Table of Initial Sounds.
| Saturn | Jupiter | Mars | Sun | Venus | Mercury | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J | Y | L | M | V W | K Q | H |
| U O | O | |||||
| G | B | N | Th | R | P | Dh |
| S Z X | Ch | A | T | |||
| D Sh | I |
It will be observed that I have eliminated some sounds contained in the Sanskrit alphabet which have no English equivalents, and also that in the Table of Initial Sounds I have added some that are allied to those found in the original, as for instance Q and C (hard) under K, Z and X under S, etc.
An attempt has been made to fix the vowels under the planets, but they are not found to be consistent, and indeed it is not to be expected that they should be, since the swara, which is constantly changing, determines the vowel sound in force.
As initial sounds the vowels U and O, having affinity with the consonant W, may be classed under Venus, A under Mars, since both are initial factors in the scheme, and long I or Ee under Jupiter as related to Y. But as I have said, when in combination with the consonants, that is to say, when not initial, they are in a constant state of flux owing to the change of swara. Subject to this consideration they may be added to the Table of Initial Sounds, where they will be seen in the above scheme.
The application of this scheme of Planetary Sounds would appear originally to have been in the direction of determining what sounds should be employed at specific times in the construction of mantras appropriate to the nature of the planet then ruling. They were not originally associated with the signs of the zodiac, nor yet with the planets ruling those signs, but solely and specifically with the navamshas, of which there are 108 in the entire circle, and as these are connected with the asterisms through the Moon’s motion, there can be no doubt that they had originally a lunar basis.
Each of the signs is divided into 9 parts of 3° 20´ each, the order being as follows—
Aries 0°-3° 20´ is under the influence of Aries navamsha, 3° 20´-6° 40´ under the influence of Taurus navamsha, 6° 40´-10° under Gemini navamsha, and so on, the last 3° 20’ of this sign Aries being under Sagittarius navamsha. The sign Taurus then commences with Capricorn navamsha, and continues on to Virgo navamsha, when Gemini sign commences with Libra and ends with Gemini navamsha, and is followed by Cancer sign which begins with Cancer navamsha and ends with Pisces navamsha. Leo then commences again with Aries navamsha and follows the same course as the sign Aries. Thus nine successive signs are used to designate the navamshas of each 30 degrees of the zodiac, and so we obtain the 108 navamshas, thus—
Figure 17.
But we have already seen that the lunar asterisms, each of 13° 20´, are divided into four padams or quarters each of 3° 20´, and as there are 27 asterisms we have again the 108 amshas or subdivisions of the ecliptic, which undoubtedly were originally associated with the 108 sounds. The fact that these sounds have come to be connected with the signs of the zodiac is due to the affinity which exists between the asterisms and the signs through their respective planetary rulers. For it will be shown that the Ashtottaradasha system of Planetary Periods (which see) recognizes the procession of planetary influence through the 108 padams in the course of 108 years, so that each year comes under the influence of one of these sections of the ecliptic, and the count in each case is made from the position held by the Moon at the time of birth.
This subject of Planetary Sounds is of immense interest, but inasmuch as it has been developed solely along Oriental lines and has its basis in a system which did not recognize the Vernal Equinox as a starting-point, but found its yogatara in the first point of As’wini (Zeta Piscium), I advise my readers to accept with extreme caution the statement that specific sounds are identified with particular planets or signs of the zodiac, and more particularly would I caution the reader not to rely upon the application of these Initial Sounds to the problems of speculation. I have merely shown in this place how they are derived, and thus have no doubt satisfied the curiosity of those who have seen them in other books where they are given without explanation, authority or warning, and stated as if they had been experimentally proved.
CHAPTER XVI
PLANETARY HOURS
No records that are available to us serve to determine at what period in the course of social evolution the need for a week of seven days first made itself felt, nor can we discover who it was first invented it.
Newton believed that Chiron was the first to define the constellations of the heavens, and this also was the opinion of the Greeks. But that is to give to the mythical centaur a personal reality. It is true that we may find him, along with his contemporary Hercules, by whose arrow he met his death, among the constellations, and if it be the fact that the Greeks exalted their heroes to the stars and shaped the constellations so as to record their fame for ever, then we can only conclude that Chiron did not define the constellations of either Sagittarius or Hercules, whatever may have been his part in the matter so far as the rest are concerned.
It is further to be observed that long before the period ascribed to the famous centaur we have mention of the constellations in the Book of Job, where Arcturus, the Pleiades, Orion and the Mazzaroth are mentioned. Both Homer and Hesiod mention some of the constellations, but it is known that Hipparchus, about 150 B.C., defined the limits of forty-eight of the asterisms, while Ptolemy gave us a complete catalogue. Some constellations have since been added by Tycho, Helvetius and others. But from what has already been said on this subject it will be evident that the mythology and astronomy of the Greeks was closely connected, but this does not of necessity prove a Greek origin, for we have yet to determine the origin of the myths. That many of these are shared by the Assyfians, Aryans, Persians and Egyptians, seems to show that they had a Chaldean origin. The Chinese have an astronomy which appears to be unique and without parallel among other nations.
If we go back to the earliest record, the Chinese, we shall find that they had no week of days, but a cycle of sixty days, and also one of sixty years. But the days of the month were reckoned from the Moon’s age, the day of the New Moon being called the first day. Thus we find in the earliest record such expressions as “the first day of the first moon he brought things to a conclusion in the temple of his ancestors,” and “on the first day of the twelfth moon,” etc. Even the great Confucius gives no hint of any week of seven days. In his Chun-Tsiu he makes such entries as the following: “In the fifty-eighth year of the cycle and the third year of the reign of Prince Yiu Kung, in the Spring, on the first day of the Second Moon, the day being the sixth of the cycle (of sixty days), the sun was eclipsed.” All his entries are of the same careful and explicit nature, and expressed in the same terms, that is to say, in reference to the Cyclic year, the number of the month, the year of the reigning Prince of Lu, and the day of the cycle of sixty days.
The earliest divisions of time among the Aryans also follow the Sixty-year period, and the use of the Tithi or Moon day is also to be found in the earliest astronomical records. Nothing more, indeed, is needed for an accurate record of time than an Epoch, a cycle of years counted from that epoch, the number of the last lunation, and the day of the month counted from that lunation. The introduction of a week of days is an adjunct that has no special value in a time sense, and could only have been the invention of a state of civilization in which ceremonies and institutions of a weekly recurrence were required to be indicated and fixed. We find mention of the week, however, in Sanskrit writings, as Somavar (Monday), Kujavar (Tuesday), Buddhavar (Wednesday), Brihaspativar (Thursday), Sukravar (Friday), Sanivar (Saturday) and Suryavar (Sunday), but there do not appear to be sufficient grounds for fixing an epoch at which they came into use.
The days of the week as we have them appear to be of Hebrew origin, and probably were derived from the Chaldeans, for in the first place the appointment of specific duties for the several days of the week, culminating in the day of divine worship on the seventh or Sabbath day, requires such a division of time, and in the second place it can be shown that the order of the days of the week can only be accounted for by reference to the Chaldean order of the planets, which, as has been shown, has reference to their apparent velocities.
The Septenary division of days, etc., is distinctly Shemitic in its origin, and we find accordingly that the system was extended by the Hebrews to a period of seven years, and to a further period of seven times seven years which was celebrated as the Jubilee. The cycle of seven is not elsewhere found. Western nations have done what they can to break down this old institution by associating the Sabbath with Sunday instead of Saturday, and by celebrating the Jubilee at the end of fifty years instead of at the end of forty-nine. But the teachings of the astrologers and tenacity of the Jewish faith have served to keep the astronomical and religious aspects of this institution intact.
But whereas we find difficulty in tracing the origin of the week-days through any authentic records, we have still more difficulty in ascertaining the principles by which the first day was allotted to the Sun, the second to the Moon, and so forth. One cannot tell the day of the week by looking at the sky or by taking into account any known astronomical factor. But whatever may have been the reason for fixing on a particular day as the Sun-day and beginning the week with it, it has been adhered to ever since, and, so far as we astrologers and Kabalists are concerned, it is satisfactory to know that it works out on empirical test.
What are known as the Planetary Hours are derived from the succession of the days of the week, commencing with the planet ruling and giving its name to the day, and following the Chaldean cyclic order. Thus on a Sunday the first hour is governed by the Sun, to which follow in succession, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. On a Saturday the first hour is ruled by Saturn, to which succeed in order, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. Then as there are twenty-four hours in the day and seven hours in the planetary cycle, the latter will be contained three times, making twenty-one hours, and there will be three hours still to run. So if we begin with Sun on Sunday and follow with the cycle through the day, we shall complete the third cycle with Mars, and the twenty-second hour will be the beginning of the next cycle under the rule of the Sun, to which succeeds twenty-third Venus, twenty-fourth Mercury, and the first hour of the next day will be under the rule of the Moon, which will accordingly be Monday, as shown in the following tabular form, which may be extended at pleasure. The planetary hours differ from the statute hours inasmuch as they are divisions of the natural day and night. The day is counted from sunrise to sunset, and the night from sunset to the next sunrise. From sunrise to noon is the space of six planetary hours, and from noon to sunset six. Hence if the day is fourteen hours long, each planetary hour will be equal to one statute hour of sixty minutes and twenty minutes beside, making 1 hr. 20 min. of civil time.
The seventh hour will commence at noon and will last for eighty minutes, and the eighth hour will begin at 1.20 and will also last for eighty minutes. The foregoing table shows the afternoon or second quadrant of six planetary hours on the 5th of July, when the day is found to be 16 hrs. 28 min. in duration, one-half of which is 8 hrs. 14 min. One-sixth of this is 1 hr. 22 min. 20 sec., which is successively added to Noon to find the beginnings of the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth hours. The last hour thus begins at 6.52 and ends at 8.14. The subdivisions of the hour are one-seventh of 1 hr. 22 min. 20 sec., which amounts to about 11 min. 46 sec., say 12 min. This being continually added, from noon onwards, gives the beginnings of the subdivisions of the Hour, as shown in the table. In my Kabala I have shown the practical working of these hours and Periods of the day so that there is no need to repeat the process in this place.
Figure 18.
The Kabalists and Thaumaturgists have always had recourse to the Planetary Hours for the purpose of performing their operations under specific influences, and anybody who will take the trouble to note the time of an event happening and compare it with the nature of the planet ruling in that hour will find ample reason for confirming the scheme as we have it from the ancient Hebrews. But this, perhaps, involves a more intimate knowledge of astrology than is professed by the average man.
Figure 19.
It may, therefore, be of use to the student if the general significations of the planets are here given.
The Sun signifies the father, ruler, or person in authority, gold, health, life, matters relating to government, preferment, honours, inaugurations and constitutions, male life generally, the daytime.
The Moon relates to the mother, public bodies, silver, white fabrics such as linen; changes, matters relating to public affairs, women, the night, and female life generally.
Mars refers to all youths and marriageable men, fire, iron and steel, anger, strife, muscular force, cuts, burns and wounds, blood, death, things that are scarlet or red, fevers, enterprises, operations, incisions, soldiers and pioneers.
Mercury has reference to boys and scholars, writings, papers, short journeys, buying and selling, deeds of writing, food, clothing, furniture and personal equipment, trade, profession, speech, quotations.
Jupiter has relation to affairs of justice, gain, increase, expansion; to lawyers, insurance, religion, philosophy; affairs of grandeur and display; hopes and fears, wishes, expectations, money and success.
Venus refers to young women of a marriageable age, to engagements, births, weddings, social functions, pleasures, theatres, music, art, peace, rest and happiness.
Saturn is related to privation, darkness, solitude, coldness, hatred, jealousy, heavy weights, gravity, soberness, gloom, doubts, difficulties, falling, loss, sickness, aged people, old associations, memories, black and sombre colours, mourning, death.
In a word, the characteristics of a letter or event will be: In the hour of the Sun—Honours; that of the Moon—Changes; that of Mars—Strife; that of Mercury—Business; that of Jupiter—Gain; that of Venus—Pleasure; that of Saturn—Loss.
It is to be observed that the use of the statute hour in connection with planetary action has arisen from the consideration of their universality, and an equatorial scheme in which the Sun rises at six o’clock approximately would thus yield a day of twelve hours, and each quadrant would embrace six hours of little more or less than sixty minutes each in duration. But the application of the statute hour to sunrise in high northern latitudes would appear to be without adequate foundation, and in effect we find that the results depending thereon are not consistent. It is these inconsistencies, arising from the introduction of new elements into the ancient scheme, and the general neglect into which the whole subject has fallen, that has given the impression that the ascriptions are fanciful and the matter not worth investigation. I know enough of the matter, however, to warrant my calling attention to these Planetary Hours as most worthy of close study by students of celestial influence.
A considerable field of research lies open to the diligent student. It has to be finally determined, for instance, whether apparent sunrise is to be taken as the basis of the calculations or the true Sun’s centre rising. The latter is not subject to corrections for parallax, nutation, and aberration, but depends on the rising of the Sun’s longitude on the celestial horizon, the false horizon being ignored. The celestial horizon, it should be observed, is always 90° from the Zenith. The formula for this calculation is: Log. tang. latitude of place + log. tang. Sun’s declination = log. sine of Sun’s ascensional difference. For North declination add to 90° and for South declination subtract from 90°. The result is the semiarc diurnal of the Sun, and twice this is the diurnal arc or the time the Sun remains above the horizon. Convert to time at the rate of four minutes for every degree and four seconds for every minute of arc.
We have then to determine whether sunrise is the correct starting point, or whether it should not be noon, as in agreement with the original Chaldean conception of the division of the circle into “evening” and “morning.”
I may say that in my experience the count should be made from sunrise, that the true Sun’s centre rising should be taken, and that the Chaldean order of the Hours should be preserved. I have also found that the subdivisions play quite a minor part in the determination of results, and that all events falling within the limits of the Planetary Hour should be found subject to the ruler of that Hour, and only in a subsidiary degree to the ruler of the subdivision of the Hour. I may now pass to a consideration of another aspect of this interesting subject.
CHAPTER XVII
CELESTIAL MAGNETIC POLARITIES
It has already been shown by one of our Kabalas that there is a certain polarity existing between the planets of the system by which they become natural antitheses and thus stand in certain relations of polarity. Hence it is that the numbers attaching to them are interchangeable. Thus it was shown that Mars and the Moon, the one having its exaltation sign in Capricorn and the other its rulership in Cancer, the opposite sign, were numerical resolvants. Also that Mercury, having its exaltation sign in Aquarius, was resolved into terms of the Sun, whose rulership is vested in the opposite sign Leo. Further, that the Moon, having its exaltation in the sign Taurus, was interchangeable with Mars, whose sign is Scorpio, in opposition to Taurus.
The scheme of Planetary Hours involved the whole of this question of Planetary Numbers, and it was shown that the matter was open to considerable controversy, necessitating prolonged observation and research.
There is another point in connection with the interchange of Planetary Numbers which requires consideration. It is that of polarity. Astrologers everywhere recognize the fact that the signs of the zodiac are alternately active and passive, or positive and negative, male and female, and the Houses or twelve divisions of the visible heavens are said to have the same polarity as the signs with which they are associated, as Aries with the 1st House, Taurus with the 2nd House, and so on.
Now, at a mean rate of motion, which is attained at the equinoxes, the apparent transit of the Sun through the Houses or divisions of the Prime Vertical is at the rate of 30°, or the space of one House in two hours. Therefore, if the Houses are to be regarded as having the same polarity as the signs they are associated with, then the first 30° of the Sun’s diurnal arc will be negative in action and the next positive, and so on alternately. But it has already been empirically proved that the quadrant from sunrise to noon is positive, that from noon to sunset negative, from sunset to midnight positive, and from midnight to sunrise negative.
For a demonstration of this principle I refer my readers to “The Law of Sex” developed in my Manual of Astrology. This law requires that the majority of influence exerted from the S.E. quarter of the heavens, which extends from the Sun’s rising to its culmination, shall be positive and tending to male generation, while that from the S.W. quarter shall be negative and tending to female generation.
But it can also be shown that the Planetary Hours, each of which occupies the time of the Sun’s passage through one-half of a House, or 15°, are alternately positive and negative. We then derive the following useful diagram of the
Figure 20. Polarity of the Houses.
In this diagram the inner circle shows the polarity of the Houses, whether positive or negative, the next circle outward shows the polarity of the Hours, and the outside circle shows that of the Quadrants, which is summative of the Houses and Hours.
Applying this to the subject of planetary action, it will be seen that a planet occupying the S.E. quadrant of the heavens will exert a positive influence, but that its influence will be largely negatived when it occupies the second half of the 11th House in the course of its rising, and similarly, that a planet in the S.W. quadrant will exercise a negative influence, which will be rendered more positive when the planet comes to the first half of the 8th House in the course of its setting. The fact that male horoscopes are generated from the S.E. and N.W. quadrants and female from the S.W. and N.E., goes to show that these ascriptions are valid, and when we further consider that human vitality is lowest at the two points that are occupied by the negative influence, and highest at those that are here shown to be positive, should, in my opinion, go a long way towards establishing this order in our astrological scheme of things.
Now, if we consider the whole earth to be surrounded with etheric vibrations and interpenetrated by them, we may also legitimately refer these vibrations to colours and sounds since all the forces of Nature are interchangeable and convertible. Such a conception lends itself at once to experimental proof, and, as the result of researches carried on during successive years by Carl von Reichenbach, we have a definite scheme of colour attributable to the different sections of the heavens. It is shown that there is a form of electricity visible to persons of a highly sensitive nature when placed in the dark. In The Sensitive Man Reichenbach has given a mass of experiments which show that the Od fluid undergoes a variety of changes according to the magnetic relations of the subject or object from which they proceed. In the second volume there is a description of the Earth-Aura. This is not, as one might suppose, a composite of the various auras of its geological constituents, but a thing apart and independent of human, animal, vegetable and other emanations. Every body has its own aura, and these blend upon contact or within auric distance, producing changes in the magnetic relations of the bodies concerned. The human aura is like that of the crystal and has an obvious polarity. Thus the auric colour at the head is blue while that at the feet is dark red; the right side is grey-blue and the left side yellow. Now this answers exactly to the polarity of the visible heavens, for it is observed that Blue, the most magnetic colour, is associated with the North or midnight point; Red, the most electric, with the South and mid-day; the neutral to the East and the dawn; and the Yellow to the West and sunset.
