Hellenistic Astrology

Zodiacal Releasing and Christmas 1970

I'm ready to finish off the Zodiacal Releasing section but I'd like you to try and be as precise as you can about dates as I go through the possibilities. We need to be able to focus down fairly accurately or we're left with a fairly general background statement. I'll start that in my next post to give you time to dredge through your memories.

On the issue of Sinister/Dexter/Left/Right, I did some re-reading of Al-Biruni compared to Sahl, who I quoted in full. The re-read of Al-Biruni, shows that he uses almost the same example as Sahl, talking about the Sextile as third and eleventh house links; the Square as fourth or tenth house and the Trine as fifth or ninth house. Both say that the second in each pair is the stronger of the two. The crucial difference is that Sahl talks about the aspect coming from each house mentioned, whereas Al-Biruni talks about the aspect going to those houses.

Thus whereas Sahl talks about the aspect coming from the tenth house being the stronger square, Al-Biruni is saying that the aspect going to the tenth house is the stronger. The first is the Hellenistic standard aspect in the order of signs (an aspect to the left), Al-Biruni is claiming that the aspect to the right, against the order of signs is the stronger. He has turned Sahl and Hellenistic Astrology on its head, when it comes to this.

Whether Sahl is personally responsible for this change, I don't know because there's something like 200 years between the two Astrologers and the change could have been handed down to Al-Biruni. But seeing their texts are very similar, it seems to me that somewhere along the line Sahl was mistranslated or simply miscopied.

1. The Cancer Lot

The Cancer Lot looked more accurate on the car accident so I'll start with that.

Cancer has a period of 25 years, so the very first L1 period was still in force in that year. The Level 2 period was Capricorn up till 30 November 1970, when there was a loosing of the bond to Cancer. That gave a L1/L2/L3/L4 Cancer period, so that date or one up to the next change to a Leo L4 on the night of 5th December should be important. The L3 period lasted till 13 January 1971 so I would think that everything that was linked to this episode was over by then. That date also say a loosing of the bond so a new period in your life began then.

Choosing a particular day in between those two dates becomes problematical, However, I've chosen to go for the 15th December. On this date the L4 period switched to Scorpio, your tenth Place. Mars was already activated through the L2/L3 Cancer periods, so this seems an appropriate one to choose, with Mars being in Cancer natally.

At the moment that the L4 began, transiting Moon was about to conjoin natal Mars (2 degrees off) which looks a significant event for your life and future actions. Mars itself was transiting the tenth and had just finished transiting the Lot of Children, as given by Dorotheus. Mars also opposes by sign the Lots of Father and Mother, which are both ruled by Venus. Venus too is opposing those lots and in a mutual application to Saturn, your Ascendant ruler (separation of 3 degrees).

Mars is a planet of severance, cutting, accidents, surgery. Saturn is a planet of separation and exclusion. So we have symbolism of separation or severance of children from parents (or at least one parent).

Mars rules the third house of siblings in this chart as well as the tenth. So it's not surprising that one or more siblings played an important role in this event.

Now I don't know how accurate you can be with the events of this period. But if we're going to take this further you need to think back to that time to fit in the events.

Two following dates might be significant. On 27th December the Level 4 period switched to Aquarius, which is your Ascendant, and that puts emphasis on its ruler Saturn, retrograde in the fourth place of parents and family. That lasted just into the new year.

The other significant date would be the 4th January 1971 when a L4 Aries period began, again placing emphasis on Mars and the third house of Siblings. Mars was still transiting the tenth and thus opposing the fourth house of parents, family and home.

2. The Gemini Lot

This lot is based on your recorded (but possibly erroneous) birth time. Gemini, ruled by Mercury, has a period of 20 Years. In December 1970 the L1 period was Gemini, the L2 period was Sagittarius, the L3 was Gemini. This activated the fifth and the eleventh houses. Mercury is natally in the fourth house of parents and home. Jupiter is natally in the Ascendant. There doesn't appear to be an important loosing of the bond, till the 17th of the month, when the L3 and L4 periods switched to Gemini. As Gemini rules the fifth place, concerned with children I can see an obvious relevance, especially with Mercury in the fourth.

