Gryphon Astrology Blog

This is the second part of an interview with translator James Herschel Holden, an astrological author and translator.  If you are just joining us, read Part 1 of the interview here.

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NG: You have a book that just came out, The Five Medieval Astrologers [read the Gryphon Astrology review], and you have picked the very books that I would have wanted in that one book. I’ve always wanted to read The Book of Flowers, but as far as I know it doesn’t exist in English right now other than in your translation.

JH: Well, this is true, but if you read the preface you could see that I actually translated that thing a long time ago. It’s been sitting here in my house and I never had a chance to get it published until recently. And when the executive secretary of the AFA said: “Jim, have you got any books that we can publish?” I said: “Yeah, I’ve got some.”

And I thought immediately we can put The Book of Flowers in there because I think the thing’s interesting. If you’re interested in mundane, I think we’re [AFA] going to publish a book in a few months that will probably interest you. I have translated half a dozen or so of the Jean-Baptiste Morin books from his Astrologia Gallica. Book 25, I have translated that; it’s on mundane and meteorological astrology.

NG: Other than mundane astrology, my other favorite topic is weather astrology, so I’m looking forward to it.

JH: You’d probably like that book, and I would think that maybe by October we may have it published. Right now, we’re working on Sahl’s book on horary and elections. And also, I have translated [Astrologia Gallica] Book 16 on aspects and Book 17 on astrological houses. Both of those will be published later this summer.

When they publish Book 25, we will have nearly all the books from 13 down to the end. The last book, number 26, is on horary astrology, and elections. And I’ve translated the first half of that. And I don’t know whether I’m even going to finish it or not. Morin didn’t like horary astrology. He thought it was silly rubbish that the Arabs had invented. I have a great deal of respect for Morin. A lot of his stuff is good and his Astrologia Gallica is good. But if you think about it, the main emphasis in the Morin Method is on what you would call accidental significators, that is, rulers of houses and things like that, rather than on universal significators.

For example, if you read some of the older books, you find that Mars rules warriors and Venus rules women, and so on like that. And that if you have a chart and you’re reading the thing. and you want to know something about a woman, well you look at Venus. And like if it’s a marriage question, well, look at Venus. Well, Morin says, No, look at the seventh house. See what’s in the seventh!

See what the ruler of the seventh is and how it’s related to all the other planets, then you can look at the fifth house too, but look at the seventh mainly. And what he’s doing that he didn’t seem to understand, is that he’s applying the horary method to natal astrology, because that is exactly what you do in horary if somebody comes in and says; “I have a question about my son,” what do you do? You look at the fifth house. And this is precisely what Morin says to do in reading a natal chart. If you want to know something about money look at [house] two. If you want to know something about marriage and business relations and open enemies you look at [house] seven and so on like that.

And this is exactly the horary method, and yet he says horary doesn’t work. But the reason he said that was two-fold. First, though, he didn’t know anything about the history of astrology. People didn’t in those days.

The old standard was Ptolemy, and they didn’t know there was anything else. And most of the books that were available were books that had been translated from Arabic in the 12th century, and he read those things, and he knew that those books had been written by Arabs. Morin didn’t like the Arabs because he was a devout Catholic, and those people, to him, were infidels. Also, Ptolemy never mentions horary astrology any place in the Tetrabiblos. So plainly it must have been invented by those wicked Arabs.

I think that this is one thing that sort of illustrates the advantage of knowing something about the history of the art. If you know the overall history of astrology, you know where the different techniques came from; you realize that people were making horary charts back in the days when astrology was a Greek science. And that it was medieval, and it wasn’t something the Arabs invented. Arab astrology is basically Greek astrology, because if you read my history book, in the 8th and 9th century Arabs got hold of Greek books on astrology and translated them into Arabic and that’s where they learned the business.

But Morin didn’t know that. And in one place, I think it’s maybe it’s in Book 16 or 17 some place, he even accuses Firmicus Maternus of having copied the Arabs. Well, Firmicus lived in the 4th century, and the Arabs didn’t know anything about astrology till the 8th century. So that didn’t make any sense, but like I said, he plain and simply didn’t know the history of the thing. Nobody did in his day. It wasn’t that he was ignorant and other people were aware, because it hadn’t been studied. This is why I think that it’s important to know something about the history.

