Astrology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of

celestial objects as a means for divining information about Astrology
human affairs and terrestrial events.[1][2][3] Astrology has been
dated to at least the 2nd millennium BCE, and has its roots in
calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to
interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications.[4]
Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events,
and some such as the Indians, Chinese, and Maya developed
elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial
observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological
systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th17th century BCE
Mesopotamia, from which it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome,
the Arab world and eventually Central and Western Europe.
Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems
of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person's
personality and predict significant events in their lives based on
the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional
The astrological signs
astrologers rely on such systems.[5]:83
Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra
Throughout most of its history astrology was considered a Scorpio Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces
scholarly tradition and was common in academic circles, often in
close relation with astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and Astrology categories
medicine.[6] It was present in political circles, and is mentioned Astrology
in various works of literature, from Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Expand list Astrology images
Chaucer to William Shakespeare, Lope de Vega and Caldern de for reference Astrology stubs
la Barca.
Astrologers
During the 20th century and following the wide-scale adoption of Astrological ages
the scientific method, astrology has been challenged successfully Astrological data
on both theoretical[7]:249;[8] and experimental[9][10] grounds, and collectors
has been shown to have no scientific validity[5] or explanatory Astrological
power. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, organizations
and common belief in it has largely declined.[11] While polling Astrological signs
studies have demonstrated that approximately 25% of History of astrology
Americans, Canadians, and Britons say they continue to believe Technical factors of
that star and planet positions affect their lives,[12] astrology is
astrology
now recognized as pseudoscience.[13][14][15][16][17]
Astrological texts
Astrology by tradition
Astrology by type
Contents
Branches of astrology
1 Etymology Chinese Decumbiture Electional Financial
2 History Hellenistic Horary Locational Psychological
2.1 Ancient world Meteorological Hindu
2.1.1 Ancient objections
2.2 Hellenistic Egypt The planets in astrology
2.3 Greece and Rome Sun Moon Mercury Venus Mars Ceres Jupiter
2.4 Medieval world Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
2.4.1 Hindu
2.4.2 Islamic Astrology Astrology project
2.4.3 Europe
 2.4.4 Medieval objections portal
2.5 Renaissance and Early Modern
Astrologers Astrological or ganizations Astrology
2.6 Enlightenment period and onwards
and science
3 Principles and practice
3.1 Western
3.2 Hindu
3.3 Chinese and East-Asian
4 Theological viewpoints
4.1 Ancient
4.2 Medieval
4.3 Modern
5 Scientific analysis and criticism
5.1 Demarcation
5.2 Effectiveness
5.3 Lack of mechanisms and consistency
6 Cultural impact
6.1 Western politics and society
6.2 India and Japan
6.3 Literature and music
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 Sources
11 Further reading
12 External links

Etymology
The word astrology comes from the early Latin word astrologia,[18] which
derives from the Greek from astron ("star") and - -
logia, ("study of""account of the stars"). Astrologia later passed into meaning
'star-divination' with astronomia used for the scientific term.[19]

History
Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events, and the
Indians, Chinese, and Maya developed elaborate systems for predicting
terrestrial events from celestial observations. In the West, astrology most often
consists of a system of horoscopes purporting to explain aspects of a person's
personality and predict future events in their life based on the positions of the
sun, moon, and other celestial objects at the time of their birth. The majority of
professional astrologers rely on such systems.[5]:83 Marcantonio Raimondi
engraving, 15th century
Astrology has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BCE, with roots in
calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial
cycles as signs of divine communications.[4] A form of astrology was practised in the first dynasty of
Mesopotamia (19501651 BCE). Chinese astrology was elaborated in the Zhou dynasty (1046256 BCE).
Hellenistic astrology after 332 BCE mixed Babylonian astrology with Egyptian Decanic astrology in
Alexandria, creating horoscopic astrology. Alexander the Great's conquest of Asia allowed astrology to spread
to Ancient Greece and Rome. In Rome, astrology was associated with 'Chaldean wisdom'. After the conquest of
Alexandria in the 7th century, astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars, and Hellenistic texts were translated
into Arabic and Persian. In the 12th century, Arabic texts were imported to Europe and translated into Latin.
Major astronomers including Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler and Galileo
practised as court astrologers. Astrological references appear in literature in the
works of poets such as Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer, and of
playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare.

Throughout most of its history, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition.

It was accepted in political and academic contexts, and was connected with
other studies, such as astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and medicine.[6] At
the end of the 17th century, new scientific concepts in astronomy and physics
(such as heliocentrism and Newtonian mechanics) called astrology into
question. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and
common belief in astrology has largely declined.[11]

Ancient world The Zodiac Man a diagram of a

human body and astrological
Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky.[20]:2,3 symbols with instructions
Early evidence for humans making conscious attempts to measure, record, and explaining the importance of
predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles, appears as astrology from a medical
markings on bones and cave walls, which show that lunar cycles were being perspective. From a 15th-
noted as early as 25,000 years ago.[21]:81ff This was a first step towards century Welsh manuscript
recording the Moon's influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organising a
communal calendar.[21] Farmers addressed agricultural needs with increasing
knowledge of the constellations that appear in the different seasonsand used the rising of particular star-
groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities.[22] By the 3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had
sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with heliacal risings of
the stars.[23]

Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made in the
ancient world. The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa thought to be compiled in Babylon around 1700 BCE.[24] A
scroll documenting an early use of electional astrology is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the Sumerian ruler
Gudea of Lagash (c. 2144 2124 BCE). This describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream the
constellations that would be most favourable for the planned construction of a temple.[25] However, there is
controversy about whether these were genuinely recorded at the time or merely ascribed to ancient rulers by
posterity. The oldest undisputed evidence of the use of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is
therefore attributed to the records of the first dynasty of Mesopotamia (19501651 BCE). This astrology had
some parallels with Hellenistic Greek (western) astrology, including the zodiac, a norming point near 9 degrees
in Aries, the trine aspect, planetary exaltations, and the dodekatemoria (the twelve divisions of 30 degrees
each).[26] The Babylonians viewed celestial events as possible signs rather than as causes of physical events.[26]

