CHAPTER I

THE EPHEMERIS AND ITS USES An Ephemeris is an almanac of the planetary positions day by day throughout any given year. They are to be obtained at a cost of one shilling per year, in a convenient form specially adapted to the use of astrologers. In the first column will be found the Sidereal Time for the day, which is the Sun’s Right Ascension or distance from the Vernal Equinox, expressed in Hours, Minutes, and Seconds, and equated to Mean Time at Greenwich. By merely adding the time after noon, or subtracting the hours and minutes before noon, at which the birth took place, you will obtain the Right Ascension of the Midheaven at the moment of birth. The use to which this is put will appear in the next chapter. It corresponds to a particular degree of the Zodiac which is in the Midheaven at the given time of birth. The next column contains the Sun’s longitude at Noon for each day. By taking the position on one day from that on the next day, the motion of the Sun for 24 hours is obtained, and a proportion of this for the hour of birth can easily be made. The mean motion of the Sun per day is 2-1/2′, or 1 degree per day. In another column will be found the Moon’s longitude, and in adjacent columns its declination and latitude. Declination is distance North or South of the Equator, and celestial latitude is distance North or South of the Ecliptic. The longitudes of the other bodies are also given for each day at noon. The mean longitudinal progress of the several bodies is as follows: Sun, 2-1/2′ per hour, or 1 degree per day; Moon, 32′ per hour, or 13 degrees per day; Neptune, 2′ per day; Uranus, 3′ per day; Saturn, about 5′ per day; Jupiter, about 12′ per day; Mars, 45′ per day, or about 2′ per hour; Venus, 72′ per day, or 3′ per hour; Mercury, 84′ per day, or 3-1/2′ per hour. These increments are for direct motion only; the planets are, as already explained, sometimes retrograde and sometimes stationary. The Horoscope of birth is only concerned with the longitudes of the planets, but when one or more planets have the same declination North or South, they should be noted as being in Parallel, for they then act as if they were in conjunction. Take in hand, then, the Ephemeris for the year of your birth and read this chapter with it in view. After understanding its construction, extract the Sidereal Time at Noon for the day of your birth and refer to the next chapter.