:00 21st 02:28 23rd 11:49 25th 12:54 29th 04:31 29th 11:32 30th 15:33

May 2024 6 K; ; SR w NM 5 GEW 5 4R 5 K; 6 F6 F8 q FM 6 4T 8 4T 5 F-

02Ä06 02â06 18Ä02 23~32 00Ä00 02Ä03 23Ä23 29Ä23 02á55 00Å00 00Å00 24Ä07

1st 04:30 2nd 17:47 8th 03:22 9th 21:30 15th 17:05 17th 07:44 18th 11:41 23rd 08:29 23rd 13:53 23rd 20:30 25th 11:15 31st 05:54

You may shoot me with your words; You may cut me with your eye; You may kill me with your hatefulness; But still, like air, I’ll rise!

– Maya Angelou (M in ~=/ R in Ö ) EPHEMERIS: MAR 2024

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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March FULL MOON (25th March 2024) The March Full Moon is a penumbral lunar eclipse, angular in the central states of the US, Iceland, western Africa, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and central Russia.

A peculiarity in this eclipse chart: every planet is void of course, at least as far as aspects with visible planets are considered. The Moon separates from the Sun, and doesn’t aspect another planet until its opposition with Mercury, half a sign away. Mercury approaches a sextile with Mars, but will turn retrograde at 27° ~ before it completes. Venus separates from Saturn and Jupiter and applies to none. Mars applies toward Saturn, but is still a few degrees out of orb at the time of the eclipse. Jupiter is still separating from Saturn, and applies to Uranus by conjunction. This tends to indicate a recent period of activity coming to a brief interregnum before the major astrological events coming in April.

Closing out this period, we see Venus conjoin with Neptune. Some caution is urged here, as these two planets can blur their vision of the bad and blithely focus too strongly on the good. But all in all, this should be a relaxing transit which can be put to a wholesome use by many of us.

Looking ahead The lunar eclipse is followed by a solar eclipse, and both paths converge in Texas. News has been ‘hot’ there, particularly concerning border migration and abortion access. Eclipse have extended timelines, so it may be a while before we see something develop – but certainly Texas is being called out in this eclipse series.

We have a busy April month ahead beyond the solar eclipse. Mars will meet with both Saturn and Neptune, and Jupiter finally perfects its conjunction with Uranus at 21°Ä on 21st April. More to come!

Notes from MUNDANE MATTERS meeting (8th February 2024) Meeting notes captured by Emma Gardiner The first meeting of this new discussion group looked at the 2024 Aries ingress set for the US capital. There was unease about the angular placement of Asc-ruler c and its square to ú in the year of the Presidential elections. (The group noted how strongly the ingress resonates with Trump’s nativity: he has c rising at 26°É, culminating here in u to ingress c, suggesting his imprint on US politics will be notable in a year with a heated, divisive ingress theme.) Concerns were raised about potential civil disruption or – with the R ruling / in the 9th (u=;, which is undergoing its return in the national chart) – laws and contentious judicial rulings relating to immigration or the revocation of abortion rights (`oi). Jason also pointed out that c on the IC, with Saturn ruling/in the 4th, highlights problems in real estate and agriculture and brings a concern for major weather events. Not everyone saw such negativities; some pointed out the angularity of benefic Jupiter and its sextile to `=& i with the hope this may indicate scope for more positive outcomes as difficult social issues get aired and addressed.

Join us for our next meeting – 7th March 2024 (see the notice on the back page for more details)

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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HIGHLIGHTS (UT) 5 St. Ret 1st: 22:15 6 F= 3rd: 13:11 6 →E 5th: 04:00 New Moon (Ec) 8th: 18:21 7 F0 10th: 20:36 3 F5 11th: 23:03 5 F6 19th: 09:00 3 →R 19th: 14:00 8 F21st: 02:28 3 K; 21st: 17:02 Full Moon 23rd: 23:49 5 St. Dir 25th: 12:54 7 F= 29th: 04:31 6 →R 29th: 11:32 7 →E 30th: 15:33

Reminder: notes on this eclipse are included on pages 30-31 of our Sep. 2023 (#12) edition

APRIL 2024 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday 4

Saturday

64E 4J5 44W

6

Sunday

1

4K= 44} 4J7 5 SR

2

3K4 4J0 4L8 4L-

3

8

3F4 Solar eclipse

9

4F5 44R 4K;

10 4 J 7

11 4 J =

12 4 K 0

13 4 J 5

14 4 K 6

16 4 4 U

17 4 L 6 4L5 4K8 4K-

18 3 L 4

19 5 F 6

20 4 L 8

21 4 a =

4a;

22 4 a 5

23 4 4 P

24 4 L 0

25 4 a -

26 4 4 M

27 4 L 5

28 4 K 7

29 3 L 4

30 4 L -8

15 4 L 7 4K5 4J8 4J3K4 4L=

4a6

7F= 64R 4J0 4K5

4K; 3a4

4 J =7 44Q 74E 4K6 4F;

4K5 4J6 4J= 44Q 4F; 6F=

4J0 4F8 7F0 4F-

3J4 4K8 4K-

44T 4L; 3F5

44I

4a8 5 SD 4L7 4L=

5

Friday

4K7

34R 7J8 4a0 7J-

4J;

Do not try to do extraordinary things but do ordinary things with intensity – Emily Carr (hoú)

4F7 4F0 4J8 6J; 4J-

3J4 4K= 44Y

4L4a7

4K0

7

4F= 44E 4J; 4F6

4L0

8F44O 4L; 3K;

4L6 4K= 44}

28

COMING UP

May 2024 6 K; ; SR w NM 5 GEW 5 4R 5 K; 6 F6 F8 q FM 6 4T 8 4T 5 F-

02Ä06 02â06 18Ä02 23~32 00Ä00 02Ä03 23Ä23 29Ä23 02á55 00Å00 00Å00 24Ä07

UT

1st 04:30 2nd 17:47 8th 03:22 9th 21:30 15th 17:05 17th 07:44 18th 11:41 23rd 08:29 23rd 13:53 23rd 20:30 25th 11:15 31st 05:54

June 2024 5 4T 5 F8 w NM 6 K0 7 4R 7 K; 5 K0 6 K= 6 4Y 5 K= 5 4Y 5 F6 3 SOL q FM 0 SR

00Å00 02Å12 16Å17 19Å02 00Ä00 01Ä45 19Å10 29Å52 00Ç00 29Å52 00Ç00 00Ç18 00Ç00 01à07 19ä25

3rd 07:37 4th 10:24 6th 12:38 8th 08:26 9th 04:35 11th 13:22 12th 10:48 17th 03:46 17th 06:20 17th 07:41 17th 09:07 17th 12:43 20th 20:51 22nd 01:08 29th 19:06

What might have been—what could have been. These are the saddest phrases in our English tongue – Daphne Du Maurier (M in Ä) EPHEMERIS: APR 2024

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

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When will my Tax refund arrive?

This is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher – Albert Einstein, on filling out tax returns

For various reasons, many people find the tax filing season to be … well, taxing. This was the case for the frustrated querent who contacted me in June 2022. She had mailed in her income tax filings months earlier but had not received the refund she was due. At her wit’s end, after numerous unsuccessful attempts to get an answer or update from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) she asked me to cast a horary.12 9:00:20 am EDT, 9 June 2022; 42N06 / 72W37 | Regio | Day: h / Hour: M

by JASON BURNS

Immediate thoughts: I noted how the chart symbolism directly depicts the concern of the question: The Sun’s twofold rulership of the ascendant and 2nd house clearly shows the querent has money on her mind, while its placement in the 11th house (the government’s treasury)1 shows her angst over assets being held by the IRS. The Sun’s mutually applying trine with recently stationed (now retrograde) Saturn on the 8th cusp is another sharp detail for describing the lack of action and lengthy delays in matters relating to taxes.2

1

Lilly, W., Christian Astrology (1647; hereafter, CA) – ‘Of the 11th house and its significations’: “as to Kings [or governments] it personates… their Money, Exchequer or Treasure” (p.56).

2

Saturn stationed at 25°â25 a few days earlier; it is currently retrograde but with very little motion.

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The Judgement The Moon, a natural signifier of messengers and letter carriers, draws attention to communication issues in this chart by its placement in the 3rd house.3 The Moon’s swift motion and applying trines to the Sun and Saturn, which are both slow in motion, gave me the impression that the imparting or exchanging of information was erratic, yet vital to piecing together the puzzle of this horary. These details made me recall the querent explaining that she had sent hard copies of her taxes to the IRS through the post, because she didn’t trust computers and was afraid to file them electronically.

Noting the Moon’s affliction by a separating (but still partile) opposition with Mars, I felt sure something had gone awry with the mail she had sent. I advised her to contact the IRS again to confirm they had, in fact, received the posted set of tax accounts from her. The Moon’s opposition to Mars was troubling, and the fact that it highlighted cadent houses in the derived third of the ‘other party’ deepened my concern that her tax paperwork had fallen by the wayside somehow, or got lost in the postal department at the IRS end. But the querent bristled when I suggested this, exclaiming that she had already called them “multiple times!”. I assured her I understood her frustration but expressed my belief that she needed to contact the IRS yet again. Seeing the Moon’s next aspect was a trine to the Sun, I suggested that – no matter what the representative on the other end said – she should insist on being connected with their manager or someone higher up the department with more authority.4

The Outcome One week later, the querent called to say she had discovered the problem. Her mother had given her the wrong IRS address, and she had posted the forms to an incorrect location. The tax paperwork had been sitting in an IRS office in one city when it needed to be in another. No one had bothered to just forward it for her. She thanked me for suggesting she speak to a manager, which she had, and the manager helped her get the process of obtaining the refund in motion.

Nineteen days after casting the horary, the querent left an excited message on my phone: a direct deposit from the IRS was now pending in her bank account. Two days later, she called to confirm that her refund had been deposited that morning.