On that day, Saturn was in a partile conjunction by transit of natal Mercury and the aspect was becoming exact. However it did not become exact till 23 December when at the same time there was a loosing of the bond and the L3/L4 changed to Cancer.

So both alternative Lots can give a narrative of the events of the time. However the Gemini one does not seem to flag up issues as early as the Cancer one. There are warning signs from the Cancer lot, from the beginning of December.

Mercury is not really important in the Cancer lot transits, though it is active during the Saturn conjunction on the 23rd. This is because there was a L4 Capricorn period in force which activated the fourth by transit and the tenth by transit.

My feeling is that the Cancer lot seems to give a darker and more appropriate background to events, with Mars and Saturn being active at key times. The Gemini lot does indicate the approaching Saturn/Mercury transit, as early as the beginning of November but it's the only feature that is emphasised and that is radically shifted by the loosing of the bond on 17 December, which pushes Gemini and Mercury into the background'noise' and focuses on Jupiter and Sagittarius. I would have expected a clearer focus on the events of the period, which there is with the Cancer lot.

Now I've been going by the dates showing on the releasing schedules, but your dates might throw more light onto the situation.

I will go over the recent second (Gemini) post tomorrow. I read through the Cancer one and it has a lot of "coincidences" . I will let you know what those are tomorrow also if I can get on the forum. I tried the day before and could not load the page. Now I am getting a Microsoft warning that my harddrive has an issue. Not sure what will happen after shutdown tonight. From what I see the Cancer lot is a lot more accurate.

on the night of 5th December should be important.

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This was probably about the time we found out we were getting a visit from our father over the Christmas break

The L3 period lasted till 13 January 1971 so I would think that everything that was linked to this episode was over by then. That date also say a loosing of the bond so a new period in your life began then.

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Definitely the case as by then we were settled in CA and started school in a new place

Choosing a particular day in between those two dates becomes problematical, However, I've chosen to go for the 15th December. On this date the L4 period switched to Scorpio, your tenth Place. Mars was already activated through the L2/L3 Cancer periods, so this seems an appropriate one to choose, with Mars being in Cancer natally.

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Very strange as we were either going to meet or had just met my fathers new wife. She was a Scorpio.

At the moment that the L4 began, transiting Moon was about to conjoin natal Mars (2 degrees off) which looks a significant event for your life and future actions. Mars itself was transiting the tenth and had just finished transiting the Lot of Children, as given by Dorotheus. Mars also opposes by sign the Lots of Father and Mother, which are both ruled by Venus. Venus too is opposing those lots and in a mutual application to Saturn, your Ascendant ruler (separation of 3 degrees).

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Very fitting again as there was a lot of father / mother tension and adjustment at this time.

Mars is a planet of severance, cutting, accidents, surgery. Saturn is a planet of separation and exclusion. So we have symbolism of separation or severance of children from parents (or at least one parent).

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There was a significant separation from our mother. CA is a long way from FL.

Mars rules the third house of siblings in this chart as well as the tenth. So it's not surprising that one or more siblings played an important role in this event.

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My older brothers health scare was THE event that precipitated the move.

Two following dates might be significant. On 27th December the Level 4 period switched to Aquarius, which is your Ascendant, and that puts emphasis on its ruler Saturn, retrograde in the fourth place of parents and family. That lasted just into the new year.

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If Aquarius is aligned with upheaval that certainly fits the whole episode and the stress for all included in the transition.

The other significant date would be the 4th January 1971 when a L4 Aries period began, again placing emphasis on Mars and the third house of Siblings. Mars was still transiting the tenth and thus opposing the fourth house of parents, family and home.

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By this time we would have been on the road driving through the desert to reach CA. We moved to southern CA and even in Jan the desert can be hot. There were a total of 6 of us in a 2 door sedan with no A/C.

I would have to say these dates and events are significant in relation to the times given.

