February 1987

It seems like yesterday. A picture taken on very the eve of my departure from Chicagoland. An epoch that still seems real, though it is but sparsely documented!

A journey to many unsuspected destinations: to La Porte des Morts, and from there to Sunny Southern California ("where their worm never dies, and the fire is not put out"); to the Golden Triangle, to steamy summer evenings in Myanmar and dreams of a midnight audience with the General, to the crypts beneath Buenos Aires, to the libraries of Tbilisi, Baku, and Yerevan, and the secret manuscript repositories of Zemo Svaneti; with hopes of someday gaining access to the Chechen Седа-Жайна, the Pahlavi library of the Surenas, perhaps even the lost Thesaurus of Antiochus!

BELTRANO

Now there are fine tales in the volumes of the Magi — in the iron-bound, melancholy volumes of the Magi. Therein, I say, are glorious histories of the Heaven, and of the Earth, and of the mighty sea — and of the Genii that over-ruled the sea, and the earth, and the lofty heaven. There was much lore too in the sayings which were said by the Sybils; and holy, holy things were heard of old by the dim leaves that trembled around Dodona — but, as Allah liveth, that fable which the demon told me as he sat by my side in the shadow of the tomb, I hold to be the most wonderful of all! And as the Demon made an end of his story, he fell back within the cavity of the tomb and laughed. And I could not laugh with the Demon, and he cursed me because I could not laugh. And the lynx which dwelleth forever in the tomb, came out therefrom, and lay down at the feet of the Demon, and looked at him steadily in the face. 

Edgar Allen Poe, "Silence - a Fable" (1838)

Seventeenth Aphorism: The Mundane Houses

Cum interrogatus fueris de patre, aspice 4, de fratre 3, de filio 5, de uxore 7. Si vero interrogatus fueris pro aegro, nullam aliam quam ascendens aspicias. 

("When you are asked about [someone's] father, examine the 4th [house]; about [someone's] brother, the 3rd; about [someone's] son, the 5th; about [someone's] wife, the 7th. But if you are consulted on behalf of a sick person, examine no other [house] but the Ascendant.")

The controlling idea here is "when," since this aphorism clearly pertains to that branch of Astrology which used to be called an Interrogation (known nowadays as Horary Astrology). 

The doctrines presented here are widely known: the 12 mundane houses of the chart are each traditionally associated with some area of human life, and the associations given here are the conventional ones. The third house is indeed associated with Siblings, the fourth house with the Father, the fifth house with Children, and the seventh with the Spouse.

Probably it should be noted that in modern times the associations of the fourth and tenth houses have been reversed; whereas traditionally the fourth was the house of the Father and the tenth the house of the Mother, modern practitioners typically associate the fourth with the mother and the tenth with the father. This change appears to have arisen from the milieu of such neo-astrologers as Alan Leo, Helen Blavatsky, and Aleister Crowley,  resorting to some gobbledygook which purports to embody more "natural associations."  Needless to say, this is not a legitimate modification of the system and you will get everything backwards if you follow it.

The Ascendant (i.e. the Horoscope or First House) is traditionally associated with the Self. Medical Astrology.

Examine what? Planets ruling the cusps of houses, planets posited in houses, and (by extension) the planets ruling the signs in which the house-ruling planets are posited.

Let us apply this to our inceptional chart, as if it were an Interrogation.  Reviewing the positions of the planets, we find that they are as follows:

Moon 4 Scorpio 44

Mercury 29 Virgo 22

Venus 28 Cancer 12

Sun 2 Virgo 06

Mars 29 Gemini 39

Jupiter 20 Aquarius 43 (retrograde)

Saturn 22 Virgo 05

Ascendant 4 Aries 40

Pars Fortunae 2 Aquarius 02

Since the Ascendant falls in Aries, we have Mars in the 3rd house, Venus in the 4th, the Sun, Mercury, and Saturn in the 6th, the Moon in the 8th house, and Jupiter in the 11th.

Mars rules the 1st and 8th houses, Venus the 2nd and 7th houses, Mercury the 3rd and 6th houses, Jupiter the 9th and 12th houses, and Saturn the 10th and 11th houses. The Sun rules the 5th house, and the Moon rules the 4th house.