This was precisely twenty-one days from the day I had cast the horary. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself when the thought “I never answered her actual question directly” crossed my mind. With a timeframe now available, I began to wonder whether the chart had been so specific in the first place. I decided to revisit it, and the details that follow blew my mind: •

• • • •

There are three arcs of 7° between the main significators: 7+7+7 = 21. (The Sun is 7° from perfecting its trine to Saturn, and due to its retrograde motion, Saturn mutually applies to the Sun from 7° away. The Moon is 7° from perfecting its trine to the Sun.) Mercury, dispositor of the Sun and ruler of the 11th house, is in partile square to the cusp of the 2nd house and 21° from the Sun. The distance between the ascendant degree and the degree on the 2nd house cusp is just over 21°.

The number of degrees before benefic Venus reaches the MC: just over 21° The number of degrees separating Jupiter from a trine to the 2nd house cusp: just over 21° (and note Jupiter’s partile trine to the ascendant!)

The specific answer to her question had been encoded in the chart all along!

Isn’t horary grand?

3

Moon: “letter-carriers … messengers”, CA, p. 81; 3rd house: “Epistles, letters, rumours, messengers” (CA, p. 52).

4

The Sun has natural rulership over authority figures as well as a role in bringing things ‘to light’ – while it’s true that in this horary the Sun represents the querent due to Leo being on the ascendant, it also has an affinity with Aries where it exalts.

Here Aries is upon the cusp of the 10th house, which is also linked with authority figures and things coming into full view.

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

31 Father Nanna, lord Sin, hero of the gods who in heaven and earth is exalted in his uniqueness Father Nanna, lord of Ur, hero of the gods …

Womb that gives birth to everything – Hymn to Sin (from: ancient Nineveh)

Babylonian Planetary Myths 8th century BCE Assyrian stela depicting the Moon God Sin – Aleppo Museum

II: THE DIVINE TRIAD: RM` Deborah Houlding

… the starting point of the religion of the Semitic nomads was marked by the astral triad, Sun-Moon-Venus, the Moon being more important for the nomads, and the Sun more important for the settled tribes11 Due to the colourful appeal and easy accessibility of classical mythology, Babylonian myths have failed to attract the widespread interest of astrologers. Yet, with Western astrology firmly rooted in Mesopotamian foundations, the argument they deserve more attention is a strong one. These myths are not the only contributors to the planetary personalities discussed in classical sources, but they allow us to see the essential traits attached to planets in our most ancient sources. And since Mesopotamian culture was marked by its readiness to observe and record, they reveal to us some of the most fundamental qualities. (While we cannot underestimate the politics employed to elevate certain gods for the purposes of expressing social dominance, we can assume the heavy resources invested in astrological research during the ‘Great Age of Babylon’ prevented the personalities attached to the planets from disassociating with the monitored effects of those planets.)

The hierarchy of planetary gods was led by the triad of Sin (R), Shamash (M) and Ishtar (`). The Moon held the supreme position for the Sumerians, whose society was largely nomadic and dependent on the Moon to act as a guide and protector during the perilous period of night when nomadic journeys were undertaken. As society settled and became more agricultural, this dynamic shifted and the Sun god naturally became the chief god of society.

SIN – the Moon Astrologers tend to conceive of the Moon as the Great Goddess, the archetype of all that is feminine, dualistic, unstable, emotional and changing. Yet in the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt, where astrology finds its origins, the Moon was depicted as a masculine deity, associated with sacred wisdom, knowledge and logic. Neither was the Moon unstable or unreliable – it was the constant measure by which the secrets of the heavens were revealed. The word ‘Moon’ derives from the Sanskrit word Me, meaning ‘to measure’, and all ancient cultures saw a steady measurement of time as one of the Moon god’s blessings and principal concerns.

1

The main Mesopotamian Moon-god was Sin, also known as Baal, Enzu or, to the Sumerians, Nanna (meaning ‘illuminator’). As the controller of the night, the month, and the lunar calendar, he was very widely worshipped and is variously mentioned as being the son of either the Great Heavenly Father, Anu, or the god of the winds, Enlil. He, in turn, was the father of the Sun god Shamash and the goddess Ishtar. His symbol, a horizontal crescent moon, was envisaged as a boat that carried him across the sky, and he was often referred to as the ‘Lantern of Heaven’.

The Moon god Nanna was especially important to the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, just as the Akkadian counterpart Sin was to the northern

J. Henninger, ‘Pre-Islamic Bedouin Religion’, in M.L. Swartz (tans. & ed.) Studies on Islam, (Oxford Un. Press, 1981), p.7.

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Assyrian city of Harran, whose temple to Sin developed a glorious reputation as a centre of learning. (Both cities had close connections to the river Euphrates and, through trade routes extending from them, came to dominate their regions.) 2 Sin is generally represented as an old man with a long beard. Sometimes, he is depicted riding a winged bull or expressed through the symbol of crescent-shaped bull’s horns. All of the leading triad of planetary gods (Sin, Shamash and Ishtar) were capable of distributing benevolence, and because he brought illumination to the night, Sin was worshipped as a protector god: an enemy of chaos and the evil deeds that flourished when his light was lacking.

Subsequently, an eclipse of the Moon was an omen of severe misfortune, and many ancient prayers refer to its damaging influence. Babylonian mythology recognised seven evil demons which, at times of eclipse, were said to attack Sin and bring destruction. One myth, forming the introduction to a ritual performed at such times, narrates: 1

When the seven evil gods forced themselves into the vault of Heaven; they clustered angrily around the crescent of the Moon-god ... he was dark and did not sit on the seat of his dominion. Enlil saw the darkening of the hero Sin in heaven and called to his vizier Nusku [the fire god], “O vizier Nusku, take word to the Abyss. Repeat to Ea in the Abyss the report about my son Sin, who has been grievously bedimmed in heaven”. Ea in the Abyss heard this message. He bit his lip and filled his mouth with lamentation. Ea called his son Marduk and instructed him with a message; “Go, my son Marduk!”.3 The ritual was designed to protect the king and country from the demons who, after their temporary victory over Sin, “swept over the land like a hurricane, attacked the land like a whirlwind”.

At the end of his monthly cycle, while the Moongod was invisible, he was said to cross the River of Death and rendezvous with Nergal (Mars), Lord of the Underworld. Lacking the orderly light of the Moon, this was a particularly unlucky time for all ventures, when witchcraft could be expected in the street, and the king’s position was so precarious he was advised to remain within the city gates.

Often depicted as a wise old man with a long beard, the Moon god Sin (or Nanna) was one of the most important Babylonian gods.

His main temples were situated at Ur and Harran. The above relief, dated to around 2300 BCE shows Ur-Nammu, the first king of the third dynasty of Ur, making a sacrifice before him with a request to build a new temple. The image below shows a seal depiction of the Moon-god in a boat holding a crescent and an omega symbol (From N. Özgüç’s Samsat Mühürleri, 1987, p.436, 13).

SHAMASH – the Sun Shamash, son of Sin and brother of Ishtar, was the god of Justice, and Truth. Because he illuminated the sky, he was the enemy of darkness and all the evils that darkness symbolised, the one from whom no secrets could be hidden.

A common feature in mythological symbolism is to represent the hero by the Sun, associating the conflict between light and dark with that of good and evil. To the Mesopotamians, fire was a purifying agent through which evil influences were banished, and fiery Shamash was often invoked as a god of protection. He was also considered a healing god who prevented and cured disease. In his daily journey, he rose from the Eastern Gate, causing darkness to flee, while in his annual journey, he forced the retreat of winter.

1 2

3

There is evidence that the first settlement at UR was destroyed by flood, which is thought to be the biblical flood described in Genesis. UR became the capital of the whole southern Mesopotamian region under the Sumerian kings of the third millennium BCE. Harran (in modern-day Turkey) developed around this time, acting as the provincial capital of the Assyrian empire until the late 7th century BCE when the Assyrian forces were defeated by the Babylonians.

Uttuki Limutu, tablet XVL, translated by R.C. Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia (Luzac & Co., London, 1903).

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Because of their ability to dispel darkness, both the Sun and Moon were said to rule over justice and destiny. The Moon-god read into the dark future and knew the destinies of all, while the Sungod lay bare the righteous and the wicked. Like his Greek equivalent Apollo, Shamash was prominent in matters of divination, assuming responsibility for relaying a true and honest account to the baru priests who invoked his name. Vigorous and pure, he also acted as the great judge of the universe, and according to the sun-god tablet in the British Museum, it was he who placed the code of laws into the hands of King Hammurabi. During the time of Hammurabi (c. 1800 BCE), he rose to the position of most prominent Babylonian god, though he had previously assumed a secondary importance to Sin and would later lose political importance to the god of Babylon, Marduk (Jupiter).

Shamash was an early herald of the health, vitality, courage and justice that remain embedded in the solar principle of modern astrological practice. His symbols were the cross, and the rod and ring together, indicating straightness and completeness. It is possible that the use of the cross for Shamash, bringer of light, added to the strength of this emblem in Christian symbolism, but originally it was a reference to the four cardinal points that denoted the alterations in his course.

He is also frequently depicted by a four-pointed star and winged disc. His principal cities were Sippar, (close to Babylon, where the art of divination particularly flourished and where his temple was known as the ‘White House’), and Larsa, (close to Ur in the south of the region, which acted as the centre for his cult among the Sumerians). Other ancient names include Babbar (the bright one), Chemosh of the Old Testament, Utu of the Sumerians and Heres of the Canaanites.

Although not overtly attributed to Shamash, the ancient myth of Gilgamesh – our oldest preserved epic – is considered a reflection of the solar journey, and within its myth Shamash plays an important role as advisor and helper to the hero, leading commentators to argue that Gilgamesh is actually embodying his principles.

A copy of the epic, inscribed on fragmentary clay tablets, is available in the British Museum, having been preserved in the library of Ashurbanipal, although some of the episodes are known to be of much greater antiquity and to originate from two thousand years earlier. The story centres on Gilgamesh’s quest to become immortal and is told through twelve adventures. In the first six, he becomes ever stronger and appears invincible, but in the seventh, he experiences the death of his friend and personal illness and thereafter becomes increasingly concerned for his

mortality. In his quest for immortality and to demand that his friend be resurrected to life, he travels to the Mountain of the Sunset on the western horizon and passes through its portals (guarded by Scorpion-men) into the region of darkness, which takes him twenty-four hours to cross. Ultimately he is denied immortality, the mythological significance being that the sun-god can never become immortal and must perish at sunset, sojourn in the underworld and repeat the cycle again at sunrise.

