NEWSLETTERfrom the Astrology Center of America / AstroAmerica.com

Email Dave@astroamerica.com

Copyright © 2011 by David R. Roell. All rights reserved.Astrology HomeAstrology Home Newsletter ArchiveNewsletter Archive New Astrology BooksNew Astrology Books New Vedic BooksNew Vedic Books New Tarot DecksNew Tarot Decks Top Ten BooksTop Ten Books

June 7, 2011 ARCHIVE — Subscribe / Unsubscribe

With art by Vera !NOW WEEKLY!

S T A R O F T H E W E E K

NOW WEEKLY!

– From Fixed Stars, by Vivian Robson

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

07 15:28 ¡ Å ¤ Void19:34 ¡ –20:41 £ Ä §

08 08:05 ¤ Ð ª09 02:11917–56 First Quarter

02:42 ¦ Æ ©08:14 ¡ Ä ¥ Void14:24 ¤ “20:36 £ Ï ¢22:32 ¡ —

10 08:24 ¤ Å ©11 08:05 ¡ Ä ¢ Void12 00:34 ¡ ˜

23:45 £ Â ¢13 02:36 ¤ Æ ¨

03:52 § Ô17:44 ¡ Ã ¥ Void

for the week (all times GMT)A L M A N A C K

OOO

OOO

OOO

OOO

OOO

Extracted & adapted from AstroAmerica’sDaily Ephemeris, 2000-2020. Get yours!

ASTROMEDMEDASTRO

A to Z

FROM C.E.O. CARTER’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA

BELLATRIX gamma Orinis 21 ß 06Notes: A slightly variable pale-yellow star on the left shoulder of

Orion. The name means the Female Warrior, but according to Bullinger it signifiesQuickly Coming or Swiftly DestroyingInfluence: According to Ptolemy it is like Mars & Mercury. It gives great civil ormilitary honour but danger of sudden dishonour, renown, wealth, eminent friends andliability to accidents causing blindness & ruin. If prominent in a woman’s map it makesher loquacious & shrewish, and gives a high-pitched, hard & sharp voice.If culminating: Quarrels, hatred, fraud committed or suffered, forgery, swindling, coin-ing & perjury.With Sun: Vacillating, changeable, indecisive in business, mechanical ability, riches &honour but final ruin, blindness by accident . . .

IIIII OOO

OOO

OOO

OOO

OOO

ENTERIC FEVER. This is predomi-nately a mutable-sign disease, and leastof all afflicts maps with many bodies incardinal signs. In the cases studied, thereare more than twice as many planets inmutable signs as in cardinal, althoughLibra is rather often tenanted. Either theSun, Moon, or ascendant is nearly al-ways in either Virgo or Scorpio, or isafflicted from them. Mars & Saturn arein affliction in most cases; in King Ed-ward VII’s they are certainly not in con-junction, but occupy the same sign, andSaturn disposes of Mars. It seems rathercommon to find squares from the begin-nings of the cardinal & fixed crosses, butthe main areas of affliction are about 10Oand 21O of the mutables.Enthusiasm is the outcome of the in-fluence of the fiery signs, and is alsoprobably connected with Uranus. A pre-ponderance of earthy & airy signs in-clines to a lack of this quality. Virgo &Libra in particular are apt to find doingthings “not worth while”.Envy is one of the lower forms of Scor-pionic action, especially, I think, Sun inScorpio. — C.E.O. Carter

n e w b o o k sN E W B O O K SN E W B O O K STRANNIES FOR EVERY-ONE ! The ephemeris we’vebeen waiting for is here! It’sthe American EphemerisTrans-Century edition,1950-2050, at midnight.Identical to their recent 20th & 21st centurybooks, and now for the years we really want.A noon edition will follow in a few weeks.

THE BEST BOOKEVER ON THEMORINUS SYSTEMhas just been printed:Planetary Powers, theMorin Method, byPatti Tobin Brittain. Inthe book are more thana hundred simple, clear

examples. One or two planets in a wheel,sometime with signs, sometimes not. Foreach example there is a simple, terse delin-eation. The reader is challenged to compre-hend the delineation, to understand why itworks. From James Holden’s personal library.

