We all recognise that, while the stars have an apparent motion from
the eastern horizon up to the vertical meridian, and down again to
the western horizon, yet the horizons and the vertical meridian keep
their places with respect to us, and do not move. The eastern horizon
and the vertical meridian enclose between them a fourth part of the
heavens, whose content is continually changing, as the stars rise above
the eastern horizon and reach and pass the meridian. Similarly, from
the meridian to the western horizon is another fourth part; and the
two remaining fourths are beneath the horizon, and are divided from
one another by the inferior vertical meridian, all these fourth parts
remaining stationary, while the stars occupy them each in turn in
the daily revolution of the heavens. Now imagine each of these fixed
quarters of heaven to be divided by three equidistant meridians: the
heavens will then be divided into twelve parts, six above the horizon
and six below, whose starry contents are continually changing. These
twelve divisions are the twelve Houses of Heaven.
That is to say, they are so if the meridians which divide them meet
at the north and south poles of the horizon of the place; and it
was the usual rule in Astrology so to consider them; but it was not
the invariable rule. Some astrologers put the meeting places at the
celestial poles, and then the Houses were divided by the ordinary
meridians. Others put the meeting places at the Zenith and the Nadir
of the place. It is manifest that those astrologers who computed the
positions of the Planets in one set of Houses, must arrive at very
different results from those who computed the positions in another set;
for a Planet might be in one House according to one computation, and in
a different House according to another.
That House which is immediately below the eastern horizon, so that the
stars therein are the next to rise above the horizon, is the first
House, which is also called the Ascendent House, or shortly, the
Ascendent. It is the principal House, the most powerful House, and
takes rank over all the others. The Planet or Planets that occupy the
Ascendent chiefly determine the fate of the native. The rest of the
Houses are known by numbers, and follow one another widdershins, that
is, in the order reverse to the movement of the hands of a clock.
The second and third are between the Ascendent and the lower vertical
meridian; the fourth, fifth and sixth between the lower vertical
meridian and the western horizon; and so on until the twelfth house
meets the first at the eastern horizon.
The anterior boundary of each House, the meridian which the stars in
that House will cross next, is called the cusp of that House; and
from the cusp the position of the Planets in the House is measured in
degrees and minutes. The cusp of the Ascendent House is called the
horoscope; and I may here correct a prevalent error with respect to
this term. It is customary to speak of casting a horoscope, as if that
were a possible and usual operation in Astrology. What is meant by the
expression is casting a nativity or geniture; that is to say, setting
out, on a plan of the Houses of Heaven, the position of the Signs
of the Zodiac and of the Planets in the respective Houses that they
occupied at the moment of birth. Similarly, we may cast a decumbiture,
that is, we may set out a similar plan for the moment a disease begins;
and such an operation was as necessary in the daily routine of a
physician as is now the taking the temperature of the patient: but
it is manifest that we cannot in this sense cast a horoscope, for the
horoscope is but the cusp of the Ascendent.
[Illustration: =Fig. 2.=]
This is the most obvious method of setting out the Houses, but it
was not usually adopted, perhaps because compasses were not common,
and circles not so easy to draw as straight lines. The conventional
figure, on which the positions of the heavenly bodies were always set
out, was thus:
[Illustration: =Fig. 3.=]
Each House of Heaven, like each Sign of the Zodiac and each Planet, has
its special aspect, jurisdiction, or influence over human affairs; but
unlike the Signs and the Planets, the Houses are not complexionate:
they are neither hot nor cold, neither moist nor dry.
Just as Aries is the first, the most powerful and important of the
Signs, and Luna the most powerful and important of the Planets, so the
Ascendent is the most powerful and important of the Houses. When a
Planet is in the Ascendent, its power is paramount over all the other
Planets, wherever they may be; still, it may be strongly influenced
by them. The Ascendent is the House of projects, of the beginnings of
things, especially of journeys; it is the House of life, of movement,
and of questions and answers.
The second House is the House of riches, and of servants; and signifies
the end of youth, and the lessening of the years of life.
The third House is the House of brothers and sisters; of acquaintances
and friends; of heirs; of changes; of continuance of journeys; of quiet
of kingdoms; of religion, and ministers of religion.
The fourth House is the House of parents; of heredity; of towns in
which the native lives, and in which he is born, and of his fate after
death.
The fifth House is the House of children; of eating and drinking; of
games; of fighting; of pictures, vessels and money.
The sixth House is the House of sickness and health; of servants; of
domestic animals; and of receiving.
The seventh House is the House of women; of marriage; of contentions
and strife; of saints; and of thieves; and signifies the middle of life.
The eighth House is the House of Death; of fear; of riches; and of the
last years of life.
The ninth House is of pilgrimages and journeys; of faith; of wisdom and
philosophy; of books; of rumours; and of sleep.
The tenth House is the Royal House. It is the House of dignities; of
laws; of princes and magistrates; of memories; of mothers; and of half
of the years of life.
The eleventh House is the House of fortune; of good faith; of friends
and allies.
The twelfth House is the House of unfriends, and of bad faith; of
labour; of battles; of sadness; and of beasts and birds.
