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In a rather primitive fashion, astrology has passed down to us what have long been known as the "houses" of a horoscope. Like a sign of the zodiac, a house is merely one-twelfth of a circle, so there are twelve astrological houses to a horoscope just as there are twelve astrological signs to the zodiac. The twelve houses represent the very same basic astrological principles outlined in Lessons Two to Seven.
When a surveyor is measuring land, he has to have one "point" from which to begin his measurements, and so it is with astrology. If we can be sure of one point on the circumference of a circle, we can measure off the other points. Some other starting point would do just as well, but we have to have some point from which to begin. In Lesson One, we began measuring the zodiac from that mathematical point where a straight line can be drawn through both the plane of the earth's orbit and the plane of the earth's equator. Some other point would have done just as well, so long as we were sure of it.
If we could see the plane of the earth's orbit, it would cut across the sky from that point on the eastern horizon where the Sun rises, to that point on the western horizon where the sun sets. Follow the course or the Sun from sunrise to sunset, across the sky, and that is the plane of the earth's orbit. It is the ecliptic, the plane of the zodiac. In winter, this circle will be lower in the southern sky than in summer, for in winter the earth tilts northward away from this great circle, and in summer it tilts back southward again, so that the great circle comes farther north to our observation.
We will use that mathematical point where the rising Sun crosses the circle of the horizon as a point from which to measure. In other words, the point where you can see the Sun rise on the eastern horizon is what we call the ascendent. We will measure the astrological houses from this point.
Different schools of astrology measure the "houses" in three different planes of space. Although we will explain all three planes later, for the present, we will confine ourselves to one of these planes, the one which our experience has indicated as most reliable. You can investigate the other two planes at your leisure. We will keep everything in the same plane of space, the plane of the earth's orbit. We will measure the "houses" along this plane in the same manner that we measure the zodiacal signs along this plane, but there will be one important difference. The houses will remain fixed with the earth. They will move only as the earth moves, while the zodiacal signs move only in accord with that straight line that passes through both the plane of the earth's orbit and the plane of the earth's equator. The zodiac is almost, but not quite, stationary with the fixed stars. There is actually a slippage, and in something like 26,000 years, the zodiac slips all the way around the circle of the fixed stars.
Starting at the ascendent, or point where the Sun crosses the eastern horizon as it rises, we will divide the circle into twelve equal parts, going counterclockwise, each space occupying 30 degrees of space, and these twelve spaces will be the twelve astrological houses of the horoscope.
A more primitive astrology has identified these twelve houses with twelve departments of life. Let us see what these departments of life are. In describing them, to avoid confusing the student, we will omit some claims which our experience has caused us to consider false. We will list the houses together with the things in life to which they are supposedly related, and in making this listing we will adhere to the same somewhat primitive conception that has been passed down to us. In this way, the student will have a better grasp of the entire situation when we are through. We urge you to realize that there is a certain primitiveness in this historic presentation, and yet, regardless of its primitive aspects, it is actually ingenious. It is ingenious in that it is basically sound. It is primitive only in that it jumps all the way from the mathematical to the material world, with too little consideration for the psychological and emotional factors that lie between. However, this is only an attempt to practice and make astrology useful, and if that is a fault, we possess the fault to a greater degree today than did our ancestors. The important thing to realize is that there are many points where a psychological or emotional cause can be interrupted before it manifests in material consequences. That is the difference between fatalism and free will. The latter is dependent upon knowledge and education, and to an ignorant person or one who does not care to improve himself, life can actually be more or less a matter of fatalism.
First, we will present a table showing the various factors with which the houses of the horoscope have become identified in the astrology that has been passed down to us. Then, on page six, we show a diagram illustrating the twelve houses of the horoscope and also listing the factors with which each house has become associated or identified.
