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NEW MAGICKS FOR A NEW AGE
Volume III: Beyond Ritual: Historical, Philosophical,
and Scientific Considerations --
Essays on the Cutting Edge of Esoteric Science
Book 3: Magick
Part 4: Magick and Astrology
Chapter 2: The Mathematical Exploitation of Mutual Receptions as a Successful Ritual Technique for Causing Change in Conformity with Will,
or,
Changing Universes for Fun and Profit
1: The Astrology of Mutual Receptions
Two or more Planets and/or Lights* are in mutual reception with one another when they are in Signs1 which are complete permutations of the dignities or anti-dignities** of those Signs, at the same level of power.
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*The Lights are the Sun and Moon.
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That is, suppose that there exists a set of celestial bodies in the Solar System {P1, P2 , ..., Pn}, where n is a positive integer, 1 ( n ( 12,* such that P1 is in Sign S2, in which P2 has a particular type of dignity or anti-dignity; P2 is in Sign S3 , in which P3 has that same type of dignity; . . . Pi-1 is in Sign Si , in which Pi has that same type of dignity; . . . Pn-1 is in Sign Sn , in which Pn has that same dignity; and Pi-1 is in Sign S1 , in which P1 has that same dignity. What this means is shown by example, farther on; but first, some explanations of terms must be given to make this more intelligible.
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*In this paper it is assumed that beyond the bodies of the Solar System now known to science as well as to classical and modern mainstream astrology, there exist two more in orbit beyond Pluto's, described in Chapters 11 and 12 of Part 2 of Volume 2 of this work. The first, Persephone, associated with the Great Goddesses of Power and Protection such as Kali, Matresse Ezeli, Pallas Athena Medusa, etc., shares the traditional rulerships of Gemini and Virgo with Mercury. The second, Whose orbit is beyond Persephone's, is Hera/Durga/Isis, associated with all the nurturing Great Mother-Goddesses; She shares Venus's traditional dominion over Taurus and Libra. With these two as-yet hypothetical bodies, the total number of astrological Planets comes to twelve. (Chaos Magickians take note: Eris, Discordia, Chaos, Choronzon, "Bob," Alfred E. Neuman, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and the other Chaos Intelligences may be associated with either Neptune or Persephone.)
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There are six types of dignities and anti-dignities: mundane, or traditional rulerships; exaltations; esoteric rulerships (sometimes called "super-exaltations"); mundane detriments; falls; and esoteric detriments (sometimes called "super-falls"). The first three of these are the Planetary dignities, given in ascending order of the power which a Planet in a Sign in which it has that type of dignity acquires from its placement therein. That is, Planets are strong in Signs of Their mundane (traditional) dominions, stronger still in Signs of Their exaltations, and strongest of all in Signs of Their esoteric dominions.
The other three are the anti-dignities of the Planets. In ascending order of the degree to which placement in them robs Planets of Their inherent strength or impedes useful exploitation of Their influence, these are the mundane (traditional) detriments, falls, and esoteric detriments (super-falls) of the Planets. That is, a Planet is weak in Signs of its mundane detriment; weaker still in Signs in which it has its fall; and weakest of all in Signs of its esoteric detriment.2
E.g., at a given time, three Planets A, B, and C are placed such that A is in Sign Sb, in which B is exalted; B is in Sign Sc, in which C is exalted; and C is in Sign Sa, in which A is exalted. In such a case, the condition of mutual reception among these three bodies is thereby fulfilled. What does this mean?
In such a case, each of these Planets can be placed in either of the Signs in which the other two bodies are placed, and at either of the degrees at which the latter stand in Their Signs, as well as in its own Sign and/or degree.
As a more specific example, suppose, in the above example, A is Luna, placed at 16ø Scorpio; B is Uranus, at 5ø Aries; and C is Sol, at 23ø Taurus. Traditionally, Uranus is exalted in Scorpio, Sol is exalted in Aries, and Luna is exalted in Taurus. Thus Luna here is in the Sign of Uranus's exaltation; Sol, in that of Luna; and Uranus, in that of Sol. Thus these three bodies are in triple permutative reception (triple, because there are three bodies involved; permutative, because Their actual Sign placements are a complete permutation3 of Their traditional exaltations). Thus any of these three bodies can be placed in any of the three Signs Aries, Taurus, or Scorpio, and, within any of these Signs, at either 5ø, 16ø, or 23ø. (See Table 1 in the Appendices of Volume I of this work for a complete listing of the dignities and anti-dignities of all the Planets out through Hera/Durga.]
The only version of mutual reception recognized in classical astrology is that involving only two bodies at a time, and only the mundane rulerships. E.g., according to classical astrological schools, if Mercury is in Libra and Venus in Virgo, or Sol in Scorpio and Pluto in Leo, the members of each such pair of Planets are in mutual reception with each other, but Sol, Luna, and Uranus in the three-body example given above are not. Neither are Venus and Luna when Luna is in Pisces, Venus's traditional exaltation, and Venus is in Taurus, which is Luna's.
Cases that fit the classical definition of mutual reception are the easiest to exploit Magickally with any degree of success. The more bodies that are involved in a mutual-reception system, the harder it is to exploit their interrelationships for Magickal purposes. Also, paradoxically, the stronger the dignity or the more debilitating the anti-dignity involved, the harder it is to use the situation described by the chart containing the mutual reception to advantage.
In addition, it is harder to exploit mutual-reception systems involving anti-dignities than it is to use those involving the dignities. This is because, in order to use the anti-dignities this way, at least initially one has to accept disadvantages, losses, or defeats before one can gain and use any advantages accorded by such a mutual-reception system. Due to understandable reflexive or instinctive reluctance to suffer loss, pain, or defeat, it is therefore harder to exploit systems of anti-dignities than it is those involving the dignities.
Even so, any mutual-reception system can be Magickally exploited with success, given a strong enough Will and plenty of practice at it by the Operator.
Under what conditions are mutual receptions useful to the Magickian?
Suppose an astrological chart has been erected to answer a question (a horary chart); to predict the outcomes of an event (an electional chart, for timing a ceremony, ritual, etc.); or to analyze the possible ramifications of some unpredictable event, such as an earthquake, outbreak of war, etc. (an event chart). The Significator or ruler of that chart, i.e., the Planet ruling the Sign on that chart's Ascendant, determines the answer to the question, consequences of the ceremony, or implications of the event represented by that chart according to the aspects which it makes by progression to the Planets or other sensitive points in the chart. If the Significator in a horary chart makes no applying aspects to anything of significance in that chart before leaving its Sign (or, in some cases, taking its station and going retrograde within that Sign), or isn't within orb of application to any other body in the chart during that time, then the Moon becomes the chart's Significator.* Like transiting Saturn, the progressed Moon moves through the sky at an average of about one degree per month. By Her progressed motion and the major aspects She makes as long as She is still in the Sign of Her original placement in that chart, She brings all things into manifestation.** If She also makes no more major aspects of any kind, including parallels, to any other Planet or the Part of Fortune before leaving Her current Sign, She and the chart are considered to be void-of-course, and the outcome a nullity, with no action on the matter under consideration.4
*In event charts, separating aspects can also be of significance.
**For horary charts, major aspects to other Planets, the Part of Fortune, and other applicable points in the chart include the conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition, and parallels of declination. For event charts, this list is expanded to include the quincunx or 150( aspect. The quincunx, sometimes called the inconjunct (a term also used for semisextiles), isn't considered to be a major aspect in horary charts, but as a secondary influence it is considered to be of great importance, since its appearance in a chart is often indicative of grave illness or a disaster such as an earthquake. Quincunxes usually abound in event charts erected for disasters such as earthquakes and the outbreak of war. The geometric supplement of the quincunx, the semisextile, an angle of 30(, may be of significance with respect to the inception of conditions leading to injuries, disasters, ill-health, etc. See the Glossary in the Appendices to Volume I of this work for complete definitions of types of aspects as well as separating vs. applying aspects., etc.
The aspects of significance in a horary chart include the parallel, 0( of declination (distance North or South of the celestial equator)*; the conjunction, 0( celestial longitude; the sextile, 60(; the square, 90(; the trine, 120(; and the opposition, 180(.
*The two bodies involved in a parallel may both be on the same side of the celestial equator, or on opposite sides. In either case, in horary and event charts the aspect is considered to be a parallel, and interpreted as such.
If the ruler of the chart makes any major aspects by application to anything else of significance in the chart, then in addition, should it make any of the following aspects to other Planets or sensitive points in the chart, the answer or testimony of the chart is modified and fined up in kind. These aspects include the semisextile (see footnote, above), semisquare (45(), and sesquisquare (135(). The semisextile indicates opportunities, potentials that can be profitably exploited, and the semisquare and sesquisquare generally indicate sources of irritations or even serious problems.
Conjunctions and parallels signify marriages of the influences of the two bodies involved in the aspect. Such a melding is normally benign and desirable if the Planets or points involved are benign or neutral, such as those involving Luna (neutral), Venus (benefic), Sol (usually benefic), or Jupiter (benefic), but generally malefic and harmful when the Malefic Planets Mars, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune are involved.
Semisextiles indicate opportunities and possibilities, though without major aspects to key those in and make them readily useful, they usually come to nothing. They add momentum to whatever else is in the chart. They can thus be very helpful to the success of the question in that way.
Sextiles and trines are "soft," easy," or "flowing" aspects. Usually they signify a benign influence. However, when the involve the application of a Malefic or a neutral Planet to a Malefic, especially when trines to Neptune are involved, they can signify inexorable, unmitigatable doom.
Square, inconjuncts, oppositions, semisquares, and sesquisquares are "hard" aspects that frequently indicate irritation, friction, hindrance, barriers, disasters, failures, and hope destroyed. But sometimes they indicate barriers that act as shields, giving protection from evil.
Now suppose that the ruler of the chart makes no aspect, or an undesirable one, to the Planet or Light ruling the Sign on the cusp of the House which governs the matter concerning which the chart was cast. In such a case, if the ruler of the chart could somehow be moved to another placement at which it would then make a desirable aspect to that other body, then a problem would thereby have been transformed into an asset in the form of a desirable outcome. This is what mutual receptions make possible. In the next section, we will explore this use of mutual receptions in detail.
2. The Magickal Exploitation of Mutual Receptions
Suppose you have asked a question about something that is very important to you, erected a horary chart for the time, date, and place at which you asked it, and did not like the answer which the chart yielded. Or suppose you performed a Magickal ritual, or engaged in a more ordinary one, such as signing a contract formally establishing a business partnership, then afterward cast an event chart for the time, date, and place of the inception of that ritual, and found that the auspices of that chart were unfortunate. In such a case, what can be done to cause events to do as you desire, in spite of the unfortunate astrological auguries?
It is in just such cases that the exploitation of mutual receptions is invaluable for damage-control. Whatever systems of mutual reception are in the chart under consideration can be used to eliminate as many detrimental auspices, and create as many beneficial ones, as possible. Magick is then used to "gear in" the resultant, transformed chart so that the events it now predicts manifest in the world in accordance with your Will.
However, at least at first, until you get used to doing this as a Magickal exercise, not just an astrological one - as a matter of astral engineering, not just analysis - you should do such work within an appropriate ritual context. The day or night and the hour in which the work of transforming a chart in this way is undertaken should be appropriate to that type of Working - Monday or Wednesday, in hours ruled by Luna, Mercury, or Uranus* -- and the Work should be done within a Circle. If possible, ritual furniture, clothing, and accouterments such as incense appropriate to Lunar, Mercurial, or Uranian Workings should be used, as well. The Gods pertinent to such Work are Hermes-Djehuti-Mercurius and Urania/Uranus.