The Search for the Heart:Consultation charts, inter-preting thoughts & calcu-lating victors in traditionalastrology, by Herman ofCarinthia, translated by Ben-jamin Dykes. To the Arabs,it wasn’t enough to simply read horarycharts. They wanted to know the motiva-tions of the person asking the question.Hence the use of the horary chart to “mindread”. Which can be done, surprisinglyenough.I N E E D Y O U R H E L PA photo of Vivian Robsonhas been found ! Accord-ing to a note in a late1940’s AFA Bulletin, itcan be found in the June1919 issue of ModernAstrology, where he is de-scribed as looking “cow like”. I knew thisissue had a biography/introduction of Rob-son, but I was unaware of the photo. I wouldbe grateful if anyone has a copy I can bor-row and scan. The round trip should takeabout a week. And I was right: Accordingto reports, he did look like my friend Hazel.She looked distinctly like Elsie, Elmer’s

companion.

http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/newsletters.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/newsletters.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/new.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/new.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/v-new.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/v-new.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/t-newtarot.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/t-newtarot.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/topten.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/topten.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/newsletters.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/newsletters.html#subscribehttp://www.astroamerica.com/stars.html#the fixed stars & constellations in astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/stars.html#the fixed stars & constellations in astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/const.html#r112http://www.astroamerica.com/dailyephemeris.pdfhttp://www.astroamerica.com/dailyephemeris.pdfhttp://www.astroamerica.com/carter.html#c4http://www.astroamerica.com/carter.html#c4http://www.astroamerica.com/carter.html#c4http://www.astroamerica.com/carter.html#c4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._W._Bullingerhttp://www.astroamerica.com/const.html#m149http://www.astroamerica.com/const.html#m149http://www.astroamerica.com/const.html#m149http://www.astroamerica.com/const.html#m149http://www.astroamerica.com/const.html#m149http://www.astroamerica.com/morin.html#b121http://www.astroamerica.com/morin.html#b121http://www.astroamerica.com/morin.html#b121http://www.astroamerica.com/morin.html#b121http://www.astroamerica.com/morin.html#b121http://www.astroamerica.com/dykes.html#h102http://www.astroamerica.com/dykes.html#h102http://www.astroamerica.com/dykes.html#h102http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=elsie+the+cow&cp=7&pq=ayanamsa&safe=off&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1024&bih=612&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wihttp://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/carter.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/carter.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/relate3.html#m80http://www.astroamerica.com/mundane2.html#bwhhttp://www.astroamerica.com/mundane2.html#bwhhttp://www.astroamerica.com/stars.html#the fixed stars & constellations in astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/const.html#m149http://www.astroamerica.com/morin.html#b121http://www.astroamerica.com/dykes.html#h102

Copyright © 2011 by David R. Roell. All rights reserved.

%IVY’SGEMOFTHE

WEEKIvy M

. G

old

stein

-Jacobso

n1893-1

990

Buy the book! Meet the author! Headlines, graphics, book titles & authors are all clickable. So click already! Go places!

© Debbi Kempton-Smith, 1999

How to Pick aHouse System

THERE are at least a dozen differenthouse systems, none of which any-one understands. Ask an “expert”and you will get a description of how this orthat system divides up the sky, but nothing atall on how to use it. This is more confusingbecause house systems are not fads. Theyemerged over time, according to ability &location. So I will start at the beginning.

Houses are where everything in astrol-ogy comes to a single focus. Planets, signs,aspects, triplicities, midpoints and muchmore. It is therefore important that the housesystem fits precisely so that all those otherdetails work as one.

So you’re a jaded middle-aged male, en-tertaining a friend. The stripper has just ap-peared on the catwalk, wearing a gorgeousfull-length evening dress, with elbow-lengthwhite gloves. That’s her “house system”.You know what her naked fundamentals willbe, but (you’re in the rag trade) you’re curi-ous how she’s fitted herself together, her andall those garments (the package). You’re notsalivating over the act to come, so much aswishing you could personally peel off thelayers & discover how she got them all to fitso perfectly. — Now that I’ve got your at-tention . . .

