CHAPTER XI

OF FRIENDS AND ENEMIES The general harmony of the horoscope consists in the positions and aspects of the planets and their relations with the luminaries. When this is conspicuous there will be many friends and supporters, and the associations of the Subject will be pleasant and profitable. But when the horoscope is fraught with evil aspects and angular positions of the malefics there will be much strife and many enmities. In a particular sense the friends and associations of the Subject are to be known from the 11th House and the planets therein. For if there be a benefic planet in the 11th, especially if in good aspect to either of the luminaries, there will be many friends and adherents. Similarly, the enemies of the Subject are known from the 7th House, and secret enemies from the 12th. Malefic planets therein, especially in evil aspect to the Sun or Moon, shows many opponents. Neptune in any malefic aspect to the Sun or Moon shows danger of deceit and treachery being practised upon the Subject, and if violent testimonies concur from the ill aspects of Mars or Uranus he will be in danger of an ambush. Saturn in the 7th or 12th shows long feuds and implacable enmities. Uranus therein shows litigation and heckling of creditors. Mars therein is an index of violence and passionate hatred. Mercury therein shows much scandal and many petty annoyances. Now observe the places of the malefic planets and the Houses wherein they are situated. Take the date when the Sun is in the same longitude as any of these malefic planets, which will be the same in any year, and this will be the birthday of persons who are to be avoided as likely to bring mischief into the life. Supposing, for instance, that Saturn is found at birth in the 10th House, in the 13th degree of the sign Aquarius. Reference to the Ephemeris (Sect. II., chap. i.) will show that the Sun is in Aquarius 13 on the 1st and 2nd February. Hence it would be unfortunate for the Subject to serve any man who was born between the 28th January and the 3rd February in any year. Also, if Uranus were in Leo 23 in the 7th House he should not go into partnership or marriage with anybody born on or near the 15th August in any year. Take now the places of the benefic planets, and also the place of the Moon, and find the corresponding Solar dates, for these will be the birth dates of such persons as should be cultivated and drawn into close association for mutual benefit. Observe also the trines and sextiles of the benefic planets and of the Moon, and the squares and oppositions of the malefics, for these will operate in a minor degree in a similar manner as already indicated. A comparison of the horoscopes of persons, whether kings or plebeians, with those of others who have wrought great good or evil in their lives, will immediately establish this observation. Indeed there is nothing more dependable in the whole range of scientific observation than this sympathy and antipathy of horoscopes and their corresponding results. It is an argument for the claim of its advocates that Astrology should be regarded in the light of a science, for if the planets act not at all upon the dispositions and tendencies of men their squares and oppositions in two separate horoscopes would have no signification. Let those who are unhappily mated compare their horoscopes and they will find the signs of discord to which reference has been made above. On the other hand, let any man who has been lifted to wealth, fame, or position by the patronage of another compare his horoscope with that of his benefactor, and it will be found that the benefic planets in the latter hold the places of the Sun, Moon, Midheaven, or Ascendant in his own. This frequently accounts for the fact that men with comparatively unfortunate horoscopes are sometimes found in positions of influence and in the enjoyment of considerable fortune. The complex fabric of life has its warp and woof wherein many coloured threads are woven together for the completing of the grand design, and the great loom of life has its wheels within wheels which only the Great Artificer can understand and regulate. We here below, subjects all of interplanetary action, must content ourselves with the design as revealed to us in the history of mankind, or we must seek to understand the purpose of life, its motif, the complex laws which operate to bring about the unfoldment of the great plan, and thence to prognosticate that which hereafter shall be revealed to the commonplace observer.