Wikimedia image of a 9th century BCE stela relief from Sippar (a centre of the Sun-god’s cult) showing Shamash seated on his throne and holding the rod and ring: emblems of his power. His main symbol – a four-pointed star set against solar rays – is shown in the centre. The symbols of Sin Shamash and Ishtar (eight-pointed star) were often presented together on ancient temple reliefs and appear here above the Sun god’s head.

We see a variant representation of Shamash’s symbol, featuring only solar rays, in the image at the top of the next page, which presents the emblems in the order of Ishtar, Sin and Shamash. This is from a stela dating to c.1180 BCE depicting the king presenting his daughter to the fertility goddess Nannaya, who was closely associated with the cult of Ishtar/Innana, explaining why the symbol of the goddess comes first (image source: Wikimedia)

Skyscript newsletter # 15: February 2024

Ancient relief of the mythological hero Gilgamesh from the palace of Sargon II (c.710 BCE) – his myth is thought to be a representation of the solar journey –association with the constellation Leo is suggested by him holding a lion

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Symbols of the planetary triad: here— Venus, Moon, Sun

ISHTAR – Venus Ishtar was extremely influential in Babylonian religion and came to assimilate the features of many other goddesses. She was the goddess of Love and Procreation but also a goddess of War, contrasting qualities that are embedded into the alternating appearances of Venus as a morning or evening star: her evening manifestation was said to bring men and women to the act of love in bed; her morning appearance woke them up to go to war. She appears as a consort to many masculine deities and, as a great Mother-Goddess, emerges under many names from different races without losing her essential characteristics. Her usual symbol was an eight-pointed star.

One of Ishtar’s most famous adventures – later attributed to Aphrodite by the Greeks – was her descent to the underworld to seek the return of her consort Tammuz, the god of spring who had died in the autumn. To gain entrance to this forbidden domain she threatened to break down the gates of the underworld, free the dead and devour the living. She was eventually allowed entrance by her sister, Ereshkigal, Queen of the underworld, but at each of the seven gates to the underworld, she had to relinquish an item of clothing until she arrived before Ereshkigal completely naked. There she was violently attacked by the dreadful plague demon, Namtar, smitten with disease from head to foot, and kept prisoner by the Queen.

Because of Ishtar’s absence, all fertility was lost on Earth. Hearing the news, her brother Shamash consulted with the god of Wisdom, Ea, who – realising no living male or female could enter and return from the underworld – created a sexless being to carry his order for Ishtar’s release. With fear of Ea’s retribution, Namtar sprinkled Ishtar with the waters of life and her garments were returned at each of the gates where they were surrendered.

With her reappearance on Earth, fruitful fecundity was restored, and life resumed its normal course.

4

As seen from the myth, Ishtar is essentially about fertilisation and proliferation, a goddess of full and raw sexuality which generates emotional reactions – sometimes extreme and tempestuous, so evocative of rage as well as passion. She sought to rouse amorous desire and the instinct to procreate in all creatures, regardless of the conflict or emotional strife that trails in its wake.

Because desire plays such an important role in the generation of abundance and the growth of society, Ishtar’s myths speak of arousal as an urge to be honoured with the recognition that it can easily turn destructive. Her gifts cannot be simply denied without consequence, and they are oblivious to all social barriers. She was served by temple prostitutes, and an important part of the New Year festival involved the sacred marriage of the king (embodying Tammuz) and the temple priestess (embodying Ishtar) performing a sexual union in order to generate divine creative energy that would have a fertilising effect on all the lands and inhabitants of the nation. A.T. Mann explains: Through this act, the fecundity and sheer life-force of the goddess was honoured, released, and drawn down to vivify the land and its people. Her blessing was conferred on the earth itself and on the position of the ruling king. Without his wedding to the goddess, in the living form of her priestess, the king was not considered fit or able to rule the people. His temporal potency was inextricably linked with his physical prowess and attuned to his own instinctual sexual energies. 4 The New Year ceremony took place in spring, both the myth of Ishtar’s rescue of Tammuz, and the ritual of their coupling, being performed in a magical rite to manifest the return of abundance and secure the prosperous growth of the kingdom.

Sexuality was clearly recognised as a creative, life-giving force by the Babylonians, and in the myths where Ishtar is denied the object of her desire, terrible destruction is returned to the lover who spurns her. Inevitably, of course, Ishtar tends to destroy most of her lovers anyway since passion is fickle and free, but still, she represents a force to be honoured, and in doing so, one must submit openly to her powers, even in the knowledge that love and destruction are never far apart.

Babylonian supplication to this belief was such that it wasn’t demonstrated in grand royal rituals only, but also ceremoniously played out in the lives of all inhabitants. The Greek historian Herodotus details a custom he describes as “wholly shameful”,

Sacred Sexuality, co-authored by Jane Lyal, (Harper Collins, 1995), ch. 4.

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Ishtar plays a catalysing role in the myth of Gilgamesh, who spurns her advances, arguing that she quickly tires of her mortal lovers and ends up destroying them. In her fury, she begs Anu to unleash the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh, but he and his close friend Enkidu eventually defeat it, mockingly hurling the Bull’s right thigh back at Ishtar while giving its heart to Shamash. It is because of this sacrilege that the gods decide Enkidu must die, which generates inconsolable grief in Gilgamesh and commences his (forlorn) quest to bring his friend back to life and attain his own immortality.

The Burney relief (18th century BCE, Iraq), widely believed to be a representation of Ishtar (Source: British Museum)

O heroic one lshtar, the immaculate one of the goddesses, Torch of Heaven and Earth, radiance of the continents, The goddess ‘lady of heaven’, first begotten of Sin, first born of Ningal. Twin sister of the hero Shamash, O lshtar, you are Anu [the supreme god], you rule the Heavens; You The myth is believed to present allegorical reference precessional point shifting alter the fates and an toillthe event becomes good,out of Taurus. In Egyptian cosmology, the right thigh of the Bull hangs in the centre of heaven, which was practised in Babylon in honour of Ishtar Atof your right at your left goodness, depicting the asterism the plough fromis thejustice, constellation Ursa Major. and in also Cyprus in the worship of her Greek Fixed on your head are audience, favour, counterpart Aphrodite. In this, every native-born peace, Your sides are encompassed with life woman in the land must, at one point in her life, go and well-being, Lengthen my days, Let me to the temple and prostitute herself in the name of live, let me be well, let me proclaim your the goddess. He tells us: divinity, Let me achieve what I desire.

The value of the coin is of no consequence; There have been many ancient names and once thrown it becomes sacred, and the law representations of Ishtar and, in essence, she is forbids that it should ever be refused. The part of every major goddess. Some of the period woman has no privilege of choice – she must names directly related include Innana, Innin, go with the first man who throws her the Ashtart, (from which the use of the word ‘tart’ as money. When she has lain with him, her duty sexually promiscuous originates), and Har or Hora, to the goddess is discharged and she may go (from which the words ‘harlot’ and ‘whore’ derive). home, after which it will be impossible to Besides identification with the planet Venus, seduce her by any offer, however large. Tall, Ishtar also bears an indelible lunar association. handsome women soon manage to get home Born of Sin, she is frequently depicted with the again, but those who are of less engaging Moon’s crescent upon her appearance stay a long time before they can head, and it is with Ishtar that fulfil the condition which the law demands. 5 we encounter the origin of the Although there were decidedly violent aspects to this ancient goddess – jealousy, temptation and desire all being part and parcel of the power of sexual attraction – she was also adored as a generous, benevolent figure, willing to aid and assist and capable of great compassion as well as unbridled passion, the one who cared for mothers and children, and the one most able to understand and grant the human heart’s desire. In this, she possessed most of the benefic, ‘good fortune’ qualities later associated with the Roman goddess, Venus, as a surviving Babylonian prayer illustrates: 5

feminised aspect of Babylonian Moon worship, with her descent and ascent through the seven gates of the underworld relating to the fortnightly period in which the Moon loses, then regains light, as it wanes and waxes in its monthly cycle. *RM`* A 3rd-century alabaster statuette discovered near Babylon, believed to be a representation of the goddess Ishtar bearing the Moon’s horns (Wikimedia)

Herodotus, The Histories (5th Cent. BCE), translated by Aubrey de Selincourt; (Penguin, 1996), p. 94.

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EXTRACT: Continuing the presentation of Sherburne’s ‘Sphere of Marcus Manilius’

The Sphere

The full set of formatted text so far is available as a PDF file in the Skyscript Member’s Area

of

MARCUS MANILIUS

made an English Poem (1675)

by Edward Sherburne, Esq., transcribed in modern English by Mireille Crossley, formatted and annotated by Deborah Houlding

ASTRO CROSSWORD Or complete online: skyscript.co.uk/crossword1.html

ACROSS 3.

Term used to describe a sign within a house, enclosed between two other signs that hold the cusps 6. The planet that rejoices in the 12th house 9. Al Biruni's name for a contentious out-of-sect planet 11. Famed Italian physician, mathematician, astrologer of the 16th century 13. Venus, Jupiter, North Node 15. Planetary significator of garlic 21. Discoverer of Uranus 23. Humoural quality of the sanguine temperate (4,3,5) 24. Descriptive term for the state of a planet in an aspect that doesn’t like to be looked at 26. The four mutable signs are this (6,6) 27. The house of divination 30. Of the day

32. Highest level of planetary dignity 34. Preceding the Sun in diurnal motion; appearing in the east in the morning before the Sun 35. The 12th degree of Cancer and the 7th of Libra are traditionally classified as this 36. Descriptive humoural term of the watery triplicity 37. An individual component of the zodiac

DOWN 1.

2.

4.

5.

7.

8.