Now back to The Five Medieval Astrologers. I had gotten a copy, I guess thirty, forty years ago of a 17th century book that had translations of the three Centiloquies in it. And I’ve been using that all along but I got to thinking, well, if we’re going to put The Book of Flowers out, well, maybe we ought to print all three of the Centiloquies too, because otherwise, let’s say you wanted the Centiloquy of Hermes where would you have found it?

You would have had to have located some old, out of print book or something to get the thing. Henry Coley had translated all three of them, and they’re in his book that was published about 1660 or the late 1600’s. And you can get a copy of that. Maybe you’ve got one. You can get a copy of his book.

NG: I did, before yours came out, but yours is much better, because he translated, but often he just paraphrased and it’s not the same.

JH: He not only paraphrased, but he actually left out about a fourth of it. He didn’t even have it all in there. And that one’s hard to read; I think the Latin’s bad. You can see in the footnotes that I had to struggle with part of it, too. Anyway, I thought to myself it would be nice to have all three of those things in one place. And then also there was The Hundred and Fifty Propositions of al-Mansur, which I don’t know where you’d ever find that. I have never seen it any place, so I thought we’re going to put all this together, and if anybody is interested in this old stuff, there it is all in one book.

NG: That’s wonderful. I’m really glad that you did, because I think a lot of people just don’t know it’s out there.

JH: I guess you read the little thing I put down there about why would anybody want to read a thousand year old book. But anyway, some of these books that I put out, well, I have to think about what Mark Twain said about a book once. “ This is a good book for people that like this kind of a book.”

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The practice of casting a horoscope for the moment of the consultation is quite ancient, though until now, there has not been a full-length book devoted to the subject. It is fairly rare to see an astrologer using this method today, though when I first started learning about astrology, I thought it was common practice!

The first astrologer I ever consulted was a very hip and alternative-looking lady with a sparkly purple sweater and a laptop in Seattle, Washington. I sat down at her table at the local New Age shop, not knowing what to expect. She pulled up a chart on her computer and started telling me why I had come to see her. I confirmed her analysis of my situation, and she answered my question based on the chart, pulled a few tarot cards for good measure, and sent me on my way (her prediction was correct, by the way). This experience obviously skewed my impression of what a typical astrological consultation entailed, with the result that I was hooked on predictive techniques from Day One.

Wanda Sellar describes a very similar procedure, sans tarot cards. She casts a chart for the moment the astrologer and client meet, with the ascendant and ascendant ruler of the chart representing the client, her mental and emotional state, and specific concerns. At this point, the consultation chart reading looks very similar to a horary reading, whereby applying aspects represent the future, and separating aspects show past events. In fact, one might say that the consultation chart is a horary chart with the question unknown to the astrologer. Sellar’s book proposes to teach the reader just how to interpret a chart with two unknowns; the question and the outcome.

Briefly…

The Consultation Chart is a terrific introduction to this ancient method. Make no mistake about it; the author uses modern house meanings, all of the outer planets, including Chiron, and sometimes takes a psychological approach to the chart. In that sense, The Consultation Chart is a modern astrology book that teaches an ancient method. The book contains thorough explanations of the meaning of the ascendant, planetary movement, planetary house and assigned positions, and detailed house meanings, all in the context of the consultation horoscope.

The most absorbing part of the book are the case histories, forming about one third of the volume. The author’s interpretations are crisp and succinct, helping the reader understand how the author arrived at her conclusion. There is a lovely assortment of various horoscopes for our study, including a chapter on “spooks,” showing consultation charts of clients asking about family members and loved ones beyond the grave.

A book that is highly recommended both for traditional and modern astrologers; the consultation chart method has much to recommend it for speed and accuracy. In Wanda Sellar, the method has found an experienced and gifted proponent.

Contents and Structure

Chapter 1 plunges the reader right into interpretation of the ascendant sign of the consultation chart, followed by a checklist of observations about the ascendant ruler, which will help the astrologer understand what is going on with the client. We are then briefly introduced to the planetary dignities.

Chapter 2 is a brief overview of the way planets interact, much like we would find in an explanation of basic horary concepts such as combustion, prohibition, and the somewhat controversial considerations before judgment. Chapters 3 through 5 give us a detailed tour of the planets and their meaning in the signs. The author uses the planetary dignities to assess the strength of the planet, or whoever the planet represents (a client, their significant other etc.), a more traditional approach. In chapter 5, outer planets are treated as something between full-fledged planets and fixed stars, one example of the blending of traditional and modern approaches we see frequently in this book.