When the body is laid horizontally, with the head to the North, the colours were seen at their greatest brilliancy, passing from blue at the head through blue green to dark green, light green and yellow, golden yellow, and orange to deep red at the feet. But the most remarkable effect is that if the body be gradually revolved so as to pass through the successive points of the compass, a series of remarkable changes take place in the colours of the aura, and the original colours are no longer seen, but the blue at the head undergoes successive changes by the admixture of other colours according to the angle of deflection, and in effect we have the—
Colours of the Twelve Houses.
1st, Grey; 2nd, Blue-grey; 3rd, Blue with red rays, Violet; 4th, Blue; 5th, Dark Green; 6th, Light Green; 7th, Yellow; 8th, Golden; 9th, Orange; 10th, Red; 11th, Violet-red, Purple; 12th, Grey-red or dull Red.
Now the presence of a planet or of a group of stars, such as enter into the composition of a constellation, may reasonably be held to effect some magnetic change in the radical nature of the vibrations emanating from that quarter. The planets are found to exert an influence on the magnetic needle, and both Venus and Jupiter, as affecting the earth in its orbit, may be regarded as instances of the interplay of cosmical factors. The medium by which the magnetic needle is affected by these planets is doubtless the magnetic aura of the earth.
The planets could, indeed, affect us through their light rays if by no other means, for experiments have shown that by directing the rays of Jupiter and some of the fixed stars through a telescope on to a selenium screen at a distance of ten feet, the comparative effect was, of a candle light 1, of Procyon 0·261, of Cygnus O·262, of Aldebaran O·279, of Orion O·685 and of Jupiter 3·272!
Astrologically we are able to distinguish the psychically gifted by the presence of the planets in the lower meridian, but especially Sun and Mercury, Saturn and the Moon. This answers to the point of magnetic intensity at the maximum which is registered about midnight, and this observation leads to the conclusion that the planets do not of necessity influence us by their direct rays, but by the changes that they cause in the earth’s magnetic aura at various points in the circle of the visible heavens. Primarily the Sun must be the cause of the normal magnetic aura of the earth, and the planets would in this sense be moderators, which is the old name applied to them by Ptolemy. Thus the presence of several planets or the luminaries in the lower meridian at the time of a person’s birth will render that person particularly negative or sensitive to the changes taking place in the auric consensus of environment, and those who are in the habit of classifying and collating horoscopes will have abundant proof at hand that this is the case. On the other hand, we find extremely positive people to be produced by the presence of planets in the 10th House, near the South Meridian, and especially such as have Mars (colour, red) reinforcing the natural auric colour of that part of the heavens. Two examples come readily to my mind, that of Kaiser Wilhelm, in whose horoscope both Neptune and Mars are in the Mid-heaven, and that of the late William T. Stead, in whose horoscope Mars and Uranus are close to the Mid-heaven.
In effect we have the earth as the centre of a vast kaleidoscope, undergoing changes of colour from hour to hour by reason of the Sun’s passage from one rising to the next. Obviously there can be no universal red or blue since the Mid-heaven of one place is the horizon of another that is 90° East or West of it. Consequently there must be some factor that produces local colouring, which at the zenith produces vibrations which manifest as red and at the nadir as blue. This factor must be the Sun, since it is the only cosmic factor that has a constant relation to any part of the earth at the same hour each day. The planets in their courses will then intervene to bring about modifications of the colours or vibrations instituted by the Sun, and of these the Moon, as the quickest moving in its orbit, will be the chief. Mercury will come next, and then Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, so that in effect we have the Chaldean order of interpretation once more.
The question then arises as to whether that part of the earth’s aura where the Sun is at any moment should not always be taken as the positive maximum answering to noon and the colour red. If so, then it follows that the time of birth becomes a very important factor in the constitution of what may be called the magnetic constitution of a person. The whole subject is full of suggestions of the utmost significance, but hardly at this date in a condition to admit of dogmatic statement. The subject is therefore better left for future consideration.
CHAPTER XVIII
VULCAN THE CHAIN MAKER
There is an aspect of Mars which has an interest for us as prisoners in this house of flesh. Vulcan or Hephæstus, son of Jupiter and Juno, is the artificer of human bonds. By some he is thought to be allied to Pluto, the god of the Infernos, and in the Kabalistic conception, Malcuth, or the Earth, is the lowest of the heavens and the highest of the hells, being in fact in a state of equilibrium between the Superior and Inferior worlds and therefore, as Swedenborg suggests, it is in a state of freedom from that circumstance. But can so much be said of those that dwell therein? I doubt it. The Oriental doctrine of Samsara pictures man as a mere “Butterfly on the Wheel,” bound by the chains of his own desires to the wheel of cyclic rebirth into a world of suffering.
“Ye suffer from yourselves, none else compels,
None other holds you that ye lag and stay,
And whirl upon the wheel, and hug and kiss
Its spokes of agony, its tyre of tears,
Its nave of nothingness!”
The law of moral causation, as well as that of affinity, impels man to rebirth while there are any unexhausted desires in him. These unexhausted tendencies are called skandhas. It does not matter what we call them, we are all conscious of their existence and of the terrible strife they cause in us. These desires are in the Adamic nature, they are in the human blood, and Mars is their cosmic symbol. They are the chains of Vulcan.
The number of Mars is nine and the magic of the number nine haunts us from our birth to the very last day of our existence in this world. In the Kabala of Numbers I have shown the connection between the Adamic race and the number nine. This is the Iron Age, the Kali Yuga, and the horoscope of the world shows the sign Aries, ruled by Mars, in the ascendant. In the age of Saturn men sought virtue and distinction in obscurity. Now there is but one way to recognition and success, Force and Self-assertion. Let those take it who will. What is said of those who willingly take to the sword may be applied to the slaves of every other form of human passion. Mars will lay them by the heel and bring them back to retribution.
The cycle of nine is at the root of almost all the mysteries of human life. It crops up in all the astronomical cycles as if it were at the root of them, and as representing cosmic energy (Fohat) and the human will (Ichcha) it manifests in all purpose and all action, cosmical and human. For Mars (nine) is desire (kama) and desire is that which underlies both will and action.
There is a period of cosmic activity which runs in a nine-year cycle. It has even been shown that meteorology cannot shake free of it. The year 1893 was a year of drought, rain being unknown from April to October of that year, and the summer was exceptionally hot. The same may be said of 1902 and 1911, which are years falling in the nine-year cycle. But 1894, 1903 and 1912 were wet summers, and the temperature also abnormally low. Dr. Goad, who studied meteorology from the same standpoint of cosmic interplay, considered that Mars was of chief importance in weather predictions. Some people appear to think that the icebergs on which the Titanic foundered are responsible for the wet summer of 1912. I dare venture the opinion that it was something many degrees warmer than an iceberg. That icebergs in the temperate zone have a tendency to condense the air and so to produce rain seems reasonable, but who loosed the chains that bind the icebergs to the poles. Undoubtedly it was our Vulcan.
In a scheme of thought that regards the whole world as a symbol, and that is the standpoint we are taking in this study of the cosmos, planets are not necessarily causative but they are necessarily symbolic. The symbol of humanity is the number Nine, and this is the number of the planet Mars. Hence we may say that for the present and during the whole course of this age of the world’s evolution or unfoldment, we are under the dominion of Mars. The sooner we get into wireless communication with him and understand some of his ways the better it will be for us. For he is not only the maker of chains but the breaker of them, inasmuch as he represents both the Desire that fashions them and the Will that looses them.
Nine is also the cosmic factor. We have already seen that the precession of the equinoxes is at the rate of 1° in seventy-two years, and 30° or one sign in 2,160 years, the whole circle being completed in 25,920 years. All these numbers are multiples of nine. Twice nine gives us the solar cycle, three times nine the number of the asterisms, in six times nine years the eclipses move through one sign of the zodiac, and in 648 through the entire circle. But this is nine times seventy-two, and so we find ourselves again and again enmeshed by the network of a nonal necessity. As the Old Philosopher truly says: “Heaven’s net has large meshes, yet nothing escapes it!”
Applying this magic of the number nine to some of the deeper problems of human experience, we may profitably examine the symbolism of the asterisms, which are twenty-seven in number, or three nines. The Hindus have a period which they regard as the sum of life, extending to 108 years, which is twelve times nine. From this we may draw the conclusion that the Moon remains in one sign for nine years and that this sign reflects nine others. The system is connected with the Ashtottaradasha system to which reference has already been made, and of course, with the navamshas or ninefold divisions of the signs of the zodiac.
We have already seen that the ninth part of a sign of 30° is 3° 20´, and that each such part corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac. This may be seen in the Navamsha Table already given.
Let us suppose, for instance, that the Moon was in the sign Leo 22° 43´ at the birth of a person. By our Table it is seen that this corresponds with the sign Libra, which navamsha extends from 20° 0´ to 23° 20´ of the sign Leo. Then in order to find at what age Libra navamsha expires we say—
As 3° 20´ is to twelve months so is (23° 20´-22° 43´) 37´ to the answer. Now 3° 20´ is equal to 200´, so that if we multiply 37´ by twelve and divide by 200, we shall have the months required, namely, 2·22 months or two months seven days nearly. Therefore we know that the Moon is under the influence of Venus during the first two months of the life, and from Libra it passes to Scorpio, when it comes under the influence of Mars, and then to Sagittarius navamsha, where it is under the influence of Jupiter. With this navamsha the limits of the sign are reached, and the Moon in passing into the sign Virgo comes first under the navamsha of Capricorn which is ruled by Saturn, and from Capricorn it goes into Aquarius navamsha and is still under the influence of Saturn. And each navamsha is one year, so that we know that the period from two years and two months to four years two months is evil, for Saturn is privation, loss, darkness and death, and by the cyclic order of things this will recur every twelve years, since nine goes into 108 twelve times. Now it is a fact that in the case cited the cyclic recurrence of this influence of Saturn brought about at four years the death of the father, at fifteen the death of the grandfather, at twenty-seven the death of the mother, at thirty-nine the loss of all property. Similarly by this system of the cycle of nine twelves, at the Moon’s occursion into the navamsha of Cancer, which is the lunar influence disposing to changes, and which occurred at 8, 20, 32, and 44, there were radical changes in life and surroundings.
Any case can be worked out with perfect ease from the Table of Navamshas, and will serve to show that there is a veritable law of periodicity at work in the lives of men. Not that all events or periods recur at the end of twelve years as might be thought by the impatient student from the examples here given. On the contrary, it will be seen upon closer study that Jupiter has a period of three years, followed by one of nine years; Mars, one of five years, followed by one of seven; Venus one of seven, followed by one of five; Mercury one of nine years, followed by one of three; and so on. But all the planets recur eighteen times in the course of the cycle of 108 years, and the Sun and Moon nine times each. Then as there are five planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury, they will amount in all their periods to ninety years, and the Sun and Moon will amount together to eighteen years, thus making the complete cycle.
In the Brihat-Paras’arahora there are many systems of planetary cycles, employing the same factors variously, and all of them symbolically, since they do not depend on the true motions of the planets in their orbits. Indeed, the ancient writers appear to have devoted themselves very closely to the interpretation of cosmic symbology, and there are grounds which lead me to think that some of their famous Nadigranthams or Books of Destiny are built up entirely on a symbolical basis.
One of the most famous of these is the S’ukranadi in which the horoscopes are written out for every 6´ of the ecliptic rising, making some 21,600 different delineations. But in addition to this there are purva and uttara, or first half and latter half, subdivisions of each of the periods dealt with. The planets are distributed after a certain order beginning with the ruler of the rising sign, and this order differs according to the consideration whether the sign is cardinal, fixed or mutable.
By this means a complete interpretation of the permutations of the cosmical kaleidoscope is effected, and from various of the readings that have been submitted to me I am persuaded that there is without doubt a great deal of truth in them. One such grantham applies to all those who, whether European or Hindu, were born between the Vindhyas and the Himavats, but unfortunately, having other engagements of a karmic nature, I find myself among the large number whose horoscopes are not contained in the kadjan. These monumental works have hardly received the attention they deserve and I am therefore collecting information with a view to their analysis and study.
Another very important subdivision of the ecliptic circle is that of the Das’amsha or tenfold division of the sign into amshas of 3° each. Applied to the twelve signs we have as a result 120 divisions in the circle, answering to the Vimshottaradasha system of Planetary periods, notice of which has already been made. In this system the amshas do not run consecutively in the order of the signs of the zodiac through the various signs, but follow the order of the triplicities, known as the four “Elements,” Fire, Earth, Air, Water.
Thus the Fiery Triplicity comprises Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. The Das’amshas begin with Aries, and the first 3° or amsha of Aries is ruled by Aries, the first of Taurus by Leo, and the first of Gemini by Sagittarius. The first amsha of Cancer is ruled by Taurus, the first of Leo by Virgo, and the first of Virgo by Capricorn, these being the Earthy Triplicity. The first amshas of Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius are ruled by Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius, these being of the Airy Triplicity, and the first amshas of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces are ruled by the Watery Triplicity comprising the signs Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. The second amshas of Aries, Taurus and Gemini are ruled by the Earthy Triplicity, the third by the Airy and the fourth by the Watery, the triplicities then recurring again in their order. A study of the following Table of Das’amshas will make the arrangement quite clear.
The twelve signs of the zodiac which occupy the first column are seen to be divided into four groups answering to the four “Elements,” and the first divisions of these groups are occupied by the four Triplicities. These serve as entries or indices, and from them the signs run on in their natural order.
Those who uphold the Vimshottaradasha system, in which the circle is divided into 120 parts answering to 120 years of life, will find their interpretations from the occursions of the Moon into these amshas, each of which answers to one year of life. Thus the Moon remains in one sign for ten years, during which it successively passes through ten sub-signs or amshas, reflecting the nature of the planets governing those amshas. It then passes into the next sign and takes up ten influences successively, and so passes to the next sign. Thus in one complete circle of the zodiac it will take up 120 different influences exerted by the several planets in the various signs.
Figure 21. Table of Das’amshas.
But each das’amsha or division of 3° is reflected in an entire sign. Therefore each degree embraces 10° of the reflected sign. Thus the first 3° of the sign Aries correspond with the whole of the asterism Aries, using that term for purposes of distinction only, and each of these 3° will therefore correspond with 10° of the asterism, and every 6´ will correspond with 1°. Thus, if we take the first 3° of the sign Aries, we shall find that they correspond with the 30° of the asterism Aries, and the next 3° of the sign with the whole of the asterism Taurus, and so on. Here are the first 3° of the sign Aries reflected in the asterism Aries—
| Sign | Aster |
|---|---|
| 0° ♈ 6´ | 1° |
| 0 12 | 2 |
| 0 18 | 3 |
| 0 24 | 4 |
| 0 30 | 5 |
| 0 36 | 6 |
| 0 42 | 7 |
| 0 48 | 8 |
| 0 54 | 9 |
| 1 0 | 10 |
| 1 6 | 11 |
| 1 12 | 12 |
| 1 18 | 13 |
| 1 24 | 14 |
| 1 30 | 15 |
| 1 36 | 16 |
| 1 42 | 17 |
| 1 48 | 18 |
| 1 54 | 19 |
| 2 0 | 20 |
| 2 6 | 21 |
| 2 12 | 22 |
| 2 18 | 23 |
| 2 24 | 24 |
| 2 30 | 25 |
| 2 36 | 26 |
| 2 42 | 27 |
| 2 48 | 28 |
| 2 54 | 29 |
| 3 0 | 30 |
It is to be observed that in all these systems the Moon’s place at the moment of birth or other epoch is the basis of the calculation. The first of these I have been expounding bears the sign manual of Mars, inasmuch as it is a ninefold division of the sign, and the latter system is accordingly one that belongs to the Sun. The Hindus, who have many methods of subdividing the signs, from two to thirty divisions for each sign, have various uses also for the different methods, but the object of them all is towards an intelligent anticipation of the course of mundane events. In this direction the West has also developed some methods, which, on account of their simplicity, have found a certain vogue among the Arabs, and are even at this day exercising the ingenuity of reputable exponents of the predictive art. They are called by the Arabs, Alfridaries, and some examples of them are to be found in The Manual of Occultism. Let us look at some of the later evolved examples of the Alfridary.
CHAPTER XIX
ALFRIDARIES
Perhaps the simplest example of the Alfridary that we have received is that in which the Sun takes precedence in all Day births and the Moon in all Night births, the planets following the Sun in, the usual Chaldean order, and the Moon in the reversed order.
The oldest that is known to us in the West is that invented by Claudius Ptolemy in the second century. It is developed in the Tetrabiblos or Four Books on the Influence of the Stars, translations of which are easily obtained, the best being that by Ashmand. Under the head of Chronocrators, the Seven Ages of Man, so graphically described by the bard in As You Like It, are for the first time mentioned and placed under the dominion of the seven planets of the ancient solar system. Ptolemy’s invention consists in ascribing to these ages the number of years they extend, and applying to them certain periods of the planets and luminaries. Thus he makes the Moon to rule the first four years of life, the infant “mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms”; the next ten years are under Mercury, and denote the “schoolboy, with ... shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school.” The next eight years are under Venus, and represent “the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his mistress’ eyebrow.” The next nineteen are under the influence of the Sun, according to Ptolemy. The next fifteen under that of Mars, denoting the “soldier ... bearded like a pard ... sudden and quick in quarrel.” Jupiter rules the next twelve years and represents “the justice ... full of wise saws and modern instances.” Saturn, ruling the next thirty years, figures “the lean and slippered pantaloon.” Here the system of Ptolemy ends, and to this the poet, with that prophetic apprehension of ulterior need, adds a truly Uranian picture of that “second childishness and mere oblivion” which characterizes paralytic dotage. Astrologers have sought to apply this system of Chronocrators to the horoscopes of persons by taking into consideration the aspects held by these planets at the time of birth and judging of the period under consideration accordingly. Thus a person at whose birth Mars is an afflicting planet, as may be seen by its aspects to the Sun, Moon and other significant points of the horoscope, would suffer many troubles and misfortunes during the period from forty-one to fifty-six years of his age. One in whose horoscope Jupiter is a beneficent planet, as judged by its aspects, would similarly have good fortune and experience many benefits during the period of Jupiter from fifty-six to sixty-eight years of age. So in regard to the other Chronocrators. The scheme is set out in the following table—
Table of Chronocrators
By Ptolemy.
| Moon | 4 years. | From 1 to 4 inclusive. |
| Mercury | 10 ” | ” 5 ” 14 ” |
| Venus | 8 ” | ” 15 ” 22 ” |
| Sun | 19 ” | ” 23 ” 41 ” |
| Mars | 15 ” | ” 42 ” 56 ” |
| Jupiter | 12 ” | ” 57 ” 68 ” |
| Saturn | 30 ” | ” 69 ” 98 ” |
This may be taken as the foundation of a number of ambitious attempts to read light into the somewhat misty generalizations of the Alfridary. One of these has regard to the Moon’s position at birth, and employs the twenty-seven lunar mansions, so much in repute among the Orientals, the periods ascribed to the planets in this scheme being: Sun 10 years, Moon 9 years, Mars 7 years, Mercury 13 years, Jupiter 12 years, Venus 8 years, Saturn 11 years, making 70 in all, the planets following the order of the days of the week.
