JR Astrology 1-9
JR Astrology 1-9
JR Astrology 1-9
Lessons 1 - 9
COPYRIGHT 2001
BY
THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
All rights, including that of translation, reserved. For permission to copy or translate, application
should be made to the publisher.
Introduction............................................................ 3
LESSON 1............................................................. 5
LESSON 2............................................................. 9
LESSON 3........................................................... 13
LESSON 4........................................................... 17
LESSON 5........................................................... 23
LESSON 6........................................................... 26
LESSON 7........................................................... 29
LESSON 8........................................................... 34
LESSON 9........................................................... 38
Dear Friend,
We are happy to have your request for our Astrology course. Our three courses in Astrology are
based on the Teachings as given to humanity by the Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order through The
Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and the personal investigations of Max Heindel, their messenger.
In order to realize the most benefit from our Astrology courses we suggest you study our
Preliminary Philosophy Course consisting of twelve lessons. The Preliminary Philosophy Course must
be completed by regular mail one lesson at a time. We hope that the understanding of life and its
problems offered by this course will bring you much comfort and joy.
A New Age is dawning, and wonderful opportunities await those who understand and cooperate
with the cosmic forces operating to break humanity's bond of materialism and usher in a new order
with higher spiritual concepts. As we bring ourselves into harmony with these forces, we not only
greatly hasten our own progress, but make it possible for us to aid in the great work of uplifting all
humanity.
These lessons are not sold. The Rosicrucian Teaching is free, but the expenses incidental to
their production and website distribution are met by free-will offerings from students "as the heart
dictates and the means permit." However, all receive the same teaching and attention even though
circumstances may be such that some are unable to assist in supporting the work.
We would love to be able to provide personal one-on-one instruction to all who are interested in
our courses, but our resources do not allow this. Therefore, this study course is set up as a college-
type self-study course where the student becomes his own teacher. Answers to all questions are
given in the back of the booklet. Please do not send your individual lesson answers to us.
Please feel that we are your friends, and that we consider it a pleasure and a privilege to assist
you in any way possible to live the higher life, which leads to true happiness and spiritual unfoldment.
We send our best wishes for your spiritual progress.
Yours in service,
The Rosicrucian Fellowship,
Education Department
1] Simplified Scientific Ephemeris for 1911, 1912, and 1932 computed for noon (order Information
for Astrology Course booklet [AI] or E1911, E1912, and E1932).
3] Simplified Scientific Astrology - Complete textbook on the art of erecting horoscopes, with
dictionary of astrological terms (ASP). Available online.
4] The Message of the Stars - An esoteric exposition of Natal and Medical Astrology explaining
the arts of reading and progressing the Horoscope and diagnosing diseases (MSP). Available online.
Dear Friend,
You have before you the first lesson in Spiritual Astrology, but we feel that it would be incomplete
if only the mathematical side were elucidated and the spiritual side neglected, for the latter part of
Astrology is the kernel, the essence, while mathematics is only the terms of the outer expression.
The hands of the clock show the time of events in daily life, but they would remain inert and
motionless were they not propelled onward by a force in the hidden spring. Their stoppage might
cause us to miss an appointment. The visible planets also mark events of life like the hands of a
clock; they also are propelled in their courses by an unseen force analogous to the spring in a clock,
except that the Great Spirits whose bodies they are never stop, and therefore we never miss an
appointment registered upon the clock of destiny, although we may cancel it — under certain
circumstances — as we do engagements in ordinary life.
It is said of Edison that when he was night operator in a railway telegraph office, he put a pail
upon a shelf, led a hose from a faucet into it, turned on a small stream of water calculated to fill the
pail before the next train was due, placed his chair under the pail, and went to sleep. The overflowing
water compelled him to waken and attend to business as no alarm could have done. We are all
turning a constant stream of actions for good or ill into the reservoir of time, and the overflow is always
coming back to us and impelling us to new deeds. It does not matter if we have gone to sleep as
Edison; even the sleep of death cannot abrogate the deeds of the immortal spirit. A new birth brings
each back exactly when his pail of time is full, so that he may reap what he has sown.
It is of the greatest importance that you should understand this viewpoint very thoroughly. We do
not have a certain fate because we are born at a certain moment and impelled by stellar rays then
prevailing. If so, we should then have a right to rail at fate for being born under an evil star without
choice or prerogative. We should then hate God for making us subject to such a fate. Edison would
have had a right to be provoked if any one had awakened him in the manner described, but knowing
that his own act before going to sleep had caused the wetting and realizing the benefit of the heroic
treatment, he probably felt well pleased. So with us, if we realize that our own past acts are the
determinators of our conditions and that the stars simply mark the most favorable time for harvesting
what we have sown, we shall be more contented and seek to learn the lessons of life instead of railing
because of what we lack in faculty or fortune.
Hoping that you will ponder over these important distinctions and always maintain that we were
born at a certain time because the positions of the stars were then such as would bring us the fate we
had earned and the lessons to be learned, I am,
Yours in Fellowship,
In commencing such a course of instruction where the teacher has no means of knowing to what
extent a pupil is informed upon the subject of study, the only safe method is to assume that he knows
absolutely nothing thereof, otherwise the teacher may omit instruction upon rudimentary matters
which he thinks are common knowledge, to find later that his neglect has given the pupil wrong ideas
which may be difficult to eradicate.
6 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
Therefore, we shall begin at the beginning of our subject and request students already informed
upon matters treated in the early lessons to be patient. The next lessons give instruction in the
method of calculating a horoscope.
Time
A horoscope is simply a chart of the heavens calculated by the rules of astronomy. It shows
certain positions of the planets and zodiacal signs in relation to the earth. These positions are not
permanent, however. If they were, the location of the heavenly bodies could be determined once for
all time without need of further calculation. The influence of the planets upon the Earth would then
also remain constant, and there would be no use for astronomy or astrology. But as the Earth makes
a complete revolution upon its axis each 24 hours, every point in the northern heavens may be seen
once a day from any point in the northern half of the Earth, and every star in the southern heavens
rises and sets each day in every part of the southern half of our globe. The Earth and its sister planets
revolve around the sun at such varying rates that their positions relative to the Earth and to one
another are constantly changing. Every day the heavens are different from every other day. If a child
were born now, while you are reading this, the positions of the planets at this moment will not be
duplicated for about twenty-six thousand years, a period which the astronomers call a "Great Sidereal
Year." In the meantime the relations of the planets would undergo an infinite number of kaleidoscopic
changes; consequently their influence would be different with respect to every individual born in the
interval, and thus time becomes a prime factor in the science of astrology.
Place
It is further evident, however, that time is not the same the world over. When the Sun rises at the
place where you live, it is setting at another place; so that when it is morning in your home, it is
evening for the people in another part of the world. This makes another difference in the horoscopes
of children born at the same moment but in different parts of the world, as you will readily understand
when you consider that the Sun's rays affect the Earth differently in the morning, at noon, and at
midnight. The planets' places and influence would also differ in the case of children born at the same
time but in opposite parts of the world, for if a planet were just above the birthplace of one, its rays
would impinge upon that child with unimpeded force, but to reach the other, born in an opposite part, it
would be necessary for the stellar ray to travel directly through the Earth — as radio waves cross
mountains — and part of its force would thus be spent by the time it reached the child. Therefore
planets under the Earth have less influence on a life than those above.
Thus you see that time and place are the basic factors in a horoscope, and the more accurately
we are able to determine them, the better we shall be able to delineate the character and predict
events for those whom we aim to help.
The Exact Time
In noting the time of birth of children it is advisable to have the clock set as accurately as
possible. Mark that the time of birth in the astrological sense is not the moment of delivery but the
instant when the infant gives its first cry, for that cry is the completion of its initial breath. After entering
the lungs, the air, charged with the subtle stellar influences peculiar to that moment, is carried by the
blood through every part of the sensitive little infant body and stamps every atom and memory center
with its vibrations. This primal impression will prevail during life, though the atoms change again and
again just as a scar perpetuates itself upon the flesh, because the memory center, also called the
"seed-atom", located in the heart (see Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception pages 97-98), retains the first
stellar impulse which acts as a blue-print on the Etheric Matrix that controls the various components of
the atom rebuilt during this lifetime. Therefore, the stellar rays at the moment of birth exert a powerful
influence all through life. They are impelling forces which sway us hither and thither as driftwood is
propelled by currents of the sea.
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 7
It is the purpose of astrology to teach that these forces exist and that by exerting our Will Power
we may steer the bark of our life as we wish, and bring ourselves to live better lives in harmony with
the Laws of Nature, and also teach how we may help others in like endeavor.
Geographically, the Earth is divided by two sets of imaginary lines, one running from East to
West, and the other from North to South. The circle running East-West halfway between the North
and South poles, as shown in the above chart, is called the Equator. Other circles, called Parallels of
Latitude, are imagined running parallel to the equator, and their use is to measure the distance of any
place north or south of the equator. Now get an atlas, and look at the map of North America. Along
the right and left hand borders you will see certain numbers. Note that a curved line runs from number
50 on the right to number 50 on the left. This is the fiftieth degree of latitude. All cities along this line,
in America, Europe, or Asia are equidistant from the equator, and are said to be located in "Latitude
50 North."
Another line runs from number 40 on the left border to number 40 on the right. Let us note some
of the principal cities on or near this line: San Francisco is a little further south, Denver right on the
line; Chicago and New York a trifle north. Now turn to the map of Europe. There the right and left
hand numbers with their connecting circles are also parallels of latitude. At the number 40 you will see
Lisbon and Madrid. Proceeding eastward Rome and Constantinople appear a little to the north of our
line.
These places may be said, for the purpose of elementary instruction, to be in the same degree of
latitude, and therefore another determinator must be used to differentiate the location of each place
from all others.
Longitude
This is accomplished by dividing the Earth from pole to pole by another set of imaginary circles
called Meridians of Longitude, shown in the above chart running the North-South axis. They are so
8 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
called because all places located along such a circle have noon at the same instant, regardless of
how far they are from the equator or whether near the north or south pole.
Now look again at your map of Europe. There you will see numbered lines running from the top of
the map to the bottom. These are meridians of longitude. One is numbered 0. If you follow that line
you will find London, and close thereto a place called Greenwich. That is the location of the world's
greatest observatory, and for purposes of astronomical calculation all places on Earth are considered
as being so and so many degrees west or east of Greenwich.
Thus, by Latitude we obtain the location of a certain place North or South of the equator. By
Longitude we designate its position East or West of Greenwich.
When the location of a place is stated in terms of latitude and longitude, it marks a certain spot
beyond all doubt or possibility of confusion with any other place, and gives the astrologer the second
of the primal factors necessary to calculate a scientific horoscope: place.
Questions:
1] What is meant by Longitude and Latitude?
2] Go to the first section of the Simplified Scientific Tables of Houses or pages 3 and 4 in the
Information For Astrology Course booklet and state the location, i.e., the nearest exact degree (no
minutes) of longitude and latitude of:
Berlin (Germany)
Vienna (Austria)
Baghdad (Iraq)
Santiago (Chile)
Ottawa (Canada)
Detroit (Michigan, US)
Los Angeles (California, US)
Vancouver (Canada)
6] Write the names of the signs of the zodiac and their corresponding symbols.
The true length of the tropical year is not 365.25 days, but 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and
45.5 seconds, leaving a difference of 11 minutes and 14.5 seconds by which the Julian year is too
long. This amounts to a little more than 3 days in 400 years.
Pope Gregory, therefore, under the advice of the distinguished astronomer Clavius, ordered that
the calendar should be corrected by dropping ten days, so that the day following October 4, 1582,
should be called the fifteenth instead of the fifth; and further, to prevent any future displacement of the
equinox, he decreed that thereafter only such century years should be leap years as are divisible by
400.
Present differences of the two calendars is thirteen, and will remain so until the year 2100. May
12, 1886, according to the Julian calendar would be May 25, 1886, according to the Gregorian
calendar. Source: Manual of Astronomy. Young.
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 9
Let us consider how the heavens influence our lives through the twelve houses. Suppose we are
out driving, and our road follows the seacoast, but a mile or so inland. A breeze is blowing from the
ocean and as it passes over the country separating us from the sea, it brings upon invisible wings,
messages from that land which evoke pleasure or aversion according to their nature. In one place an
aroma of new mown hay fills us with delight; perhaps we are nauseated by the oversweet smell of
jasmine on the next stretch of our journey and later become really ill from the stench of stagnant
marsh water. But then we enter a forest, and soon its grateful pine balm restores the normal health
and spirits.
In our journey from the cradle to the grave we carry the twelve houses with us in the auric
atmosphere surrounding each one of us as the air envelops the flying earth. Each house mirrors part
of the life; each holds some of our life lessons; each represents how we have worked or shirked
before in that department of life's school. At the appropriate time of life we reap from each house what
we have sown in past lives—that is, unless we forestall the harvest in time. Is our 11th house afflicted,
do friends betray and forsake us, do they leave us heartsick, or nauseate us like the scent of jasmine
and stagnant marsh water? Then let us examine the horoscope, for it reveals what is hidden in our
auric atmosphere. The friends saw us and we them through the 11th angle, and something ill-smelling
must be there. It may be that we long to be befriended more than to befriend others. Let us cease to
be like the debilitating jasmine and seek to emulate the sturdy strength of the invigorating pine tree;
then we shall find friends flocking around, admiring our strength. Not all have such sturdy natures, but
we can attract equally by kindliness, as soothing to sorrowing hearts as perfume of new mown hay to
the senses, and thus we may rid the house of friends of affliction.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
If you go on your housetop or any other convenient elevation on a clear night, you will see a great
many stars adorning the vaulted arch of heaven, and if you look more closely you will observe that
they all twinkle--that is to say, with the exception of perhaps one or two which shine with a perfectly
steady light. The twinklers are suns of other solar systems so far away that a traveler going with the
speed of light would require hundreds of years to reach some of them. They move in such enormous
circles and are at such a distance that they appear to maintain the same positions relative to one
another. Therefore they are called "fixed stars."
There is a radical difference between the twinklers and the stars which emit a steady light. If you
watch one of the latter night after night, you will find that it changes position relative to the fixed stars
in a direction from west to east, the same as the Sun. Continued observation of the various heavenly
bodies whose light is steady will show that they all follow the same path among the maze of fixed
stars. Four such luminous planets are visible to the naked eye at various times of the year. Their
names are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus. A fifth, Mercury, is usually so close to the Sun that it is
invisible on account of the luminosity of the Sun's rays, but at times it may be seen in the west shortly
after sunset or in the east just before sunrise. It twinkles like a fixed star, although it is a planet. There
is a spiritual reason for the anomaly, but as that feature would divert our attention, we will pass it by at
present.
A telescope is required to properly observe the three planets nearest the outskirts of our solar
system, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
These eight heavenly bodies move around the Sun. So does the Earth; and the Moon revolves
about the Earth; but when we look into space it appears as if the Earth stands still, and Sun, Moon,
10 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
and planets all move around us. The ancient Ptolemaic system of astronomy in vogue until modern
times was based upon this conception of the universe, and subscribed to by all until superseded by
the Copernican theory. Skeptics and scoffers who have never taken time nor trouble to investigate,
arrogantly maintain that since the Copernican theory has proved that the planets, including the Earth,
move around the Sun, that fact in itself is prima facie evidence of the fallacy of astrology, which they
term as "exploded superstition."
We do not care to "convince a man against his will," and deem a defense of astrology
superfluous, but feel that it may benefit beginners to know the astrologer’s views.
When the Sun's rays slant, as they do morning and evening, they give less heat than at noon
when they are more nearly perpendicular. Although we are millions of miles nearer the Sun in
midwinter than in summer, it is coldest in winter because the Sun's rays are more nearly horizontal
then than at any other time of the year. In summer the scorching heat of the perpendicular ray is not
lessened because we are then farthest from the Sun. Thus it is evident from observation that the
angle of the ray is practically sole determinator of its effect upon the Earth.
Astrology deals also with planetary angles and their observed effects upon humanity. It teaches
that varying angles of Sun and planets give different physical, moral, and mental tendencies. The
discovery of Copernicus does not render the tabulated statistics of astrologers null and void any more
than it eliminates heat from the solar ray. When a certain angle has been established, a
corresponding heat is felt today as before the days of Copernicus, and the finer influences dealt with
by astrology are not missing, either.
Neither is it an argument against the truth and utility of astrology that predictions sometimes fail. If
all came true, it would prove life an unprofitable struggle against inexorable fate and the human will of
no avail.
Signs and Houses
The path pursued by Sun and planets among the fixed stars, year after year, is called the ecliptic,
and the fixed stars grouped near this great circle are called the natural zodiac.
In each of the twelve months the Sun appears to travel through a certain group of the zodiacal
stars, and therefore they have been divided into twelve natural "signs" of the zodiac. Astrologers also
speak of twelve "houses," and it is often a sore puzzle to the beginner to differentiate between these
"signs" and "houses," and to understand their relation to one another in the horoscope. We shall
therefore try to elucidate the matter as plainly as possible. Procure an orange, apple, or any other
soft, ball-shaped article, and six long knitting needles. Pierce the ball with them in such a manner that
they resemble twelve spokes in a wheel. The ball will then represent the Earth, and the projecting
parts of the needles are dividing lines between house and house, each house being located between
two needles.
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 11
Now, mark this definition, and you will have no difficulty. The twelve signs are divisions of the
heavens relative to the Vernal Equinox and the Ecliptic. The twelve houses are divisions of the
heavens relative to the birthplace and the horizon.
The purpose of the division into signs and houses is to determine the angle of the stellar ray, for
upon that depends its influence. In order that you may still better understand the principle, drive one of
the needles of your wheel into a block of wood so that it stands upright; place it in front of you, and
compare it with the illustration in this lesson which is marked "The Houses." (Diagram No. 1).
The small circles in the diagram correspond to your ball or orange, which represents the Earth
moving in space without visible support, and receiving the rays from all the stars and planets
scattered over the vault of heaven.
Let us suppose you are standing on top of the Earth ball, or at the point indicated by the arrow in
Diagram No. 1. As you are living in the northern part of the world, you look south when you gaze at
the noonday Sun, which is then in its highest elevation, and its ray falls from the angle marked 10 in
the diagram. It has been observed that planets which are in that "tenth house" at the birth of a child
affect its honor and social standing, and therefore the tenth house is said to "rule" these matters.
Planets just rising in the east at birth send their rays through the division marked 1, and have been
shown to affect the form of body and conditions of the parental home; hence the "first" house is held
to determine these affairs, and so on with all the other houses.
As you know, the Sun appears to travel once around the heavens in a year of 365 days.
Mathematicians have made this the basis of their calculations dividing all circles into 360 parts, as it
would have been inconvenient to divide by an uneven number like 365. The Sun travels
approximately one degree each day, a degree being 1/360th part of a circle.
Each of the twelve signs of the zodiac has exactly 30 degrees and this number of degrees in a
sign never varies, making a complete circle of 360 degrees. Houses are also a division of the heavens
12 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
into twelve parts, but because houses are derived from different reference points than signs they do
not always contain 30 zodiacal degrees each. For example, in diagram number 2, the 10th house
contains 21 zodiacal degrees (counting from 18 to 30 of Sagittarius is 12 degrees, from 0 to 9 of
Capricorn is 9 degrees - a total of 21 degrees). The 11th house contains 23 zodiacal degrees (9 to 30
degrees of Capricorn is 21 degrees plus 0 to 2 degrees of Aquarius gives a total of 23 degrees). The
deviation of house length from an even 30 degrees becomes more and more pronounced as one
moves further north or south of the equator.
Notice
In order to understand the next lesson you will require an ephemeris for 1912 (refer to the lesson
information sources on page 3).
Questions:
2] What is the difference between the signs of the zodiac and the planets?
These are lines by an unknown poet, but they ring absolutely true to the teachings of Christ in
regard to the rich young man, and also to the teachings given in Paul's inimitable 13th chapter of 1st
Corinthians. Love is the source of life; love alone makes life worth living, and therefore I feel that in a
course of astrology from the Mystic's viewpoint the planet of love, Venus, has first claim on our
consideration.
You know that each house represents a certain department of life, and when you learn the
intrinsic value of the planets you will be able to read a message from the stars independently of books
and authorities. By exercising your own divine power of reason to combine the simple basic factors,
you may become an astrologer (the name means reasoner concerning the stars); any brainless poll
parrot can babble about what the books say. It is easy to read and recite; but it requires thought to
reach an independent conclusion and give an adequate interpretation of the stellar script. That effort,
however, is productive of wonderful soul growth, so I hope that you will read little but think much; then
you will develop a deeper and more reliable knowledge than the most erudite authorities can impart
and a soul-power of inestimable value, namely, intuition.
I can teach you how to erect a horoscope; there are certain definite, hard and fast rules; but
neither I nor anyone else can teach you how to read in an adequate manner. The best method is to
aid students to combine the basic factors of horoscopical judgment and to draw logical conclusions
therefrom. This we will commence in our next letter.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
center of its time zone, the difficulty would be overcome. Accordingly, America was divided into four
such zones by three imaginary lines, as illustrated in the diagram:
In the Eastern Time Zone clocks are set to the 75th Meridian, 5 hours earlier than Greenwich
Mean Time.
In the Central Time Zone time is regulated to the 90th Meridian, which is 6 hours earlier than
Greenwich.
In the Mountain Time Zone timepieces are governed according to the 105th Meridian, which is 7
hours earlier than Greenwich Mean Time.
In the Pacific Time Zone time is set to the 120th Meridian, 8 hours earlier than Greenwich.
In all cities located on these Standard Meridians (indicated by arrows on our diagram), such as
Philadelphia and Denver, Standard Time is also the True Local Time, and no correction is required in
calculation of horoscopes. But Detroit, which you will see located near the dividing line between the
Eastern and Central Time Zones, is 8 degrees west of the 75th Meridian, and its clocks are therefore
32 minutes faster than Sun Time, for when they show noon according to the 75th Meridian Standard,
the True Local Time is 32 minutes before twelve. Chicago you see a little east of the 90th Meridian (2
degrees). When the clocks there are at twelve, it is really 8 minutes past the noon hour. San
Francisco clocks show noon when the True Local Time is only 11:50 A.M., because that city is 2 1/2
degrees west of the Standard Meridian. Correction is therefore necessary because True Local Time
must be used in all subsequent calculations of the horoscope. The rule for obtaining True Local Time
is: to the nearest Standard Meridian Time, add four minutes for each degree the birth place is east of
the Meridian corresponding to that Time. If the birth place is West of that Meridian, subtract four
minutes for each degree it is West thereof.
To illustrate, we will find the True Local Time for a birth at New York, July 23, 1912, 5:56 AM,
Standard Time. By reference to the map we find that New York is in about 74 degrees West
Longitude, which is one degree east of the nearest Standard Time Meridian, namely, the 75th
meridian. Following our rule, we add one times four, or four minutes to the time shown by the clock
(5:56 A.M.), obtaining thereby 6:00 AM, which is the True Local Time of birth.
Similarly, for a birth at New York, July 28, 1912, 9:56 PM, we find that the True Local Time is
10:00 PM.
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 15
Note specially, however, that this correction of Standard to True Local Time applies only to the
United States and is required only for dates subsequent to Nov. 18, 1883, when Standard Time was
adopted. But, in such other countries as have special time regulations, these must be taken into
account in calculating True Local Time.
Greenwich Mean Time
We are now to learn about another kind of time. Suppose that we have a pole many billions of
miles long, and that the earth is sufficiently soft so that we can imbed the pole therein. Then, as we
look out along our pole, we shall find it pointing directly at one of the fixed stars. As the Earth turns
upon its axis, our pole will point to different stars at various times, but from the time it is in line with
one certain star to the next time it reaches that position, the Earth will have made one complete
revolution. This is a Sidereal Day and our only absolutely correct measurement of time.
When you look in your ephemeris on March 21, 1912, you see in the column marked "Sidereal
Time (ST)," the numbers 23 (hours), 54 (minutes); the next day has a different sidereal time, and so
has every day through the rest of the year. You may therefore think our statement wrong, but there
would be no such difference if the Earth were stationary in space. In addition to revolving upon its
axis, however, it also travels in an orbit around the Sun, and so if the pole, which we imagine stuck in
the Earth, points to a certain star on the noon of March 21st, it must move a little further to catch up
with the Sun (which marks our noon), on March 22nd. On March 23rd, it must have moved still a little
further after passing the marking star, and yet further for every succeeding day in the year. Moreover,
as the speed of the Earth is variable at different times of the year, so also the difference in time
between the sidereal clock and the solar clock varies. Therefore, we cannot even use Sun Time in our
civil life, but are forced to average these differences in time, and thus we get what is called mean
time. Further, as the greatest observatory of modern times is at Greenwich, England, the world sets
its clocks by the timepiece there, and calls it Greenwich Mean Time.
The ephemeris gives us the longitude of each planet at noon, Greenwich Mean Time, for every
day in the year. If we were all born in Greenwich and at twelve o'clock noon, we might just set the
numbers given in the ephemeris for our birthday, down in the horoscope without further calculation.
But as most of us were born at places east or west of Greenwich, a correction is obviously necessary,
and the fact that people are born at all hours of the day necessitates a further correction, so that the
position of the planet may be accurately calculated for the birth time at the birthplace. How this is
accomplished and the philosophy of the correction will be seen by the following illustration.
Any circle, as you know, is mathematically divided into 360 degrees, and you may with profit look
up what is said about this in Lesson No. 1, where the Sun's motion in its orbit was the theme. That
revolution takes one year, and thus the Sun's seeming daily motion is about one degree. But the Earth
also describes a circle upon its axis in twenty-four hours, and so appears to move one degree of
space in four minutes, or fifteen degrees in one hour. New York is located in about 74 degrees west
longitude, and the Sun must therefore travel 4 hours, 56 minutes from the noon mark at Greenwich to
reach the midday position at New York. And when the Sun is at the zenith in Greenwich, and the
clocks there strike twelve, the rays of the morning Sun are only peeping at New York, and its clocks
point to 7:04 AM.