Author of The Moment of Astology What Ibn Ezra's first text aims to give you (9,2,6) Babylonian goddess associated with Venus Of the nature of the Moon Arabic name for Alcabitius Alpha star of Ursa Major

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10. The angular distance of a planet measured clockwise around the horizon 12. Symbolic technique – e.g., degree per year 14. Greek term for a lunation 16. One of the smallest constellations; a creature of the sea yet linked to divination 17. Musical constellation 18. The astrologer's perspective 19. Aspects that divide the zodiac into threes 20. The final degrees of a sign, the terms of the infortunes or destructive degrees are this 22. Hidden by the rays of the sun 25. A fixed earthy sign 28. Of the right 29. Seat of the choleric humour 31. A planet is here when furthest from Earth 33. These mark where eclipses occur in the zodiac

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The Inconspicuous Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere ultima quae mundo semper volvuntur in imo, quis innixa manent caeli fulgentia templa, nusquam in conspectum redeuntia, cardine verso 450

sublimis speciem mundi similisque figuras astrorum referunt. aversas frontibus Arctos uno distingui medias claudique Dracone credimus exemplo. quamvis fugientia visus hunc orbem caeli vertentis sidera cursu cardine tam simili fultum, quam vertice, singit.

455

Haec igitur magno divisas aethere sedes signa tenent mundi totum deducta per orbem. tu modo corporeis similis ne quaere figuras, omnia ut aequali fulgentia membra colore

460

deficiat nihil aut vacuum qua lumine cesset. non poterit mundus sufferre incendia tants, omnia si plenis ardebunt sidera membris. quicquid subduxit flammis, natura pepercit succubitura oneri, formas disiungere tantum

465

contenta et stellis ostendere sidera certis. linea designat species, atque ignibus ignes respondent, media extremis atque ultima summis creduntur; satis est, si se non omnia celant. praecipue medio cum luna implebitur orbe,

470

certa nitent mundo tum lumina, conditur omne stellarum vulgus, fugiunt sine nomine signa. pura licet vacuo tum cernere sidera caelo, nec fallunt numero, parvis nec mixta feruntur.

Et quo clara magis possis cognoscere signa,

475

non varios obitus norunt variosque recursus, certa sed in proprias oriuntur sidera luces, natalesque suos occasumque ordine servant. nec quicquam in tanta magis est mirabile mole, quam ratio et certis quod legibus omnia parent

480

nusquam turba nocet, nihil ullis partibus errat, laxius aut brevius mutatove ordine fertur. quid tam confusum specie, quid tam vice certum est?

The rest of the World lies under Water hid, Where unknown Realms, Lands to our Sight forbid, Take from one Sun, with us, a common Light, But several Shadows,1 and a different Night.

Where Stars sinistral set, and dextral rise,2 Their Heaven as ample, nor less bright their Skies, Their Stars as numerous, only thus outvied, In that, to them, Augustus Star’s denied, Which does our World with Rays propitious bless; Earth’s present, and Heaven’s future Happiness.

That the Extremes which about the neather Pole3 Decked with Bright Stars, though inconspicuous, roll The upper Pole’s resemble, with Signs graced Like that; where Bears with Fronts averse are placed, And by one Dragon parted; we suppose4 Induced to credit what Example shows, For Reason urges from Analogy, The Parts unseen are like those we see.

These several Stations, by large Skies disjoined; To all the Constellations are assigned, Yet think not they corporeal Figures are, Or all their Members equal Lustre share; Heaven could not suffer so intense a Heat, Were no Part void, but all with Fire replete.

Some, therefore, cautious Nature kept from Flame, Lest it should hazard the Celestial Frame, Only to mark their Figures out content, And Signs by certain Stars to represent, Whose Lights design their shapes; fire answers fire, Mean to Extreme, the Lower to the Higher, It is enough they are not hidden quite.

Some Stars the Moon half-full show greatest Light,5 But all the nameless Commons of the Sky Obscured by her completed Splendour, fly: The brighter Signs yet nor their Number change Nor with less Stars in mixed Motion range, But the same Course (the better to be known) And Order, in their Rise and Setting, own.

Nor in this World may Ought more wonder raise Than that the Whole Reason, and Laws, obeys, Where Nothing’s crowded, Nothing loosely roves, Or cross to its determined Order, moves.

1 The archaic meaning of several is ‘different’ or ‘diverse’ (rather than ‘many’, a meaning which developed after the 16th century); this detail

alludes to how shadows, which fall towards the north in the northern hemisphere, fall towards the south in the southern hemisphere.

Sinistral ‘leftwards’ (in ancient astronomy ‘leftwards’ is associated with the descent of the stars towards the descendant); dextral ‘rightwards’ (in ancient astronomy associated with the ascent of the stars from the ascendant) – so this is referring to how stars rise in the west and set in the east in the southern hemisphere, contrary to how they rise and set in the northern hemisphere.

3 Neather (from Old English nithera) means ‘low down’ or ‘beneath’, from which the phrase nether regions means the lowest part of any place.

4 Manilius assumes (wrongly) that what cannot be seen at the southern pole will mirror the northern polar constellations of the Bears and Draco.

5 Goold’s translation is clearer on this point, which is explaining that when the Moon is full the light of the stars is lessened because the light of the luminaries is greater: “the princely luminaries shine conspicuos in the heavens; the whole stellar populace fades from sight”.

2

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Ac mihi tam praesens ratio non ulla videtur, qua pateat mundum divino numine verti 485

atque ipsum esse deum nec forte coisse magistra, ut voluit eredi, qui primus moenia mundi seminibus struxit minimis inque illa resolvit, e quibus et maria et terras et sidera caeli aetheraque immensis fabricantem finibus orbes

490

solventemque alios constare et cuncta reverti in sua principia et rerum mutare figuras. quis credat tantas operum sine numine moles, ex minimis caecoque creatum foedere mundum? si fors ista dedit nobis, fors ipsa gubernet;

495

at cur dispositis vicibus consurgere signa et velut imperio praescriptos reddere cursus cernimus ac nullis properantibus ulla relinqui? cur eadem aestivas exornant sidera noctes semper et hibernas eadem, certamque figuram

500

quisque dies reddit mundo certamque relinquit? iam tum, cum Graiae verterunt Pergama gentes, Arctos et Orion adversis frontibus ibant, Haec contenta suos in vertice flectere gyros, ille ex diverso vertentem surgere contra

505

obvius et toto semper decurrere mundo. temporaque obscurae noctis deprendere signis iam poterant, caelumque suas distinxerat horas. quot post excidium Troiae sunt eruta regna! quot capti populi! quotiens fortuna per orbem

510

servitium imperiumque tulit varieque revertit!

Troianos cineres in quantum oblita refovit imperium! fatis Asiae iam Graecia pressa est. saecula dinumerare piget, quotiensque recurrens lustrarit mundum vario sol igneus orbe.

515

omnia mortali mutantur lege creata, nec se cognoscunt terrae vertentibus annis exutas variam faciem per saecula gentes. at manet incolumis mundus suaque omnia servat, quae nec longa dies auget minuitque senectus,

520

nec motus puncto curvat cursusque fatigat: idem semper erit, quoniam semper fuit idem. non alium videre patres aliumve nepotes aspicient: deus est, qui non mutatur in aevo. numquam transversas solem decurrere ad Arctos

What more confused in show, yet what in Course More certain? a clear Reason to enforce That this World is governed by a Deity And is itself a God; nor casually Together met, as he would once persuade, Who first the Walls of this wide System made Of Atoms, and to those resolves again;6 Of which, the solid Earth, the floating Main, The fiery Stars, and Aether that creates Infinite Orbs, and others dissipates, Consist All which revert unto their Springs, And transmutate the various Forms of things.

But who can think this World educed7 should be From such blind Grounds without a Deity?

If Chance did give, Chance rules this All; Whence are The Signs then in their Course so regular?

Rising by Turns, as if by Laws enjoined, None posting on, whilst others stay behind?

The same Stars Summer, the same Winter grace, Day takes, and leaves to Heaven one certain Face.

What time Troy’s State was by the Greeks undone, Opposed did Arctos and Orion run8 She the World’s Top to circle still content, He facing her, to round the whole Firmament.

The times of obscure Night, were then divined From the bright Stars; Heavens had its Hours designed: Since when how many Kingdoms waste are laid?

How many Nations have been Captive made?

Empire and Servitude how oft dissolved

By Fortunes’ Power? and differently revolved?

Troy’s Ashes now to what a glorious State She reinspires ?9 Greece suffers Asia’s Fate. ’Twere tedious to recount the Ages past, How oft the Sun hath seen the World new cast.

All Things by humane Laws created, change: Lands to each other known, in time grow strange: Nations in course of many Years, put on A various Face; but Heaven wears always one; Grows not by length of Days, nor wastes with Age, Always in Course, yet faints not in its Stage, Will ever be the same, since such it was ever; Other than ’tis [how] our Fathers saw it never,

6 The Greek philosopher Democritus (460-370 BCE) proposed all things were composed of tiny, imperceivable and indivisible particles called

‘atoms’ (from Greek atomos, ‘indivisible’), which were varied in size and property, so determining the nature of the matter constituted by them.

The theory was developed by Epicurus (341-271 BCE), who rejected the notion of Platonic forms or an immaterial human soul, arguing that the body and the individual soul are destroyed at death (offering appeal in freeing adherents from the fear of suffering after death). Manilius is probably referencing the more contemporary Roman poet Lucretius, who versified the ideas of Epicurus in his Latin text On the Nature of the Universe in the 1st century BCE. Though considered a ‘materialistic’ argument, it retains a notion of all life continuing through a constant return to and emergence from one universal source and does not disregard the controlling effect of the planets (Lucretius commences with an invocation to “life-giving Venus … guiding power of the Universe” who is asked to bring peace and endow the work with ever-lasting charm).

7 Educed, brought about or developed (literally: drawn out or extracted).

8 Arctos, from the Greek arktos, meaning ‘bear’; i.e, the constellations of the Bear and the Hunter were in opposition then, as they remain today.

9 Sherburne notes that this refers to “the Roman State and People, which rose from the ruins and ashes of subverted Troy … The Romans bringing

upon Greece the same desolation, which they once brought upon Troy, one of the most flourishing cities of Asia”.

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525 nec mutare vias et in ortum vertere cursus auroramque novis nascentem ostendere terris, nec lunam certos excedere luminis orbes sed servare modum, quo crescat quove recedat, nec cadere in terram pendentia sidera caelo 530

sed dimensa suis consumere tempora signis: non casus opus est, magni sed numinis ordo.

