CHAPTER VII

REVOLUTIONS, ECLIPSES, INGRESSES, ETC. Beyond the various time measures and indicators mentioned in Section IV, Chapter II, there are others which have a certain reputation among astrological students. The chief of these, and one that has been in vogue for many centuries, is the Solar Revolution, or Birthday Figure, as it is sometimes called. It consists in a map of the heavens for the return of the Sun to the exact zodiacal position that it held at birth, and this sidereal revolution is made the basis of an annual forecast of the general trend of affairs in the life of the subject. To find the time of the Sun’s return to its own place in the zodiac is, of course, a simple matter of proportion from the ephemeris for the current year. This is effected by comparing the radical or birthplace of the Sun with the longitude of the Sun in the Ephemeris on the anniversary day, which will give the increment more or less required to be equated. Then with this difference of the two positions of the Sun (a) at birth and (b) at noon of the anniversary, find the diurnal proportional logarithm and subtract from this the logarithm for the Sun’s motion in 24 hours. The result will be the logarithm for the hours and minutes from Noon at which the Sun was in the exact position it held at the birth. Thus you have the time of the solar return, and all that is necessary is to erect a horoscope for this time and set the planets in the figure. Then, if the benefic planets are in elevation and the Lord or Ruler of the Ascendant is well placed and aspected, there will be commensurate results, and a beneficial year may be predicted; but if, on the contrary, the malefic planets are elevated and the ruler of the horoscope is badly aspected, the year ensuing will be fraught with many troubles and vexatious events. But inasmuch as the time-factor is here the return of the Sun to its radical place, chief attention must be paid to the aspects of the Sun, and conclusions agreeable to the nature of the afflicting planets or those that favourably aspect the luminary may be made accordingly. As regards the time at which events signified by the aspects may be expected to transpire, I have found that they usually occur during the transit of the Sun over the places of the planets in the annual horoscope. Thus a person born in August may have the Sun in the annual horoscope in square aspect to Saturn, the Sun being in Leo and Saturn in Taurus. Then the evil signified by the aspect of Saturn to the Sun would transpire about the date that the Sun passed the opposition of Saturn in the sign Scorpio some time in November, or again in May of the following year when the Sun was in conjunction with the place of Saturn in the horoscope for the Solar return. Events that are benefic in nature may be produced from the transit of the Sun over the places of the benefics in the Solar figure, or over the good aspects of the planet which in the annual horoscope gives promise of benefit. In similar manner the return of the Moon to its own place may be taken as a monthly guide to the nature of ensuing events, but it is to be observed that the Moon’s place cannot be taken with the same degree of accuracy as that of the Sun, owing to the varied acceleration of the Moon from hour to hour. The Nautical Almanac gives this hourly acceleration, so that by means of it the Moon’s longitude can be arrived at with great accuracy for any time of the day, but the cheaper ephemerides do not contain more than the longitude for noon and midnight. The student will find, however, that the general purposes of a Lunar horoscope may be served with sufficient accuracy from this source if chief regard be had to the aspects of the Moon at its return and not to the mundane positions of the planets. Arguing from analogy, one would suppose that a similar horoscope could be made for the return of any of the planets to their radical places, but until we have a popular publication in which the planets’ places are given with a greater degree of accuracy than at present, we cannot pretend to indicate the true time of the revolutions of these bodies. Another means of prognosis to which some astrologers have attached considerable importance is what is known as The Synodical Revolution. This consists of a horoscope set for the time of the Moon’s return to the same distance from the Sun that it held at birth, which distance is called the elongation. This measure is based upon the relative motions of the Sun and Moon in the zodiac after birth. Thus if the mean motion of the Sun for one day be taken as 59′ and that of the Moon as 13° 11′, then the mean elongation of the Moon will be 12° 12′. But the Sun and Moon are both subject to a variation from the mean motion, and thus the elongation of the Moon is an inconstant quantity. The only means of effecting the calculation, therefore, is by reference to the ephemeris for the year of birth. Then, having the Moon’s radical elongation, the successive dates at which this elongation is repeated are to be noted, and each of them is accounted as one year of life. Thus for the 20th year of life one must count 19 synods or conjunctions of the Sun and Moon after birth, and thereafter proceed to fix the date after the last synod at which the Moon’s elongation is the same as that of birth. This idea seems to give grounds for the ancient belief in effects attaching to the Moon’s age. For the Moon’s age denotes the distance of the Moon from the last conjunction with the Sun, and if a person was born on the tenth day of the Moon, then every tenth day of the Moon in successive revolutions will be of importance, since the Moon will be in the same relations with the Sun as at birth. The aspects that the Moon bears to the other celestial bodies at these times is held to be a guide to the nature of succeeding events. But more attention is paid to such horoscopes thus calculated wherein the Moon falls on the place of any of the planets at birth. Ingresses are of two kinds, mundane and zodiacal. A mundane ingress is made when a planet in the heavens comes to the cusp of one of the Houses in the horoscope of birth--that is to say, to the degree of the zodiac which held the cusp of such House. Thus if the 8th degree of the sign Aquarius were on the cusp of the 2nd House of the horoscope and Saturn in the heavens made transit of that degree of the zodiac, then the Ingress of Saturn to the 2nd House would be effected and would be followed by a period of considerable financial stress. Similarly with other planets in the horoscope. Each will make its periodical transit through the several Houses of the horoscope of birth, and these will be attended by events in terms of the nature of the planet, the