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
NeptuneLeo9° 43´Aquarius9° 43´1° 6´
UranusGemini13 17Sagittary13 1726
SaturnCancer22 5Capricorn22 553
JupiterCancer9 24Capricorn9 241 0
MarsTaurus18 2Scorpio18 246
VenusGemini15 44Sagittary15 4452
MercuryTaurus17 9Scorpio17 91 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.

NeptuneScorpio13° 47´1° 25´ per century.
UranusPisces18 491 28 ”
SaturnCapric.0 541 50 ”
JupiterLibra12 431 35 ”
MarsVirgo4 151 52 ”
VenusAquar.9 571 21 ”
MercurySagit.15 551 34 ”