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!