House it transits and its affections at birth. Zodiacal ingresses are those that are made by the planets into the signs of the zodiac successively, and it is held that a change in the trend of affairs will take place in that department of the life ruled by the House wherein that sign is placed at birth. This, however, appears to be an extension of the former kind of ingress, and should be taken with some reserve. Certainly it will be found that very marked effects are due to the transits of the planets through the Houses of the horoscope, and if the aspects of these planets in the ephemeris are taken into account, it will be found that a very accurate basis for a forecast of the various incidents of individual life is thereby afforded. In this connection the periodical synods of the planets should be observed, for it is evident that if we ascribe an influence to the transit of Saturn we must set a still more important value upon the transit of that planet when in conjunction or opposition with any other body in the heavens. Thus the planets Mars and Saturn form their conjunctions in successive signs after an interval of about two years, during which period it may be said that the effects of the last conjunction are in play. Thus Saturn and Mars formed their last conjunction in August, 1911, in the sign Taurus, and, according to the position of that sign in various horoscopes, effects more or less detrimental and disturbing would be experienced during the course of two years after that date. Jupiter’s period of 12 years will be watched with interest by those who are studying the effects due to its action, for it passes through one sign or one House every year on an average, and therefore constitutes a good chronocrator or time-marker. But Jupiter can effect little for good if at the time of its transit it is afflicted in the heavens by the adverse aspect or conjunction of another planet. Similarly, Saturn or Uranus or Neptune has to be judged according to its condition and aspects at the time of transit or ingress. Eclipses, whether of the Sun or Moon, are significant of evil according to their positions and aspects in the horoscope. For if an eclipse of the Sun happens it will afflict male members of the family, and an eclipse of the Moon will denote evil to female members. Eclipses falling in the sign occupying the 10th or 4th Houses will afflict the parents, and those which fall in the 3rd House will similarly affect collateral relatives, such as brothers and sisters, according to the sex indicated. The effects of eclipses last for eighteen months, and will be great or small according to the magnitude of the eclipse and considerations due to aspects. When falling on the places of benefic planets or those well aspected in the horoscope, the eclipse will portend good arising out of some catastrophe or bereavement. But when falling on the places of the malefics, or on places in the horoscope that are badly aspected by the planets at birth, they portend nothing but evil. Falling in other parts of the figure, they are not of such significance, but generally it may be said that eclipses have a detrimental effect on such affairs as are governed by the House wherein the eclipse falls. It has been said that unless an eclipse is visible in that part of the world where the subject was born, it will have no effect upon his health or fortunes. But this cannot be the case, for then those planets that are beneath the horizon at the time of birth could with equal reason be exempt from any share in our consideration, whereas, on the contrary, we know full well that in whatever part of the circle the planets may be situated at the moment of birth they will affect the life and fortunes in equal degree, but especially such department of the life as may be ruled by the House a planet occupies. The following is a list of the visible eclipses that will be witnessed in Great Britain during the next ten years: 1914.--12th March, Moon eclipsed in the third hour of the morning, nearly total. 21st August, the Sun eclipsed about noon, two-thirds of the disc eclipsed. Total in Sweden and Norway. 1916.--9th January, Moon sets in contact with the shadow. 3rd February, the Sun sets about half eclipsed. Total across the Atlantic. 15th July, Moon eclipsed about three-quarters of its disc in the fifth hour of the morning. 1917.--8th January, Moon eclipsed in the eighth hour of the morning, just before sunrise. Total. 4th July, Moon totally eclipsed in the eleventh hour of the evening. 28th December, Moon begins to be eclipsed just before setting. 1919.--7th November, in the twelfth hour at night the Moon is partially eclipsed. 22nd November, the Sun has one-fifth of its disc obscured near sunset. Annular in the South Atlantic. 1920.--3rd May, Moon totally eclipsed in the second hour of the morning. 10th November, Sun sets half eclipsed. 1921.--8th April, in the ninth hour of the morning the Sun is eclipsed, about five-sixths of the disc being obscured. Annular eclipse in the north. 16th October, the Moon has five-sixths of its disc overshadowed at eleventh hour of the evening. 1922.--28th March, Sun eclipsed in the third hour of the afternoon, about one-sixth being obscured. Annular in Africa. The years 1805 and 1917 are great eclipse years, for in both those years there are no less than seven eclipses. From like causes we argue like effects, and therefore we may anticipate a great convulsion in the political world during the year 1917 and thereafter. At that time Mars and Saturn will form their conjunction in the sign Leo together with Neptune, and these successive conjunctions of the three major planets cannot fail to produce great mutations, more especially in those countries that are ruled by the sign Leo. * * * * * So far as individual horoscopes are concerned the effects of these conjunctions and the eclipses which fall in the sign Capricornus and Cancer must be judged by the particular Houses of the horoscopes in which they occur. The general effects due to any eclipse or conjunction of the larger planets are distributed and find their expression through individual horoscopes, the influence filtrating as it were through a variety of channels for the ultimate purpose of human evolution and government. * * * * * Thus by many lines of evidence the patient student may confirm his belief in the influence of the stars in human life, which involves the yet higher concept of the government of humanity by the greater Intelligences according to preordained laws, divine in their origin and cosmical in their expression. To this concept as a final expression of faith and of scientific experience we must eventually submit our beliefs and opinions, and haply our willing compliance.