 | Exegesis Issue #7
|
Spring Rolls |
| Exegesis Issue #7
|
Spring Rolls |
"Orbs" is a good example of how our astro backgrounds affect us. If we accept aspects as a "given", we will debate the number of degrees attributable to Planet A versus sun and moon, etc. We’ll also talk about overlapping aspects.
What if we choose to consider them "harmonics"? We might want to break them into families of sub-harmonics. Example: 0. 180, 90, 45, 22.5, 11.25, etc. Or take the "soft" system, 0, 120, 60, 30. But 90 and 180 are crossovers; they occur in both the "hard" and "soft" harmonics. Then there’s the 9th harmonic- Kepler’s noniles or Hindu Navamsa. That is a 0, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200, 240, 280, 320. So trines are also noniles. That’s a different type of overlapping.
Considering traditional astrology considers the "hard" aspects bad, and the "soft" aspects good – a harmonic approach would make you say "wait a minute, there!" Lumping Navamsa with Trine ought to raise an eyebrow or two.
If I really want toss a cat in the pigeon coop, I’d whip out my 90° dial and start doing midpoints; maybe even use the Aries axis and look for anticia. Or I can use mundane aspects and consider each house square the 4th house away from it and opposed it’s 7th position.
"Aspects" are a convenient concept for describing some sort of distance relationship. They aren’t a real thing, simply a working conceit. They are as true as our understanding of them. If I see a planet in the 4th as opposing and challenging the 10th, then the whole house matters. Things of the 4th -home, hearth, family -will indeed oppose those of the 10th - public life, career, government. If I’m using midpoints I might consider a string of planets in 90° aspect to each other linked to one at 45° and another at 22.5 all creating a "planetary picture" with a scant 1° orb.
What’s important is that I interpret with an elemental broad-brush in my house to house view, and a narrow combination of ingredients in my planetary-picture. Each to each. Both are right. Both are wrong.
It gets more complicated. Started playing with Jigsaw, a research and rectification program from Astrolabe. I have a 1000+ database of corporate "first-trade" charts from Bill Meridians’ Planetary Stock Trading book. Since "going public" is major evidence of at least initial success for a company, I started running degree separations of planetary pairs on 360° polar charts; i.e., all Mars and all Saturns with Mars as the starting point. The polar charts show a mean distribution and clustering of highs and lows and you can read aspects/harmonics with a 360° plastic protractor. Obviously outer planet to outer planet is useless over the relatively short life span of the average corporation.
That’s a decent sized data base. I found planet combinations in trine patterns with two of the three points high and the third low. I found "grand crosses" focusing not on the index planet, but back six or seven degrees. Sun and Mars are mostly in the same hemisphere, but I didn’t realize that Mercury and the Moon’s Node travel in a pattern that causes three gigantic clumps. In short, I was amazed at what I got. Still running patterns on another data base to see similarities and differences. I’m legislating for 36 hour days, Anyone want to sign the petition?
Again from financial activity. The effects aren’t always coincidental with the aspects. There seem to be staged requirements. First you have to get Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune in at least a 45° configuration, and then add Saturn, and finally Jupiter. Then you wait for the nearest eclipse or Mercury station. With Moo Goo Gai Pan you get Eggroll!
For practical everyday purposes I do better using graphic ephemerides than anything else. I watch the patterns build up and see when the "dailies" (Sun, Mer. Venus) or lunations start connecting. That’s when things tend to blow, particularly when more than one pattern is operating. (By "Pattern" I mean a significant combination of planets and personal points. Right now, Jupiter squares Mars on the Moon’s South Node this Monday, and on Wed. the Sun, at eclipse, squares Neptune. Those are two major patterns and anything connected with either should show evidence.) So would anyplace connected with the eclipse—on the horizon, meridian, under it’s path.
On Natal chart aspects, I simply consider what planetary pictures the Sun or Moon forms when transiting any natal combination and allow for it. If a person has a Ven. at 7, Sun. at 8 and Jup. At 9, I would certainly consider them all square the Uranus at 10 or even 11 and trine the Asc. at 12. How would you divide them up? But if the string weren’t there, why would you consider a Venus at 7° trine an Asc. at 12? Maybe at age 5 by solar arc. The Sun is a degree in width and the Moon moves a degree every two hours. I would think we would give them a degree or two applying. Everything else is subject to aspects by them. Fast to slow, and it’s over. Separating aspects would symbolize our "hereditary" baggage.
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