CHAPTER IX

INDICATIONS OF PROGENY The 5th House, the planets therein and the position and aspects of the Moon, have to be considered in this matter. If the 5th House be occupied by benefic planets, or planets well aspected by others, then the progeny will be a source of satisfaction and credit to the Subject, and will be reared to maturity. But the contrary is the case when the 5th House is occupied by malefic planets and such as may be heavily afflicted. The Moon represents the tendency in the male and the capacity in the female, and when well aspected, or free from evil aspects and well placed, then there will be good fortune in connection with the progeny. When Uranus afflicts a planet in the 5th House, there will be some premature births, and generally it will be observed that when planets are opposed from the 11th and 5th Houses, or malefic planets occupy those houses, there is trouble through the progeny, and usually the loss of one or more during infancy is to be feared. As to the number of children, no empirical rules exist for the judgment of this matter, which necessarily is a difficult one owing to the fact that we have no means of comparing the horoscopes of man and wife, but the nature of the sign on the cusp of the 5th House is usually to be depended upon for an approximation. Thus Aries, Leo, and Capricornus give small families. Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, and Pisces give large families, and the other signs yield a moderate family. When the Moon is strong, angular, and not afflicted, the number is increased. Twins are born from double-bodied signs occupying the cusp of the 5th House, or planets in the 5th in a double-bodied sign. The condition of each child is known in a general manner from the alternate Houses, commencing with the 5th. Thus the first child is (in a male horoscope) ruled by the 5th House, and planets therein; the second child by the 7th House; the third by the 9th House, and so on. In a female horoscope the first child is ruled by the 4th House; the second by the 6th House, and so on. Thus if it be found that there is probability of loss of some of the progeny, the children most liable to affliction may be known by this method; for the Houses which contain the malefic planets, or the afflicted planets, correspond to the afflicted progeny. Illustrious children are born to the Subject when the ruler of the 5th House is in elevation and well aspected, and in a congenial sign. But if the ruler of the 5th House be badly placed and aspected and in a sign of debility, _i.e._, opposite to one over which it rules, then the progeny are ill-equipped for the battle of life, either mentally or morally. The particular qualities and fortunes of the progeny can only be known from their individual horoscopes. When malefic planets hold the 12th House in a female horoscope, there will be danger in confinement; and the same happens if either of the luminaries, but particularly the Moon, be afflicted in the 5th House.