A little child born in New York at 7:04 o'clock in the morning and another child born in London at
noon would thus be born at exactly the same moment, though the clocks differed at their birthplaces.
But it would be necessary to correct the New York birth time to Greenwich time, in order to use the
ephemeris calculated for the latter place. This is done by adding to the True Local Time of birth, four
minutes for every degree of longitude, if the birthplace is west of Greenwich, or subtracting four
minutes for each degree of longitude if the birthplace is east of Greenwich.
We will now calculate the Greenwich Mean Time for a birth at New York, July 23, 1912, 5:56 AM,
Standard Time. We found in the first part of this lesson that the corresponding True Local Time was
6:00 AM, which we will use in the following calculation.
New York is about 74 degrees West longitude. Multiply that number by four minutes; the product
is 296 minutes. As there are 60 minutes in an hour, we reduce the 296 minutes by dividing by that
number; thus we obtain 4 hours and 56 minutes. This we add to our True Local Time of birth, 6:00
16 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
AM, and obtain 10:56 AM, which is our Greenwich Mean Time. That is to say, at the time when our
child was born in New York, and the clocks in that place pointed to 5:56 AM, the observatory clock in
Greenwich, England, indicated the time as 10:56 AM. When Greenwich Mean Time has been found,
the student is advised to forget the birth time in further calculations upon that horoscope, for only
Greenwich Mean Time is then used. Thus you see how by the above correction we have changed
Standard Time to Greenwich Mean Time.
Questions:
1] What is the True Local Time when clocks set to Standard Time show 11:25 at Chicago; 9:30 at
New York, 10:55 at Denver (all AM)?
2] What is the Greenwich Mean Time when it is 2:00 PM, Standard Time, at Chicago?
Notice: Please be sure to include ALL calculations in reaching your answers. Please do not fail to
read and reread the pages in which you find the answers to these questions. After carefully studying
the subject matter, strive to condense your answer as much as possible, taking into consideration the
principal points.
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 17
In our last letter we started a dissertation on Venus, which was in a certain sense sidetracked ere
well commenced; we continue:
The intrinsic nature of Venus may be summed up in the ideas of Harmony and Rhythm; therefore,
she has the tendency to draw together all who are in accord, to unite mankind in pleasant
companionships of varying degrees which we call friendship and love. The department of our lives in
which she will exercise her beneficent office is, of course, indicated by the house, and the quality or
degree by her configurations with other planets. If well placed in the third house, which signifies
brothers and sisters, we may conclude that we have earned the love of our relatives by devotion in a
former life, and that their affection for us will brighten this earthly existence. From the angle of the 7th
house she may draw to us a soul companion whose conjugal love would make this earth seem
heaven-like, for true marriage, marriage of souls, is a song of ecstatic joy, a paean of praise by
kindred spirits. It is taught by the angels in heaven to the tuneful accompaniment of the Song of the
Spheres, and whoever succeeds in bringing even the faintest chord of that celestial harmony to earth
has a song of joy in his heart, a source of gladness which no sorrow can diminish.
From the 11th house Venus will attract kind friends whose affections we have won before—for
the horoscope shows what we have earned—joy or sorrow. We have made our "luck"; the stars only
mark the time to reap, as the Sun calls the harvest man. The kindness of friends today was enlisted
yesterlife by our helpful acts. Nor can we keep friends, life partners, relatives, in bonds of love unless
we keep feeding the fires of love. We must continue brotherly and sisterly to retain affection from such
relatives. It requires a friend to hold friendship, and we must act as lovers to merit continued conjugal
affection, or the love light will wane no matter how well Venus is placed. The planets show only the
trend of things; we have made the tendencies given by a well placed Venus and we can also mar
them. If we do, an afflicted Venus in the horoscope of our next life will make it difficult for us to attract
love. Let us so build that the Venus ray may be the brightest of all.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
In calculations for places in England the correction for Longitude is so small that it is negligible,
but it makes quite a difference in America or Asia.
Our next imaginary child is born in New York, July 23, 1912, at 5:56 AM Standard Time which
equals 6:00 AM True Local Time (see Lesson No. 3). In the ephemeris we see that the Sidereal Time
on July 22nd (noon previous) is 7 hours, 59 minutes at Greenwich. But New York, the birthplace, is 74
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 19
degrees of Longitude west of Greenwich, and our rule requires us to add a correction of 10 sec. for
every 15 degrees of West Longitude; 74 divided by 15 gives 4, with 14 deg. over, and 4 times 10 sec.
gives 40 sec.; for the 14 deg. over we allow 9 sec., which is added to 40 making 49 sec. We must add
the interval from the previous noon to birth. Previous noon is July 22nd, at 12 o'clock, and from that
time till birth, 6 AM, July 23rd, gives an interval of 18 hours. Our last addition is 10 seconds for each of
the 18 hours interval, 180 sec., which equals 3 minutes, as there are 60 seconds in a minute. Now we
will tabulate these numbers properly, and add.
We next calculate the Sidereal Time of a birth occurring at New York, July 23rd, at 9:56 PM
Standard Time which is 10:00 PM True Local Time (see Lesson No. 3). The previous noon is July
23rd, at 12 o'clock, and the Sidereal Time given in the ephemeris for that day is 8 hours, 3 minutes.
The correction for longitude of the birthplace is the same as in the previous example, as both are
supposed to be born in New York. The interval from previous noon, July 23rd, to 10 PM, the hour of
birth, is 10 hours, and the correction of 10 seconds for each hour of that interval is 100 seconds, or 1
minute, 40 seconds. These numbers we tabulate and add.
The addition of 49 and 40 seconds makes 89, but as there are 60 seconds in a minute we convert
the 89 seconds to 1 minute and 29 seconds.
Our final example will demonstrate the method of calculating Sidereal Time for birthplaces in east
longitude; and to obtain both comparison and contrast we will figure for a birth occurring at Madras,
India, on July 23rd 1912, at 10:00 PM. Madras is about 80 degrees East Longitude; New York is 74
degrees West, and as the birth times are the same, all the factors of calculation will be identical, but
the subtraction of correction for longitude will give a different result. We tabulate as follows:
20 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
Thus you see that there is a difference in the Sidereal Time at birth, between that of a child born
in New York and that of another born in Madras at the time the clock pointed in each place to 10:00
PM; and though it is not as great a variation as in the solar time, it may bring a different degree of the
Zodiac on the houses.
Questions:
1] What is the use of Sidereal Time?
2] What is the noon previous to: (a) March 25, 5:00 AM? (b) June 17, 1:00 PM? (c) August 2,
1:00 AM?
3] Please calculate the Sidereal Time for each of the birth dates below given.
a) Figure the Sidereal Time of a birth occurring in Denver, Longitude 105 West, at 4:00 PM
Standard Time, June 6, 1912.
Add the interval between the noon PREVIOUS to birth and the
True Local Time of birth. _________________
Note: Where the above is more than 24 hours, subtract 24. _________________
b) Figure the Sidereal Time of a birth occurring in Chicago, Longitude 88 West, at 4:00 AM
Standard Time, June 6, 1912.
Add the interval between the noon PREVIOUS to birth and the
True Local Time of birth. _________________
Note: Where the above is more than 24 hours, subtract 24. _________________
Mars is the exact opposite of Venus, and if we study him now while the characteristics of Venus
are fresh in mind, we may learn more of his nature. The first great contrast I wish to point out is that
the higher the status of a person in the scale of evolution, the better Venus is placed in the horoscope,
and the younger the soul, the more it is dominated by the discordant martial ray. The animals are
wholly under the sway of Mars, for as Venus nourishes the love nature, so Mars fosters the passions.
An illustration will make the difference clear.
Suppose Venus is Ruler and situated in the 7th House (representing the public), sextile to Jupiter
in the 9th (religion), trine to the Moon in the 11th (friends). It is then easy to see that here we have a
person well disposed toward the public (Venus in 7th); Jupiter is benevolence, and his being placed in
the 9th House shows his work to be along religious lines; the Moon signifies the people, and is in the
house of friends; in short, good planets in good aspect describe him as a benefactor of mankind,
much esteemed for his benevolence.
Now take an opposite case, where Mars is Ruler, placed in the 10th House, denoting social
status, square to Uranus, (whose keynote may be called ingenuity), in the 7th House, which is the
public. These are so-called evil planets and aspects, signifying that this person uses his ingenuity as a
menace to the public; and if Mars is also square Saturn, the planet which binds and restricts, and
Saturn is placed in the 12th House (sorrow, trouble, and imprisonment), we may conclude that his
depredations will bring him into jail as a public enemy.
But let us now suppose that the potential public enemy comes as a child under the influence of
the developed benefactor, that his horoscope is read, the latent tendencies to evil detected, and pains
taken to eradicate them before they get a chance to flower. Saturn in the 12th House will always make
him a recluse; very few are ever strong enough to break the bonds of Saturn, but the power of Mars
may be turned to construction, and Uranus may bring ingenious inventions from his laboratory to the
public. No matter how evil a horoscope seems, it also has good points, and if we as parents can find
and bring them out, great will be our treasure in heaven.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
The Midheaven is the tenth house, and in the Tables of Houses the degrees occupying it at a
given sidereal time are found in the columns having the number 10 at the head.
The degrees which occupy the cusp of the eleventh house are found in the column having the
number 11 at the head, and so on with the columns headed 12, 2, and 3.
The wide column headed Asc. shows the degrees to be placed on the first house or Ascendant.
It is worthwhile knowing and remembering that at a given sidereal time the same zodiacal degree
is on the Midheaven in all northern latitudes, whether North or South as the student can readily see by
comparing the degrees in the columns marked 10.
Even the numbers in the other narrow columns covering the 11th, 12th, 2nd and 3rd houses often
correspond, but (mark this carefully) the Ascendant is always different for every degree of latitude. As
this is one of the most important points in the horoscope, the student is cautioned to be very careful to
find the right sidereal time in the right table, for an error at this point will throw the whole horoscope off
and make it less valuable by causing an error in the location of the houses.
With these preliminary remarks we will proceed to cast the horoscope of the child which we
imagine was born on July 23rd, 1912, at 6:00 AM, True Local Time (5:56 AM Standard Time), in New
York City, NY. In our last lesson we figured the sidereal time at that birth to be 2 hours, 2 minutes and
49 seconds. We now turn to the Tables of Houses for latitude 41 N. and find the sidereal time nearest
to 2 h. 2 m. 49 s. on the left hand page in the left column, the fourth from the top: 2 h. 3 m. 8 s.
Latitude 41 occupies the center of the page so we run our finger across and stop at the first
column, where we see the number 3. At the top of the column above it is the number 10, and below
that the sign of Taurus. This would mean that the 3rd degree of Aries is to be placed on the tenth
house of our horoscope, but in this case we do not heed that sign for in the third line above our finger
we find Taurus—therefore we place 3 degrees of Taurus on the tenth house. In the next column in
line with our sidereal time is the number 9, and at the top of the column the zodiacal sign Taurus with
number 11 above. Here again we do not heed that sign but the next, Gemini, found ten lines above
our finger; we place 9 degrees of Gemini on the eleventh house of our map. The number next on the
right in line with our sidereal time is 14; above, at the head of the column are the sign Gemini and
number 12 but seventeen lines above our finger appears the sign Cancer, showing that the 14th
degree of Cancer is to be inscribed on the twelfth house. Following our line toward the right we next
see the numbers 13 and 31 in the wide column with the sign Cancer and Asc. above. Eighteen lines
above our finger is found the sign Leo which means that the 13th degree, 31st minute of Leo was
ascending at the time of birth, and we write this on the first house. Still following our line to the right
we note the number 5; above, the sign Leo and number 2. Six lines above our finger we have the sign
Virgo indicating that the 5th degree of Virgo is to be placed on the second house of our horoscope. In
the last column next to the heavy dividing line between this division and the next is the number 1. The
sign Virgo is at the head of the column, but in the line above our finger there is the sign Libra;
therefore we place one degree of Libra on the third house.
Note: This is a very important point which the student is requested to note most carefully. We
always use the first sign above our line, regardless of whether it is at the top of the column or in the
middle. If we had been using the numbers in the next line above or any other line where a sign is
placed but no degrees are shown, we simply put down that sign and 0 degrees. Be sure to watch this!
We have now obtained signs and degrees for six of our houses from the Tables of Houses; the
other six houses of our map we complete by filling in the opposite signs.
Taurus 3 is on the tenth house; the opposite degree is Scorpio 3 and the opposite house is the
fourth; we therefore place 3 degrees of Scorpio on the fourth house.
Sagittarius 9 is opposite to Gemini 9 and the fifth house is opposite to the eleventh; we therefore
place Sagittarius 9 on the fifth house.
Capricorn 14 is opposite to Cancer 14 and the sixth house is opposite the twelfth; we therefore
place Capricorn 14 on the sixth house.
Aquarius 13:31 is the opposite degree of Leo 13:31, and the seventh house is opposite the first.
Therefore we write Aquarius 13:31 on the seventh house.
Pisces 5 is the opposite of Virgo 5, and the eighth house opposes the second, therefore we write
Pisces 5 on the eighth house.
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 25
One degree of Aries is the opposite of one degree of Libra, and the ninth house is opposite to the
third, so we write Aries 1 on the ninth house, which completes the circle.
As we have stated in previous lessons, there are cases where certain houses are more than thirty
degrees long in the northernmost and southernmost latitudes, and other instances where they are
much shorter. When a house is longer than 30 degrees, a whole sign may happen to be placed in the
middle thereof. A sign thus placed is called intercepted and so it becomes necessary after we have
entered on a map the degrees given in the Tables of Houses, to count the signs and make sure that
they are all there. If any has been omitted, we simply write it between the two signs where it ought to
be; for instance, as the place of Gemini is between Taurus and Cancer, we would so write it in the
horoscope where it is found missing; similarly, Capricorn between Sagittarius and Aquarius, etc.
A count of the twelve houses on the map we have made shows that all the twelve signs are
present and our horoscope is therefore complete so far as the signs and houses are concerned, but it
remains to calculate the places of the planets and enter them in their respective houses before the
map is complete. This instruction we will reserve for another lesson, however, and show by another
example how the signs are placed on the houses.
We will take the birth in New York City, July 23, 1912, at 10:00 PM True Local Time (9:56 PM
Standard Time), for which we calculated the sidereal time at birth to be 18 hours, 5 minutes, and 29
seconds. The nearest sidereal time, 18 hours, 4 minutes, and 22 seconds is found on the right hand
page of Simplified Scientific Tables of Houses (page 10 of Information for Astrology Course) second
number from the top. Under latitude 41 is the number 1, above are the sign Capricorn and the number
10, which mean that 1 degree of Capricorn is on the tenth house. The next column has the number
22; Capricorn and 11 are at the top, showing that the 22nd degree of Capricorn is to be inscribed on
the eleventh house. 19 in the next column, Aquarius and 12 above, show that the 19th degree of
Aquarius goes on the twelfth house. 1:54 in the next wide column and Aries at the top indicate that the
1st degree and 54th minute of Aries are ascending and are to be inscribed on the first house. 13 in
the next column, Taurus and the number 2 above, show that the 13th degree of Taurus must be
placed on the second house. 9 in the last column, Gemini and 3 at the top indicate that Gemini 9 goes
on the third house.
We inscribe the same degree in the opposite points on the opposite houses: Cancer 1 on the
fourth, Cancer 22 on the fifth, Leo 19 on the sixth, Libra 1:54 on the seventh, Scorpio 13 on the
eighth, and Sagittarius 9 on the ninth. A count reveals the fact that the signs Virgo and Pisces are
missing; these are then inserted, making the horoscope complete so far.
Please refer to Lesson No. 2, diagram No. 2, for the correct method of zodiacal sign placement in
the horoscope blank.
Questions:
1] What are the degrees opposite to Leo 20, Aquarius 19, Gemini 16, and Taurus 20?
2] For Latitude 41, what is the nearest sidereal time to 14-31-5; 15-11-12; 23-31-1?
3] Using a horoscope blank, please calculate the signs and degrees for a birth in New York City,
NY, September 15, 1912, at 2:00 AM Standard Time (don’t forget to find True Local Time), giving all
calculations.
26 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
Proceeding with our comparison of Mars and Venus, let us not make the mistake of thinking that
Venus is altogether lovely and Mars totally evil. Each has light and shadow, and ours is the privilege
of living in the best or the worst of their phases. The intrinsic nature of Mars is "dynamic energy"; from
him comes ambition to accomplish; he furnishes the power for the world's work. Necessarily the hustle
and bustle incident to the expression of this constructive energy cause friction between man and man.
Thus anger and hate are engendered by the Mars energy in operation along various lines. Mars never
generates this discordant element directly; it is produced by our method of using his energy, and it is
as much a mistake to blame Mars for our temper as it is to blame well prepared food for causing
indigestion when our stomach is out of order. In the latter case the stomach should be blamed for not
performing its duty properly and for spoiling the good food instead of utilizing it in the economy of the
system. Similarly, when the Mars ray works through us as passion, we are to blame for not better
using this great constructive force.
Then again, how wonderfully everything is balanced in the Kingdom of God, the solar system,
and how necessary these opposites! If we had only the Venus ray, we could never really learn to love
the good and the beautiful, for we distinguish only by contrast. If nothing around us were ugly or evil,
the desirable qualities of the opposite condition would not appear so marked. People who aim to
cultivate exclusively the Venus faculty of love and beauty find their esthetic sense revolting more and
more at the sordid phases of life, which they bewail but in a helpless manner because they have
mistakenly repressed the Mars ray and killed out their temper. Mars energy drives people to face
disagreeable situations and overcome difficulties that would discourage people dominated by the
Venus ray. Blended, the Venus ray softens the harshness of Mars, and thus the highest good is
reached.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
G.M.T. Day would begin at noon on the 22nd of July, which is the noon before our calculated
Greenwich Mean Time. It would extend to the following noon, July the 23rd. And we would have to
calculate the motion of the planets in that interval to fit them into the horoscope of the child. But in the
case of the child born in San Francisco, the G.M.T. Day would begin at noon, on the 23rd of July, and
it would extend to noon July 24th, and the planets' motion in that interval would be the basis of our
calculations. Therefore, it is always absolutely necessary that the day of the month should be stated,
as well as the Greenwich Mean Time calculated. Thus we place special emphasis on July the 23rd,
10:56 AM, in stating the Greenwich Mean Time of the horoscope we are working on.
The motion of each planet differs from that of every other planet, but the Greenwich Mean Time is
the same for them all, and therefore a constant factor in the horoscope. The method of correction
consists in finding how far each planet travels between the Greenwich Mean Time of birth and the
nearest noon (please mark this, the nearest noon), and adding its motion during this interval to the
longitude of the planet given in the Ephemeris, if the Greenwich Mean Time is PM; but subtracting if
the Greenwich Mean Time is before noon (AM). This may be done by simple proportion, and students
who have become proficient enough to know how far it is safe to depend upon that quick but less
accurate method, use it a great deal. For the beginner, however, it is advisable to learn the more
exact mathematical method, even if it may seem confusing at first. To do this, it is necessary to learn
the use of logarithms, which are not so formidable as the name would seem to imply. A table of these
logarithms will be found on the last page of our Ephemeris for any year.
This table is so divided that it answers equally well for degrees and minutes of the zodiac and
hours and minutes as applied to time because, as we have already seen, one degree in the zodiac
has 60 minutes, the same as an hour on the clock-dial. At the top of the outside narrow columns
which are marked Min. are the numbers from 0 to 59; these indicate minutes. At the top is a line of
numbers from 0 to 23; these are marked Hours or Degrees.
This logarithm table may be used for two purposes:
1] To find the logarithm of a certain number of hours and minutes, or of degrees and minutes.
2] Given a certain logarithm, the table enables us to find its value in hours and minutes or in
degrees and minutes.
Thus by the use of this table we can convert a certain number of hours and minutes into their
corresponding logarithm, or we can find the equivalent of a logarithm in degrees and minutes, or in
hours and minutes. This is accomplished by the simple method illustrated in the following examples.
Suppose we wish to find the logarithm of 5 hours and 25 minutes. Place the top edge of an
envelope on the table of logarithms so that the number 25 in the two narrow outside columns is just
above the top edge; place the index finger of the right hand on the number 5 in the top line, which
indicates the hours or degrees. Run that finger down the column, and just above the edge of the
envelope you will see the number 6465. This is the logarithm of 5 hours and 25 minutes.
Next we will find the logarithm of 10 hours and 47 minutes. To do this, we place the top edge of
our envelope just below the numbers 47 in the two outside columns, and our index finger on the
column no. 10. We run our finger down this column, and just above the edge of our envelope appears
the number 3475. This is the logarithm of 10 hours and 47 minutes (or 10 degrees and 47 minutes).
We will next try to find the value of the logarithm 5740. To do this, we must search in the table for
that logarithm or the nearest thereto. A search reveals the fact that it is placed in line with the number
24 of the minute column and in column no. 6 of the degrees. Therefore, the value of logarithm 5740 is
6 hours or degrees and 24 minutes.
We will next find the value of logarithm 1.1627. We find this in the column marked 1 at the top,
and in line with no. 39 in the minute column. One degree (or hour) and 39 minutes is therefore its
value.
Having thus learned to use the table of logarithms, we will apply it in the calculation of our present
horoscope by finding the logarithm of the interval between Greenwich Mean Time and the nearest
noon. Please remember the word nearest in this connection, and do not make the mistake of finding
the logarithm of the Greenwich Mean Time itself. It is the logarithm of the interval from that time till
noon that is wanted. Long experience has taught us the absolute necessity of drumming these things
28 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
into the student's mind, for it is easy to adopt a wrong method but difficult to understand afterwards
how the horoscope is out of line with the facts.
As the Greenwich Mean Time is 10:56 AM on July 23rd, the clock must still travel 1 hour and 4
minutes before it reaches the noon mark on that day. Therefore this is obviously the nearest noon,
and 1 hour and 4 minutes is the interval. Placing our envelope so that 4 in the minute column is just
above the top edge and running our index finger down the column marked 1 at the top, we note just
above the edge of our envelope the logarithm 1.3522. This is the logarithm of the interval, and will be
used in the calculation of all planets' positions in this horoscope. Thus we have disposed of the
preliminary calculations which apply to all the planets, and the necessary correction may then easily
be made for each of the individual planets. This matter we will take up in our next lesson.
How To Use The Ephemeris Logarithm Table
In the back of an ephemeris for any year is found a logarithm table. This table is so divided that it
answers equally well for degrees and minutes of the zodiac and for hours and minutes of time.
You will see at the top on the outside left of the table a narrow vertical column which is labeled
minutes. There are found the numbers 0-59. Also at the top, horizontally placed, is a line of numbers
0-23; these are marked hours or degrees.
This table can be used for two purposes: to find the logarithm of a certain number of hours and
minutes, or of degrees and minutes, or, given a certain logarithm, the table enables one to find its
value in hours and minutes or in degrees and minutes.
If a certain time is given, the hour is located in the top numbers 0-23, and the minutes are located
on the far left side in the column 0-59. Where the column under the hour intersects the horizontal
column extending from the minutes, is found the logarithm of that hour and minute.
If a certain logarithm is given, and the time or degrees is wanted, then the above process is
reversed. The closest logarithm in the table to the one desired is used as the valid logarithm. Then
from that number, the column extending upwards to the top column of hours or degrees will locate just
that, the hours or degrees. The line of numbers extending from the left of the logarithm will give the
minutes in the far column on the left side of the table.
Questions:
Note: In questions under 1 you must make correction of Standard Time to True Local Time.
1] When birth occurs at Chicago, Longitude 88 West, on August 25th, 1912, at 8 PM:
[a] What is the Greenwich Mean Time?
[b] When does the G.M.T. Day begin and end?
[c] Which is the nearest noon?
d] How long is the Interval from Greenwich Mean Time to nearest noon?
e] What is the Logarithm of Interval?
2] When birth occurs at Leningrad, Longitude 30 East, 1 AM, January 20th, 1912:
[a] What is the Greenwich Mean Time?
[b] When does the G.M.T. Day begin and end?
[c] Which is the nearest noon?
[d] How long is the Interval from Greenwich Mean Time to nearest noon?
[e] What is the Logarithm of Interval?
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 29
The dynamic energy of Mars, which is the power that moves the world from the civil and industrial
standpoints, under certain afflictions becomes recklessness and destructiveness, making the person
so expressing it a dangerous man, a public enemy. When the Venus ray is afflicted, it curtails the
sense of beauty and order; hence the person becomes slothful, disorderly, and lacking in proper self-
respect. Incapable, because of the affliction, of feeling true love, such a person becomes perverted
and licentious, and it is often said of him, "He is his own worst enemy." Such people do not harm
others intentionally; yet they spread an immense amount of unhappiness among those whom they
profess to love. One of these classes is dangerous to society because it has not the love ray of Venus
to guide its exuberant energy; the other, because it lacks the dynamic energy necessary to carry its
good intentions into execution.
We see these classes in the world, and the misery they cause themselves and others; but usually
their character has become "set," and we can do but little to change their condition and must leave
them to the schoolmaster "Experience." Children are growing up among us and our chances of
helping them are great.