If our Interrogation pertains to the Querent's father, we will examine the fourth house. We find Venus posited in the fourth house, which is ruled by the Moon. The Moon's dispositor is Mars (since the Moon is posited in Scorpio and Mars rules that sign).

If the question concerns the Querent's brother, we look at the third house. Mars is posited in the third house, which is ruled by Mercury; and Mercury is its own dispositor (since the planet rules the sign it is in).

If the Interrogation pertains to Querent's son, we examine the fifth house and find no planets there; however, the Sun rules the fifth house, and Mercury is the dispositor of the Sun.

If the Interrogation is about the Querent's wife, we examine the seventh house. Again, there is no planet here, but Venus rules the seventh house and the Moon is the dispositor of Venus.

In the case of an Interrogation about a sick person, we look only at the Ascendant (ruled by Mars, with Mercury its depositor, and no planets posited there).

Each of these configurations has a very specific interpretation, which can be found in the writings of the old Astrologers.  Let us see what Gadbury has to say about the paternal interrogation mentioned above. 

Venus in the fourth house: "signifies a stable and firm Inheritance; and shews Rich and Eminent Parents; and that great Persons shall forward the Naive in the management of his Affairs; and the later part of his Life shall be very Laudable, Honourable and Glorious." (Genethlialogia, 1658, p. 50)

Venus in Cancer (domicile of the Moon): "If Venus be in Cancer in any nativity, it betokens the native inconstant, and swiftly changing from place to place, and from one thing to another; and shall be vitiously affected, and greedy of Gain, and very shamefully luxurious." (p. 80)

Moon in Scorpio (domicile of Mars): "When the Moon is in Aries or Scorpio, in any Nativity, it signifies the Native to be an impudent Person, a Thief, abandoning good works, studying mischief; willingly consorting with wicked and naughty Persons, and affecting to converse with them." (p. 82)

BELTRANO

I must also point out that Today is Antonio Lucio Vivaldi's 332nd Birthday. Happy Birthday, Tony, and Thanks for the Memories!

TWO FRAGMENTS OF EARLIER BOOKS (presented chronologically)

                                i.

   On the sidewalk I ran into a friend whom I had not seen in a long time. Not being in much of a hurry, I accompanied him into the chapel for a few minutes.

           The interior was vast and cold and draughty, with hard corners of old carved stones. Here and there among the dim rows of pews, I saw little knots of worshippers, or solitary persons who sat apart in meditation. We paused in reverent silence for a short time, then proceeded up to the front, to the shrine.

            No one know how old the shrine was, or what it had been intended to look like; for its original configuration had been completely altered as the succeeding generations encrusted it with new layers of wealth and finery. The shrine was like an organic thing. It was an essentially formless mass which had come to occupy the entire front of the nave. There was no reason to believe it was comprised otherwise than of solid gold.

            The shrine was encrusted with all manner of gems and with the small enameled portraits of its devotees. Here and there were found small pits and recesses, and in some of these little light-bulbs had been installed, to illuminate the costly gifts and inscriptions and the little cracking portraits of those who had come to pray here two or three centuries before. There were golden hooks, from which were hung intricate golden baubles; here and there, inexplicably, had been installed little watches and clocks, some of them still ticking, others stopped, displaying various incorrect times. In some places there were mysterious little pits opening into utter darkness, in which no lights had been installed; little gems or marbles had been pushed into a few of these, as if to stop them up. And in places things jutted forth from deep within, things artfully covered in stamped gold foil, but which might well have been human bones.

            Every visible inch of the shrine’s costly surface was inlaid and filigreed; however minutely I examined it, it revealed more intricate degrees of detail, which in their turn discovered even tinier nuances, smaller and finer than the most remarkable jewelry I had ever seen, as if spiraling inward to universes of detail smaller than the eye could see. It made me dizzy to stare deeply into it; it was as if my mind beheld and recognized real, concrete infinities and was overwhelmed, even as my eye continued in its more stubborn and analytical way to seek to see to the bottom of them. The impression was of a kind of infinite order and attention to detail which amounted to disorder.