An extension of Ptolemy’s system of Chronocrators seems to be a very feasible scheme, but to give it more particular application to the needs of the practical astrologer it is found necessary to subdivide the periods allotted to each of the planets.
For various reasons I should be disposed to adhere to the period of 108 years, as being so uniformly reflected in the cosmical order of things, and there appears no reason why one planet should have a longer period than another, seeing that in some horoscopes the Moon may have the major influence and in others Saturn or another planet, and hence would dominate the life more particularly. While it rules its influence is paramount, and that is all that we can logically say of it. The attempt to ascribe periods which are partly astronomical and partly symbolical is at all events inconsistent, and only invariable experience of their validity would warrant us in accepting them.
I propose, therefore, to employ all the known operative factors of the cosmos, and to give to each of them a period of twelve years, and since there are nine factors, there will be 108 years in the circle of life represented by this scheme. The Chaldean order is adhered to, and the Period is ruled first of all by the planet which heads it, and is followed by the others in succession, or rather in rotation, for that which rules the first subdivision of one Period will be last in the sub-periods of the next Period, as the following table will show.
The Moon is seen to rule from 0 to 12, Mercury from 12 to 24, Venus from 24 to 36, Sun from 36 to 48, Mars from 48 to 60, Jupiter from 60 to 72, Saturn from 72 to 84, Uranus from 84 to 96, and Neptune from 96 to 108. Taking into consideration the known characteristics of the several planets (all the bodies are regarded as planets from the point of view of a stationary earth), these periods will, I venture to think, appear as satisfactory as those of the Ptolemaic method, while the inclusion of Uranus and Neptune should render the system complete.
Figure 22-a. Planetary Periods by Sepharial.
Figure 22-b. Planetary Periods by Sepharial.
Figure 22-c. Planetary Periods by Sepharial.
An objection which has been raised against the Ptolemaic system of Planetary Periods, and which on the same grounds may be raised against this one, deserves consideration. It is said that it is extremely unlikely that all persons are under the same planetary influence at the same age. In this I should concur were it intended that a single planet entered into the equation. Such, however, is not the case. For although all persons are under the influence of the Moon at a certain period of their life, and all of the same age are under the same periodic influence at the same time, yet it must be remembered that in the large variety of horoscopes which arise out of astronomical changes during even a single month, it is extremely unlikely that any number of persons of the same age were born under the same conditions, and in one horoscope we shall find the Moon afflicted, in another well aspected, and so on.
Consequently, the Moon Period in these horoscopes will be variously interpreted. For if the planet governing the Period in force at any age is well placed and aspected at birth, then the period will be a fortunate one, and vice versa. Moreover, the sub-periods involving the introduction of a subsidiary influence into the Period will be interpreted in terms of the aspect the sub-period planet bears to the Period planet at the moment of birth, and thus an infinite variety of interpretations are afforded by the consideration of the various houses, signs and aspects held by the planets in the radical or birth horoscope.
Each planet then will rule in succession for a Period of twelve years, during which it will bring into play the conditions indicated by its position and aspects at birth. The same planet will rule for the first sub-period of that Period, and will be followed by the other planets in Chaldean order. Each sub-period will extend over one year and four months, and will import an influence agreeable to the nature of the planet ruling it, as well as an influence in terms of its radical relations to the Ruler of the Period.
Thus if at birth the Moon were badly aspected, then during the first twelve years of life there would be poor fortunes and changes adverse to the interests of the subject. If Venus were in bad aspect there would be sickness and family trouble at from two years eight months to four years of age, which is the Venusian sub-period of the Moon Period. Any planet in the eighth sign from the Moon would import danger of death in the family, and would threaten the life of the subject himself during the sub-period of such planet. Similarly a planet in the second from the Period planet shows gain; in the third journeys; in the fourth change of residence, adversity to the parents; in the fifth benefits; in the sixth sickness of the nature of the sub-period planet; in the seventh adversity, rivalries, hurts; in the eighth loss and death; in the ninth voyages and foreign affairs; in the tenth honours; in the eleventh new associations and allies; in the twelfth bondage, restraint, anxieties, etc.
It would appear that all the Alfridaries in existence are modelled upon the das’a systems of the Hindus. In some of these the order of the periods and sub-periods is regulated by considerations of precedence established in the horoscope of birth, but I have been unable to obtain any definite information which will guide one surely to a correct disposition of the various factors, and I have therefore abandoned them in favour of one that appears to me to have regard to cosmical symbolism, and at the same time to include the application of considerations of an individual and radical nature, such as those obtaining in the horoscope of birth.
Thus every person born into the world is regarded as a variant of the cosmical elements, a concrete symbol in himself, born under horoscopical conditions which are part of his greater environment and related to a world of life in which, for good or ill, he is required to function in terms of his own nature. Hence the statement, which I hold to be inviolable, that the planets affect us only in terms of ourselves. The superman will have to be content to take incarnation as he finds it. Without lying idle on the shelf for some ages he cannot wait for the stars in their courses to wheel into position for the striking of the perfect die. In all ages and nations there are such things as horoscopical misfits, where the individual finds insuperable difficulty in the way of perfect expression of character. But if we all try to do our best in the circumstances allotted to us, we shall give to the personal symbol a new and a better value than it has hitherto possessed. It is this fact of human perfectibility that gives to astrological interpretations an ever increasing interest. We see how the anciently destructive forces of the planet Mars are converted by human evolution into the executive ability of the man of action. How the ostentation of the Jovian plutocrat is changed to the benevolence of the true philanthropist, and how even the mean sordidness of the ancient Saturn becomes the constructive carefulness of the social economist. And from the remnants of this old universe of ours, maintaining its cosmic integrity for ever, there shall at length be evolved “a new heaven and a new earth.” For as the expression of divine Ideation, the universe is the revelation of God to man, and this His handwriting in the heavens means more than all the wisdom of all the ages has yet deciphered. Cosmic Symbolism, of which here we are only dealing with the crudest elements, will hereafter come to be regarded as the subject of man’s highest intuitions, the embodiment of a perfected wisdom. Only when the last word of the last chapter of the Gospel of Nature has been read and understood will the heavens be rolled away as a scroll and the Word be fulfilled which said: “Behold I make all things new!” For our God is in the making.
CHAPTER XX
IN THE LUMBER ROOM
Almost every home has a lumber-room, a place where all the out-of-date articles, derelict furniture, oddments of all sorts, are stored. Nobody ever goes there except the man who wants a bit of stuff to fit something, one of those quaint little notions that inventive men with time on their hands are always at work upon. And almost every mind has its lumber-room. The world has a huge depository of this sort. Into this lumber-room of forgotten things I would have you come with me, you who are interested in odd ideas.
Time was when the world believed that there was an inherent relativity in things, and that nothing existed for itself alone. That is one of the notions that we have thrown into the lumber-room. But as it fits my needs I will bring it out into the daylight and have a look at it. The belief that is now current in the world regarding the universe is that it is a congeries of detached bodies, each existing for itself alone, inhabited, maybe, or not inhabited, but capable of sustaining life of some sort. There they are, out yonder, but what has that to do with us? Well, the old-world notion was that by taking a dozen or so of pieces of wood of various shapes and sizes and fitting them together you could make what they called a chair. But nobody ever thought either that the chair could make itself, or that the shapes, as they called them, constituted a chair without being fitted together. The fitting was the most important part of the business. A man picking up a shape would call it a chair leg or whatever it might be, a back, thwart, side or seat. None of them could be called a chair, but each of them suggested it. Their use was in their relativity, their interdependence, their connectedness. So it is with the throne of God, which is the universe. That ancient notion of relativity—you will find it in the Mahabharata or that section of it which they call the Sacred Song—was a good one.
This earth of ours is a comparatively small planet in a system of worlds. It does not exist for itself alone, nor do those others which surround it. Crude thinkers, without perspective, believed the earth to be very big because it filled the eye. A threepenny-piece will cover the Moon at arm’s length. It is all a matter of proportion. But the deeper thinkers knew better, and if they were foolish enough to suppose that the planets existed for this earth they also believed that the earth existed for the planets, and they for one another. Interplanetary action was believed in before Ptolemy wrote his book on the Influence of the Stars, or Kepler had framed his cosmic laws, or Newton had found the glue to hold the pieces together. The Carpenter had been at work before ever man opened his blinking eyes to the morning sun, and what I have called the Throne of God was made by Him for His own use. It is ours to look and marvel.
This notion of planetary interaction, the idea that planets act and react upon one another, involves that other which Science has not yet condescended to observe, namely, planetary action in human life. Tycho and Kepler, who argued things to their logical conclusion, believed in it. Well, there are books enough on the subject already for those who would learn about it, and I do not intend to add another to the number. But I would like to revive an odd notion or two which even the dealers in antiques, I mean the astrologers, especially the modern ones, have relegated to the lumber-room.
One may even be excused for believing that planets, so nearly linked up with the destinies of our earth, may have a direct action of a subtle kind upon our lives and thought. But the idea that the Moon’s Nodes may have such an influence is beyond all saving, at least so think our modern astrologers. Yet this was an ancient belief, and it survives at this day in India and other parts of the world. But then, you will argue, they are not bodies at all but mere points. So is the actual centre of the Sun on which the universe revolves. Your point is nothing—or everything, as you will. I am not looking at the bodies themselves but what they signify to us. I am looking at the Universe as Symbol, I am trying to get at its meaning. If the planets may be regarded as symbols, so may the Moon’s Nodes. They tried to give them a real existence as the head and tail of the Dragon, the devourer of the Sun and Moon. But this was for the popular fancy, as one might put off a child with a fairy tale rather than afflict him with a lecture on astronomy. They who calculated the positions of the Sun and Moon and predicted eclipses, knew how to bring the Dragon to heel, and they knew his feeding times. They used that knowledge to enslave a whole people, and haply the same knowledge may help to set them free. Nevertheless, they ascribed to the Moon’s Nodes a specific influence in human life, or more correctly a special signification. One could have affirmed from a mere knowledge of this significance that astronomy was first studied in northern latitudes, for we see that the ascending node, that point at which the Moon crosses the ecliptic in its upward course, was regarded as fortunate, while the descending node was unfortunate. And what they knew of the southern climes was evidently not much, for they called them Patala and Avitchi, and figured the descent of the soul into the depths of a great despair from the circumstance of the Moon’s southern course. But all this was a symbolism not invented by man, for he regulates neither the Moon’s orbit nor its Nodes, and had no hand in the making of eclipses. It was there for him to read, and that is how he read it. Some astrologers say that they were wrong. Others are more cautious. They seem to have observed that certain periods in their lives coincided with the transits of these Nodes over the places of the luminaries, the Mid-heaven and the Ascendant of their horoscopes, and they have made due note of the fact, leaving the uninitiated to decide for themselves by experience as to which is the right way to hang up a horse-shoe for luck. Yet among those who say it should be one way and those who say the other, there are few indeed who are aware of the fact that they are using the ancient symbol of the Moon’s Nodes ☊ and ☋.
But if the Moon’s Nodes have any symbolical meaning and can be used for purposes of prediction, so surely should the Nodes of the other planets, whose influence, gravitation excepted, is quite as great as hers. It is at all events just as well that we should have them under observation, and so I give them here.
Nodes of the Planets for 1900, with their mean motions for one Century.
| Ascending | Descending | Motion | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neptune | Leo | 9° 43´ | Aquarius | 9° 43´ | 1° 6´ |
| Uranus | Gemini | 13 17 | Sagittary | 13 17 | 26 |
| Saturn | Cancer | 22 5 | Capricorn | 22 5 | 53 |
| Jupiter | Cancer | 9 24 | Capricorn | 9 24 | 1 0 |
| Mars | Taurus | 18 2 | Scorpio | 18 2 | 46 |
| Venus | Gemini | 15 44 | Sagittary | 15 44 | 52 |
| Mercury | Taurus | 17 9 | Scorpio | 17 9 | 1 12 |
The Moon’s Node retrogresses through the entire zodiac in 18 years 225 days, which is at the rate of 19° 20´ per annum, and about 3´ per day. The Nodes of all the other bodies are direct in motion.
Out of this same lumber-room I can bring another piece of neglected furniture, which possibly may suit somebody’s convenience, for some men build shanties out of old timber and others build theories out of anything. Mr. William Lilly, whose patrons were King Charles and the Great Reformer, Sir Elias Ashmole, and others of great fame, gave us the secret of one of his most alarming and successful predictions. Not that these latter are intended to alarm, but to forewarn and admonish. He says that his prophecy of the Great Plague and the Fire of London, 1665-6, was effected by means of the Aphelion of the planet Mars, which he noticed was due to ingress to the sign Virgo, that ruling the monarchy of England in his day, about that time. Astronomy was not a neat science in the time of Lilly, and he wisely refrained from giving a date for the fulfilling of his Prophetic Hieroglyphs, but he published them so well in advance of the double event as to secure himself against a possible margin of error in the calculations. In a preceding chapter the reader will find the calculation referred to. In effect Master Lilly was called before the Committee of the House of Parliament and there interrogated as to the founding of his prediction, and what light he could throw upon the matter. It is reported that he acquitted himself creditably and was thanked for his services. But mark you, Lilly said nothing about the Horoscope of the Monarchy nor the Aphelion of Mars, because doubtless he knew himself to be in the presence of learned men who made laws and not horoscopes, and whose business it was to prevent plagues and fires, not to predict them. But to the student of astrology he has very candidly delivered his whole mind on the matter.
Now I have thought that if one man finds the Aphelion of a planet to be effectual in producing or indicating certain events in agreement with the nature of the planet concerned, others may be able to do the same with other planets, regard being had to their Aphelia. Of course the whole thing may be a bogey, and Lilly may be hiding his light in a bushel. Commander Morrison, who was a clever man and a good astronomer, sought to prove that the Fire was due to the precession of the Bull’s North Horn to the ascendant of the City of London. The reader knows that since this entry of the Bull into the City the herd has greatly increased, and there are so many of them as to constitute another Plague, were it not that they have let loose a host of Bears to demolish them. Morrison’s idea is ingenious, and works out to a fraction, but unfortunately he did not predict the Fire and the Plague, while Lilly did. Therefore I am bound to accept Lilly’s explanation of his performance; and his reason appears a good one, is in agreement with the facts, and employs the astrology of the planet Mars in a consistent and satisfactory manner. Further, I am bound by that performance and that reasoning to examine the effects likely to be produced by the Aphelia of the other planets. Here is a statement of their positions.
Aphelia of Planets for 1900, with motions for 100 years.
| Neptune | Scorpio | 13° 47´ | 1° 25´ per century. |
| Uranus | Pisces | 18 49 | 1 28 ” |
| Saturn | Capric. | 0 54 | 1 50 ” |
| Jupiter | Libra | 12 43 | 1 35 ” |
| Mars | Virgo | 4 15 | 1 52 ” |
| Venus | Aquar. | 9 57 | 1 21 ” |
| Mercury | Sagit. | 15 55 | 1 34 ” |
Looking over these positions of the Nodes I find one from which I can strike an Epoch at once. It is that of Saturn’s Aphelion ingress to the sign Capricornus, which is found to have taken place in the year 1850. There are four countries which are ruled by the sign Capricornus in which at this time there were great upheavals, namely, India, Greece, Mexico and New Zealand. India was engaged in the Sikh War against the forces of the Moolraj, a whole Bengali regiment was disbanded for mutiny, and Sir Charles Napier shortly resigned the command. Eight years of unrest followed, culminating in the great Mutiny, and the rule of the East India Company came to an end. Meanwhile Mexico was engaged in a fierce war with the United States, and the political convulsions ended in the resignation of President Arista. Four Presidents succeeded one another in the space of three years, and the country eventually established a new Constitution under General Comonfort in 1857. Greece at this time came into conflict with the British and other European governments because of its oppressions and its non-payment of debts to foreign subjects. Insurrections and blockades continued for some years and a change of the Ministry eventually brought about an agreement of neutrality under the royal seal. New Zealand at the same time was acting under the Charter granted to Sir George Grey and founding new townships. In 1850, the year of Saturn’s Aphelion ingress, the New Zealand Company relinquished its Charter and a new Constitution was formed, which was in force from 1852 to 1857, when it was modified.
In every case the effects of such changes as took place in these several Constitutions at this period were, I think, exceedingly beneficial, and this is what might be expected from the circumstance of Saturn coming into his own territory, for Capricornus is one of the cardinal or political signs, and is ruled by Saturn.
But the motions of the Aphelia are so slow that many centuries have to elapse before a new ingress is made, and this is hardly the way in which one would seek to prove or disprove the symbolism of such phenomena. One would rather consider that the influence of the several planets is vested in their Aphelia, and then observe what effects follow the transits of other planets over those places, and what effects are due to the direction of the Significators, Sun, Moon, Mid-heaven and Ascendant, to the places of these Aphelia in the prime vertical. But I find myself talking the jargon of the astrologers, as Lytton would say, whereas I am supposed to be talking about Cosmic Symbolism.
Figure 23.
What are these Aphelia of the planets, and how does their symbolism attach to us as humans? The Aphelion of a planet is that point in its orbit, or imaginary orbit—for we have already disposed of the elliptical theory—where it is at its greatest distance from the Sun. And if these planets severally correspond with certain principles of our human constitution, they may be said to have greater play and to be in a condition to exert more of their own natures at such times than at others, and proportionately less at other points in their orbits, and least when in perihelion. For then those principles and planets are enslaved to the Sun and answer most fully to his all-embracing and compelling influence. A soul that is in its most perfect condition of physical manifestation may be said to be in its perihelion, whereas one that has shaken free to some extent from the gravitational pull of the sun of this nether world, and has winged its way into the outer regions of space, is to that extent in a condition of temporary liberation. One is almost tempted by this analogy to revert to the symbolism of the elliptical orbit, and to place in its empty focus another luminary or Spiritual Sun, such as that conceived by Swedenborg, and to say that these liberated souls are answering to the gravitational pull of that luminary. The idea is fascinating, both astronomically and symbolically, and since the kenofocus of the ellipse is not under lease to any of our scientific theorists, I will place my Spiritual Sun in that centre of the empyrean and complete my figure, as already exhibited in a preceding chapter.