*For complete listings of the Planetary rulers of the days, nights, and hours, see Tables 2-5 in the Appendices to Volume I of this work.
The Qaballistic Keys associated with Work of this type are as follows: 2, for Sephirah 2, Chokmah, associated with the Starry Heavens. 3, a number of the Moon, and the value of the Hebrew letter Gimel, with which Luna is associated, as well as the Key Number of Sephirah 3, Binah, with which both Saturn, a higher octave of Luna, and Uranus are associated. 9, for Sephirah 9, Yesod, the Sphere or Orbit of Luna. 11, the number of Magick, and the Key Number of the letter Aleph, with which Uranus is associated. 12, the Key Number of the letter Beth and the Planet Mercury, associated with the 12 Signs of astrology (the value of Beth is 2, which is also the Key Number of Chokmah). Finally, 13, the Key Number of Gimel and an archetypal number of the Moon.5
The meat of this ritual is just the complete calculation of mutual receptions and mutations created by these mutual receptions of placements of Planets in the chart. The original chart, along with paper and writing instruments, are the only equipment needed for this,* aside from standard ritual furniture and equipment appropriate to whatever Planetary Intelligence to be invoked for this ritual. Most of the ritual itself is likewise standard. First, the Circle is set up and the initial housekeeping routines, such as the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, the Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram for Luna, Mercury or Uranus, etc. are carried out. Next, Hermes-Djehuti or Urania/Uranus is invoked to help you do the calculations involved to best advantage and bring them to fruition. Finally, you simply sit and work on the calculations until you have completed them to your satisfaction, or as close to it as possible. When you are finished with these, you perform the remaining housekeeping routines, e.g., the Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram and the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, and close out the Circle, which concludes the ritual.6
*A computer and appropriate astrological and graphics software can be substituted for these, and may even be better, depending upon how good and how flexible that software is.
As an example of a real horary chart that was successfully revised via mutual receptions so that the new outcome was much more satisfactory to the querent (the person asking the question which the chart was erected to answer), here is from my own experience, of supreme importance to me at the time. The actual outcome of the situation with which the question for which the original chart was erected was concerned, and how it compared to the hoped-for outcome for which the revised chart was calculated, is something to which I can personally testify. So these two charts, the original and the revision, together present a good example not only of the use of mutual receptions to create such revised charts, but also of the degree to which the actual outcome may conform to the predicted outcome of the new chart.
The Problem
Beginning in February of 1990, I suffered from a debilitating and potentially dangerous gynecological disorder which, by the beginning of May 1990 still hadn't come to an end. To put it simply, in February of that year I began a menstrual period which simply didn't stop. By May, as a result I was seriously anemic and not in good condition. No end to the problem seemed to be in sight any time soon, and it was clear that if something wasn't done within a fairly short time, I was in danger of death by slow exsanguination.
Born in 1945, I was no longer young, and there were several possibilities as to the underlying cause of this problem. It could have had something to do with the onset of menopause; or due to an unknown trauma to the uterus or other internal organs; it could have been the result of cancer; or it could have been due to some dysfunction of the endocrine system, in particular the pituitary gland and the gonads.
So I went to my regular doctor, a woman who worked out of a clinic in my area, a general practitioner and M.D. At my insistence, after taking blood-tests to determine what hormonal problems might be involved, she put me on artificial hormones, A.K.A. the Pill, as a stop-gap measure until the root of the problem could be determined. Then she sent me to a gynecologist at another clinic for an in-depth examination and more tests.
Both she and the gynecologist, as well as an endocrinologist I insisted on seeing, were gloomily concerned* that I might have cancer. All of them insisted that since I was close to the age at which menopause should begin, had never had a child, and "would be better off for it, because even if you don't have cancer now, you'll probably have it within five years," I "should" therefore have a hysterectomy.**
*That might not be the proper term for it. In 1994 e.v. or so, about 4 years after this episode occurred, I was watching a CNN special on television concerned with "organ-legging," the bootlegging to hospitals of organs taken from the bodies of human beings under less than ethical or legal conditions. Such organs, especially kidneys, command extremely high prices in the medical black market; a few sales of such to a large hospital can make an organlegger quite well off or even set him or her up for life. In some cases, for example, healthy kidneys are removed from patients undergoing surgery for some other condition, e.g., a hysterectomy; and transplanted into someone else; of course, the person who involuntarily "donated" the kidney while under the knife isn't told about it, and only learns about it later, if at all, as a result of medical X-rays, exploratory surgery, or some other procedure, done for whatever reason. In other cases, in some areas of the world, bands of organleggers ambush people, frequently children, carve out the desired organs and leave their prey for dead. In our own country, where hospitals are so careful to buy only organs in very good condition, of course, it is the former source that is preferred. In my own case, dysmenorrhea or not, there certainly was nothing wrong with my kidneys at the time! If I'd gone along with the doctors' demands that I have a hysterectomy, it would have been so very easy, once I was under a general anesthetic, to remove one of my kidneys and bootleg it off to a surgeon with a patient in dire need of a kidney transplant. The doctors who had collaborated on the project would realize an awful lot of pocket-change for it - not to mention from all the fat Medicare payments they'd have gotten for both the surgery and the life-long after-care it made necessary! Could it be . . .? :(
**I understand that there are dentists who routinely advised their patients to get all their teeth pulled and replaced by dentures, even patients as young as 30 or so, in order to "avoid cavities." Same idea.
However, I have always had a horror of undergoing any form of surgery unless absolutely necessary to save life and limb. Moreover, for decades, beginning in my mid-20s, I have been taking megadoses of such nutritional supplements as vitamins A, C, and E and super oxide dismutase, as well as large amounts of fresh, raw garlic and "oxywater",* all of which are well-known anti-cancer agents. Since early childhood, I had been exposed to potentially dangerous amounts of radiation in one form or another, beginning with radiation sickness I had suffered as a child, the result of exposure to large doses of fallout. To minimize my chances of contracting cancer of any kind, I had therefore begun taking these supplements, as well as giving up a heavy cigarette habit, and doing what I could to eliminate from my diet any potentially carcinogenic agents. As a result, my chances of contracting cancer were far lower than the average for my age and general condition.
*Industrial-grade H2O2, highly diluted with water or fruit juice, which releases oxygen into the body via the gastrointestinal tract. An alternative form of oxygen therapy, which should only be used under close supervision of trained personnel, consists of ozone enemas; the amount of ozone is rather small, and is carefully calculated according to body weight and the seriousness of the condition which it is being used to treat.
Furthermore, I had suffered no blows or other trauma to the lower back or abdomen that might have caused such bleeding. On top of that, due to my life-long, omnivorous, non-stop reading, I knew that for dysmenorrhea of the sort I was exhibiting, when there was no sign of cancer or any other condition that would contraindicate its use, the treatment of choice was hormone replacement therapy. On the face of the evidence, the most likely conclusion was that something had gone haywire with my hormones, which is why I also insisted on going to the endocrinologist (for all the good that did for me; I was, of course, referred to him by my M.D. and the gynecologist). If that problem could be somehow corrected, probably with hormone replacement therapy, then there was no good reason that I should undergo surgery - especially not a radical ovarian hysterectomy, which is what these doctors were telling me I "needed."
On a hunch, I took some Korean ginseng. Ginseng is a powerful hormone-production regulator and precursor. I found that taking it reduced the abnormal flow of blood to nothing, whereas even taking the Pill for that purpose had not been completely successful. This gave me more reason than ever to suspect that the cause of the problem was endocrinological - and that the problem could be controlled or even eliminated with some sort of herbal treatment. The latter, if true, would be fortunate indeed. As the doctors pointed out, taking the Pill over a long period of time, especially for women over the age of 40 or so, can put one at risk for a variety of unpleasant things such as cancer, heart-attacks, and stroke.*
*Since the age of 6, I have been prone to migraines my life long. Migraine sufferers are at high risk for stroke, especially as they get older, as it is. This was an additional factor to consider in the decision as to whether to undergo hormone-replacement therapy.
These considerations aside, I am a Tantric Magickian. In order to function optimally in my Workings, I need to have my neuroendocrine and chakra systems functioning as healthily as possible. Any surgery on the former, particularly a removal of part of the endocrine or reproductive system, would severely damage me and make it very hard, if not actually impossible, for me to carry out successful Tantric Magick. So if there was any way I could avoid surgery of the sort these doctors were insisting I "ought" to have, of course I'd take it! So what was the best course of action in this situation?
The Horary Chart
To determine what I should do in order to regain my health and avoid a debilitating, primordially maiming surgery if at all possible, I decided to use horary astrology. So I erected a horary chart to answer the question, "Will I have to have a hysterectomy? How can I avoid it?" This chart, shown below, was erected for 4:39 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, May 11, 1990, at 122ø W 19' longitude, 47ø N 42' latitude.
[Horary chart illustration]
Point
Longitude
Declination
™
21 ¢ 0
18 N 1
x
14 £ 43
26 S 41
O
8 ¢ 53 3
12 N 48
U
8 50
1 N 57
U
15 y 42
7 S 11
U
8 o 53
23 N 17
2518 3
20 S 55
Y
9 16 3
23 S 26
_
14 24 3
21 S 47
16 &emdash; 16 3
1 S 19
2 ¢ 29
12 N 21
1131
17 S 19
MC
10o57
22 N 59
Asc
8o47
3 S 29
Chiron Ý
12 o 56
Ceres
13 o 50
Juno ý
16 &emdash; 25
Pallas
26 ¢ 33
Vesta
20 5
Day of the week: Friday
Day or Night Ruler: U(generic ruler of female reproductive system)
Hour of Day or Night: 9 (a number of the Moon, ruler of menstruation and menopause)/Hour of the Sheep (Chinese)
Hour-ruler: O (generic ruler of health)
Julian day: 2448023.48541665
Sidereal time: 6h 47m 42s
Delta T: 57.05079 seconds
Figure 1: Horary Chart erected to answer the question: "Will I have to have a hysterectomy? How can I avoid it?", given at 4:39 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, May 11, 1990, at 122ø W 19' longitude, 47ø N 42' latitude
According to Ivy M. Goldstein-Jacobson,* the First House of the horoscope rules the querent's body and the Sixth House rules anything that would injure his or her health. The Sixth House is also the House of disease and distress of any kind; its ruler carries the illness to the part of the body represented by the Sign in which that ruler is found, and the nature of that illness is determined by the nature of the Planet. Planets in the Sixth House help or hinder a cure according to whether they are well-conditioned by Sign and aspect.
*Ivy M. Goldstein-Jacobson, Simplified Horary Astrology (Alhambra, CA: Frank Severy Publishing, 1960), pp. 197-207.
If a quincunx or inconjunct, an angle of 150ø, exists between the Planet which rules the Sign on the cusp of the Sixth House and the ruler of the Ascendant, the Moon, Saturn, Mars, or Mercury, there is an illness. In addition, if any of these make a square (90ø), semisquare (45ø), sesquisquare (135ø), or opposition (180ø) to the Sixth-House ruler, these aspects show how severe the illness will be. According to Ms. Goldstein-Jacobson, "Saturn makes it chronic, Mars acute, Mercury contagious or infectious, the Sun constitutional [organic], the Moon functional" (ibid., p. 197).