Haec igitur texunt aequali sidera tractu ignibus in varias caelum laqueantia formas. altius his nihil est; haec sunt fastigia mundi; 535

publica naturae domus his contenta tenetur finibus amplectens pontum terrasque iacentis. omnia concordi tractu veniuntque caduntque, qua semel incubuit caelum versumque resurgit.

Nor shall our Nephews: ’tis a God, and knows, Nothing of Change, which Age and Time impose.

That the Sun never starts to the North aside, Nor changing Course back to the East does ride, And to strange Lands a newborn Day disclose; That the Moon always the same changes shows, The Laws observed of her Increase and Wane, That Stars themselves from falling still sustain, And run in measured Courses, seems to Sense No Work of Chance, but Act of Providence.

These Signs, divided thus, by equal space, Heaven’s azure Ceiling with Gold fretwork Grace Above which is Nothing; there the World’s height ends, Nor further Nature’s Public House extends, [Above] which Seas embrace the Earth’s round Ball, All These in mutual Courses rise and fall, As the revolving Skies, here downward bend Beneath the Horizon, and there reascend.10

Ipse autem quantum convexo mundus Olympo 540

obtineat spatium, quantis bis sena ferantur finibus astra, docet ratio, cui nulla resistunt claustra nec immensae moles, ceduntque recessus, omnia succumbunt, ipsum est penetrabile caelum. nam quantum a terris atque aequore signa recedunt,

545

tantum bina patent. quacumque inciditur orbis per medium, pars efficitur tum tertia gyri, exiguo dirimens solidam discrimine summam. summum igitur caelum bis bina refugit ab imo astra, bise senis ut sit pars tertia signis.

550

sed quia per medium est tellus suspensa profundum, binis a summo signis discedit et imo. hinc igitur quodcumque supra te suspicis ipse, qua per inane meant oculi quaque ire recusant. binis aequandum est signis, sex tanta rotundae

555

efficiunt orbem zonae, qua signa feruntur bis sex aequali spatio texentia caelum. nec mirere vagos partus eadem esse per astra et mixtum ingenti generis discrimine fatum, singula cum tantum teneant tantoquo ferantur

560

tempore; sex tota surgentia sidera luce [nec spatio octis linquentia plura profundim]

The Dimensions of the Universe Now to what Compass Heaven’s extremest Round Is stretched; what Lists the bright Zodiac bound, Reason will teach; to whom there’s nothing hard, From whom by space or Bulk nothing is debarred; To her all stoop; She sounds the Depths of Night, And Heaven itself is pervious to her Sight.

How far the Stars are above the Earth and Main, So great the space is, which two Signs contain, and if the World’s Diameter you take, That, with small Difference, will a third Part make Of its Circumference;11 Four Signs then, (so far) Heaven’s Zenith and its Nadir distant are; And twice four added its whole Round complete.

But since in the midst Earth has its Pendant Seat, ’Tis two signs distant from Heaven’s Depth or Height.

Thus All which above the Earth is reached by Sight, Or underneath, by that unseen, extends, Each way the space of two Signs comprehends: And six times that measures the Circle, where Twelve Constellations equal Mansions share.

Nor wonder that the self-same Signs create Uncertain Births mixed with much different Fate; Since Each six rising with their Lights entire, So great a space, and so long time require.

10 At this point Goold’s translation moves forward the verse lines of 805-809 so that the passage continues with a reference to the planets: “There

exist other stars, which strive against the contrary movement of the sky and in their swift orbits are poised between heaven and earth: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Sun, and beneath them Mercury performing its flight between Venus and the Moon”.

11 Using the logic expressed by Euclid (Elem. 4.15) that the circumference of any circle is approximately three times its diameter (precisely π: 3.14).

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Of the Heavenly Circles restat ut aetherios fines tibi reddere coner filaque dispositis vicibus comitantia caelum per quae dirigitur signorum flammeus ordo. [circulus a summo nascentem vertice mundum 565

permeat Arctophylaca petens per terga draconis] circulus ad boream fulgentem sustinet Arcton sexque fugit solidas a caeli vertice partes. alter ad extremi decurrens sidera Cancri, in quo consummat Phoebus lucemque moramque

570

tardaque per longos circumfert lumina flexus, aestivum medio nomen sibi sumit ab aestu temporis et titulo potitur metamque volantis solis et extremos designat fervidus actus et quinque in partes aquilonis distat ab orbe.

575

tertius in media mundi regione locatus ingenti spira totum praecingit Olympum parte ab utraque videns axem, quo limite Phoebus componit paribus numeris noctemque diemque veris et autumni currens per tempora mixta,

580

cum medium aequali distinguit limite caelum quattuor et gradibus sua fila reducit ab aestu. proximus hunc ultra brumalis nomine limes ultima designat fugientis limina solis invidaque obliqua radiorum munera flamma

585

dat per iter minimum nobis; sed finibus illis, quos super incubuit, longa stant tempora luce, vixque dies transit candentem extenta per aestum, bisque iacet binis summotus partibus orbis. unus ab his superest extremo proximus axi

590

circulus, austrinas qui stringit et obsidet Arctos. hic quoque brumalem per partes quinque relinquit, et quantum a nostro sublimis cardine gyrus, distat ab adverso tantundem proximus illi.

It rests, We now the Etherial Bounds design, The Circles which the parted Heavens confine, And of the Stars the splendid Order steer.

One12 toward the North sustains the shining Bear, And from the Pole six Parts of Heaven retires.

The other13 touching Cancer’s utmost Fires, (Where Phoebus consummates his Light and stay, Bearing through tedious Rounds the tardy Day) Does from the Season, and Midsummer heat Derive its Name; and to the Sun’s Race set The extremest Bound: which five Parts of the whole Declines the Circle of the Northern Pole.

The Third,14 which the World’s middle Region holds Olympus with a mighty Bend enfolds, On either Hand viewing the Pole; the Way In which the Sun makes even Night and Day. When by the Springs and Autumn’s Points he glides, And Heaven in the midst by equal Parts divides.

This from the Solstice four Degrees retreats; The next15 beyond named from the Winter, sets The utmost Bound to the Sun’s backward flight, Obliquely rendering us his niggard Light By a short Course; but long over those He stays, Whose Lands are warmed by his directer Rays; The slow-paced Day there hardly passing round.

This from the Equator four Degrees is found.

One Circle16 more yet rests, whose Site inclines Towards the South Pole, and Southern Bears confines, Ranged from the Winter Tropic five Degrees, And near its Pole, and the North’s far from his.

Armillary Sphere sourced illustration

by T. Jeffreys in the Gentleman’s Magazine for August, 1748, p.345.

12 The Arctic Circle (shown in orange in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere).

13 The Tropic of Cancer (shown in blue in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere).

14 The Equator (shown in green in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere).

15 The Tropic of Capricorn (shown in blue in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere).

16 The Antarctic Circle (shown in orange in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere).

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[sic tibi per binas vertex a vertice partes divisus duplici summa circumdat Olympum et per quinque notat signantis tempore fines.] his eadem est via quae mundo pariterque rotantur inclines sociosque ortus occasibus aequant, quandoquidem secti, qua totus volvitur orbis, 600

fila trahunt alti cursum comitantia caeli intervalla pari servantes limite semper

Thus, Heaven in two divided, Pole from Pole, Does by that double Sum measure the Whole, And by five Bounds distinguished into Climes, Marks out the difference of Place and Times.

Which (Parallels) One Course with Heaven partake, And equal Rise with that and Setting make, Since in the Ethereal Texture they observe Their stated Distance, and thence never swerve.

divisosque semel fines sortemque dicatam. sunt duo, quos recipit ductos a vertice vertex, inter se adversi, qui cunctos ante relatos 605

seque secant gemino coeuntes cardine mundi transversoque polo rectum ducuntur in axem, tempora signantes anni caelumque per astra quattuor in partes divisum mensibus aequis. alter ab excelso decurrens limes Olympo

610

Passing across by either Pole two more There are, which intersect all Those before,17 And themselves too; concurring in the Extremes Of the World’s Axis at right-angled Schemes, Which mark the Seasons out, and Heaven beside Into four Quarters equally divide.

serpentis caudam siccas et dividit Arctos, et iuga Chelarum medio volitantia gyro extremamque secans Hydram mediumque sub austris Centaurum adverso concurrit rursus in axe et redit in caelum squamosaque tergora Ceti

615

Lanigerique notat fines clarumque Trigonum Andromedaeque sinus imos, vestigia matris principiumque suum repetito cardine claudit.

The Kugel Globe, ancient celestial globe assumed to date to around 100 BCE, illustrates the five horizontal circles of the equator, tropics and poles (the southern polar region is missing) and the two great colures that pass through the equinoxes and solstices (see footnote 79, below).

Of these, through highest Heaven its Course one steers18 Parting the Serpent’s Tail and undrenched Bears, And Tips of Scorpio’s Claws, born through Mid-skies, Of Hydra cutting the Extremities And Middle of the Southern Centaur, then Concurring in the Adverse Pole, again Returns by the huge Whale: whose Scaly Chine, Bright Trigon, and the Bounds the Ram confine It marks; then by Cepheïs Waist does run,19 Her Mother’s Head, and ends where it begun.

17 The colures: the two great circles of the celestial sphere which pass through the poles and either the equinoxes (the equinoctial colure) or the

solstices (the solstitial colure), used to identify the location of the equinoctial and solstitial points. The name derives from the Latin coluri (GK: kolourai) which roughly translates to ‘curtailed (lines)’, because the lower part is always invisible beneath the horizon.

Manilius’ understanding of the colures is illustrated in the photograph of the Kugel Globe, one of the few surviving celestial globes from the classical period, housed at the Gallery J. Kugel Antiquaries in Paris. This has not been precisely dated, but it is assumed to date to around 100 BCE, partly because its details align well with the text of Manilius.

