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