Now we see what comes of rummaging in a lumber-room. All sorts of suggestions and possibilities, yet nothing perhaps that anybody would be willing to bring back into daily use. These musty, time-worn and out-of-date notions that nobody takes much note of may some day claim the attention of a Ben Hassam or somebody with a nose for things of value, and a scramble for priority will be the result. But alas! they have no market value. Planets, principles, orbits, aphelia, and nodes, they are all merely symbols in the everlasting Book of Life.
CHAPTER XXI
THE LAW OF VIBRATIONS
In my Kabala I have shown that in the contest between Chance of the haphazard sort which is merely speculative, and that because it is grounded in ignorance, and Law which proceeds by method because it is based on cosmic principles, the latter wins an easy victory, not once but always. I showed that the divisions of the day and night that we call Planetary Hours, whether they be artificial or not, have a certain security from the fact that they are founded on the cosmic order of planetary velocities. It was also shown that certain numbers answered to the several planets, and that these numbers bore a definite relationship to sound vibrations.
I have received such a lot of correspondence asking for further instruction along those lines that I feel constrained, if only to gain some little respite from my tormentors, to add a few pages here on the subject of Chance reduced to Law.
Without at all departing from the phonetic evaluation of sounds as given in the Universal Alphabet (Kabala, p. 30), it is possible to evolve a number of methods by which the same results may be reached, but I find none more satisfactory than that of the Law of Number and Vibration as related to Planetary Hours.
It has already been explained that Planetary Hours depend on the length of the day, or the time that the Sun is above the horizon, in any locality. Take, for instance, the 18th October, when the Sun is above the horizon for some 10½ hours. On that day the Sun sets in these latitudes at five o’clock, and these five hours are divided into six Planetary Hours, each of fifty minutes’ duration.
These Hours, again, are divided into seven Periods, each of which is governed by or related to a planet, and these Periods will therefore be about seven minutes in duration, since fifty divided by seven yields seven and a fraction. Then for this day we have the Planetary Hour equal to fifty minutes and the Planetary Period to seven minutes.
The usual mistake of those who have dealt with the use of the Planetary Hour is that they divide the whole time of the Sun’s diurnal arc by twelve, and apply these Hours to the time of sunrise. This must not be done. The quarters of the day must be dealt with separately, the quarter from sunrise to noon by itself, and that from noon to sunset by itself. Six Planetary Hours are always completed at noon. Thus on the 18th October aforesaid, the Sun rises at about 6.25, and consequently the time from sunrise to noon will be 5 hrs. 35 min. and this is equal to 335 minutes, which being divided by six yields the Planetary Hour for the first quarter of the day, namely, fifty-six minutes. Then, again, we find that the time of sunset is 5 p.m. and this is equal to 300 minutes, which, divided by six gives the Planetary Hour for the second quarter of the day as equal to fifty minutes.
This is very different to taking an average of fifty-three minutes for the Hour and applying it to sunrise, as the following comparative table will show.
| False Hours, begin | True Hours, begin |
|---|---|
| 6.25 sunrise. | 6.25 sunrise. |
| 7.18 a.m. | 7.21 a.m. |
| 8.11 ” | 8.17 ” |
| 9.4 ” | 9.13 ” |
| 9.57 ” | 10.9 ” |
| 10.50 ” | 11.5 ” |
| 11.43 ” | 12.0 noon. |
Having found that the afternoon Hours are each equal to fifty minutes in duration, we have to add this amount successively to noon to get the beginnings of the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Hours. These may be set out in a single line—
| 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th |
| 12.0 | 12.50 | 1.40 | 2.30 | 3.20 | 4.10 |
And if to these beginnings of Hours we add successively seven minutes, being one-seventh of the Hour of fifty minutes, we shall have the times at which the various sub-periods begin. But it is also necessary to affix the signature of the Planet ruling the Hours and Periods, and for this purpose we may note that the 8th Hour is always ruled by the planet that gives the day its name, as Mercury on a Wednesday, etc. The 18th October, 1911, was a Wednesday. Also note that the first Period of each Hour is ruled by the planet that gives its name to the Hour, the rest following in the usual Chaldean order.
The table when fully set out will therefore present the following appearance:—
Figure 24. Wednesday 18th October, 1911. Afternoon. Planetary Hours.
The reader will observe that in the periodic succession the 8th planet syncopates, and the next Hour commences with the succeeding planet. This is not so exceptional as at first it may appear, for we have analogies throughout nature of the syncopation of the octave. If you take a wire and stretch it across a bridge, as is done in the construction of a stringed musical instrument, you will find that it answers to a certain note when vibrated. At first sight you may be disposed to think that the vibration extends over the whole length of the wire. This, however, is not the case, for on closer observation you will find that at certain points along its length the wire is quite stationary, while the rest of it is vibrating. By placing the finger upon these neutral points or nodes and again vibrating the wire, you will find that they are the octaves of the open note produced by the wire when in free vibration. The following sketch shows the principle of these neutral points or nodes. They correspond to the 8th planet in the series.
Figure 25.
The vibration being the cause of what we sense as sound, non-vibration must correspond with silence, and so we know that the sound falls into silence and re-emerges again in the higher octave of vibration. This fact has an interesting application, which I cannot develop in this place, but which the student will take due note of.
Having now got our Planetary Hours into array, we are at once able to prove one or two of the occult axioms, the first being that composites of sound are reducible to numbers, and the second is that these numbers when reduced to their unit values correspond to one or other of the planets.
By the use of the universal alphabet of sound, known as the Phonetic Values, and which apply to all languages the world over, we may take the name of any person, animal or thing which is in evidence at a particular time and prove that its name value corresponds with the planet ruling the Period in force at the time. Let us put it to the test once more.
I do not know and should have difficulty in finding the names of persons who met with some distinction on the 18th October in the year 1911, but I do know that certain animals bearing distinctive names gained distinction by winning races at Gatwick on that particular day, and faute de mieux I will make use of them.
The first race was at 1.49. This was the Hour of the Moon and the Period of Saturn. Therefore we must look for the numbers 1 or 8. It was won by Tucker—4222-10-1.
The second event took place at 2.18, which is the same Hour of the Moon and the Period of Venus. We must therefore look for 3 or 6. The race was won by Acsu—1266-15-6.
The third event was at 2.48, in the Hour of Saturn and the Period of Mars. We look, therefore, for 5 or 9. The event was won by Lespedesa—316814171-32-5.
The fourth event took place at 3.15, which is the Hour of Saturn and the Period of Moon. We must look for a 2 or 7. It was won by Peristyle—8126413-25-7.
The fifth event was at 3.46, which is the Hour of Jupiter and the Period of Venus. We must therefore look for 3 or 6. The event was won by Wilfrid—63824—23—5. This does not harmonize, but we may note that Venus was in the sign Virgo, ruled by Mercury—5.
The last event was at 4.16, in the Hour of Mars and the end of the Period of Mars or the beginning of that of Sun. The latter gives us the number 4 or 1. The event was won by Gadfly—214831—19—10—1.
Here we see that without the slightest equivocation or deviation from the principle of evaluation of sounds already laid down, we obtain five direct responses out of six tests.
Let us go on to the next day at Sandown, when the day being Thursday, and the sunset about the same time, the 8th Hour will be ruled by Jupiter and the beginnings of the Hours will be—
| Jupiter | Mars | Sun | Venus | Mercury |
| 12.50 | 1.40 | 2.30 | 3.20 | 4.10 |
The Periods can be filled in as occasion requires.
The first event was at 1.30, and in the Hour of Jupiter and Period of Saturn. We therefore look for distinction to fall to one whose name is of value 1 or 8. The winner was Wild Duck—63422-17—8.
The second event, at 2.5, was in the Hour of Mars and the Period of Mercury. The number will therefore be 9 or 5. The winner was Myriad—41214-12—3. This is irregular, but it is seen that Mercury was then in the sign Libra, ruled by Venus, negative 3.
The third event was at 2.30, in the Hour of Sun and Period of Sun. We must expect 4 or 1 to win. The event was won by Runnymede—2251414-19-1.
The fourth event was at 3.7, in the Hour of Sun and the Period of Jupiter. We look therefore, for 6 or 3. The event was won by Sobieski—6621621-24-6.
The fifth event was at 3.38, and fell in the Hour of Jupiter and the Period of Moon, but verging on that of Saturn. The numbers of Moon are 2 and 7. The event was won by Jessica—31621-13-4. This may be regarded as an exception.
The last event was at 4.2, in the Hour of Venus and the Period of Sun. The event should fall to 4 or 1. It was won by Pretiva—821461-22-4.
Here again we have four out of six results in strict conformity with the rules of the Kabala of Numbers. It is not necessary to go further in this demonstration. Taking all the factors into account, the odds against nine out of twelve events coinciding with the requirements of the Law of Vibrations are enormous.
The practical use to which we could put such information as this law affords, is in the regulation of our efforts by the time factor. A person whose name is of value 8 must not look for success in the hour that is governed by Mars. He is sure to be cut out by one whose number is 9 if it is between sunrise and noon, or by one whose number is 5 if it is between noon and sunset. Similarly at other times. The putting forth of our highest powers is of little effect in this sublunary world unless we do so intelligently and in agreement with the Law of Astral Vibration. Moreover, a Mars man should not concern himself with things that belong to Jupiter, nor one under Saturn with those that are governed by Mars. An aviator or motorist who puts a number on his machine and sets it going in a Planetary Period that is at variance with the vibrations of that number, is asking for trouble. Where there is danger of accident the Periods of Mars and Saturn should be avoided, while those of Venus, Jupiter, and either the Sun or Moon when well aspected, should be chosen. By bringing ourselves into accord with natural operations we share in Nature’s power and efficiency. It is what the ancients called the “Covert Agreement.” The fact of your having penetrated the secret of the gods enables you to claim their protection. The Masters of Wisdom are in league with Nature for the protection and benefit of mankind. This is what I have elsewhere referred to as the Divine Conspiracy.
CHAPTER XXII
THE EQUALIZATION OF EPOCHS
A considerable importance attaches to the proper understanding of Epochs, so that when a statement is made in terms of one Epoch we should be able to refer it at once to another with which we are familiar. There are several astronomical Epochs of this nature which are frequently used and ought to be known. Those who are interested in tracing the astral cause of events often find themselves debarred from research through ignorance regarding the data employed. Much of this trouble can be overcome by the determination and equalization of Epochs.
Ptolemy, to whom we are indebted for a great number of scientific statements in addition to his astronomical observations and those of Hipparchus which he has preserved to us, makes use of two important Epochs. The first is that of Nabonasser. The first year of his reign was in the year 747 B.C., and the month Thoth began on the 26th February in that year. Hence Nab. 1, Thoth 1 constitutes an Epoch equivalent to Feb. 26, 747 B.C. But this latter is the secular date and the astronomical is one less, namely, 746 B.C. The reason for this is that the secular date A.D. 1 passes directly to the year 1 B.C., when counting backwards, whereas the astronomical account makes A.D. 1 refer back to A.D. 0, and then to 1 B.C. Hence all dates before the Christian Era are given in secular accounts as one year more than the astronomical. Now as to the Egyptian months used by Ptolemy. These were—
| 1. | Thoth | February. |
| 2. | Paophi | March. |
| 3. | Athyr | April. |
| 4. | Choiac | May. |
| 5. | Tybi | June. |
| 6. | Mechir | July. |
| 7. | Phamenoth | August. |
| 8. | Pharmuthi | September. |
| 9. | Pachon | October. |
| 10. | Payni | November. |
| 11. | Epiphi | December. |
| 12. | Mesori | January. |
Each month contained thirty days, and there were five days at the end of the year which they called the Epagomene. The year began at noon on the first of Thoth.
Another Epoch used by Ptolemy, and frequently referred to by the Greeks, is that of Calippus. The Calippic Period was invented by the man whose name it bears and dates to the year 330 B.C. It is a period of 76 years, which is four times 19, and was designed to bring the new and full moons to the same date of the solar year.
The Olympiads were in use among the Greeks, and began in the year 776 B.C., on the 1st July (O.S.). Each Olympiad consists of four years, and in marking a date the number of the Olympiad and the year of that Olympiad are given. Thus the first of Calippus would fall in the third year of the 112th Olympiad. The astronomical years equivalent to these are, for the Olympiads 775 B.C., and for the Calippic Period 329 B.C.
The Kali Yuga is an Indian Epoch which began at the New Moon of February 3102 B.C.—Feb. 5th. The Epoch of Salivahana in use among the Dravidians of India is the year A.D. 78.
The Chinese Cycle of years began in the year 2696 B.C. (astronomical), at the New Moon of February, the Sun being then half-way between the Solstice and the Equinox.
But even when we have the Epochs equalized there are difficulties depending from this determination of Epoch. This is particularly the case with the Indian calendarics. They have in India a solar year divided into solar months, and a lunar year which is divided into lunar months. Thus the first of Mesham is that point of time when the Sun enters the first point of the constellation Mesham. This is about the 12th April. But the first of As’wini is the day of New Moon in the constellation As’wini, and this, of course, is a variable date, depending on the position of the New Moon in relation to the first point of Mesham.
But whatever may be the date given in terms of the Indian Calendar, before we can apply it we have to know in what relations our zodiac stand to theirs. They have a fixed point from which they make their calculations. This is Zeta Piscium, which marks the beginning of the constellations, and it corresponds with the first of Mesham, or the Sun’s ingress to the constellation Aries. We, on the other hand, count from the Vernal Equinox, the point at which the Sun crosses the Equator in the spring. This point, in relation to the fixed constellations, is continually shifting westward at the rate of about 50´´ per year, and this is what is known as the precession of the Equinoxes.
The point we have to make is the relation of the Equinox to the first point of Mesham. The difference is what is called Ayanámsha. The difficulty in the matter of calculation has been—(a) the exact rate of precession during past centuries, which has only been determined in comparatively recent years, and (b) the unsatisfactory condition of Indian astronomical data. But these latter, with the advance of more exact methods in modern centres of Indian learning, have been considerably improved, and it is now justifiably possible to attempt an equalization of the two astronomical Epochs.
Very much depends on this, for it is quite impossible to study the Indian astrological literature without being able to refer their quantities to terms of our modern Western ephemerides or astronomical tables. When, for instance, the Indian books say that a certain yoga or conjunctions of planets in Kumbha means a particular thing, or has a particular signification, they mean the constellation Aquarius, and it will depend on the relations of this constellation to our corresponding sign Aquarius, as to what we are to understand. Also in the determination of the various periods depending on the Moon’s longitude at an Epoch, such as that of birth, we have to convert the Moon’s longitude into terms of our zodiac before we can apply their interpretations, or synchronize the periods with our own calendar. I have therefore agitated for a long time past for a thorough examination of the matter, and in despair of collaboration in other directions I applied to Dr. V. V. Ramanan of Madras, one of the most distinguished pandits of Southern India, and found in him a most useful and able exponent of ancient Indian learning.
The first attempt at a determination of the Epoch or point of time when the Equinox coincided with the first point of Mesham was from a comparison of the length of the solar year as given in the Suryasiddhanta and the value given in the best European works. It is seen that the Indian year is longer than the European estimate by 3 min. 20·4 sec.
Now it is said that the Sun entered the sign Mesham in the year 1900 at 30 ghatikas 50 vighatikas after sunrise at Ujjain, on the 12th April. This equals 12th April, at 1 hr. 31 min. 28 sec. p.m., Greenwich mean time. The Sun’s longitude was then 22° 11´ 4´´ from the Vernal Equinox, and this divided by the mean rate of precession yields 1594 years, which taken from 1900 gives A.D. 306 as the Epoch. Let us check this result.
We have seen that the Indian year is estimated at 3 min. 20·4 sec. more than the European. If then we multiply this amount by 1594, the number of years since the Epoch, we shall have 3 days 16 hrs. 45 min. 37·6 sec. as the total increment. The Sun in this time moves at a mean rate 3° 38´ 43´´, and as this amount represents the excess of the Indian solar year over the European during 1594 years, we should take it from 22° 11´ 4´´ in order to obtain the true difference in longitude between the Vernal Equinox and Mesham 0° in the year 1900. This leaves 18° 33´ 21´´, which, being divided by the mean rate of precession 50·1´´, gives 1335 years. Allowing for the difference of the Sun’s anomaly and the consequent increase of longitude, we should make the longitude 19° 4´ 7´´ and the Epoch 1372 years, which would give the year A.D. 528, as compared with A.D. 306 by the former calculation.
This clearly shows that there is some miscalculation in the Ujjain estimate of the Sun’s ingress, and I am confirmed in this by a note from Dr. Ramanan in which he says that “According to Bhaskaracharya in his Graha-ganitádhyáya, the Vernal Equinox of Kali Yuga 3628 (A.D. 527), coincided with the starting-point of the Hindu ecliptic.” He adds that “the so-called fixed Indian Zodiac is not thought to be really fixed, but is subject to a slow motion of about 8´´ per year eastwards. The zero point of Indian longitude is thus subject to a slight annual displacement, and this motion is a practical postulate of Hindu Siddhántas.”
But so far we have based all our calculations on estimates made from the Hindu Siddhánta and not from modern observations. Necessarily correct evaluations made from the same source would work out to the same figures, and it is therefore important that we should again check the results by reference to modern sources.
In the Panchángam for Kumbakonam 1912 it is stated that the Sun enters Vrishabham (constellation Taurus) on 13th May at 36 gh. 5 vigh. after sunrise.
Sunrise at Kumbakonam, Lat. 11° North, on this date—
Tan. log. of 11 degs. 9·28865 For lat. 51° 30´ 0·09939
Sun’s decl. 6 a.m., 18.18 9·51946 9·51946
———————— ———————
Sine log., 3° 41´ 18·80811 Sine log., 24° 34´ 9·61885
less 3° 41´
———————
20° 53´
4
—————————
83m. 32s.—1h. 23m. 32s.
This represents the difference of sunrise due to latitude. That is to say, a place in 11° North latitude, and on the same meridian as Greenwich, would have its sunrise 1 hr. 24 min. later than Greenwich on the 13th May, 1912. Now the sunrise on this date at Greenwich was at 4 hrs. 13 min. a.m., and therefore at Kumbakonam the sunrise would be at 5 hrs. 37 min. a.m.