18 The equinoctial colure (shown in red in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere).

19 The text intends reference to Andromeda, daughter of King Cephius and Queen Cassiopeia, who is referred to in the following line as “Her Mother”. Goold’s translation more reliably places the colure towards the feet of Andromeda and Cassiopeia: “the boundary of the Ram, the bright Triangle, the lowest folds of Andomeda’s robe, and her mother’s feet, and, the pole regained, ends with its beginning”.

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alter in hunc medium summumque incumbit in axem perque pedes primos cervicem transit et Ursae, 620

quam septem stellae primam iam sole remoto producunt nigrae praebentem lumina nocti, et Geminis Cancrum dirimit stringitque flagrantem ore Canem clavumque Ratis, quae vicerat aequor. inde axem occultum per gyri signa prioris

625

transversa atque illo rursus de limite tangit te, Capricorne, tuisque Aquilam designat ab astris, perque Lyram inversam currens spirasque Draconis: posteriora pedum Cynosurae praeterit astra transversamque secat vicino cardine caudam.

630

hic iretum coit ipse sibi memor, unde profectus atque hos aeterna fixerunt tempora sede immotis per signa modis statione perenni. hos volucris fecere duos; namque alter ab ipsa consurgens Helice medium praecidit Olympum

635

discernitque diem sextamque examinat horam et paribus spatiis occasus cernit et ortus. hic mutat per signa vices; seu si quis eoos seu petit hesperios, supra se circinat orbem verticibus super astantem mediumque secantem

640

caelum et diviso signantem culmine mundum (quando aliis aliud medium est; volat hora per orbem), cumque loco terrae caelumque et tempora mutat. atque ubi se primis extollit Phoebus ab undis, illis sexta manet, quos tum premit aureus orbis.

645

rursus ad hesperios sexta est, ubi cedit in umbras; nos primam ac summam sextam numeramus utramque et gelidum extremo lumen sentimus ab igni. alterius fines si vis cognoscere gyri, circumfer faciles oculos vultumque per orbem.

650

quicquid erit caelique imum terraeque supremum, qua coit ipse sibi nullo discrimine mundus redditque aut recipit fulgentia sidera ponto, praecingit tenui transversum limite mundum. haec quoque per totum volitabit linea caelum,

655

nunc tractum ad medium vergens mediumque repente orbem, nunc septem ad stellas nec mota sub astra, sed quacumque vagae tulerint vestigia plantae has modo terrarum nunc has gradientis in oras, semper erit novus et terris mutabitur arcus;

By the midst of this, the World’s Extremity And the Forefeet and Neck of Helice, (Which first of all when Sol withdraws his Light With seven fair Stars illuminates the Night) The other runs;20 the Crab and Twins divides, By the fierce Dog and Argo’s steerage glides; Then cross the formers traversed Signs is born By the South Pole; Thee touching Capricorn!

Parting the Eagle from its Starry Fires By the Lyre running, and the Dragons Spires; Then cuts the less Bear’s Tail and hinder Feet, And makes its End with its Beginning meet.

The Seasons thus have fixed within these Rounds, Their Everlasting Seats and changeless Bounds.

These two are moveable: Whereof one Bend21 Does through Midheaven from Helice ascend, The Day distinguishes, the sixth Hour tries,22 And at just distance East and West decries, Changing the Signs by turns, still as we run, Or toward the rising or the setting Sun, Cutting Heaven’s height in the midst; and with Earth’s Place, Varies the Skies’ Position, and Times Race.

All have not one Meridian; the Hours fly round: When first we see Sol rise from the Eastern Sound, ’Tis their sixth Hour by his gold Orb then pressed;23 Such theirs, when he to us sets in the West.

These two sixth Hours we count our first, and last, When from the Extremes of Light chill Beams are cast.

The others24 Bound if thou desirest to know, Look round about far as thy sight will go, Whatever Earth’s Surface with Heavens Verge does close, And the divided Hemispheres compose; Couches in Seas the Stars and thence doth send; Rounding the traversed Earth with a slight Bend; That shifting Place about the World still flies, Now more and more unto the South applies, Now to the North again as much inclines, Now runs against, now with the moved Signs.

20 The solstitial colure (shown in green in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere, previous page).

21 Having outlined astronomical circles that are fixed for all locations, Manilius now introduces the two great celestial circles that are constantly

shifting since they differ for every locality: the meridian (MC-IC axis) and horizon (asc-desc axis). At this point, he starts to describe the local meridian, which in Jeffery’s armillary sphere equates to the solstitial colure because of the way that diagram makes the meridian peripheral and places the horizon ‘face-on’ in the centre (in an astrological chart, we expect to see the horizon on the right of the diagram, depicting the northern hemisphere eastern horizon, and the meridian in the centre, depicting the halfway point between the eastern and western horizons).

22 The sixth Hour tries – i.e., like a judge or the centre of a balance, since there are 12 seasonal hours between the start of the day at sunrise and its end at sunset, and the meridian marks the centre between the two, which the Sun reaches at the 6th hour of the day.

23 Meaning it is the 6th hour after sunrise (noon) for nations where the Sun is upon (pressing) the meridian.

24 This begins the description of the circle of the local horizon (shown in gold in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere, previous page).

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660

quippe aliud caelum ostendens aliudque relinquens dimidium teget et referet varioque notabit fine et cum visu pariter sua fila movente. hic terrestris erit, quia terram amplectitur orbis, [et mundum pleno praecingit limite gyrus]

665

atque a fine trahens titulum memoratur horizon. his adice obliquos adversaque fila trahentis inter se gyros, quorum fulgentia signa alter habet, per quae Phoebus moderatur habenas, subsequiturque suo solem vaga Delia curru,

670

et quinque adverso luctantia sidera mundo exercent varias naturae lege choreas. hunc tenet a summo Cancer, Capricornus ab imo, bis recipit, lucem qui circulus aequat et umbras, Lanigeri et Librae signo sua fila secantem. sic per tres gyros inflexus ducitur orbis rectaque devexo fallit vestigia clivo; nec visus aciemque fugit tantumque notari mente potest, sicut cernuntur mente priores, sed nitet ingenti stellatus balteus orbe insignemque facit caelato lumine mundum et ter vicenas partes patet atque trecentas in longum; bis sex latescit fascia partes, quae cohibet vario labentia sidera cursu.

But wheresoever its wandering Course it steers, As now to this, then to that Part it bears, It changes still; a new Arch always making; For leaving now this Heaven, then that forsaking, One half it will still disclose, or hide, and sign With varying Limits which the Sight confine.

This is terrestrial, because the Earth it rounds, And called Horizon, because the sight it bounds.25 To these two others add, obliquely born, Whereof the one twelve radiant Signs adorn,26 Through which the Sun runs his Career of Light, And the Moon follows in her Coach of Night, And five Stars more against Heavens’ swift Course advance Their oppositely Nature-guided Dance.27 On whose Top Cancer; [on whose] Base the Goat resides, Twice through the Equator runs it, twice divides At Libra and the Ram; whose sloping Bend Obliquely by three Circles does extend; Not hid; nor, as the rest (discerned alone By mental view) to mental view is shown;28 But shines a glittering Belt with bright Stars graced, And girdles with its golden Fires Heaven’s Waste.

Degrees three hundred and thrice twenty counts Its Circles Round; its Breadth to twelve amounts: Within which measured Limits is confined The Planets’ Motion, variously inclined.

The Via Lacta, ‘Milky Way’

25 The word horizon originates from a Greek term (horizōn) meaning ‘limiting’ or ‘bounding’, because it determines the limit of what can be seen.

26 The zodiac (shown in red in Jeffrey’s armillary sphere, above).

27 Whilst the celestial sphere has an apparent daily motion that moves all bodies from east to west, the “five stars” (the planets: Mercury, Venus,

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) have a secondary motion, by which advancement by celestial longitude through the zodiac moves them westwards.

28 Manilius treats the zodiac as a visible circle because in his day there was close alignment between the 12 signs of the zodiac and the

constellations whose name they bear. However, as Sherburne points out, Manilius is taking a poetical license – the zodiac is a precisely calculated astronomical circle that even in antiquity was understood to be perceived by intellectual reasoning only. Sherburn adds (p.48): “And therefore, Geminius in Isoge. says rightly, that of all the circles in the Heavens, only the Via Lacta is visible by sense, the rest being no otherwise discernible than by the eye of Reason”. The Via Lacta is the Milky Way, which Manilius now moves on to and discusses at length.

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Book Review Eureka: The Celestial Pattern at Times of Historic Inspiration by Nicholas Kollerstrom New Alchemy Press, 2012 Reviewed by KIRK LITTLE When Archimedes leapt from his bath after a solution to his problem dawned on him, and ran naked through the streets yelling “Eureka, Eureka!” he did not note the time. Since then, to the despair of astrologers, few inspired scientists have recognised the importance of noting the time and place of their inspiration – the data needed to erect a horoscope. There are exceptions, however, and Nicholas Kollerstrom and his former colleague Mike O’Neill assiduously analysed them in a series of publications dating back to the mid-1980s.

Their fullest expression is Kollerstrom’s 2012 book Eureka,1 where he makes some extraordinary claims for the power of astrology to detect the patterns lurking beneath records of scientific breakthroughs for many of the devices now part of everyday life. In so doing, he makes a strong claim for astrology as a science.

Why review a book from twelve years ago? Kollerstrom continues to promote the importance of eureka moments based on techniques promoted in this book.2 And the proponents of placing astrology under scientific scrutiny appear to be making a comeback after years of relative quiet.3 Whether Kollerstrom has bottled that magic requires some interrogation of his methods.

The subject of creative inspiration challenges the notion that there is nothing new under the Sun, and Kollerstrom does not shrink from the challenge of demonstrating how and why inspired scientists have given us many new, original things. But any understanding of Kollerstrom’s work must be based on appreciating three books which provide most of the theoretical scaffolding and structure that he develops to encompass scientific inspiration: John Addey’s Harmonics in Astrology,4 Arthur Koestler’s The Act of Creation,5 and Richard Tarnas’s Prometheus the Awakener.6 In broad strokes, Kollerstrom employs Addey’s harmonics as his primary tool for identifying the astrological rationale for inspirational moments.