            The shrine was there. It shone brightly in the light of its votive candles. It was undefined, and it troubled me.

            I turned away finally, sick at heart. My fiend had already averted his eyes and was waiting unobtrusively behind me, as if ready to leave whenever I was. I noticed others who had advanced to the front to touch the shrine with the devotion of their kisses; even as I watched, one of them was quietly augmenting it with yet another costly trifle.

            As we turned to leave my friend pointed out a small group of persons seated in one of the front rows. In their midst was a man perhaps in his mid-twenties. He was obviously, severely retarded, with his hair cropped as short as possible, as is so common for those thus afflicted. The spittle dribbled from the imbecile’s mouth; he gazed ahead of him in utter incomprehension.

            My friend whispered to me that this man was the sole living descendant and heir of the people who had built the shrine. No doubt these who had accompanied him were his servants and the custodians of his person, themselves descended from generation of others who had served that great family in the same capacity.

            I dared look at him for only an instant, so deep was my revulsion at the sight of this last scion of a proud and powerful house, this afflicted being who knew not who he was, who knew not where he was.

                                                *               *               *

                                                            ii.

            The hippies would come out and sit on the fence next to the alley in the afternoon, the fence with the No Loitering sign which they had whittled down so they could all sit along it and watch as the commuters walked hastily past after every train.

            It was a hot summer evening, happy with the scent of oregano and Italian sausage, and the hippies paused from their smoking and rapping to go into Jolly Roger’s Pizza Parlor and watch the Monkees on the big color TV, which is what they did every Monday evening at that time.

            Mickey had just given a look of wide-eyed surprise, when all of a sudden the screen was all wavy lines and there came the sound of John Lennon’s voice counting backwards, “four, three, two, one,” and then the Beatles appeared on the screen in black and white; it wasn’t a very clear picture, kind of grainy and flickering.

            Using some kind of weird electric psychedelic gadgetry deep inside their Abbey Road studio, the Beatles had jammed the Monkees’ show—and there they were, doing a song nobody ever heard before, something about “everything you ever said, everywhere you ever went”.

            The whole interruption lasted maybe twenty second, and then the Monkees were back clowning around as usual—the Beatles didn’t finish their song, but they amazed everybody with this act of video piracy that jammed stations all across America.

            It blew everybody’s mind how the Beatles could have jammed the show; everybody was talking about it. Then the rumors began to circulate—rumors that the Beatles had disappeared. A week after the prank it became official, with George Martin admitting that no one had seen any of the Fab Four since the night of their enigmatic broadcast.

            Gradually, as the whole world watched in shock, the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. The electrical wizardry inside Abbey Road had backfired that Monday night, and for reasons too strange and complicated to explain, the Beatles just disappeared, along with their guitars and all their equipment. All that far-out circuitry and transmitting power had gone haywire in such a way that, in the instant that their new song got cut off, all four Beatles, sealed inside a galvanized compartment, had plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic. It was too weird to be true, but it was true; electronics experts figured out how it happened but it was too complicated for the average person to understand.

            The Beatles were dead. The whole world was numbed by the news.

            All night long the arctic wind howled. It was a hopeless task; ther was no possibility whatever that John, Paul, George, or Ringo had survived. There was just the whining of the motorized winches, the unbelievable cold, the disembodied howling of the wind, and the waiting . . .

            Awakening from a fitful sleep I rose and looked around me. No one in the superstructure was stirring. I zipped up my bulky arctic coat and, bracing myself, I walked out onto the windswept deck.

            The wind hit me broadside; I nearly lost my footing on the iced-over deck in the darkness. The recovery vessel was a low, flat barge; the wind and spray had deposited fantastic layers of hoarfrost over everything. Tattered masses of cloud rushed across the moon, clouds moving angrily down out of the utter, unknowable north; the arctic wind rushed screaming across the ice-floes.

            The whining of the winches had ceased, their mechanisms clotted with ice. I saw the cables, vanishing into the frigid depths, straining down toward the horror that lay five miles beneath the sea; I heard them creaking in the darkness.