The strongest House of all is the Ascendent. Next to this are the other
_angulares_, which immediately precede the other cardinal points,
viz.—the fourth, seventh and tenth, all powerful and propitious Houses.
The next in succession are called the successors of the _angulares_,
and are less powerful than the _angulares_, but still disposed to be
good, or propitious. The remaining Houses, the third, sixth, ninth and
twelfth, are called _ab angulis cadentes_, and are unpropitious, and
disposed to evil.
We are now in a position to discover the ways in which the power of a
Planet is increased or diminished.
In the first place, every Planet is related to certain Signs of the
Zodiac in three different ways. First, it has a Sign or Signs peculiar
to itself, which are called the houses of the Planet, and of this
house, or of these houses, the planet is Lord. Second, every Planet has
a Sign in which it rejoices. When situated in any of these Signs, and
especially when in its house, the power of the Planet is augmented.
Third, every Planet is exalted in a certain Sign, and depressed in
that which is diametrically opposite, and the power of the Planet is
increased or diminished according as the one or the other of these
Signs is in the Ascendent.
For instance, Saturn is Lord of Capricorn essentially, and of Aquarius
accidentally; he rejoices in Aquarius, is exalted in Libra, and
depressed in Aries. Consequently, his power is at its maximum when
he is in Capricorn, and is augmented when he is in Aquarius. It is
increased when Libra is in the Ascendent, and subdued when Aries is
in that House. Saturn (chronos) regulates the beginnings of things,
especially of things relating to the earth, such as planting, sowing,
ploughing, and other operations of agriculture. Such operations ought
therefore to be begun when Saturn has power, as when he is in the
Ascendent, or in Capricorn or Aquarius, provided that Aries is not
in the Ascendent. If Libra should be in the Ascendent, however, such
operations can scarcely fail to be successful.
A hot Planet in a hot Sign will have its heat augmented; but in a
cold Sign its heat will be reduced; and so of the other elementary
qualities. A moist Planet in a humid Sign will be dripping wet, and
will aggravate diseases due to moisture.
We have seen that certain Houses are more propitious than others,
those, namely, whose cusp is on the horizon or on one of the vertical
meridians. A benevolent Planet will be doubly so when in a propitious
House, but will have little power to benefit when it is in an
unpropitious House.
The House in which it is situated influences a Planet in more ways than
this. Every Planet has not only a Sign, but a House also in which it
rejoices; and when it is in this House its power is augmented. Mercury
rejoices in the Ascendent, Luna in the third House, Mars in the sixth,
Sol in the ninth, Jupiter in the eleventh, and Saturn in the twelfth.
Perhaps the most important factor in modifying the power of the
Planets, and certainly the factor to which the most importance is
attached, is their relative position or aspect with respect to one
another, and to the Ascendent.
The first aspect of Planets to one another is Conjunction, which, like
other terms in Astrology, and in its congener, Logic, is not always
used in the same sense. Planets are said by some authorities to be in
conjunction when they are within 2° of one another; by others, when
they are within 15° of each other; by others, when they are in the
same Sign, and by others when they are in the same House. All are
agreed, however, that whenever a Planet is within 15° of Sol, it is
combust, and its powers are for the time abolished. Otherwise, when
Planets of the same qualities are in conjunction, they corroborate and
reinforce one another; but when Planets of opposing qualities are in
conjunction, each cancels a part of the power of the other; so that
when a good Planet is conjoined with an evil one, the malice of this
is tempered, and the benevolence of that is debilitated. One of my
authorities, Arnaldus de Villanova, gives the following instance. ‘When
you are anxious to begin some good work, you should see that Luna makes
junction with benevolent Planets, or at any rate, is well separated
from bad ones; but he who wants to do evil, as for example, to poison a
little girl, or anything of that kind, ought to choose a time when Luna
is conjoined with bad, or is separated from good Planets.’
The second aspect is Sextile. This is when two Planets are separated
by a sixth part of the Zodiac, or by two Signs. Such an aspect is
moderately friendly—not manifestly, but occultly, or of hidden
benevolence.
The third aspect is Quartile, and is when a Planet aspects another
through three Signs, which is a fourth part of the Zodiac. Such an
aspect is of moderate or occult unfriendliness or conflict.
The fourth aspect is Trine, when a Planet aspects another from a
distance of four Signs, or a third part of the Zodiac. This is the
aspect of warm friendship, and perfect benevolence.
The last aspect is Opposition, when one Planet is distant from another
by half the Signs of the Zodiac. This is the most hostile aspect of
all; it is the aspect of open unfriendliness, hatred, and perdition.
Every Planet has two movements. First, it partakes of the general
movement of the heavenly bodies, rising in the East and setting in
the West, a movement due to the _primum mobile_; and second, it has
its own proper motion among the stars, which varies in rapidity, and
is sometimes direct, sometimes retrograde, and sometimes abolished,
so that the Planet is stationary among the stars. The speed of this
proper motion varies greatly, Luna completing her course in 28 days, or
thereabouts, and Saturn requiring 29 years. The motion of the Planets
is of much importance in medicine, for acute diseases, whose course is
rapid, are governed by the moon, whose motion is rapid, while chronic
diseases, whose course is slow, are governed by the sun, whose course
is likewise slow. If any Planet that is regulating the course of a
disease should become retrograde in its motion, the patient will of
course get worse.