The necessity for houses, independent ofsigns, is a factor of latitude. At the Equatorall house systems produce more or less equalhouses, as you can see by the examples onpage 5, where the same date and time is usedto produce charts set at the Equator, 20O, 40O,and 60O north latitude. In Tropical regionsyou can use equal houses on all cusps. Themidheaven won’t be exactly there, but there’sa lot of astrology you can do without an ex-act MC. And besides. All those fancy meth-ods of rectifying a chart mostly work withthe ascendant anyway. Rarely the MC. Solong as the sign on the MC is right, you’ll dofine, etc., etc.

Well, that’s settled. Equal houses in thetropics (23O N/S of the Equator), somethingelse for the rest of the planet.

But not so fast. Turns out, the sky is acomplex thing and early astrologers didn’thave a number system that would let themdescribe it by means of houses. Early num-ber systems, such as the Attic, the Ionian,

Your Dayon Earth

THE ruler of our Sun Sign describesus as individuals, while the house itis in shows the niche in life whereour clock of time works best. The ruler ofthe Immediate Future Second House showsour talent & aptitude for our best branch ofvocation in life . . . . but where you find theruler of your day of birth shows where youwill spend your day on Earth.

To understand better our relatives &friends & others with whom we have deal-ings, including anyone inimical in the circleof our chart, we should know all about theruler of our day of birth. It is our link withtheirs. Say you were born on Wednesday,ruled by Mercury in the list, your interest inMercurial matters will make it natural foryou to find rapport with those also born ona Wednesday. Also, since each planet rulesits own hours of the day it is easy to seewhich time by the clock should serve yourmutual interests best when meeting as friends.

Then again, should someone inimical toyou share the same planetary day-ruler sothat you shared the same interests basicallybut disagreed in some way, you would knowwhich hours of the day were inimical suchas an argumentative (to Mercury) Marshour, or a Sun hour that is imperative &lordly, which may over-rule opinionatedMercury & cause disagreement.

For those knowing only their date ofbirth, more especially those of very earlyvintage, we give our Yearly Index designat-ing the Yearly Calendar to use on pages 161to 181 herein . . . — Astrological Essays,1979

Your Dayon Earth

T

Sun in theTenth House

YOU chose to live your life in a gold-fish bowl. You’re here to set an ex-ample to us, so you become the pil-lar of the community. The price you pay forthis stardom is not so high—the only thingyou pay is living your life as if a televisioncamera were trained on you twenty-fourhours a day. You feel as if Someone Up Thereis watching you. She is. All you have to do isfind a noble career, grow a bigger, nobler per-sonality than any career could contain you with,and act as if the whole world is watching.

You asked to be a big shot, sweetheart,and you’ll enjoy every minute of it as longas you keep your actions exemplary. Tenthhouse Sun people (or any planets in the tenthhouse, for that matter) can’t get away withnuthin’. The gory details always leak out.

Don’t be afraid to be the power brokeryou long to be. You’re good at power if youhad a sweet Mama. This is another loadedhouse for the psychologists to explore, tenthhouse Sun folks have to overcome their iden-tification with their mothers before they cango on to success. Success is your birthright.As the good old I Ching says, “Shine like thesun at midday.” That’s when you were born.

Famous examples of this larger-than-life,living-example-to-the-masses condition areIvan the Terrible, Errol Flynn, Rose Kennedy,Janis Joplin, Nikita Khrushchev, MartinLuther King, Van Gogh, and Napoleon.

We’ll use two of the more admirable tenthhouse Sun types for you to study. Numberone is Ben Franklin, and number two is theever-delicious philosopher/sage, Ram Dass.

Sun in the Eleventh HouseDream big or die, that’s you. You believe tothe core that you’re here to affect what’s goeson in your community. You can. You’re asuperb team player (with a bit of practice),and you’re never happier than when you poolin with your friends on a big project. Friendsmean the world to you. . . .

Sun in theTenth House

Y

How to Pick aHouse System

T

continued, pg. 4

http://www.astroamerica.com/jacob.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/jacob.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/jacob.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/jacob.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/jacob.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/basics5.html#k2http://www.topquarkia.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/basics5.html#k2http://public.csusm.edu/aitken_html/mathhistory/AtticNumbers1.pdfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numeralshttp://www.astroamerica.com/jacob.html#6http://www.astroamerica.com/jacob.html#6http://www.astroamerica.com/jacob.html#6

Martha LangWescott’s

ASTEROIDOF THEMONTH

ASTEROIDOF THEMONTH

**Order on-line at

www.AstroAmerica.comOrder toll-free: 1-800-475-2272

Get your books from AstroAmerica! All the books, fast service, fair prices.