            Ice-floes were forming, rocking and jostling upon the waves. My eyes followed the rising and falling of the sea-green floes in the moonlight; a mile or more away across the groaning ice, I saw an ancient house looming up against the darkness of the stormy sky.

            The house was tall and turreted. It was dark and cold and its stone walls had stood and weathered since before the dawn of time. With the simplicity of recognition, I knew that this was the house of the North Wind; that from this ancient, draughty house issued all the cold and wind and ice and menace in the whole world. The wind screamed and tore at me in a blast of counter-recognition; it was a scream of hatred, with cold talons that wanted to still my heart and glaze my seeing eyes over with ice!

            In an ecstasy of fascination, I unzipped my coat and cast it aside. The blades of the North Win tore into me and thrilled me to the very core of my being; my spirit left my body and was carried upward, disembodied, helpless in the teeth of the wind.

            In the stone turret of the great cold house across the floes there was cut a narrow casement window, and from this window there issued a shaft of clear, cold light. It winked upon the surface of the icy waves. The light was pale and neither white nor yellow.

            Even as I looked toward that light the arctic wind took charge of me utterly. I sped across the ice-floes, deafened by the wind, soaring higher, hurtling toward that lighted window from which issued the Wind Itself. I knew that I would die; I knew that if I saw what was inside the window, the sight of it would drive me mad. But it did not matter, for I was almost there—I could see the silent, malevolent shadings of the stone sill, the steady, unflickering light which issued from within and filled the ghostly turret with itself.

            For an instant, I thought I almost had a glimpse inside the deadly lighted window; but the violence of the wind carried me too high. I passed over the tower, and my feet just missed the shingles of the turreted roof.

            I was caught up in a wild vertical gust, tossed upward like a doll. I lost all sense of balance, all knowledge of up and down, plunging head over heels through the unearthly vertigo, captive of the wind; and at my ear, or in my mind, I heard a voice which said,

            “You are despised, my friend . . . despised!”

                                                *               *               *

            The next thing I knew the clock radio was playing that fascinating song by the Smithereens, called “Behind the Wall of Sleep”.

                                                *               *               *

Sixteenth Aphorism: The Idiot Questioner

Non diffinias aliquid, antequam scias intentionem quaerentis. Multi quidem interrogare nesciunt, nec possunt exprimere quod intendunt.

("Do not make any definite statement before you know the querent's intention. For many do not know how to ask a question, nor are they able to express what they have in mind.")

We have already had occasion (in our discussion of the twelfth aphorism) to examine the Considerations Before Judgment, used by traditional astrologers to determine whether or not a given horary chart was Radical, or fit to be judged. A number of the Considerations were designed to identify cases in which the Querent was a fool or a knave, with a view to preventing the astrologer from being tricked or imposed upon.

The present aphorism concerns itself with the same problem, but in this case the issue is not deliberate duplicity so much as the Querent's confusion of mind, incoherence, or ambiguity of expression. It is the Astrologer's task to ascertain the Querent's real Intention, even if he does not understand it himself.

Apart from the ability to read people (which may be either acquired or innate), the astrological tradition provides a number of useful tools for this purpose. I have abstracted here a number of the various Considerations Before Judgment, which pertain specifically to this problem:

First, according to John Gadbury, The Doctrine of Horarie Questions (1658), ch. i, sec. 2:

"The Astrologer before he adventureth to judge a Question, ought first to consider, whether it be proper and fit to be judged: For many times, Persons propound impertinent Questions, with an intention to disgrace Art; in doing which, they do nothing but create shame to themselves. Then, the Artist shall sometimes meet with Persons that know not how to propound their desires aright, it's an Argument when such Queries are made, that (although they may be asked with a good intent, yet) they are not ripe for a resolve; and the Astrologer in such Cases ought to defer judgement until another time. 