Chapter 6 discusses the nodes and Chiron. Chapter 7 is a detailed explanation of each House, along with a short description of the meaning of each planet in the houses. The houses are interpreted with both modern and traditional meanings. Following are six chapters on case histories; career questions, health concerns, relationships, spooks, consultation/natal horoscopes together, and interpreting the turned chart.

In the examples provided, the author seems to take a more traditionalist approach, though she does use the minor aspects, with a stronger emphasis on the traditional house meanings. It is very instructive to see an experienced astrologer working through a chart where she has very little background knowledge of the situation. That takes confidence and serious astrological chops, both of which are evident throughout the book.

Observations

Wanda Sellar’s book is very timely, in that it gives astrologers an easy way to incorporate a traditional method into their practice, with both an increase in client satisfaction and accuracy. The consultation chart is very clear and efficient, and often cuts right through to the client’s real concerns. It takes practice to become good at this method, as the astrologer’s usually reading the chart on the fly, right there in front of the client. The Consultation Chart gives the reader everything they need to start working with the consultation chart themselves.

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The Consultation Chart: A Guide to What It Is and How to Use It

By: Wanda Sellar

Wessex Astrologer, 2001

14.50 GBP (about double in USD)

Available from amazon.com, astroamerica.com, and wessexastrologer.com

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Last month, I spoke with James Herschel Holden, M.A., author of A History of Horoscopic Astrology (now in its 2nd edition), and translator of countless astrological texts, including a dozen or so by Jean Baptiste Morin, and texts by famed astrologers such as Sahl ibn Bishr, Albumasar, Abu ‘Ali, and Masha’allah.   Mr. Holden has been Research Director of the American Federation of Astrologers since 1982.

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NG: What got you interested in the history of astrology and how does one kind of get into working with these texts as you have?

JH: Well, all my life I’ve been interested in history, history of everything. When I was in school I didn’t care anything about modern history but I was interested in ancient history. If you say why was that, the answer is I don’t know; that’s just the way I was. And I guess it was perhaps a little exotic, and so it appealed to me more than every day things that you see around you.

And when I first learned something about astrology; I got interested in where it came from, how it got started, and that led me back to the origins of it in the old books and so on

I was about eighteen when I ran across a translation of Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos and I read that. And then about the same time I found a Latin text of Julius Firmicus Maternus. And since I could read Latin, that was another one that sort of whetted my appetite for the old stuff.

NG: So you were hooked. Is there a particular era in the history of astrology that you find interesting? It sounds like you’re very interested in the ancient texts, even before the medieval era, is that accurate?

JH: Well, not to the exclusion of anything else. I would say that I’m interested in all periods of astrology, except maybe what somebody thought up last month. I can say that I’ve been more interested in the older things than I have in a few of the modern things that have come up. But I don’t have any particular [favorite] period. If you’ve got my history book [History of Astrology, 2^nd Ed., AFA] you saw how it was divided up into sections.

And each section in that is interesting to me; I’m interested in the classical section, also in the medieval section, what the Arabs had to say, and early modern, and so on. And there’s a whole lot of material to read in each one of those eras.

NG: I saw you have a new edition of your History of Astrology. I know it’s one of those books that it seems everybody I know has it and has read it.

JH: Well, I hope they like it. That’s the distillation of many years of reading about astrology and thinking about it. And you asked the question about the 2nd Edition whether there was any significant change, and I guess the answer is No

What had happened, is that the first one sold out, and we had noticed maybe as many as eight or ten typographical errors in it; most of them trivial, so we had a chance to correct those, and I was also able to correct some omissions that were in the 1st Edition. One of them was rather significant. Being a member of the American Federation of Astrologers, I had written that 1st Edition and never even mentioned our President, Doris Chase Doane.

I just forgot about it. I think the reason is that of the modern people that were alive today,or we’ll say the 20th century people, I was trying to think of those who had done something a little bit different or had acquired some notoriety in recent years or something. And Doris wrote an awful lot of books, but she hadn’t written any very recently at the time that I was putting that history together, and for some reason I just didn’t think of her. And I know the lady personally, or rather knew her. She passed away a couple years ago but, this is one of those things you slap yourself with your hand on the forehead, and you think how in the world could I have forgotten her.

In the 2nd Edition Doris is in there, and also I had left out three or four Europeans that I think were of some importance, and I simply forgot them the same way. So they’re in there now. And one of my friends in Greece, Thomas Gazis, was kind enough to rewrite the whole section on modern Greek Astrology, so that’s revised from the 1st Edition.