When the "Spirit" spoke to the churches in Revelation, it found fault in many directions; but one
received a stinging rebuke, "I wish thou wert hot or cold, but because thou art neither I will spew thee
out of my mouth." The so-called "bad boy" is not nearly so difficult a problem as one who is so goody-
goody that he is likely to turn out to be a good-for-nothing, a pitiable human wreck. You will do well to
look the latter over constantly and thoroughly, and remind him of the slightest neglect or mistake. It
takes strength to be a sinner, and the worst boy becomes the best man when Mars has been downed
by Venus; but the greatest firmness is required to correct an afflicted Venus and give the child
sufficiently dynamic energy to be really, instead of seemingly, good.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
The student who has made himself familiar with the subtraction of degrees and minutes will see
no obstacle in the foregoing example, but many may not have given the subject the attention it
deserves, and they will find it difficult to understand the method, and follow the calculation on that
account. A little further assistance at this point may therefore be invaluable to them. The more
precocious may skip the next few paragraphs.
First, we must bear in mind that there are only 60 minutes in a degree, not 100. Thus, when we
borrow a degree for purposes of subtraction we gain 60 minutes. For example, if we want to subtract
Leo 15:45 from Leo 17:30, we must borrow a degree in the latter number to add to the minutes
column and obtain 16 degrees, 90 minutes. Then, Leo 16:90 minus Leo 15:45 equals 1:45. Study the
two examples below in this context.
Cancer 08:32
Cancer -06:55
Total: 01:37
Virgo 13:14
Virgo -00:38
Total: 12:36
The student should note that when one sign position is subtracted from another sign position the
resulting interval has no sign connected with it.
When the two noon positions of a planetary motion problem are in different signs, we must
remember that each sign contains 30 degrees and is therefore the number of degrees gained by
borrowing for subtraction. For example, to subtract Virgo 29:15 from Libra 0:46, we borrow a sign in
the latter number to obtain Virgo (the preceding sign) 30:46. Then, Virgo 30:46 minus Virgo 29:15
equals 1:31. Once again, there is no sign connected with the resulting interval.
Consider the following examples:
Pisces 03:59
Aquarius -19:44
Total: 14:15
Aries 11:27
Pisces -28:38
Total: 12:49
The student who does not feel satisfied with his proficiency in adding and subtracting hours and
minutes and degrees and minutes may wish for extra practice examples. A number of these are
enclosed for your convenience. Please also give the logarithm corresponding to each daily motion.
When dealing with logarithms be sure to insert the decimal point.
The Ephemeris gives us the Sun's longitude on the noon of July 22, which begins the G.M.T. day,
as Cancer 29:16 and on the noon of July 23, which ends the G.M.T. day, it is Leo 0.13. Our
subtraction has shown that the Sun moved 57 minutes of space in the 24 hours intervening between
these two noon positions. Dividing 57 by 24 we get approximately 2 1/2 minutes as the hourly motion
of the Sun. We are thus in a position to figure the longitude of the Sun during any of the 24 hours from
noon July 22 to noon July 23 by adding its motion during a certain number of hours to the longitude
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 31
given for July 22, or subtracting its travel in a specified time from the longitude given for July 23.
Suppose we want to know where the Sun was at 9 PM, July 22. We note:
We may obtain the same result by subtracting the distance traveled by the Sun between 9 PM
July 22, and noon July 23, from its Longitude on the latter date.
The student will observe a slight discrepancy in the two results obtained which is of no
consequence where a planet travels only a degree or less in 24 hours, but in the case of the Moon
which travels 12 to 15 degrees per day, such rough and ready methods might cause considerable
error, and therefore we use Logarithms to figure the positions of all but the major planets which move
only a few minutes per day. This gives exact results, besides being much easier, once it is
understood.
Rule II
Add the Logarithms of Interval to the Logarithms of the planet's motion; the sum of these is the
Logarithm of Correction.
To find the Logarithm of the Sun's motion (57 minutes), we turn to the table of Logarithms and
follow the instructions given in the last lesson, and thus we find:
By following the instructions given in the last lesson, we find the value of the Logarithm of
Correction, to be 0 degrees, 3 minutes. This we call "the increment of correction."
Rule III
(a) When the G.M.T. of birth is AM, subtract the increment of correction from the planet's
longitude on the noon nearest the G.M.T.
(b) When the G.M.T. of birth is PM, add the increment of correction to the planet's longitude on
the noon nearest the G.M.T.
(c) When planets are retrograde reverse rule III.
The result in either case gives the planet's place at birth, which is later entered in the horoscope.
32 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
Our Greenwich Mean Time being July 23, 10:56 AM, the nearest noon is obviously noon July 23.
The Ephemeris gives:
This finishes our calculation of the Sun in connection with this horoscope; we shall later explain
how to enter it in the chart. In the next lesson we shall proceed to figure the Moon's place; but I want
you to try to do that by yourself beforehand, so that I may see how much you have understood of this
lesson. Below you will find a sheet having all the tabulations, so that you only have to put in the
numbers. Use a pencil so that you may be able to easily erase. I am not going to insist on a correct
answer before giving the next lesson, but I shall expect you to try hard.
With regard to the questions in the last lesson, one called for the G.M.T. of birth in Chicago,
August 25, 1912, at 8 PM.
A number of students have written to say that they have no ephemeris for that year, and cannot
answer until they get one. That was exactly the point on which I wished to test them. No ephemeris
was necessary to answer the questions. It would not have mattered had I asked, “What is the
Greenwich Mean Time of a birth at Chicago 1811 or 1850?”. All that is necessary is to add a
correction of 5 hours and 52 minutes to the True Local Time of Chicago, which is 8:08 PM, since
Chicago is 2 degrees east of the Standard Time Meridian. The answer to the question is, that at the
time when the clock in Chicago pointed to 8 PM, on August 25, 1912, the clock at Greenwich showed
2 AM on the morning of August 26, and that is therefore the Greenwich Mean Time of birth.
Questions:
1] Find the place of the Moon:
Longitude of the Moon on noon AFTER G.M.T., July 23, 1912 _____________
a]
Moon in 11:44 Virgo
Daily Motion:
Logarithm:
b]
Moon in 7:50 Taurus
Daily Motion:
Logarithm:
c]
Moon in 4:42 Capricorn
Daily Motion:
Logarithm:
d]
Moon in 4:50 Cancer
Daily Motion:
Logarithm:
34 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
The intrinsic nature of Mars is dynamic energy, that is to say, force in action, and people who
have Mars strong at birth are people who make a stir in the world so far as their environment reaches.
They are so full of life and ambition that they sweep all other people's rights aside and force their own
views, ideas, and methods to the front regardless of whom it hurts or harms; they are impulsive and
always ready to initiate novelties on the spur of the moment. They strongly resent objections to their
plans, but usually lack sufficient persistence to carry their designs into execution. If obstacles of
magnitude present themselves, they abandon their plans as suddenly as they conceived them, and
commence to ride another hobbyhorse with the same ardor that marked their previous ventures, and
with the same disregard of reason.
In the Kingdom of God all things are balanced to produce the highest ultimate good to all, and so
the influence of Saturn, another so-called evil planet, is used to offset the exuberant life of Mars. The
intrinsic nature of Saturn is obstruction; he is as slow and persistent as Mars is impulsive and quick to
change; he takes no chances, but looks before he leaps, and his cold, calculating reason misses no
flaw in any scheme.
In the horoscope of a young soul Mars is dominant and the man grows along physical lines much
as animals do under the law of the survival of the fittest; but gradually the thumbscrews of Saturn are
put on, squares and oppositions bring sorrow and suffering, Saturn is placed above Mars in the
horoscope to frustrate and check him, till it seems as if every effort is futile because of the Saturnian
obstruction.
Elijah could not hear the voice of guidance in the fire, the storm, or the earthquake, but when the
tumult was over, he heard "the still, small voice" to cheer him; and likewise with us, while we yield to
the unchecked Mars impulses, our lives are too turbulent to admit to communion with the Higher Self,
but when the sorrows of Saturn have chastened the unruly Mars spirit, when the night seems darkest,
as in Elijah's cave, then we also may hear the voice that shall speak peace after the storm.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
The G.M.T. day begins at noon, July 22, and ends July 23, at noon.
The G.M.T. at birth is 10:56 AM, July 23, 1912.
The interval from that time to the nearest noon is 1 hour and 4 minutes.
The logarithm of the interval is 1.3522.
Rule No. 1 given in the last lesson directs us to subtract the position of the planet we wish to
correct on the noon preceding the G.M.T. from its place on noon after G.M.T. These are found on
page 16 of the ephemeris for 1912 (page 22 in Information for Astrology Course, hereafter
abbreviated AI, the code to use if ordering the booklet), in the Moon column, for that is the next planet
to be calculated.
Rule No. 2 requires that we add the logarithm of the Moon's motion on the G.M.T. day (also
called the "logarithm of travel") to the logarithm of interval, (also called the "permanent logarithm") and
we therefore turn to our table of logarithms in our ephemeris. To find the logarithm of the Moon's
motion (12 degrees and 34 minutes), we place an envelope across the page in line with the numbers
in the outside columns and run a finger down the column marked 12 at the top. In that column, just
above the edge of our envelope is the number .2810. That is the logarithm we seek, and we proceed
to add:
The value of this logarithm in degrees and minutes is the increment of correction which we use in
finally determining the position of a planet, and we find it, as thoroughly explained in Lesson No. 6, by
looking in the table of logarithms. If we cannot find the exact logarithm we use the one nearest
thereto. In this case the nearest logarithm is 1.6269, and it is found in the column marked 0 at the top,
and in line with the number 34 on the left hand side of the page. Thus we see that the increment of
correction is 0 degrees and 34 minutes.
Rule No. 3a directs that when the G.M.T. is AM, as in this case (10:56 AM, July 23), we subtract
the increment of correction from the planet's place on the nearest noon (obviously July 23). We look
for that position on page 16 of the ephemeris (page 22 of AI):
Our next lesson will explain how to place the planets in the horoscope. For the present we
continue our calculations, and the required data are found on page 16 of the 1912 ephemeris (page
22 of AI). There, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury each has its column
where the longitudes for noon during the month of July are noted. The daily motion of the four first
named is so slow that correction is unnecessary, and they may be entered in the horoscope as
occupying the position given in the ephemeris for the noon nearest G.M.T. In this case that is July 23.
On that day Neptune was in Cancer 23:47.
In the columns of Uranus and Jupiter you will note, below the zodiacal sign, a capital R. That
means that the planet is "Retrograde." If you turn back to page 12 (not shown in AI), you will find the
"R" in line with Uranus' position, on May 8th; on pages 14, 16, 18, and 20 (not shown in AI) it is just
below the sign of the zodiac in Uranus' column; a little further down on page 22 (not shown in AI), in
line with Uranus' position on October 10th, is a capital "D." The meaning is as follows:
The planets in our solar system move in one direction around the Sun, but their orbits are of
varying diameters and their velocities also vary.
The earth travels 65,000 miles an hour and still its circle is so large that it requires 365 days to
journey around the Sun. Mercury makes a much smaller circle around the Sun, and travels 104,000
miles per hour so it completes a revolution around the Sun in 88 days. Uranus travels only 15,000
miles per hour, and its circle is so large that it requires 84 years to complete it. The other planets
show similar variations of speed; if they traveled in a straight line the smaller and faster planets would
soon leave the more ponderous and slow-moving behind, but as they move in circles, they pass a
given point of observation again and again. Were that point stationary this constant forward motion of
the planets in their respective orbits would be apparent to all observers; but this is the trouble; there is
no stationary point; every particle, from Jupiter, the giant of our solar system, to the smallest particle
of "star dust" is in incessant motion around a common center, and therefore at times one planet
36 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
moves almost transversely to the path of another moving body and it appears for a time as if it stood
still in its orbit. Astronomers say that such a planet is "Stationary." At other times this oblique motion
of the planets, relative to the earth's position in its orbit, makes them seem to move backward in the
zodiac, and this we call "Retrogradation". In the ephemeris we find a capital "R" in line with the day
when any planet commences seemingly to recede, and this retrogradation goes on until we find the
capital "D" which indicates that a direct forward motion of the planet is again observable.
Though this backward motion of a planet is only seeming, it has a very real effect with respect to
the influence which it exerts, for, as taught in Lesson No. 2 (which please see), it is the angle of the
ray which determines the influence of a planet. The planets are foci which transmit and intensify the
properties of certain fixed stars so that they affect us in a much greater degree than when not thus
focused upon the point of observation—the birthplace.
Let us now suppose that at the time when a child is born we look at Saturn, and beyond him, right
along our line of observation, we see the fixed star Antares which is in about 9 degrees, 47 minutes of
Sagittarius; the child is then getting a tendency to eye trouble that is sufficiently severe even if the
planet is traveling "direct" in its orbit as is generally the case, for then Antares gradually goes out of
focus, and Saturn will not return to the conjunction until it has completed its circle journey around the
Sun (which takes about 29 years). If, on the other hand, we find that on the day after birth Saturn has
retrograded somewhat, and still more the next day, and so on for a week or two, then that also brings
Antares out of focus, but there is this important difference, that instead of taking 29 years to form the
next conjunction Saturn may become "direct" and form the second conjunction with Antares in a few
weeks after birth, and this repeated evil ray may aggravate the natal defect to such an extent that the
child becomes blind. Therefore we reiterate that while the retrograde motion of a planet is only
seeming, its influence on human affairs is very, very real.
Continuing our listing of planets, we have:
In calculating the place of Venus, we will again use the logarithm method, and proceed according
to Rule No. 1.
We turn to our table of logarithms as taught previously, and find the logarithm of Venus' motion, 1
degree and 14 minutes, to be 1.2891, and we add this to the permanent logarithm required by Rule 2.
We again search the table of logarithms to find the value of the logarithm of correction, or the
nearest thereto. This is found in the column marked 0 at the top, and in line with the number 3 in the
minute column (2.6812) and thus the increment of correction is 0 degrees and 3 minutes.
Rule No. 3 bids us subtract the increment of correction from Venus' position on nearest noon,
which is July 23.
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 37
The G.M.T. is AM so the travel during the interval must be subtracted from the coming noon
position.
Mercury alone remains to be calculated, and a calculation blank is presented with this lesson. On
that we shall expect you to make the proper corrections for Mercury. Please use a pencil so that you
may be able to erase mistakes.
In order to help prevent errors the student should note the two following conditions which apply to
the calculation of all planets.
1] The travel during the interval can never be more than half of the travel in 24 hours.
2] The final position of the planet in the horoscope must fall between the coming noon and the
previous noon positions of the planet.
Worksheet
1] Find the position of Mercury in a horoscope for July 23, 1912, 10:56 AM, G.M.T., New York
City, NY:
Coming noon position of Mercury: _____________
Previous noon position of Mercury: -____________
Travel in 24 hours: _____________
Logarithm of travel: _____________
Permanent logarithm: +____________
Sum of logarithms: _____________
Travel during interval: _____________
2] Nearest noon position of Mercury: _____________
Travel during interval: +_____________
Position of Mercury in the horoscope: _____________
38 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
This lesson gives final instructions in the art of erecting a simple horoscope of birth. From such a
simple figure one who is proficient may read the very soul of a human being, its hopes, fears, and
aspirations, the faults and frailties of its mind and body. Moses was commanded to remove his shoes
in front of the burning bush in recognition of the fact that he stood on holy ground illuminated by a
Spirit Presence. If all the spotlights in the world were focused upon an actor, their blinding light would
be reflected from his body, but his secrets would still remain within. But when an actor enters upon the
stage of life and the starry spotlights are focused upon him through the horoscope, they penetrate to
the very soul of his being and lay bare the lines of his life with such clearness that he who can read
the stellar script may count the pulse beats of such a one as if they were those of his own soul.
Therefore Moses stood on no holier ground than the astrologer who holds in his hand a horoscope;
and I feel that I cannot too often reiterate that there is a very grave responsibility connected with this
wonderful privilege of the astrologer, and that it behooves him to live a holy life so that he may be
worthy to stand in the sublime presence of the Human Spirit as it is revealed in the natal figure. Nor
should the student deceive himself; spiritual secrets and the privilege of rendering spiritual help by
spiritual interpretation of the message of the stars are not given to one who prostitutes this most
sublime science for filthy lucre or uses it for low purposes. God is not mocked; we reap what we sow.
If we betray our trust and abuse this great privilege, the day of retribution will dawn sometime and we
shall eat the bread of sorrow for our sacrilege. To whom much is given, of him much is required. I pray
God that you may live up to the highest possibilities of soul growth by helping others and that the
knowledge of astrology which you are now acquiring may prove your most important aid, as it has
been and is the greatest blessing in my life.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
Before entering planets in the horoscope, it is wise to make a list of their places, beginning with
those in the first degree of Aries, if any; then those in the succeeding degrees of the same sign; then
the planets in the first degrees of Taurus; then those in the following degrees and so on through all
the signs, following the circle of the Zodiac. This method, applied to the planets of our example
horoscope gives the following list:
The advantage of making a list of the planets and grouping them in order of sign and degree,
before entering them in the horoscope, lies in the fact that if the planets are clustered in any part of
the horoscope, the list shows it, and we may economize space intelligently when writing them so that
the neatness and clearness are retained, even when several planets have to be crowded into a small
space. In the foregoing list, for instance, three planets are in Leo, and the 13th degree of Leo is on the
Ascendant, consequently, the Sun and Venus, which are in 0 and 5 degrees, respectively, are written
above the Ascendant, and Mercury below; for the signs and degrees rotate in the same direction as
the houses. When Leo is on the first house, the next sign, Virgo, is usually on the next house (the
second); Libra, the third sign from Leo, on the third house, and so on.
As it is our policy to group the planets close to the zodiacal sign which contains them at the time
of birth, we write Mercury directly below the Ascendant. Comparing the longitude of the Sun (0
degrees) and Venus (5 degrees) with the longitude of the Ascendant (13 degrees), it is evident that
Venus is nearest the Ascendant. We therefore write Venus directly above the Ascendant, and the Sun
close to Venus, as it is done in our illustration. Thus written, they are properly grouped in the order of
their degrees: 0, 5, 13, 27; Sun, Venus, Ascendant, Mercury. It is very important to always have them
placed right, for if we had placed Mercury above the Ascendant, the Sun and Venus below, we should
also read the horoscope wrong. Mercury would then be in the 12th house and mean something very
different from what he signifies in the first house. In the latter Mercury gives facility of expression and
brightens the intellect, but in the 12th he is in bondage, and cannot give out knowledge. There is a
strain of melancholy in the mind when Mercury is in the 12th, whereas placed in the first house, he
imparts cheerfulness to the disposition.
Thus it is evident that if we try to read the character of a person from a horoscope where the
planets are not properly inserted, we shall make a miserable failure. The student is, therefore, again
warned to spare no pains to place the planets correctly on the right side of their respective cusps.
40 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
A good method is to start from Aries in the horoscope, insert the planets listed under Aries, if any,
then take Taurus, and so on. We shall follow that method in our illustration.
Aries 1 is on the 9th cusp, but there are no planets in Aries according to our list; so the 9th house
is empty.
Taurus 3 is on the 10th cusp, but no planets appear under Taurus on our list.
Gemini 9 is on the 11th cusp; that means that the first 9 degrees of that sign are in the 10th
house, and the remaining degrees from 9 to 30 are in the 11th house. Planets in the degrees from 1
to 9 must therefore be placed in the 10th house, and planets in the higher degrees, in the 11th house.
In our list Saturn is in Gemini, 1 degree 34 min., so we write him in the 10th house, close to the 11th
cusp, to show that he belongs under Gemini. Please note again how he is written in our illustration; up
and down, so that we may read without turning the horoscope.
Cancer 14 is on the 12th cusp, thus the first 14 degrees are in the 11th house and the degrees
from 14 to 30 are in the 12th house. In our list we see that Neptune is in Cancer 23 degrees, and
accordingly we write it in the 12th house, close to the 12th cusp to show that it is in Cancer.
The planets in Leo we have already dealt with, so we note next that the fifth degree of Virgo is on
the cusp of the second house; thus 5 degrees are in the first house, and Mars, which is 3 degrees of
Virgo, must be written above the cusp as shown in our diagram.
The first degree of Libra is on the cusp of the third house, and if a planet were in 0 degrees, 59
minutes of Libra, it should be written in the second house, but all degrees from 1 to 30 are in the third
house, and planets in those degrees would be placed in the third house. None appears in our list,
however, so we proceed to the next.
The third degree of Scorpio is on the fourth cusp, and all planets in a higher degree are therefore
placed in the 4th house. Our list shows that the Moon is in 26 degrees of Scorpio, so we take care to
write it up and down close to the 4th cusp as illustrated in our diagram.
The ninth degree of Sagittarius is on the cusp of the 5th house, and planets in one of the first nine
degrees must therefore be written in the 4th house. Jupiter appears listed in 5 degrees, and we
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 41
consequently write him in the 4th house, but close to the 5th cusp, to show that he belongs under
Sagittarius. We also take care to write him up and down, and above all, the capital R, denoting that he
is retrograde, must also be written as shown in the illustration.
The 14th degree of Capricorn is on the cusp of the 6th house, so planets in the first 14 degrees
would be in the 5th house, and planets in the last 16 degrees would be in the 6th house; but as our list
shows no planets in Capricorn, we pass on.
The 13th degree of Aquarius is on the cusp of the 7th house; planets in lower degrees must
therefore be written in the 6th house, and as Uranus is in one degree, we place him there just below
the 7th cusp, to show that he belongs under Aquarius. A capital R is written there also.
There being no planets in Pisces, our horoscope is now complete, and if you have grasped what
has been taught up to the present time, you should be able to erect the horoscopical figure for any
birth.
Practice will make you proficient, and after a while you will be able to erect such a simple figure in
10 or 15 minutes, without all the circumstances necessary when learning; but in order to be sure that
you understand thoroughly, we will erect another horoscope by easy stages while proceeding to learn
the aspects.
Questions:
1] Please find the Sidereal Time at birth for a child born on August 10th, 1912, at 4 PM, Standard
Time in New York, NY (74W, 41N). Make your calculations on a horoscope blank, and write the
proper signs and degrees on the cusps of the houses, but do not start to calculate the planets.
42 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
Dear Friend,
We congratulate you for having completed The Rosicrucian Fellowship Junior Astrology Course,
lessons 1 - 9. We invite you to continue your studies with lessons 10 - 19 in our Junior Astrology
Course. But before you may begin the next booklet, please answer the below questions and send
your answers to us.
4. On what kind of ground does the astrologer stand who holds a horoscope in his hand?
We trust that you have studied well and know the answers to these important questions. If not,
please restudy the material here given. Unless you develop a sound foundation of learning and
understanding, you will not be able to help others to your highest potential.
In order to receive the next booklet in the Course, lessons 10 - 19, please answer the above
questions and then calculate a horoscope for October 25, 1911 at 7:54 AM Standard Time, at 93
West longitude and 38 North latitude. Calculate TLT, GMT, S.T., and all house cusps, etc. Use a full
horoscope blank to record ALL your work (show all your calculations.
Also, please calculate the positions of Mercury and the Moon for the above chart.
Send your complete answers to us and if correct, we will send you the next booklet in the Course.
Good luck.
In fellowship,
Rosicrucian Fellowship
2222 Mission Ave
Oceanside, CA 92054-2399
Education Department
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 43
ANSWERS
3] Birth occurs from the astrological viewpoint with the first breath or cry of the infant.
4] The stellar forces that exist at the moment when the child utters its first cry are drawn into the
lungs and pass through the blood. The impressions of these forces are stamped on every atom of the
child's body, and they prevail throughout the entire life.
5] The purpose of astrology is to teach that stellar forces exist, so that by our wills we may
regulate our lives advantageously and help others do the same.
6] The twelve signs of the zodiac and their symbols are:
1] The twelve signs are divisions of the heavens relative to the Vernal Equinox and the ecliptic,
which are places of reference in space.
The twelve houses are divisions of the heavens relative to the birthplace and horizon, which are
places of reference on the Earth.
2] The signs are derived from groups of relatively fixed stars along the Sun's yearly path through
the sky — and always maintain the same relative positions to one another. The planets are heavenly
bodies that revolve around the Sun and are constantly changing their relative positions to one
another.
3] A degree is the approximate distance traveled by the Sun each day — one three-hundred and
sixtieth of a circle. There are 30 degrees in each sign.
4] There are 12 signs and 12 houses.
5] A planet’s influence is determined principally by the angle of the ray. Although each planet has
its own innate nature, the angle of the ray determines in what way, or how that influence will be
exerted. The house that a planet is in shows the angle of the planetary ray relative to the Earth, and
the sign that a planet is in shows the angle of the planetary ray relative to the heavens.
6] From Aries 1° to Aries 30° is 29 degrees; then from Taurus 0° to Taurus 15° is another 15
degrees. Added together this totals 44°.
Note: Any zodiacal Sign starts at 0° and ends at 30°. It is possible to have a planet located at
0°13'36" of Aries (zero degrees, thirteen minutes and thirty-six seconds which is between Aries 0° and
Aries 1°.
44 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
1] What is the True Local Time when clocks set to Standard Time show 11:25 at Chicago; 9:30 at
New York, 10:55 at Denver (all AM)?
Hrs Mins
Hrs Mins
Hrs Mins
2] What is the Greenwich Mean Time when it is 2:00 PM Standard Time at Chicago?
True Local Time is 2:08 PM (2 degrees times 4 minutes per degree equals 8 minutes). As
Chicago is 88 degrees west longitude, we multiply 88 degrees by 4 minutes per degree and get 352
minutes. Divide 352 minutes by 60 and we get 5 hours and 52 minutes.
Hrs Mins
1] The Sidereal Time at birth determines the SIGN (and degree) to be placed on each of the
twelve HOUSES.
2] a] March 24 Noon; b] June 17 Noon; c] August 1 Noon
Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9 45
3] a) Figure the Sidereal Time of a birth occurring in Denver, Longitude 105 West, at 4:00 PM
Standard Time, June 6, 1912.
b) Figure the Sidereal Time of a birth occurring in Chicago, Longitude 88 West, at 4:00 AM
Standard Time, June 6, 1912.