"Now, for the discovery of the knavery of the one and the unfitness or unpreparedness of the other, you may observe these following Rules and Aphorisms--viz. [N.B.: I have included only those of Gadbury's rules which pertain specifically to the Querent]

2. When either the very beginning of a Sign ascends, or the very later end thereof, it is not safe to give judgement; for the Querent hath been tampering with others about the business propounded, or else the Question is forged, and therefore not fit to be answered.

4. If the Moon go to a square, or opposition of the Lord of the Seventh; or the Lord of the Ascendent afflict him so; the Artist may conclude his Querent a knave, for he then cometh to abuse him.

6. When Saturn is the Ascendent of a Question, and infortunate, the Matter propounded is either false, and without ground, or else 'tis past all hope: And if at the same time, the Lord of the Ascendent be Combust or Retrograde, the Querent is either a knave or a fool."

(ch. 2):

"The knowledge of the Marks, Moles, &c. of each Querent by Art, is a good way for to verifie your Figure, and prove it Radical, as I before shewed: For if the Moles, &c. of the Person enquiring, correspond exactly with the Scheam erected, the Artist may safely proceed to judgement. Now the Rules observable herein, are these following.

1. Having erected your Figure, consider the Sign Ascending, and what part or Member in Mans body it Rules; for the Querent hath a Mole, Mark, or Skar in that part of his body. Example: if the Sign ascending be Virgo, it is on his belly; if Libra, the reins; if Scorpio, the Secrets, &c.

2. Then consider in the next place, in what Sign of the Twelve the Lord of the Ascendent is posited, and say the Querent hath a Mole, &c. in that Member or part of his body represented thereby.

3. Observe the place of the Moon and tell the Querent that he hath another Mole, or Scar, &c. in that part of his body that is represented by that Sign she possesses.

4. Consider the Sign of the Sixth, and the Sign wherein the Lord of the Sixth is Located; for, usually in those Members represented by these Signs, the Querent is also marked.

5. When Saturn shall signifie the Mark, &c. it is generally an Excrescence of a darkish obscure or black colour. If Jupiter, it is usually a purple or blewish Mole, &c. If Mars, 'tis commonly some sear, slash, or cut, chiefly in a fierie Sign; and sometimes a reddish Mole, or spots of Gun-powder. If the Sun, generally of an olive or chesnut colour. If Venus, of a honey-colour. If Mercury, it is sometimes whitish, and other times of a pale lead-colour. If the Moon, 'tis often white, yet many times participates of the colour of that Planet she is in aspect with.

6. If the Planet and Sign representing the Mark, Mole, or Scar be Masculine, the Mark, &c. is then on the right side of the body; if feminine, judge the contrary.

7. If the Significator of the Mole, &c. be above the Earth, the Mark, Mole, &c. is then visible to the eye, and on the forepart of the body; but, if he be under the Earth, it is then not to be seen, but is on the back part of the body.

8. If few Degrees of a Sign ascend on the Horoscope, or descend on the sixth House; or if the Lord of the Ascendent, Lord of the Sixth, and the Moon be in the beginning of Signs, then say the Mole, Scar, &c. is in the upper part of the Member thereby represented. If they, or any of them shall be in the middle of Signs, then judge the Moles, &c. to be about the middle of the Member. But if they be in later Degrees of the Signs, &c. you may be confident that the Mark, &c. is on the lower part of the Member. 

9. Observe, if an infortune be in the Ascendant of any Question, the face of the Querent is usually blemished; for the face is signifyed by the Horoscope, let what Sign soever ascend.

10. These Rules will hold true also upon the body of the Quesited, mutatis mutandis; As, suppose one shall enquire of a sweet-heart, or wife, &c. the seventh House will be her first, and the twelfth her sixth, &c. and in the Members, those Signs signifie she shall have Marks or Moles. And thus much for this Chapter."

Claude Dariot, A Briefe and most easie Introduction to the Astrologicall Judgement of the Starres (1598), ch. xviii:

Ganivetus [Jean Ganivet, fl. 1431-34] giveth warning to the Astrologian of these things, especially if the ascendent be the latter degrees of anye signe, the question is demaunded Tentandi causa, or for deceite.