It does look as though the Cancer Lot is a better explanation of events in your life. However, we've only looked at two events, so to increased confidence you would need to look at others, preferably where the dates and times of events are known.

Even then you cannot know for sure that you were born those few minutes later. What you can have is confidence that using the Cancer Lot is more likely to produce a good forecast of events.

Question while waiting for next installment

First off, I Hope you are well. I realize we got a bit off track with the releasing but I had a question in the meantime.

I may not have read enough yet to find the answer but was wondering if Hellenistic Astrology has much to say about the nodes? Does it interpret them in a similar fashion as modern?

LeiifA said:

First off, I Hope you are well. I realize we got a bit off track with the releasing but I had a question in the meantime.

I may not have read enough yet to find the answer but was wondering if Hellenistic Astrology has much to say about the nodes? Does it interpret them in a similar fashion as modern?

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Actually it says very little. Both nodes are undesirable points (because they are connected to eclipses and therefore the loss of light) but beyond that there really isn't much interpretation.

On the next instalment. We never looked at topics, so that might be an area to visit. I usually ask for one or two (and I mean one or two, otherwise we are going to be going for a long time LOL) topics of interest, e.g. marriage, career, health, children, or wealth. So let me know what you fancy.

Topics

Thanks for responding about the nodes. As for topics lets have a look at home/housing/moving if that qualifies and career/wealth if those can be combined? If those are too broad I can ask more particular questions.

Thanks

LeiifA said:

Thanks for responding about the nodes. As for topics lets have a look at home/housing/moving if that qualifies and career/wealth if those can be combined? If those are too broad I can ask more particular questions.

Thanks

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Sorry to take some time getting back to you but the last two weeks have been quite hectic. I've tried to get reasonably up to date with my horary list in the spare time I've had, some of whom have been waiting for some time.

I have a couple of questions the answers to which may help me here. As we decided that the Cancer Lot of Fortune made more sense. I've adjusted the timing of your birth ten minutes forward. That also has the effect of shifting the Lot of Spirit, which is relevant to career and actions. So just to double check things, can you give me a brief background to your career history. Nothing detailed but maybe key dates that you think were relevant.

I think you said you were self employed. Looking at the chart, the tenth house is ruled by Mars, which in a night chart is not particularly malefic and may indeed be rather positive. It's in the last degree of Cancer, it's Fall and in the sixth, directly opposite and in partile opposition to Saturn, your Ascendant ruler. That seems to suggest that there's conflict between you and career (or more probably between you and employment in an organisation). Is that a reasonable conclusion?

Home and family is ruled by Venus, the benefic of sect. Venus is placed in the third house/place, usually associated by Hellenistic Astrologers with siblings. Now I know that you have siblings because they featured in previous posts. I just wondered how important they were in your life (now and as a child) because this placement would suggest that they are indeed important to your sense of family.

The third has secondary meanings, of which one is relevant to your topic areas. The third is a cadent house and Hellenistic Astrologers took all cadent houses as being relevant to travel. That meaning of the third is still held today, as Modern Astrology would see it as being associated with short journeys. The Long/short didn't really feature in Hellenistic times, all cadent houses were the same in this regard. Where they differed is that the ninth was more promising of good things than the others, after the ninth came the third and the sixth and twelfth were more travel that led to bad things. So the third house may be relevant here. I just need some information that will help separate the siblings from the travel or perhaps show that both areas are important.

In the rectified chart Venus also rules the Lot of Spirit, so it's going to be interesting to see how things fit together.

Wealth in terms of fixed assets, such as land and buildings, is also fourth. Wealth in the form of income and movable assets is second house and that's ruled by Jupiter in your chart. Jupiter is in your first house and in it's own triplicity (Jupiter rules the Air signs by night). So wealth and possessions are going to be particularly relevant to you. That doesn't have to be a desire to have as much wealth as possible but it may signify a need to have financial security, especially if that was missing in childhood or there were periods when financial security was absent.

Again that's an area that might be worth exploring.