And I have a little bit more information about astrology in other countries. And of course in the ten years that went by, some of the people mentioned in the 1st Edition had passed away, so I’ve got their death dates in there.

I think there’s five hundred and some odd [people] in there. And so percentage wise…leaving those few out was a small error, but I regretted it.

NG: What do you think are some of the biggest changes in our knowledge, what we’ve learned in the last ten or twenty years that we didn’t know about the history of astrology before?

JH: I would say that maybe going back as far as thirty years ago we began to get some old books, and I’m talking about English speaking countries, I think what I’m saying is largely true of foreign countries too. But in this country, if you go back about thirty years, about the only old book you could get was Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos. And many astrologers, not being aware that anything else existed, assumed that Ptolemy invented astrology and that everything that was original about it was in that book, which isn’t true.

Ptolemy was a science writer. He was like Isaac Asimov who wrote books on practically everything. I suspect that Ptolemy had been hired by some rich man who said: “I’ve got a nice, private library in my house and I’d like to have some books on the sciences. And I’ll pay you good if you’ll write them.” So Ptolemy wrote him a book on astronomy, and he wrote one on geography, and he wrote on two or three other subjects.

And then the man said: “Oh, and astrology; write something on astrology.” So Ptolemy wrote something on astrology. But if you look in the very first chapter of the Tetrabiblos, Ptolemy says he has left out a whole lot of what was current in his lifetime, and he said: “My book is not complete, I’ve left out a whole lot of things because it’s a big subject and if I wanted to put everything in it, it would be a whole lot bigger book.” Why, I think hardly any astrologer after his time ever bothered to read that part of it. Most of them assumed that he was first so he must have invented the whole thing.

For example, there was a man who was a professional astrologer, named Vettius Valens who was living in Alexandria from about 150 to 175 AD, which would have overlapped Ptolemy’s lifetime. He didn’t know Ptolemy and never mentions him once.

I’ve written a paper on this that hasn’t been published yet, but I think what happened is that Ptolemy wrote his books for a client or a patron whose name was Cyrus. All Ptolemy’s books are addressed to a man named Cyrus who is otherwise totally unknown.

When he finished he gave all the books to Cyrus, the guy stuck them on the shelf, and they sat there for 150 years. They were not published or made available to the general public until around 300 AD. And Valens lived in the same town with Ptolemy and never heard of him, though Valens was a professional astrologer and also had a school of astrology. He would have known if the Tetrabiblos had been available; he would have had a copy; and he would have known all about it. And yet Valens’s book is true to what was going on at the time. For example, I think it’s got almost a hundred example horoscopes in it. Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos doesn’t have a single one.

So one is a theoretician, and the other one was a practicing astrologer. Ptolemy went down to the Alexandrian Library and got out two or three books on astrology, read through them, and then thought, well, I’ll talk about this part of it, and wrote the Tetrabiblos. Now, what he put down there is good, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s not complete, that’s the point I’m trying to make.

And yet, I don’t think up until thirty years ago, hardly anybody knew about that. But since that time, various people have translated some of the old books. I think Robert Schmidt translated all or most of Vettius Valens, for example. A translation of Firmicus came out in 1974, I think. People little by little began to get some of the old books and found out, hey, there was more to it back then than we thought.

Then, in the last ten or fifteen years, why there have been people who got interested in medieval astrology and began to read the medieval books. And that opened up a whole new field too. So those are things that have happened in recent years that have expanded our knowledge. Now, if you are a working astrologer and you’re dealing with clients and so on, you probably don’t have time to sit around and devote yourself to reading the history, and as a result many astrologers today haven’t read any of the old stuff. They havn’t read my book. They haven’t read any of those old texts either. So they’re not familiar with that. I think it’s good to know how things started.

Did you ever see the movie Fiddler on the Roof? Well, there was something very significant in that. At one point some fellow says to Tevye the dairyman, “why do we do this particular thing?” And Tevye says, “it’s tradition.” And the man says, “Why do we have this tradition?” And Tevye says, “I’ll tell you, I don’t know.” That’s kind of situation that I think many astrologers are in. They learn the rules and they even learn to read charts pretty well, and so on. But if somebody said: “why do we do it this way?” all they could say is: “Well, that’s the way I learned it.”

And where did the rule come from? It says that Mars rules Scorpio? They were using Scorpio, and so on like that. Well, somebody made that statement 2000 years ago and we’re stuck with it.