And now these from Henry Coley, Clavis Astrologiae Elimata (1676), ch. xvi, sec. 4:

I. Consider the Ascendant, [viz. the Sign that arises theron] and what Sign the Lord therof is posited in, then what parts of the body are represented by those Signs, and you may conclude there are Moles, Marks or Skarrs upon those parts of the Body.

II. See also what Sign descende upon the Cusp of the 6th, and what Sign the Lord of the 6th is posited in, upon those two parts  or members of the body represented by those Signs, you shall discover two other Marks or Moles, &c.

III. Take notice also what Sign the Moon is in, and upon those members such Signs represent in Mans Body, you may say there is another Mark; and also, the rather, if those Signs signifying Marks, be afflicted by the Presence or Aspect of an Infortune: for Hermes in his 87th Aphorisme sayes, There will be some Impediment about that part of the Body represented by the Sign which was afflicted at Birth.

IV. If the Signs be Masculine, it declares the Mark to be on the right side; if Feminine, on the left side of the Body.

V. If the beginning of a Sign Ascend, or the Lord thereof be in few degrees of a Sign, the mark is on the upper part of the Member, but if the middle of the Sign Ascend, or the latter end thereof, moderate your Judgment accordingly, and say the mark is posited upon the middle, or the lower part of the Member so signified: if Saturn be in the Sign and so signifie the Mark, it is a black duskish coloured one, somewhat obscure: but if Mars be in the Sign, a red one, and if he be in a fiery Sign, it denotes a Cut, Scar, or Spots of Gunpowder, or other Blemish in that part of the Body, if Jupiter signifie the Mark, it is generally a Blewish or Purple Mole: if Sun, 'tis a Chesnut or Olive Colour: if Venus signifie the Mark, 'tis Honey Colour: if Mercury, a whitish or pale Leaden Colour: the Moon usually gives a white Mark or Mole; but you are also to consider the colour of the Planet she is in Aspect with; and thus varying the Houses, the Rules hold true upon the Body of the Quesited also."

Clearly, all three of these Authors are drawing upon a common tradition. Since the Querent will not likely submit to an inspection of his body by the Astrologer, the rules just presented suggest two alternate procedures: first, the Astrologer may covertly inspect the visible parts of the Querent's body for the presence of those Marks suggested by the chart. Alternately, as Gadbury appears to suggest, the Astrologer may present these same findings to the Querent for confirmation. Either way, the Querent may be judged an Impostor if the Marks on his body do not correspond to the Marks suggested by the chart.

The correspondence of the Twelve Signs to parts of the human body, known as Melothesia, is an extremely ancient doctrine, transmitted by Antiochus of Athens and all subsequent authors on Astrology. According to this scheme, Aries signifies the head, Taurus the neck, Gemini the shoulders and arms, Cancer the chest, Leo the midriff, Virgo the belly, Libra the buttocks, Scorpio the genitals, Sagittarius the hips, Capricornus the thighs, Aquarius the legs, and Pisces the feet. Melothesia becomes extremely important in the context of Medical Astrology.

OTTAVIO BELTRANO, astrologus

To cast off the idiot Questioner, who is always questioning,

But never capable of answering; who sits with a sly grin

Silent plotting when to question, like a thief in a cave;

Who publishes Doubt and calls it Knowledge; whose Science is Despair,

Whose pretence to knowledge is Envy, whose whole Science is

To destroy the wisdom of ages, to gratify ravenous Envy

That rages round him like a Wolf, day and night, without rest.

He smiles with condescension; he talks of Benevolence and Virtue,

And those who act with Benevolence and Virtue they murder time on time.

(William Blake, Milton, book II, pl. 40, 1810)

The Last Puff

Greetings! 

The picture to the left was taken on Saturday, 9 January 2010, and commemorates the occasion of Signor Beltrano smoking his last cigarette (a P'irveli Lurji from a pack purchased in Tbilisi).

We hope that you will wish him success as he seeks to break this pernicious and life-destroying habit.

Today marks the 17th anniversary of the tragic and unexpected death of Beltrano's father, which also occurred on a Wednesday. Now so long ago.

Vivete felice!

OTTAVIO BELTRANO, astrologus