The system of Chinese astrology was elaborated during the Zhou dynasty (1046256 BCE) and flourished
during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE), during which all the familiar elements of
traditional Chinese culture the Yin-Yang philosophy, theory of the five elements, Heaven and Earth,
Confucian morality were brought together to formalise the philosophical principles of Chinese medicine and
divination, astrology and alchemy.[27]:3,4

Ancient objections

Cicero stated the twins objection (that with close birth times, personal outcomes can be very different), later
developed by Saint Augustine.[28] He argued that since the other planets are much more distant from the earth
than the moon, they could have only very tiny influence compared to the moon's.[29] He also argued that if
astrology explains everything about a person's fate, then it wrongly ignores the visible effect of inherited ability
and parenting, changes in health worked by medicine, or the effects of the weather on people.[30]
Plotinus argued that since the fixed stars are much more distant than the
planets, it is laughable to imagine the planets' effect on mankind should depend
on their position with respect to the zodiac. He also argues that the
interpretation of the moon's conjunction with a planet as good when the moon
is full, but bad when the moon is waning, is clearly wrong, as from the moon's
point of view, half of her surface is always in sunlight; and from the planet's
point of view, waning should be better, as then the planet sees some light from
the moon, but when the moon is full to us, it is dark, and therefore bad, on the
side facing the planet.[31]

Favorinus argued that it was absurd to imagine that stars and planets would
affect human bodies in the same way as they affect the tides,[32] and equally
absurd that small motions in the heavens cause large changes in people's fates.
Sextus Empiricus argued that it was absurd to link human attributes with myths The Roman orator Cicero
objected to astrology
about the signs of the zodiac.[33] Carneades argued that belief in fate denies
free will and morality; that people born at different times can all die in the same
accident or battle; and that contrary to uniform influences from the stars, tribes
and cultures are all different.[34]

Hellenistic Egypt

In 525 BCE, Egypt was conquered by the Persians. The 1st century BCE
Egyptian Dendera Zodiac shares two signs the Balance and the Scorpion
with Mesopotamian astrology.[35]

With the occupation by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, Egypt became
Hellenistic. The city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander after the
conquest, becoming the place where Babylonian astrology was mixed with
Egyptian Decanic astrology to create Horoscopic astrology. This contained the
Babylonian zodiac with its system of planetary exaltations, the triplicities of the
signs and the importance of eclipses. It used the Egyptian concept of dividing
the zodiac into thirty-six decans of ten degrees each, with an emphasis on the
rising decan, and the Greek system of planetary Gods, sign rulership and four
1484 copy of first page of
elements.[36] 2nd century BCE texts predict positions of planets in zodiac signs
Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos,
at the time of the rising of certain decans, particularly Sothis.[37] The astrologer
translated into Latin byPlato of
and astronomer Ptolemy lived in Alexandria. Ptolemy's work the Tetrabiblos Tivoli
formed the basis of Western astrology, and, "...enjoyed almost the authority of a
Bible among the astrological writers of a thousand years or more."[38]

Greece and Rome

The conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great exposed the Greeks to ideas from Syria, Babylon, Persia and
central Asia.[39] Around 280 BCE, Berossus, a priest of Bel from Babylon, moved to the Greek island of Kos,
teaching astrology and Babylonian culture.[40] By the 1st century BCE, there were two varieties of astrology,
one using horoscopes to describe the past, present and future; the other, theurgic, emphasising the soul's ascent
to the stars.[41] Greek influence played a crucial role in the transmission of astrological theory to Rome.[42]

The first definite reference to astrology in Rome comes from the orator Cato, who in 160 BCE warned farm
overseers against consulting with Chaldeans,[43] who were described as Babylonian 'star-gazers'.[44] Among
both Greeks and Romans, Babylonia (also known as Chaldea) became so identified with astrology that
'Chaldean wisdom' became synonymous with divination using planets and stars.[45] The 2nd-century Roman
poet and satirist Juvenal complains about the pervasive influence of Chaldeans, saying, "Still more trusted are
the Chaldaeans; every word uttered by the astrologer they will believe has come from Hammon's fountain."[46]
One of the first astrologers to bring Hermetic astrology to Rome was Thrasyllus, astrologer to the emperor
Tiberius,[42] the first emperor to have had a court astrologer,[47] though his predecessor Augustus had used
astrology to help legitimise his Imperial rights.[48]

Medieval world

Hindu

The main texts upon which classical Indian astrology is based are early medieval compilations, notably the
Bhat Parara Horstra, and Srval by Kalyavarma. The Horshastra is a composite work of 71
chapters, of which the first part (chapters 151) dates to the 7th to early 8th centuries and the second part
(chapters 5271) to the later 8th century. The Srval likewise dates to around 800 CE.[49] English translations
of these texts were published by N.N. Krishna Rau and V.B. Choudhari in 1963 and 1961, respectively.

Islamic

Astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars[50] following the collapse

of Alexandria to the Arabs in the 7th century, and the founding of the
Abbasid empire in the 8th. The second Abbasid caliph, Al Mansur
(754775) founded the city of Baghdad to act as a centre of learning,
and included in its design a library-translation centre known as Bayt al-
Hikma 'House of Wisdom', which continued to receive development
from his heirs and was to provide a major impetus for Arabic-Persian
translations of Hellenistic astrological texts. The early translators
included Mashallah, who helped to elect the time for the foundation of
Latin translation of Ab Mashar's De
Baghdad,[51] and Sahl ibn Bishr, (a.k.a. Zael), whose texts were directly Magnis Coniunctionibus('Of the great
influential upon later European astrologers such as Guido Bonatti in the conjunctions'), Venice, 1515
13th century, and William Lilly in the 17th century.[52] Knowledge of
Arabic texts started to become imported into Europe during the Latin
translations of the 12th century.