The longitude of Kumbakonam is 5 hrs. 18 min. east of Greenwich, and the equivalent Greenwich time of sunrise at Kumbakonam will be G.M.T., 0 hr. 19 min. a.m.
The Sun’s longitude at this time according to the Greenwich ephemeris is 1s. 21° 51´ 57´´, which we may call Taurus 21° 52´. This, therefore, represents the Indian estimate of the present value of Ayanámsha.
The mean rate of Equinoctial Precession for the past eighteen centuries being 50·1´´ per year, we must divide 21° 52´ by this amount of precession to obtain the year of coincidence. The result is 1571 years, which, being taken from the present year 1912, gives the year A.D. 341 as that in which the two zodiacs coincided. But by taking the actual precession for 1912 and the increment for t years where t equals 1571 - 62, or 1509 years, we have the actual precession as equal to 50´´ per year nearly, and 21° 52´ divided by 50´´ is 1574, the years to be taken from 1912, which gives the year A.D. 338. According to our estimate of the rate of precession, therefore, the Epoch will vary between A.D. 338 and 341. In round numbers, therefore, we may regard the year A.D. 340 as that of the coincidence of the zodiacs, and the number of years since elapsed multiplied by the mean rate of 50·1´´ will give the increment known as Ayanámsha for any date since the Epoch.
But I find an entry in the Ephemeris of Kumbakonam to this effect.
“Mean amount of precession at commencement of K.Y. 5014 (A.D. 1912), 22° 27´ 20´´. Rate of precession, 50·26´´.”
Now if we divide the above amount of precession by the rate we shall get 1612 years, which would give the Epoch A.D. 300, whereas, as we have seen, other data in the Ephemeris lead us to the year A.D. 340. Now I have checked the Kumbakonam Ephemeris, and find that so far as the Solar ingresses are concerned they agree with the Nautical Almanac, and there would therefore appear to be no reasonable doubt that if the true amount of precession is here given, the true Epoch for the coincidence of the zodiacs has been found. But I am advised by Dr. V. V. Ramanan that there is an increment not generally recognized by either the Indian or European astronomers, but which is nevertheless an essential part of the calculation. It is that of the progression of the asterisms or constellations from west to east, along the order of the signs at the rate of 8´´ per year, to which I have already referred in an extract from one of his valuable letters. If, therefore, we add this 8´´ to the annual precession 50·1´´, we shall have 58·1´´ as the total precession of the Equinoxes on the first point of As’wini, and then if we further divide the amount of precession for the year 1912 as given in the Panchángam, namely, 22° 27´ 20´´ by 58·1´´, we shall get 1390 years, which taken from 1912 yields the year of coincidence A.D. 521.
From various sources, therefore, we have the years A.D. 300, 306, 338, 527, 528 and 521. The former dates take account only of the precession of the Equinoxes on a fixed zodiac, whereas the latter take into account also a direct motion of this so-called “fixed” zodiac which amounts to 8´´ per year, and which has to be applied to the precession. It is further to be observed that the Epochs 338 and 306, variously derived above, are unified by the adoption of 58·1´´ as the total annual precession of the Equinoxes on the first point of As’wini. It needs but quotation of authority for this increment of 8´´ in order to establish the date of zodiacal coincidence beyond disputation, at all events within the limits of a very few years.
The above questions have an historical interest. Varahamihira, who mentions the coincidence of the solstices with the cardinal constellations Makaram and Katakam as having taken place in his day, has not been finally placed by the chronologists. Astronomical notes made by him have chiefly been used for this purpose, and the writing of his book the Brihat-samhita, in which the above note occurs, is on these grounds fixed at A.D. 505.
But then we have to remember that Mihira speaks only in general terms when he refers to the coincidence of the zodiacs. He had no instruments which would have enabled him to make a close observation, but he could make certain approximations from the meridian transit of some of the chief stars in the constellations. We have no reason, therefore, to expect more than an approximate agreement of the date of Mihira with that of the true coincidence of the zodiacs. The Graha Laghava, which is in general use in India, gives this latter as A.D. 522 or 444 Shaka.
The Shaka Epoch is known to be A.D. 78. Dr. V. V. Ramanan gives reasons for accepting the year A.D. 525. In the present state of the controversy I see no reason against this Epoch.
CHAPTER XXIII
LUNAR INFLUENCE
The average notion of the Moon’s action is that it affects the tides and lunatics. Beyond this the popular encyclopedia does not go, and the average man himself is not observant of anything in Nature except the way of his fellow-man.
A little study, however, will show that the Moon, while influencing the tides, affects also all fluidic life on the globe. It appreciably affects the sap-cells of plants and trees. It exerts a direct influence on blood pressure in the animal body, and consequently affects the brain and nervous system of human beings, and excites a variety of passions and impulses which are but remotely connected with the lunar orb itself.
It may even be a fact that on account of the observed influence of the Moon upon the physical system of man, the ancients said that it ruled “the populace,” and made of it a common significator of public affairs. For it must be remembered that the belief in lunar influence in mundane affairs, ordinarily presumed to be of human origination and under human control, was prevalent before the days of printing and encyclopædic knowledge, possibly before the art of writing was invented, and men then depended entirely on their powers of observation for whatever knowledge they had. As many of the ancient astronomical statements will show, their powers of observation were almost the equal of our scientific instruments. Thus Dr. Pouchet rightly says: “Hipparchus and Ptolemy had no instruments to scrutinize the heavens with. The astronomers of the Renaissance, such as Regiomontanus, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler, were scarcely more favoured, and yet how many immortal discoveries do we owe to them! They seem with their lynx eyes to have seen or divined everything!”
They observed not only the courses of the stars and planets as well as those of the luminaries, but what is of more human interest, they watched the effects that these bodies had upon the course of human events and upon nations and persons. That the Moon influenced the weather was the logical deduction from the fact of its influence upon the waters of the earth. For obviously the Moon must not only be water-lifter, but also a cloud-lifter, and its effects upon the atmosphere itself must be in proportion to the saturation point of the air from hour to hour according to the incidence of its rays. Only when all meteorological methods have failed to indicate the kind of weather we are likely to have, to predict the kind of summer we shall have, or even to explain such as we have, then men throw about for new ideas, and frequently manage to seize upon old ones. This of the Moon’s influence on the weather is one such.
I have this following note of intelligence from the Daily Mail of the 14th August last: “The tides follow the Moon; local weather conditions are indisputably affected by the tides. Scientific meteorologists no doubt laugh the belief to scorn, but observers who are not scientific can produce sufficient data to prove that a change of weather coinciding with a change of the Moon is usually lasting.” The Daily Mail is right. But unfortunately the theory of the Moon’s influence on the weather has been badly distorted since the learned and observant Dr. Clark took the matter in hand and formulated a theory based on observations conducted over a very long period.
His theory goes to show that the Moon does not act directly upon the weather, but by a tidal action upon the Earth’s atmospheric envelope, which accordingly depends upon the time of the Moon’s syzygies and quadratures. It is this time-factor that has been overlooked and neglected. Reduced to a single sentence, the lunar theory may be stated as follows:—The nearer to midnight any phase of the Moon may occur, the finer will be the weather during the ensuing week, and consequently the nearer to midday it may occur, the more humid will be the weather. The barometer which shows the atmospheric pressure at a mean altitude will consequently be affected in terms of the above statements, and as it ranges from 28° to 30° over these islands, we may also indicate the state of the barometer from the Moon’s phases. For it will be seen that, so long as there is but moderate wind, the barometer will answer to the Moon’s phases in harmony with the weather. Very strong winds without rainfall will affect the barometer and register a fall. I have endeavoured to embody the whole of this theory of the Moon’s action on the weather in a single diagram.
Figure 26.
In attempting to account for a very wet summer in the year 1912, and a record downfall of rain in the month of August, I shall have to refer to the times of the phases of the Moon since the solstice. Here are the dates and times, taken from the Ephemeris of Greenwich.
| June 21. | First Quarter | 8.39 p.m. | Fair. |
| ” 29. | Full Moon | 1.34 p.m. | Wet. Stormy. |
| July 7. | Last Quarter | 4.47 p.m. | Unsettled. |
| ” 14. | New Moon | 1.13 p.m. | Wet. Stormy. |
| ” 21. | First Quarter | 5.18 a.m. | Change. |
| ” 29. | Full Moon | 4.28 a.m. | Change. |
| Aug. 6. | Last Quarter | 4.18 a.m. | Change. |
| ” 12. | New Moon | 7.58 p.m. | Change to Fair. |
| ” 19. | First Quarter | 4.57 p.m. | Unsettled. |
| ” 29. | Full Moon | 7.59 p.m. | Change to Fair. |
Here there are indications of plenty of variable and changeable weather, with splashes of very wet and stormy weather, and just a suspicion of fair in the whole period.
But this class of observation does not help us much, for there are other factors in the cosmos beside the Moon, which, although nearest the earth and exerting much influence of its own kind upon mundane things, is not a very considerable factor when regarded in its cosmic relations to other great bodies in the system. The idea that the Moon is the only body capable of affecting the weather is hardly to be sustained by reference to the facts. It is thoroughly well established that the phases of any of the planets, that is to say, their conjunctions, oppositions and quadratures with the Sun, as seen from the Earth, are accompanied by marked effects upon the weather. Dr. Clark’s theory seems to suggest that fine weather follows the Moon, or at all events that the weather will be finest in those places whereat the Moon is nearest the meridian at the time of one of its phases. There is a great deal to be said for this theory if we distinguish between the syzygies and quadratures.
But if the Moon has any action on the Earth’s atmosphere, the planets also must exert an appreciable effect, and it may lead to some well-established theory if we include the positions of certain of the planets at the quadratures and syzygies. In such case it is reasonable to presume that those planets which are near the meridian and horizon at the times of the equinoxes and solstices are likely to give us some indication of the probable weather during the following season, and similarly, such as are near these angles at the syzygy may show the modifications likely to occur during the ensuing month. A series of observations such as these would probably lead to the association of certain features of the weather with the various planets. Astrologers have already completed their observations, but that should not prevent an independent series of observations being made by those who wish to come to independent conclusions in the matter, and the subject is one that deserves attention at the hands of scientific men.
But lunar action does not begin and end with its effects on the weather. There are other and even more important effects to be noted, and although they are more recondite in their nature, and not so well grounded in reasons which would appeal to any but Occultists, they nevertheless deserve attention. One of these is the effect of the Moon in human affairs. We can all appreciate the effects that the Moon has on the waters, for we can see the rise and fall of the tides, but that more subtle influence that the luminary has upon the finer states of matter in and about the earth is not so readily appreciated. But it will be found none the less a fact if put to the test.
What we may call the tidal point is that point midway between the Sun and Moon at any time. Suppose it to be a new moon to-day, at the hour of noon. The Sun and Moon will then come to the meridian at the same time that they are conjoined in the same longitude. To-morrow they will be about 12° apart when they come to the meridian, and the next day they will be 24° apart. Now as one degree passes the meridian every four minutes, the daily difference of Tide-time will be (12 × 4)/2, or 24 minutes. Local conditions affect the time at which high tide occurs, and also the effect of the joint action of the Sun and Moon will take time to produce. Consequently we do not see that the tides exactly synchronize with the transit of the Tide-point.
But there is a great difference between ether and water, and between mind and matter. What we know as the Astral Tide occurs exactly at the time of the transit of the Tide-point, and this fact is of the highest importance to those who would avail themselves of celestial influences and take that tide at the flood which “leads to fortune.” There is an old adage which says: Who takes the Tide takes all. If, therefore, we take the difference in longitude between the Sun and Moon at any time, which distance is called the Moon’s elongation, and divide this by two, we shall obtain a point which passes the meridian at a time represented by this quantity multiplied by four minutes, before or after the Sun’s transit of the meridian, according as the Moon is increasing or decreasing in light. Thus, I would find the time of the Astral Tide on the 21st August, 1912.
Moon increasing in light, i. e. going to the Full.
Sun’s longitude at noon, Leo 28° 2´.
Moon’s longitude at noon, Sagittarius, 18° 33´.
Distance between them, 110° 33´.
Half this equals 55° 15½´.
Multiply by four—221m. 2s., or 2h. 41m. 2s.
Diurnal elongation of Moon, 11° 8´, or 28´ per hour.
This for 3 hrs. 41 min. 2 sec. amounts to about 1° 42´, which multiplied by four gives 6 min. 48 sec., and this added to the above first time of Tide, brings us to 3 hrs. 47 min. 50 sec., which is the time after the meridian transit of the Sun at which the Astral Tide will occur.
Reference to the almanac will show that on the 21st August the Sun passes the meridian at about four minutes after noon, and therefore the Greenwich mean time of the Astral Tide will be 3.52 p.m.
Now if you would float an idea, of whatever nature, let it go out upon the full tide, not when the tide is flowing in, and not when it is going out, but at the point of time when the tide is at the full and about to turn. But reflect that what you send out will come back to you laden with its burden of consequence. It is important, therefore, that the nature of your flotation should be scrutinized.
Astrologers the world over have always considered that the Moon exerts a great influence over human generation. We know that it plays a most important part in the normal functions of the human body, more especially as affecting the blood pressure. This may be the reason for its marked influence upon persons in certain forms of insanity. In my Manual of Astrology I have shown beyond all doubt that it exerts a powerful influence in the matter of sex, and also that there is an astronomical relation between the Moon’s motion and the process of generation culminating in birth. The ancients have said that the various months of parturition are under the successive influence of the planets, Saturn, Jupiter, etc., thus—
1st month under Saturn: Plasmic basis.
2nd month under Jupiter: Amnionic development.
3rd month under Mars: Limbal growth.
4th month under Sun: Quickening.
5th month under Venus: Sex distinction.
6th month under Mercury: Brain development.
7th month under Moon: Precocious birth.
8th month under Saturn: Abortive birth.
9th month under Jupiter: Normal birth.
Swedenborg has said that all children come from the Moon. There is a Greek legend which associates Selene and Selinon, confounding the Moon with the parsley plant, and old women to-day tell their inquisitive grandchildren that they were brought from the parsley bed. In the Greek Mysteries the soul passes through the sphere of the Moon in its descent to the Earth, taking upon itself a silver vestment, which is the astral or lunar body, as distinguished from the imperishable solar body proper to the incarnating ego.
The Hindus, as has been shown elsewhere, make all their astrological calculations from the place of the Moon, and the horoscope of birth is converted into terms of the Moon’s position at the moment of that event. Also they reckon the periodic effects from the same position. It is therefore obvious that the astrologer at all events has not overlooked the enormous influence that this orb is believed to exert upon mundane affairs and human life. As we have seen, the ancients, with whom these beliefs arose, were keen observers of natural operations, and depended entirely on their unaided and unprejudiced observations for whatever knowledge they possessed. They regarded the Moon as the purveyor or carrier of astral influence. Life and energy were generated from the Sun, the vital centre of our system. This life was modified by reflection of rays from the various planets, which transmitted the Sun’s rays to this Earth in altered electrical and magnetic conditions, and the Moon, circling round the Earth at great velocity, collected and distributed these influences upon our nether sphere. The notion is at least cosmical and coherent. If it also be true it is of the utmost importance to us as terrestrials.
The Moon, then, in Cosmic Symbolism represents the element of functional variability, and is the symbol of Change, of ebb and flow, of increase and decrease, of rise and fall. It is associated with the human soul subject to samsara, or the law of cyclic rebirth. It is the Mercabah or vehicle by which the light and heat of the Sun is distributed, the Great Conveyancer and the Universal Purveyor of celestial influences. Like the human soul it is subject to phases, now waxing and now waning, and sometimes suffering eclipse, having no light of its own but deriving all from the Universal Sun.
It has two aspects, a nether and a higher. That which is above represents the side that, at the time of conjunction, is turned towards the Sun, and the lower is that which is always towards the Earth. When the Moon-Soul is between the Sun and Earth it is in correct cosmic relations, but when the Earth interposes its dark orb, there is an ascendancy of the material over the human, and the spiritual light is in danger of being shut out. The Moon-body suffers death, like the physical body, but it persists after the death of the physical, and may endure for upwards of one hundred and twenty years, according to its inherent vitality.
It may be regarded as the Purgatorial vestment in which the Human Soul manifests until its liberation to the Spiritual world. One of the initiations teaches that this same Moon-Body may, without suffering dissolution, be again carried to earth and incarnated. But this is not the normal case, as those who have witnessed the dissolution of the Moon-Body well know. As a cosmic symbol the Moon is replete with the deepest mysteries concerning the birth, evolution, and dissolution of all that is commonly called human. Its influence in mundane affairs gains an additional signification from this fact.
CHAPTER XXIV
SOLAR INFLUENCE
The Sun as the centre of the universe is the gravitational focus of all the forces of the cosmos. It stands to us as the symbol of Deity, or of that Logos which is the manifestation to us of the Inscrutable and Omnipresent. So far as we are concerned it is the source of Light and Heat to the world, and these two properties are the ultimate expressions of the Wisdom and Love of the Creator. When we speak of light and heat we mean those forces which, when they impinge on the Earth’s atmosphere and are sensed by us, produce the sensations of light and heat. The Sun is thus rather the source of the cause of heat and light than of heat and light themselves. It is we who are the interpreters. Even so is it with regard to the Divine principles of Wisdom and Love. These in expression are manifest as Truth and Charity, as Knowledge and Affection, as Thought and Feeling, as Speech and Action. This gives us the following gradient of differentiation—
| Wisdom | Divine | Love |
| Truth | Spiritual | Charity |
| Knowledge | Intellectual | Affection |
| Thought | Psychic | Feeling |
| Speech | Physical | Action |
Thus we see how through the various planes of life the Divine principles filtrate, as do the forces we know as Light and Heat through the various ethers, until they manifest in our physical life. For the Spirit of Truth is the manifestation of the Hidden Wisdom of the Father, and its Bride is the Spirit of Charity. Manifesting in the human they are seen as Knowledge and Affection on the Intellectual plane, and on the Psychic or emotional plane as Thought and Feeling, these being derived from the former, and ultimately finding expression as Speech and Action. Thus all the life of man is linked up with the Divine, as all the universe is with its cosmic centre the Sun.
The Sun shines upon all and illumines all when there are no clouds of doubt interposing themselves between us and the open canopy of heaven. These clouds arise by evaporation from the ferment of the lower nature.