1] When birth occurs at Chicago, Longitude 88 West, on August 25, 1912, at 8:00 PM:
Hrs Mins
Standard Time at Chicago 08 00 PM
Chicago is 2 degrees east of the Standard Time meridian at 90 degrees
West, so multiply 2 degrees by 4 minutes. 08
Add 8 minutes because Chicago is EAST of the Standard Time meridian
True Local Time 08 08 PM
As Chicago is 88 degrees west longitude, we multiply 88 degrees by 4 minutes per degree and
get 352 minutes. Divide 352 minutes by 60 and we get 5 hours and 52 minutes.
Hrs Mins
Add 05 52
--------------
G.M.T. is 14 00 PM
2] When birth occurs at Leningrad, Longitude 30 East, 1:00 AM, January 20, 1912:
Hrs Mins
Standard Time at Leningrad 01 00 AM
Leningrad is on the Standard Time meridian at 30 degrees West,
so Standard Time and True Local Time are the same 00
True Local Time 01 00 AM
As Leningrad is 30 degrees EAST longitude, we multiply 30 degrees by 4 minutes per degree and
get 120 minutes. Divide 120 minutes by 60 and we get 2 hours and 00 minutes.
Hrs Mins
SUBTRACT to find G.M.T. because Leningrad is EAST of Greenwich - 02 00
--------------
G.M.T. is 11 00 PM
Longitude of the Moon on noon AFTER G.M.T., July 23, 1912 Scorpio 27:07
Subtract longitude of the Moon on noon BEFORE G.M.T. day 14:33
Motion of Moon on G.M.T. day 12:34
48 Junior Astrology Course, Lessons 1 - 9
a]
Moon in 11:44 Virgo
Moon in -27:20 Leo
Daily Motion: 14:24
Logarithm: .2218
b]
Moon in 7:50 Taurus
Moon in -24:37 Aries
Daily Motion: 13:13
Logarithm: .2591
c]
Moon in 4:42 Capricorn
Moon in -22:51 Sagittarius
Daily Motion: 11:51
Logarithm: .3065
d]
Moon in 4:50 Cancer
Moon in -19:59 Gemini
Daily Motion: 14:51
Logarithm: .2085
1] Find the position of Mercury in a horoscope for July 23, 1912, 10:56 AM, G.M.T., New York
City, NY:
rosfshp@rosicrucianfellowship.org
http://www.rosicrucianfellowship.org
Junior Astrology Course
Lessons 10 - 19
COPYRIGHT 2001
BY
THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
All rights, including that of translation, reserved. For permission to copy or translate, application
should be made to the publisher.
Introduction............................................................ 3
LESSON 10........................................................... 4
LESSON 11........................................................... 8
LESSON 12......................................................... 11
LESSON 13......................................................... 15
LESSON 14......................................................... 18
LESSON 15......................................................... 22
LESSON 16......................................................... 25
LESSON 17......................................................... 28
LESSON 18......................................................... 31
LESSON 19......................................................... 33
Dear Friend,
We are happy to have your request for our Astrology course. Our three courses in Astrology are
based on the Teachings as given to humanity by the Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order through The
Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and the personal investigations of Max Heindel, their Messenger.
In order to realize the most benefit from our Astrology courses we suggest you study our
Preliminary Philosophy Course consisting of twelve lessons. The Preliminary Philosophy Course must
be completed by regular mail one lesson at a time. We hope that the understanding of life and its
problems offered by this course will bring you much comfort and joy.
A New Age is dawning, and wonderful opportunities await those who understand and cooperate
with the cosmic forces operating to break humanity's bond of materialism and usher in a new order
with higher spiritual concepts. As we bring ourselves into harmony with these forces, we not only
greatly hasten our own progress, but make it possible for us to aid in the great work of uplifting all
humanity.
These lessons are not sold. The Rosicrucian Teaching is free, but the expenses incidental to
their production and website distribution are met by free-will offerings from students "as the heart
dictates and the means permit." However, all receive the same teaching and attention even though
circumstances may be such that some are unable to assist in supporting the work.
We would love to be able to provide personal one-on-one instruction to all who are interested in
our courses, but our resources do not allow this. Therefore, this study course is set up as a college-
type self-study course where the student becomes his own teacher. Answers to all questions are
given in the back of the booklet. Please do not send your individual lesson answers to us.
Please feel that we are your friends, and that we consider it a pleasure and a privilege to assist
you in any way possible to live the higher life, which leads to true happiness and spiritual unfoldment.
We send our best wishes for your spiritual progress.
Yours in service,
The Rosicrucian Fellowship,
Education Department
1] Simplified Scientific Ephemeris for 1911, 1912, and 1932 computed for noon (order Information
for Astrology Course booklet [AI] or E1911, E1912, and E1932).
3] Simplified Scientific Astrology - Complete textbook on the art of erecting horoscopes, with
dictionary of astrological terms (ASP). Available online.
4] The Message of the Stars - An esoteric exposition of Natal and Medical Astrology explaining
the arts of reading and progressing the Horoscope and diagnosing diseases (MSP). Available online.
It is wonderful to contemplate how the planetary forces balance each other so perfectly that
universal equilibrium is maintained despite the disturbances of the 5000 millions which inhabit the
earth alone, not to speak of other spheres. Every moment of time, our actions, individually and
collectively, interfere with terrestrial equipoise, and were not this instantly restored, the earth would
leave its orbit, fly off at a tangent, and be destroyed. Nor are physical disturbances most potent in
disturbing or restoring balance. It is a fallacy to confound solidity and rigidity with strength (as is most
thoroughly explained in our Lecture No. 19, "The Coming Force"). A train has no strength itself, but
must be solid because it is operated upon by an invisible gas called steam. There is no force in a rigid
hammer, but when driven by a column of flexible liquid, like water, backed by an elastic cushion of
compressed air, the force stored in the air drives the powerful hydraulic ram irresistibly through
whatever comes before it. Likewise subtle, invisible stellar rays are the factors which maintain our
ponderous planet in its path and spiritual disturbances generated by mankind are naturally the most
subtle force which interfere with the earth's equipoise.
Therefore each planet has its opposite, and every time we radiate the quality of one planet, we
call forth a countercurrent of corresponding force, and by the action and reaction of those forces in
and upon us and our environment we learn the lessons of life. If we vibrate to the love ray of Venus,
instantly Mars comes to tempt, and tries to turn love to lust, but it depends upon us whether we
remain steadfast in virtue or yield to vice. If we court the ideal of Jupiter, if we aim to elevate the
standards of church or state, instantly the saturnine forces invite to self-aggrandizement and appeal to
the passion for power. With us it lies, to remain true to the ideal and reap laurels that last through
eternity, or yield to the promise of present gain of worthless gold which we repay in sorrow when
Saturn turns and becomes the chastiser. Each horoscope shows the tendencies in even the humblest
life, and opportunity continually knocks. May we all be prepared to meet it as spiritual astrologers
should.
Yours in Fellowship,
where he gives the most perpendicular ray at the summer solstice, and consequently the greatest
heat. Libra is the extreme western point of his path where he turns away from the Northern
Hemisphere.
In midwinter, at Christmas, he is in Capricorn at the farthest point south, where his horizontal ray
leaves the people of the North in winter's icy grip. The nature of the "angles," and the effect of the 1st,
4th, 7th and 10th houses, is similar to the effect of the cardinal signs because these houses are at the
east, north, west, and south points of the horoscope. The nature and effect of cardinal signs and
angles may be summed up in the words "action" and "initiative," though each acts differently from the
others. Planets placed in cardinal signs and angles give zest to life according to the nature of the
particular planet, sign and angle. For instance, the intrinsic nature of the Sun is "life"; the cardinal sign
Aries is aggressive, forceful and "self-assertive." Therefore, when the Sun is in Aries in the spring,
nature bubbles over with life; there is such a super-abundance of vital force that all creation is
impelled to procreate itself in order to use the surplus. In the human horoscope the solar life is
similarly intensified when expressed through the cardinal sign Aries or when it is in the eastern angle
(the first house), which corresponds to Aries. This position makes for greater vitality, so great in fact
that it frequently runs amuck, overheats the blood, and sends it racing through the veins. Therefore
we find people with the Sun in Aries subject to fevers, but it is also a fact, not generally known to
physicians, that in the Sun-in-Aries people the temperature may rise far above the ordinary extreme
danger point, remain there for hours, burn every hair of the patient's head, and yet produce no fatality,
because the spark of life is too strong to be extinguished even when it has burned the body to a
cinder.
While Aries gives "self-esteem," Capricorn, or the 10th house, (the southern angle), which
corresponds to Capricorn, brings "social honor," that is to say, the esteem of others, and good planets
in Capricorn or the 10th house will certainly bring preferment. Take, as usual, the keyword of a planet,
combine it with the keyword of the sign and you have the interpretation. For instance, the keyword of
the Sun is life, of Capricorn, social honor. Therefore the Sun in Capricorn or the 10th house will
promote a lively social esteem for one with that configuration, and as a matter of fact, people who rise
to high and responsible positions generally have the Sun so placed and well aspected, for aspects
have to be taken into consideration also in judgment, but one thing at a time. The keyword of Saturn is
"obstruction," of Capricorn "social honor," of Aries "self-esteem." If Saturn is in Aries he will tend to
obstruct self-esteem, crush the spirit, and make a man timid and shrinking. If Saturn is afflicted in
Capricorn or the 10th house, the man may strive to rise, but obstructions will pile mountain high to bar
his way to social honor. If he persists and does attain, downfall awaits him anyway. Napoleon is said
to have had this configuration.
As Capricorn or the 10th house, gives our status in the world, the human family, so the opposite
cardinal sign, Cancer, or its correspondent, the 4th house, (the northern angle), determines our "home
life." Take a horoscope with Venus there, another with Mars, and a third with Saturn. What is the
meaning of the stellar script in each? Again the keywords afford easy reading, for Venus is "coalition,"
the force that binds and attracts and smoothes out all unpleasantness. When she is in Cancer or the
4th house, love will brighten the hearth and house. There may be a hard battle with the world, but
peace will reign by the fireside. Mars is "dynamic energy"; he rides roughshod over everything and
everybody. In Cancer or the 4th house he is a tartar, and tyrant in the home, and it is strange how
dual we may be, for the man who is such a bear at home, may have Venus in the west and be an
angel in public. Nor should we call him a hypocrite; it is simply that in one department of life he feels
the influence of the martial ray, and the Venusian dominates another. It should excite our compassion,
and show the way to overcome by knowledge, if we can reach and teach him the stellar science. The
keynote of Saturn is obstruction, and it is easy to see what he would do in Cancer, or the 4th house.
Faust, though most of us think of it as written by Goethe, is not a human creation. The plot is
found in one of the ancient myths and though our modern stage rendering makes it seem only the
story of an ordinary seduction, the myth itself, and even Goethe's rendering brings out much of the
esoteric truth. Among other pearls is Satan's description of himself. When asked by Faust, "Who art
thou?" he says,
6 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
That fits Saturn. I know that all in God's world work for ultimate good, and that physical resistance
develops physical muscle, that spiritual obstruction is necessary to grind away the rough edges from
the soul and polish it to diamond brightness.
Saturn is chief of the lapidaries. Knowing that he hurts to help, we must try to be patient. When
even the stone in being ground gives sounds of seeming suffering, who shall blame us if we wail at
the time when the hand of Saturn is heavy or applied in a particularly sensitive place? Although I
thank him for benefits received from chastisements, and recognize the benefit of his restraining
influence at times when he makes me feel like a dog on the leash, I cannot help thinking of him as a
cold, clammy hand of huge proportions, ready to wet-blanket all ambition, self-assertion, and other
martial characteristics. "The spirit of negation", no bit ever fretted a spirited horse as much as the curb
of Saturn, which says, "Don't, Don't, Don't." Saturn can fret and worry a martial spirit bubbling over
with energy and ambition, and as a planet is always most evil, so-called, in the sign where it is
weakest, Saturn in Cancer or the 4th house is particularly severe. Children whose parents have
Saturn in Cancer or the 4th house may or may not be kicked and cuffed physically; that depends upon
other factors. But there Saturn has them cornered; they are helpless children, they cannot run away
from the parental home, no matter how they feel, and the saturnine don't, don't, don't will wet-blanket
their spirits, quench their ambition, and make it a thousand times more difficult for them to fight the
battle of life. Oh! that we could realize our wrong when we unthinkingly betray the trust of the little
ones who come to us for protection and a home until they are able to fight their own battle in the
world. If we could only see how the saturnine ray in the home hampers our mate, and how much
better it would be for him, or her, if we would cease to restrain and throw cold water, if we would give
encouragement instead of always having don't on the tip of the tongue.
Aries being the fountainhead of egoism (the force which aims to center everything on the
individual regardless of all others), it is reasonable that the opposite sign must have the opposite
qualities, and signify what we share with others or have in community with others. "Partnership" may
therefore be said to be the keyword of Libra, its corresponding western angle the 7th house. As
marriage is the most important partnership of life, capable of making or marring it as no other relation
can, the configurations in this sign and angle are particularly vital in that respect.
The Sun is positive and masculine in its nature and signifies, therefore, the marriage partner in
the horoscope of a woman, and the negative, feminine Moon indicates the partner for a man, that is
generally speaking, but planets in Libra and the 7th house give particular testimony in this respect.
The Sun thus placed gives life, and zest here as elsewhere, regardless of sex. Saturn obstructs
successful intercourse with our fellows; Mars gives dynamic energy, makes us aggressive; we put
down our rivals though we may also ruin ourselves by so doing.
You have now the method and must learn to apply it so that you may read the stellar scrip as you
read a book. There is no time like the present, so I will give you a problem which you must answer
without looking up in any books other than the letters and lessons furnished in this course.
The keyword of Jupiter is "benevolence." Do you know the "jovial" fellow, with the big heart and
the broad smile, who shakes your hand till the ligaments of your arm are almost sprained? He is "hail
fellow, well met" with everybody, always ready to give anything or anybody a boost and never gets
angry on his own account, but may be moved to righteous indignation by the wrongs of others. Yet
even though he is terrible in his wrath, he is never cruel to the aggressor or oppressor, but shows
mercy and kindness as soon as the foe is vanquished. Do you know him? He is scarcely breeding
absolute purity, but is Jupiter personified.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 7
Planetary Keywords:
JUPITER:
Benevolence
Generosity
Tolerance
Sign Keywords:
ARIES:
Enthusiastic
Pioneering
Dynamic
Aggressive
CANCER:
Feeling
Maternal
Imaginative
Protective
LIBRA:
Justice
Artistic
Eclectic
Integrated
CAPRICORN:
Responsible
Honorable
Self-control
Efficient
The Keywords give the essential nature of the Planets and Signs.
8 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
Jupiter focuses the most benevolent rays through which the more lasting joys and achievements
of our lives come. He travels around the Sun in about 11 years, and aspects every planet from all
angles during that time, while Saturn requires 29 years to obstruct us from similar positions. Thus
what we call "good" predominates overwhelmingly over the so-called "evil," and the realization of this
fact should be ever with us to inculcate and cultivate an optimistic frame of mind. Present trouble is
not so hard to bear when we can see "the turn of the lane," and as the student of Astrology has a sure
foundation for his hope of better things he should be the most contented person in the world, even
when in the midst of a period of trouble. An aspect of Jupiter is always about to form, and whatever
department of life he is in (shown by the house), will be the avenue through which opportunity will
come to you. One of the easiest methods a young student may use to predict events is by these
transits, as we call the ephemeral passage of planets in the heavens. All that is required is an
ephemeris for the current year and your own natal chart. The ephemeris shows Jupiter's position at a
glance. A look at your own chart tells what house he is traversing and gives the key to his influence.
You know the nature of the cardinal signs; in the answer to your last lesson you gave a description of
Jupiter's influence in these positions, and if you are not fortunate enough to have him thus well
placed, maybe you wished such good fortune had been yours. But cheer up, though you may not
have the life-lasting benefit of a well placed Jupiter, he traverses the cardinal signs and the angles 4
to 8 times in an average human life; each time he comes to one of the important places in your
horoscope, opportunity knocks at your door and offers you preferment and the realization of the
dreams of your life in one direction or another. Be on the watch, however, for you must do your share
and grasp the proffered hand of Dame Fortune or she will pass on. But even if you miss some of your
chances, keep cheerful, attune yourself to the Jupiter ray, try to spread sunshine in other lives, and
some day you will learn to live yourself into all the aspects of his benevolence; some life you will be
born with Jupiter as the most prominent planet in your chart.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
before they leap," they look a long time and very, very carefully, but on the other hand, when they
have once been won over to a certain cause they are faithful unto death, and no more ardent
advocates can be found; their zeal is almost fanatical. On the whole, people with Fixed signs may be
said to be the most reliable people in the world, either for good or bad. When the rays from the Fixed
signs come through so-called "good" planets and at favorable angles called "good" aspects, we have
a man whose integrity is as impregnable as the Rock of Gibraltar, who could not be bribed with all the
gold or power in the world to wander one single inch from what, according to his light is the path of
strictest rectitude; who would consider life, or even love, as nothing compared to this rectitude. But the
man whose destiny (more can be found on destiny in Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions and
Answers, Volume I, question 153 on page 305), self-made in former lives, has attracted the fixed ray
through so-called "evil" planets and at angles called "evil" aspects, has walled himself in with
limitations of such a nature that his entire view of life is askew; therefore he is out of harmony with his
fellow beings. Shunned by them he becomes a recluse or an outcast; hatred and revenge burn in his
breast . He may become what we call a criminal, because we do not understand how heavy his load
is, that he is a young soul unable to bear the burden of life with fortitude equal to our own. If we could
only have compassion to see and understand his limitations as revealed by the horoscope, perhaps
we should be able to feel pity instead of repugnance. If every judge were an astrologer, and every
court clerk were required to cast the horoscope of each prisoner arraigned so that the judge might see
into the soul before judging, we should have more loving kindness shown those unfortunates, and
love would soon conquer where harshness fails. Such a reform will come in a not too far-away future,
and though people of the "fixed" kind we have described will be the most difficult to win over, they will
never backslide once the task of conversion has been accomplished.
The last expression brings to mind the narrow, sectarian fanatic who thinks everybody is going to
hell who does not share his belief, who is as zealous in his efforts to convert all with whom he comes
in contact as in denouncing those who do not respond to his well-meant efforts. He is another variety
of these fixed people. The student has now the description of the general salient characteristics
imparted by the rays from the Fixed signs, and may easily detect their action in any horoscope, when
focused through the various planets.
The Fixed signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. In addition to the common characteristic,
stability, each sign has its own keyword which describes its particular effect, and as the general
quality, stability, is intensified when Fixed signs are on the angles, so also the individual nature and
effect of each sign is more prominently observable when thus placed.
In the Cardinal sign Aries, the exaltation of the Sun fosters individual life, and the dynamic energy
of the ruler, Mars, engenders egoism, so that the dominant forces of this sign create the individual
self, the separate personality, which is prepared by the Aries forces to fight its way in life alone and
unaided; but the forces of the sign Taurus tend to produce the family, that is to say, an aggregation of
individuals bound by ties of blood and of love. Therefore the Moon is exalted in Taurus; her keyword
is fecundation. Through her the generative forces accomplish multiplication of the individual, and
Venus, the ruler of Taurus, is the vehicle of coalition, the force which binds parents and offspring into
the integral whole which we call the family.
When mankind was in its infancy Jehovah and his angelic host from the Moon together with the
Lords of Venus focused the Taurean ray upon our race and welded all into one vast harmonious
family obedient to their masters' wills. The Martial Lucifer spirits first started human emancipation from
superhuman rule through the side of the Arian ray which is designated "the goat" in the Bible. Later
came the "true light," the Sun Spirit, Christ, Who expresses the Arian ray in so gentle a manner that
He is called "the Lamb." But also He exalts the individual above the family. Thus, the rulers and
exaltation rulers of these two signs have aided human evolution and the past history of man is written
in the stars so plainly that the seeing eye may decipher its pages most readily and also the pages of
the future now in the making, for, "coming events cast their shadows before." It is marvelous,
nevertheless, how The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception dovetails with the esoteric side of Astrology
and how a knowledge of this science reveals depths of the Rosicrucian teachings not otherwise
accessible.
10 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
Taurus rules the tongue; its keyword being harmony, and that of Venus coalition, it is plain that
Venus in Taurus would designate the soft-spoken peacemaker, but Mars in Taurus destroys harmony
by incessant talk, as an agitator or demagogue. Saturn's keyword being obstruction, would cause
halting speech, loss of voice, or would make a pessimist. Many musicians have the Sun, Venus or
Jupiter in Taurus.
From the symbolic Garden of Eden where Adam dwelt under the Taurean ray in harmony and
peace, while obedient to Jehovah, he was driven into the wilderness of the world under the ray of
Scorpio which is ruled by the Lucifer spirits of Mars. According to their advice he "knew" his wife.
Scorpio has dominion over the sex organs, and as the 8th house is the house of death, so Scorpio,
being the 8th sign has in its ray the deadly sting of the serpent; therefore, death is the lot of all who
are born from sex, and pain and sorrow is their portion in life. Instead of harmony which prevailed
under the Taurean regime, discord is the keyword under Scorpio; "man is of few days and full of
trouble," and will thus remain till he finds the way of regeneration foreshadowed under the other signs.
When the dynamic energy of Mars conveys the ray of Scorpio, man becomes indifferent to the
discordant cry of pain from his fellow beings. He can calmly cut a person to pieces in a surgical
operation or slay him in battle; he can look without remorse into the eloquently pleading eyes of dumb
animals which he tortures on the vivisection table. Fearless to the point of folly, indifferent to danger,
he makes an excellent soldier, but a poor general.
If the ray of Scorpio, which rules generation, is focused through Venus the planet of coalition, we
may expect discord through the opposite sex, due to overindulgence of the passions. Saturn would
obstruct intercourse and accentuate the discord of Scorpio in that direction. In a similar manner the
keyword of other planets will give the solution to their effect in each sign.
I trust you will not underestimate what has been said of the cosmic part of Astrology affecting
human evolution. You may learn fortune telling without that, but we are studying the science of the
soul; that was not created at birth, nor does it suffer death. To understand Astrology you must know
God's plan from eternity and realize that man is ever in a state of becoming. Of the two Fixed signs
we have considered, Taurus and the Jehovistic hierarchies were factors in the creation of the human
family. The fallen angels under Lucifer, who rebelled against Jehovah, brought the ray of Scorpio to
bear upon mankind to assist in their emancipation. We shall see in the next lesson, that the Sun being
the octave of the Moon and ruler of the second Fixed sign, Leo, and Uranus, ruler of Aquarius being
the octave of Venus, these signs, Leo, and Aquarius, radiate affection and altruism. Through them lies
the path of salvation from sin, sorrow, and suffering.
The Keywords give the essential nature of the Planets and Signs.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 11
It may be well to take up the subject of Synthesis at the very start of our study of the meaning of
the stellar script, for lack of this knowledge often causes much confusion to young students.
Contradiction is a fact which early impresses itself upon the minds of young astrologers, and the
brighter the mind, the keener the feeling of distress and helplessness arising from this source.
Sometimes beginners become cynical and skeptical because they are unable to reconcile one
influence tabulated in a horoscope with another of a diametrically opposite import. Suppose, for
instance, that we find the Sun conjunct Venus in Leo and Saturn in the fifth house. According to the
configuration of the Sun and Venus the person would have an ardent love nature and attract the
affections of the opposite sex, but according to the placement of Saturn in the fifth house he would
meet disappointment in courtship. At first sight this seems a bald contradiction. When Venus, fortified
by a trine from Uranus, designates a person as an angel of purity, it is disconcerting to find that a
square from Mars brands him as sensual to a degree. But philosophy shows us the reason of these
contradictory omens and the art of Synthesis teaches us how to balance them and extract the kernel
of truth from horoscopic symbolism.
In the first place, if it were possible to find a horoscope without contradictory testimonies, that
would mean that the person born under such stellar influences would pursue a certain course through
life either wholly good or thoroughly bad. It would be absolutely impossible for him to swerve. If his
stars pointed towards the path of rectitude, his integrity would be so impregnable that never for a
moment could temptation to wrongdoing find harborage in his consciousness; were his face set
downwards, no ray of aspiration in the direction of higher things could ever enter his dark soul. Truly,
the horrors of the dreadful theory of election and predestination pale by comparison with such a
condition; were this condition a fact, soul growth would be an impossibility, for the man who cannot be
tempted to do wrong acquires no merit by goodness, any more than the man irresistibly impelled to
evil deserves censure. Choice is the prime essential in soul growth and that comes from the
contradictory influences registered in the horoscope; thanks to that puzzling factor and the will, which
is above the horoscope, there is hope in even the most afflicted chart; the good is always there to
grapple with the bad. And temptations overcome give added merit to the good. Thus the square of
Venus to Mars impels to wrongdoing, but the trine of Uranus to Venus gives power to overcome
passion and acquire purity. May we use the squares we dread to rise to the trines we prize.
Yours in Fellowship,
Max Heindel
Astrology Lesson No. 12
The Fixed Signs - Part II
The word "Love" has been used so often to designate that which is really passion that we
therefore avoid use of the term wherever possible, and shall use the keyword Affection to express the
most salient characteristics of the sign Leo which is ruled by the life-giving Sun. Fraternal, filial, and
parental feelings generated under the Taurean ray are cold compared to the ardent affection radiated
through the fifth sign, Leo, the sign which has dominion over the heart.