Europe

The first astrological book published in Europe was the Liber Planetis et Mundi
Climatibus ("Book of the Planets and Regions of the World"), which appeared
between 1010 and 1027 AD, and may have been authored by Gerbert of
Aurillac.[53] Ptolemy's second century AD Tetrabiblos was translated into Latin
by Plato of Tivoli in 1138.[53] The Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas
followed Aristotle in proposing that the stars ruled the imperfect 'sublunary'
body, while attempting to reconcile astrology with Christianity by stating that
God ruled the soul.[54] The thirteenth century mathematician Campanus of
Novara is said to have devised a system of astrological houses that divides the
prime vertical into 'houses' of equal 30 arcs,[55] though the system was used
earlier in the East.[56] The thirteenth century astronomer Guido Bonatti wrote a
textbook, the Liber Astronomicus, a copy of which King Henry VII of England
owned at the end of the fifteenth century.[55]
Dante Alighieri meets the
Emperor Justinian in the
In Paradiso, the final part of the Divine Comedy, the Italian poet Dante
Sphere of Mercury, in Canto 5
Alighieri referred "in countless details"[57] to the astrological planets, though he
of the Paradiso
adapted traditional astrology to suit his Christian viewpoint,[57] for example
using astrological thinking in his prophecies of the reform of Christendom.[58]

Medieval objections
In the seventh century, Isidore of Seville argued in his Etymologiae that
astronomy described the movements of the heavens, while astrology had two
parts: one was scientific, describing the movements of the sun, the moon and
the stars, while the other, making predictions, was theologically
erroneous.[59][60] In contrast, John Gower in the fourteenth century defined
astrology as essentially limited to the making of predictions.[59][61] The
influence of the stars was in turn divided into natural astrology, with for
example effects on tides and the growth of plants, and judicial astrology, with
supposedly predictable effects on people.[62][63] The fourteenth century sceptic
Nicole Oresme however included astronomy as a part of astrology in his Livre
de divinacions.[64] Oresme argued that current approaches to prediction of
events such as plagues, wars, and weather were inappropriate, but that such The medieval theologian
prediction was a valid field of inquiry. However, he attacked the use of Isidore of Seville criticised the
astrology to choose the timing of actions (so-called interrogation and election) predictive part of astrology
as wholly false, and rejected the determination of human action by the stars on
grounds of free will.[64][65] The friar Laurens Pignon (c. 13681449)[66]
similarly rejected all forms of divination and determinism, including by the stars, in his 1411 Contre les
Devineurs.[67] This was in opposition to the tradition carried by the Arab astronomer Albumasar (787-886)
whose Introductorium in Astronomiam and De Magnis Coniunctionibus argued the view that both individual
actions and larger scale history are determined by the stars.[68]

Renaissance and Early Modern

Renaissance scholars commonly practised astrology. Gerolamo Cardano

cast the horoscope of king Edward VI of England, while John Dee was
the personal astrologer to queen Elizabeth I of England. Catherine de
Medici paid Michael Nostradamus in 1566 to verify the prediction of
the death of her husband, king Henry II of France made by her
astrologer Lucus Gauricus. Major astronomers who practised as court
astrologers included Tycho Brahe in the royal court of Denmark,
Johannes Kepler to the Habsburgs, Galileo Galilei to the Medici, and
Giordano Bruno who was burnt at the stake for heresy in Rome in
1600.[69] The distinction between astrology and astronomy was not
entirely clear. Advances in astronomy were often motivated by the
desire to improve the accuracy of astrology.[70]
'An Astrologer Casting a Horoscope'
Ephemerides with complex astrological calculations, and almanacs from Robert Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi
interpreting celestial events for use in medicine and for choosing times Historia, 1617
to plant crops, were popular in Elizabethan England.[71] In 1597, the
English mathematician and physician Thomas Hood made a set of
paper instruments that used revolving overlays to help students work out relationships between fixed stars or
constellations, the midheaven, and the twelve astrological houses.[72] Hood's instruments also illustrated, for
pedagogical purposes, the supposed relationships between the signs of the zodiac, the planets, and the parts of
the human body adherents believed were governed by the planets and signs.[72][73] While Hood's presentation
was innovative, his astrological information was largely standard and was taken from Gerard Mercator's
astrological disc made in 1551, or a source used by Mercator.[74][75]

English astrology had reached its zenith by the 17th century.[76] Astrologers were theorists, researchers, and
social engineers, as well as providing individual advice to everyone from monarchs downwards. Among other
things, astrologers could advise on the best time to take a journey or harvest a crop, diagnose and prescribe for
physical or mental illnesses, and predict natural disasters. This underpinned a system in which everything
people, the world, the universewas understood to be interconnected, and astrology co-existed happily with
religion, magic and science.[77]
Enlightenment period and onwards

During the Enlightenment, intellectual sympathy for astrology fell away, leaving only a popular following
supported by cheap almanacs.[78] One English almanac compiler, Richard Saunders, followed the spirit of the
age by printing a derisive Discourse on the Invalidity of Astrology, while in France Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire
of 1697 stated that the subject was puerile.[78] The Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift ridiculed the Whig
political astrologer John Partridge.[78]

Astrology saw a popular revival starting in the 19th century, as part of a general revival of spiritualism and
later, New Age philosophy,[79]:239249 and through the influence of mass media such as newspaper
horoscopes.[79]:259263 Early in the 20th century the psychiatrist Carl Jung developed some concepts
concerning astrology,[80] which led to the development of psychological astrology.[79]:251256;[81][82]

Principles and practice

Advocates have defined astrology as a symbolic language, an art form, a science, and a method of
divination.[83][84] Though most cultural astrology systems share common roots in ancient philosophies that
influenced each other, many use methods that differ from those in the West. These include Hindu astrology
(also known as "Indian astrology" and in modern times referred to as "Vedic astrology") and Chinese astrology,
both of which have influenced the world's cultural history.