I think that’s interesting, but most people don’t. I guess I could say that if you have any interest in the old stuff, I think my book is helpful because it not only mentions a lot of the old timers, but it gives some excerpts and it gives you a lot of footnotes and refers you to where you could find additional material.

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Last week, we narrowed down the possible dates for a war in Iran to 1980/1981, and for the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Khomeini we got 1988/1989.  This week, we look more closely at these years and find out which year is the relevant one.

When Would the Iran War Start – 1980 or 1981?

The 1980 Aries Ingress Mars is on Regulus, a fierce, bombastic royal star, conjunct the expansive North Node. This combination is quintessential warlike puffery; “I’ll see your gas weapons and raise you a few thousand foot soldiers!” This configuration occurred around the world, of course, but in Iran, we saw it in the Ingress 1^st house of the nation as a whole. Mars rules the Khomeini 1^st house of the Iranian people, so they will be deeply affected.

And, of course, they were, with the Iran-Iraq war resulting in 100,000 Iranian young men dead. Still, Mars in Leo has little essential strength – this was a war that Iran could ill afford. Just a year after the revolution, Iran obviously believed that it could quickly end the conflict and instill a much-needed shot of Iranian national unity in the process. I suspect that this is the reason the war ballooned to the unbelievable dimensions it did; Iran was still in the “Regulus” mindset, where creating and maintaining an image of military might became paramount. The 1980 Aries Ingress indicates that the border skirmishes of 1980 didn’t have to turn into a full-blown war. But the Mars in Leo egos on both sides simply would not back down.

The 1981 Aries Ingress looks much more serious; 1980 was the dress rehearsal, with everyone excited about the war. The 1980 Ingress was like the opening of Gone with the Wind, with Southern society folk excited about the prospect of beating the Yankees, with the young men parading around in their brand-new military uniforms. The Sun-Mars conjunction is right on the Khomeini Ascendant. Note that Mars is in its own fiery sign of Aries, so the war is in full swing, it is also combust, indicating that the Iranian people both could not see what they were getting into, and they were also afflicted by their ruler (the Sun). Though I cannot find data on this, 1981 must have been the year that Iranians began getting drafted in significant numbers, since the Mars-Sun conjunction is on the Ascendant, ruling the people.

The 1980 Jupiter-Saturn conjunction was on the malefic fixed star Vindemiatrix, associated with widowhood and regret. The Jupiter-Saturn-Vindemiatrix conjunction is still active in the 1981 Aries Ingress, and falls on the Khomeini 7^th house cusp of open enemies. The Moon in the Aries Ingress opposes the Khomeini Moon and Ascendant, and is immediately applying to oppose the Ingress Mars. Oppositions are particularly warlike, and this Ingress simply screams “war!” Finally, the 1980 Great Conjunction Mars opposes the Ingress Midheaven. When we see a planet afflicting the IC/MC axis, it afflicts the Asc/Desc axis by mundo aspect, so all four angles of the Ingress chart are electrified by this Mars.

Death of Khomeini

Last week, we determined that Khomeini would likely die in 1988 or 1989. The 1988 Ingress is suggestive of death; the Moon rules the turned 8^th house of death in the Khomeini chart, and applies to trine Saturn (the ruler of the King). Jupiter conjoins the Moon, however, so we might assume that Khomeini at least got a reprieve in 1988. The 1989 Ingress does not look as positive, however; Saturn is right on the 4^th house cusp of the grave in the Ingress. The Moon applies to trine Saturn – this time, there are no helpful interpositions. Moreover, the Moon is conjunct the Khomeini chart Saturn. Without a doubt, 1989 would be the fateful year for Khomeini. He died in June 1989.

Coming Next Week: Using the methods shown in all the previous parts of this series, we will start examining the 2000-2020 period for Iran and determine whether war is likely.

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Read Part I of the Iran Series - The seeds of the revolution in the Shah’s Coronation and 1961 Great Conjunction charts.

Part II of the Iran Series - The revolution draws near: Eclipse hits to the coronation and 1961 Great Conjunction.

Part III of the Iran Series - The revolution is here and the Shah is deposed.  Aries Ingress charts for 1977 and 1978.

Part IV of the Iran Series - War comes again: the charts for the Islamic Republic and the 1980 Great Conjunction.

Part V of the Iran Series - War is Inevitable, but when will it happen? Using Aries Ingress charts to narrow down the year.