As the cosmic centre, the Sun represents the Heart or seat of vitality in the Microcosm. Astrologically it has its seat in the sign Leo which corresponds with the Cardiac zone, including the heart and solar plexus. It is thus related to the vital principle in man. Its position and aspects in a horoscope will determine the stability of the Constitution and hence the natural duration of life. Its sign, position and aspects in the world are the chief cause of the variations of season and the nature of the weather. These season changes are, of course, related to the climate in different zones. The effects that are due in the British Isles to solar aspects with the various planets have already been scheduled. Saturn and Uranus are found to be magnetic and cold producing, while Jupiter and Mars are electric and heat producing. Venus acts to produce condensation resulting in drizzle or fine rain. Mercury brings fresh winds; Neptune fine weather. Saturn in the same way brings northerly and easterly winds, Venus westerly winds, Jupiter south-westerly and Mars south-easterly winds. Uranus brings winds from the north-west, and generally frequent showers with intermittent spells of sunshine.
Thus we may set the compass as follows—
Figure 27.
These observations apply only to the British Isles, and more particularly to England, where the observations were made. Everybody will recollect that the Coronation Day of King George V was a wet day. At that time the Sun was in semisquare aspect to both Venus and Saturn. Those resident in England will also recall the exceptionally hot days during the end of July and the beginning of August. The Sun was then passing from the quartile of Jupiter to the quartile of Mars, both heat-producing planets. The positions are necessarily geocentric, as we are considering the effects of the planetary modifications of solar energy so far as this Earth is concerned.
In just similar manner as the solar conditions act upon the Earth so they act upon the physical constitution of man. For if at his birth the Sun is affected by the rays of negative planets there will be less vitality and force, while positive heat-producing planets, such as Jupiter and Mars, will give great vitality, strong muscular development, a great fund of energy and a sound constitution.
The Sun represents the organic constitution in the same way that the Moon represents the functional powers. Hence it is that the Sun, when afflicted by malefic aspects of the planets at a birth, gives warning of organic disorders of an inherent or hereditary nature, while the Moon similarly afflicted denotes functional disorders of an acquired nature. For many reasons we may regard man as in the same relations with his cosmic environment as is the Earth itself. Compounded as he is of cosmic elements, he responds at all points to changes that are continually taking place in the system. But he does so in terms of his radical constitution or root nature, which, of course, varies as the individual concerned. For all sidereal and planetary forces, while possessing their respective properties and expressing their own several natures, are differently received and transmuted according to the constitution of the recipient body. Hence the planets only affect us in terms of ourselves. The same white solar ray falling upon an emerald and a ruby will be differently reflected by each of them, appearing as green in the one case and red in the other. So it is with men. They each reflect the Wisdom and Love of the Universal Being in a variety of forms of knowledge and affection, expressed in speech and action, which is the common life. This fact should save us all from the error of bigotry and dogmatism. It is only the Diamond Heart that can reflect the pure ray of the Divine. It is comforting to know that the diamond is the mature carbo-hydrate. Given the conditions and the time, the soul that is as black as coal can become, by evolutional processes, as clear and pellucid as the diamond. We begin as fragments of gross earth and end as suns in the galaxy of heaven.
It is customary for astrologers to refer to the various planets as good, evil and neutral. Thus Saturn, Uranus and Mars are regarded as malefic, while Jupiter and Venus are called Benefics. This is not the truth, however convenient it may be to retain these ascriptions for purposes of delineation. Every planet has two aspects, and these aspects are referred to the higher and lower natures of our being. Mars, for instance, is merely Energy, the focussed or specialized vitality of the Sun. It answers to the red ray. Operating in a person of low mental and moral calibre, it will produce a Free-thinker, a Firebrand and Anarchist, and a man of violence and lawlessness. The same planet, when expressing itself through a highly evolved nature, will manifest as zeal, fervour, intensity, enthusiasm, enterprise, ambition and moral courage. Venus in the same way may indicate self-indulgence, idleness, pleasure-seeking, vanity, frailty and licence in a person of low nature, while in one of greater moral fibre and higher standard of life, the same planet will manifest as gentleness, kindness, charity, pure affection, orderliness and refinement. There is a whole cycle of evolution between the sordid, money-grubbing propensities of “the man with the muck-rake” and the provident carefulness and circumspection of the man who is under the influence of the higher Saturnine ray. It is all a question of personal colouring. It is not that the planets rule us and compel us to be that which we are, but that we transmute and corrupt the natures of the planets and abuse the energies and powers which they confer on us. We can never hope to be lords of the Universe, but we can be rulers of ourselves. Self-government is at the root of the matter. We attain to it through experience and suffering. It is not born with any man, but there are those among us who remember their lessons well and speedily get themselves into touch with their environment, and their faculties and powers under control. It is not altogether a truth that “The wise man rules his stars and the fool obeys them.” It is rather the fact that the wise man rules himself, all else the stars compel. True, a number of oppositions and squares in a horoscope of birth will certainly give a man a full share of experience, but the uses of adversity are sweet. Evolution does not wholly consist in getting all we can out of life, but also of reading into it as much as we can. We all know how much we are affected by our environment. Our business is to find out how much our environment can be affected by us. And by environment we have to include that which presses us most nearly in the form of our own personality. To get this under our control is very largely to annihilate the adverse aspects of the planets.
All this is possible, because all planetary influences are modes of the One life, and that which animates the physical body is the solar ray, while that which animates the mind of man is the Spiritual Sun.
Life has no qualities of its own, it gets them by use or function. The same energy that is expended in rioting and bloodshed could as readily be used for purposes of constructive enterprise. Extravagance is only a morbid generosity, a philanthropy gone astray. The Sun that shines alike on the just and the unjust cannot be credited with all the abuses to which we submit our vital powers. Why, then, should we ascribe to the planets all those evil influences which in truth have no existence except in ourselves, who are both receivers and transmitters of their influence? This truth has been finally stated by the great Interpreter, who said: The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth that which is evil.
So far as their cosmic functions are concerned the planets are organic interpreters, the Sun being the source of Vitality or Life. The Sun, therefore, holds chief place in the consideration of astrologers and is the foundation principle of the horoscope, all calculations and all measures of time having regard to the Sun’s position and to its postnatal motion.
No wonder that the ancients gave to the Sun a place in Cosmic Symbolism which embraced a whole mythology and gave rise to the use of its symbol in all religious services, seeing that it is the source of all physical life and illumination. The ancient Aryans and the Persians regarded it as the physical presentation of the Supreme Being, and even at this day it is retained as a divine symbol in the ordinances of the Catholic Church. Some idea of the divine attributes ascribed to the Day-star may be gathered from the Vedic Hymns, one of which I have endeavoured to represent in the following lines—
Invocation to the Vernal Sun.
O quickening Fount of life,
Sun-soul supernal;
Impenetrating stream
Of light, whose every beam
Instinctive is and rife
With Love eternal:
Lord of the Stars and Skies,
King of the Earth and Sea,
List while our anthems rise
In praise of Thee!
Greatest of all great gods in all seven spheres,
Regent of Space and Lord of countless years,
Who first did spring from out eternal night,
Piercing its ebon veil with thy swift light;
Thou who didst live when Time was yet unborn,
The spirit, soul and substance of primeval morn,
That roused the gods from out their lengthen’d sleep,
What time thy Spirit self had brooded o’er the deep:
Then, from thy heart, ethereal, unalloyed,
The seven great worlds sevenfold refulgent sprang,
The gods did shout, the heavens were overjoyed,
And all the stars of heaven together sang!
Thy living beams, infilling all the scene,
Burned in each orb and knit the space between
To ether vault and circumambient air,
That breathed thy life and shed it everywhere;
Whose power, pervading all, attracts, unites,
Binds with a lasting link, sustains, enhances,
And adds to all a beauty that invites
The liquid light of thy love-lingering glances!
Come! glorious Power! and from thy golden tresses
Shake down on us the blossoms of the Spring;
Lo! how the earth responds to thy caresses,
And how in praise of thee the wild birds sing!
Look down on us from thy so lofty sphere,
Wrap and enfold us in thine ardent rays:
Yea, glorious God, we hail thy presence here,
Soul of the Sun, we yield thee thanks and praise!
Lord of the Stars and Skies,
King of the Earth and Sea,
List while our anthems rise,
In praise of Thee!
The Sun and Moon are universally regarded as the symbols of the Male-female unity of Nature. The Sun is the father, the Moon the mother, of all mundane events. Astrologers refer these orbs to the organs of sight, giving the Sun dominion over the right eye and the Moon over the left. When the Sun and Moon are afflicted, especially in certain parts of the zodiac, they indicate blindness or defective vision. It has been stated by Dr. Fearon that there is an affinity between the right eye and the male line of heredity, and between the left eye and the female line, and that defects inherited from one line or the other are incidental to the corresponding organ. That there is a great connection with the state of the eye and the general health is a proved fact of which medical men frequently avail themselves in their diagnosis. We have already considered the Sun and Moon as the luminaries of the day and night, and we find this idea associated with the visual power in the Sayings of Jesus: “If thine eye be good thy whole body shall be full of light, but if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” In effect we find that when the iris of the eye is firm and clear and of a single unbroken colour, the health is good. But when it is split up and discoloured by green streaks the health is imperfect, while red spots in the iris, giving a patchy appearance, are a sure sign of some organic disease, and most likely of a growth. It is only when we come to admit the psychic origin of disease that we can fully apprehend the value of the Scripture statement. It is an inductive argument which regards the eye as the index of the general health of the body, itself standing as a symbol of intelligence. Conformity with the spiritual law of being would undoubtedly result in perfect integrity of soul and body. The natural has no life apart from the spiritual. The basis of all things is Spirit, and matter as we know it is its ultimate expression. The Sun, which is the most active form of matter, is thus the concrete symbol of Spirit. Among all symbolical forms of worship, that of the Sun-worshippers is the most rational. Human science may avail much to institute artificial conditions of life, but it will never succeed in dethroning the Sun.
CHAPTER XXV
ASTROLOGY
It could hardly be expected that one in my position, having the reputation of being one of those modern fools who go searching after ancient wisdom, could write a book on Cosmic Symbolism and successfully avoid the subject of Astrology. I admit to have trespassed on its preserves more or less in every chapter of this book. Now I may as well take a gun and make a day of it.
It is safe to say that no considerable argument has ever been successfully raised against the claims of Astrology to a place among the sciences. No valid reason can be given for disputing its principles, and its facts have never been overset. It is true that Pico della Mirandola, called Flagellum Astrologiæ because of his avowed hatred of the subject, attempted to expel it from among the Latins and was an ardent pamphleteer in the cause of its suppression. But he justified its claims and practically unsaid all that he had written by dying at the time predicted by the astrologers. Dr. John Butler, Chaplain to James Duke of Ormonde, had a mind to inveigh against its teachings, which by some misconception he fancied to be pagan and subversive of Christianity. He studied the subject the more effectively to assail the assertions of the astrologers, and ended his campaign by writing a book in support of its teachings. It is a book rather well known to students of the subject and can be seen at the British Museum.
But perhaps the most sounding rebuke that was ever given to such as foolishly repudiate the whole thing without taking the trouble to examine its principles and methods, was given by Sir Isaac Newton to Mr. Halley of comet fame when he ventured to dispute the subject with the great philosopher. The latter heard him to a finish and then quietly remarked: “I have studied the subject, Mr. Halley, you have not.” I do not know what was Halley’s perspective and therefore I cannot say in what regard he held the author of the Principia, but personally I would rather be swallowed by an earthquake than have such a rebuke from the same source. There was always that about Newton which inspired confidence in his utterances, for a more fearless and at the same time humble-minded investigator of Nature never breathed God’s air. He spoke of what he knew.
In the presentation of astrological evidence we are not called upon to display the modus operandi of planetary action in human life. We can observe facts without references to their causes. We may legitimately theorize as to the means whereby a universe is brought into existence, but none can say why. One is relieved of the necessity from the fact that he is not the Creator of it.
But there are many suggestions afforded by modern scientific discoveries which lead us to the idea that planetary influence, apart from the attraction of gravitation, may be due to the functions of subtle states of matter such as we posit as properties of spatial ether. And since we know nothing of force apart from matter it is reasonable to presume that whatever forces are at play in the cosmos have their appropriate material vehicles. Spectrum analysis does not lead us to suppose that there is any material difference in the chemical constituents of the various bodies of the system, and what you find in the planets you find also in the Sun.
Certain considerations regarding the nature of matter lead us, however, to the conclusion that, apart from its properties, it has characteristics which depend not so much upon its atomic constituents as upon their arrangement. From this we may argue that inasmuch as we are all compounded of the same cosmic elements, differences of character and temperament are due to the ascendancy of one over other of those elements in individuals. This, so far as the personality is concerned, may well be true, but because material atoms have no emotions, aspirations, hopes and fears, and no moral sense, they cannot be said to acquire such by mere conglomeration. To carry the argument further, therefore, we should have to derive our atoms from something rather more spiritual than the hydrogen base, the “happy hunting-ground” of the physicists.
So far as the planets’ action on our organisms is concerned, it may be that the brain cells, infilled as they are with a nervous pabulum, are capable of responding to the more subtle vibrations of the ether. But the immaterial parts of us must respond to immaterial stimuli, and we know that there are other than merely physical effects due to planetary influence. And whereas matter is continuous of matter throughout the entire universe, mind is continuous of mind, and spirit of spirit. Thus it is that “Soul to soul strikes through a finer element of its own.”
We must therefore recognize that there may be a supra-cosmical as well as an intra-cosmical planetary action, and this follows from the argument that, matter being the ultimate expression of Spirit, the material planets have their spiritual counterparts.
However, to come to the practical side of the argument for and against the subject, I may deal with some of the more weighty objections which have been lodged against it.
First, there is the argument of coincidence which is used to explain away the fact of successful prediction. This in cool logic is no argument at all, for the only coincidence that is shown is that of the prediction and the subsequent course of events. Now if there were a single prediction which in human judgment could not have been otherwise foretold but by the application of some commonly-called “occult” knowledge, this would suffice to confirm the claim that foreknowledge is scientifically possible. But what do we mean by coincidence. If apples falling from a tree pursued different directions, some falling direct to the earth and some in the contrary direction towards the sky, while others went off at a tangent, it may be called a coincidence that one should fall in the direction previously determined upon and named. But if all the apples tend in the same direction and fall along the lines of the earth’s radial magnetism direct towards its centre, then we may posit a law of attraction.
Now if we can show a definite direction of all planetary influence—that is to say, show that the same planet always maintains the same significance in the astrological scheme, that its effects are always of the same general character, and that these effects synchronize with the arc by which the planet is separated from the position of any of the prescribed Significators, then we may claim to have established the law of planetary influence—or, if you will, of cosmic symbolism. We are not now concerned with the question of the causative or symbolic relations of our greater environment. This connection between planet and event we can certainly show.
Another argument is that the discovery of the heliocentric system by Copernicus invalidated the conclusions of the astrologers which were based on the geocentric positions of the planets. We cannot allow this for the following reasons. The Suryasiddhanta of India antedates the system of Copernicus by many hundreds of years and it is heliocentric. India is nevertheless the schoolhouse if not the nursery of Astrology, and planetary influence in human life is practically an article of faith with the Hindus. The conclusions of Copernicus were confirmed and demonstrated by Tycho and Kepler. Tycho practised astrology while Kepler confirmed its principles and added to its credentials by successful prediction. In a universe of relativity, every planet is the centre of its own system, as every man is the centre of his own world, and the Astrologer who studies the action of the planets on this earth and its inhabitants, rightly regards the latter as the passive centre of such action. As the fortunes of a country centre in its Ruler, so those of the individual centre in himself.
A further argument urged against the Science is that the discovery of the planets Neptune and Uranus must vitiate conclusions drawn from an incomplete cosmical system. The argument has really very little value. The discovery of Argon as a constituent of the earth’s atmosphere does not involve any change in our ideas about oxygen, hydrogen, or nitrogen. What was argued in regard to the nature of Saturn a thousand years ago is maintained by all modern Astrologers. It is the same with all the other planets. Only we have the added knowledge of the nature and influence of the two planets Neptune and Uranus to supplement what the ancients knew about the rest of the solar system. In former days when they could not discover adequate reasons for death, a man was said to have died by “the visitation of God.” To-day with our extended knowledge of the solar system it is found that Uranus or Neptune has been the agent of the Lord of Life and Death.
Another objection raised against the idea of planetary influence is that the bodies are so remote and insignificant as to be incapable of producing any marked effects in mundane affairs. The objection is grounded in ignorance. The distance of the planets bears no relation to their influence or power to affect us. This will be obvious to those who have reflected on the fact that etheric vibration becomes “light” only when it impinges on the earth’s atmosphere, and the fact also that the attraction of gravitation operates irrespective of distance and maintains the solidarity of the system. Planetary perturbations due to the mutual attraction of the several bodies is an adequate reply to the objection of Cicero. Sir David Brewster argues that if light could reach us from the distant stars and planets, other influences may also reach us from the same sources. Cicero, on the other hand, while possessed of magnificent ideas of the solar system and fully admitting its solidarity, asks with evident lack of argument, “What contagion can reach us from the planets whose distances are almost infinite?” We have gone beyond the “infinite” of Cicero since that question was asked, and modern astronomers are able to demonstrate the fact that the Sun, while acting as the centre of attraction in its own system, is answering to the gravitational pull of some star in the confines of space, and that it has a proper motion of its own in a vast orbit about that centre. I have already expressed the view that Plato knew of this and that it was the basis of his Great Year. What hinders that our Sun may receive influences from its own lode-star, and that these may be transmitted to us in common with the other planets of our system? There is no harm in using the scientific imagination providing that we have some fact from which to proceed.
In connection with the teachings of astrology there is the scientific fact of natural selection to be considered. What is it that determines birth under particular astral conditions. We say that it is innate tendency. Locke, who in his Human Understanding argued for “no innate ideas” had a faulty perspective. He failed to account for genius through sense-impressions, as others have later failed to account for it through cumulative heredity. We have instances before us where it is obvious that there was nothing to accumulate so far as special forms of genius were concerned.
If, on the other hand, we accept the human being as an evolving Monad passing through a succession of incarnations for the purposes of experience and ultimate specialization of faculty, we shall at once understand how it is that certain persons are endowed with precocious tendencies of a definite order from infancy, and indeed birth. Given the time necessary to get into touch with the physical instrument and to “tune up,” as it were, the appearance of unusual faculty can in no way be hindered, because it is innate. In this connection Astrology affirms that persons are born with particular horoscopes because when the heavens are so disposed as to admit of, and indeed to favour, the expression of certain forms of genius and faculty, the Soul requiring those conditions is borne into earth-life. The doctrine involves the suggestion that there is a purpose in human existence and that such purpose is neither begun nor fulfilled in any one incarnation. Then, as there is a Spiritual Law in the Natural World, and a supra-cosmic law of planetary action, we can see how the line of least resistance is determined by innate tendency. In the Wisdom of Solomon it is said: “I am not good because I was born into an undefiled body, but being good I was born into a body undefiled.” There is therefore an ancient belief in the determination of birth conditions to innate character.