Western

Western astrology is a form of divination based on the construction of a horoscope for an exact moment, such
as a person's birth.[85] It uses the tropical zodiac, which is aligned to the equinoctial points.[86]

Western astrology is founded on the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies such as the Sun,
Moon and planets, which are analysed by their movement through signs of the zodiac (twelve spatial divisions
of the ecliptic) and by their aspects (based on geometric angles) relative to one another. They are also
considered by their placement in houses (twelve spatial divisions of the sky).[87] Astrology's modern
representation in western popular media is usually reduced to sun sign astrology, which considers only the
zodiac sign of the Sun at an individual's date of birth, and represents only 1/12 of the total chart.[88]

The horoscope visually expresses the set of relationships for the time and place of the chosen event. These
relationships are between the seven 'planets', signifying tendencies such as war and love; the twelve signs of the
zodiac; and the twelve houses. Each planet is in a particular sign and a particular house at the chosen time,
when observed from the chosen place, creating two kinds of relationship.[89] A third kind is the aspect of each
planet to every other planet, where for example two planets 120 apart (in 'trine') are in a harmonious
relationship, but two planets 90 apart ('square') are in a conflicted relationship.[90][91] Together these
relationships and their interpretations supposedly form "...the language of the heavens speaking to learned
men."[89]

Along with tarot divination, astrology is one of the core studies of Western esotericism, and as such has
influenced systems of magical belief not only among Western esotericists and Hermeticists, but also belief
systems such as Wicca that have borrowed from or been influenced by the Western esoteric tradition. Tanya
Luhrmann has said that "all magicians know something about astrology," and refers to a table of
correspondences in Starhawk's The Spiral Dance, organised by planet, as an example of the astrological lore
studied by magicians.[92]

Hindu

The earliest Vedic text on astronomy is the Vedanga Jyotisha; Vedic thought later came to include astrology as
well.[93]
Hindu natal astrology originated with Hellenistic astrology by the 3rd century
BCE,[94]:361[95] though incorporating the Hindu lunar mansions.[96] The names
of the signs (e.g. Greek 'Krios' for Aries, Hindi 'Kriya'), the planets (e.g. Greek
'Helios' for Sun, astrological Hindi 'Heli'), and astrological terms (e.g. Greek
'apoklima' and 'sunaphe' for declination and planetary conjunction, Hindi
'apoklima' and 'sunapha' respectively) in Varaha Mihira's texts are considered
conclusive evidence of a Greek origin for Hindu astrology.[97] The Indian
techniques may also have been augmented with some of the Babylonian
techniques.[98]:231

Chinese and East-Asian

Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the
three harmonies: heaven, earth and man) and uses concepts such as yin and
yang, the Five phases, the 10 Celestial stems, the 12 Earthly Branches, and
shichen ( a form of timekeeping used for religious purposes). The early Page from an Indian
use of Chinese astrology was mainly confined to political astrology, the astrological treatise, c. 1750
observation of unusual phenomena, identification of portents and the selection
of auspicious days for events and decisions.[27]:22,85,176

The constellations of the Zodiac of western Asia and Europe were not used; instead the sky is divided into
Three Enclosures ( sn yun), and Twenty-eight Mansions ( rshb xi) in twelve Ci (
).[99] The Chinese zodiac of twelve animal signs is said to represent twelve different types of personality. It
is based on cycles of years, lunar months, and two-hour periods of the day (the shichen). The zodiac
traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, and the cycle proceeds through 11 other animals signs: the Ox,
Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.[100] Complex systems of
predicting fate and destiny based on one's birthday, birth season, and birth hours, such as ziping and Zi Wei Dou
Shu (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: zwidush) are still used
regularly in modern-day Chinese astrology. They do not rely on direct observations of the stars.[101]

The Korean zodiac is identical to the Chinese one. The Vietnamese zodiac is almost identical to Chinese zodiac
except the second animal is the Water Buffalo instead of the Ox, and the fourth animal is the Cat instead of the
Rabbit. The Japanese have since 1873 celebrated the beginning of the new year on 1 January as per the
Gregorian Calendar. The Thai zodiac begins, not at Chinese New Year, but either on the first day of fifth month
in the Thai lunar calendar, or during the Songkran festival (now celebrated every 1315 April), depending on
the purpose of the use.[102]

Theological viewpoints
Ancient

St. Augustine (354430) believed that the determinism of astrology conflicted with the Christian doctrines of
man's free will and responsibility, and God not being the cause of evil,[103] but he also grounded his opposition
philosophically, citing the failure of astrology to explain twins who behave differently although conceived at
the same moment and born at approximately the same time.[104]

Medieval

Some of the practices of astrology were contested on theological grounds by medieval Muslim astronomers
such as Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) and Avicenna. They said that the methods of
astrologers conflicted with orthodox religious views of Islamic scholars, by suggesting that the Will of God can
be known and predicted in advance.[105] For example, Avicenna's 'Refutation against astrology', Risla f ibl
akm al-nojm, argues against the practice of astrology while supporting the principle that planets may act as
agents of divine causation. Avicenna considered that the movement of the planets influenced life on earth in a
deterministic way, but argued against the possibility of determining the exact influence of the stars.[106]
Essentially, Avicenna did not deny the core dogma of astrology, but denied our ability to understand it to the
extent that precise and fatalistic predictions could be made from it.[107] Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (12921350),
in his Miftah Dar al-SaCadah, also used physical arguments in astronomy to question the practice of judicial
astrology.[108] He recognised that the stars are much larger than the planets, and argued:

And if you astrologers answer that it is precisely because of this distance and smallness that their
influences are negligible, then why is it that you claim a great influence for the smallest heavenly
body, Mercury? Why is it that you have given an influence to al-Ra's and al-Dhanab, which are two
imaginary points [ascending and descending nodes]?

Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya[108]

Modern

The Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that divination, including predictive astrology, is incompatible
with modern Catholic beliefs[109] such as free will:[104]

All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or
other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm
reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums
all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as
well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that
we owe to God alone.[110]

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Scientific analysis and criticism

The scientific community rejects astrology as having no explanatory power for
describing the universe, and considers it a pseudoscience.[15][16][17]:1350
Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted, and no evidence has been
found to support any of the premises or purported effects outlined in
astrological traditions.[10]:424;[111][112] There is no proposed mechanism of
action by which the positions and motions of stars and planets could affect
people and events on Earth that does not contradict well understood, basic
aspects of biology and physics.[7]:249;[8] Those who continue to have faith in
astrology have been characterised as doing so "...in spite of the fact that there is
no verified scientific basis for their beliefs, and indeed that there is strong
evidence to the contrary."[113]

Confirmation bias is a form of cognitive bias, a psychological factor that Popper proposed falsifiability
contributes to belief in astrology.[114]:344;[115]:180181;[116]:4248 [a][117]:553 as something that distinguishes
Astrology believers tend to selectively remember predictions that turn out to be science from non-science,
true, and do not remember those that turn out false. Another, separate, form of using astrology as the example
confirmation bias also plays a role, where believers often fail to distinguish of an idea that has not dealt
between messages that demonstrate special ability and those that do with falsification during
not.[115]:180181 Thus there are two distinct forms of confirmation bias that are experiment
under study with respect to astrological belief.[115]:180181

Demarcation
Under the criterion of falsifiability, first proposed by philosopher of science Karl Popper, astrology is a
pseudoscience.[118] Popper regarded astrology as "pseudo-empirical" in that "it appeals to observation and
experiment," but "nevertheless does not come up to scientific standards."[119]:44 In contrast to scientific
disciplines, astrology has not responded to falsification through experiment.[120]:206

In contrast to Popper, the philosopher Thomas Kuhn argued that it was not lack of falsifiability that makes
astrology unscientific, but rather that the process and concepts of astrology are non-empirical.[121]:401 Kuhn
thought that, though astrologers had, historically, made predictions that categorically failed, this in itself does
not make it unscientific, nor do attempts by astrologers to explain away failures by claiming that creating a
horoscope is very difficult. Rather, in Kuhn's eyes, astrology is not science because it was always more akin to
medieval medicine; they followed a sequence of rules and guidelines for a seemingly necessary field with
known shortcomings, but they did no research because the fields are not amenable to research,[122]:8 and so
"they had no puzzles to solve and therefore no science to practise."[121]:401;[122]:8 While an astronomer could
correct for failure, an astrologer could not. An astrologer could only explain away failure but could not revise
the astrological hypothesis in a meaningful way. As such, to Kuhn, even if the stars could influence the path of
humans through life astrology is not scientific.[122]:8

The philosopher Paul Thagard asserts that astrology cannot be regarded as falsified in this sense until it has
been replaced with a successor. In the case of predicting behaviour, psychology is the alternative.[13]:228 To
Thagard a further criterion of demarcation of science from pseudoscience is that the state-of-the-art must
progress and that the community of researchers should be attempting to compare the current theory to
alternatives, and not be "selective in considering confirmations and disconfirmations."[13]:227228 Progress is
defined here as explaining new phenomena and solving existing problems, yet astrology has failed to progress
having only changed little in nearly 2000 years.[13]:228[123]:549 To Thagard, astrologers are acting as though
engaged in normal science believing that the foundations of astrology were well established despite the "many
unsolved problems," and in the face of better alternative theories (psychology). For these reasons Thagard
views astrology as pseudoscience.[13][123]:228

For the philosopher Edward W. James, astrology is irrational not because of the numerous problems with
mechanisms and falsification due to experiments, but because an analysis of the astrological literature shows
that it is infused with fallacious logic and poor reasoning.[124]:34

What if throughout astrological writings we meet little appreciation of coherence, blatant

insensitivity to evidence, no sense of a hierarchy of reasons, slight command over the contextual
force of critieria, stubborn unwillingness to pursue an argument where it leads, stark naivete
concerning the effiacacy of explanation and so on? In that case, I think, we are perfectly justified in
rejecting astrology as irrational. ... Astrology simply fails to meet the multifarious demands of
legitimate reasoning."

Edward W. James[124]:34

Effectiveness

Astrology has not demonstrated its effectiveness in controlled studies and has no scientific validity.[5]:85;[10]
Where it has made falsifiable predictions under controlled conditions, they have been falsified.[10]:424 One
famous experiment included 28 astrologers who were asked to match over a hundred natal charts to
psychological profiles generated by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) questionnaire.[125][126] The
double-blind experimental protocol used in this study was agreed upon by a group of physicists and a group of
astrologers[10] nominated by the National Council for Geocosmic Research, who advised the experimenters,
helped ensure that the test was fair[9]:420;[126]:117 and helped draw the central proposition of natal astrology to
be tested.[9]:419 They also chose 26 out of the 28 astrologers for the tests (two more volunteered
afterwards).[9]:420 The study, published in Nature in 1985, found that predictions based on natal astrology were
no better than chance, and that the testing "...clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis."[9]
In 1955, the astrologer and psychologist Michel Gauquelin stated that though he had failed to find evidence that
supported indicators like zodiacal signs and planetary aspects in astrology, he did find positive correlations
between the diurnal positions of some planets and success in professions that astrology traditionally associates
with those planets.[127][128] The best-known of Gauquelin's findings is based on the positions of Mars in the
natal charts of successful athletes and became known as the Mars effect.[129]:213 A study conducted by seven
French scientists attempted to replicate the claim, but found no statistical evidence.[129]:213214 They
attributed the effect to selective bias on Gauquelin's part, accusing him of attempting to persuade them to add or
delete names from their study.[130]