The astrologers of at least the last 2000 years have watched the planets travel around the circle, passing from one house to another. They have called some planets favorable, others unfavorable, and they have forecast good fortune for the department of life described by a particular house when a "favorable" planet passed that way misfortune when a "malefic" planet crossed a house. Astrology is not as simple as that, and although this conception is on the primitive side, it is, nevertheless, basically correct. In many instances, it has been ignored or looked upon as superstition merely because of its simplicity, but the basic principles are true, despite the fact that they have been mixed up with much that is untrue.
THE ASTROLOGICAL HOUSES
HOUSE IDENTIFICATION
NUMBER
1. Self, personality, personal expression and physical appearance
2. Money.
3. The mind, relatives, brothers and sisters, short journeys.
4. Home, parent of opposite sex, land, mines and real property.
5. Children, personal projects, speculation and gambling.
6. Help, pets, inferiors, employees, etc.
7. Marriage and partnership affairs.
8. Death, debts, money of other people, partners, etc.
9. Religion, philosophy, education, long distance travel, life in foreign countries.
10. Business, the factor of authority, parent of same
11. Friends and social matters.
12. Work, service.(We omit the words prisons, hospitals, mental institutions. These will be transferred to the 6th, and this will later be explained.)
When we think of the dark ages we have passed through since the days when master minds must have known a great deal more about astrology, it is less difficult to understand that errors have crept into the subject. It is more difficult to understand how knowledge survived at all through those centuries of ignorance, bias, bigotry, prejudice and intolerance. Even the church did all in its power to destroy this knowledge.
In the previous table we present the astrological houses and their meanings as they appear in a horoscope. Compare this with the diagram in Lesson Eight, and you will see that our numbering matches the counterclockwise count in that diagram. The counterclockwise count illustrates the manner in which the twelve astrological principles described in Lessons Two to Seven fit into the twelve astrological houses, while the clockwise count shows how they fit into the zodiac. In other words, the houses run in one direction, while the signs of the zodiac run in the opposite direction. The planets go through the zodiac in a counterclockwise direction, while they go through the houses in a clockwise direction. The planets move from west to east, but because the earth turns from west to east, and the houses turn with the earth, the planets move across the sky and through the houses from east to west, just as the Sun and Moon rise in the east and set in the west.
Once in every 23 hours and 56 minutes, the houses and the zodiacal signs will be found in the relationship shown in the diagram on page 14, Lesson Eight. Then, the zodiac will appear to move westward, and it will go all around the circle of the houses.
This constant change of zodiac to houses ever continues. Human emotion and psychology are also ever in a state of flux.
Employing the same designations for the twelve astrological principles as those explained in Lessons Two to Seven, we can now identify the astrological houses with these principles in the same manner in which we have identified them with the zodiacal signs. It will be noted that this is contrary to a system that has been taught by many astrologers who have attempted to identify Aries with the First House, Taurus with the Second House, etc., with both houses and zodiacal signs running to a counterclockwise count. We abandoned this system as an error more than 20 years ago and have never had reason to return to it.Lesson Eight, identifies the 2nd House with Cancer, the Individual Survival Dynamic, and money. Money is man-made, but it is an outgrowth of the struggle for individual survival. If a man has money he can buy food when he needs it. It is known that the ancients associated Saturn with death, and they called the 8th House the House of Death. Here, we associate Capricorn and Saturn with the 8th House, while the system we abandoned attempted to associate death with Scorpio. In actual practice, we are sure that the student will find that this system works, while the Aries-First- House system does not appear to function. That is the important thing. To those of you who have never studied the Aries-First- House system, you may be better off. There is much that you will not have to unlearn.
The two counts agree insofar as Gemini is related to the Third House and Sagittarius is related to the Ninth. These are the points where the two counts cross. Leo is related to the First House principle, Cancer to the Second House, Taurus to the Fourth House, Aries to the Fifth House, Pisces to the Sixth House.