Part 42:

HST

UDEN

T’S

COR

NERHH

STUD

ENT’

S C

ORNE

RHH

STUD

ENT’

S C

ORNE

RHHSTUDENT’S CORNERH

© Marian Futterman, 1976, Your Dogand Astrology, $3.00. Yes, Marian, westill have copies. Some of the best sun-sign writing I ever came across.

+ The New Newsletter

Most people, most astrologers,even, have no idea how rich,how varied, astrology really is.I’m lucky. For the last fifteen years, I’velived in what amounts to a world-classastrological library, which I’ve been pass-ing off as AstroAmerica. Every week Iwill serve up a slice for your amusement.

‘Til next week – Dave

+

M

DOG OF THEMONTHDOG OF THEMONTH

This is a serialization of Vivian Robson’smasterpiece, A Student’s Text-Book ofAstrology. It is now in print.

Pallas AthenaHealth & Accidents

— A Student’s Text-Bookof Astrology, by Vivian Robson.

continuedHealth & AccidentsThe following are the chief aphorisms re-lating to health:

1. The Ascendant & all planets in signsof one triplicity cause continual trouble fromailments pertaining to that triplicity.

2. Lords of Ascendant or of sign inter-cepted in 1st, afflicted by malefics in 6th or12th denotes general ill-health.

3. Sun or Moon afflicted in the 6th or7th denotes much illness, and the health isweakened if Sun afflicts Moon.

4. Sun conjunct Moon makes the nativeinfirm & tends to weak mental balance orpeculiar diseases.

5. Lord of Ascendant applying to a badaspect lord of 6th indicates that the nativeis negligent of his health.

6. Malefics rising cause accidents oracute & painful illnesses; if setting long &tedious diseases.

7. Benefics oriental or angular and as-pecting Moon indicate that diseases will becurable. If Jupiter it will be by medicine,and if Venus they will cure themselves. Ifthe benefics be cadent or occidental, thedisease will be wholly incurable.

8. If the benefics are in no aspect to theSun and Moon, and the malefics are inangles the disease will be incurable, andeven if the benefics assist, a cure will notbe effected if the malefics are strong andelevated above them.

9. Malefics rising before the Sun or af-ter the Moon cause diseases & their effectsare increased if Mercury is with them.

10. When Saturn is instrumental in caus-ing disease it frequently indicates a tendencyto complain, and if Mercury is also afflict-ing the native may talk much about his ill-ness or even parade it for profit or beg fromdoor to door.

IN mythology, the Greek Athena, was thevirgin goddess of wisdom, a warrior whosprang, fully armed, from the head of herfather, Zeus. He taught her the strategies ofbattle. In astrology, the origins of Pallas Ath-ena begins when a child FIGURES OUT—what to do with the father’s approval. Andboth of these elements become part of manydiverse manifestations of Pallas. The AspectPattern of natal Pallas Athena will let youknow how successful this effort was or at whatcost the battle was won. Aspects involvingretrograde planets show an undercurrent, asubliminal demand that the child manifest orreact in the manner of this planet. Tensionaspects involving Pallas (or sustaining aspectsinvolving “heavier” or more complex plan-etary energies) are often accompanied by someapprehension that comes with being noticed.Both conjunctions and the facilitating aspectsshow what Daddy liked about the child (andthat caused problems for resistant aspect cat-egories). The pattern of “pleasing Daddy”translates in adult life to “what one does (orrefuses to do) to win approval” with otherkinds of authoritative figures & partners.Evaluate both the Sign & House position ofPallas in your preliminary examination of itseffects (i.e., a Libra Pallas may have had to bea mediator, a 12th House Pallas may have feltexploited by his efforts to win approval). Thesymbology of “father” convinces the child thatPallas (by Sign, House & aspects) requires thatone “works for” approval & acceptance; thechild learns to analyze behaviors & make per-sonal adjustments in order to “get along” (andmake aspecting planets work).— Mechanics of Future Asteroids.