Koestler’s book, especially his notion of bisociation, describes the unique mental processes of inspired scientists/inventors whose creative leaps often bring together two “previously unconnected matrices”.7 Tarnas’s book provides the historical sweep necessary for Kollerstrom, beginning as he does with the revolutionary work of Kepler and ending with the 20th-century work of Shockley (semiconductors) and Townes (lasers).

Eureka is organised into three parts: I Eurekaology, II The Moment of Invention, and III Perspectives.

Not all the parts work equally well, and in my view, the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Still, Kollerstrom has a startlingly original thesis and some genuine insights into the nature of the creative process.

Part I introduces the reader to the importance of Addey’s work in a chapter, ‘Quintiles, Septiles and Genius’, and Koestler’s unique understanding of creativity. Using dated Eureka moments from the history of science, Kollerstrom provides a rapid overview of 23 key discoveries over several centuries, from Brahe’s discovery of the Supernova in 1572, and Kepler’s 3rd Law of planetary motion, through Darwin’s formulation of his theory of natural selection, ending with Watson’s discovery of DNA. In an accompanying table, he lists the quintile and septile aspects in the nativities of two groups of scientists: those who experienced Eureka moments and those who did not. The difference in

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Richard Tarnas’s Prometheus the Awakener, 1995

John Addey’s Harmonics in Astrology, 1976 Available on archive.org Arthur Koestler’s The Act of Creation, 1964 Available on archive.org

frequency is dramatic and appears to be statistically significant.8 It is hard not to be impressed with the material Kollerstrom has marshalled or not to get caught up in the excitement and enthusiasm of his harmonic discoveries.

Part II turns the spotlight on ‘moments of invention’, more specifically on days when they first worked. He identifies 36 inventions from the mid17th century through the late 20th century. These are largely timed horoscopes, so create a very useful resource. A table displays the strength of Uranus aspects for the dates the inventions worked, showing an excess over their expected frequencies.

A long chapter discusses each invention in turn, but the book’s pace slackens, and here the reader starts to lose the narrative thread of the importance of Uranus; indeed, it feels more Saturnian moving through the centuries.

Part III, ‘Perspectives’, introduces Tarnas’s reformulation of Uranus as Prometheus, where he examined the horoscopes of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton, the “chief protagonists for the Scientific Revolution”.9 Tarnas noted all five had Uranus in major aspect to the Sun. The book’s pace quickens again, and the reader can sense Kollerstrom’s engagement with Tarnas’s historical imagination. Both men are enthralled by these intellectual giants, especially Kepler, Newton and Einstein.

The question arises: even if septiles indicate potential moments of inspiration and quintiles indicate moments of creativity, how does one quantify these ephemeral states? Kollerstrom’s answer is harmograms.10 These are not threatening messages from the cosmos, as their name implies, but a “plot of aspect power against time”.11 In other

words, a harmogram “depicts the flow of celestial energy (so to speak) for a given harmonic over a chosen time period”.12 I will take up the problematic notion of celestial energy later in this review; for now, it is important to note that Kollerstrom’s graphic displays of harmograms plot their intensity over a given time window, with higher spikes indicating the greatest concentration for the power of a specific harmonic.

Example pages from Kollerstrom and O’Neill’s, The Harmogram: How it works & Some Case Studies from Harmonics, Self-published 22-page pamphlet, 1991 (no publisher identified).

Identifying moments of inspiration across that historical record is important for Kollerstrom because he is looking for shared astrological characteristics, specifically an emphasis on the 5th and 7th harmonics, regardless of the country or nationality of the scientist or inventor. Section II of Eureka ‘The Moment of Invention’ surveys that record. Rick Tarnas’ Prometheus the Awakener becomes a key text for this survey.

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In Prometheus, Tarnas informs his reader that “The astrologer’s insight is fundamentally an empirical one”13 and that “Platonic archetypes are regarded as essential principles of reality itself.”14 He noted that “all the ancient planets were thus associated with archetypal principles having the essential character of their mythological namesakes, and modern astrological theory and practice has continued to endorse this basic correspondence”.15 Over time, Tarnas came to believe that the principles astrologers associate with Uranus “bear little resemblance to the Greek mythic figure of Ouranos”.16 Instead, “these same astrological qualities fit another Greek figure with extraordinary precision”.17 That figure, he argues, is Prometheus.

Tarnas equates the myth of Prometheus with

“

… the initiation of radical change, the passion for freedom, the defiance of authority, the act of cosmic rebellion against a universal structure to free humanity of bondage, the urge to transcend limitation, the intellectual brilliance and genius, the element of excitement and risk.18

Furthermore, Prometheus’s fire conveys

“

…the creative spark, cultural and technological breakthrough, the enhancement of human autonomy, the liberating gift from the heavens, sudden enlightenment, intellectual and spiritual awakening—all of which astrologers consider to be connected to the planet Uranus”.19

The influence of Tarnas on Kollerstrom’s book is seen most dramatically in Part III, ‘Perspectives’, especially its opening chapter entitled rather portentously ‘Destiny and the Uranus Cycle’. Here he describes Tarnas’s thesis as “luminously original”20 and discusses most of Tarnas’s five figures of the Scientific Revolution; he drops Copernicus and adds Einstein. Borrowing from Tarnas, Kollerstrom identifies the times of a scientist’s greatest discoveries as corresponding to the opposition point in the 84-year Uranus transit cycle, or around age 42. Other points of importance are the opening square at age 21 and the trine at age 28. Using rather generous 5° orbs of influence, Tarnas identifies these periods in an individual’s life as times of enhanced Promethean expression.

Here we must pause and ask: taken together, does the work of Addey, Koestler and Tarnas account for times of scientific creativity and breakthrough? We may set Koestler aside here since he is not making claims for astrology, which Addey, Tarnas and, by extension, Kollerstrom do. In short, have the astrological methods of harmonics

and Promethean expression provided scientific support for Kollerstrom’s thesis?

Kollerstrom’s empirical approach to assessing whether certain times are more conducive to scientific breakthroughs opens the question of truth claims supported by astrological cycles. Entwined in these claims are two other concerns: — the method employed by Tarnas, and — the problematic nature of celestial energy.

The latter raises the eternal question of whether astrology is a study of signs or causes;21 If the latter, then what is the nature of astrological causation? As Geoffrey Cornelius has noted, “This is the rock on which the ship of astrology founders from classical times to the present day”.22 I will begin my critique by considering this.

Recall how Kollerstrom discussed harmograms depicting “the flow of celestial energy (so to speak) for a given harmonic over a chosen time period”.23 The bracketed phrase suggests that Kollerstrom knows he is on a slippery slope. In his discussion of harmograms, he treats the concentration of celestial energy as a causative agent. His whole argument for specific times having a greater concentration of, say, septile energy depends on such energy being measurable and thus objectively quantified. While his harmograms use statistical methods to show their increased prevalence at certain brief periods, they don’t measure any actual energy transfer. Anyone who has spent time examining the claims of astrology as science knows that this notion of stellar determinism has been vigorously challenged by the scientific community.

Similar problems beset Tarnas’s model of the empowered archetypes of Prometheus. His assertion that Platonic archetypes embody essential principles of reality is a proposed theory, not a statement of fact, whose truth may be provisionally accepted with supporting evidence.

However, the wide-ranging characteristics Tarnas provides for the Prometheus/Uranus archetype are too loose to admit scientific measurement. How does one assess whether a scientific breakthrough is “an act of cosmic rebellion against a universal structure to free humanity of bondage”? Did Brahe’s discovery of the Supernova in 1572 demonstrate an “urge to transcend limitation”? Even if the result of his discovery led to a fundamental reassessment of the cosmos by some 16th and 17th-century thinkers, how would one astrologically assess or measure such an act whose significance unfolded over decades? Certainly, Einstein’s 1915 theory of relativity is a profound example of his singular “intellectual brilliance and genius”,24 however, it was the product of a decade of deep thinking, not the brainchild of a single day.

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On a more technical level, Tarnas uses a 5° orb for the effects of transiting Uranus, which stretches its putative period of influence for three years.25 This makes measuring the power of its Promethean expression in the historical record almost meaningless. Such lengthy transit patterns provide a celestial backdrop, more akin to measuring a zeitgeist, not determining specific outcomes for scientific discovery or invention.

Thus, Kollerstrom’s desire to forge a grand theory of scientific inspiration and inventive breakthrough is undercut by his resort to a model of celestial causation that lacks scientific support and a historical-empirical model that defines its terms too loosely to be of use. Certainly, he has amassed a collection of timed horoscopes, which should interest all astrologers. They are invaluable to any astrologer wishing to write about the unique case of any scientific discovery. Moreover, the increased frequency of septile and quintile aspects in the horoscopes of highly inspired and creative individuals suggests astrologers should pay more attention to them than seems to be the case.

Is discovery Uranian or Promethean? For this writer, major discoveries such as Newton’s, Darwin’s or Einstein’s, whose effect was to challenge and transform fundamental assumptions of their eras, are truly Uranian, in Robert Chandler’s sense.

That is, their cultural and intellectual effects may be understood in terms of “revolution, alienation, dissociation and splitting”.26 In the wake of such discoveries, historical change quickens. By challenging existing paradigms, these new models force scientists to choose, and as a result, scientists split into those who embrace the new paradigm and those who cannot make that leap, with all the attendant alienation and dissociation experienced by adherents of the older paradigms.27 For nonscientists, such paradigm shifts open questions about the nature of reality, often understood in religious terms or engendered feelings of powerlessness and social dislocation. But like all Uranian change, people adapt, and a new norm establishes over time. As always, the perennial wisdom of astrology acts as the Greek choir commenting on the actions of humanity scurrying to meet new trials. òòò

Kirk Little has been an astrologer for over forty years and has a long-standing interest in the historical and philosophical aspects of astrology. He is the author of Defining the Moment: Geoffrey Cornelius and the Development of the Divinatory Perspective and Spellbound: The Astrological Imagination of Washington Irving (Culture and Cosmos, Vol. 17 No. 1), as well as a number of articles and book reviews in the Astrological Journal as well as here at Skyscript. Kirk has a degree in American history and a Master’s degree in social work. For the past 30-odd years, he has worked as a psychiatric social worker in a variety of clinical settings.