Furthermore,
Mars denotes acute diseases, inflammatory and feverish in nature; eruptions, virulent diseases, wounds, bites & stings; sprains & strokes, lacerations, concussions, violent injuries; muscular involvement; injections and inoculations, vaccination; illness reaching a critical stage of crisis, abscesses coming to a head; and in any aspect at all with the Moon he signifies an operation, but [this is] avoidable if he is in mutual reception anywhere.
Ibid., p.
In the example chart given above, we see that Pisces is on the cusp of the Sixth House, ruled by Neptune and co-ruled by Jupiter (the traditional ruler of Pisces), and Mars is in the Sixth House. Luna, Who is in Sagittarius in the Third House, makes a quincunx to Jupiter, ruler of the Sixth, and also squares Mars. Thus the illness is real, since Luna makes a quincunx to one of the rulers of the Sixth; and with Mars in the Sixth square Luna, surgery is a very real possibility. Clearly the physicians involved think so, for Mars rules Aries, the Sign on the cusp of the Seventh House, that of physicians.
Libra, ruled by Venus, is on the cusp of the Ascendant, which rules the body, and the parts of it that are afflicted. Venus rules the female organs, the concern of this chart.
Pisces, on the cusp of the sixth, is the Psychic Principle; its ruler, Neptune, is Lord of Illusion, Addictions, Murder, Occult Forces, Deception, Mystery, Hidden Things, Poison, Covert Attack, and Hidden Enemies. The cusp of this House falls in the second or Cancerian decanate of Pisces, which rules the reproduction of blood, and of course the chart concerns an endless, mysterious flood of it from the reproductive organs. The pathologies of Pisces include fluidic disorders; tumors and cancers; histological changes in the various types of cells in the bloodstream; changes in blood fibrin; malnutrition and starvation of body tissues, including those due to eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa; addictions of all kinds, including activity-abuse such as "workaholism" as well as all forms of substance-abuse, from opiates and cocaine to nicotine and caffeine; reactions to bad psychic magnetism (i.e., hexes, curses); and reactions to toxins, pollutants, and harmful drugs. Neptune also rules problems with water-balance, water-retention, bloating due to fluid-retention, diuretics, and so forth.
Jupiter, the traditional ruler of Pisces and its modern co-ruler, increases the magnitude of any symptoms, and gives excessive expansion, superabundance of fluids, excesses of glandular secretions, flabby tissues, impurities in the blood due to malnutrition or toxins, and fatty degeneration ruled by the Sign of His placement (in this case, Cancer, the ruler of the decanate of Pisces on the cusp of the Sixth House of this chart). He often initiates the development of fibroid or other non-malignant tumors which, however, could become malignant because of a bad aspect to Saturn (there is risk of this, since Jupiter will soon oppose Saturn by transit in this chart); in any event, malignant or not, should such tumors occur, they would eventually harm adjacent organs by the pressure they would put on them, as Jupiter continued to cause them to grow larger and larger.
Among other things, Neptune, the co-ruler of Pisces, causes wasting diseases, abnormal conditions, baffling symptoms that are hard to diagnose and may come to nothing; coma, fainting, suffocation, or choking; stupefaction, torpor, or unconsciousness as a result of the use of drugs, anesthetics, or poisons; and danger of or from spontaneous abortions, blood-poisoning, or collections of pus in areas of the body signified by Neptune's Sign-placement (in this case, Capricorn, which rules the skeleton, the teeth, the joints, the skin, and the endocrine glands).
Saturn, in the Fourth House of the chart, which rules the ultimate outcome of the question, rules a number of possibilities. One is disaster, catastrophe, indicating the worst possible outcome. Another is the possibility of having to give something up - abstinence - in order to bring about a cure. (Neptune rules sacrifice, in the sense of one made for religious reasons.)
Luna rules Cancer, and thus co-rules the Cancer decanate* of Pisces, in which the Sixth House cusp falls in this chart. When Cancer or a Cancerian decanate or dwad** is on the cusp of the Ascendant or the Sixth, or Luna afflicts their rulers or a Malefic, such as Mars, in the First or Sixth House, there is likely to be an extreme malfunction, particularly of the whole body if Luna also conjoins or makes a bad aspect to the Sun. In this chart, Luna will make a quincunx by progression to the Sun, Who is in Taurus, signifying disaster and great stress. She is also about to square Mars in the Sixth, and the square is a "hard" aspect likewise signifying trouble and woe. Under such circumstances there is either a congenital disorder or a systemic one occurring as a result of some prevailing epidemic of a common, less-serious disease. Finally, according to Ms. Goldstein-Jacobson, "In any aspect at all to Mars, the Moon discloses that there has been or will be an operation in the case (ibid., p. 195).
*A decanate is one-third of a Sign. The first decanate of a Sign, comprising 0ø-9ø 59' of that Sign, is associated only with that Sign and its rulers. The second, comprising 10ø-19ø59' of the Sign, is associated with the Sign of its own Element that is 120ø East of it in the Zodiac, e.g., as Cancer is in relation to Pisces, and is co-ruled by the latter's rulers. The third, comprising 20ø-29ø59' of that Sign, is associated with the third Sign of that Element, 120ø West of it, e.g., as Scorpio is in relation to Pisces, and is co-ruled by the latter's rulers.
**One-twelfth of a Sign, comprising 21/2ø. In order, the first dwad of a Sign is associated only with that Sign; the second is co-ruled by the next Sign East of that Sign, e.g., as Aries is in relation to Pisces; the third, by the next Sign East after that, e.g., as Taurus is in relation to Pisces; etc.
So we see that the illness is real, involving an extreme malfunctioning of the body (Luna quincunx Sol and square Mars). There is almost certain to be an operation, something for which the physicians involved are eager. The problem involves the endocrine glands (already indicated by the very nature of the disease); superabundance of fluids (i.e., blood) and glandular secretions (already confirmed by a blood-test); fainting (as a matter of fact, because I was bleeding so much, I was so anemic that I was close to passing out throughout all my waking hours); toxic conditions (I had had radiation sickness as a child, due to nuclear fallout from atmospheric A-bomb tests, which apparently badly damaged my endocrine system, and almost certainly contributed heavily to the current problem); dangerous psychic influences (oddly, around the time this problem began, a poltergeist or some other malignant ha'ant began plaguing the house I was then living in, necessitating an exorcism; soon after that, one of my roommates developed a sudden, unexplained hatred for me and, as I heard from friends a year later or so, then and there began casting curses on me); dietary problems (more on which later); and the possibility of cancer.
Given all these doomful indications, is there any way I would not have to have a hysterectomy, if I was to survive? What mutual receptions existed among the Planets in the above chart that would enable me to avoid surgery and still regain my health?
The Revised Chart
I went to a friend of mine who has a certain talent for these things, and asked his aid in revising this horary chart via mutual receptions to make the best possible outcome for me, then "set" it Magickally in order to bring the future it predicted into manifestation. Accordingly, we revised the chart as follows:
It is best to use pairs of Planets rather than sets of three or more of them at a time throughout such a revision, if it is at all possible. This is because it is easier to sense and react adroitly to a pair of Planets than it is to any greater number of them simultaneously; less biological energy is needed to exploit Planetary couplets than groups of three or more of them, and it is easier to make drastic mistakes when trying to juggle the energies of more than two Planets than it is when dealing with just a couplet. Therefore we hoped to be able to achieve our aims using only couplets of Planets, in sequence; and in fact we were able to do so.
First, we saw that Mercury and Mars were in mutual reception under mundane detriment, since Mercury was in Taurus (Mars's Sign of mundane detriment), in the Eighth House, while Mars was in Pisces (Mercury's Sign of mundane detriment), in the Sixth (see the table of the Planetary dignities in Section III, below). This meant that in order to exploit this mutual reception, I would - at least at first - have to accept some sort of disadvantage to myself, give something up, or undergo something unpleasant. But if using that mutual reception made one or both of them available for other relationships of mutual reception that would ultimately prove advantageous, or placed one or both of them such that the problem would thereby be solved then and there, it would be more than worth it to me to undergo whatever problems it might entail for me. So we went ahead, placing Mercury at 8ø 53' Pisces, in the Fifth House, and Mars at 8ø 53' Taurus, in the Eighth. (Our reasons for putting Mars at Mercury's degree, and leaving Mercury in His original degree, in Their new Signs, will soon become apparent.)
In order to achieve my goal, at least at first I would have to undergo something less-than-pleasant, as represented by these new placements of Mars and Mercury. What would these be?
Mercury rules thought, and the central-nervous-system; Pisces rules the unconscious mind, and the emotional or limbic portions of the brain. Mars rules one's general or metabolic energy and exuberance, as well as ambition and self-assertion; Taurus rules the physical aspects of life. With Mercury in Pisces, thought-processes are extremely liable to be upset according to one's moods, which may vary wildly. Mars in Taurus would tend to make one depressed, or reduce one's metabolic energy or hinder its expression in some way; it would also make one preoccupied with sex or sensuality, giving an overly-strong libido. In fact, these were symptoms I was already manifesting, due to the endocrine imbalances which had given rise to my current condition.
Furthermore, though by using this mutual reception in this way, I would be transferring Mars from Pisces, a Sign in which He has His fall, to Taurus, one in which He only suffers a mundane detriment. This would definitely give Him a "step up," as it were, I would also be transferring Mercury from Taurus, of which He is the esoteric Lord, to Pisces, in which He has His mundane detriment. Thus I would be transferring Him from a place of extreme advantage to him to one of disadvantage. The result would likely be resistance to my efforts to use this system, which could add to any other problems that might arise as a result of these new placements.
So if I were to use this mutual reception in order to try to make others available to me as a result, at best it would mean that at least for a while, during which I might or might not be undergoing some form of therapy that did not involve surgery, I would have to put up with more of the same symptoms which had already plagued me, in addition to the endless bleeding. Further, I would probably have additional problems, such as having to spend extra money on remedies that I could not afford, or other practical problems, as a result of trying to work this switch against the cosmic grain, as it were/ But as a first approximation, this was acceptable, because at the worst it wouldn't involve anything worse than what I'd already been through, and also looked far better than the alternative. So we continued on from there.
We now had Mars in Taurus, whose traditional and diurnal mundane Lord is Venus. It so happens that in the original chart, Venus, ruler of the female reproductive system and the kidneys, was in Aries, whose traditional and nocturnal mundane Lord is Mars. Thus Mars and Venus now composed a two-body system of mutual reception under mundane rulership. Exploitation of such a system would be advantageous, no matter what, since mundane dominion involve Planetary strengths. So we used this system to place Mars at 8ø 53' Aries and Venus at 8ø 53' Taurus, taking them out of Signs of Their mundane detriment and placing Them in Signs of Their mundane dominion - i.e., taking Them from positions of weakness and placing them in positions of strength.
Exploiting this two-body system in this way would be fairly easy, for both Planets would thereby be transferred from positions of disadvantage to positions of power, meaning that a sort of natural momentum, like that of gravity, would be added to my efforts to carry out what this transfer represented in the real world. The result of using this system might improve thyroid function (Venus, a ruler of the endocrine system, in a Sign of Her strength, Taurus, which rules the throat) as well as that of those endocrine glands located in the brain, such as the pituitary, hypothalamus, and pineal gland (Mars, giver of strength and energy, in Aries, which rules the head and all it contains), which would come about if my alternative to surgery embraced some form of therapy that treated my dysfunctional endocrine system as a whole, not just that part of it involved with menstrual functions, such as the ovaries or pituitary.
