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.
[Illustration: Figure 22-a. Planetary Periods by Sepharial.]
[Illustration: Figure 22-b. Planetary Periods by Sepharial.]
[Illustration: 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.