Lastly, every Planet has its hour, in which it is dominant; and,
subject to the dominance of the Planet that rules the hour, every
Planet dominates that day of the week of which its hour is the first.
Thus, Saturn dominates completely the first hour of Saturday, and in
a less degree, and subject to the influence of the other Planets,
the whole of the _dies Sabbathum_. Jupiter rules the second hour of
Saturday, Mars the third, and so on until Luna dominates the seventh
hour, and then Saturn again takes up the tale, and rules the eighth.
The rotation is then continued, so that Saturn comes in again at the
fifteenth and twenty-second hours; Jupiter follows at the twenty-third;
Mars at the twenty-fourth, which completes the day. The next Planet
on the rota is Sol, which therefore takes the first hour, and in less
degree the whole, of the following day, which is accordingly _Dies
Solis_, or Sunday.
It is scarcely necessary to point out that every undertaking to which
any given Planet is propitious ought to be begun in the hour in which
that Planet is dominant, and if possible on his day. So all operations
of husbandry should be begun on Saturday, or if on any other day, then
in the hour of Saturn. When written directions are given as to any
undertaking, the Planet that is propitious to that undertaking should
be signified, so that the undertaking, whatever it may be, may be
begun in the hour of that Planet. If we give written directions for
sowing seed, or planting, or any of the operations of husbandry, we
should preface our directions with the sign of Saturn. If we write to a
commercial correspondent instructions to buy or sell, we should remind
him of the hour and day propitious to the transaction by placing at
the head of our instructions the sign of the Planet Mercury. Now, the
Planet that is most propitious to the operation of letting blood, and
to taking medicine, is Jupiter, and therefore all written directions
for letting blood or administering medicine should bear the sign of
Jupiter; and the sign of Jupiter is ♃ = ℞, which still heads all our
prescriptions, and testifies to the intimate connexion that existed
aforetime between Astrology and Medicine.
If we keep at our fingers’ ends the knowledge we have now gained of
the rudiments of Astrological lore, we shall be in a position to turn
that knowledge to practical use, to erect a scheme of the heavens at
the nativity of any given person, and to interpret that scheme so as
to predict at least the general course of his life, and, if we have
sufficient skill, the individual incidents therein. For this purpose it
is convenient to select a person whose career is closed, because this
gives us the double advantage of ascertaining whether our predictions
are correct, and of keeping an eye on his career during the course of
our interpretations, so that they may not go too wide of the mark. I
select therefore a distinguished man, Charles XII of Sweden, whose
career is familiar to you all.
As is usual, the pole of the Houses is at the horizontal north of the
place, Stockholm, and not at the celestial pole, and therefore the
latitude is given, and the Houses do not correspond with the Signs
of the Zodiac. Taurus, for instance, occupies the whole of the fifth
House, with six degrees of the fourth, and twenty of the sixth; while
Aquarius lies wholly within the second, which includes also seven
degrees of Capricorn and five of Pisces.
The first omen that attracts our attention is that Mars, the military
planet, occupies the twelfth House, the House of battles and of
enemies. We predict, therefore, that
No joys to him pacific scepters yield,
War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field;
* * * * *
Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain;
‘Think nothing gain’d,’ he cries, ‘till nought remain!’
[Illustration: =Fig. 4. Nativitas Caroli Duodecimi, Regis Sueciæ.=]
Venus, in the second House, does not aspect the native, and exerts no
influence over him; and Charles XII was notoriously insusceptible to
the charms of love. He was a neglecter and despiser of women—
O’er love, o’er fear extends his wide domain,
Unconquer’d lord of pleasure and of pain.
Sol, in the Ascendent, predicts for the native an illustrious and
glorious career, and equips him with the necessary qualities—
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labours tire;
* * * * *
Behold surrounding kings their pow’r combine,
And one capitulate, and one resign.
But Mars is an unpropitious Planet, a Planet of ill omen, and
his presence in the House of battles cannot but signify military
disaster: Luna, in sextile to the Ascendent, exerts an evil influence,
which Jupiter, sequestered in the second House from exerting any
counteracting sway, is powerless to restrain. What is the inevitable
consequence?—
He comes, not want nor cold his course delay;—
Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa’s day:
The vanquish’d hero leaves his brok’n bands,
And shews his miseries in distant lands;
Condemn’d a needy supplicant to wait,
While ladies interpose, and slaves debate.
Finally, Saturn, a very malevolent Planet, is most ominously situated
in the eighth House, the House of Death, a certain indication that
death will come early and in disastrous circumstances. How true the
indication let the poet testify:
But did not Chance at length her error mend?
Did no subverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hostile millions press him to the ground?
His fall was destin’d to a barren strand,
A petty fortress, and a dubious hand;
He left a name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.