In the meantime, we noticed that Mercury, now at 8ø 53' Pisces, was in the Sign of which Sol is nocturnal Lord, which Sol, at 21ø 0' Taurus, was in the Sign of Mercury's esoteric rulership. To exploit this system would again be advantageous, and fairly easy to accomplish, as well, since it would transfer Mercury from a Sign of His mundane detriment to one of which He was esoteric Lord, and also transfer Sol from one in which He is exalted to one He rules esoterically - definite improvements in both Their fortunes (though in Sol's case, of course, He was never actually disadvantaged)!
Use of this system would again be likely to improve thyroid function (Mercury, ruling the thyroid gland, placed in the Sign of His greatest strength, Taurus, which rules the throat). It might also improve pineal function, giving improved sleep as a side-benefit (I had long suffered from insomnia), and that of certain portions of the hindbrain, such as the corpus coerleus, which rules dreaming, or the connecting links between the two hemispheres of the brain, such as the corpus callosum (Pisces rules all of these, and Sol in any Sign adds vital energy to the things ruled by that Sign). So we now placed Mercury at 8ø 53' Taurus and Sol at 8ø 53' Pisces, and continued on.
In the original chart, the Moon, Who rules the timing of all events and the course of all processes, was at 14ø 43' Sagittarius, while Jupiter was at 8ø 53' Cancer - just incidentally, the same degree and minute of Mercury's original placement, and at which we had kept Mercury throughout all the previous exchanges. Luna here is in Her esoteric detriment, and thus Her greatest weakness, in Sagittarius, as well as low in the chart. Jupiter, the Great Benefic, however, is exalted in Cancer, Luna's traditional and nocturnal mundane dominion, and is thus much stronger in that Sign than in Sagittarius, His traditional and diurnal mundane dominion; moreover He is the highest body in the chart, indeed, conjunct its Midheaven. If we had simply tried to transfer each of these two Planets into the Signs of the other's original placement, we would meet resistance on Jupiter's part, which might make it extremely hard to make use of this system. So instead, we left Jupiter in His original placement - and, just incidentally, exactly sextile Mercury in the latter's new placement - and moved Luna so that She now made an exactly conjunction with Jupiter, at 8ø 53' Cancer.
This involved no change for Jupiter, and a definite change of fortune for the better for Luna, thus making this change fairly easy. As it happened, it also placed both Planets almost exactly conjunct the Midheaven of the chart, making Them the strongest influences in it. This meant that whatever came to pass as a result of the situation concerning which the original chart had been erected and the new, revised charts successively calculated from it would be fortune to the greatest degree possible, with Luna, ruler of all the action of the charts, now conjunct Jupiter, the Great Benefic, at the chart's Midheaven. Whatever form this fortune too, it would infuse all other influences in the chart, and tend to overcome any unfortunate influences. This being the case, we therefore transferred Luna to Jupiter's placement in Cancer, in exact conjunction with him, and went on.
We found that now Mars, in Aries, was in mutual reception with Pluto, at 16ø 16' Scorpio, since each was in the Sign of which the other was diurnal mundane Lord. So we transferred mars from 8ø 53' Aries to 8ø 53' Scorpio, and left Pluto where he was. With Sol now in Taurus and Mars at this new position, Mars would be retrograde, due to the geometry of the situation. Though within the orb -- 8ø -- of conjunction with Pluto, because He would be retrograde at this new position, and swifter in motion than the retrograde Pluto, Mars wouldn't conjoin Pluto, but rather would move away from Him. So the two Planets would be in the same Sign, but not conjunct. And while Mars would be in exact trine aspect (120ø) with Luna, He would not be in the Seventh House, in which placement He would incline the physician toward surgery. Further, the exact trine He would now make to Luna and Jupiter, facilitating and strongly reinforcing Their influence, would likely cancel out any tendency He could make toward unwanted surgery or other debilitating actions.
Further, Pluto rules death, while Mars rules actions that can bring death, especially via battle, surgery, or other violence. Both are mundane Lords of Aries, the Sign on the cusp of this chart's Seventh House, which rules the physician. We kept them apart in order to place obstacles in the way of the possibility that whatever any physician in the case might do might result in my early and unnecessary death.
This system would be easy to exploit, too, since no change at all in the strength of the two Planets would come about as a result of the new placement of Mars, at least as far as Sign-placement went. Further, placing Mars in Scorpio, which rules the reproductive organs in both sexes, might well strength (Mars) my uterus (Scorpio), which had been badly lacerated by all that endless, bloody sloughing off of its lining. So some advantage, and very little, if any, disadvantage, was likely to come about by using this mutual reception in this way. So we moved Mars to Scorpio, as just described, and continued.
Now, in the original chart, Neptune was in Capricorn, in which He falls, in the Fourth House, which rules the outcome of any chart. While Neptune rules such desirable things as mystical or clairvoyant vision and the fine arts, He can also act malefically -- as mentioned above, He is also the Lord of Deceit, Fraud, Suicide, Murder, and various forms of insanity - and would be very likely to do so in a Sign of His weakness, such as Capricorn. This was not a Planet we wanted in the Fourth House, ruler of the outcome of any horary chart, especially not in that Sign!
We noticed that He was placed in a Sign of Pluto's esoteric rulership, Capricorn, while Pluto was in a Sign of Neptune's esoteric rulership. While we didn't want Pluto - Who represents death (in this case, possibly, the death of my reproductive organs!) - in the Fourth House, influencing the ultimate outcome of the matter, we did want Neptune out of that House. Accordingly, we moved Neptune to 16ø 16' Scorpio, Pluto's degree in the Sign of Pluto's placement, so that Neptune was now conjunct Pluto.
As a result of this transfer, Neptune's position was greatly improved, while Pluto's didn't change at all, which would make exploitation of this system fairly easy. What exactly it might produce wasn't clear - the functions of the Outer Planets, those beyond Saturn, still aren't well understood. But we decided to go ahead with this transfer of Neptune because it helped to keep Him from influencing the final outcome of the matter.
Unfortunately, however, this now meant that Mars and Neptune, two Malefics, as well as Pluto, were all in the Second House, which rules finances as well as the near future. This portended immediate financial problems as well as, possibly, more dire ones. I might soon have to deal with fraud, lies, deceit, or even a murder attempt! But all three of these Planets were now in orb of trine to the conjunction of Luna and Jupiter, the two Planets dominating the chart and its ultimate outcome - with Mars exactly trine to them, as well. So the net effect of making these new placements would probably be beneficial in the long run, whatever problems they might bring in the short.
At this point, we couldn't see any more advantageous moves to make. However, the Part of Fortune did need to be recalculated, since the positions of both the Sun and the Moon had been changed. The Part of Fortune is calculated by subtracting the Sun's position to that of the Moon, then adding it to or subtracting it from the Ascendant, depending upon whether the chart is respectively a diurnal or nocturnal one. Since in this latest version of the chart Sol was well above the horizon, it was a diurnal chart. So we subtracted the new position of Sol from that of Luna and added the difference to the Ascendant, giving 8ø 53' Gemini for the new Part of Fortune.
The chart we had created as a result of these changes is shown below:
[illustration of revised chart]
Point
Longitude
Declination
™
8 ¢ 53
8 S 15
x
8 o 53
?
O
8¢53
?
U
8 ¢53
?
U
8 &emdash;53
?
U
8o53
?
2518 3
20 S 55
Y
916 3
23 S 26
_
16 ö16 3
?
16&emdash;16 3
1 S 19
8 53
12 N 21
1131
17 S 19
MC
10o57
22 N 59
Asc
8o47
3 S 29
Chiron Ý
12 o 56
Ceres
13 o 50
Juno ý
16 &emdash; 25
Pallas
26 ¢ 33
Vesta
20 5
Day of the week: N.A.
Day or Night Ruler: N.A.
Hour of Day or Night: 2nd hour of the night/Hour of the Dog (Chinese)
Hour-ruler: N.A.
Julian day: N.A.
Sidereal time: N.A.
Delta T: N.A.
Fig. 2: Rectified horary chart for May 11, 1990, 4:39 p.m. PDT, for 122ø W 19' longitude and 47ø N 42' latitude
First of all, in this final version of the chart, seven out of ten Planets are placed at 8ø 53' minutes of whatever Signs They occupy. Further, the Part of Fortune occupies this same degree in Gemini. Thus a majority of elements of this chart are arrayed around the chart in a series of sextiles and semisextiles, forming two "kites" - configurations comprising an opposition between two chart-elements or groups of them, to each of which two other chart-elements or groups thereof make sextile and trine aspects.
That is, in the chart above Mercury and Venus, at 8ø 53' Taurus, exactly oppose Mars, Who occupies that same degree in Scorpio and is within orb of conjunction to Neptune and Pluto, also occupying Scorpio. On the one hand, Jupiter and the Moon, likewise at 8ø 53', in Cancer, sextile mercury and Venus and trine Mars, Neptune, and Pluto. On the other, so also does Sol, also at 8ø 53', in Pisces, but from the opposite side; in addition, Sol makes an exact trine to Luna and Jupiter.
In addition, Luna and Jupiter in Cancer make a very close opposition to Uranus in Capricorn --while Uranus is not at 8ø 53' of His Sign, He is within 1ø of that position. The "crossbar" of this kite is formed by Sol, on the one hand, and Mars/Neptune/Pluto, on the other.
The Planets occupying the termini of the "crossbars" of these two kites serve to mitigate the harsh effects of the oppositions, since They trine the Planet(s) at one end of the opposition and sextile the one(s) at the other. Each of the two kites includes a grand trine of three or more Planets - an equilateral triangle at the three apices of which are individual Planets or groups of them - and the opposition in it generates the awareness needed to put the fortunate trines and sextiles to work. If not for the opposition, one might remain unaware of any opportunities created by the "soft" sextiles and trines, and so fail to exploit these opportunities satisfactorily. Thus these configurations are extremely fortunate ones which would strongly tend to bring about a fortunate outcome of the original problem.
The tensions represented by the two oppositions might include the following:
The first kite's opposition comprises an exact conjunction of Venus and Mercury making a close opposition to the stellium that includes Mars, Neptune, and Pluto. In any chart, Mercury is the generic ruler of all Sixth-House matters, including health and health-related issues; in this chart, He rules the Signs on the cusps of the Ninth and Twelfth Houses. Venus, on the other hand, rules female organs in general, and in this chart rules the Signs on the cusps of the First and Eighth Houses. Mars and Pluto rules the cusps of the Second and Seventh Houses in this chart; Neptune rules that of the Sixth. So this opposition might represent a clash between me (First House) and religious issues (Ninth and Twelfth Houses), on the one hand, and financial matters (Second), physicians (Seventh), and matters of health (Sixth), on the other.
But since Venus is the generic ruler of the Second House (finances), and Mercury is that of the Sixth (health), the apparent conflict between Mercury/Venus and Mars/Neptune/Pluto and the matters of the Houses ruled by Them can be resolved. I.e., such conflict is only apparent; there is an underlying accord and unity among Them which, if properly exploited, can bring about harmony and a fortunate conclusion to the matter. Even so, the apparent tension generated by Them can be useful, for it brings into conscious focus matters ruled by the Planets included in the grand trine that is part of this kite, making it easier to exploit Them for a satisfactory outcome.