It has been well said that "of the fullness of the heart, the mouth overfloweth," and the terrestrial
counterpart of the fifth sign, the fifth house, rules the avenues through which we express the things we
love. Our pleasures, avocation, courtships, and the children we bear beneath our hearts, figuratively
or actually, are therefore designated by this house. Please note carefully, however, that the ability to
write, teach, paint, or do anything else depends upon other factors, but from the fifth house, the sign
which occupies it and the planets posited therein come the love and enthusiasm which impel
expression along various lines according to the sign and planets found there at the time of birth. The
love of a father and mother for a certain child may be equal, but if the fifth house of the father is well
12 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
fortified and thus gives him the faculty of expression, while afflictions of the fifth house of the mother
deny her the ability to voice her love, the child will grow up in the belief that its mother loves it not a
whit. The misunderstood mother may then grieve and break her heart in consequence. Should the
child learn Astrology, it would be able to see the hidden reason for the seeming coldness of the
parent; compassion in the child would draw from the mother the secret of her love, both would be
richer and the child by such use of the science of Astrology would lay up much treasure in heaven.
Take another suppositious case, of two young men in love with the same girl. We look to the Sun, as
the significator of mental affinity because it is the particular expression of God in our solar system.
Mars and Venus, being the planets of passion and the brand of love associated with personality (not
the love of soul for soul, which is Uranian), signify moral affinity and the Moon and Ascendant show
what physical harmony exists between people intending marriage. Let us now suppose one of these
young men to be mentally and morally harmonious to the lady, but not physically attuned, and further
hampered by having Saturn, the planet of obstruction in the fifth house. He would then be unable to
plead his cause, no matter how deep his affection. If the other young man were physically in accord
with the lady and if Venus were in his fifth house at birth, he would be an eloquent and probably
successful wooer, while the denial of expression caused by Saturn in the case of his rival might break
the latter's heart. Later the lack of mental and moral affinity between the successful lover and the lady
is sure to manifest to the sorrow of both; had all known the science of Astrology and been guided by
their knowledge, these heartaches might have been avoided.
As already said, Venus in the fifth sign or house facilitates the expression of love and thus makes
the ardent and affectionate wooer, but when the dynamic energy of Mars is poured forth from this
angle it produces the fierce, masterful lover who claims the affection of others as a right. The
wandering Moon is the vehicle of fecundation; in Leo she makes the heart fickle and fond of flitting
from flower to flower. From each she sucks the sweets and leaves it barren. The keyword of Mercury
is Reason, and as the ways of the heart are beyond reason and incapable of intellectual elucidation or
analysis, Mercury in Leo makes the libertine and cynic who plays with hearts as with marbles. Saturn
in Leo or the fifth house obstructs expression of affection, no matter how deep and sincere the feeling,
and thus it causes much suffering in consequence.
Sagittarius is pictured upon the vault of heaven as a centaur (half man and half horse), in the act
of shooting an arrow from a drawn bow. Jupiter, the ruler, partakes of the dual nature expressed by
the sign. In his highest phase he is idealistic in the extreme. He aims the bow of aspiration so high
that few, if any, measure up to his standard. Therefore, when in Leo or the fifth house, he not
infrequently misses the real, while vainly seeking the ideal of his affection, but if his search is
successful there is an ideal union, a marriage truly "made in heaven." The lower nature of Jupiter
accentuates the animalistic phase of Sagittarius, and when that is expressed through the sign Leo or
the 5th house the ideals expressed by the higher phase are forgotten, the man goes to the other
extreme and becomes a depraved beast. Therefore Jupiter in Leo afflicted is worse than any of the
so-called malefic planets; its evil influence is perhaps most nearly approached by Venus when
similarly placed, for both tend then to indulgence of the vilest nature.
As Leo and the fifth house signify the things we love to share with others, this also applies to
knowledge, and therefore the fifth sign and the fifth house signify the ability to teach. People with
Jupiter there, well fortified, have high ideals and are born teachers of law, philosophy and
humanitarian principles. Knowledge of these subjects may be acquired without having Jupiter in Leo
or the fifth house, but there is a difference between having the knowledge and the ability to impart it to
others; this faculty is given or denied by the fifth house and the planets therein or the rulers thereof.
These also indicate the nature of the subjects, if any, a person is best fitted to teach.
The keyword of Saturn being Obstruction he naturally seeks to squelch ambition to teach when in
the fifth sign, Leo or the fifth house. We know people with that affliction having deep and thorough
knowledge of vital interest to humanity; one shrinks from the duty and limits herself; one ensouled by
a deep desire to impart his knowledge to others becomes ill at every attempt. Leo rules the spinal
cord and Saturn in Leo draws this poor man's nerves into knots, as it were, thus literally choking
expression. Hard as it may be for such people to overcome the limitation, there is one certainty,
however, that if they do, they will be very thorough, particularly when instructing adults in deep
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 13
subjects. Mars, Mercury, or the Moon in Leo or the fifth house would make indifferent teachers,
impatient and superficial.
Leo and the fifth house are also concerned with publications, for books, newspapers, and
periodicals are media through which authors share with the public whatever knowledge they have
gained along specific lines. Please observe, Leo and the fifth house do not give the ability to write or
speak; that comes from Gemini, Mercury and other factors, but the fifth sign and house indicate our
success in publishing our knowledge. Some people are able writers and speakers, but Saturn in Leo
or the fifth house, or a sign ruled by Saturn on the fifth house obstructs access to publicity, and many
splendid teachers and authors are never heard of outside their small circle of friends on account of
this limiting influence. On the other hand, when Mercury, Gemini, Leo and the fifth house are well
fortified there is ability to write and success in getting the ear of the world by publications. You will
understand that my motive is not self-laudation when I cite my own configuration as illustration of this
point. I have Venus in the mercurial sign Gemini, sextile to Mercury (in Leo), also to his higher octave,
Neptune. The Sun, Moon, and Mercury are in Leo, the fifth sign, and Mercury is also trine to Jupiter in
the fifth house, occupied by the idealistic sign Sagittarius. Saturn in Libra, the sign of his exaltation, is
sextile to Mercury in the fifth sign and Jupiter in the fifth house. Thus all the stellar forces have
combined to give me facility in writing and success in publishing. You know the phenomenal growth of
The Rosicrucian Fellowship justifies the augur of the stars, and that they have told the truth. But this
brings up another point; had anyone presumed to predict these things five years ago, even my friends
and well-wishers might have doubted, for these faculties were largely dormant then; it takes many
years to acquire the fundamental knowledge and experience in the school of life without which any
writing sounds hollow. Necessarily my innate ability did not show on the surface during that time, yet
the stars told the truth; it was latent, and at the proper time became manifest. In this fact lies one of
the most important lessons to be learned by the young astrologer. It is this: Believe in the stars;
whatever they say is absolutely reliable, no matter how much appearances may be to the contrary, no
matter whether they show a fault or a faculty; if the stars say it is there you may depend that their
testimony is true regardless of whether the person knows it or not, and in this very fact we have one of
the greatest opportunities for the efficient and benevolent use of Astrology. In the next lesson we shall
take up this study in connection with the fifth house, Leo and children.
The Moon's Nodes
Dragon's Head (ê
ê) - Dragon's Tail ( ë)
The Moon's North Node: the Nodes are points in the orbit of a planet where it crosses the ecliptic,
or Sun's path. The one where it crosses from south to north is called its ascending or North node; the
other point where it crosses from north to south is called its descending or South node.
When the Sun is in the East and crosses the celestial equator from the south to the north, it
enters its martial exaltation sign Aries as a conquering king at the vernal equinox, and all nature
wakens to the life, love and labor of another year. Therefore the point where the lesser Light crosses
into the north declination is also subject to a benign life-giving influence, such as that ascribed to the
Dragon's Head. It fosters and promotes all matters within its influence.
The Dragon's Head is regarded as a benefic, its influence being analogous to that of the Sun in
Aries, and Jupiterian in effect.
But in the Fall, Saturn, Satan, or the adversary, stands in his exaltation-sign Libra ready to
vanquish with his cold clammy hand the life-giving Sun and usher it across its descending node,
leaving the Northern Hemisphere to mourn and die. Therefore the Moon's South Node, called the
Dragon's Tail, is deemed to be saturnine in its effect and obstructs all things wherewith it is
connected.
The position of the Dragon's Head, (ê) or Moon's Node, and the Dragon's Tail, ( ë) have now to
be found. The longitude of the Dragon's Head, the noon nearest to the G.M.T., is found in the
ephemeris. The Dragon's Tail occupies the opposite point. These points are to be entered in the
horoscope.
14 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
The Dragon's Head (ê), and the Dragon's Tail ( ë) exert an influence in the horoscope only when
in conjunction with a planet or the Ascendant. An orb of only two degrees or at most three degrees is
allowed.
The Part of Fortune in the horoscope will be Sagittarius 0° 27' (9th Sign).
Question:
1] In Lesson No. 9 I asked you to calculate the signs on the cusps of a horoscope for 4 PM
Standard Time, August 10th, 1912, at New York, NY. Please figure now the places of the planets and
insert them in the horoscope.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 15
vibration made fecundation and fertilization possible. Mars and Venus next aroused the passional
nature, and material manifestation of animal human was accomplished.
The early races born under these planetary vibrations knew none of the finer feelings found in
more modern times; they loved as the tiger loves, passionately, fiercely. The males fought each other
for a mate as animals fight; the females fought for their young. Even in medieval times these traits
were observable. The ray of Mercury commenced at an early stage to evoke reason in man. Its
vibrations have increased in intensity, developing the intellect and sensitizing the nervous system.
Thus the finer feelings have been developed, and man is now capable of responding in a measure to
the humanitarian influences carried by the ray of Jupiter. The more advanced feel the Uranus
vibrations, and a still smaller number sense the spiritual vibrations of Neptune.
But as the vibratory range of the nervous system increases and we become capable of enjoying
pleasures undreamed of by our primitive ancestors, so also is our capacity for suffering intensified. A
physical shock which scarcely registers upon the consciousness of previous generations may produce
a complete collapse upon the part of a high-strung nervous person. In the case of maternity, were
Uranus in the fifth house of the horoscope of a mother in prehistoric times, she would have hardly felt
its effect at all; but in the chart of today's occidental women the event would bring a certain amount of
difficulty and pain in delivery—the child may have problems in drawing its breath and other conditions
might endanger its life.
Neptune would impart a nervous system too delicate for ordinary physical use, for he is the
octave of Mercury, and therefore a child born under such an influence would be peculiar, sometimes
altogether mentally deranged. St. Vitus dance, which is inability to coordinate movements, is due to
the hypersensitiveness given by Neptune. Saturn obstructs childbirth and makes it painful; the use of
forceps is frequently necessary, and the children are difficult to rear. Mars makes for operations, loss
of blood, and puerperal fever. Pluto involves surgery as in Caesarean operations and its forceful
nature can provoke premature birth as well as death.
Christ said, “If I be lifted up, I will lift all the world unto me.” This does not mean, as is commonly
supposed according to the materialistic conception, that if He were lifted upon the cross He would
save people. The human, the microcosm, follows very closely the development of the macrocosm.
When the earth was more dense in the ages we have just passed, when the Virgin Spirits were at the
nadir of their evolutionary career, humanity was encrusted to such an extent that they could not
vibrate to the high pitch of the planets which make for spirituality. But as the Christ Spirit working in
the Earth leavens it with His vibrations, it is lifted out of its density and becomes more and more
ethereal, more and more attuned to the great solar heart of the universe working through the sign of
Leo. As this takes place, the human, the microcosm, also learns to respond to the finer forces in
nature; the ardent affection of Leo gradually replaces the passionate impulses of Mars, and the
warmth of the spiritual overcomes the cold obstructiveness of Saturn. Thus instead of the present
method of conception in sin and suffering, by degrees there will come the immaculate conception, of
which we are beginning to get a forecast in the science of eugenics.
Great measures of time must pass before we shall be able to propagate the race by a higher
method than the one we have today. But as the Spirit of Christ working in the earth gains in power
and potency, the fifth sign, Leo, will cease to correspond to the fifth house ruling children; the sixth
house and Virgo will then indicate the method of purity and service whereby we shall perpetuate
vehicles more etheric than those of the present time. Therefore, though at the present time Leo is the
most important sign of the zodiac, in the future the purity of the sign Virgo will supersede it in the
department of children; and the ardent affections of Leo will find a nobler outlet through the opposite
sign Aquarius of which we shall speak in the next lesson.
Questions:
In the last lesson we requested you to finish setting up the horoscope on which we had been
working previously. Now please state:
1] What you think is the prospect of children for the person described therein?
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 17
All of these things are determined by Leo its ruler, the Sun, and by the fifth house, the sign on its
cusp and the planets therein.
More on Destiny
The destiny which we generate under the law of causation by our own acts may be divided into
three kinds.
In the first place, there is the destiny which from the very nature of the case we cannot expiate in
the present life; for instance, when a man commits murder, whether he suffers the penalty for it here
or not, the prison life usually does not have the effect of making him more mellow and kind.
Sometimes it does the reverse; it makes him bitter and turns his hand against all. Before nature will be
satisfied, he must learn that he may not deprive a fellow being of his form; he must learn to serve.
Thus the case is not satisfied until he has had the opportunity at a future time to render service of
importance to his previous victim.
A second kind of destiny we reap from day to day; it is, we might say, as a cash transaction, we
pay as we go. If we overeat, we have indigestion; if we go out without sufficient clothing, we take cold,
etc.
A third kind is called "ripe" or "mature" destiny. It is the result of our actions in past lives, or in our
early years, which has matured into effect so far that it is embodied in the pictures shown a spirit as
the panorama of its coming life when starting toward rebirth. Once the spirit has chosen a certain life
with the 'ripe" destiny allotted for liquidation by the Recording Angels, it is bound by its choice. The
tendencies to act in a manner conducive to adjustment of this mature destiny are inherent in the body
and inscribed in the stars, for the stellar influences are the source of man's activity, and therefore this
mature destiny may be seen from the horoscope at birth, standing out with exceeding clearness, so
that it is very plain and patent to the spiritually minded astrologer or palmist. He can also see the other
kinds of destiny and may sometimes mistake one kind for the other and hence be wrong in his view as
to whether an event can be avoided or not. If it is "ripe" destiny, it will be impossible to avoid it despite
all warnings.
Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions and Answers, Volume I, question 153 on page 305.
18 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
(Scorpio and Pisces are the others), cradled our emotions, and to this day water remains the esoteric
symbol of the emotional nature.
As we may see ourselves in the silvery surface of a lake on a calm day, so also the spirit most
readily mirrors itself in the personality when we are serene and unruffled. In those ancient days infant
man, pure and innocent (but not virtuous), saw the gods face to face. Later the Lucifer Spirits from
Mars, working through the cardinal sign of the fiery triplicity, Aries (Leo and Sagittarius are the others),
made men headstrong (Aries rules the head) and rebellious against their rulers, the angels. They also
fostered the sex passion; therefore Mars and Scorpio rule the generative organs. Thus the calm of the
emotional nature was fundamentally disturbed, and it has by degrees become as a seething cauldron,
astir with strife and struggle. Therefore it can no longer reflect the spirit any more than a windswept
sea can mirror a man or a ship afloat thereon.
Thus mankind destroyed its spiritual sight and lost touch with the gods when the turbulent
emotions were generated under the ray of Scorpio. These emotions hid the beyond from us, and until
we learn to subdue and control our passions and cultivate the peace of God in our breasts, we cannot
penetrate the veil of the hereafter, not hear "the still small voice" which speaks in the silence after the
winds, the fires, and other earthly disturbances have ceased.
The way of attainment is symbolically engraved in the pictorial zodiac. Aquarius appears as a
man in the act of pouring water from an urn. By a light motion he may tip the urn a little more or a little
less to regulate the flow; it is perfectly balanced. Therefore he represents the enlightened soul who
has obtained control of his passions, emotions, and appetites. They are contained in his urn, hence
they no longer blind, befog, or obscure his vision as in the Atlantean Epoch; hence also Aquarius is
not a watery but an airy sign. Neither is it emotional like Cancer, but intuitional, for the true Aquarian
knows without reasoning. The human sympathy, the fellow feeling, the friendship signified by the 11th
sign and the 11th house are the true essence of the Christ Spirit which will eventually abrogate the
primal separateness, accomplish the atonement, transform the world, and make the new heaven and
the new earth a reality.
The keyword of Aquarius is therefore altruism, and this is also the keyword of Uranus, its ruler.
This planet was at home from 1913 to 1920, and it is significant that though war and strife have been
rampant, the effort to bring "peace on earth" is gaining strength with amazing rapidity. Advocates of
amity among nations are hailed as saviors with universal acclamation. The Sun by precession is also
nearing Aquarius, and will remain there about 2100 years. Thus all cosmic forces are working for
altruism and a loftier expression of the Christian Religion—Universal Friendship.
The keyword of the Sun is life. While we are under the Moon and Cancer, family is first and the
individual last; but the Sun in Aquarius has a tendency to exalt the self somewhat unduly. Therefore
egoism is a fault to be guarded against by those who have the Sun in Aquarius.
The keyword of the Moon is fecundation. It is restless, and therefore the Moon in Aquarius or the
11th house causes a restless seeking for truth and light. People with this position should endeavor to
settle down to sustained effort in the occupation nearest at hand. Sir Launfal found the Grail at his
castle gate when returning from a life spent in vain search for it all over the world. Christ is formed
from within; He is not found exteriorly.
As the keyword of Mercury is reason and altruism is contrary to ordinary reason, Mercury in
Aquarius is critical and cynical; it sharpens the intellect, however, and gives a good flow of language.
The keyword of Venus is coalition, and in the 11th sign or the 11th house it causes friends to flock
around us; it makes us loving and lovable.
The keynote of Mars is dynamic energy. It lends force and provokes action wherever placed.
When in Aquarius or the 11th house it makes us rough and blunt towards friends; though we may
mean well, we seem invariably to ruffle those we really like, and much suffering results.
The keywords of Jupiter are benevolence and idealism. This planet is therefore in particular
agreement with Aquarius and the 11th house. Happy the soul who has earned a well aspected Jupiter
in either, for he is sure to have a great influence for good in a wide circle.
The real functions of Saturn are constructive: that is, they include the qualities which constitute
sound character, create success, and put the person on the constructive side of Nature through
application and continued effort. These qualities are as follows:
20 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
First, mental: concentration and power of analysis when working through Mercury.
Second, business: method, system, mechanical ability, capacity for detail, patience, persistence,
caution.
Third, social: justice, faithfulness, tact.
Saturn gives us the building qualities—that is, the qualities by which we can built an edifice to
withstand the storms of evolution. Saturn is pre-eminently a builder. The other planets bring
success more through inspiration, by which a person is led to do the successful thing at the proper
time, but Saturn goes to work and builds success, little by little, patiently, persistently, and carefully.
However, when a person works for self to the exclusion of others, Saturn's constructiveness builds a
shell around him and puts obstruction in his way. This results in limitation and sorrow is the result. As
humanity is still very selfish, this aspect of Saturn is to be seen on every side. Under the influence of
selfishness, Saturn contracts and crystallizes the vehicles of the Ego, which automatically shuts out
good. The person then encounters opposition from others because he is demonstrating that he is, at
least subconsciously, an enemy of them. If we abuse Saturn, we get bad results from him, but as a
matter of fact he is the initiator. He presents conditions which appear to be temptations, but when the
individual has progressed to the point where he refuses to be tempted, then he has developed the
power through which he may be initiated into the higher realms.
Question:
1] Please tell me what you think would be the effect of Saturn in Aquarius and the 11th house?
Any treatise on Astrology which deals only with planetary effects and makes no mention of the
spiritual causes behind these effects gives the impression of fatalism. But when one looks at
Astrology from the standpoint of evolution, its whole aspect is changed, and one sees each individual
Ego as a spark of the Divine Flame working toward a glorious unseen goal under the play of these
tremendous cosmic forces, molding his destiny from moment to moment by his every thought.
It is perfectly true that we cannot escape the experiences which we have generated by thoughts,
feelings, and actions of past lives. They are a bullet which has been shot from a gun. We ourselves
chose the target, aimed the gun and pulled the trigger. But the Spirit is absolutely free to meet these
self-generated experiences as it will...free to intensify every discord in the body or in the outer
circumstances of the life by continuing the habits of thought which have produced it, or free to break
the old habits and turn all the power of the being into the effort to attune thoughts and feelings to the
glorious rhythms and harmonies of the universe. When this attunement has been made our difficulties
will melt like snow before the sun.
The making of this attunement is therefore the one important task in every life and whether we
know it or not, every constructive thought is carrying us toward the solution of our problems, toward
freedom from sickness and confusion, and is bringing us nearer to the moment when we shall be
capable of glimpsing the divine plan and entering with joy and power into the working out of our
individual part of this plan.
You will see then that it makes a tremendous difference whether we lie down under our difficulties
and brood over them or whether we gird ourselves with courage and set about correcting the things
which are wrong within ourselves. We alone are to do the correcting, and when we make the effort we
connect ourselves directly with the powerful forces of good which are working everywhere to right all
wrong conditions. The conditions which have been built into our being for many lives cannot be
undone in a day or a year, but once we have allied ourselves with the divine purpose of Good, our
whole being is flooded with joy and courage, and every task is lightened.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 21
We all have in us the power to rise above our difficulties if we will but cease to sound the petty,
discordant, or tragic lower tones which perpetuate them, and turn to the higher possibilities within
ourselves. These will respond equally well if we but make the sustained effort to start them into
activity.
22 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
under the common ray, they would soon realize its lack of power and learn compassion for those who
must so live all their lives. What, then, is the lesson these people have to learn?
Zodiac means "a circle of animals." The symbols of three of the cardinal signs are animalistic:
Aries, the Ram; Cancer, the Crab; and Capricorn, the Goat. The fourth represents the ideal towards
which this class must strive, namely Libra, the Scales. None need poise so much as those under the
impulsive influence of the cardinal ray; therefore the Balance was set in heaven to direct their
aspirations.
Three symbols of the fixed signs are also bestial, violent, and virulent: Taurus, the Bull; Leo, the
Lion, and Scorpio, the Scorpion. The human figure of Aquarius, the Waterbearer, shows us the ideal
towards which this class must strive. Instead of fighting, preying upon, or poisoning others in the
struggle for existence, they must learn to become humane, to be friends to all instead of foes.
In contradistinction to the cardinal or fixed signs, the common signs are all double. Two of them
are human: Gemini, the Twins, and Virgo, the Virgin; the third, Sagittarius, the Centaur, is partly
human; and only the fourth symbol, Pisces, the Fishes, is taken from the lower kingdom. None are
violent, however, but intensely moral, intellectual, and spiritual symbols.
Sagittarius, the Centaur, shows us man rising above the animal stage, audaciously aiming at the
stars, and the opposite symbol of the heavenly Twins tells its story of universal brotherhood.
The band between the Fishes shows us the unity of life in even the lowest species; and the
celestial Virgin, clasping the immaculately conceived babe to her breast is a type of purity, love, and
service equaled nowhere else.
The principle fault of the common signs is restlessness. The double nature revealed in their
symbols impels them hither and thither; therefore the third and ninth signs, Gemini and Sagittarius,
are correlated to that most unstable and restless element of the human constitution, the mind, which
also wants to travel. The symbol of the twelfth sign, the Fishes, is likewise an apt type of aimless
wandering, and as this is contrary to the law of life, it brings the penalty of sorrow and suffering
ascribed in the twelfth house.
The ideal towards which the class ruled by the common ray must strive is, therefore, expressed
by the sixth sign, Divine Parenthood, and the sixth house, Service. “Greater love hath no man than
that he lay down his life for his friends,” said Christ. He also felt that yearning, parental love when He
stretched out His arms over Jerusalem and said, “Oh, how oft would I have gathered you to my
bosom as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings!” Love grows by voluntary service, and the more
we aim to serve others, the more readily we shall cultivate the highest of all human qualities.
Upon observation it will be found that there are two distinct subclasses ruled by the common ray.
One, composed of younger souls, has not yet found its bearing in the world; they drift about upon the
sea of life without energy or ambition, and are buffeted by the waves of adversity for the purpose of
awakening them to a sense of responsibility and forcing them to take part in the world's work. In time
they will graduate into the cardinal and fixed classes, driven by inner ambition instead of by outside
coercion.
The other subclass has graduated from the industrial school of material life, and is preparing itself
for spiritual work. It is thus in a transition stage, out of tune with the finite and not yet in tune with the
Infinite. We may realize their plight in a measure when we observe youth in the years between
boyhood and manhood; awkward, a laughing stock for boys and men alike, every word he utters
provokes a sneer or a patronizing smile because of the changing voice. His ideas are too great for the
acceptance of younger companions, too visionary for older heads; he is an anomaly, and his nature
becomes hypersensitive on account of the attitude of those around him. Likewise the child-man who is
about to graduate from the material world to work in the spiritual realms is out of place under the
policy of our common life. He aims the bow of Sagittarius at the stars, but is weighed down to earth by
the animal nature. The might of mind is great if we use it practically. Edison earned a crown of
spiritual glory by lighting our streets and thus preventing crime. Morse and Marconi and Bell have
soothed the sorrowing souls of thousands suffering thousands of miles away. Once they dreamed of
these things, but they did not stop at dreaming; they worked to realize their dreams.
The class ruled by the common signs is too prone to talk of "luck"; but as Lucifer says to Faust,
24 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
Astrology ought to impress the older subclass with the fact that merit is the basis of success in
any line, material or spiritual; that study and dreams alone condition; but that when by service we lift
others, we also elevate our own status in life and evolution.
Questions:
1] What do the forces working through the fixed signs accomplish? Through the cardinal signs?
Through the common signs?
2] What are the vocations most suitable for the common sign natives?
3] What do you think are the individual keywords of the common signs?