Our experience caused us to shift the association of prisons, hospitals, secret enemies, asylums, etc., from the Twelfth to the Sixth, which was designated as the House of health. Obviously, people who are confined to prisons hospitals, asylums, etc., are sick people It is all a health factor. People who have secret enemies are usually mentally sick people. A mental condition usually has to exist before the secret enemies are created. Other people do not have secret enemies. Some people go forth and make friends of their enemies.
Aquarius is related to the Seventh House, Capricorn to the Eighth House, Scorpio to the Tenth House, Libra and Venus, the planet that was always associated with social matters, are related to the Eleventh House, known as the House of Friends, and Virgo is associated with the Twelfth House.
Now or ultimately, the student may find it advantageous to go over the principles explained in Lessons Two to Seven, carefully identifying these principles with the astrological houses and the planets in the manner herein set forth.
It is our opinion that no one thing has held back the progress of astrology more than the association of the signs of the zodiac with the astrological house principles beginning in Aries as the First House and running counterclockwise through the zodiac. It has left astrology very much mixed up and confused. In our opinion, a major operation is necessary to divorce Aries from the First House. Our years of experience with the system herein outlined suggest the complete abandonment of that system which has been passed down to us by astrologers of the dark ages. We do not believe that it formed a part of the ancient astrology. It appears to have come about through some accident or error.
You now have the identification of the twelve astrological principles with zodiacal signs, planets and houses.The writer is often asked, "Where did you learn astrology?" The answer is mainly through the laboratory type of experiment, but after learning the basic principles as presented by such astrologers as Alan Leo, Lewellyn George, Carter, Evangeline Adams, and others, we met the one astrologer whose association was of the greatest benefit to us. His name was Sidney K. Bennett, and he wrote under the pen name of Wynn. He wrote an astrological column for the Chicago Tribune, the N.Y. Daily News and other papers of the syndicate. He was regarded as a radical by the older astrologers. He was despised by some of the publishers who published astrological textbooks because he questioned their systems.
Bennett is the one astrologer of the last century whose work should not be overlooked. Although we have come a long way since our first contact with Bennett, who is now living in New Zealand, it is only fair that we state that had it not been for our association with Bennett, we would have taken much longer to accomplish much less. Bennett was another of those persons who was consciously or unconsciously seeking cosmic design in the universe, like the mathematicians. Although he never claimed to be a mathematician he had the mind of a mathematician. Like Kepler and Copernicus, he was seeking an overall pattern. He captured a very important first part of that pattern, and in the early 30's he published a mimeographed booklet entitled THE ASPECT HOUSES." It wasn't many pages but it contained the key from which all of our own discoveries later grew. Years later when Bennett was studying our data on the connection between "rulership" and the distance of planets from the earth, he asked us how we ever hit upon the idea in the first place and looked stunned when he was told that it was merely an extension of his own ideas.
We come to planetary aspects. Planets are said to be in aspect when they are a certain geocentric distance apart in the plane of the earth's orbit. Some aspects were said to be favorable) others unfavorable. The principle aspects were as follows:
DEGREES - NAME - NATURE:
0 - Conjunction - Good or bad, depending on the nature of the planets
30 - Semisextile - unfavorable
60 - Sextile - Favorable
90 - Square - Unfavorable
120 - Trine - Favorable
150 - Quincunx - Unfavorable
180 - Opposition - Unfavorable/favorable
More and more astrologers have been reaching the conclusion that planetary aspects are neither favorable nor unfavorable, because it is chiefly a matter of understanding them, and some of the aspects that were formerly regarded as the most unfavorable have begun to be viewed as opportune when understood. The person who finds the opposition aspect unfavorable is merely that person who fears change in the status quo. He is in the same position as the man who never learns to swim because he is afraid to jump into the water. His fear of the water, not the water itself, is responsible for the fact that he never learns to swim. So, in this course, let us go forth with the idea that nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so. There are no planetary factors that you cannot overcome, and the aspects that appear to cause disaster for one man cause the success of the man who understands them. In studying astrology, realize one thing: there is nothing to fear except ignorance.
