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
[Illustration: 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.