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 25
man impulsively jump to conclusions, foolhardy, headstrong, and not amenable to reason. Venus or
Jupiter in good aspect to Mercury makes people philanthropic, benevolent, and therefore beloved of
all who are fortunate enough to come in contact with them. The adverse aspects make them self-
indulgent to a high degree; they use a winning, ingratiating way to gain their despicable ends, but they
are treacherous and ready to sell out their benefactors for a favor from another. They have no
scruples whatever, and are always ready to cast aside, "the old love for the new" whenever it suits
their convenience.
Mercury is never so far removed from the Sun as seen from our planet that it can form an aspect
of importance with this Great Light. Also, its aspects with the Moon are of no significance, for our
satellite has no basic nature of its own, but, as signified by its keyword "fecundation," it only fertilizes
that with which it is configurated so that that may be brought into manifestation. As said before when
speaking of Saturn's aspects to Mercury, if Mercury or the planet it aspects is in Gemini or the third
house, the effect on the mind is much intensified.
The keyword of Gemini is "changeability," and Mercury, its ruler, the fleet-footed messenger of
the gods, is the patron of travelers (who are changing their environment), also of merchants (who are
professional exchangers of goods or money, and who were wont to travel from place to place in
ancient times). Therefore Gemini and the third house denote traveling salesmen, agents,
messengers, letters and writings. Again, the planets aspecting Mercury and the planets in Gemini and
the third house tell if a person has ability to write, if he is fitted to be an agent or salesman, and
whether he will meet with pleasant experiences or be liable to accidents while on short journeys (the
ninth house deals with extended or long distance travel).
Saturn in aspect to Mercury, or in Gemini or the third house, does not favor writing, but if the
aspect is good, it may nevertheless produce a philosophical writer of great depth and penetration or a
most exact and painstaking scientific investigator. The writings of such a person will never be many,
nor will his investigations cover a wide range. He will, however, be very thorough in covering a limited
field; but though by dint of the hardest and most painstaking work such people may be able to express
themselves lucidly on paper, they will have difficulty in public speaking.
The Sun, Venus, or Jupiter in good aspect to Mercury, or in Gemini or the third house, facilitate
vocal expression, writing, art and music. The philosophical discourses engendered by the ray of
Jupiter can never compare with those of saturnine origin in depth and erudition, but they are sure to
take the soul to lofty heights of sublimity altogether undreamed of by those under the sinister Saturn.
The oratory of the Jupiterian is the voice of the soul speaking directly to the soul. It carries conviction
and rouses its hearers as the cold, clear argument of a saturnine speaker never can. The unfavorable
Mars-Mercury aspects may inspire an agitator to incite to rebellion, bloodshed, and destruction of
homes in what he considers a righteous cause; but the Mercurial air modulated in the Venus voice
may breathe the sentiment of "Home, Sweet Home," with the effect of touching the heartstrings,
drawing a person close to the hearth and promoting "On earth peace, good will toward men."
In respect to travel, Saturn delays and hinders when aspected to Mercury and when he is in
Gemini or the third house, for it is his nature to obstruct wherever he is; but the Moon and Mercury in
aspect or in Gemini or the third house has the reverse effect, for they are of a restless and
changeable nature, and will cause a person in whose horoscope they are posited as above to wander
from place to place all through life. Saturn in Gemini or the third house and adversely aspected gives
liability to accidents while the person is traveling. So do Mars and Uranus, but there is a difference in
the nature of the hurt sustained. Saturn causes bruises and crushing. Mars causes cuts, burns, and
scaldings, and lays the person liable to attacks from robbers or to be taken prisoner by the military
authorities if in a country where there is war. Under such conditions Saturn in Gemini or the third
house would make the person a secret agent, a spy, and adverse aspects would cause capture or
even death by hanging. Jupiter or Venus in the third house or Gemini would of course make travel
pleasant for the person fortunate enough to have them well-aspected, but if afflicted it would be best
for the person not to travel.
Gemini is an airy sign. It rules the lungs, which to a great extent supply the body with the
important element air. Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, governs the air which passes through the trachea
and bronchial tubes. The ebblike and floodlike inflation and deflation of the lungs are another example
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 27
of the duality and changeability of Gemini. Saturn hardens and encrusts, and when he has evil
aspects and is in Gemini, he is one of the causes of tuberculosis. Mars in Gemini gives a tendency to
hemorrhages of the lungs, and Uranus, being spasmodic in its action, produces the involuntary
movements of the lungs which we call cough.
It should be constantly remembered by pupils, however, that though the horoscope at birth shows
the lines of least resistance, and though we find it easy to drift along those lines, we as spirits are in
life's school to assert our own individuality and thereby overcome obstacles placed in our path. Every
time we conquer an aspect we have lived up to our divine nature. As the Good Book says, "Be not
overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
Question:
1] Please answer the following question: What effect would Saturn in Gemini on the Ascendant,
square the Moon in Virgo, have on the health of a person?
28 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
Mars in Sagittarius or in the ninth house is really the most dangerous of all the planets in these
positions. There is perhaps no place where he may do as much harm as in this house, particularly, of
course, if he has an evil aspect, for the dynamic energy of Mars seeks expression in whatever sphere
he is located. He is impulsive, and as Sagittarius is also fiery, they agree in this aspect of their nature.
Mars in Sagittarius, therefore, adds fire to fire, and should there be a bad aspect, this energy will be
used in a manner very destructive. From such a configuration we might expect a labor agitator, an
anarchist—anyone who would seek to right a wrong by committing violence, anyone who would
avenge fancied or real wrongs to himself or his fellow creatures by using dynamite or other violent
agencies upon those whom he believes have perpetrated an outrage. Mars square Mercury from
Sagittarius or the ninth house would be particularly dangerous in this respect. The man would
undoubtedly be a criminal, although, of course we must always remember that one aspect like this
may be offset by another aspect which modifies it.
Venus in Sagittarius or the ninth house would render a person devotional in nature, if well
aspected. The aspects of Jupiter in Sagittarius or the ninth house would make one inclined to follow
along philosophical and intellectual lines rather than along the purely devotional. In this respect Venus
differs, for the person with Venus there might have very little intellect as that is conceived of today, but
would have that lovely devotional phase of character which we find in the very noblest souls. On the
other hand, if Venus were in Sagittarius or the ninth house and square to Mars, then we should have
a person who would be anything but moral, provided, of course, that there were no redeeming
aspects to offset this.
Uranus or Neptune in Sagittarius or the ninth house renders the mind what is usually called
progressive and unique. A person with either of these positions, if well aspected, will take up some
work along the line of the Mysteries. He will probably study astrology, psychology, and kindred
subjects.
In accordance with the symbology of the sign, Sagittarians are very fond of animals, particularly
horses and dogs, and a good aspect of Jupiter in Sagittarius to Mars will usually make a horse racing
man or one fond of following games of chance or gambling of any nature.
Thus from varied configurations with the different planets, good or bad, in Sagittarius or the ninth
house, we obtain all the varied shades of mind imaginable. In this matter the aspects and
configurations of planets in Gemini, which governs what is called the lower mind, have a great
significance. But as planets in the ninth house are elevated, they are naturally much more powerful in
this respect than the planets under the earth in the third house. The aspirations of the soul, the ideals
which make man man, which are bringing him onward on the path to the superhuman stage, are
found in this house and sign.
The Moon in Sagittarius, no matter whether that sign is on the ninth house or not, has the same
effect as if it were there, for it brings a restlessness into the nature which always causes a person to
wander. He often becomes what we may call a globetrotter. Saturn, on the other hand, prevents and
delays traveling, for it is his nature to obstruct, no matter where in the figure he is placed. Jupiter and
Venus have the effect of making travel pleasant when placed in Sagittarius or the ninth house.
Mars, conversely, renders one liable to all sorts of inconveniences when traveling, and may
cause accidents which result in wounds. Saturn evilly configurated causes bruises. Sagittarius rules
the thighs, and therefore, naturally, adverse configurations in this sign may cause accidents to the
thighs. It is a notable fact that Sagittarians are very liable to broken bones under circumstances where
people with other signs seldom meet injury.
In the ninth degree of Sagittarius we have the fixed star Antares, which has a very evil effect upon
the sight. Two other nebulous spots in the zodiac have a similar influence. One is the Ascelli in Leo 7
and 8, the other the Pleiades in Gemini 0 (as of 2001—fixed stars move forward in the zodiac about 1
degree per 72 years). The Sun or Moon in one of these places and adversely configurated with one of
the malefics—Saturn, Mars, Uranus, or Neptune—gives trouble with the eyes according to the nature
of the aspect. Vice versa, if Saturn, Mars, Uranus or Neptune is in one of these nebulous spots
adversely configurated with the Sun or Moon, a similar trouble will be experienced. Should a planet
like one of the last named be in retrograde motion, the aspect is much worse, for when the planet has
ceased to retrograde and goes direct in the zodiac again, it will pass over the nebulous spot which it is
30 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19
close to a second time, and thereby cause added damage. There may be, however, a compensating
side to this aspect, for it sometimes happens that while an evil configuration with one of these
nebulous spots (Antares is the worst) deprives a person of his sight, a benevolent configuration
develops in him a second sight which will compensate for the loss to a degree which only those who
have that sight can appreciate.
The keyword of Sagittarius may be conceived of as aspiration.
Question:
1] What will be the influence of Uranus in Sagittarius square to the Moon in the sixth house and
trine to the Sun in the first house?
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 31
enjoy poor health; they love to talk over their symptoms with other people, and they resent any
thought or suggestion given to them that they are not sick or that they can get well.
The presence of Saturn in Virgo or the sixth house accentuates this tendency in the very highest
degree, and therefore it is an almost infallible sign that the native will have or be subject to illness, the
nature of the disease being denoted by the aspect and the afflicting planets.
The Sun brings light and life wherever it is except in the sixth house and to some extent in the
twelfth. The sixth house seems to rob the Sun of every ray of light and to make the native subject to
disease with a resistlessness that is almost like the effect of Saturn, unless other configurations in the
horoscope enable the native to shake off this influence. When this is the case, the Sun in Virgo or the
sixth house gives great ability in chemistry and the preparation of health foods, and makes the person
a capable nurse or healer.
Mars in Virgo or the sixth house renders the person liable to operations where sharp instruments
are used; also to fevers. As the Moon is an indicator of health for a woman, it is worse in a female
nativity to have the Moon in the sixth house than the Sun. Conversely, in a male nativity, it is worse to
have the Sun there than the Moon.
In order to deal successfully with Virgo people when they have once become subject to disease
and to get them out of it at all, it is necessary to be firm almost to the verge of cruelty. But though one
may seem cruel in enforcing upon them the regime that is necessary to bring them away from
themselves, this is really the greatest kindness that can be shown, for once these people are in the
grip of sickness, they stubbornly refuse to let go; they will resort to the most cunning, even childish
schemes to excite sympathy, particularly from strangers, and they will resent any effort to show them
that they are not helpless invalids. At the very slightest suggestion of a hopeful nature they sometimes
lose their temper in the most unwarranted manner. But when at last they are given the deaf ear by
everybody, when people who are in their immediate environment can be persuaded to show them no
sympathy, then they may come to themselves. They need a shock to bring them out and away from
their condition; and until they get that they never can be cured.
Virgo people who have the mental balance to resist the tendency towards being sick and enjoying
being sick make the most excellent nurses one can imagine. They are also splendid housekeepers,
although they are rather peculiar in their tastes.
It is really wonderful how the symbology of the signs is brought out in the different kinds of people
born under them. Take for instance the sign Leo. The people who are born under this sign always
want to be noted; they are aggressive and want to attract attention everywhere they go. They aim to
be leaders, never followers. Virgo, on the other hand, has the very opposite character; for while the
lion is naturally bold and masterful, the virgin is naturally timid and shrinking. Similarly, the people who
are born under Virgo are always afraid to be noticed; they shrink from the public eye; they are timid
and afraid. But the lion is bloodthirsty and cruel, and there are no more cruel people than the Leos.
On the other hand a maiden is tender and sympathetic. So are the people who are born under Virgo.
That is why they make such splendid nurses, if they can keep from taking on the conditions of the
patient. The Virgo people never can bear to see bloodshed or to touch dead things. They feel bodily
injury to others more than harm done to themselves, and are in fact well described by the word
"chicken-hearted."
Question:
1] If the Moon and Neptune were in Virgo square to Mercury, what do you think would be the
result?
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 33
We should remember, however, that spirits are not good merely because they have passed out of this
world into a realm where they cannot be seen by physical eyes. There they have so much greater
scope for deception than here, if such be their inclination, and they certainly dupe their victims in a
most outrageous manner, sometimes ruining the victim's whole life. Therefore, any person having the
square aspect of these planets should be more than ordinarily careful, bearing in mind that when it
comes to Pisces or the twelfth house this danger is particularly strong and should be very carefully
guarded against. Such a one should never go to seances or come into private circles where people
play with fire, for he will certainly be burned and perhaps beyond recovery for many lives.
If Jupiter or Venus is found in the twelfth house, it also will give a love of occult investigation, and
so will the Sun; but they will have a beneficent effect, particularly if they are well aspected, and there
will not be as much danger with a well aspected Jupiter, Venus or Sun in the twelfth house as with
Uranus or Neptune, Saturn or Mars there. Venus in the twelfth house gives a tendency to secret love
affairs and if in conjunction with Neptune or Saturn, there is a great tendency to go wrong on the part
of that person. However, this aspect makes the native almost immune from discovery. Uranus and
Mars in the twelfth house bring injury and persecution. That of course will be because he will provoke
such action from others, for Mars is not an angel by any means. Saturn in the twelfth house makes
secret enemies, who strike from ambush and are difficult if not impossible to reach. Those who have
the latter degrees of Capricorn rising or the first degrees of Aquarius—which brings Capricorn in the
twelfth house—even though there is no planet in Capricorn or in the twelfth house will also find
themselves subject to this malicious slander, and find it difficult to get at the source, for Capricorn is a
saturnine sign and Saturn never gives his victims a chance to refute. Saturn in the twelfth house or in
Pisces makes people worry and fear something that never happens. So do Uranus and Neptune—
they are even more weird in their imaginings and drive a person into insanity. The hallucinations they
produce when afflicted very often lead to that aspect of insanity where the subjects imagine
themselves being pursued by certain inimical forces, visible or invisible according to the aspect. Even
in their greatest joys they always harbor a fear that something unforeseen may happen, that some evil
force is pursuing.
When Mercury is in the twelfth house or in Pisces, especially if well aspected, the person then
born will know without having need of study; he will be versatile in the extreme, always having a fund
of information on whatever subject may be brought up. This is especially the case if Mercury is
between the Sun and Midheaven: that is to say, when he goes before the Sun, rises earlier than this
luminary, for then all the light that is in the spirit seems to shine out and the person is intellectually
bright. Under favorable aspects, as said, this will help to make him valuable in many lines of work; he
is liable to be at the head of some research work, for he will be ingenious. Chemists of great ability
have been produced under this aspect, for such persons have a faculty for going into the most minute
details and things which are microscopic and unimportant to others. Mercury in Pisces or the twelfth
house hampered by bad aspects, particularly from Saturn and from Mars, also when combust in the
twelfth house and behind the Sun (that is to say when it rises after the Sun), will cloud the mind and
may result in insanity. This affliction of the mind will differ, of course, according to the way Mercury is
aspected. If it is by Mars or Uranus the native will be violent in the extreme; if by Saturn it will be more
a melancholia or some such form of dementia. It is certain that whatever the nature, some form of
limitation will hamper the spirit, for the twelfth house is the house of limitation, of confinement, and so
is Pisces also. Deafness is also the result of these configurations—of Mercury specially, combust, in
Pisces, in the twelfth house and afflicted by Saturn, for by deafness the spirit is in a great measure
confined and hampered in its communication with the outside world, hence the affinity of deafness
with twelfth house conditions.
It is very noteworthy that the Common signs, Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo, and Pisces are
particularly the channels through which mankind is afflicted by insanity, for as said in previous
lessons, the keyword of the Common signs is Flexibility; the Cardinal signs have so much more virility,
they give such an infusion of life that the native who is born normal does not easily become subject to
dementia. The Fixed signs also have a tenacious hold upon all the faculties to the very last, but those
who have Common signs, invested with many planets, also when the common signs are on the
Angles, are vacillating and prone to be capsized by the gales upon the ocean of life.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 35
There is, however, a higher side to Pisces. The person who finds himself with Pisces on the
Ascendant is at the end of one cycle of progress and at the beginning of a new. He stands as it were
upon the threshold of something higher. Therefore, he is usually not able to live up to the possibilities
of this sign which requires self-sacrifice and nonresistance in absolutely Christ-like fashion. The
tendency is therefore to drift upon the sea of life and dream dreams of future greatness. This
tendency must be counteracted by every effort of the will, for otherwise life will be a failure, and later
the stern whip of necessity will be applied to goad him into action.
Question:
1] If Neptune is in Pisces in the twelfth house and trine to the Sun in the ninth, what will be the
effect?
Declination
In terms of Astronomy declination means swerving, deviating from a direct path. Astronomy
teaches that declination is due to the inclination of the Earth's axis, which is at an angle of about 23-
1/2 degrees North or South from the Celestial Equator. Therefore, declination is the angular distance
a planet is North or South of the Celestial Equator.
The Earth's Equator is an imaginary line in a plane at right angles to the axis of the Earth, midway
between the two hemispheres, the Northern and Southern. If a pole many million miles in length were
to be thrust through the Earth from the Equator to the center of the Earth, the outer end would inscribe
a line on the firmament, when the Earth turns on its axis, and this imaginary line is called the Celestial
Equator or Equinoctial. It is called Equinoctial because when the Sun is at the points where the
Ecliptic, or path of the Sun, crosses the Celestial Equator, we have the Equinoxes, the times when
day and night are of equal duration—March 21st and September 21st.
The highest North declination of the Sun is 23 degrees and 27 minutes which it attains at the
Summer Solstice, June 21st. At the Winter Solstice, December 21st, it reaches the farthest South
declination, 23 degrees and 27 minutes. Mars, Mercury and the Moon often reach a declination of 27
degrees, and on rare occasions Venus attains 28 degrees, but the other planets, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune have approximately the same declination as the Sun.
Dear Friend,
We congratulate you for having completed The Rosicrucian Fellowship Junior Astrology Course,
lessons 10 - 19. We invite you to continue your studies with lessons 20 - 26 in our Junior Astrology
Course. But before you may begin the next booklet, please answer the below questions and send
those answers to us.
1. What can you say about our responsibility concerning terrestrial equipoise?
2. What is the result of the rays from fixed signs coming through the so-called “good” planets and
at favorable angles called “good” aspects?
3. Through which signs lie the path of salvation from sin, sorrow, and suffering?
We trust that you have studied well and know the answers to these important questions. If not,
please restudy the material here given. Unless you develop a sound foundation of learning and
understanding, you will not be able to help others to your highest potential.
In order to receive the next booklet in the Course, lessons 20 - 26, please send us your answers
to the questions above and continue with your calculations for the horoscope for October 25, 1911 at
7:54 AM Standard Time, at 93 West longitude and 38 North latitude that you did at the end of lessons
1 - 9 in the first part of this Course. Calculate the rest of the planets’ positions along with the Moon’s
Nodes AND the Part of Fortune. Use a horoscope blank to record ALL your work.
Also, in the horoscope above, please tell us what you think the influence is of Mars in Gemini
opposite the Moon in Sagittarius. Include in your answer the possible effects on the affairs ruled by
the houses these planets are in (and please tell us which houses these two planets are in - we want to
know if you know).
Send your complete answers to us and if correct, we will send you the last booklet in the Course.
Good luck.
In fellowship,
Rosicrucian Fellowship
Education Department
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 10 - 19 37
ANSWERS
This would be a very difficult configuration to handle, and the native should early be taught to
guard his health by correct eating, plenty of open air exercise, and constructive thinking. He should
free himself from prejudices of all kinds, as Saturn tends to crystallization and in this case (Saturn in
Gemini square Moon) the crystallized mental attitudes would result in physical debility.
rosfshp@rosicrucianfellowship.org
http://www.rosicrucianfellowship.org
Junior Astrology Course
Lessons 20 - 26
COPYRIGHT 2001
BY
THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
All rights, including that of translation, reserved. For permission to copy or translate, application
should be made to the publisher.
Introduction............................................................ 3
LESSON 20........................................................... 4
LESSON 21......................................................... 11
LESSON 22......................................................... 16
LESSON 23......................................................... 24
LESSON 24......................................................... 27
LESSON 25......................................................... 30
LESSON 26......................................................... 33
Dear Friend,
We are happy to have your request for our Astrology course. Our three courses in Astrology are
based on the Teachings as given to humanity by the Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order through The
Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and the personal investigations of Max Heindel, their Messenger.
In order to realize the most benefit from our Astrology courses we suggest you study our
Preliminary Philosophy Course consisting of twelve lessons. The Preliminary Philosophy Course must
be completed by regular mail one lesson at a time. We hope that the understanding of life and its
problems offered by this course will bring you much comfort and joy.
A New Age is dawning, and wonderful opportunities await those who understand and cooperate
with the cosmic forces operating to break humanity's bond of materialism and usher in a new order
with higher spiritual concepts. As we bring ourselves into harmony with these forces, we not only
greatly hasten our own progress, but make it possible for us to aid in the great work of uplifting all
humanity.
These lessons are not sold. The Rosicrucian Teaching is free, but the expenses incidental to
their production and website distribution are met by free-will offerings from students "as the heart
dictates and the means permit." However, all receive the same teaching and attention even though
circumstances may be such that some are unable to assist in supporting the work.
We would love to be able to provide personal one-on-one instruction to all who are interested in
our courses, but our resources do not allow this. Therefore, this study course is set up as a college-
type self-study course where the student becomes his own teacher. Answers to all questions are
given in the back of the booklet. Please do not send your individual lesson answers to us.
Please feel that we are your friends, and that we consider it a pleasure and a privilege to assist
you in any way possible to live the higher life, which leads to true happiness and spiritual unfoldment.
We send our best wishes for your spiritual progress.
Yours in service,
The Rosicrucian Fellowship,
Education Department
1] Simplified Scientific Ephemeris for 1911, 1912, and 1932 computed for noon (order Information
for Astrology Course booklet [AI] or E1911, E1912, and E1932).
3] Simplified Scientific Astrology - Complete textbook on the art of erecting horoscopes, with
dictionary of astrological terms (ASP). Available online.
4] The Message of the Stars - An esoteric exposition of Natal and Medical Astrology explaining
the arts of reading and progressing the Horoscope and diagnosing diseases (MSP). Available online.
1st. That their distance apart in signs falls within any one of the classifications in the following
table.
0 signs apart—Conjunction ( ¡)
2 or 10 signs apart—Sextile ( ¢)
3 or 9 signs apart—Square ( £)
4 or 8 signs apart—Trine ( ¤)
6 signs apart—Opposition ( ¥)
Same degree of declination, either North or South—Parallel (P) ( ¦)
The nature of an orb is as follows: Each planet has invisible vehicles, which constitute an aura
about it so that its influence is felt for some distance beyond its circumference. This distance is
spoken of as its orb.
The size of the orb which is usually allowed in the case of the eight planets in aspects between
themselves is 6 degrees. In aspects between the Sun and Moon 8 degrees are allowed, and the same
for aspects between the Sun or Moon and any one of the eight planets.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 5
Now to apply the above information, we will examine several of the planets in the above
mentioned horoscope to find whether they are in aspect to one another or not. You will notice in the
accompanying map of the horoscope that in the outer circle we have placed numbers which
correspond to the numbers of the signs: that is, Aries is sign No. 1; Taurus is sign No.2; Gemini is
sign No. 3, etc. In order to apply the first rule mentioned above, namely, to find whether the distance
in signs between any two planets falls in one of the classifications in the Table of Aspects, we subtract
the numbers of the two signs containing the two planets in question. For instance, Jupiter is in
Sagittarius, the 9th sign, and Uranus is in Aquarius, the 11th sign. Subtracting 9 from 11 gives us 2,
and looking at our Table of Aspects we find that two signs apart constitutes the sextile aspect. Now
we still have to apply the second rule to ascertain whether these two planets are within orb in order to
finally determine whether or not there is an actual sextile aspect between them. The degrees and
minutes of the position of Uranus are 0-49, and those of Jupiter are 5-38. Subtracting these two sets
of numbers we find the difference to be 4 degrees and 49 minutes. As this is less than the 6 degrees
noted above as the permissible orb, we see that both conditions noted in the above rules have been
complied with, and therefore Jupiter is sextile to Uranus.
We will also examine Saturn and Uranus in the above horoscope to find out whether they are in
aspect to each other. Saturn is in Gemini, the 3rd sign, and Uranus is in Aquarius, the 11th sign.
Subtracting 3 from 11 we obtain 8 as the distance in signs between these two planets. Looking at our
Table of Aspects we note that this corresponds to the trine. Subtracting 0-49, the number of the
degrees and minutes of the position of Uranus, from 2-55, that of Saturn, we obtain 2 degrees and 6
minutes as the difference between the two. As this is less than 6 degrees, these two planets are
within orb, and therefore Saturn is trine to Uranus.
To make sure that the principle of aspecting is understood, we will take another example, namely,
that of the Moon and Mars. The Moon is in Cancer, the 4th sign, and Mars is in Virgo, the 6th sign.
Subtracting 4 from 6 gives us two signs apart, and by referring to the Table of Aspects we see that
this is a sextile aspect provided that these two planets are within orb. The degrees and minutes of
Mars are 15-27, and those of the Moon are 19-55. Subtracting these gives us 4-28, which being less
than 8 degrees, the allowable orb of the Moon, shows that Mars and the Moon are within orb and
therefore sextile to each other.
In determining the aspects between planets it will be noted that the houses have nothing to do
with the matter whatever. Neither does it make any difference whether one or both of the two planets
is in an intercepted sign, such as Cancer and Capricorn in the above horoscope. All we have to do is
to subtract the sign numbers and then determine whether the planets are within orb.