Pallas Athena

IMost Gemini dogs areextremely intelligent& easy to communi-cate with. Just tellthem once to ‘sit’ or‘outside’ and they willimmediately do it. Lots of energy, nostaying around thehouse for this one.

Will fetch your paper, and all you have todo is talk to him, a real people animal.

He seems fascinated by the sounds hisvocal cords can produce, and may happilycarry on a canine conversation with himself.

Will do anything for a ride in the car.Sticks his nose out of the window & thefaster you go, the better he likes it.

These dogs especially like to play pro-viding they’re not hungry.

When you want him to come to you,try rattling paper bags & he’ll come run-ning.

Geminis like plenty of love & affec-tion.

http://www.treehousemountain.com/http://www.treehousemountain.com/http://www.treehousemountain.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/little.html#futt1http://www.astroamerica.com/little.html#futt1http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=astroamerica&btnG=Searchhttp://www.astroamerica.com/little.html#futt1http://www.astroamerica.com/little.html#futt1http://www.astroamerica.com/little.html#futt1http://www.astroamerica.com/little.html#futt1http://www.astroamerica.com/robson.html#robsonsthttp://www.astroamerica.com/robson.html#robsonsthttp://www.astroamerica.com/robson.html#robsonsthttp://www.astroamerica.com/robson.html#robsonsthttp://www.astroamerica.com/robson.html#robsonsthttp://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/carter.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/carter.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/relate3.html#m80http://www.astroamerica.com/mundane2.html#bwhhttp://www.astroamerica.com/mundane2.html#bwh

Copyright © 2011 by David R. Roell. All rights reserved.

the Roman, the Chinese, the Mayan, wereall variations on hash marks. You couldcount, you could add, you could subtract &if you memorized tables, you could do simplemultiplication & division. But that was it.

So far as houses were concerned, the gno-mon on a sundial will determine noon. Fromthat, simple tables were constructed, basedon the day (or, more likely, the week) of theyear, along with the latitude (more exactly,the klime) to give the angular separation,Ascendant to MC. The length of thegnomon’s shadow at any given moment onany given day was the ascendant, as noted inthe table. For night births, or when it wascloudy, there were water clocks (clepsydra).

Which in practice meant that for centu-ries astrology stalled at about 30 degreesnorth: Alexandria (31 N). Yes there weredabblers with Caesar in Rome (42 N), butthe main school was further south.

Valens, for example. He was one of themost demanding of early Alexandrian as-trologers. He had the ascendant, he had theMC. He wanted houses. Real houses. Notequal ones. The best he could do was dividethe zodiacal longitude, Asc to MC, by 3 &call that his cusps. Which are Porphyryhouses. (They far predate Porphyry (3rd cen-tury), or Valens himself (2nd century), forthat matter.)

Porphyry has lately been revived by JeffGreen & his Evolutionary Astrology, butthey are not really houses, as they do not rep-resent either the Earth’s unique space, or time.Porphyry is just an alternative version ofsigns. My best guess is that Green’s use ofthem is whimsical.

(What about Chinese and Tibetan andCeltic astrologies? Turns out, none of thesewere sky-based. Why? Because they wereall too far north for the simple number sys-tems (aka hash marks) they had. Astrologyis more complex than has been realized. It ismore complex than this overview.)

What changed? A culture that didn’t re-ally need numbers invented them anyway.By around 300 AD, India had invented whatwe know as “Arabic numbers”. Which arenumbers based on position, rather than sym-bolic hash marks. If they had invented them600 years earlier, Alexander the Great wouldhave brought them back to Europe. Instead,around 900 AD the expansionary Islamic Ca-liphate got them. In no time they (not theHindus, it seems) had added decimal points,thereby creating the modern number system.

Islamic astrologers wasted no time in in-venting the first proper house system: Al-cabitius. In this system, the time it took for

a degree to move from the ascendant, to theMC, was trisected. The degree on the ascen-dant at the first third was declared to be the11th house cusp. The degree on the ascen-dant at the end of 2/3rds of the stated timewas declared to be the 12th house cusp.

All the while Christian Europe waslocked in a life or death struggle with Islam,which is to say, Europe refused to have any-thing to do with the “heathens” to the south.This changed when the first Crusaders re-turned with lots of fabulous loot. Which ini-tially only spurred more Crusades. Plunderwould pay for wars, Europe at the time wasdestitute.