Similarly, the other kite comprises Luna conjunct Jupiter, opposing Uranus. Luna is the generic Lord of the Fourth House, and Jupiter is accidentally exalted in that House, while He is also the generic Lord of the Ninth and Twelfth Houses; in this chart, Luna rules the Tenth House cusp, and Jupiter the cusps of the Third and Sixth Houses. Uranus is the generic Lord of the Eleventh House, and rules the cusp of the Fifth of this chart; He also conjoins the cusp of this chart's I.C., and thus is thereby in an accord with Luna and Jupiter. The apparent conflict is between career, authority, and reputation (Tenth House), neighbors and machines (Third), and health (Sixth), on the one hand; and pleasure, children, sex, or sports (Fifth), on the other. This is resolved in some fashion through the home or end of life (Fourth House), religion or faith (Ninth and Twelfth), and friends (Eleventh). And this opposition helps the native to become aware of opportunities created by the trines and sextiles in this kite.
The only squares in the chart are provided by the Lunar Nodes, at 11( 31' Aquarius ( , fortunate) and 11( 31' Leo (a, misfortune). These square the Mars/Neptune/Pluto stellium, on the one hand, and Venus/Mercury, on the other, forming a Grand Cross in Fixed (Cherubic) Signs. Normally this is an extremely difficult configuration, one which can produce enormous grief, particularly since the North Node in this chart is in the Fourth House of outcomes and Mars, Neptune, and Pluto are all Malefics. However, because the fortunate North Node is in the Fourth House, this bodes well for the outcome; and the Nodes also form a Grand Trine with the Part of Fortune in Air Signs, an omen of extreme good fortune. So this is likely to be more fortunate than unfortunate as far as the outcome goes.
Also, as it happens, some of the Planets in this chart make fortunate aspects to my natal chart, which is given below. These include a trine of Neptune and Pluto to my natal North Node, which is located at 14ø 37' Cancer, and a conjunction of the Part of Fortune in this chart to my natal Uranus, which is located at 9ø 35' Gemini. In my natal chart, Aquarius is on the cusp of the Sixth House, so my natal Uranus rules my health; the conjunction of this chart's Part of Fortune with my natal Uranus is thus an extremely good omen. The trine of Neptune and Pluto, which oppose Venus and Mercury in the horary chart, to my natal North Node (a Benefic acting very much like Jupiter, Venus, and the Part of Fortune in any chart) also predicts a fortunate outcome, strongly tending to cancel out the effects of the opposition of Neptune and Pluto to Mercury and Venus in the horary chart, as well as Their square to the Lunar Nodes in that chart.
[author's natus]
Point
Longitude
Declination
™
0 3
0 N 1
x
2 o 55
22 N 20
O
17 18
8 N 7
U
3 ¢11
18 N 47
U
26 48
13 S 41
U
21 o 36
4 N 44
4 o 3
22 N 49
Y
9 35
21 N 52
_
5 o 12 3
0 S 42
8 7 3
24 N 4
17 £ 45
22 S 52
15 o 19 D
22 N 38
MC
13 26
22 N 25
Asc
14 ö 53
5 N 56
Chiron Ý
0 o 14
Ceres
7 &emdash; 19
Juno ý
4 o 48
Pallas
28 ö 12
Vesta
19 o 31
Day of the week: Tuesday
Day or Night Ruler: U(generic ruler of female reproductive system)
Hour of Day or Night: 9 (a number of the Moon, ruler of menstruation and menopause)/Hour of the Sheep (Chinese)
Hour-ruler: O (generic ruler of health)
Julian day: 2431535.5333333
Sidereal time: 4h 48m 10s
Delta T: 26.88053 seconds
Fig. 3: Natal chart of the author, March 20, 1945 e.v. @ 5:48 p.m. PWT, Huntington Hospital, Pasadena, California (118ø W 08', 34ø N 08')
As previously mentioned, Luna and Jupiter conjoin the Midheaven in the horary chart itself, and are thus higher in that chart than any other bodies or sensitive points, e.g., the Part of Fortune, within it. Since Luna drives the action of the chart, while Jupiter is the Great Benefic, Their advantage over everything else in the chart due to Their elevation in it predicts that all the action of the chart, as well as the ultimate outcome of the matter, will be fortunate, especially so since Jupiter rules the cusp of the Sixth House
In addition, the sextile made by Uranus to Neptune, along with the trine made by Luna and Jupiter to that Planet, Who co-rules the Sixth House cusp, increases the likelihood of a good outcome of the matter. And though Saturn, the Great Malefic, is in the Fourth House of outcomes, and rules the Sign on the cusp of that House, He makes no aspect to anything else in the chart - at 25ø 18' Capricorn, he is outside the permitted 8ø orb of aspect even to Neptune and Pluto. Since He also shares the Fourth House with the Moon's North Node, which prophesies good fortune, His evil effects are thereby offset and canceled, particularly since He doesn't interact with anything else in the chart.
Overall, the outcome of this chart and the matter with which it is concerned, is likely to be at worst somewhat better than the original situation, with a fairly good chance that it will even be quite satisfactory to the Querent (me). As it is, the evil aspects in the chart are more than offset by good ones, which add greatly to the chances I would be able to make use of the opportunities provided by the beneficial omens of the chart in an optimal way. I therefore decided that this new chart, as it stood, was satisfactory. So my friend and I went about the business of Magickally "setting" it, to make sure that the future events would follow a course dictated by this rectified chart, rather than by the original one from which it was derived.
Magickally "Setting" the Revised Horary Chart
This procedure entails using some method to ensure that the future predicted by the new, revised chart will be the one that comes to pass, rather than the one predicted by the original chart. A number of Magickal techniques can be used for this purpose; my friend and I used one that did not vary widely from one of a number of standard techniques.
If the revised chart is created within a ritual context, in which a God is invoked to oversee and facilitate the production, then within that same ritual the same God can be petitioned to ensure that the future which the new chart predicts is the one that comes to pass. But if the ritual is closed out before this is done, there are numerous other techniques that can be used for this purpose.
Some of these involve the creation of amulets. For example, on a small, flat piece of ceramic, wood, clay, or some other suitable medium, the revised chart can be reproduced in paint, clay, or some other appropriate means. The finished amulet, with a hole punched in it through which a thong or chain can be threaded, can then be worn around the neck. It could also be put up above one's bed, say, in the form of a plaque.
Another kind of astrological amulet takes the form of a bead necklace. A Sign of the Zodiac is represented in such a necklace by a sequence of beads, one after the other, in a color suitable for that Sign. If there are any Planets or sensitive points in that Sign in the chart under consideration, larger beads, in colors suitable to those Planets, or with symbols of those Planets engraved in or painted on them along with the degrees of their placements, are added to the necklace within the sequence of beads representing that Sign. Finally, all of the twelve sequences of beads standing for the Signs and any Planets or sensitive points they contain are strung together in sequence, forming the necklace. The necklace can then be worn around the neck, like any necklace. Similarly, a bracelet of this form can be made to represent the chart, or a belt.
A Sigil representing the chart could be created and used in this way, as well. A Sigil is a sort of symbolic portrait of a God, an idea, a wish, or some other complex matter, reduced to a highly abstract form which, however, contains all the relevant information about the thing it represents. It can be created in any medium or sensory mode, including, e.g., paint, stone, laserium productions, film, music, perfumes, incenses, even foods that combine various symbolically significant components. The usual form is a visual, graphic one, composed in paint or ink on a flat surface such as canvas, a stone plaque, a glass slab, cardboard, or paper.
An amulet of the sort described above is a very crude form of a Sigil. It does contain all the relevant information,, but it is crude because it presents it in a one-to-one representation unchanged from the original form. The more elegantly and efficiently the relevant information is presented in a Sigil, and the less redundancy and unnecessary or irrelevant detail, the better. For example, in the case of the revised chart described above, one could use a circle done in the colors, in their proper sequence, of the twelve Signs, placing the symbols of the Planets, Lights, and sensitive points such as the Part of Fortune, Ascendant, and Lunar Nodes in the arcs of the circles whose colors correspond to the Signs of their placement in the revised chart. For example, Taurus's colors are red-orange, deep indigo, deep warm olive, and rich brown;7 and in the Natural Wheel or Natural Zodiac Taurus is the middle third of the lower left-hand quadrant of the figure.8 In the revised chart under consideration here, Venus and Mercury are in Taurus, so symbols for Venus and Mercury could be put in the middle third of the lower left-hand quadrant of the wheel, which would be done in the traditional colors of Taurus.
Another form of the Sigil, a very powerful one, might also be useful here. This is the Spare Sigil, created by Austin Osman Spare.* Essentially, creation of a Spare Sigil entail writing out one's Will or intention in the form of a sentence, paragraph, or even something longer, one that is as concise as possible, containing all relevant information but none that is irrelevant. All redundant alphanumeric symbols therein - all but one copy of each letter, numeral, punctuation symbol, etc. within it - are eliminated. Then, from the ones that are left, an abstract drawing or painting is created.** The sentence begins, "It is my True Will [to do such-and-such, or that such-and-such shall come to pass] . . ." and goes on from there.
*See Book 3, Part 9 of this volume, "The Spare Sigil: Its Construction, Use, Care, and Feeding." Also, see the books by Kenneth Grant and Austin O. Spare listed in the bibliography for the details of Spare's life and those of the construction and use of his Magickal invention, the Spare Sigil.
**Theoretically, other sensory modes and media than the visual and graphic could be used for this purpose. Alphabets composed of scents, sounds, tastes, or whatever could also be used, and the Sigil composed from "sentences" "written" therein.
This is not to say that the language in which the Spare Sigil is written has to be a standard ones. It could be scientific, mathematical, or esoteric, such as the language of astrology. So the symbols in the revised chart described above could be the "letters" of the "sentence(s)" that is the chart itself that are used to create a Spare Sigil. The resultant Sigil could then be put up on the wall as a painting or drawing, worn as an amulet, or employed in any other of the many ways in which Spare Sigils can be used.9
Regardless of the technique used to "set" the rectified chart, if this isn't done within the ritual context used to calculate the chart from the original - especially if the revision itself isn't done within a ritual - then a suitable ritual should be used for the "setting," in which the appropriate God is invoked and petitioned to charge the revised chart such that its predicted future will then come to pass. This ritual could be Tantric (sexual) in nature, or it could take a more conventional, non-sexual form, such as one of the Abramelin forms or the ritual forms described in the Key of Solomon.* In any case, some sort of ritual should be employed for this purpose, to acquire and direct the energy necessary to mutate the trends of the cosmos from their original form, which would have brought about the future predicted by the original horary chart, to one that will conform to the desired future predicted by the revised chart. The revised future cannot happen without work done, whether by the Gods or by human beings, to make it happen by transmuting the universal processes as described by the original chart into paths conforming to the new one. This work can only be done Magickally, which is to say, by a Working of Will; it won't come about by accident, nor as a matter of course. So unless one's Deep Mind is unusually perspicacious and responsive, one will need to do a ritual of some sort of synch in the future described by the revised chart.
*See S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers, editor and translator. The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage (New York: Dover Publications, 1975) and The Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Solomonis) (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1974).
The Actual Outcome
A few days after my friend and I had completed revising and "setting" the chart, as described above, an acquaintance told me about a naturopath whose office wasn't far from where I lived. He recommended the naturopath highly; in fact, it was someone to whom he went himself for various ailments. Several others recommended this naturopath to me within a short time, as well. Everyone told me that he was an excellent physician, in every respect; he was an M.D. as well as a doctor of naturopathy, and a credit to both professions. Moreover, he never recommended surgery if there was any way to avoid it, and he worked with the client, rather than giving orders to him or her.