If we should wish to ascertain whether Neptune is in aspect to Jupiter, we subtract 4, the number
of Cancer in which Neptune is placed, from 9, the number of Sagittarius in which Jupiter is located,
and obtain 5 as a result. Looking in our Table of Aspects we find that 5 signs apart do not constitute
an aspect. Therefore there is no aspect between Neptune and Jupiter.
Following the above method we find the following aspects in addition to the ones noted above:
Mercury square Jupiter; Mercury square Saturn.
The square is an aspect of 90 degrees, but as we allow an orb of 6 degrees (8 degrees for Sun or
Moon) on either side of the 90 degrees, planets could be in square aspect to each other anywhere
from 84 degrees to 96 degrees apart (82 to 98 for the Sun or Moon). In a like manner, the sextile
6 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
could occur anywhere from 54 degrees to 66 degrees apart (52 to 68 for the Sun or Moon); or
likewise, the trine aspect from 114 degrees to 126 degrees apart (112 to 128 for the Sun or Moon).
In addition, planets in the last 6 degrees of any sign must be compared with all planets in the first
6 degrees of other signs, because they may be in aspect to each other without coming directly under
the preceding rules. For instance, consider Venus and Saturn in the above horoscope. Venus is in the
last 6 degrees of Leo, and Saturn is in the first 6 degrees of Gemini. The method is as follows: Add 6
degrees to the position of the planet which is in the last 6 degrees of its sign. Adding 6 degrees to
27:43 Leo, the position of Venus, gives us 3:43 Virgo. Now if the resulting degrees and minutes of
Venus equal or exceed those of Saturn and also if the number of signs between Gemini and the new
position of Venus, viz. Virgo, falls within one of the classifications in the Table of Aspects, the two
planets are in aspect to each other. Applying these tests we find that Venus is square to Saturn. We
find also that Uranus is nearly in opposition to Neptune (6 degrees 24 minutes). When one of the
planets under consideration is the Sun or Moon, use 8 degrees instead of 6 wherever 6 occurs above,
on account of the orb of the Sun and Moon being 8 degrees. Other examples (not in this horoscope)
of cases like the above are as follows: Mars in 24:30 Aries is in conjunction with Venus in 0:30
Taurus; Mercury in 26:00 Taurus is sextile Jupiter in 2:00 Leo; Saturn in 27:00 Gemini is square the
Moon in 5:00 Libra; Neptune in 28:00 Cancer is trine the Sun in 6:00 Sagittarius; Venus in 28:30 Leo
is in opposition to Mercury in 4:30 Pisces.
There yet remain the Parallels. Two planets are parallel to each other when they are in the same
degree of declination, either north or south; that is, they may both be north declination, both south
declination, or one north and one south. The orb of a parallel is 1-1/2 degrees. The method of
obtaining the parallels will be given farther on in this lesson.
We will now examine the nature of the various aspects. The sextile and the trine are regarded as
benefic or favorable aspects. They represent faculties which we have built up in past lives, and which
enable us to do things easily in this life. Therefore they bring us a certain measure of success. They
also represent destiny of a favorable character which has been created by us in past lives and which
is now ready for our reaping. The square and the opposition represent lessons which we have not
learned in previous lives for some reason or other, and faculties which are still in a partially developed
state. Therefore the chief lessons which we have to learn in the present life come through the square
and the opposition. These aspects also represent destiny of an adverse character which we have
created for ourselves in past lives by ill-advised or destructive action of some sort, and therefore this
destiny is ready for our reaping in the present life. The conjunction sometimes falls in one class and
sometimes in the other, depending upon the nature of the planets which are in conjunction. If the
natures of the two planets harmonize with each other, the conjunction is benefic, but if the natures of
the two planets do not harmonize, the conjunction is adverse in character. However, the detrimental
effects of an adverse conjunction are much mitigated and may be very largely removed provided good
aspects are brought to it from other planets in the chart.
Conjunctions in the "variable" column are sometimes benefic and sometimes adverse. For further
information regarding them see Simplified Scientific Astrology, pages 98-99.
Benefic: Sun conjunct Venus, Jupiter; Venus conjunct Mercury, Moon, Jupiter; Mercury conjunct
Moon, Jupiter, Neptune; Moon conjunct Jupiter, Neptune.
Adverse: Sun conjunct Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; Venus conjunct Saturn; Saturn conjunct Mars;
Mars conjunct Uranus, Neptune.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 7
Variable: Sun conjunct Mercury, Moon, Mars; Venus conjunct Mars, Uranus, Neptune; Mercury
conjunct Saturn, Mars, Uranus; Moon conjunct Saturn, Mars, Uranus; Saturn conjunct Jupiter,
Uranus, Neptune; Jupiter conjunct Mars, Uranus, Neptune; Uranus conjunct Neptune.
The parallels do not have so pronounced an effect as the other aspects except in the matter of
health, upon which they have considerable influence. In some cases the parallel is considered to have
the same effect as the conjunction, in others the same as the opposition, and in still others the same
as the trine.
It should be carefully noted at this point that there is no evil in any planetary vibrations. The only
bad effects that can come from them are the result of our misuse of them or our inability to control
them. Any planet emits the same vibrations at all times. The square and the opposition between two
planets, however, tend to incite to excess in the use of their vibrations, and therefore to carry activities
that come under their influence to such an extreme that they become evil. When one resists this
tendency, however, he rules his stars and therefore avoids the evil effects. The planets do nothing at
all except to energize that which we have within our own auras. The planets of themselves bring us
neither good fortune or bad fortune. They merely stimulate us to create for ourselves good or bad
fortune in accordance with the character which we have created for ourselves in the past. Adverse
aspects bring temptations which will persist until we have learned to overcome them. Adverse
aspects, however, bring us a great deal of valuable experience and enable us to develop spiritual
muscle. A horoscope which contains only benefic aspects makes the life insipid because everything
comes so easily that one is deprived of incentive to action and therefore fails to get zest out of life. A
most hopeful factor in the situation is that adverse aspects may be transmuted into good ones by
overcoming the evil tendencies which they produce. If we succeed in doing this, we will have a better
horoscope in our next life because we have earned it. Thus do we progress in Evolution.
Angles
Planets in the angles of the horoscope, namely, the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses, are said to be
angular, and there exert a greater influence for either good or ill than when located in the other
houses. The 1st house and the 10th are the most powerful. Planets in the 1st house, particularly if
they are in the sign on the Ascendant, have a very strong influence upon the personality and therefore
a corresponding effect upon the activities and destiny of the life. A planet in the Midheaven, that is,
the 10th house, has a strong influence upon one's position in life and general standing in the
community. This is also true if it is in the 9th house rather close to the cusp of the 10th.
Retrogradation
Retrograde planets, that is, planets which are apparently moving backward in the signs (this
movement is only apparent, not real) are not as clear-cut in their action as planets which are direct,
that is, those which are moving forward in the signs.
Aspects to Ascendant and Midheaven
Aspects to the Ascendant, which represents the body, have an influence upon the health.
Aspects to the Midheaven (MC) indicate the nature of one's opportunities for spiritual advancement.
But since the exact time of birth is rarely known, and since a small error in this makes several degrees
difference in the Ascendant or Midheaven, predictions made from aspects to these points are likely to
be unreliable.
Table of Critical Degrees:
Cardinal Signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn; 1st, 13th and 26th degrees.
Fixed Signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius; 9th and 21st degrees.
Common Signs: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces; 4th and 17th degrees.
When a planet is within an orb of 3 degrees of any of these points, it will be found to exercise a
much stronger influence in the life than otherwise. (See pages 81 and 101 in Simplified Scientific
Astrology.)
Note: The Minor Elements described above are all of secondary importance.
Index
All the information which we have worked out above regarding the aspects, dignities, exaltations,
angles, triplicities, quadruplicities, and rulerships is now to be collected and placed in a diagram or
index. On the next page is a picture which shows this index made out for the horoscope under
consideration. From it we see that Neptune and the Moon are in cardinal signs; the Sun, Venus and
Uranus are in fixed signs; Saturn, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter are in common signs. Also, the Sun,
Venus, and Jupiter are in fiery signs; Mars and Mercury are in earthy signs; Saturn and Uranus are in
airy signs; Neptune and the Moon are in watery signs.
We also note that Jupiter, Uranus, the Moon, the Sun, and Mercury are dignified; Neptune and
Mercury are exalted; Uranus, Neptune, and the Moon are angular; and Jupiter is the ruler of the
horoscope.
It now remains to determine the parallels and insert them in the index.
In order to do this, we take our Ephemeris for Aug. 10, 1912, and copy the declinations for the
noon positions placing them in the column marked "Decl," as shown in the Index (see Chapter VII,
Simplified Scientific Astrology). No calculation is required for the planets except in the case of the fast-
moving Moon (see hereafter).
10 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
The declination of the planets should be copied directly from the Ephemeris for the day having
noon nearest G.M.T. with the exception of the fast-moving Moon. Its declination should be calculated
by the logarithmic method as follows:
To find the declination of the Part of Fortune, Ascendant, or Midheaven, first take the longitude as
shown in the chart. Then find the date (same year preferred) that the Sun was in the same degree (or
nearest that degree) and sign. Note the date and see the declination of the Sun on that date. That
represents the declination of the point in question. For example, in the chart we are considering, we
find the Ascendant in Sagittarius 28:20 degrees. We take our Ephemeris for 1912 and find that the
Sun was in 28:16 of Sagittarius on December 20th. Now in the column of declination of planets, on
December 20th, we see the Sun's declination is 23:26. This represents the declination of the
Ascendant.
The orb allowed for the Parallels is 1-1/2 degrees. In order to determine whether a certain planet
is parallel to any other planet we first subtract the two declinations; if the result is 1-1/2 degrees or
less, these two planets are parallel to each other. In the present case we note that the Sun's
declination is 15:37. Comparing this with all of the other declinations, we find that there is no case in
which the difference is less than 1-1/2 degrees; therefore the Sun has no parallels. In the case of
Mercury, whose declination is 5:17 and Mars, whose declination is 6:40, the difference is 1:23, which
is less than 1-1/2 degrees; therefore Mercury is parallel to Mars. Similarly, we find the following
parallels: Jupiter parallel (P) Uranus; Jupiter parallel Neptune; Uranus parallel Neptune.
These parallels have been inserted in the index under the heading of "Aspects," on the right hand
side of the diagram.
Lesson No. 21
[Printed Version Lesson No. 19B]
is located in the sign of Cancer. We find the characteristics of the Moon in Cancer on page 226, as
follows: "The Moon in Cancer gives a disposition which is kind, sociable, and sympathetic, but
indolent and averse to effort whether physical, moral, or mental. These people love to drift with the
tide. They are often sensitive to psychic conditions. This position also gives a love of home and its
comforts."
The Moon has a sextile of Mars, which gives great vitality and a strong physique. It also gives a
resolute, courageous, energetic and ambitious character, and makes the native resourceful and
constructive.
The Moon is conjunct Neptune, which indicates strong psychic faculties and also a talent for
music.
No. 6. The Mentality:
Mercury governs the reasoning faculty of the mind, and the Moon rules the faculty of the creative
imagination. In this case we find Mercury with two adverse aspects, namely, the square to Jupiter and
the square to Saturn. We find the former described on page 212, as follows: "Jupiter square Mercury
gives a vacillating and wavering disposition so that the person cannot easily make up his mind when
more than one course of action is open. People with this aspect often lose their opportunities through
procrastination and lack of judgment.”
Since Jupiter is the planet of optimism and since the square indicates an excess of the qualities
conferred by the two planets square to each other, it follows that Jupiter square Mercury gives an
over-optimistic trend of mind and leads the native into unwise and excessive expansion of the
enterprises in which he may be engaged.
The square of Saturn to Mercury is found on page 210: "Saturn square Mercury gives a desire to
study the occult, but it impels one to ferret out nature's secrets for personal power or gain. It makes
the native bitter and sarcastic and sometimes subject to melancholia."
Saturn square Mercury confers the power of concentration, because Saturn is the planet of
contraction, and when the mind stuff of which the mind is composed is held to a point by the
contractive power of Saturn, the result is the ability to concentrate. Thus Saturn square Mercury gives
the power of analysis and detail work in general, but the motive is likely to be selfish.
The Moon, the other factor ruling the mentality, determines the strength of the creative
imagination, that is, the capacity for mental image-making. We have given above some of the effects
of the Moon in Cancer and the Moon in aspect to Neptune and Mars. These need not be repeated
here. In addition we may say that Mars sextile the Moon adds power to the creative imagination, and
gives the ability to construct mental images and endow them with considerable life and force. Thus
this aspect is likely to give the native a creative, constructive turn of mind and enable him to devise
new methods of meeting any particular type of situation. The conjunction of Neptune brings the
inspiration of this planet to bear upon the image-making faculty of the Moon, and therefore it may
confer a degree of genius.
Another element which strengthens the mentality is to be found in the fact that Mercury is
dignified and exalted in Virgo, a mental sign. However, Mercury is retrograde, which detracts
somewhat from its force. Mars, the planet of energy, placed in the mental sign of Virgo stimulates the
mind and gives keenness to the faculty of discrimination.
No. 7. General Character and Destiny as Indicated by the Other Planets,
together with their Signs, Aspects and Houses:
Jupiter sextile Uranus is delineated on page 301, as follows: "It gives a broad, humane
disposition and a tendency to delve into the occult arts and sciences. It gives a promise of prosperity
in life. The person is honest and sincere, and likely to benefit from influential friends. This position
gives executive ability and success in connection with institutions of learning."
Jupiter is dignified in Sagittarius and placed in the 11th house, thereby indicating many friends.
Uranus in the first house gives an original, inventive, and altruistic personality, although the influence
of this planet is weakened on account of its being retrograde. These two planets reinforce each other
in their respective fields. We have Saturn in opposition to Jupiter, however, which tends to offset
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 13
somewhat the good effects of Uranus. We find Saturn opposition Jupiter delineated on page 299:
"This gives a different, vacillating mind, distrustful of others, and inclined to drift with the tide." Saturn
is the planet of contraction and therefore of crystallization. Its opposition to Jupiter limits somewhat
the benevolent, optimistic tendencies of the native, and tends to make him fearful of his financial
position and to fear failure unduly. Saturn is the stabilizer, but in adverse aspects it overdoes the
matter and makes the person too cautious and too fearful. These characteristics will be more or less
in evidence in this horoscope. The result will be that Saturn will limit the friendships which are
conferred by Jupiter in the 11th house, and prevent them from being as satisfactory and profitable as
they otherwise might be.
Saturn in the 5th house in Gemini stabilizes the mind, since Gemini is an intellectual sign. But
Saturn's contractive influence shows up the affairs of this house, namely, those having to do with
education, publication, speculation, and children. The native will be too fearful about all these matters,
and therefore will not go ahead and fully succeed, although he has the analytical ability of the
methodical Saturn to do so.
The trine of Uranus to Saturn helps out the matter very materially and prevents the opposition of
Saturn to Jupiter from becoming very serious. It brings the intuition and inventiveness of Uranus to
bear on the affairs of the 5th house, and tends to counteract the crystallizing, overcautious tendencies
of Saturn. For further discussion on this point see Lesson No. 22.
These three aspects, namely, Jupiter sextile Uranus, Jupiter opposition Saturn, and Saturn trine
Uranus are among the strongest in the chart, and are quite largely the key to the chart. The success
or failure of the life will hinge upon them.
Venus is placed in the heart sign of Leo in the 8th house. Venus is the planet of love, attraction,
social affairs, and art. The fire of Leo will emphasize these matters considerably, but the square of
Saturn will hold them in check. Saturn square Venus is delineated on page 187, as follows: "This
aspect makes the native underhanded and scheming to gratify his passions, often in an unusual
manner. The person is usually a demon of jealousy, who makes life a burden for the marriage partner
on account of his suspicious nature. People with this affliction are also exceedingly avaricious. They
have poor business judgment, and are therefore liable to losses and failure." This aspect tends to
prevent the native from getting very much satisfaction from his social relations.
No. 8. Health:
The health is largely ruled by the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, and the 6th house. The Sun in Leo
gives a great deal of vitality, and the Moon, which governs the reproductive and assimilative functions,
being sextile to Mars, the planet of energy, gives a strong constitution. Sagittarius rising lacks
somewhat in recuperative power, but still is wiry and flexible. The 6th house, governing health and
sickness, has no planets in it. It is ruled by Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, the sign on its cusp. Mercury
is square to both Jupiter and Saturn; therefore we may conclude that the native will be of a nervous
temperament, and will be likely to have more or less ill health brought on by worry induced by these
two aspects. The nature of ill health is likely to be mental, although this in time might communicate
itself to the physical organism if it is not checked. The native can break up this tendency, however, by
realizing his proneness to excessive worry, and if he does this, ill health can be largely avoided.
No. 9. House Affairs:
The 1st, 5th, 6th, and 11th houses have been previously considered. The 7th house, ruling
partnership, marriage, and one's relations with the public, is occupied by the Moon and Neptune. Both
these planets are intercepted in the sign of Cancer. This means that their influence is latent and will
not be brought out actively in the life until by progression they have moved out of the interception
(this occurs at about the age of ten months - Moon only). The Moon is strong by being dignified in
Cancer, and Neptune is exalted in Cancer. The Moon is also sextile to the planet of energy, Mars.
Therefore, the affairs of the 7th house are likely to be very successful, and the success will be due
quite largely to the inspiration of the native, which enables him to do the right thing at the right time. In
the dealing of the native with the public he is likely to come into contact with women, signified by the
Moon, to a greater extent than with men. His relations with the public might be in connection with
14 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
some phase of occultism or mysticism, signified by Neptune. The marriage partner will be of the
dreamy, inspirational type. The partnerships which the native forms will have a good chance of
success.
The 8th house is occupied by four planets, namely, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Mars. The 8th
house rules the money which one obtains by inheritance. It also rules regeneration, and when strongly
occupied as in the present case, the thoughts of the native are likely to turn toward regeneration. He
is therefore likely to get away from the materialistic life and make considerable progress in evolution
toward the higher ideals. The planets in this house, however, are weak, and therefore results will not
be as great as would otherwise be possible. As stated above, the Sun is unaspected, Venus has a
square to Saturn, and Mercury has a square to Saturn and to Jupiter. The last named aspect is likely
to bring litigation in connection with legacies and prevent the native from realizing much from them.
Mars has about half of its influence in the 8th house and the other half in the 9th, since it lacks only
two and one-half degrees of being on the cusp of the 9th house. The orb of a house, extending
backward, is five degrees, and Mars is practically in the center of this area. It will therefore impart
energy to the affairs of both the 8th and 9th houses.
In the 9th house it will tend to make the native active in matters having to do with law, philosophy,
or religion, also long journeys. The sextile of Mars to the Moon will bring the creative imagination to
bear on these affairs and help to make them successful. When we have a planet in a house, that
planet is the principal determining factor with respect to the affairs of that house, and in such a case
the nominal ruler of the house is secondary and given much less consideration. In the case of the 9th
house, Mercury is the nominal ruler since it is the ruler of Virgo, but the well-aspected Mars, having
half of its influence in this house, will be the dominating factor.
The 10th house, governing the profession and one's standing in the community, is ruled by
Venus, the ruler of Libra on the cusp. Venus, as noted above, has a square of Saturn, and therefore
the native will be considerably hampered in his vocational work by the jealousy and mistrust of Saturn.
He will defeat his own best interests by his suspicion and selfishness. His professional work is likely to
be of an artistic character, indicated by Libra; it might be architectural drafting or work of a similar
nature.
The 12th house, that of ripe destiny, is ruled by Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius on the cusp.
Jupiter's aspects, previously considered, are both favorable and adverse. Therefore the destiny which
is to be precipitated in the present life of the native will vary in character. Some will be advantageous
and profitable, and some may involve him in confinement and sorrow.
The finances obtained by the efforts of the native are indicated by the 2nd house, ruled by Uranus
and Saturn, the co-rulers of Aquarius. The aspects of these two planets have been previously
analyzed. On the whole the finances are likely not to be very satisfactory. They will fluctuate more or
less on account of the tendency of Uranus to sudden action. Also the fearfulness of the native will
prevent him from being as successful as he otherwise might be.
The 3rd house, ruling the lower mind, brothers and sisters, and short journeys, is ruled by
Neptune and Jupiter, the co-rulers of Pisces. Therefore its affairs are likely to fluctuate in accordance
with the aspects of Neptune and Jupiter as previously discussed. The native will profit however,
through his brothers and sisters.
The 4th house, governing the home, old age, and the parent who has the lesser importance (the
10th house rules the parent who has the greater importance in the native’s life), is ruled by Mars, the
ruler of Aries on the cusp of this house. Mars is well aspected by the Moon; therefore the affairs of this
house will have considerable energy devoted to them, and the creative imagination will help to make
them a success.
The 6th house, in addition to having an influence on health and sickness, rules service, that is,
the work which one performs in the world for remuneration. It also rules one's relations with
employees. This house has Gemini, a literary sign, on its cusp, indicating a liking for literary work.
Mercury as ruler of this house, square to Jupiter and Saturn, indicates little success along this line,
however, and also trouble and worry in dealing with subordinates.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 15
Consult The Message of the Stars, if you have it, also the preceding lessons Nos. 10 to 19, for
general information on these four factors. Then do some original thinking in order to synthesize or
blend the information thus obtained so as to get the net result.
16 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
Table of Keywords
Signs
Aries
Basic Keywords: Self-esteem, initiative, pioneering.
Positive Qualities: Courage, enterprise.
Negative Qualities: Self-will, temper.
Taurus
Basic: Determination, harmony, earthiness.
Positive: Endurance, thoroughness.
Negative: Argumentativeness, obstinacy.
Gemini
Basic: Intellectuality, literary ability.
Positive: Versatility.
Negative: Changeability, superficiality.
Cancer
Basic: Love of home.
Positive: Sympathy, tenacity.
Negative: Clannishness, timidity.
Leo
Basic: Vitality, affection.
Positive: Nobility, loyalty, leadership.
Negative: Arrogance, cruelty, vanity.
Virgo
Basic: Service, mental qualities.
Positive: Purity, discrimination, hygienics.
Negative: Criticism, introspection.
Libra
Basic: Capacity for partnership, art.
Positive: Balance, justice.
Negative: Indecision, lack of poise.
Scorpio
Basic: Sex, healing, secret forces of nature, military affairs.
Positive: Regeneration, courage.
Negative: Discord, passion.
Sagittarius
Basic: Aspiration, philosophy, religion.
Positive: Idealism, philanthropy.
Negative: Dogmatism, bigotry.
Capricorn
Basic: Position, honors, ambition.
Positive: Authority, organization, justice.
Negative: Pride, suspicion, pessimism.
18 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
Aquarius
Basic: Humanitarianism, universal friendship, scientific methods.
Positive: Cooperation, diplomacy, progressiveness.
Negative: Impracticableness.
Pisces
Basic: Unity, ripe destiny, sensitiveness to the superphysical.
Positive: Compassion, inspiration, mysticism.
Negative: Dreaminess, psychism, sorrow.
Planets
Sun
Basic Keywords: Individuality, life, ambitions, those in authority, men.
Positive Qualities: Generosity, dignity.
Negative Qualities: Laziness, despotism.
Moon
Basic: Personality, imagination, fecundation, change, the public, women.
Positive: Magnetism.
Negative: Dreaminess, visionariness, vacillation.
Mercury
Basic: Reason, speaking, writing.
Positive: Quick-wittedness, dexterity.
Negative: Restlessness, demagogy, dishonesty.
Venus
Basic: Attraction, love, social activities, beauty.
Positive: Artistic ability, harmony.
Negative: Laziness, sensuality.
Mars
Basic: Dynamic energy.
Positive: Constructiveness, enterprise.
Negative: Destructiveness, temper, friction.
Jupiter
Basic: Expansion, ideation, optimism, law.
Positive: Benevolence, vision, success, popularity.
Negative: Extravagance, indolence, over-confidence.
Saturn
Basic: Contraction, persistence, caution, system.
Positive: Faithfulness, analysis, discipline, tact.
Negative: Crystallization, obstruction, avarice, fearfulness, limitation.
Uranus
Basic: Altruism, intuition, originality, sudden action.
Positive: Inventiveness, independence.
Negative: Eccentricity, irresponsibility.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 19
Neptune
Basic: Superphysical entities, divinity, occultism.
Positive: Inspiration, spirituality.
Negative: Delusions, fraud, mediumship.
Houses
1st: Early environment, personality, physical body.
2nd: Finance.
3rd: Lower mind, short journeys, brothers and sisters, speaking and writing.
4th: The home, the parent of lesser importance, old age, lands and mines.
5th: Pleasure, education, children, publications.
6th: Service, health and sickness.
7th: Partnership, marriage, the public, the fine arts.
8th: Inheritance, cause of death, regeneration.
9th: Higher mind, religion, law, long journeys.
10th: Profession, social standing, the parent of greater importance.
11th: Friends, hopes and wishes.
12th: Ripe destiny, mysticism, institutions for unfortunates.
General Notes
Planets represent the driving forces of the horoscope.
Signs represent the static forces which color and modify the influence of the planets.
Planets in signs indicate the character and inner capacities.
Planets in houses give the circumstantial details of the life.
Reading by Keywords
In Lesson No. 20 we worked out the aspects and other elements for a horoscope erected for New
York City, September 15, 1912, 2:00 AM In Lesson No. 21 this horoscope was delineated by
reference to The Message of the Stars. We will now take two aspects in the chart of Lesson No. 12
(August 10, 1912, 4:00 PM) and analyze them in detail by the use of keywords.