By the twelfth century things had begunto settle down & the rudiments of actual tradewas emerging. The Twelfth Century Trans-lators (that’s the name they go by) translatedscores of Arabic & Persian books, many ofthem astrological. In 1202, Fibonacci in-troduced the Indian-Arabic number systemto Europe. The importance of this one eventto western civilization simply cannot be over-emphasized.

Together, these became the astrology ofGuido Bonatus (died c.1300). In their texts,the translators found Alcabitius houses,which they passed along. Which were thehouses that Bonatus used. If you are a stu-dent of Bonatus or the Arabs, use this sys-tem.

Campanus of Novara was a contempo-rary of Bonatus. He served a number ofpopes. Using the newly introduced Arabicnumbers, he invented the Campanus housesystem, which used space. Campanuserected a Prime Vertical & trisected the dif-ference between that, and the horizon (as-cendant). I regret that to my knowledge thereare currently no books in print from the“Campanus era”, though many notable 20thcentury astrologers found Campanus to beof interest, among them, Dane Rudhyar,C.E.O. Carter, and Cyril Fagan.

So we now have three distinct systems:No system: Equal, Porphyry.Time systems: Alcabitius, Placidus, To-

pocentric, Koch, etc.Space systems: Campanus, Regiomon-

tanus, etc.I am aware there are still other systems –

midheaven based, for example, but they havefew adherents.

THE hard-working girl on stage isslowly giving up her secrets. Ourjaded host is examining a glove thatcame flying his way. Before the showreaches its climax, there is still more we canpuzzle out.

I note that Alcabitius houses, based ontime, was an effort to put a foundation underVettius Valens, who used the time it took asign to rise as a method of forecasting. Thisamounts to Primary Directions, which, thenas now, are difficult to calculate. Placiduswas an improved version of Alcabitius, andTopocentric amounts to a confirmation ofPlacidus by means of actual observation.

What do all these systems have in com-mon? They are all time based systems andthey all concern natal charts.

On the other hand, astrology in Europe,right from the start, was largely centered onhorary. What does horary use? It has tradi-tionally used Regiomontanus. Which is aspace based system.

So, what is the difference between nataland horary?

Natal charts are dynamic. Progres-sions, directions, rectification, transits, andmuch more, are applied to them. A givennatal chart is in use from the moment of birth,until the eventual death. Natal charts change.

An horary chart, by contrast, is used once& then thrown away. Only the most simpledirections are ever applied to it. An horarychart, as well as its near relations, electional,mundane and decumbiture, are static.

Based on the foregoing, here is a simplerule:

For Static Charts, (i.e. Horary) use aSpace Based System, such as Regiomonta-nus or Campanus.

For Dynamic Charts, (i.e. Natal) use aTime Based System, such as Alcabitius, Placi-dus, Topocentric or Koch.

Generally speaking, the more recent thesystem, the more polished it will be. In otherwords, chose Regiomontanus over Campa-nus, chose Placidus over Alcabitius.

Must you follow this rule? Of course not!It is merely a term of reference, a starting

T

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numeralshttp://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Chinese_numerals.htmlhttp://www.google.com/search?q=mayan+numbers&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=655&site=webhp&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=JxjsTZfoJePL0QG81NGsAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDIQsAQhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_markhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundialhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climehttp://www.astroamerica.com/evolve.html#g101http://www.astroamerica.com/evolve.html#g101http://www.evolutionaryastrology.net/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_translations_of_the_12th_centuryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_translations_of_the_12th_centuryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonaccihttp://www.astroamerica.com/bonatus.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/fore6.html#sepharial

NEWSLETTERfrom the Astrology Center of America / AstroAmerica.com

Email Dave@astroamerica.com

Copyright © 2011 by David R. Roell. All rights reserved.Astrology HomeAstrology Home Newsletter ArchiveNewsletter Archive New Astrology BooksNew Astrology Books New Vedic BooksNew Vedic Books New Tarot DecksNew Tarot Decks Top Ten BooksTop Ten Books

point, for those who need one.Mastery of materials makes for special-

ized uses. In other words, some house sys-tems have comparatively narrow uses.