Sidney K. Bennett studied Sanskrit and did a great deal of studying of ancient manuscripts. He was an exceptional student, and in studying some Hindu works in Sanskrit, he hit upon something. He discovered that the Hindus had associated the planetary aspects with the house principles. The idea was not clearly expressed, but Bennett figured it out, and he realized that the same twelve basic astrological principles applied to the planetary aspects as well as to the zodiacal signs, the planets and the houses.
To illustrate how the pieces fit together, we present a diagram on page 12. This diagram shows the signs of the zodiac running around the circle backwards. You will never find them in this position. We have placed them in this position merely for the purpose of association, to show how the aspects relate to the nature of the zodiacal signs as well as the houses and planets.
Two planets can be 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300, or 330 degrees apart. This would give us twelve planetary aspects. However, when two planets are 30 degrees apart, measured in one direction around the circle, they are 330 degrees apart, measured around the circle in the opposite direction. When they are 60 degrees apart in one direction, they are 300 degrees apart in the other direction. When they are 90 degrees apart in one direction, they are 270 degrees in the other direction. When they are 120 degrees in one direction, they are 24O degrees in the other direction. When they are 150 degrees in one direction, they are 210 in the other direction. The opposition is 180 degrees regardless of which direction it is measured, because it is the halfway mark.
Thus, while we have twelve planetary aspects, five are duplicates of five others, so that actually, the twelve is reduced to a basic seven planetary aspects, and this is how the TWELVE becomes SEVEN or the SEVEN becomes TWELVE. Here we find a geometric significance in the association of SEVEN and TWELVE Seven visible solar bodies, five theoretical invisible bodies. Seven white keys on the piano, five black keys. In all kinds of ancient literature, in fables and in religion, the significance of seven and twelve has been pressed upon us. 7 + 5 equals 12.
The conjunction or zero aspect becomes a Leo (Fire) or First House aspect.
The semi-sextile or 30 degree aspect becomes a combination of the principles of Cancer and Virgo (water and Earth), the Second and Twelfth House principles.
The sextile or 60-degree aspect becomes a combination of the principles of Gemini and Libra (Air), the 3rd and 11th House principles.
The square or 90-degree aspect becomes a combination of the principles of Taurus and Scorpio (Earth and Water), the 4th and 10th House principles.
The trine or 120-degree aspect becomes a combination of the principals of Aries and Sagittarius (Fire), the 5th and 9th House principles.
The quincunx or 150-degree aspect becomes a combination of the principles of Pisces and Capricorn (Water and Earth), the 6th and 8th House principles. It is interesting to note that this links the House of Health with the House of Death.
The opposition or 180-degree aspect becomes associated with the Aquarius principle (air) and the 7th House.
We continue to deal with the factor of design. The same basic principles are designed into the whole network of astrological data. Bennett was the first modern astrologer to begin searching for this design. He published the first important key when he brought forth his long-out-of-print booklet, THE ASPECT HOUSES. He published another work called THE EQUILIBRIUM HOUSES, showing that houses could be measured from the Sun or from a planet in the same manner as they are measured from the ascendent. It was probably his use of the word "equilibrium" that set the writer off seeking the complete symmetry or design, and which led to his discovery that "rulership" was to be identified with mean distance of planets from the earth. It was only necessary to continue the train of thought which began in Bennett's mind to reach the conclusion that for the system and design to be perfect, there must be two undiscovered planets beyond the orbit of Pluto. The equinoxes, the ascendent and the planets themselves are all "points" from which we can begin measuring.
It has taken nine lessons to explain these fundamentals. We are about ready to start drawing up horoscopes. One of the great problems with astrology today is that we have thousands of students who can draw up horoscopes, but who can never learn to read one. This is because they have never actually learned the basic principles of astrology. They have learned its mechanics, and they stop there. They have systems that are all mixed up and confused, with the result that they are unable to interpret. They do a very accurate mathematical job of setting up a horoscope, and they find themselves at a complete loss to understand what it means.
