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Astrology Institute Newsletter: July 31, 2005
Written by Joseph Crane

Quotable Quote – Getting Sirius -- Mercury retrograde – Mars in Taurus – a heretical look at the new 10th Planet – Horary for the Month

Quotable Quote
For an occasional feature, I would submit a quote from an authority from the classical world that could go on every astrology consultant’s wall. For the past several weeks we’ve been going through some of the dialogues of Plato that seem particularly relevant to astrologers. The Timaeus is the work specifically on cosmology and is an important work for astronomy and astrology, off and on, for centuries afterwards.
Read the quoted paragraph twice for maximum impact.
You can see here the idea of living life in the same harmonies and rhythms of the universe and so to become more in conformity with our true natures. You can fine here the seed of the astrological work in Ficino’s Three Books on Life.

“And to the extent that human nature can partake of immortality, he can in no way fail to achieve this: constantly caring for his divine part as he does, keeping well-ordered the guiding spirit that lives within him, he must indeed be supremely happy. Now there is but one way to care for anything, and that is to provide for it the nourishment and the motions that are proper to it. And the motions that have an affinity to the divine part within us are the thoughts and motions and revolutions of the universe. These, surely, are the ones that each of us should follow. We should redirect the revolutions in our heads that were thrown off course at our birth, by coming to learn the harmonies and revolutions of the universe, and so bring into conformity with its objects our faculty of understanding, as it was in its original condition. And when this conformity is complete, we shall have achieved our goal: that most excellent life offered to humankind by the gods, both now and forevermore.” [90 C-D] Translator D. J. Zeyl.

(Well, to hang this on your wall so it’s visible you might need a large wall.)

Now Sirius-ly
From the latitude of Boston we’re certainly approaching the “Dog Days.” No – I am not referring to our rather warm weather of late – it’s warmer in other parts of the country, if you can imagine such a thing.
On August 4 the brightest star of the sky, Sirius, co-rises with the Sun. Ptolemy called that the “true heliacal rising” (heliacal refers to Sun). The paradox is that when a star is conjunct the Sun it is invisible. Yet this is the “true” rising. The visible or “apparent” heliacal rising is when the star gets just enough away from the Sun for the star to be first visible on the eastern horizon before the Sun rises. To the ancient eye this would be a predictable but spectacular celestical event and indeed the ancient Egyptians began their yearly calendar for this event.
For the next newsletter we can go into matters of the visible sky and its regular patterned changes.

A Look at Mercury Retrograde
We happen to be in the middle of a Mercury retrograde period, one which began on July 23 when Mercury stationed at 20 Leo. Mercury will be retrograde until August 16, when Mercury stations at 8 Leo going direct.
Alas, many of us have to purchase cars and computer equipment, endure contracts all kinds of legal agreements, go to job interviews and graduate school proposal defenses, and Mercury happens to be retrograde. What’s one to do?
First of all one should not be alarmist. I have yet to see long lines at car or computer repair places or meltdowns in lawyers’ offices all happening when Mercury goes retrograde.
What not to do is postpone important life events until Mercury goes direct. That’s not living life in accordance with the heavens as much as ignoring your life here on earth.
You need to take Mercury being retrograde as a note of caution, especially if you have Mercury in a difficult place in the zodiac -- like the sixty, eighth, or twelfth houses or places or in Sagittarius or Pisces. Mercury could be in an aspect to Uranus (and may be impulsive) or Neptune ( and may be unrealistic).
If you be making potentially life-changing contracts or agreements and have some choice of the timing, you might want to have somebody do an electional chart for the occasion. If you have no choice you may run off a chart of the prospective event. An electional chart can maximize what opportunities are there; an event chart may give you good information about how to handle the occasion.
You should pay attention to the impact of stationing Mercury – going retrograde or direct – in your own birth charts. I received a call from a student the other day about Mercury retrograde and some financial agreements coming up in his life. Looking at his chart, I noticed that his Pluto is 19 degrees of Leo and his Mars 18 degrees of Scorpio. In other words, the Mercury station at 20 Leo was frighteningly close to his natal Pluto and squaring his natal Mars. What should he do? Account for and attempt to moderate any Pluto-like and Mars-like qualities in his person al communications and formal agreements.

And a look at Mars
Mars entered Taurus this past Friday, July 28. If you do electional astrology, Mars going from its own sign Aries to its detriment Taurus means one fewer planet to use to plan for an occasion.
What’s important is that Mars stays in Taurus until Saturday, February 18! This happens about once a year and a season, when Mars makes a long retrograde journey. The last time was in 2003, when Mars spent a very long in Pisces. The next time is late 2007 and early 2008, when Mars stations retrograde in Cancer and goes direct in Gemini.
Especially if many planets in fixed signs (Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, Aquarius), populate your birth chart, Mars transiting Taurus can be significant for you. My client above with Pluto in Leo squaring Mars in Scorpio could do well to pay heed to the effects of Mars over the next six and a half months.

Heretical View of a Tenth Planet
What’s been discovered is another planet larger than Pluto at the extreme of our solar system. There are a few factors to consider.
1. Many planetary bodies have been found outside the orbit of Pluto that are quite like Pluto. Should Pluto be considered one of those bodies -- some astrologers call them “Centaurs” - instead of a planet in its own right?
2. . Pluto is a different kind of outer planet from Uranus and Neptune. The latter two are gas giants and are large in size. Pluto and its Moon Charon are more icy rocks trapped to each other in an orbit around a distant Sun. Pluto is also much further from the ecliptic than Uranus and Neptune
Astrologers may find themselves having to accommodate astrology to even more space objects than ever. If the hundreds of discovered and named asteroids weren’t enough, there’s a chance we’ll be naming and have to render into meaningful astrology another distant object each month.
Perhaps finding a tenth planet is a caution to astrologers not to stretch their astrology any further by adding more factors but simplify their astrology by reducing them -- perhaps even back to the seven visible planets. If I recall, some astrologers did some pretty good work this way.

Horary of the Month

My client’s sister who has some nice property in Connecticut and would like her sister to invest in constructing a new building there. The probable outcome is that my client would eventually retire to that property. Not being greatly wealthy, my client is concerned about a bad investment, although the property itself is quite beautiful.
Querant (my client asking the question) is the first house, planets in the first and its lady Venus. Her sister is the third house and its lord Jupiter. The fact that Jupiter is in the first argues that the matter is very much up to my client. That the Moon is in an exact trine to the first house Jupiter tells me how easy it would be for my client to go along with her sister, and indeed she has some desire to invest in the property.
Two factors made me counsel that my client decline the offer.
1. Mars in the seventh, the lord of my client’s second house of finances, is dignified but is opposed to Jupiter, the significator of my client’s sister.
2. The lady of the first – Venus -=- doesn’t apply to the lord of the third, Jupiter. Mercury gets there first! What would Mercury signify? A Mercuirial person like a lawyer? Mercury is lord of the ninth, which may also be a lawyer or counselor. The ninth is also the seventh from the third, representing the sister’s partner.
My client declined the offer because she was uncertain of the impact of her sister’s partner (who also owns the property) and on the advice of a friend of my client who is a lawyer.

Would you like to submit the next horary? I’ll try to get the next newsletter out at the end of August.