Geoffrey Dean has suggested that the effect may be caused by self-reporting of birth dates by parents rather
than any issue with the study by Gauquelin. The suggestion is that a small subset of the parents may have had
changed birth times to be consistent with better astrological charts for a related profession. The number of
births under astrologically undesirable conditions was also lower, indicating that parents choose dates and times
to suit their beliefs. The sample group was taken from a time where belief in astrology was more common.
Gauquelin had failed to find the Mars effect in more recent populations, where a nurse or doctor recorded the
birth information.[126]:116

Dean, a scientist and former astrologer, and psychologist Ivan Kelly conducted a large scale scientific test that
involved more than one hundred cognitive, behavioural, physical, and other variablesbut found no support
for astrology.[131][132] Furthermore, a meta-analysis pooled 40 studies that involved 700 astrologers and over
1,000 birth charts. Ten of the testswhich involved 300 participantshad the astrologers pick the correct chart
interpretation out of a number of others that were not the astrologically correct chart interpretation (usually
three to five others). When date and other obvious clues were removed, no significant results suggested there
was any preferred chart.[132]:190

Lack of mechanisms and consistency

Testing the validity of astrology can be difficult, because there is no consensus amongst astrologers as to what
astrology is or what it can predict.[5]:83 Most professional astrologers are paid to predict the future or describe a
person's personality and life, but most horoscopes only make vague untestable statements that can apply to
almost anyone.[5][116]:83

Many astrologers claim that astrology is scientific,[133] while some have proposed conventional causal agents
such as electromagnetism and gravity.[133] Scientists reject these mechanisms as implausible[133] since, for
example, the magnetic field, when measured from earth, of a large but distant planet such as Jupiter is far
smaller than that produced by ordinary household appliances.[134]

Western astrology has taken the earth's axial precession (also called precession of the equinoxes) into account
since Ptolemy's Almagest, so the 'first point of Aries', the start of the astrological year, continually moves
against the background of the stars.[135] The tropical zodiac has no connection to the stars, and as long as no
claims are made that the constellations themselves are in the associated sign, astrologers avoid the concept that
precession seemingly moves the constellations.[136] Charpak and Broch, noting this, referred to astrology based
on the tropical zodiac as being "...empty boxes that have nothing to do with anything and are devoid of any
consistency or correspondence with the stars."[136] Sole use of the tropical zodiac is inconsistent with
references made, by the same astrologers, to the Age of Aquarius, which depends on when the vernal point
enters the constellation of Aquarius.[10]

Astrologers usually have only a small knowledge of astronomy, and often do not take into account basic
principlessuch as the precession of the equinoxes, which changes the position of the sun with time. They
commented on the example of lizabeth Teissier, who claimed that, "The sun ends up in the same place in the
sky on the same date each year," as the basis for claims that two people with the same birthday, but a number of
years apart, should be under the same planetary influence. Charpak and Broch noted that, "There is a difference
of about twenty-two thousand miles between Earth's location on any specific date in two successive years," and
that thus they should not be under the same influence according to astrology. Over a 40 years period there
would be a difference greater than 780,000 miles.[136]

Cultural impact
Western politics and society Mars, the Bringer of War

In the West, political leaders have sometimes consulted 0:00

astrologers. For example, the British intelligence agency Mars, performed by the US Air Force
MI5 employed Louis de Wohl as an astrologer after claims Band
surfaced that Adolf Hitler used astrology to time his actions.
The War Office was "...interested to know what Hitler's own Venus, the Bringer of Peace
astrologers would be telling him from week to week."[137] 0:00
In fact, de Wohl's predictions were so inaccurate that he was
soon labelled a "complete charlatan," and later evidence Venus, performed by the US Air Force
showed that Hitler considered astrology "complete Band
nonsense."[138] After John Hinckley's attempted
Mercury, the Winged Messenger
assassination of US President Ronald Reagan, first lady
Nancy Reagan commissioned astrologer Joan Quigley to act 0:00
as the secret White House astrologer. However, Quigley's
Mercury, performed by the US Air
role ended in 1988 when it became public through the Force Band
memoirs of former chief of staff, Donald Regan.[139]
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
There was a boom in interest in astrology in the late 1960s.
0:00
The sociologist Marcello Truzzi described three levels of
involvement of "Astrology-believers" to account for its Jupiter, performed by the US Air Force
revived popularity in the face of scientific discrediting. He Band
found that most astrology-believers did not claim it was a
scientific explanation with predictive power. Instead, those Uranus, the Magician
superficially involved, knowing "next to nothing" about 0:00
astrology's 'mechanics', read newspaper astrology columns,
and could benefit from "tension-management of anxieties" Uranus, performed by the US Air
Force Band
and "a cognitive belief-system that transcends science."[140]
Those at the second level usually had their horoscopes cast
Problems playing these files? See media help.
and sought advice and predictions. They were much
younger than those at the first level, and could benefit from knowledge of the language of astrology and the
resulting ability to belong to a coherent and exclusive group. Those at the third level were highly involved and
usually cast horoscopes for themselves. Astrology provided this small minority of astrology-believers with a
"meaningful view of their universe and [gave] them an understanding of their place in it."[b] This third group
took astrology seriously, possibly as a sacred canopy, whereas the other two groups took it playfully and
irreverently.[140]