There was a problem, however. As it was, I had no medical insurance that would have covered naturopathy or other forms of alternative medicine, and wasn't doing well enough financially to be able to pay for his treatments myself. However, at the time I had a friend who was willing to help cover the cost of undergoing whatever treatments the naturopath should recommend. Since the naturopath's fees, as any medicines he might recommend, would likely cost far less than any allopathic treatments and remedies, it was likely that with my friend's help I'd be able to cover whatever the naturopath and his treatments might cost.
This is in fact what happened. With my friend picking up the tab for his work, the naturopath reviewed all the data I was able to give him concerning my problem. He prescribed a tea compounded of powdered wild yam root, powdered T'ang Q'uai and powdered ginseng. The first two herbs contain precursors for and regulators of the production of various female hormones, e.g., estrogen, while ginseng contains those for certain other endocrine hormones. When I took this tea on a daily basis over a period of several months. The pathological flow of blood stopped completely, and my menstrual cycles became regular for the first time in many years. The treatment, which didn't involve surgery of any kind, was successful.
Furthermore, the naturopath was careful to make sure that I wasn't suffering from chronic internal bleeding due to, say, a blow to the uterus or cancer. He took several blood tests over a period of a few months; the only real abnormality he found in my blood occurred right at the beginning of his treatment, in the form of extreme anemia - which was to be expected, considering all the blood I'd lost over a period of some nine weeks. He treated that problem with iron supplements and megadoses of vitamins B1 and B2, which cleared up the anemia completely with no deleterious side-effects.
However, a few months later the problem came back. I then went to a different clinic, the OB-GYN clinic at the University of Washington Medical Center. Making sure I didn't have cancer or some other contraindicating condition, they put me on the Pill. This cleared up the problem again, for about three years. At that time, however, my ankles and feet began to swell alarmingly with fluid and muscles in my neck and shoulders began spasming until I was wild with pain. I went to an acupuncturist, who tried in vain to bring the symptoms down. I finally gave up the Pill, and the swelling began to go away.
But the cramping persisted, nearly driving me mad with pain, and then the non-stop "menstrual" bleeding began again. So, in desperation, I tried out homeopathic medications of the sort that can be found in any good health food store or food co-op. I also purchased a magnetic mattress to sleep on, highly recommended by friends as being "good for what ails ye." As far as the bleeding went, these worked for awhile - but didn't do much to stop the cramping, which felt exactly like severe menstrual cramps in the neck and shoulders.
Ultimately, the "final solution" for the bleeding came about serendipitously (Uranus). For many years I had had an increasingly severe problem with insomnia. So, after years of trying all other remedies and finding them wanting, I finally gave up caffeine in all forms - and the insomnia stopped. ("Duh 'R' Me.") To my vast surprise, however, so did the bleeding! Then, a couple of weeks later, I took the magnetic mattress off my bed for spring cleaning -- and the neck-cramps stopped, as well. Apparently my body had been reacting adversely to the mattress as well as to the caffeine; giving up the latter completely ended the bleeding, and without that magnetic field further irritating me all night long, the neck-cramps stopped, as well. The cure, such as it was, appears to have been permanent; there have been no reoccurrence of either since, not even a hint that they might return.
Caffeine is ruled by Neptune, since it is addictive; magnets are ruled by iron. Neptune also rules illnesses that are mysterious in nature, with elusive symptoms, hard to diagnose and treat successfully. The Moon rules menstruation, menopause, and dysmenorrhea (pathological bleeding related to menstruation or menopause) in any form. All along, apparently, my menstrual dysfunction was due to the endless pots of coffee I drank for so many years! But nobody thought to look at that as a possible cause of the problem. Instead, one ultimately unsuccessful therapy after another was tried, and everything from unnecessary radical surgery to weird drugs that could have done great harm to me in the long run was recommended for it. It took years to finally find the real cure, and it was only found by accident. Neptune and Saturn in the Fourth House of that revised chart and Uranus conjunct the cusp of that house and in opposition to Luna predicted exactly this outcome: a mysterious, debilitating illness (Neptune) involving female cycles (Luna) finally cured after many years (Saturn) by a complete accident (Uranus). Furthermore, Luna in conjunction with Jupiter at the top of the chart predicted a fortunate outcome after all was said and done - and that it was happened.
What about Mars? Where does He come into this, mattress or not? Well, according to Aleister Crowley, "Mars is the heart of Neptune." What can I say? :)
Conclusions
Certainly, in the case of the example described above, the Magickal use of mutual receptions to change a predicted outcome from an undesirable to a desirable one gave results that were essentially satisfactory. Moreover, a number of minor but remarkable details of the revised chart corresponded neatly to certain aspects of the outcome. Thus use of this technique was successful in this case, not only with respect to the main reason for its use - saving my life without resort to radical surgical mutilation of my body in the process of doing so - but also the seemingly ephemeral of trivial details of the actual outcome.
Much more well-documented experimentation with use of this technique and its results is needed to establish once and for all whether it is a dependable one. But certainly the result I achieved from using it, as described here, supports the claim that it is both extremely effective and very dependable. Further, in any case in which the possibility of benefit by use of such a technique outweighs the likelihood that the technique will fail or that it will have unpleasant side-effects, the technique should be used. If, say, there is a probability of 99%+ that a man will die or become radically impaired for the rest of his life without an operation to remove a brain-tumor, and a 50% or lower chance that with the operation he will die or become incapacitated in some way, or that the operation won't change anything at all, certainly that operation is indicated. The same sort of choice needed to be made here. The chances of harm done by the technique used in the case outlined above, or of its complete failure, were low, whereas the likelihood that I would either bleed to death or have to have a complete ovarian hysterectomy without trying it at all were extremely high, so in any case like this the use of this technique would be indicated.
Nota bene:
Certain questions may come up concerning mutual reception with respect to this particular experiment.
One thing that should be noted is that in the revised chart, Venus and Mercury are conjunct in Taurus such that They make an exact sextile (60ø) to Sol, Who is in Pisces. Now, astronomically speaking, on a purely physical level, because of the relative average Solar orbital radii of Mercury, Venus, and Earth and the fact that the Solar orbits of Mercury and Venus are within that of the Earth, the angular distance of Venus from Sol, as seen from Earth, can never exceed about 48ø, while that of mercury can be no more than 28ø or so.10 Therefore on the purely physical plane neither Venus nor Mercury can ever form an exact sextile with Sol, as seen from Earth. Yet they do so in the revised chart. What does this imply about the importance of the physical and astronomical facts concerning the Planets and Lights to the success or failure of the use of astrology in Magick, or its relevance thereto?
When interpreting astrological charts of any kind, it is useful to ask the question, "Does this make sense physically?" This criterion can be extremely useful for eliminating confusion and ambiguity in charts that might otherwise render them astrologically and Magickally useless. What, then, are the limits of the usefulness of this criterion?
Obviously the fact that in the revised chart, Venus and Mercury have a geometric relationship to Sol that is physically impossible was irrelevant to the successful conclusion of the Magickal ritual that employed that chart. Yet normally that criterion has been an extremely valuable one for the successful judgment of charts. So while it is by no means a useless one, the value of this criterion is limited, even if those limits define a very, very broad horizon. What are those limits, and what are their philosophical implications?
Perhaps those limits only apply on the outer planes. After all, charts that come into existence as revisions of others via mutual receptions, like the one given here, do not describe a situation that has physical reality per se. Even if the Planets and Lights of the Solar System could duplicate the geometric interrelationships of the revised chart at some future time, other significant cosmic variables could not be the same as they were for the original chart. For example, each of the "fixed" Stars has an individual, unique proper motion, no two such being necessarily geometrically related to any other or to anything in the Solar System. Likewise, the galaxies are all moving apart from one another, in different directions, due to the expansion of the universe that presumably began with the Big Bang. There is almost certainly a black hole at the center of our own galaxy; if so, it must be continuously increasing in size and mass, and therefore in its physical and Magickal effects upon everything in our Solar System - us included. And so on.
Consider also the Lunar and Planetary Nodes. The Moon's Nodes are the points at either end of the line determined by the intersection of the plane of Her orbit around the Earth and that of Earth around Sol. Similarly, the Nodes of a given Planet are the points at either end of the line determined by the intersection of the plane of the Earth's orbit around Sol and that of the Planet in question.11 When Luna, Sol, or a Planet is moved to a new place in a chart by means of mutual reception, how should its Nodes be moved with it?
To answer this question in any sensible way, it must first be understand that such a shift of Planetary position via mutual reception is made on a level that doesn't involve time, as if some galactic God suddenly reached into the Solar system from outside, picked up the body in question, and plunked it down into another orbit (or, in the case of the Sun, simultaneously rearranged all the bodies of the Solar System into new orbits). On the other hand, the progression of Lunar and Planetary Nodes through the Heavens is a time-dependent process, one that can't be separated from, and is in fact necessarily defined in terms of, time. Therefore the position of any Nodes involved can only be defined in the physical world, and applies only to the original, unrectified chart, while the revised chart doesn't really refer to anything on the physical plane at all. So the positions of the Nodes against the background of the Signs can't change between the original and the revised chart, whereas the positions of one or more of the Planets and/or Lights does change. Thus the only actual time that the geometry of the Solar System could correspond to anything in the revised is that for which all the Nodes of the Planets and the Moon are as they are in the original chart - for which the overall configuration of the Solar System doesn't correspond with that shown in the revised chart, as it is.
Thus the revised chart can't reflect the universe at any moment whatsoever on the purely physical plane. On the one hand, in common with the original chart, it must have certain elements that do exist in the purely physical universe, or which are defined strictly in terms of that universe, e.g., Lunar and Planetary Nodes and their geometric interrelationships, or the overall configuration of all Stars, Galaxies, etc. in our universe, that are completely unique to the moment for which the original chart was erected. On the other hand, however, it contains configurations of Planets and Lights which, though they are derived from the positions of those same bodies as they appear in the original chart, do not correspond to those original positions and their geometric interrelationships.
The revised chart therefore exists and has all its effects and influence entirely on the Inner Planes, the Magickal universe. It would therefore be rather foolish to expect that all the boundary conditions of the purely physical universe would have to apply to such a chart; at least some of them might be entirely irrelevant to one or another of the Inner Planes. The fact that I received a satisfactory result from the chart described above in spite of the fact that in it, Mercury and Venus have geometric relationships with Sol which, as seen from Earth, aren't physically possible implies that the Solar System may not be geometrically configured on the Inner Planes in exactly the same way that it is on the Outer, physical planes. On any of the Inner Planes, the center of the Solar System may not correspond to its center on the physical plane, and/or the order in which the orbits of the various bodies of the Solar System about that center appear may not be what it is on the Outer Planes. So by shifting from one Plane to another - by changing one's consciousness through Magickal or other means to conform to the constraints of differing Planes - one may come to be liberated from astrological/astronomical constraints peculiar to the first Plane, and simultaneously made to conform to limits imposed by those of the second one.
At any rate, the "impossible" positions of Venus and Mercury with respect to that of Sol in the revised chart doesn't seem to have had much, if any, in the way of deleterious effects upon the outcome, or to have hindered the successful Magickal implementation of that chart to bring about a future in line with the Will of those using it for that purpose. The philosophical implications of this, especially as it is relevant to Magick, could be quite significant, and deserves a great deal more consideration. Unfortunately, in order to conserve space, and because it goes far beyond the scope of the present article, I'll have to leave that to another time.