Koch houses are unique in that its inter-mediate cusps — 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th,11th & 12th, are known to be sensitive toordinary transits. Joyce Wehrman exploitedthis 30 years ago with her Winning gamblingsystem – which really works. Hard aspectsto the Koch 5th house cusp will make you awinner on the slots. It’s been proven morethan once. It is, however, not an easy sys-tem to learn, and a birth-time, precise to atleast the minute, if not the nearest 15 sec-onds, is critical. How to get your time thatprecise? Joyce suggested dealing yourselfBlackjack hands, until you deal yourself aperfect 21. Having previously set your clockexactly to true Universal Time, you erect achart for that moment and from it, extractyour actual Koch 5th house cusp. You thenrectify your chart to put that precise degree,minute & second there. Here is a further hint:The conjunction, square & opposition aspectsto your 5th house cusp repeat every five hours59 minutes. If that’s what you found, thenyou should be able to repeat the win everyfive hours 59 minutes. This is because theDay, the time it takes the same degree to re-turn to the ascendant (or your 5th housecusp), is 23 hours, 56 minutes.

Wehrman’s “winning moment” is onlyabout two minutes long. There might be asmuch as 30 seconds on either side of it. Hitit square and you will win, win, win. Missby even a second and you will lose, and goon losing, hour after hour. I proved this tomyself many years ago playing WindowsSolitaire, Vegas style.

Topocentric, which for most latitudesgives results very similar to Placidus, pro-duces less distortion above 55O north. If youcommonly work with natal charts in thoselatitudes, you might try it out.

In the middle of the 20th century, CyrilFagan and Brigadier Firebrace invented aSidereal Zodiac system of astrology. It wasbased on the Fagan-Bradley ayanamsa andexploited solar and lunar returns. By defini-tion these were precessed, as the siderealzodiac is self-precessing. Back in the 1980’swe thought precession was the thing to do,so we precessed Tropical returns. Whichproduced charts for the same exact instant,so wasn’t that the same?

Turns out, according to one of my con-tacts (Dave Y.), they’re not. Turns out, theFagan-Bradley sidereal zodiac producesvalid signs when used to make return charts.

This was a surprise to me. What house sys-tem did Fagan use for his returns?

He used Campanus. Back in the 1980’s,I was running charts for Kanya. He was thebrilliant man who ran the Tree of Life inHarlem. He had everything in Sidereal/Fa-gan-Bradley, Campanus houses. At the timeI thought it was simply the African-Ameri-can school of astrology, because at the time Iwas unaware the Sidereal school (Fagan, Bra-dley, Firebrace etc.) had completely fadedaway in only ten years.

So how do we learn to use houses? Aswith everything else, we learn from the mas-ters.

FANS of equal houses will say that Ihave short-changed them. I myselfwonder if they know how to usehouses. I recommend the Morinus methodas he is most excellent. I might add that wehave just watched a pro strip down to herbare nothingness & while she did so, she hadevery eye in the house, male & female, riv-eted on her. By comparison, a wet T-shirtcontest is a drippy amateur mess. Yourchoice.

And no, nudes are not out of place. Theyare used in metaphysical literature, partly tograb wayward male attention, but mostly asa metaphor for the naked truth. Astrologycan give us that, the-truth-and-nothing-but,but only if we are brave enough to demandit, to be willing to see it. Unlike our dancer,it is not always pretty.

All charts:March 20, 2011

7:21 pm EDTEquinox

Placidus cusps

Equator

20ON

60ON

40ON

F

http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/newsletters.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/newsletters.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/new.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/new.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/v-new.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/v-new.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/t-newtarot.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/t-newtarot.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/topten.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/topten.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/little.html#what are winning transitshttp://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?UTC/s/0/javahttp://www.astroamerica.com/morin.html#b121http://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/wescott.html#mechanics of the future: asteroidshttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/calendar.html#maynardwallhttp://www.astroamerica.com/carter.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/carter.htmlhttp://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#wilson2http://www.astroamerica.com/diction.html#encyclopedia of astrologyhttp://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/horary2.html#r27http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/relate.html#w49http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.staceywolf.com/http://www.astroamerica.com/relate3.html#m80http://www.astroamerica.com/mundane2.html#bwhhttp://www.astroamerica.com/mundane2.html#bwh