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Both modern and traditional astrologers like to grouse at Sun sign columnists for prostituting the ancient astrological art. The complexity of the natal horoscope is reduced to one single factor – the Sun sign – and the public is disappointed when these simplified predictions do not pan out. At least, that is the common understanding. However, there is much more to Sun sign astrology than meets the eye, and it has quite a historical pedigree to boot. Flirting with the Zodiac is the latest book by Kim Farnell, who takes us along on a journey through the history of Sun sign astrology, showing that Sun sign astrology has its importance and has played an important role in astrology’s history.

Briefly…

A captivating and fascinating journey through 2000 years of Sun sign astrology. The strength of the book is in its vivid, brisk descriptions of the motley crew inhabiting the world of astrology. Recommended for astrologers of all levels; beginners will gain background on the who’s who of Sun sign astrology, while more advanced astrologers will find fascinating nuggets of information not widely available elsewhere.

Contents & Structure

Flirting with the Zodiac is set up chronologically; Farnell walks us through Sun sign astrology in the ancient world (did you know that the Roman legions carried standards with zodiac signs?), followed by its role in the Middle Ages. There is an in-depth discussion of the importance of almanacs in providing quick and easy astrology advice, like in daily newspapers today. Here we see an important reality check to those of us who like to believe that historically, all people were deep, profound beings with a grasp of the nuances of astrology. Really, the majority of people always wanted an astrological “quick fix,” whether it was via almanac prediction or by reading their daily horoscopes in The Times.

Interestingly, the chapter on the 16^th century, arguably the best century in recent history for legal, quality, in-depth, profound astrological work, is the shortest with regard to Sun signs. Perhaps in the last few hundred years, the availability of the quickie astrology fix is inversely related to the amount of more in-depth astrology being done.

The book gets more detailed and anecdote-rich once we hit the last 150 years, with a fascinating journey through the interconnected worlds of mystical societies, gurus, and astrologers, all of which loom larger than life. The public’s hunger for occult wisdom about 100-150 years ago was undeniable, after a couple of centuries of pure scientism. Many astrologers stepped in to fill that void, including Sun sign columnists and publishers of astrology magazines. Serious astrology became interesting again, too, but the popular astrology got the lion’s share of attention.

Farnell gives us some in-depth chapters on two Sun sign greats; the turn of the century astrologer and palmist Cheiro, and 1960s “Queen of Sun sign astrology” herself, Linda Goodman. A nice summary of the scientific backlash against astrology follows.

Finally, we come to one of my favorite parts of the book, the Hall of Fame, which is a collection of biographies of some contemporary Sun sign astrologers, including Patric Walker and Russell Grant. These short articles provide an interesting summary of the astrologers’ careers, along with hard-to-find tidbits and facts about their lives.

Observations

Flirting with the Zodiac is something of a meta-book, in that the book is not unlike its subject of Sun sign astrology. Lots of interesting tidbits are presented in a snappy, engaging manner, but without wearing out the reader with too much technical or historical detail. A very good history of astrology, particularly with an emphasis on recent centuries, that can stand on its own as both a tribute and a history of this fascinating corner of the astrological world.  Farnell’s book has certainly given this astrologer a new respect for Sun signs!

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Flirting with the Zodiac

By: Kim Farnell

Wessex Astrologer, 2007

256 pages, paperback

27 USD

Available at amazon.com, astroamerica.com, and wessexastrologer.com.

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If you have Venus or Mars in detriment in the Ascendant, the astrological writer Hermes seems to think so.

In the Centiloquy of Hermes Trismegistus, Aphorism #25* says:

“In the nativities of women, when the Ascendant is in any of the domiciles of Venus with Mars in them or when the Ascendant is in any of the domiciles of Mars with Venus in them, the woman will be shameless; and it will be the same if she has Capricorn in the Ascendant.”

A workable definition of shamelessness is public immorality; Hermes refers to sexual immorality, but this is somewhat narrow based on our examples. Also, as our examples below show, the native does not have to be female for this rule to apply. I excluded Capricorn rising from the examination, because this clause is unclear: Is Hermes referring to Venus or Mars in the Ascendant in Capricorn? Or is having Capricorn rising enough?

1. Bill Clinton – Libra rising, Mars in Libra. Clinton’s failings are a matter of public record, though the publication was not exactly voluntary, which may be a necessary component of shamelessness.

2. Pete Rose – Aries rising, Venus in Aries. A record-breaking baseball player at the epicenter of a major baseball gambling scandal. Rose bet on his own team for years, and eventually served time for tax evasion, presumably because of the underreported gambling income. Despite his obvious skill as a baseball player, Rose will probably never be admitted to the Hall of Fame due to the gambling scandal.