In 1953, the sociologist Theodor W. Adorno conducted a study of the astrology column of a Los Angeles
newspaper as part of a project examining mass culture in capitalist society.[141]:326 Adorno believed that
popular astrology, as a device, invariably leads to statements that encouraged conformityand that astrologers
who go against conformity, by discouraging performance at work etc., risk losing their jobs.[141]:327 Adorno
concluded that astrology is a large-scale manifestation of systematic irrationalism, where individuals are subtly
ledthrough flattery and vague generalisationsto believe that the author of the column is addressing them
directly.[142] Adorno drew a parallel with the phrase opium of the people, by Karl Marx, by commenting,
"occultism is the metaphysic of the dopes."[141]:329
A 2005 Gallup poll and a 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center reported that 25% of US adults believe in
astrology.[143][144] According to data released in the National Science Foundation's 2014 Science and
Engineering Indicators study, "Fewer Americans rejected astrology in 2012 than in recent years."[145] The NSF
study noted that in 2012, "slightly more than half of Americans said that astrology was 'not at all scientific,'
whereas nearly two-thirds gave this response in 2010. The comparable percentage has not been this low since
1983."[145]

India and Japan

In India, there is a long-established and widespread belief in astrology.

It is commonly used for daily life, particularly in matters concerning
marriage and career, and makes extensive use of electional, horary and
karmic astrology.[146][147] Indian politics have also been influenced by
astrology.[148] It is still considered a branch of the Vedanga.[149][150] In
2001, Indian scientists and politicians debated and critiqued a proposal
to use state money to fund research into astrology,[151] resulting in
permission for Indian universities to offer courses in Vedic
astrology.[152] Birth (in blue) and death (in red) rates of
Japan since 1950, with the sudden drop
On February 2011, the Bombay High Court reaffirmed astrology's in births during hinoeuma year (1966)
standing in India when it dismissed a case that challenged its status as a
science.[153]

In Japan, strong belief in astrology has led to dramatic changes in the fertility rate and the number of abortions
in the years of Fire Horse. Adherents believe that women born in hinoeuma years are unmarriageable and bring
bad luck to their father or husband. In 1966, the number of babies born in Japan dropped by over 25% as
parents tried to avoid the stigma of having a daughter born in the hinoeuma year.[154][155]

Literature and music

The fourteenth-century English poets John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer both
referred to astrology in their works, including Gower's Confessio Amantis and
Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.[156] Chaucer commented explicitly on
astrology in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, demonstrating personal knowledge of
one area, judicial astrology, with an account of how to find the ascendant or
rising sign.[157]

In the fifteenth century, references to astrology, such as with similes, became "a
matter of course" in English literature.[156]

In the sixteenth century, John Lyly's 1597 play, The Woman in the Moon, is
wholly motivated by astrology,[158] while Christopher Marlowe makes
astrological references in his plays Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine (both c.
1590),[158] and Sir Philip Sidney refers to astrology at least four times in his
romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (c. 1580).[158] Edmund Spenser
uses astrology both decoratively and causally in his poetry, revealing Title page of John Lyly's
"...unmistakably an abiding interest in the art, an interest shared by a large astrological play, The Woman
number of his contemporaries." [158] George Chapman's play, Byron's in the Moon, 1597
Conspiracy (1608), similarly uses astrology as a causal mechanism in the
drama.[159] William Shakespeare's attitude towards astrology is unclear, with
contradictory references in plays including King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and Richard II.[159] Shakespeare
was familiar with astrology and made use of his knowledge of astrology in nearly every play he wrote,[159]

assuming a basic familiarity with the subject in his commercial audience.[159] Outside theatre, the physician
assuming a basic familiarity with the subject in his commercial audience.[159] Outside theatre, the physician
and mystic Robert Fludd practised astrology, as did the quack doctor Simon Forman.[159] In Elizabethan
England, "The usual feeling about astrology ... [was] that it is the most useful of the sciences."[159]

In seventeenth century Spain, Lope de Vega, with a detailed knowledge of

astronomy, wrote plays that ridicule astrology. In his pastoral romance La
Arcadia (1598), it leads to absurdity; in his novela Guzman el Bravo (1624), he
concludes that the stars were made for man, not man for the stars.[160] Caldern
de la Barca wrote the 1641 comedy Astrologo Fingido (The Pretended
Astrologer); the plot was borrowed by the French playwright Thomas Corneille
for his 1651 comedy Feint Astrologue.[161]

The most famous piece of music influenced by astrology is the orchestral suite
The Planets. Written by the British composer Gustav Holst (18741934), and
first performed in 1918, the framework of The Planets is based upon the
astrological symbolism of the planets.[162] Each of the seven movements of the
suite is based upon a different planet, though the movements are not in the
Title page of Caldern de la order of the planets from the Sun. The composer Colin Matthews wrote an
Barca's Astrologo Fingido, eighth movement entitled Pluto, the Renewer, first performed in 2000.[163] In
Madrid, 1641 1937, another British composer, Constant Lambert, wrote a ballet on
astrological themes, called Horoscope.[164] In 1974, the New Zealand
composer Edwin Carr wrote The Twelve Signs: An Astrological Entertainment
for orchestra without strings. [165] Camille Paglia acknowledges astrology as an influence on her work of
literary criticism Sexual Personae (1990).[166]

Astrology features strongly in Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries, recipient of the 2013 Man Booker Prize.[167]

See also
Barnum effect
List of astrological traditions, types, and systems
List of topics characterised as pseudoscience

Notes
a. see Heuristics in judgement and decision making
b. Italics in original.