Colourless and purposeless individuals are found to be responsive to general or group influences and to be moved by the feelings and thoughts that animate the crowd. They have not yet attained that power of self-direction which characterizes the highly evolved Monad. Accentuated and purposeful characters, on the other hand, require specific influences under which to be born, and these influences must be conformable to the purpose in view. What that purpose is may be seen from their life and actions, and indeed it is written all over them for those who understand the physiognomy of Nature. Occasionally we have the incarnation of special Messengers who are responsive to the collective spirit of the superior world. These are found to voice the needs of the soul rather than of the body of man and their minds answer to a higher law than that which controls the average individual.
Very many factors conspire to the production of those astral conditions which favour the expression of individual character of a high order. Much depends on the sphere of life in which the purpose of evolution requires that they shall function. We have such examples of marked men in all spheres of life. But wherever they appear they are easily discernible by their horoscopes. Nature is not so profligate as some people imagine, for in the long run it is seen that her ways and means are those which invariably secure the end in view. If she is apparently careless of the mass she is at all events jealously careful in regard to such as have specialized, and we find by practical experience that she adapts environment to purpose with infinite care and foresight.
If we take the astral conditions obtaining over any particular period of a year and consider them in relation to the number of births occurring in any particular area, we shall find that so far as the cosmic relations of the planets are concerned they will remain practically undisturbed for a considerable time. Thus Neptune will be in the same sign for about 14 years, Uranus for 7 years, Saturn for 2½ years, Jupiter for one year, and Mars for nearly two months, Venus and Mercury changing signs within the month. So that, from a cosmical point of view, quite a large number of births will take place under similar conditions, for even the Moon, which represents the element of variability, will continue in the same sign for about 2½ days, and in a thickly populated area such as the City of London, where the average birth-rate is 14 per hour, we may have as many as 840 births under exactly the same zodiacal conditions.
But it happens that the ancient astrologers thought out this problem somewhat fully, and consequently they directed their attention to the conditions obtaining in regard to a given locality. In other words, they paid more attention to the rising, culmination and setting of the planets than to their zodiacal positions. Now a simple calculation will show that as 1° of the zodiac passes the meridian every four minutes, and 15° every hour, there is enough and to spare for the fourteen births which take place on an average in the most densely populated centre of the world, so that each of them may be born under a separate degree. But the fact probably is, and necessarily I am theorizing on the point, that people are born in batches, for where special conditions are not required the common experiences of life will serve for all the evolutional needs of a large majority of those born into the world. Moreover, as I have already said, the planets affect us in terms of ourselves, so that the same planetary conditions will be variously interpreted by individuals born at the same time, according to their degree of evolution. Consequently I do not see any astrological objection to any number of persons being born under the same stellar conditions, and it is indeed probable that the horoscopes of all our kings and leaders will find duplicates all over the country. All that we note in such circumstances is that the events of their lives have a certain set parallelism from birth until death, while so long as these individual souls are under the sway of those stellar conditions, they interpret them according to their own natures and in terms of their sphere of life. A notable case, but by no means the only one that could be cited is that of John Hemmings and King George III. Both were born on the same day and at the same hour in the same parish of St. Martins-le-Fields, in London. When George II died John Hemmings’ father died. George III succeeded to the throne and John Hemmings to his father’s business, which was that of an ironmonger. They were married on the same day, had the same number of children of the same sexes, and died on the same day and at nearly the same hour. The Webbs, the Cloughs and the Morells are famous cases of twins whose lives were at all points similar, and this, not because they were born of the same parents but because they were born under exactly the same astral conditions.
The mundane factor as distinguished from the zodiacal, that is to say, the positions of the planets in the prime vertical as distinguished from their positions in the zodiac, is that which makes for individual expression. Three hundred and sixty persons could be born in a single day in any one locality and each of these could have a horoscope that is distinct and individual. The highest record does not reach this number.
With this factor of variation in the expression of human character and destiny, it is possible to understand how the Arch-arbiter of our destinies may, for the ultimate purposes of our spiritual evolution, determine the application of the individual psychoplasm to the physical centres of life at times when the cosmical and mundane conditions are harmonious to the end designed. From an astrological point of view there is room and to spare for the expression of every phase of human character and development, and that is the same as saying that the One Life is capable of an infinite variety of manifestations in the process of time. This doubtless was the thought animating Shelley’s oft-quoted phrase—
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity.
CHAPTER XXVI
CHARACTER AND ENVIRONMENT
Sir Francis Galton in his Enquiry into Human Faculty has laid it down as an axiom for the study of Eugenists that “Nature is stronger than Nurture.” His researches and tabulated statistics undoubtedly point this conclusion. We have therefore to regard life in terms of this fact.
In the making of destiny Character is the prime factor, and the modifying factor is Environment. Reform that has an eye only to externals will never be finally effective. Only that which makes for the upbuilding of individual character will secure permanent results. Without doubt character demands for its full expression the most effective instrument that can be placed at its disposal, and this is the whole case for Eugenics. How that efficiency of instrument is to be secured for the majority is another matter. Certainly it will never be found along the lines of stock. We have before us hundreds of examples of thoroughly fit persons of both sexes whose children are weaklings or mentally defective. I have cited two cases of women simultaneously bearing children in the same hospital. One child dies and the other lives. Why? They were born under the same stellar conditions. They had equal care from their births onwards. The reason is that in one instance the mother’s horoscope shows success in progeny from the presence of Jupiter in the 5th House, and the other shows no success at all from the presence of Saturn in that part of the heavens. Both mothers were perfectly fit in themselves and in the same station of life. Obviously there is here imported a factor that is of immense importance to those who have a mind for improving the race. Seed, Season and Soil are all essential to the production of healthy offspring. Our Eugenists leave out of consideration the factor of Season. They imagine that, given healthy parents, you are bound to have healthy children. Nothing is further from the truth, if we regard children as composite beings and not merely as animals. We may frankly admit that the personality determines the final expression of character as the coloured glass through which the ray of intelligence finally strikes upon us, but to confound character with environment—and there is no environment which presses a man more nearly than his physical body—would be to negative the whole effort of reform. Character is inherent and is imported to the physical environment. It is not derived from it. It is no by-product, but a thing as essential to Soul as shape is to matter. Beyond the fact of physical heredity, which counts for a great deal where bodies are concerned, there is the yet more important factor of psychic tradition. The importation of this factor into the problem is of the utmost significance, and I venture to say that apart from a thorough sounding of modern Psychology and Occultism, and a due consideration of all the factors that go to the making of a man, there will be no satisfactory solution of the problem modern Eugenists have before them.
In the analysis of personal efficiency we find three factors in co-operation: faculty, function and instrument. All faculty is strengthened and increased by use or function. Function it is that adapts environment to its needs, as a force pressing towards expression in matter. For the expression of faculty, therefore, we need functional integrity, adaptation of environment, and efficiency of instrument. It has been said that, given an instrument that is out of tune there would not be much difference in expression of faculty between an impresario and a man entirely ignorant of music. This is true only in time and as regards the immediate effort of each. But one can very well see that there are essential differences which will very soon be made manifest. The musician would know that the instrument was defective, while the other would not. In a short while the musician would get that instrument into tune so that he could express his faculty. The man ignorant of music could not attempt the business. Character counts for more than environment, and faculty than instrument.
Now in our Occultism we distinguish between that which is incidental, as faculty and character; and that which is accidental, as instrument and environment. It is recognized that the horoscope of birth is accidental in this sense, and represents the cosmical and mundane environment in which the character is required to express itself. It represents a composite of cosmic forces energizing through two great streams of heredity. But it is not essential to the man, as is character. It is not going to damn him for ever or confer on him the guerdon of a blessed immortality. It is merely an environment, and that but a temporary one.
Astrologers classify characters into three primary groups, representing stability, flexibility and incisiveness, or again, originality and independence, adaptability, and executiveness. These answer to the grouping of the planets in the several signs of the zodiac, namely, the Fixed, Common and Cardinal signs, otherwise known as the grave, circumflex and acute. These may be tabularized in the following manner—
| Sign. | Character. | Faculty. |
|---|---|---|
| Aries, Libra, | Incisive. | Executiveness. |
| Capricorn, Cancer. | ||
| Cardinal or Acute. | ||
| Taurus, Scorpio, | ||
| Leo, Aquarius. | Stable. | Originality. |
| Fixed or Grave. | ||
| Gemini, Sagittary, | ||
| Virgo, Pisces. | Flexible. | Adaptability. |
| Common or Circumflex. |
From this grouping we know at once what is the predominant mould of character and hence what environment is most suitable for the exercise and expression of that character. And as applied to eugenics, we are able thereby to make selection of suitable partners in life, setting off the stability of the one by the flexibility of the other, and so on. Take, for instance, the man who shows a predominant flexibility of character, wide sympathies, versatility, prolixity and diffuseness. He is apt to become a dabbler, never thorough, and aliquid in omnibus. Obviously his ambitions need pointing, his faculties concentrating, and his natural powers conserving. Bring him into relations with a woman who has a majority of the planets in cardinal signs, and he will find one who can be of the greatest use to him in the shaping of character and the directing of his ambitions and powers.
We might ring the changes and derive from these three types seven distinct characters, all mutually interdependent and capable of fulfilling some special function in the economy of life, but never wholly of service when working alone. It is from the interplay of human character in the ordinary course of life that the main purpose of human evolution is served.
It has already been shown that the lunar sphere is the last of those through which the incarnating entity passes when it proceeds towards mundane existence. It has been shown also that the Moon exercises a most important influence in human generation. It is to the Moon, therefore, that we look for the final determination of that personal colouring which is the prime environment of the Soul. Accordingly we find that the Moon’s position in a horoscope of birth is of the greatest importance.
Not only does the Sign occupied by the Moon give to the character a special colouring, but the decanate and even the degree that is held by it play their part in the final determination of the personal colouring. But inasmuch as there is an adaptation of means to end and of character to environment, we may go further and infer character as indicated by the lunar position. In this way the whole phenomenal world may be regarded as the reflex of the noumenal. The person, as phenomenon, assumes a cosmic and spiritual significance. He is one of the divine symbols.
To take a concrete instance. The Kaiser Wilhelm II was born with the Moon in the 28th degree of the sign Scorpio, which is ruled by the Sun, the sign being under the dominion of the planet Mars. The Moon is opposed by Uranus, which disposes to a wayward and autocratic disposition, some degree of eccentricity, a nature subject to impulses and precipitate actions. The Moon therefore takes the prime colouring of the planet Mars, because it is in the sign of Mars, Scorpio, and we accordingly find that Mars is a very prominent planet in the horoscope, being in the Mid-heaven and near the conjunction with Neptune. It is not, therefore, surprising that the Kaiser Wilhelm has received the name of “War Lord.” He represents the fighting principle which makes for conquest and freedom. Zeal, courage, enthusiasm, enterprise and frankness are among the martial attributes. To these attributes, the solar degrees held by the Moon will contribute a degree of pride, love of fame, glory and display.
Take another instance. Napoleon I was born with the Moon in the 28th degree of the sign Capricornus. The sign is ruled by Saturn, and we find Saturn in the most prominent position in the horoscope, being in the Mid-heaven in opposition to the Moon. Saturn is in the sign Cancer, and he died from the disease associated with this sign. The degree is ruled by the Sun. Here we have the Moon in the cardinal sign Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, the most powerful planet in the horoscope. It is altogether suitable to the “Man of Destiny.” The degree held by the Moon is ruled by the Sun, and this gives the desire for fame, honour, glory and rulership. The decanate of the sign occupied by the Moon is related to the sign Aries ruled by Mars, and here we have the military instinct. But the presiding influence in the horoscope is undoubtedly that of the planet Saturn, in whose sign the Moon is found at the moment of birth. Saturn had an ancient reputation of devouring his own children, which means that those whom he raises in the world he eventually despoils. It was thus in the case of Napoleons I and III, both of whom had the planet in the Mid-heaven of their horoscopes. But the tally of its victims is a lengthy one, and includes all grades of life. What sphere is likely to be occupied by the subject of this or any other horoscopical influence coming through the Moon, depends most of all upon the position of the planet governing the Moon-sign, that is, the Sign in which the Moon is placed at the birth. Thus I find that Rudyard Kipling has the Moon in Gemini, and this is ruled by Mercury, who is in the sign Sagittarius in conjunction with Venus. Mercury is pre-eminently the representative of literature and Venus that of poesy. But the Moon is also in the degree of Gemini that is ruled by Venus, and in that part of the sign which reflects the sign Aries, so that we have direct evidence of the military associations of his poetical genius. The poet Shelley was born with the Moon in Pisces, which is ruled by Jupiter, a powerful planet in his horoscope, and, conjoined with the planets Mars and Neptune, denoting the fearless and zealous nature allied to mysticism and inspiration. The Moon being in a degree that is ruled by itself, denotes that love of change and that restless inconsequence which characterized his life, while the Moon, being in the decanate which reflects the sign Cancer, adds that abiding love of maritime pursuits which eventually brought about his death, and once more accentuated the import of the phrase: “the ruling passion strong in death!”
Nelson was born with the Sun in the sign Leo, and the Sun, its ruler, in elevation. Shakespeare was born with the Moon in Taurus, with Venus its ruler in elevation. Thus we see that all those who have distinguished themselves in their sphere of life have the ruler of the Moon-sign in a prominent position in their horoscopes, and further that the exact position of the Moon as to decanate and degree gives us the particular setting of the character and the special faculty by which they are distinguished.
Yet while the study of character and environment from the point of view of Astrology is in every way satisfactory to those who take it seriously in hand, it does not in itself afford that degree of evidence that is looked for by people newly acquainted with its claims and teachings. For human character is a very complex thing, and universally shows the admixture of elements that are common to all in a greater or less degree. It is rather in the specialization of some one characteristic that persons become distinguished. It is sometimes in the suppression of some prevailing characteristic that others attain distinction. Thus we see that the selfless devotion of one man to the needs of others draws him away from the mass of commonly selfish people. Accentuation and abnegation may thus both claim their hold upon the public esteem, yet always it is thoroughness that makes its mark in the world, and by that I mean the steadfast adherence to a plan of life which wins its way through in the end. So then, we see that the evolution of the unit from the mass, the specialization of faculty in the individual, is the law of Nature, and it hardly needed the philosophy of Nietzsche or the cult of the Superman to enforce the fact upon our minds. And yet, after all, there is no individual evolution possible for man apart from the race to which he belongs, and when all is done that self-effort can accomplish, when we have specialized and perfected to the highest possible degree, what remains but that we must perforce acknowledge our indebtedness to the world and find our whole destiny to consist in the service of mankind. Thus Bulwer Lytton makes Zanoni to say: After all I perceive that the common lot of mankind is its greatest and its sweetest blessing! Astrology at all events has no higher doctrine than this: Study how best to serve.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE LAW OF SEX
Synthetic Philosophy and Comparative Theology have sought wisely to establish a common basis for human thought and aspiration. From the complex of life and thought they have argued to fundamental unity. It has been well said that the foolish and superficial look for differences in things about them, but the wise seek for the underlying identity. In the last analysis of things animate and inanimate, we are faced by the insoluble fact of sex distinction.
When we speak of chemical affinity, of magnetism, of polarity, we are really speaking in terms of sex. However far we push back our investigations along the lines of evolution we come at length to the distinction which separates one-half of nature from the other, and which is seen to be at the root of all natural attractions and to be the source of generation. Sex, as considered by itself and apart from function and organism, may be the result of a mode of vibration. We cannot say. We may go right back to the first principles of our conception of Life and we find the active and passive principles of Force and Matter, Heat and Moisture, Fire and Water, penetrating through the various philosophies and schools of thought, but always a duality. Even in the Theological conception we have the divine principles of Wisdom and Love in apposition, but united for the purpose of Creation and Preservation of the Universe. It is a mystery that cannot be solved. We cannot in fact, determine whether sex distinction is temporary or eternal. We have reason to regard it as radical and not accidental. For whereas in the process of evolution it appears from time to time to merge in various forms and to become hermaphroditic, we find it continually emerging again, persistent and irrepressible.
From the occult point of view it appears to be impounded in the very elements of our being. It has been shown in these pages that the Microcosmic Man is an epitome of the universe, compounded of universal elements, and responsive at all points to the laws controlling the cosmos. It has also been shown that the Moon, so far as this earth is concerned, is the cosmic factor which represents variability. It has also been shown that it exercises first influence in the process of generation, and, therefore we may expect to find it intimately connected with the question of sex. It is, in fact, found to be the factor which determines the astral forces towards the evolution of sex function and organism.
By an empiricism based on an occult law and proved by the application of this law to hundreds of cases of well-authenticated births, it has been established that the determination of sex follows a definite course from a certain point of time bearing a mathematical and astronomical relationship to the moment of birth. Thus, given the moment at which a birth took place in any locality, it is possible to at once indicate the sex without the fact being communicated. By this I do not mean that sex production is voluntary in human or animal generation. That is a problem which the Eugenists should consider in the light of the law of sex I am now concerned with.
The four cardinal points of the zodiac, Aries 0°, Libra 0, Capricorn 0 and Cancer 0, are the generating points of the circle or Wheel of Life. These points are not artificial. They are natural. They mark the stages at which the Sun in its apparent course about the earth cross the equator, and attain the maximum and minimum degrees of elevation. By analogy they are related to the Dawn, Noon, Sunset and Midnight of the daily circle; to the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter of the year; and to the periods of Childhood, Manhood, Maturity and Senility in the life of man. It is this consent of Nature to the universal paradigm that enables us to trace the course of mundane events from astral conditions in force at these several points of the year, as Kepler allowed from his own experience, and as Astrologers find continually to be the case.
Taking these four points of the zodiac, then, as the starting-points for the determination of cosmic forces ultimating as sex, we find that Aries 0 is female, Capricornus 0 male, Libra 0 male and Cancer 0 female. They follow the lines of the segmentation of the cell in the animal organism. Thus—
Figure 28.
From each of these points there are six others generated, which are alternately male and female in potentiality.