No. 1: Uranus Sextile Jupiter
The sextile is a harmonious aspect and indicates that good judgment is used in all the matters
ruled by these two planets so far as it may not be of an adverse character. Therefore we use in
addition to the basic keywords the positive set of qualities for both Uranus and Jupiter and also for the
two signs in which they are located, namely, Sagittarius and Aquarius. We will now consult the Table
of Keywords above. From it we note the following keywords and qualities:
Jupiter:
Basic Keywords: Expansion, ideation, optimism, law.
Positive Qualities: Benevolence, vision, success, popularity.
Sagittarius:
Basic Keywords: Aspiration, philosophy, religion.
Positive Qualities: Idealism, philanthropy.
We now have to combine the keywords and qualities of Jupiter with those of Sagittarius to find
some of the characteristics and activities given thereby. In doing this it is necessary to exercise some
ingenuity to select and blend into a key sentence the keywords that will produce a reasonable and
probable result. Upon examination we conclude as follows: The positive Jupiter in Sagittarius gives
vision (Jupiter) that may be exercised along the lines of religion (Sagittarius), or philosophy
20 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
(Sagittarius), with success (Jupiter) therein. Also there may be aspiration (Sagittarius) for the law
(Jupiter) and a high idealism (Sagittarius) in its practice.
We will next apply the above method to Uranus in Aquarius. From the Table of Keywords we
obtain the following:
Uranus:
Basic Keywords: Altruism, intuition, originality, sudden action.
Positive Qualities: Inventiveness, independence.
Aquarius:
Basic Keywords: Humanitarianism, universal friendship, scientific methods.
Positive Qualities: Cooperation, diplomacy, progressiveness.
Selecting and blending keywords from this list that seem to fit together we conclude that the
positive Uranus in Aquarius gives original (Uranus) methods of developing and carrying out
humanitarian (Aquarius) projects and obtaining the cooperation (Aquarius) of others in these projects.
The altruism (Uranus) and progressiveness (Aquarius) of the native lead him to develop along the
lines of universal friendship (Aquarius), that is, to make all humanity his friends.
Next we combine the keywords of Uranus and Jupiter to ascertain the kind of character and
activities given by this aspect. We conclude as a result that this person is of the altruistic (Uranus),
inventive (Uranus) type, and that the corresponding qualities will be exerted along benevolent
(Jupiter) lines and the maintenance of law (Jupiter), with general success (Jupiter) resulting.
We will now look at the keywords for the houses containing these two planets. The keywords for
the 1st house as found in the table are: early environment, personality, and the physical body. The
keywords for the 11th house are friends and hopes and wishes. Combining the keywords of the
positive Jupiter with those of the 11th house, we find that this position gives vision (Jupiter) in
selecting friends (11th) and success (Jupiter) in friendships (11th). Combining the keywords of the
positive Uranus with those of the 1st house, we conclude that the native has a very original (Uranus),
altruistic (Uranus) personality (1st), and is likely at times to be quite unconventional (Uranus). Sudden
action (Uranus) is also shown due to the restlessness of Uranus.
When two planets are tied together in an aspect, it results in a mutual action and reaction
between the affairs of the two houses containing them. In this case there will be such an action and
reaction between the 1st and 11th houses. Briefly, the action of the 1st house affairs upon those of
the 11th will be as follows: The original (Uranus) progressive (Aquarius) personality (1st) of the native
will make (sextile) for him friends (11th) of an optimistic (Jupiter) idealistic (Sagittarius) type. Note that
seven keywords are used, namely, one for each of the two planets, the two signs, and the two
houses, also one for the sextile, which is a verb denoting action. This is called the "sevenfold
combination of keywords." The action of the 11th house affairs upon those of the first is as follows:
The benevolent (Jupiter) philosophical (Sagittarius) friends (11th) of the native will help (sextile) him in
his original (Uranus) humanitarian (Aquarius) projects, and the direct effect upon him will be an
improvement in his personality (1st) due to the help he has given to others.
It should be noted here that since Jupiter is in 5:38 of Sagittarius, it is only 4:22 from the cusp of
the 12th house. Since the orb of a house is 5 degrees, extending backwards, it will be seen that a
small percentage of Jupiter's influence, roughly 10%, will be exerted in the 12th house. We will not
investigate this at this time however.
This finishes the itemized delineation of this aspect. It is not a complete delineation however.
Many other deductions could be made, but it goes far enough to illustrate the method and give the
student an idea of the principles involved. It yet remains to summarize all the above items into a
concise paragraph, using non-technical language, leaving out all astrological terms, and avoiding
repetition of the same thought. We will leave this to the student to do as an exercise in synthesis.
Please do this at the same time you complete the delineation asked for at the end of this lesson.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 21
many of his positive qualities instead of the negative. The native will nevertheless at times yield to the
saturnine inclinations and thereby obstruct his own best interests and get into a pessimistic frame of
mind as a result. But this will be only temporary; the expansive optimism of Jupiter will always win out
in the end, and good will prevail over evil.
When we have two aspects of an opposite nature, as in the present case, it does not mean that
one will neutralize the other. The two will appear alternatively from time to time in the disposition of
the native. The effects in the outer world, however, signified by the houses, may be quite largely
neutralized; that is, the benefic aspect may dominate the adverse one to such an extent that the latter
will not produce marked detrimental effects. But the two phases of the character will persist and
manifest until the lower is mastered.
The above reading of a positive and a negative aspect has been done in such a manner as to
afford the student a key to the whole matter of delineation. It is only necessary to apply the above
method to all the other aspects, using the keywords which apply in each case and combining them to
arrive at conclusions. If the student can do it once, he can do it any number of times. After he has
mastered the principles involved in reading and balancing a pair of conflicting aspects, he is quite
capable of reading an entire chart, because it is largely a repetition of the same process. In the end all
the departments of the horoscope must be similarly balanced so as to determine how any department
may modify the influence of the others and thus affect the net result.
Mars in Virgo in the 8th house sextile to the Moon in Cancer in the 7th house.
Remember to do the summaries requested above for Uranus sextile Jupiter, and Saturn
opposition Jupiter.
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 23
Miscellaneous Points
"These aspects (the conjunction and the parallel) are variable. If between benefics (Sun, Venus,
Jupiter), they are good, or if the planets of variable nature (Moon, Mercury) are aspected by
conjunction or parallel with the benefics, it is good, but if the Sun, Moon, Mercury, or Jupiter is in
conjunction or parallel with one of the malefics (Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune), it is evil; the
conjunction of 2 malefics is more so, but the parallel of 2 malefics is exceedingly strong in its mental
influence. Conversely, of course, the parallel between 2 benefics is extraordinarily fortunate."
(Simplified Scientific Astrology, pages 98-99.)
"It may also be noted that the conjunction and parallel act principally upon the health, while the
other aspects affect the business, social standing, etc." (The Message of the Stars, page 488.)
"The points in the horoscope which are the principal foci of vitality and health are the Sun, Moon,
and ASC, designated by the term "hyleg" by ancient Arabian astrologers. It needs little argument to
show that the great and glorious reservoir of life which we call the Sun is an important factor in the
matter of health, and that the lesser Light, the Moon, has dominion in this respect, for she collects and
reflects the solar rays. The reason why the ASC is designated as a factor in health and vitality is not
so apparent upon the surface, but when we realize that the ASC at birth (or its opposite point) is the
Moon's place at conception, the reason is obvious, for the Moon is the planet of fecundation, the focus
and reflector of the solar life-forces, and if, at the time of conception, when the human seed-atom was
planted, she was in a weak sign like Virgo, there is fundamental lack of energy and vitality at the very
start of life, and a consequent lassitude which affects through all the years of its existence the body
then beginning to germinate." (Simplified Scientific Astrology, pages 129-130.)
"Astrologers have observed that a child born at or near noon, when the Sun's rays strike the
birthplace from the 10th house, has a better chance of advancement in life, other things being equal,
than one born after sundown. Therefore, they say that the 10th house determines social position and
honor." (Simplified Scientific Astrology, pages 128-129.)
"Aspects to the ASC, which represents the body, have an influence upon the health. Aspects to
the MC indicate the nature of one's opportunities for spiritual advancement." (Simplified Scientific
Astrology, page 91.)
"Planets placed in the 12th house are considered as being on the ASC within 6 degrees thereof,
also all planets in the first house, no matter how far from the rising degree; but if a sign be intercepted
in the first house, planets placed therein will not have as strong an influence in the life as though the
sign occupy the cusp." (The Message of the Stars, page 91.)
24 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
comes from the Venus rays which are beyond such people. Woman is to the man of this stage only a
beast of burden and a convenience.
Meanwhile "Father Time," represented by the planet Saturn, keeps the score and wields over
them the whiplash of necessity to drive them forward on the evolutionary path, meting out to each the
fruits of his labor at the harvest time between lives. When the man has cultivated the savage virtues of
bravery, physical endurance, and the like, he dreams in the postmortem existence of new fields to
conquer; he sees where he was lacking and why his desires were frustrated because of lack of
implements. Gradually the constructive Martian ray and the Saturn cunning fertilize the lunar brain
which he is building, so that in time he learns to make the crude implements necessary for the
attainment of his primitive ambitions. Even today we see the same cunning traits of character, the
same crude crafts displayed by the lower races for the purpose of irrigating land, mining ores, or
milling grain as in the case of primitive man. All those earliest implements were the result of the
planetary rays of Saturn, Moon, and Mars, impinging on the undeveloped brain of infant humanity.
A little further along the path of evolution, in the Atlantean Epoch, the Lords of Venus and the
Lords of Mercury came to the earth for the purpose of giving a further impulse to man's mental and
emotional development. It was the task of Venus to combat the lower emotions and raise the brutish
animal passion of Mars to the softer and more beautiful Venus love. She was to add beauty to
strength, and to attain that ideal the Lords of Venus fostered the plastic arts, painting and sculpture.
These were not taught to the general public at that time. The ideals which are to be developed in a
race are always first taught to the most advanced ones in a mystery temple. At that time Initiation
included no spiritual instruction, but consisted of an education in the liberal arts. Sculpture taught how
the beautiful might be incorporated in physical form; it called attention to the body, and idealized the
softly curved lines. The result is now incorporated in our own race body, for it should be thoroughly
understood that in a mystery school an ideal is not taught today simply to be forgotten tomorrow or the
next generation, but ideals are inculcated so that in time they may become part of the very life, soul,
and body of the race. Compare the race body of the Indian, the Bushman, the Hottentot, with that of
the modern civilized man, and you will find that there is indeed beauty added to strength in the latter.
It may be objected that our art is degenerating compared with what is shown in Hellenic arts, but
this is positively not so. It is rather that we have not yet attained to the highest ideal. In ancient Greece
the mystery temples occupied a much more prominent position than today; the beautiful form was
then idolized to the detriment of the mind, notwithstanding the fact that Greece had a Plato and a
Socrates.
The Lords of Mercury, who had charge of the development of mind at the time when the Lords of
Venus exercised their great influence on the emotions, had not then been able to make a universally
strong impression on early humanity. We are well aware even today that it is wearisome to think but it
is easy to follow the emotions. At the present time the middle class of the West is much further
advanced than were the ancient Greeks, because of the influence of these two planetary rays in our
lives. Woman naturally excels in the highly imaginative Venus faculty, because of her part in the
creative function, which faculty aids in molding the body of the race. On that account her figure has
the graceful curves which naturally express beauty, while man has the worldly wise intellect fostered
by the Lords of Mercury, and is the exponent of reason, the creative agency of physical progress in
the world's work.
We always long for, admire, and aspire to what we lack. In days of savagery when kicks and cuffs
were her daily fare, woman longed for a caress from her lord. The Venus ray gave her beauty and
made her an adept in the feminine arts, which have conquered the masculine heart, so that now man
plays the role of protector on the plea that woman is not mentally competent. Meanwhile he is
becoming that which he admires in her: he is more gentle and kind; Venus is conquering Mars. But
the Mercury delusion of intellectual superiority needs another influence to conquer it, and this, woman
is now attracting by her aspiration for it. As she mastered Martian brutality by Venus beauty, so also
will she free herself from Mercurial bondage by Uranian intuition.
26 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
1] After you have studied this lesson, please set up the practice horoscope below.
Lesson No. 24
[Printed Version Lesson No. 21]
possible, no matter what happens to the possessions, family, etc., of anyone else; those are not his
concern. But before he can reach a higher stage of evolution, it is necessary that this desire to
appropriate the earth and retain it for himself if possible, give way to a desire to benefit his fellow men.
In other words, egotism must give way to altruism. Just as Saturn by wielding the whiplash of
necessity over him in his primitive days brought him up to his present point of civilization, so also
Jupiter, the planet of benevolence, is destined to raise him from the estate of man to that of
superman, where he will come under the Uranian ray with respect to his emotional nature, where
passion generated by Mars will be replaced by compassion, and where the childlike consciousness of
lunar origin will be replaced by the cosmic consciousness of the Neptunian ray.
Therefore the advent into our lives of the Jupiterian ray marks a very distinct advance in human
development. As taught in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, we are to advance from our present
Earth Period into the Jupiter Period, and therefore the Jupiterian ray marks that high stage of altruism
which will then be a prominent factor in our relations, one with the other. It will be easily understood
that before we can readily respond to the rays of Jupiter, we must in a measure cultivate altruism and
conquer the Egotism that comes through the Mercurial reasoning power.
We have learned to conquer some of the phases of Mars and the Moon and we may have also
learned to conquer some of the lower phases of Mercury and Venus. The more we have overcome
these the better we are able to respond to the highest vibratory forces emanating from these planets.
Yes, if we strive earnestly we shall some day be able to overcome even the highest stage of the
Venus love, which love always attaches itself to an object owned by us. We love our children because
they are ours; we love our husband or wife because he or she belongs to us; we take pride, Venusian
pride, in their moral characteristics, or Mercurial pride in their accomplishments.
But Christ set a higher standard: "Unless a man leave his father and mother, he cannot be my
disciple." The idea that we should neglect our father or mother or that we must hate them in order to
follow Him was far from His mind, of course. But father and mother are only bodies; the soul that
inhabits the body of the father or mother is to be loved, not the mere physical garment. Our love
should be the same whether a person is old or young, ugly or beautiful. We should look for beauty of
the soul, for the universal relationship of all souls, and not mind so much the relationship of the
bodies. "Who is my mother and my brother?" asked Christ, and pointed to His disciples, those who
were at one with Him in His great work. They were closer to Him than anyone else could be through
mere physical relationship. This attitude constitutes an upward step from the Venus love, which
places the emphasis on the physical garments of the loved ones and leaves out of consideration the
soul that is within.
The Jupiterian love on the other hand, takes cognizance only of the soul, regardless of the body it
wears. The Mercurial or reasoning phase of mentality is also changed by response to the altruistic
Jupiter. Cold calculation is then out of the question. One who feels the expansive ray of Jupiter is big-
hearted where his emotions are concerned, also big-hearted where the things of the world are
concerned. "A jovial fellow" is an apt expression to describe such a man. He is welcomed and loved
by everyone he meets, because he radiates not the common selfishness, but a desire to benefit
others that breed in us a feeling of trust, diametrically different from the sense of distrust we
nondistinctively have when we come in contact with a Saturn-Mercury man.
It is a matter of actual experience with astrologers endowed with spiritual sight that every man's
planetary rays produce certain colors in his aura, in addition to the basic color which is the stamp of
the race to which he belongs. The man with the thin, sickly blue of a commingled Saturn and Mercury
is to be pitied rather than censured for the avarice and gloom which are his constant attitude of mind.
He sees everything in the world through that auric mirror which he has created around himself; he
feels that the world is cold, hard, and selfish, and therefore that it is necessary for him to be more
selfish and more cold in order that he may protect himself.
On the other hand, when we see the divine blue ray of Jupiter tinted perhaps with the refined gold
of the Uranian nature, we realize how differently such an exalted individual must view the world from
the usual sordid way of seeing and judging things. Even those who have the faintest Jupiterian tinge
are in a world filled with sunshine and blooming flowers; everything in nature is gay and glad. And by
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 29
looking at the world through such an atmosphere they call forth from other sources a similar response,
as the tuning fork previously mentioned generates a similar vibration in another of even pitch.
This total (1.4696) converted into time is 49 minutes, declination travel from 8:00 AM, G.M.T., to
Noon, G.M.T. 12:21 (declination of Moon at noon July 4, G.M.T.,) plus 0:49 minutes equals 13:10, the
declination of the Moon at the time at birth. (The Moon's declination in the ephemeris at noon, July 4,
is 12:21, and as the declination movement is toward the equator, we add the 49 minutes to this noon
declination. Thus the 0:49 minutes is the movement of declination from 8:00 AM, G.M.T., to Noon,
G.M.T.)
30 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
Lesson No. 25
[Printed Version Lesson No. 22]
Such mediums are generally used in simple trance communications, and in a few cases known to
the writer have lived very beautiful and happy lives because of their implicit belief in the spirits that
dominated them. In these cases the spirit controls were of a better class than usually met with. But as
this Uranian faculty is built up through Mars and Venus, passion is prominent in such natures, and
under the influences of obsessing spirits many of these people are driven into gross immorality.
Vampirism and kindred disreputable practices are also engendered by a perverse use of the Uranian
ray in mediums.
1] After you have studied this lesson, please set up the practice horoscope below.
Dear Friend,
Here you have Lesson No. 26, the final lesson in the Junior Astrology Course. We congratulate
you on the successful completion of this course, for we are confident that the knowledge which you
have gained through it, if rightly used to help others as well as yourself, will be a great blessing to you
and a great aid to your more rapid evolution.
We have a Senior Astrology Course consisting of 12 lessons dealing with the esoteric and higher
aspects of astrology, which we believe you will find to your advantage to pursue. At the end of this
lesson you will find the data containing the necessary information for the erection of a test horoscope,
which when correctly done will admit you to the Senior Astrology Course.
Hoping that we may continue to number you among our students,
developed he becomes spiritually, the less he will allow the planets to dominate him, while the
younger soul is driven unresistingly along with the tide of life in whatever direction the planetary
vibrations propel him. It is the mark of the advanced soul that he keeps the true course regardless of
planetary vibrations. Between these two extremes there are naturally all gradations. Some are
excessively amenable to the rays of one planet, and the bark of life of such men and women is driven
upon the rocks of sorrow and suffering that they may learn to evolve within themselves the will power
that will finally free them from all domination by the ruling stars. As Goethe, the great mystic, said:
It may be asked, “Have we run the gamut of vibrations when we have learned to respond to all
the seven planets which are mythically represented as the seven strings on Apollo's Lyre?” In other
words, is Neptune the highest vibration to which we shall ever respond? The Western Wisdom
Teachings tell us that there are two more planets in the universe which will be known in future ages,
and that these will have an influence in developing qualities of so transcendent a nature that we
cannot now understand them. The number of Adam, man or humanity, is nine, and there are nine
rungs upon the stellar ladder by which he is ascending to God. Up to the present time he has climbed
only five of these rungs, namely, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and even the vibrations
of these he has not by any means learned. Uranus and Neptune are slowly coming into our lives; they
will not become active in the same manner and to the same degree that, for instance, the Moon and
Mars are at the present time, until many ages have passed. But even when we have learned to
respond to them, there are two more of which we shall know something later on. It is the opinion of
the writer that these two are probably not felt by any except those who have graduated from the
Greater Mystery School and the Hierophants of that sublime institution.
In concluding this article, on the amenability of man to planetary vibrations we quote from The
Rosicrucian Mysteries a part of the article on "Light, Color, and Consciousness".
"Truly, God is One and Undivided. He enfolds within His being all that is, as the while light
embraces all colors. But He appears threefold in manifestation, as the white light is refracted in three
primary colors, blue, yellow, and red. Wherever we see these colors they are emblematical of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three primary rays of divine life are diffused or radiated through
the Sun, and produce life, consciousness, and form upon each of the seven light bearers, the planets,
which are called the “Seven Spirits before the Throne.” Their names are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. Bode's law would indicate that Neptune does not belong to our solar
system, and the reader is referred to Simplified Scientific Astrology by the present writer for
mathematical demonstration of this contention.
"Each of the seven planets receives the light of the Sun in a different measure according to its
proximity to the central orb and the constitution of its atmosphere. The beings on each, according to
their stage of development, have affinity for some of the solar rays. They absorb the color or colors
congruous to them, and reflect the remainder upon the other planets. These reflected rays bear with
them an impulse of the nature of the beings with whom they have been in contact.
"Thus the divine light and life come to each planet, either directly from the Sun or reflected from
the six planets. As the summer breeze which has been wafted over blooming fields carries upon its
silent, invisible wings the blended fragrance of a multitude of flowers, so also the subtle influences
from the Garden of God bring to us the mingled impulses of all the Spirits, and in that vari-colored light
we live and move and have our being.
"The rays which come directly from the Sun are productive of spiritual illumination; the reflected
rays from other planets make for added consciousness and moral development; and the rays
reflected by way of the Moon give physical growth.
"But as each planet can absorb only a certain quantity of one or more colors according to the
general stage of evolution there, so each being upon earth—mineral, plant, animal, and man—can
only absorb and thrive upon a certain quantity of the various rays projected upon the earth. The
remainder does not affect it or produce sensation any more than the blind are conscious of light and
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 35
color which exist everywhere around them. Therefore each being is differently affected by the stellar
rays; and a knowledge of the science of astrology, a fundamental truth in nature, is of enormous
benefit in the attainment of spiritual growth."
Besides the stellar vibrations which we have discussed in the foregoing there is one of vital
importance to which all mankind is responsive, namely, that of the lunation or new Moon. The
progressed planets may be regarded as the hour hand of a clock. They mark the year when certain
events are due according to their positions and their aspects and our amenability to their vibrations.
By them the destiny or opportunity in store for mankind is forecast; but unless the Moon, which
corresponds to the minute hand in our illustration of the clock of destiny, moves along through the
houses of the horoscope by progression and gives her consent by acting as a focus for the planetary
vibrations, these would never take effect upon humanity.
Besides the actual progression of the Moon and the planets in the horoscope at the rate of a day
for a year, there is, as said in the first paragraph, the lunation, which occurs each month in a different
sign of the zodiac by a conjunction of the Moon with the Sun. Whenever this conjunction occurs within
three degrees of an aspect to any one of the planets in the natal horoscope, the effect of the
configuration will be felt during the month governed by this lunation, provided of course that the
person is responsive and amenable to that particular stellar influence. For instance, if a lunation were
trine to Neptune in the horoscope of a Hottentot or Bushman, you would find no effect from this
configuration; but if, on the other hand, this configuration occurs in the horoscope of an advanced
mystic, there will be certain definite spiritual experiences of a beautiful nature during that month.
The influences of these lunations may be divided into three classes according to whether they
affect the Moon, Mars or Saturn at birth, producing physical results; the Sun, Venus, or Mercury,
producing social, moral, and mental effects; or Jupiter, Uranus, or Neptune which would act upon the
spiritual nature.
The results produced under the vibrations of a new Moon will naturally depend upon the aspects.
Squares and oppositions give trials and troubles. Sextiles and trines give pleasures of a nature
consonant with the planetary aspects.
The ordinary lunation does not produce effects for more than one month. But if the lunation
happens to be an eclipse, the effect will be felt for a full year from the time of its occurrence. Every
time that year when a lunation falls in square to the place of the eclipse, it will re-awaken the evil, if
any, experienced at the time when the eclipse occurred. Similarly, if the original lunation was good,
then every formation of sextile and trine to its place will bring correspondingly good results.
Dear Friend,
We congratulate you for having completed The Rosicrucian Fellowship Junior Astrology Course.
We invite you to continue your studies with our Senior Astrology Course. But before you may begin
that Course, please send us your answers to the questions below.
3. What is the principal factor with respect to the affairs of any particular house?
4. What brings out the power of the spirit? How is progress in evolution made?
9. How does the cosmic consciousness of Neptune differ from the intuitional right feeling
developed under Uranus?
10. What is the third factor in universal advancement? Define and describe it. In the human
kingdom this factor expresses itself as what?
We trust that you have studied well and know the answers to these important questions. If not,
please restudy the material here given. Unless you develop a sound foundation of learning and
understanding, you will not be able to help others to your highest potential.
In fellowship,
Rosicrucian Fellowship
Education Department
ANSWERS
Declination of the Moon, September 15, 1912, noon G.M.T. 20:33 North
Declination of the Moon, September 14, 1912, noon G.M.T. 15:25 North
Travel 5:08
20:33 (declination of the Moon on September 15, noon G.M.T.) minus 1:04 equals 19:29, the
declination of the Moon at the time of birth.
38 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
The sextile being a harmonious aspect, the above will be related in a constructive, harmonious
manner, resulting in:
An energetic and discriminating mind will enable the native to select a home-loving, magnetic,
fruitful partner. There will be inheritance through a death and money through the partner. An
energized imagination may express itself through the fine arts, bringing success with the public and at
home. Death may occur at the end of a useful and active life, probably due to too great an
expenditure of energy.
Remember, the above two aspects occur in the same chart. We are truly mixtures of "good" and
"bad."
Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26 41
This total (1.4696) converted into time is 49 minutes, declination travel from 8:00 AM, G.M.T., to
Noon, G.M.T. 12:21 (declination of Moon at noon July 4, G.M.T.,) plus 0:49 minutes equals 13:10, the
declination of the Moon at the time at birth. (The Moon's declination in the ephemeris at noon, July 4,
is 12:21, and as the declination movement is toward the equator, we add the 49 minutes to this noon
declination. Thus the 0:49 minutes is the movement of declination from 8:00 AM, G.M.T., to Noon,
G.M.T.)
42 Junior Astrology Course, lessons 20 - 26
Please send us the horoscope you cast for Lesson No. 26 and if it is acceptable, we will send
you our Senior Astrology Course.
rosfshp@rosicrucianfellowship.org
http://www.rosicrucianfellowship.org