We have reversed the usual procedure. Instead of teaching you to set up charts first, we have tried to get across the basic principles of astrology. Nothing is so important as getting a clear understanding of these twelve basic principles. Your ability to interpret will always be dependent upon your understanding of those principles. In the end, experience will teach you the most, and you will never stop learning more about these twelve principles. Undoubtedly, you will discover things we have overlooked. Every new mind that approaches astrology does so with new and different powers of observation. If you walk into a room with us, you will observe things that we miss, and we will observe things that you miss. You are now approaching a rich gold mine. You are bound to make all kinds of new discoveries yourself as you go along. Different students will have different interests. One will be interested in health, another in finances, and still another in psychological or emotional problems. There can be hundreds of different points of view from which astrology can be approached. In all probability, you will become a specialist. Some things will interest you more than others. Different students will seek out different kinds of cases, but we will all be interested in what makes people tick. We want to know why people behave like human beings, and you are fast approaching the answers.
We have dealt with four main classifications of astrological factors. These are:
The twelve Zodiacal Signs
The twelve theoretical Solar Bodies
The twelve Astrological Houses
The seven or twelve Planetary Aspects
There are other factors such as the planetary nodes, but we will discuss these further along. There are eclipses and occultations, but these are all a matter of planetary aspects and planetary nodes, which involve the relationships of certain planes in space to other planes in space. In the four groups of astrological factors listed above, we always deal with the same TWELVE basic astrological principles. Realization of this will simplify astrology for you over other systems that have been taught in modern times. It will not be necessary for you to think of planetary aspects as favorable or unfavorable, because you can think of them in terms of their actual characteristics. You will be able to see nature is merely trying to destroy the old pattern that the new pattern may come into being, and you can step aside, allow nature to work for you, and accept the new pattern as it manifests.
You can realize that the 30, 90 and 150-degree aspects involve fear. With the 30-degree aspect, the Individual Survival Dynamic and the Social Survival Dynamic Reactor are trying to function. When the Second House is called the House of Money, that is merely because money is the medium through which the individual survives in his relationship with society. In explaining Cancer, we have identified it with Man's need for food, but in describing Virgo, we have pointed out the Virgo person's interest in matters of diet (food again). The 30-degree aspect connects the nature of Cancer with the nature of Virgo.
The 90-degree (square) aspect connects the Scorpio and Taurus principles (two Fixed signs), the 10th and 14th Houses, the Family Survival Dynamic with the Family Survival Dynamic Reactor. It is an aspect of discipline. It is a double force. It has all the impulsiveness of Mars and Scorpio and all the reactionary qualities of Taurus. That is why it is so difficult to experience. It is easier when you realize that its whole purpose is family survival in its present form.
The 150-degree aspect (quincunx) connects Pisces and Capricorn, Neptune and Saturn, the 6th and 8th Houses. This is the health hazard aspect. It strongly suggests that a very large ratio of health problems are caused by our inability to break away from the past, heredity, etc., and have in our own times, or our inability to fit ourselves into the social pattern. This will not include all health problems, because some, like polio and paralysis, appear to be caused more by our getting ahead of our times. However, this aspect illustrates why the majority of health problems are connected with the planets of Neptune and Saturn. Good health is dependent upon our living in the present NOW rather than in the past or future, but the great majority of health problems appear to be caused by people's inability to escape from the past. Trying to fit the past into the present is not healthy.
The three aspects just mentioned (30, 90, 150) involve WATER and EARTH principles. They are effects of the past on the present, and any of them can be accompanied by some health problems.
The 0, 60, 120 and 180-degree aspects, the conjunction, sextile, trine and opposition, involve only FIRE and AIR principles. The conjunction and trine are all FIRE, while the opposition and sextile are all AIR.