Nota bene: During the years 1991-1996 e.v. the Magickal technique described above would have been extremely useful for any who cared to put it to use. In 1998 e.v., Saturn entered Capricorn, which was already occupied by Uranus and Neptune; before He left Capricorn in 1991 e.v., Saturn conjoined first Uranus, Who also entered that Sign that year, just before Saturn, then Neptune, Who had entered it in 1984 e.v. Hard winters and governments in crisis were the hallmarks of the years 1988-1991 e.v.
In early 1991, Saturn went into Aquarius, after having been in the Sign Capricorn for about 2.5 years; He remained in that Sign for another 2.5 years, at which time he went into Pisces, finally leaving Pisces in April of 1996. Uranus occupied Capricorn from 1988 e.v. until January 1996 e.v., while Neptune has occupied it since about 1984 e.v., and will leave it in 1998 e.v. * During this time, extreme and radical changes took place in governments (which are generically ruled by Capricorn) all over the world, especially in those which, like the USSR in general and Soviet Russia in particular, were ruled by Saturn and/or Uranus, the Lords of Capricorn. Scandals, deception, and assassinations, all ruled by Neptune, played important roles in governmental affairs, and the economy became steadily worse, from 1984 e.v. on, a state of affairs that is likely to continue until 1998 e.v., when Neptune finally leaves Capricorn for Aquarius. The most striking event of 1991 e.v., when Saturn left Capricorn for Aquarius, was the kidnapping of Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev by Communist hard-liners who feared that Gorbachev's reforms would destroy the Soviet Union, on August 21, 1991 e.v. For the next three days, the fate of the whole world hung in the balance - indeed, in the hands of Gorbachev himself - as the men who had kidnapped (Neptune) him tried to extort (Saturn) the codes for the release of the Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal from him, so that they could initiate a first strike against the West and thereby (they hoped) end the threat of a potential invasion of Russia by the West forever.** By the time Gorbachev was finally released, a few days after his kidnapping, the people of the Soviet Union in general and Russia in particular, backed by the Soviet Army, had brought about the fall of the Soviet Union. In great part, this revolution took place for the same reason the initial Russian Revolution of 1917 e.v. had: appallingly hard economic conditions (Saturn, Capricorn). In this case, those conditions had been brought about by a combination of a horribly mismanaged Soviet economy a recent series of and terrifyingly hard winters (Saturn, Capricorn). The Soviets, in fear of the West, had thrown most the increasingly scarce resources of the USSR into the manufacture of nuclear weapons and maintenance of a strong standing defense force; everyone and everything else in the Soviet Union came second in line to those. With the hard winters and mediocre growing seasons with which those winters were interspersed, crops were inadequate to support everyone, as it was, and the economy (Neptune) suffered accordingly. The Russian/Soviet (Saturn) revolution (Aquarius) of 1991 e.v. was due as much to the hideous consequent impoverishment of the people of the USSR as anything else.
*This article was written in 1997 e.v.
**By a terrible irony, if they had succeeded, they would only have utterly destroyed the USSR, while leaving the West more or less intact, though badly damaged. What the Soviets did not seem to know at the time was that almost all their nuclear missiles would have failed to detonate, some because of poor manufacture and maintenance, but the majority because the Soviets lacked the super-cooling technology necessary to keep their missiles cold enough all the way through the trip up through the atmosphere, then down again, to make sure that the delicate electronic guidance and fire-control systems of those missiles could still do their job once they reached their targets. Due to atmospheric heating, an ICBM gains a tremendous amount of thermal energy during its trip up and back down through the atmosphere on the way to its target, especially if it must go any great distance (thus being exposed longer to atmosphere). Consequently, missiles must be cooled down to about 50ø K at the time of launch, or they are likely not to be able to fire when they reach their targets. The Soviets either were not aware of this, or else were playing a magnificent bluff with nuclear Quaker cannons; the West was either not aware of it, or was using this "Jesus factor" as an Ace in the hole, in case the ultimate balloon were ever to go up, knowing that if the Soviets ever initiated a first strike against the West, the West could retaliate and obliterate the Soviet Union without sustaining insupportable damage itself. So those eight crazy old men who kidnapped Mikhail Gorbachev and held him hostage in his dacha on that terrible day in late August 1991 e.v., intending to save their country and destroy the West, could only have guaranteed the utter annihilation of their nation while likely not giving the West any ultimately fatal wound if they had succeeded in their goals.
Russia has had a long, long history of being overrun by everyone from Ghengis Khan and Tamerlane to the Turks and many others, and tends to be paranoid of outsiders, as it is. The United States State Department, whether in ignorance or deliberately, worked on a policy of trying to keep the Soviets terrified of us by means of instigating the construction of a vast nuclear arsenal of our own and publicizing its potential destructive power as loud as a bastard. Predictably, the Soviets built their own, and kept building it, and the result was the Arms Race and the Cold War. If the nuclear balloon had gone up during that time, our own Department of State would have been in good part responsible for it. While certainly we did not want to become pushovers for Stalinist Russia, there were ways to make ourselves militarily strong enough to guarantee that no one with any real military strength would be fool enough to try to invade us without setting up the potential for nuclear Armageddon. But the West did not try to explore such means. Instead, they assumed that (a) the Soviets, to assure world dominion, wouldn't fool around with merely trying to invade us, but rather would obliterate us from the face of the Earth if they could, and (b) the Soviets were not suicidal, and would not try to destroy us unless they feared we would destroy them first. Thus we became embroiled in MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction - which would have resulted in World War III if the Soviet Union, impoverished by decades of building and maintaining their military machine out of a fully justifiable fear of the West, had not collapsed first.
The interesting thing is that our own economy had been badly damaged as well by our participation in the Cold War, not so much from our creation and maintenance of a nuclear arsenal as from our participation in one brush-fire idiot war after another from Korea on, all supposedly to "contain Communism" and "make the world safe for democracy." Vietnam especially took a terrible toll on us. If the Soviet Empire hadn't gone belly-up first, we would have done so eventually.
See, e.g., Robert L. Allen, "The Port Chicago Disaster and Its Aftermath" (in The Black Scholar, Vol. 13, Nos. 2, 3 (Spring 1982), pp. 2-29 (reprinted in The F.I.F.E. Whetstone Vol. I, No. 1 [Summer 1989]); Dr. Helen Caldicott, Nuclear Madness, revised edition (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1994); Michael D'Antonio, Atomic Harvest: Hanford and the Lethal Toll of America's Nuclear Harvest. (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1993); Paul R. Ehrlich,, Carl Sagan Carl, Donald Kennedy, Walter Orr Roberts, The Cold and the Dark: The World After Nuclear War (The Conference on the Long-Term Worldwide Biological Consequences of Nuclear War) (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985); R. R. McCammon, Swan Song (New York: Pocket Books, 1987); Thomas Powers, Heisenberg's War: The Secret History of the Atom Bomb (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993); Carol Sagan and Richard Turco, A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race (New York: Random House, 1990); Jonathan Schell, The Fate of the Earth (New York: Avon Books, 1982); Stewart Udall, The Myths of August: A Personal Exploration of Our Tragic Cold War Affair With the Atom (New York: A Cornelia & Michael Bessie Book/Pantheon Books, 1994); Peter Vogel, "The Last Wave from Port Chicago" (in The Black Scholar Vol. 13, Nos. 2, 3 (Spring 1982), pp. 30.48. Reprinted in The F.I.F.E. Whetstone Vol. I, No. 1 (Spring 1989), pp. 6-8 and 41-57.
During this period, while Saturn was in Capricorn and then Aquarius, He was in mutual reception with Uranus, Who Himself was in Capricorn from 1988 until 1996 e.v.. The two Planets then acted as if both He and Uranus were conjunct in both Their respective Signs and both of Their respective degrees, simultaneously, greatly intensifying the general effects of Their placements as well as Neptune's and giving an added emphasis on revolution and radical change. This was especially true from 1991 until 1994 e.v., when Saturn occupied Aquarius.
In early 1994 e.v., Saturn entered Pisces, where He remained until early 1996 e.v., and thus in mutual reception with Neptune, Who was in Capricorn, along with Uranus. Because Saturn could then also be returned to Capricorn via mutual reception with Neptune, He was still, at least potentially, in mutual reception with Uranus, Who was still in that Sign.
The period 1994-1996 e.v. was much like the Capricornian/Aquarian period 1991-1993 e.v., but with an added Piscean aspect; and indeed, great plagues of all kinds, ruled by Neptune and Pisces, from infectious diseases such as AIDS to invasions of vermin such as locusts, which are now beginning to sweep the world, were initiated or intensified during that period. There were outbreaks of scandals, assassinations, and undercover activities in government, as well as epidemic attacks against women and children (all ruled by Neptune). The horror of the holocaust of Waco on April 19, 1993 e.v. as well as that of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 e.v., which seem to have been ordered by the highest office of the land for reasons that are mysterious (Neptune), sinister (Saturn), and perhaps just downright evil (Saturn/Neptune) took place during this time. And so, to paraphrase Father Vonnegut, it went.
In 1993 e.v., Uranus conjoined Neptune in Capricorn, further intensifying Their effects on us.
Finally, throughout 1984-1996 e.v., Pluto, in Scorpio, sextiled Neptune - and, further, was in mutual reception with Neptune under esoteric Lordship (see table in Section III, below). Pluto rules Washington, D.C., the criminal underworld, and death - all of which were prominent aspects of the times, from AIDs to the mass starvation and epidemics in the former Soviet Union to Waco and the OKC bombing.
Thus throughout 1998-1996 e.v., all three Planets behave as if, at least potentially, They were all in Capricorn together, Their influence during that period also having Aquarian and then Piscean glosses due to Saturn's transits of those Signs. During the years 1998-1996 e.v., those who were aware of these mutual receptions among Saturn, Uranus and Neptune would have been much more likely to survive that period in reasonable shape than would those have been who were not. In addition to its uses in Magickal Workings and exploitation of horary outcomes, an understanding of mutual reception as it applies to Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune could have been literally life-saving. When the effects of these Malefics tend to overlap and blend in ways that aren't useful or are potentially life-threatening, awareness of any possible mutual receptions among them could help to de-couple Their influences and rearrange those influences in ways that might be more benign and useful.
Another period during which mutual receptions could have critical importance in the lives of individuals and nations comprises a seven-year span just after the beginning of the 21st century, from 2004 until 2011 e.v.. Throughout this time, Uranus will be in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius, so that They will then be in mutual reception with each other. This will be a time of radical breakthroughs in mathematics (Neptune), science (Uranus), technology (Uranus), and art (Neptune); but it may also be a time of great plagues (Neptune), waves of assassinations (Neptune), the fall of governments (Uranus), and other less than desirable things. Clearly, the years 1991-2011 e.v. will see an enormous number of radical events and trends due to these Outer Planet influences and their interactions via mutual reception. Therefore it would make sense to try to understand something of what effects mutual receptions that take place during these two decades might have, so that they could be used to preserve and enhance life, rather than degrading and destroying it.
Finally, judicious exploitation of mutual receptions in natal astrology, used exactly as in horary charts such as the one described above, could be of great value to those whose natal charts are extremely difficult ones, containing a preponderance of "hard" aspects such as squares, oppositions, inconjuncts, and semisquares, and a dearth of "flowing" ones such as trines or sextiles.* In addition, if most or all of the mutual receptions that can rectify such a chart in a beneficial way involve exaltations and/or falls, this indicates that the native should take up a political career, since exaltations and falls are functions of mundane political power and are associated with a talent for politics; if the bulk of mutual receptions in such a chart involve esoteric dominion and detriment, this indicates potential talent for mystical or occult abilities, hence a natural bent for a career in one or more of the esoteric disciplines, e.g., astrology, Magick, or alchemy. In a difficult natal chart in which available mutual receptions are of both types, the person should consider a career in esoteric organizations such as the Masons.