Here it is necessary to introduce the lunar factor, since it is the means of the distribution of the “sex degrees” as we may call them, which are generated from the four cardinal points. For this purpose we have to regard the moon in relation to the number 7, which is the number of days in which it forms its successive phases. From one phase to another is a quadrant of 90° and this divided by seven will give the mean acceleration of 12-6/7°. If we divide the circle into seven parts we shall get 51-3/7° and further dividing this into four parts, in order to get the twenty-eight days of the Moon’s passage, we shall have again 12-6/7°.
It is the septenate division of the circle which enables us to get the sex degrees that are generated from the four cardinal points. Thus, from Aries 0 we arrive at Taurus 21-3/7, Cancer 12-6/7, Virgo 4-2/7, Libra 25-5/7, Sagittarius 17-1/7, and Aquarius 8-4/7. These are found to be male and female in alternation. From Libra 0 we derive the same degrees of the opposite signs, but the sex is reversed in each case. From Capricornus we derive Leo 21, Libra 13, Sagittarius 4, Capricorn 26, Pisces 17, and Taurus 8, the sex of each being the same as the corresponding degrees of the zodiac generated from Libra. From Cancer we derive the same degrees of the opposite signs to those derived from Capricornus, but the sex is reversed in each case.
There are thus four sets of degrees alternately male and female in tendency which are generated from the four cardinal points, and these may be set out in order as derived, thus—
Figure 29.
It will be observed that the fractions are omitted and the nearest complete degree inserted. Then if we arrange these four sets of degrees into their groups under the radical generator, we shall have a central generating point with a six-pointed star or interlaced triangle around it, the upright triangle being male and the reversed triangle female at the radials. Each of these stars will occupy one of the four cardinal points of the Cosmic Cross.
Figure 30. Diagram of the Cosmic Star. Showing the generation of the Sex Degrees of the Zodiac from the Four Cardinal Points.
The application of the Law of Sex requires some little astronomical practice. It is first of all necessary to find the place of the Moon at the time of birth. If the moon is found in a sex degree or within three degrees of one, it will retain the sex of that degree. Otherwise, it is necessary to observe whether the Moon is increasing or decreasing at the time, and if increasing, the Moon’s place must be put on the East horizon, but if decreasing, it will be on the West horizon. This position is found to answer to the Moon’s place at the Prenatal Epoch, concerning which some explanation is necessary.
The normal period of human gestation is nine solar or ten lunar months. It will be found that the moon makes ten revolutions while the Sun passes through nine signs of the zodiac. But this normal period may be increased or decreased, and that quite normally, by the relative positions of the luminaries at the time of inception. I use this word to distinguish it from conception, which term connotes certain physiological processes and facts. The astral factor should not be identified in point of time with the physiological processes of coitus and impregnation.
Now it is found that when at birth the Moon is increasing in light, that is, going towards the full, and above the horizon, or conversely, decreasing in light and below the horizon, the period from birth to inception is less than ten lunar months by a quantity determined by the Moon’s distance from the horizon. But when the Moon at birth is found to be decreasing and above the horizon, or increasing and below the horizon, the period of time from birth to inception is found to be more than ten lunar months by a quantity determined by the Moon’s distance from the horizon.
The measure of this plus or minus quantity is thus computed. The Moon’s distance is taken from the horizon East or West, according as it is increasing or decreasing in light. If increasing, it is taken from the East, and if decreasing from the West. The number of zodiacal degrees between the Moon and the horizon thus indicated has then to be divided by the Moon’s mean diurnal motion, which is 13° 11´ roughly, and this will be the number of days more or less than ten lunar revolutions by which the birth is separated from the inception.
This calculation from the Moon’s position in the zodiac and prime vertical enables us certainly to fix the day of the inception. The next step is to find the time of day at which the Moon is in exact horoscopical relations with the moment of birth.
This is done by a single observation. In all normal cases it is found that if the Moon is increasing in light at the time of birth, that is to say, going from the new to the full, its longitude at the moment of birth will be the ascendant at the inception, and if decreasing at birth its longitude will be the descendant at the moment of the inception. Then universally it is found that the Moon is, at that moment, in the exact longitude which was rising or setting at the birth. Now having the moon’s acceleration as a variable factor, ranging from 11° 50´ to 15° 17´ per day, the chances are millions to one against the Moon being in the exact degree and minute that was on the horizon at birth at the same time that the Moon’s place at birth was rising or setting on a local horizon. Yet this is found to be the fact! What other conclusion can we come to, having regard to all the factors employed, and the wonderful harmony that is observed to result, than that “God geometrizes,” as Plato wisely said. Things do not happen by chance, but by law. Law is the expression of intelligence inhering in action. The universe is rendered intelligible by its laws. Whatever is intelligible expresses Intelligence.
But we have yet to consider the variation of the law that is conformable to the Law of Sex. This Law of Lunar Appulsion in the matter of human generation would work out exactly as stated above in every case were it not for the fact that Sex is the dominant and controlling factor, and that by reason of it a birth may be delayed or advanced by a period ranging from a fortnight to as much as two months. For, whatever may be the other factors involved in the horoscopical conditions of a birth, sex must be satisfied first and foremost. It is the controlling factor. Observe, then, that if the birth is male and the Moon occupies a female degree, as indicated above, should the Moon be increasing in light, the Law of Lunar Appulsion already detailed will require that the Moon’s place should rise at the Epoch of inception or, as it is called, the “Prenatal Epoch,” and consequently a female degree would be rising at such Epoch. This would be contrary to the sex, and consequently we know that the Moon’s place at birth must be setting at the Epoch, so that a male degree may be rising. This is the case, mutatus mutandis, when the Moon is in a male degree and the sex is female. Then, this adjustment being duly made, it is found that the horoscope resulting will find the Moon in the exact degree that was rising at birth. Exactly similar considerations hold in the case of a Moon that is decreasing at birth. This is the first establishment of the Law of Sex as controlling the time of birth.
The next is when the Moon does not occupy a sex degree but is more than three degrees removed from either male or female degrees. In such case we have to consider whether the degree on the horizon at the moment of birth pertains to either sex. For if it be so, and the degree is of the sex of the child born, then we know that the Moon was in that degree at the Epoch, whether it was increasing or decreasing in light at the birth. This will control the day of birth in the same way that the first rule controlled the moment of it. Only when neither the Moon nor the horizon are occupied by sex degrees the Law of Lunar Appulsion operates without restriction. This clearly shows that the Law of Sex is paramount, and that it can and does control the Law of Lunar Appulsion. By appulsion we mean that outbreathing from the moon-sphere towards the earth which corresponds to the diastole of respiration, by which the vital forces of the cosmos focussed by the Moon are carried towards the earth for the production and sustentation of the species.
If this Law were a matter of chance it will be seen by any one acquainted with the astronomical facts, that the chances are dead against it working out in practice. Yet the facts are in daily test by astrologers the world over, and we may hence conclude that the Law of Sex has absolutely been discovered, or at all events the rules by which we may recognize its cosmic relations.
With a closer knowledge of the initial stages of generation, it will be possible, by a reversal of the factors here employed, to argue from the inception to the birth, instead of as now from the birth backwards to the Epoch of inception. In such case we shall have obtained the secret of how to determine the sex of offspring at will. That the Prenatal Epoch here established answers to some incipient stage of the process of generation there can be no reasonable doubt whatever, for wherever the time of birth is accurately taken by a medical man it answers exactly to the astronomical considerations required by the Law as formulated. Elsewhere I have delivered a diagram showing the Moon’s position for each month from the inception to the birth, from which we see that there is a definite law of pulsation marking a spiral descent of the Monad along the line of energy instituted between the Moon’s place at the Epoch and the point of the zodiac on the horizon at the moment of birth. This I have called the Descent of the Monad, and it affords a study of the greatest psychological value. Very many attempts have been made on the part of gynecologists to ascertain the law controlling Sex, and I have introduced this section in the hope that such as may have a practical interest in this question will avail themselves of the facts so far derived from the study of occultism.
CHAPTER XXVIII
A TEST OF VALUE
The Old Philosopher of China has said that the virtue of everything is in its use. If Cosmic Symbolism cannot be applied to the practical ends of life it will not succeed in appealing to the average intellect, which sets for its standard the single test of utility. In these pages I have endeavoured to show that the Universe as Symbol is best studied in relation to its bearing on the common needs of humanity. I have also shown that Astrology is the only system of thought and practice that attempts the application. I propose now to examine the educational value of this study and its practical use in daily life, and thus to place it among the list of those subjects that have a serious claim to the consideration of enlightened people.
Tracing our way through the Encyclopædia of knowledge we find that most of the deeper studies that engage the powers of men are valuable, not so much for the ends they lead to, as for the mental training obtained in their pursuit. It is one of the outstanding features of modern scientific methods that we are required to bring our theories into agreement with known facts. The facts themselves are often uninteresting and of small practical value, but they serve as landmarks by which to direct our course towards conclusions which in themselves are often valuable. It is thus with astronomy. The application of the Principia or of the Laws of Kepler to the cosmos as we know it is an exercise requiring the greatest possible care, considerable mathematical ability, and the patience of a Prometheus. The bare facts of astronomy are not generally interesting. We are not solicitous of knowing in exactly how many days, hours, minutes and seconds the planet Jupiter completes its course about the Sun. What is of more practical interest to us as terrestrials is to know Jupiter’s relations to this world of ours, what it stands for in the economy of life, and what influence, if any, it exerts over us.
Now Astrology, while employing all the elements of astronomy that have any certain foundation in fact, is calculated as a study to engage all the highest faculties of the human mind, while it brings to the results obtained the added virtue of utility.
The late Professor Max Müller once paid Astrology a great tribute when he said that many of our most distinguished men of intellect were at this day practiced astrologers, but that “few cared to let their studies be known, so great was the ignorance which confounded a science requiring the highest education with that of the ordinary gipsy fortune-teller.” Possibly he had in mind the late Lord Chief Justice, or Dr. Richard Garnett, or indeed any one of the host of intelligent students who have secretly avowed their adherence to the science. That which held the admiration of Claudius Ptolemy, and received the imprimatur of Tycho and Kepler, which attracted Lord Verulam, Francis Bacon, and was held in the highest esteem by that trained scientific observer and profound thinker, Sir Isaac Newton, and which in all ages and nations has included the highest intellects among its votaries, is affirmed by the great Orientalist to have a real value in the estimation of modern students whose attainments have placed them in a position to judge in the matter.
Let us, therefore, look soberly and carefully at this science of Astrology and see if its study is likely to be at all profitable from the point of view of education.
Astrology is both a science and a philosophy. As science it is concerned with the facts of astronomy and as philosophy with the application of those facts to the problems of life and mind. The astronomical facts are of first interest. Before we can say anything at all about the interplay of planetary action in human life we have to be able to set a map of the heavens for any time and place at which a person may have birth. For this purpose one can avail himself of the Ephemerides of the Nautical Almanac, the Connaissance des Temps, or any of those cheaper publications which are extracted from them. From various handbooks written by astrological authors he may then learn how to erect a horoscope or map of the heavens for any time and place. Such practical knowledge is not to be found in any exposition of astronomy that I have yet come across. It enables the student to observe with perfect accuracy in what relations the various heavenly bodies were at the given time and exactly where they were situated as seen from a particular locality on the earth’s surface. The student finds considerable satisfaction in this piece of practical work. But it is only preliminary to the further study of the subject. For it will be seen that whereas the positions of the planets at the moment of birth have a symbolical value as regards the whole tenor and course of the life, the particular times at which events prefigured are likely to take place can only be known from a study of the subsequent motions of the heavenly bodies after the date of birth. For it is from the constant changes taking place in the kaleidoscope of the greater world about us that we draw our conclusions as to the time and nature of events. The planets are continually altering their relative positions owing to their different velocities and they thus form aspects or certain angular distances in regard to the places of the planets in the horoscope of birth and also among themselves in the heavens. The process of bringing a planet to the place of another in the horoscope of birth is called “directing” and involves a knowledge of spherical trigonometry. This brings me to an interesting fact. It is that the whole science of astronomy and the art of making ephemerides of the planets’ positions was kept alive solely by the personal labours and special knowledge of a handful of practical astrologers.
The Alphonsine Tables which were composed by the Arabian and Spanish astrologers and which were collected under the command of Alphonso X of Castile at a cost of four hundred thousand crowns, and published with a royal preface in the year 1252, are among the earliest examples of their great devotion. The Almagest of Ptolemy was completed about A.D. 148 and was inscribed in the Temple of Serapis. The Rudolphine Tables composed by Tycho and completed by Kepler were digested and recomposed by Morinus, Mathematical Professor to the King of France, and printed at Paris in the year 1650. Ptolemy, Tycho, Kepler and Morin were all practiced astrologers. The Nautical Almanac was first published in 1767 by Dr. Neville Maskelyne, and afterwards greatly improved in 1834. The Connaissance des Temps was published in 1699. Whence, think you, did the astrologers obtain their information regarding the positions of the planets prior to these years of authorized publication? They calculated them for themselves. Without astronomy there could be no Astrology. They kept astronomy alive.
Very few people understand what labour there is attaching to the production of the various elements that one finds in the common almanac. How many of my readers are prepared to calculate for themselves the time at which the Sun will rise or set upon the horizon of a particular locality? How many could say with any certainty at what time the Moon would south, or cross the upper meridian? What percentage of people could say when and where an eclipse of the Sun or Moon would occur, where it would be visible, its extent and duration? The modern astrologer has a remarkably easy time compared with the labours of his predecessors. He can refer to his official guide, or consult the popular almanac for all his elements. But for the working out of a horoscope and its subsequent directions, he must certainly have a practical knowledge of the use of an astronomical ephemeris.
From astronomy his attention is turned at once to Geography. He has to determine the exact longitude and latitude of a place, the name only of which is given, for he has to make his map of the heavens as seen from the place of birth. Here he gets a practical knowledge of localities and of the orientation of horoscopes. In his pursuit of Astrology the student will find himself tracking back through the biographies of great men and women in order to find data from which to test the various ascriptions of the astrologers. He will turn up cases of dementia and insanity in persons of repute and compare the data afforded by their horoscopes with the rules of Ptolemy, Morinus and Cardan. He will incidentally acquire a considerable knowledge of men and things which else had been to him an unwritten book.
Further, testing the theory of eclipse influences he will inevitably find his way back to the ruined cities of Nineveh and Babylon and the three historical eclipses which preceded the downfall of the great Empire, which eclipses we have received from Hipparchus through the Syntaxis of Ptolemy. As to the latter there are the Greek, Latin and English editions of the work open to his study.
The student will not proceed far before he comes up against the problem of Calendarics. He will find it impossible to understand and follow the works of the ancients without some notion of the equilization of Eras, and it will become imperative, if he would check the statements made in their works, as he should do, that he undertake the task of converting ancient into modern calendars. He may even find it necessary to know the names of the Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Chinese months. It is all involved in the process of his study. He will certainly require to know what are the Eras of the Hegira, the Salivahana, the Olympiads, and the Kali Yuga.
Keen on the track of this ancient lore he may elect to study the primitive Chinese language, and the noble Sanskrit of India, the more perfectly to acquaint himself with the traditions of these peoples and to study their ancient presentment of the science of Astrology. He may conveniently follow up the record through the Greeks and Latins.
Assuredly he will need to acquaint himself, at least superficially, with the anatomy of the human body, its physiology, pathology and hygiene. In the allocation of faculty to environment he will come into touch with sociology and will discriminate between the planetary occupations cited by Ptolemy and those that enter into the complex of modern life. In connection with the questions of marriage and progeny, the study of eugenics and gynecology will claim his attention. The study of character as revealed by the planetary dispositions at the moment of birth will bring him into touch with the profound and as yet only partially developed science of Psychology.
Cosmogony will inevitably hold his attention while studying the effects of planetary action in the world at large, and seismology and meteorology are branches of mundane astrology that cannot be overlooked by any thorough student. For the argument comes easily to hand that if the planets do not affect the world at large they cannot affect us as denizens of the world.
From this by no means exhaustive category of subjects directly connected with the study of Astrology, it will be seen that it entails a liberal education and one, moreover, that cannot be matched by the curriculum of any of our schools or colleges. So that, whether we regard Astrology as a science, a philosophy or an occult art, it is certain that its pursuit, if carried out consistently, cannot fail to improve the mind of all who engage in it.
But as Laotze has said, the virtue of everything is in its use. If Astrology has no practical advantages to offer us it will at best only secure a place of academical repute. Those who have followed it out into the broad issues of life will, however, be able to affirm that in infancy, youth, adolescence and old age, Astrology is adequate to the needs of all as a source of guidance and information. From the very outset of life we are faced by considerations of health, questions regarding the continuance of life, matters connected with education, the development of special faculty, and all those problems that vex the parental mind. Then later on we have to decide upon the choice of occupation, and later still on the all-important question of marriage. Then come the host of considerations hedging the welfare of the average man, questions regarding business affairs, travelling, partnerships, alliances, and the final disposition of one’s affairs. There are also the financial problems to be dealt with, matters of investment and of speculation—for it is never wise to speculate unless you know—and on the domestic side of life we have a multitude of problems which can easily be imagined but are difficult to recite.
In all these matters Astrology is found to be consistently useful as a guide and system of foreknowledge. Let me take some practical illustrations of the value of foreknowledge. The Russo-Japanese War and its outbreak in the Korea was foreseen and specifically predicted by me from the Eclipses of 1893. The fact that thousands of persons are directly or indirectly concerned in the appreciation or depreciation of the commercial interests and Government securities of those countries will point the practical value of this piece of intelligent anticipation.
The Hispano-American War of 1898 was predicted and the corner in wheat coinciding with the outbreak of that event was foreseen. Was this of any value to those whose business it is to anticipate the price of commodities and to arrange their shipments accordingly? Was the fall in Consols in 1899 on the outbreak of the Boer War of no consequence to trustees and financiers? Consols were then at 112 and they fell to 88. My statement to the Daily Mail twelve months before the event was that Consols next year would, on account of war, be as much below par as they were then above it. These are not isolated predictions carrying with them a fictitious value as spasmodic evidences, but they form part of a coherent and consistent system of forecast which has been available to the public for many years and of which many have taken advantage.
Judged by the test of fact and utility it will be seen that Cosmic Symbolism as developed in the science of Astrology is everywhere and in all directions abundantly justified in its claim to a patient and dispassionate investigation at the hands of competent critics, and universally it will be found to answer the common problems of life and to throw a flood of light upon some of the more recondite mysteries of our being.
In this work I have sought to be rather suggestional than informing, to stimulate rather than to satisfy curiosity, and to entice the reader to a consideration of some few ideas which arise out of the study of the Universe as Symbol. In this I trust I have been successful.