3. Anais Nin – Libra rising, Mars in Libra. A published diarist who described her personal experiences with sex; her writing was meant for public consumption. This seems the closest to Hermes’ definition of shamelessness – intentional display of one’s personal life for public view.

4. Roman Polanski – Libra rising, Mars in Libra. Film director who fled to France due to being indicted for sex with a 13-year-old in the U.S. During an unrelated libel trial twenty years later, with Polanski as plantiff, it was remarked: “Surely a man like this hasn’t got a reputation to tarnish?”

5. Groucho Marx – Scorpio rising, Venus in Scorpio. Not particularly known for public vices, perhaps the most scandalous fact is that all of Marx’s wives were considerably younger than him, with the last one over 40 years younger than Marx. Still, this hardly qualifies as shameless, even by traditional, conservative societal standards.

6. Grace Slick – Scorpio rising, Venus in Scorpio. The vocalist for Jefferson Airplane, Slick has had a typical rock‘n’roll life; famous lovers, child out of wedlock, and run-ins with the law for various infractions.

Many charts that I examined (with a reasonably specific birth time) with the Aphorism #25 characteristics do not seem especially remarkable for their shamelessness. Of course, perhaps we just don’t know them well enough!

Dear reader: what do you think? Is Aphorism 25 right?

*As translated by James Herschel Holden in Five Medieval Astrologers.

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The resident astrology weather forecast gnome, Godric, recently seemed very pleased with himself. I asked why, and he pointed to this post, where he predicted the storms off of Florida, namely Tropical Storm Fay. Since I believe in instilling astrological humility, I asked Godric whether he could also predict the name of the storm in advance. He looked ashamed and ran off. I believe he’s working on the name prediction method right now. Despite his hard work on this, with the help of an airy sylph spirit, Godric was able to put together the following forecast for the U.S.

California weather for September 2008:

August 30 – Nice, cool weather, with fog or clouds. Saturn in the Midheaven with Jupiter conspire for classic autumn weather.

September 7 – Dry and mild, with some west wind.

September 15 – More western wind, still with fair weather. Mars, Mercury, and Venus in Libra conspire for autumnal weather.

September 22 – Western wind but the weather should be fair and warm. More Mars, Mercury, and Venus influence.

USA weather through September 22, 2008:

West Coast & Western Midwest: Fine, seasonal weather, with nothing out of the ordinary. Starting on September 22, we will see some winds and fair, warm weather, as indicated by Venus on the Ascendant, combined with Mercury and Mars in Libra.

Midwest (Minnesota down to the Gulf): Hot, but not insanely hot. Expect some moisture, too, especially in the north, but not heavy rain. Showers and clouds should be enough. Starting on September 22, you will see more seasonal weather, much like what you’d expect this time of year.

East Coast: Clouds, rain, and storms. Saturn, Mercury, and Venus in Virgo are all in the Midheaven, promising clouds, winds, and rain respectively. Because all planets are in a Mercury-ruled sign, wind is especially emphasized. The Caribbean is not going to have a good time. The clouds and/or cool weather will continue past September 22.

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I am petitioning to work as a nurse in California. Can you see when I will be back in the US? And will I be able to shift to medicine (I’m a graduate of nursing and medicine) and be a doctor when I am there?

–M.

Dear M.,

The horary chart for your question is pretty clear; that is what happens when you have a clear question (other free reading requesters, take note ). The astrological chart is below:

You are ruled by Saturn, ruler of the first house of self, and by the Moon. We see that the benefic North node is just inside the ascendant, which is a generally positive indication, though not the final word. Saturn is hanging out in the seventh house, trine Jupiter, but not making any immediate aspects. We do notice that the Sun has just moved into Virgo, and Saturn is now combust. This can indicate that you do not see clearly in the situation; it may be that you do not get updates on the application process, so you really know where you stand. You may also not know exactly what is involved in becoming certified as a doctor in the US as compared to your home country.

We see that the Moon is translating light between Saturn and Venus. It looks as though Venus conjunct Mercury in Virgo in the seventh house represents the United States. The seventh house can indicate “over there,” and with Venus so strongly influenced by Mercury both by sign and by aspect, there is a definite medical flavored to Venus. The Moon applies to Venus by a square aspect, indicating delays, obstacles, and struggles. However, you should be able to get back to the US sooner or later. The aspect between the Moon and Venus will perfect in about 6 1/2 degrees; because we are dealing with double signs, we could be looking at your returning seven or eight months from now. This could actually be weeks, but that seems a little rapid for what a bureaucratic process.