*Or with too many of them involving Malefics such as Neptune, which are often found in the natal charts of those who become addicted to dangerous drugs such as white sugar, caffeine, tobacco, cocaine, methamphetamines, and alcohol. Those prone to senseless violence, sadism, and masochism also often have such "flowing" connections Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Mars, and Pluto in their natal charts.
The same considerations apply to mundane astrological charts, e.g., those that are erected for meteorological predictions, grain futures, political events, etc. These charts generally have to do with the ingress of the Sun and Planets into new Signs, Lunar phases, Grand Mutations (conjunctions or mutual receptions of two or more Planets from Jupiter outward), etc., and are used to predict world trends in everything from weather to the stock market to wars and revolutions. When difficult times are predicted by such charts, the sort of remedies most useful employed to deal with them will be indicated by the types of mutual receptions most available and most usefully and beneficially exploited therein.
3. The Complete Dignities and Anti-Dignities of the Planets and Lights
a. Planetary Dignities
Sign
Diurnal Mundane Lord
Nocturnal Mundane Lord
Diurnal Exaltation (Emperor)
Nocturnal Exaltation (Emperor)
Diurnal Esoteric Lord (Magus)
Nocturnal Esoteric Lord (Magus)
U
™
x
O
¢
U
Ð
x
™
O
O
Ð
U
™
x
o
x
™
U
_
U
Ð
™
x
O
U
ö
(Persephone)
O
U
Y
o
Ð (Hera)
U
Y
U
_
&emdash;
U
Y
_
U
£
U
_
U
Y
Y
O
U
Y
_
U
Ð
U
y
_
U
U
Ð
x
™
b. Planetary Detriments
Sign
Diurnal Mundane Detriment (Prisoner)
Nocturnal Mundane Detriment (Prisoner)
Diurnal Fall (Slave)
Nocturnal Fall (Slave)
Diurnal Esoteric Detriment (Sorcerer)
Nocturnal Esoteric Detriment (Sorcerer)
Ð
U
Y
U
_
¢
U
Y
_
U
U
_
U
Y
o
Y
O
U
Y
Y
U
Ð
ö
_
U
U
x
™
o
U
™
x
O
&emdash;
U
Ð
x
™
O
£
O
Ð
U
™
x
x
™
U
_
U
Ð
™
x
O
U
y
O
U
Y
Endnotes
1Some authorities add that placement of two bodies in each others' House rulerships, e.g., Luna in the Ninth House and Jupiter in the Fourth, also fulfills the condition. See Nicholas de Vore, Encyclopedia of Astrology (New York: Philosophical Library, 1947), p. 264, under the entry "Mutual Reception."
2Many astrologers also make a distinction between diurnal and nocturnal dignities and anti-dignities. That is, if a Planet is in a Sign of its given diurnal dignity by night, or that of its nocturnal dignity by day, they consider it to have no particular dignity or anti-dignity there at that time. However, Magickally this distinction is inaccurate; it doesn't seem to have any bearing on the actual behavior of Planets in terms of the technique that will be described below. This is sensible, since in traditional and mainstream modern astrology Mercury and Venus have no co-rulers with which to share their dignities and anti-dignities, and so cannot trade off domains or detriments by day and night with any other Planets. They have had to do double-duty for both diurnal and nocturnal domains, exaltations, detriments, and falls for Their Signs even up to the present day; and They do it very well now. So if this is true for these two Planets, it should be true for all the Planets and the Lights, and Magickally speaking, there is no distinction between diurnal and nocturnal domains.
The distinction between diurnal and nocturnal Planetary domains came into being concerning the rulerships of whole astrological charts. The Planet or Light ruling the Sign on the Ascendant of a chart rules that chart overall, particularly in horary astrology, where, along with the Moon, it governs all the action of the chart. Similarly, the body that rules the Sign on the cusp of a given House in that chart rules the affairs of that House, along with the natural rulers of that House for any chart.
The distinction between diurnal and nocturnal dominion exists to distinguish which of two traditional or esoteric Lords of a Sign ruler a chart upon whose Ascendant, or a House on the cusp of which, it falls. Expectably, the diurnal Lord of that Sign rules the chart if that chart was drawn up for a time falling during the hours of daylight; the diurnal Lord of the Sign on the cusp of a House rules the affairs of that House if the Sun is found in any of the six Houses lying clockwise to that one. Otherwise, in either case the nocturnal ruler of the Sign in question rules the chart or House upon whose Ascendant or cups it falls.
3A permutation of a set of n things is a way of ordering those things. For example, suppose three people, named Bob, Buck, and Ivan, are standing in a line. These people can arrange themselves in line in a number of ways - to be exact, 3! = 3 x 2 x 1 = 6 ways:
Bob, Buck, Ivan [1]
Bob, Ivan, Buck [2]
Buck, Bob, Ivan [3]
Buck, Ivan, Bob [4]
Ivan, Buck, Bob [5]
Ivan, Bob, Buck [6]
Each of the six orderings of the three people given above are a permutation of their order in line.
Mathematically speaking, a permutation may be thought of as a function having a range {1,2,. . .,n] and assigning place numbers to the n objects in the set under consideration. In this case, n = 3 and the objects are the people named Bob, Buck, and Ivan.
If we consider only the first two of the above six permutation, we see that whereas Buck and Ivan change places, Bob does not. Therefore Bob is a fixed point in that set of two line-orderings of those three men, and the permutation which comprises just those two orderings is likewise said to have a fixed point, in this case, Bob. A permutation which has no fixed point is said to be a complete permutation. E.g., out of the six permutations above of the set {Bob, Buck, Ivan}, permutations [1] and [6], taken together, comprise a complete permutation, since not one of the three men in either of them is in the same place in line in the other.
A permutation of the set U = {x1,x2,. . .,xn}. Containing n elements, is determined by a function f with domain U and range U, that is, the original set. We then say that the permutation f has a fixed point if, for some element x ( U, f(x) = x. Then a permutation having no fixed point is called complete permutation.
For more detailed discussion of permutations, see John G. Kemeny, Hazelton Mirkil, J. Laurie Snell, and Gerald L. Thompson, Finite Mathematical Structures (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1959}, pp. 87 and 125; and Donald R. Barr and Floyd E. Willmore, College and University Mathematics (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1968), pp. 419-420 and 424.
4If She is parallel to the Part of Fortune, or conjunct a major Fixed Star such as Spica, Aldebaran, or Algol, the chart is not void-of-course. The orb (deviation from exact aspect) for applying aspects of a Planet to anything else is usually 8(, except for parallels, in which case an orb of 11/2( is used. The exception is Luna; She takes every major aspect, including parallels, which She makes to any body in the chart before leaving Her current Sign (though not to fixed Stars or sensitive points, unless She is within 1( of these at the time for which the chart is erected).
In the case of a horary chart, the chart is considered to be radical, i.e., capable of yielding an answer that can be trusted, if all of the following conditions are met: (a) more than 3( and less than 27( of a Sign occupies the cusp of the Ascendant and on the cusps of the Houses governing the matters for which the chart has been erected; (b) Luna is not void-of-course; (c) Luna doesn't occupy the Via Combust, a region of sky spanning 15( Libra to 14( 59' 59" Scorpio (in which Luna behaves as if She were conjunct Uranus, so that the actual course of events usually differs wildly from that predicted by the chart); and (d) Saturn is not in the Seventh House (or the First, if the person who asks the question also functions as his or her own astrologer). Otherwise, with few exceptions, the chart usually doesn't provide a useful or trustworthy answer, and the question should be deferred to another time.
For more on horary charts, see, e.g., Geraldine Davis, Horary Astrology (Los Angeles: Tate Printing Co., 1942); Sylvia de Long, The Art of Horary Astrology in Practice (Tempe, AZ: American Federation of Astrologers, n.d.); Ivy M. Goldstein-Jacobson, Simplified Horary Astrology (Alhambra, CA: Frank Severy Publishing, 1960); William Lilly, An Introduction to Astrology (Hollywood, CA: Newcastle Publishing Co., Inc., 1972); and Barbara H. Watters, Horary Astrology and the Judgment of Events (Washington, DC: Valhalla Paperbacks, Ltd., 1973).
For more information on Fixed Stars and their importance in astrology, see, e.g., Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1963); Robert Burnham, Jr., Burnham's Celestial Handbook: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System (revised and enlarged edition. In three volumes. Volume I: Andromeda Through Cetus. Volume II: Chameleon Through Orion. Volume III: Pavo Through Vulpecula. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1978); and Vivian E. Robson, B. Sc. The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1979).
For a detailed analysis of mutual receptions in horary astrology, along with definitions of many key astrological concepts and terms as well as complete explanations of analytic techniques for use in interpreting such charts, see Chapter 1 of Part 4, Chapter one of this volume of New Magicks for a New Age, i.e., the chapter immediately preceding this one.
5For the complete Qaballistic Key Scale and its associations, together with in-depth discussions thereof, as well as a highly informative essay on Qaballah and its uses, see Liber 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley (Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1977), and Aleister Crowley's The Book of Thoth (New York: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1973).
6For practical examples of complete rituals, see Francis King and Stephen Skinner, Techniques of High Magic: A Manual of Self-Initiation (New York: Destiny Books, 1976), Chapters 7, 13, and 14, whose appendices contain the Rituals of the Pentagram. These rituals may also be found in Gems from the Equinox (Instructions by Aleister Crowley for His Own Magical Order) (Israel Regardie, editor. Phoenix, AZ: Falcon Press, 1982), Section IV.
Another excellent source for templates for Magickal rituals, as well as information on all aspects of the hermetic Arts and Sciences, though it is somewhat dated, is Francis Barrett's The Magus: A Complete System of Occult Philosophy (Secaucus, NJ: The Citadel Press, n.d. Two volumes under one cover), especially Volume II, Parts 1, 2, and 3.
7See Crowley, Liber 777, op. cit., Cols. XV-XVIII.
8See Alan Oken, As Above, So Below: A Primary Guide to Astrological Awareness (New York: Bantam Books, 1973), Part I, especially pp. 66-67; and Frances Sakoian and Louis S. Acker, The Astrologer's Handbook (New York: Perennial Library/Harper & Row, 1987), p. 6.
9See Chapter 1 of Part 4, Chapter one of this volume of New Magicks for a New Age, op. cit.
10The article "Elongation" in The International Encyclopedia of Astronomy (Patrick Moore, editor. New York: Orion Books, 1987), p. .128, describes the geometrical and astronomical considerations involved in this constraint, and shows clearly why it must apply on the physical plane.
11Ibid., p. 292. See also de Vore, op. cit., pp. 266-268; Robert Carl Jansky, Interpreting the Eclipses (San Diego: Astro Computing Services, 1979), passim; and Zipporah Pottenger Dobyns, The Node Book, revised edition (Los Angeles: TIA Publications, 1979), passim for a more detailed treatment of the astronomy of the Lunar and Planetary Nodes and their esoteric significance in astrology and Magick.
NEW MAGICKS FOR A NEW AGE
Volume 3: Beyond Ritual -- Part -3: Magick -- Chapter 4: Magick and Astrology -- 4.1: Changing Universes for Fun and Profit
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