The conjunction aspect represents a new beginning, the Individual REFORM Dynamic. The individual is conscious of what he wants to become. The opposition aspect represents the Individual Reform Dynamic Guide. It involves what the other fellow does. Two people with common interests (like husband and wife) may have different ideas, desires and plans about how an objective is to be accomplished. There may have to be a compromise, and if a compromise cannot be reached, there may have to be a break, an important CHANGE. The opposition aspect is an aspect of CHANGE. It might be a marriage, or it might be a divorce. There are many kinds of change. The wife may merely join some clubs and get new outside interests. When her husband is trying to tell her about his day at the office, she may be trying to tell him about her day at the club. Whatever conditions may be when the opposition aspect comes along, you can rest assured that it will change things. Often, it brings around just the desired changes, but most people worry, get impatient, and force a change prematurely, with negative consequences. It is well to always allow an opposition aspect to pass before taking action, and then you don't have to take it. Action comes about without your help.
The 60 degree or sextile aspect connects Libra with Gemini, the 3rd and 11th Houses. The sextile and the opposition aspects are purely intellectual. The 60-degree sextile connects the Family Reform Dynamic Guide with the Social Reform Guide, and both guides function simultaneously. It is easy to understand why the astrologers have looked upon this aspect as favorable.
The 120 degree trine aspect connects Aries and Sagittarius, the 5th and 9th Houses, Jupiter and Pluto, the Family Reform Dynamic with the Social Reform Dynamic. It is a powerful aspect, the only one that connects two REFORM dynamics. It is not surprising that they have called it a creative aspect. As we did with the zodiacal signs, and the planets, when we identified them with past and future, we can do the same with the astrological Houses and the planetary aspects. We can identify the aspects as follows:
DEGREES - NAME -TIME
0 - Conjunction -FUTURE
30 - Semi-sextile - PAST
60 - Sextile - FUTURE
90 - Square - PAST
120 - Trine - FUTURE
150 - Quincunx - PAST
180 - Opposition - FUTURE
It is interesting to note that the FUTURE aspects out weigh the PAST aspects. We have FOUR Future aspects to THREE Past aspects. Now, we can classify the Houses in the same way:
HOUSE - TIME
1 - FUTURE
2 - PAST
3 - FUTURE
4 - PAST
5 - FUTURE
6 - PAST
7 - FUTURE
8 - PAST
9 - FUTURE
10 - PAST
11 - FUTURE
12 - PAST
Other aspects than the above have been employed experimentally, but they have never come into general usage. A 145-degree aspect has been used as unfavorable, because it is one- half of the 90-degree square, but our statistical experiments have never shown such an aspect on a graph. Some astrologers have also experimented with a 72-degree aspect, but we have not yet found any basis for such an aspect.
Bennett's limitation of the number of aspects to 7 or 12 appears to have a more sound foundation. It eliminates much that was haphazard and guess-work. It shows us the true nature of the aspects. We think of aspects and Houses differently when we realize they are one and the same thing. Many students are confused when they see one astrologer measuring aspects from the ascendent another measuring from the Sun. You can measure from many points. We do not maintain that this is the whole story, for we are convinced that the twelve parts each can again be broken into twelve parts, but that is a matter to which we will return later in these lessons. We have covered the basic groundwork that we were anxious to get across to you. Now, we must interrupt our course and get down to the practical side of things so that you can study and analyze specific cases on your own. We have dealt in basic principles. From here on, it is vitally important that you watch astrology work. You must see it function. In the end, you must learn astrology by seeing it work. You are left without doubts when you see it work. However, it is not sufficient to see it work without understanding how and why it works. When you understand the twelve basic principles we have portrayed, when you understand the dynamics, the reactors and the guides, then, in addition to witnessing things on the objective plane, you will also grasp what is taking place beneath the surface. You will understand what nature is trying to do It is important to realize that there is always a double purpose. You have a partner in nature who can get mighty troublesome when ignored. She strenuously objects to taxation without representation. Always remember that.
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