Will you be able to be a doctor in the US? Of course you are able to; all you have to do is just pass a bunch of exams. I think this will be a little trickier, though, because you are represented by Saturn in Virgo, which is in the detriment of Jupiter, the planet governing your career. You might not be focusing enough on what it takes to make your American M.D. credentials happen. If you want to be a doctor here, it is absolutely essential that you focus on getting the right qualifications, which I am told is not easy or simple. The medical profession protects itself, so you must prove your worth.

[Readers interested in an astrology reading can pay using the PayPal button at top left, or learn more by visiting the Astrology Readings page.]

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What if your horoscope could tell who your enemies will be? A tidbit in Ibn Ezra’s The Book of Nativities and Revolutions (written c. 1140-1160) tells us a quick way to do just that. All you have to know is your rising sign; the 12th sign from the ascendant tells us about the nature of people who will make your life just a little less pleasant. I won’t give away all of the signs, because you should really read this great book yourself, but I will use a few famous examples to illustrate the simplicity and accuracy of Ibn Ezra’s method.

Bill Clinton – Libra rising –> Virgo ruling 12^th sign. “Quarrels with the learned people.” Pretty accurate for someone who spent much of his presidency in court and especially in the press (both ruled by Mercury, ruler Virgo). John McCain, Jimmy Carter, and JFK all have Libra rising as well.

George W. Bush – Leo rising –> Cancer ruling 12^th sign. “Most people will hate him,” because the 12th sign ruler is the Moon, ruler of the people. This correlates with Bush’s chronically low approval ratings and general lack of popularity worldwide.

Barack Obama – Aquarius rising –> Capricorn ruling 12^th sign. “He will hate himself and will bring upon himself quarrels for no good reason.” Ouch! The reasoning is that the same planet rules the 12^th and the 1^st houses, so Obama is the cause of his own undoing and his own worst enemy.

What is your 12^th house sign? Does it describe your enemies or interpersonal conflicts?

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The Sun enters cold and dry Virgo on August 23, cooling down substantially from fiery Leo. The Sun in Virgo is somewhat incongruous, a hot/dry planet in a cold/dry sign. Astrologer Ibn Ezra said that Virgo rules scholars, learned people, writers, and merchants. The Sun is the planet of rulers, the nobility, and “top command” of all types. The two characterizations don’t mesh that well; very few leaders are also scholars, or even learned, for that matter. There are exceptions, but they are rare, like the Romaemperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius, whose name is enshrined in history. The picture above depicts him distributing bread to the people, true to the Sun (emperor) in Virgo (bread) symbolism.

The Sun is the giver of life, but Virgo is a barren sign, because it is mentally fertile; Virgo is the most cerebral of the earth signs. Virgo thus channels the energy of the Sun, but not perfectly, which is why Virgo is not an optimal placement for the Sun. It is not a terrible placement, but the Sun does not have lots of dignity in Virgo.

What Astrologers Say about Sun in Virgo

Here are other perspectives on this placement, traditional and contemporary.

William Ramesey, in Astrologia Restaurata, writes: “The sixth sign is called Virgo (signifying a maid) because the Sun therein hath his heat diminished, and dryness ruleth, so that things cease to increase, and the earth becometh barren; being of the nature of a Virgin, who is naturally tending to cold rather than heat, and is of herself barren.” The symbolism here is memorable: intellect without the life-giving warmth of Spirit is cold and barren.

In The Consultation Chart, Wanda Sellar describes this placement as giving “a talent for administration and an impressive knowledge of past and present events. There is a tendency to work quietly behind the scenes, which ultimately can lead to great achievement…striving for perfection can cause difficulties.” This is a riff on Ibn Ezra’s characterization of Virgo nature, focusing on Virgo’s Mercurial nature combined with the practical earthy triplicity.

Keep Your Powder Dry

Based on the Virgo Sun’s aspects to other planets, the coming month presents a few opportunities, but none of them will really pan out.

September 4 – Virgo Sun conjunct Saturn and trine Jupiter. Saturn is the planet of restriction, and Jupiter is in its fall in Capricorn (a Saturn sign). Jupiter can present a seemingly tempting opportunity, but it is likely to be hollow. Better to wait for Venus’s transit through Libra, or even better, Jupiter’s exit from Capricorn in January, if you can.

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