Astrology and Technique

1.
Argument
In trying to gain a better knowledge of astrology, I began interviewing
astrologers about their views on their chosen subject. A surprising number of those
astrologers were agnostic about two questions: why astrology works and what their
niche techniques were and why. When I delved into this further the
2. Reasoning
It makes sense to focus first on the planets, since the logic of astrology hinges on
them. The meaning of the planets is due to their appearance in one way or the other.
The sun and moon’s meanings and their importance are clear from their size and
association with the day and night, with the added associations of seasonal changes
and lunar cycles. The other planet meanings come down to their appearance in
terms of motion and light. Mercury moves incredibly quickly and is only apparent in
the sky around dusk and dawn. It appears and disappears, so much in fact that some
astronomers have not seen it! From this speed and movement come associations
with trickster deities like mercury and the associations continue from there. These
attributions continue with Mars’ blood red appearance to Venus’ bright green hue,
as well as Jupiter’s size and Saturn’s apparent plodding through the sky. The
planetary appearance dictated their associations and then their associations with
deities continued the attribution of the planet’s effect.
The signs are a reflection then of the sun’s ecliptic (its apparent motion in the
sky) through twelve constellations of stars. These constellations were codified
before Ptolemy’s time, but either he, or more likely another Greek before him,
probably figured out that it is easiest to divide the twelve signs into 30 degrees each
to divide the sky into an even 365 degrees. These constellations in reality take up a
varying number on degrees on this circle the sun traces in the sky. The 30 degrees
given each sign is, when you think about it, largely arbitrary.
The houses work upon much the same logic as the signs. The sun rises in the 1st
house, it is at the 10th by midday, reaches the 7th by sunset, and rests in the 4th at
midnight. All other divisions of the houses calculate degrees between these.
This comes to the question of why signs have meanings at all? The easy answer
would be that the signs are a combination of their element and whether they are
cardinal, fixed, or mutable. The problem is that the signs are only given elemental
attributions later. While I can’t find an exact source for when it is not common
before the 15th century, 1300 years after Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblios where a lion’s share
of astrology finds its origin. What does exist that might be a basis is the rulerships of
signs, their detriment’s, falls, and exaltations. Aries is mars ruled and exalts the sun
so is energetic and brash. Taurus is Venus ruled and exalts the moon, making a
homebody of sorts. As far as Capricorn and Aquarius, their rulers and detriments
give a key to their temperament. Saturn rules Capricorn in that Capricornian people
are saturnine. They have the introverted moon in detriment because their
introversion leads to brooding. Aquarians have the sun in detriment because we do
like tinkering away in the dark trying to find our way into new ways of doing things.
If the image of Saturn ruling Aquarius seems to not fit, remember that ruling over
something and being like it are different. We rule over our children because we
aren’t childish, hopefully. The same is true of the Aquarian, we are always dreaming
of new ideas and ways to invent, so it is only with a little Saturnine influence that we
get anything done (Frawley). One must also remember that earlier depictions of the
Aquarian type were decidedly more sober (Gettings, 1980).
Rulerships first show up in Ptolemy and their logic is also explained there. The
luminaries rule the warmest months of july and august, because the luminaries have
the most solar heat. This idea occurs in alchemy, when spring and summer months
are used to collect solar heat in certain operations (Bartlett). From the two luminary
ruled months, the other planets radiate out in their rulership by their relative speed
from fast to slow until Saturn rules the two signs opposing the luminaries.
(Insert Diagram Here)
(Exaltations here)
What planets are in detriment and fall are then determined by being opposite to
the signs where they rule, in the case of opposition, or where they are exalted, in the
case of fall.
Aspects work on a similar logic of course. Something opposed would appear to
be adverse and so something half of that, a square, would be half as bad. (why trines
are good?). But why do we have aspects in the first place and why were only a few
included in the tetrabiblios: conjunction, sextile, square, opposition, and trine. This
has to do with sextile, square, trine, and opposition, all being forms of a conjunction.
Technically a conjunction isn’t an aspect, but all aspects are a type of conjunction.
(Explain the phenomenon here).
3. Implications
I assert that astrology is a divination. This is so because we use the appearance

of the stars to interpret their meaning as a reflection of what is happening on earth.
We can see that from the origin of these techniques, much of astrology is arbitrary in
many ways. The association of planetary rulerships by the speed of the planets is
confusing as to its reasoning. If you then throw Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto into the
mix, this becomes even messier. Keep in mind that the rulerships of these planets
was in part a thelemic idea based on the thought that humanity would discover
three more planets after Pluto until we had a planetary ruler for each sign. Pluto was
believed by many at the time of its discovery to rule Aries, since it is the next sign
after Aquarius and Pisces. If you add in exaltation rulers for the signs the idea gets
even messier, not to mention triplicities, terms and faces. This is only one of the
foundations of astrology that only makes sense when you keep it in mind as a way to
look at the stars for omens. Others include Retrogrades, as the planets only appear
to move backwards, Combustion, as planets only seem to disappear, and of course
eclipses. The planets reflect, but do not cause.
This may seem like an aggravating idea, but it is the only way to explain how lost
keys are important as the fall of nations. That is to say, astrology has many branches
from horary astrology, which deals with any question the querent might ask, to
Judicial Astrology, which deals with the prosperity of nations. Still astrology works
in all its branches, because the stars act as a reflection of events on earth. The
medieval conception of astrology was that of planets as a causal influence. Part of
this idea shows up in alchemy, where the force of the planets acts as a seed from
which the seven classical metals grow in the earth, an idea we do not still entertain.
I mention this because not only does the origin of astrology have evidence in its
technique; the origin of astrology is pertinent to its techniques. It is much discussed
that the sun’s ecliptic has shifted, that we should have thirteen signs to reflect the
thirteen constellations the sun now goes through. This is similar to the argument
that tarot decks should be changed because we no longer have kings, queens, and
lady popes (also called the high priestess) as prominent parts of our society. The
reality is that our system of divination works. We could adjust it to reflect the sky as
it is now with all of our new understandings of the galaxy, and it would probably
work once we ironed out the kinks.
In taking astrology as a divination we might become better at it, since in taking it
less seriously we may be open to new ideas about astrological techniques. Since the
division of the signs into 30 degree is largely arbitrary, we might be more open to
using lunar mansions in our work, since they have a clear basis in the lunar phases.
4. Changes in technique
Classically, mutual reception is from both a partile (by degree) aspect and the
planets in each other’s dignities. If this seems restrictive, keep in mind that this
expands the range of possible dignities, since it doesn’t just need to be domicile
reception, but can be exaltation, triplicity, term, or face.
5. Request
In making this essay I learned a lot about how techniques should work from
what the logic is behind it, but there is still a huge list of questions. Why do the signs
have their elemental attributions, why do we have this system, and who invented it?
Why did Kepler make the quincunx an aspect, but not the semi-sextile? Why are
their different triplicities, terms, and faces?

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1.

I assert that astrology is a divination. This is so because we use the appearance

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