Notes & refs: 1

N. Kollerstrom, Eureka: The Celestial Pattern at Times of Historic Inspiration, (New Alchemy Press, 2012).

Kollerstrom and M. O’Neill published The Eureka Effect: The Celestial Pattern in Scientific Discovery, (Urania Trust, 1996).

2 See his ‘Two Egyptian Eureka Moments’, ISAR International Astrologer, Dec. 2020, Vol. 49, pp. 46-50.

3 G. Dean, et. al., 2022, Understanding Astrology, with multiple references to Kollerstrom, not all flattering; R. Currey, ‘Meta-Analysis of Recent Advances in Natal Astrology using a universal Effect Size’, Correlation, 34(2) 2022, pp. 43-55; K. MacRitchie, ‘Clearing the Logjam in Astrological Research’, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 23, No. 9-10, 2016, pp. 153-179.

4 Published by Cambridge Circle, 1976.

5 Published by Macmillan Company, 1964.

6 Published by Spring Publications, 1995.

7 Eureka, op. cit., p. 36.

8 Kollerstrom acknowledges the work of O’Neill in constructing the Chi-square tests and notes a significance level of 1 in 2000 for the 23 Eureka scientists and 1 in 300 for the smaller natal E group. See Eureka, p. 73 and the useful appendix B discussing the statistical procedures employed, pp. 321-325.

9 Ibid., p. 17.

10 N. Kollerstrom and M. O’Neill, The Harmogram: How it works and Some Case Studies from Harmonics, Selfpublished 22-page pamphlet, 1991. The author has a copy in his personal library.

11

Eureka, op. cit., Glossary, p. 346.

Ibid., p. 337.

13 Prometheus, op. cit., p. 6.

14 Ibid., p.7.

15 Ibid., p. 8.

16 Ibid., p. 12.

17 Ibid., p. 13.

18 Prometheus, op. cit., p. 13.

19 Ibid., pp. 13-14.

20 Eureka, op. cit., p. 233.

21 See Cornelius, Moment, op. cit., pp. 7-8, and 55-7. “It is sufficient for our purposes here to distinguish the sign (‘symbol’) approach by noting that it does not involve explanations in terms of causes, whether these are treated as physical or logical, direct or indirect”, p. 55.

22 Ibid., p. 55.

23 Eureka, op. cit., p. 337.

24 All definitions have been taken from Prometheus, op. cit., p.

13.

25 For Freud, November 1894 to September 1897; Galileo, July 1607 to June 1610; Newton, May 1686 to April 1689.

See Prometheus, pp. 32, 34, and 35 respectively.

26 ‘Uranus and Prometheus (A Reply to Richard Tarnas)’, The Astrological Journal, Jan/Feb 1996, Vol. 38 No. 1. , p. 11.

27 T. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1962) is the classic account of this model of scientific change, oddly omitted by Koestler in his The Act of Creation.

12

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SKYSCRIPT MEMBER TALKS Thursday 22nd February 2024

SATURN-PLUTO CYCLES with SHEILA ROHER How to understand and work with the Saturn-Pluto cycle?

Sheila’s first Saturn return coincided with the Saturn-Pluto at the end of Libra in 1982, and she has been obsessed with understanding the mechanics and meanings of this cycle since. Liz Greene has suggested that Saturn is our key to mediating outer planets, which may be particularly true with Saturn and Pluto since both are experts in ‘endings’. This talk, presenting Sheila’s ongoing research, primarily considers: • •

What do we really know about Pluto since its first sighting 94 years ago?

How do we track the cycle using Saturn as our guide, and how do we understand the difference between transits to the conjunction chart (the birth of the cycle) versus ‘floating’ aspects between Saturn and Pluto that occur in real-time without relation to that chart?

This presentation will be exploratory and is designed to raise questions and provoke new thoughts on how these two planets relate as a pair throughout their cycle, and what we actually mean by ‘cycle’.

Start: 8 pm UTC – San Francisco: 12 pm | New York: 3 pm | London: 8 pm | Sydney: 7 am (Fri., 23rd) [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 90 mins

Thursday 28th March 2024

The Startling Synastry of Guinness & Dean with DEBORAH HOULDING Body and soul members are invited to participate as a beta-testing audience for a formal talk to be given at a charity fundraising event at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 30 March 2024 (full details of the live event, organised by Frank Clifford of the London School of Astrology, are online here). The formal talk must last strictly 40 minutes, so this will be a trial run that aims to hone delivery, followed by a short, relaxed session for Q&A and general discussion.

The presentation is based on the research conducted for the article of this title published in Skyscript Newsletter #8 (Apr 23) but with an added twist using new information that has come to light since. It explores the cosmic threads that wove around the ominous meeting of established British actor Sir Alec Guinness and upcoming American actor James Dean, along with other characters who seemed predestined to play starring roles in Dean’s sudden, tragic and very dramatic death.

“It was a very, very odd occurrence”, said Alec Guinness about his fateful meeting with actor James Dean. “I looked at my watch and…” – and he gave us the time, place and date. Obviously, this was a loaded cosmic moment as Guinness delivered a disquieting message that shocked them both. Why those two, why at that place, why at that time?

Start: 8 pm UTC – San Francisco: 12 pm | New York: 3 pm | London: 8 pm | Sydney: 7 am (Fri., 29th) [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 60 mins Skyscript newsletter # 14: December 2023

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MANILIUS READING GROUP - monthly We continue to set a little quality time aside each month to gather together and explore the poetic expression of the Astronomica, the first-century astrological text of Marcus Manilius. Join this friendly group led by Mireille Crossly – it lasts about 75 mins. We are currently working through Book I, comparing the 17th-century versified translation of Sherburne with the 20th-century prose translation of Goold. (Check details in the member’s area)

Thursday 11th April 2024

WILLIAM LILLY & THE COMETS OF 1618 with DR NICHOLAS CAMPION In the Autumn of 1618, three comets appeared in the Autumn Sky. They were significant as the first comets ever to be observed through a telescope. They also appeared at a time when people still didn’t know what comets were: one theory held that they were caused by the atmosphere igniting. As to their astrological significance, there was a near-universal understanding that they were signs from God (as was almost everything). The dominant view was that they were disruptive in a harmful way, but a counter view held that they could be positive.

This talk will look at the general context within which the comets were observed and interpreted, focussing on two texts, that of John Bainbridge (who became the first Savillean Professor of Astronomy at Oxford) in December 1618, during a period of relative stability under the English king James I (James VI of Scotland), and that of William Lilly 26 years later in 1644, published in the opening stages of the traumatic English civil war. We will travel back in time to a moment at once so unlike our world, yet so similar.

Start: 3:00 pm UTC – San Francisco: 8 am | New York: 11 am | London: 4 pm | Sydney: 1 am (Fri., 12th) [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 90 mins

Thursday 25th April 2024

ENVISIONING THE CELESTIAL SPHERE WITH STELLARIUM with WADE CAVES Join with Wade Caves as he takes us through a celestial tour of the heavens, pointing out the astronomical features that empower astrological symbolism.

Wade will give lots of useful advice on how to set up and get the most from the free planetarium software Stellarium - download: https://stellarium.org Start: 8 pm UTC – San Francisco: 1 pm | New York: 4 pm | London: 9 pm | Sydney: 6 am (Fri., 26th) [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 90 mins

Skyscript newsletter # 14: December 2023

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MUNDANE MATTERS – monthly – next: 7th March 2024 Take a little time out to catch up with current events and look into upcoming cycles.

We have started a monthly discussion meeting which is open to all Skyscript patrons/newsletter subscribers. Jason Burns has offered to help steer the set-up and direction of the group, which is intended to be informal and member-led, with shared responsibility for discussing ideas, giving mini-talks and leading ponderings on timely events and astronomical happenings. Join us for our second event on 7th March 2024 and bring ideas with you for what you want to propose or see included in the meetings moving forward. As a starting point, our first meeting shared thoughts on the Washington DC Aries ingress chart – see the brief outline of what was discussed by Emma Gardiner in the mundane section.

Start: 10 pm UTC – San Francisco: 2 pm | New York: 5 pm | London: 10 pm | Sydney: 9 am (Fri., 9th) [check other local times on this link] | duration ≈ 75 mins

COMING UP Thursday 23rd May 2024: 7pm UTC

17 JULY 2024: 4pm UTC

Providence, Prophecy & Divination in Judicial Astrology

Malefic Planets in Astrological Magic

with DEB HOULDING

with NINA GRYPHON

Astrology has played a role in all world cultures, but for most of its history, a fine line preserved the legally accepted and theologically approved practice of ‘natural astrology’ from the harsh consequences attached to the practice of ‘judicial astrology’ when it “transgressed its limits” and blasphemously claimed to know the Will of God. This presentation explores what historical astrologers had to say about the philosophical issues at stake, and the stance they took to the thorny issue of fate and free will in traditional predictive practice.

Astrologers and astrological magicians often hesitate to work with the malefic planets, Mars and Saturn, for fear of exacerbating harmful astrological influences.

Yet these two planets hold the key to major personal development and we ignore them at our peril. In this lecture, STA instructor and astrological magician Nina Gryphon will discuss the deeper levels of the malefics, ranging from their roles in Platonic philosophy to their practical application in personal development and astrological magic.

Thursday 13th June 2024: 3pm UTC

Physical Descriptions in Nativities & Horaries with MORGAN LE GALL

14 AUGUST 2024: 7pm UTC

What in the World are we doing when we Practise Astrology? with DORIAN GREENBAUM

Looking at all the signatures for physical descriptions from the signs and planetary rulers can be daunting and seem complex to apply in practice. This talk strives to give a better understanding of how these symbolic principles were derived and how to put them into practice in both nativities and horary charts. It will also demonstrate why knowing how to physically describe people in charts is relevant.

The genesis of this lecture arose when I confronted my failure to predict correctly the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. So what, you say. Lots of us got it wrong! True, but I wanted to try to understand why I made the prediction I did. Based on the groundbreaking work of Geoffrey Cornelius, my own research into the nature of astrology and its links to divination, I present my thoughts and hope to hear yours.

Skyscript newsletter # 14: December 2023