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162. Campion, Nicholas.:A History of Western Astrology: Volume II: The Medieval and Modern Worlds.
(Continuum Books, 2009) pp. 244245 ISBN 978-1-84725-224-1
163. Adams, Noah (10 September 2006). " 'Pluto the Renewer' is no swan song" (http://www.npr.org/template
s/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=6045052). National Public Radio (NPR). Retrieved 13 June 2013.
164. Vaughan, David (2004). "Frederick Ashton and His Ballets 1938" (https://web.archive.org/web/20050514
074649/http://www.ashtonarchive.com/ballets/1938.htm). Ashton Archive. Archived from the original on
14 May 2005. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
165. "The Twelve Signs: An Astrological Entertainment" (http://sounz.org.nz/works/show/10611). Centre for
New Zealand Music. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
166. Paglia, Camille. Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays. Penguin Books, 1992, p. 114.
167. Catton, Eleanor. "Eleanor Catton on how she wrote The Luminaries" (https://www.theguardian.com/book
s/2014/apr/11/eleanor-catton-luminaries-how-she-wrote-booker-prize). The Guardian. Retrieved
10 December 2015.

Sources
Barton, Tamsyn (1994). Ancient Astrology. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-11029-7.
Campion, Nicholas (1982). An Introduction to the History of Astrology. ISCWA.
Holden, James Herschel (2006). A History of Horoscopic Astrology (2nd ed.). AFA. ISBN 0-86690-463-
8.
Kay, Richard (1994). Dante's Christian Astrology. Middle Ages Series. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Long, A.A. (2005). "6: Astrology: arguments pro and contra". In Barnes, Jonathan; Brunschwig, J.
Science and Speculation. Cambridge University Press. pp. 165191.
Parker, Derek; Parker, Julia (1983). A history of astrology. Deutsch. ISBN 978-0-233-97576-4.
Robbins, Frank E., ed. (1940). Ptolemy Tetrabiblos. Harvard University Press (Loeb Classical Library).
ISBN 0-674-99479-5.
Tester, S. J. (1999). A History of Western Astrology. Boydell & Brewer.
Veenstra, J.R. (1997). Magic and Divination at the Courts of Burgundy and France: Text and Context of
Laurens Pignon's "Contre les Devineurs" (1411). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10925-4.
 Wedel, Theodore Otto (1920). The Medieval Attitude Toward Astrology: Particularly in England. Yale
University Press.
Wood, Chauncey (1970). Chaucer and the Country of the Stars: Poetical Uses of Astrological Imagery.
Princeton University Press.

Further reading
Forer, Bertram R. (January 1949). "The Fallacy of Personal Validation: A Classroom Demonstration of
Gullibility". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 44 (1): 118123. PMID 18110193.
doi:10.1037/h0059240.
Osborn, M. (2002). Time and the Astrolabe in The Canterbury Tales. University of Oklahoma Press.
Thorndike, Lynn (1955). "The True Place of Astrology in the History of Science". Isis. 46 (3): 273.
doi:10.1086/348412.

External links
Digital International Astrology Library (ancient astrological works)
Carl Sagan on Astrology
The most complete bibliography exclusively devoted to astrology (www.biblioastrology.com)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Astrology&oldid=800820426"

This page was last edited on 15 September 2017, at 21:49.

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Astrological symbols
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Symbols used in astrology overlap with those used in astronomy because of the historical overlap between the
two subjects. Frequently used symbols include signs of the zodiac and for the classical planets. These have their
origin in medieval Byzantine astronomy, but in their current form are a product of the European Renaissance.
Other symbols for astrological aspects are used in various astrological traditions.

Contents
1 History and origin
2 Meanings of the symbols
2.1 Astrological planets
2.2 Signs of the zodiac
2.3 Aspects
2.4 Lunar phases
2.5 Miscellaneous symbols
3 Unicode encodings
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

History and origin

Symbols for the classical planets, zodiac signs, aspects, lots, and the lunar nodes appear in the medieval
Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved.[1] In the original papyri of these Greek
horoscopes, there were found a circle with the glyph representing shine( ) for the Sun and a crescent for the
Moon.[2] The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late
Greek papyri.[3] The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as monograms of the initial letters of the
corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus.[3] A. S. D. Maunder finds
antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical
planets. Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century,[4] shows Greek personifications of planetary
gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her
necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a
circlet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached.[5] A diagram in
Johannes Kamateros' 12th century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a
ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a shield
crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the
cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols.[5] The modern sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot
(), first appeared in the Renaissance.[2]

Symbols for Uranus and Neptune were created shortly after their discovery. For Uranus, two variant symbols
are seen. One symbol, , invented by J. G. Khler and refined by Bode, was intended to represent the newly
discovered metal platinum; since platinum, sometimes confused with white gold, was found by chemists mixed
with iron, the symbol for platinum combines the alchemical symbols for iron, , and gold, .[6][7] Another
symbol, , was suggested by Lalande in 1784. In a letter to Herschel, Lalande described it as "un globe
surmont par la premire lettre de votre nom" ("a globe surmounted by the first letter of your name").[8] After
Neptune was discovered, the Bureau des Longitudes proposed the name Neptune and the familiar trident for the
planet's symbol.[9]
The astrological symbols for the first three objects discovered at the beginning of the 19th century Ceres,
Pallas, and Junowere also created after their discovery. Firstly, they were listed as planets, and half a century
later, renamed as Asteroids. Shortly after Giuseppe Piazzi's discovery of Ceres, a group of astronomers ratified
the name, proposed by the discoverer, and chose the sickle as a symbol of the planet.[10] The symbol for Pallas,
the spear of Pallas Athena, was invented by Baron Franz Xaver von Zach, and introduced in his Monatliche
Correspondenz zur Befrderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde.[11] Karl Ludwig Harding, who discovered and
named Juno, assigned to it the symbol of a scepter topped with a star.[12]

The modern astrological symbol for Vesta was created by Eleanor Bach,[13] who is credited with pioneering the
use of the Big Four asteroids with the publication of her Ephemerides of the Asteroids.[14] Bach's symbol for
Vesta is a simplified version of other representations of Vesta's altar.[13] The original form of the symbol for
Vesta, , was created by German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Dr. Olbers, having previously
discovered and named one new planet (as the asteroids were then classified), gave Gauss the honor of naming
his newest discovery. Gauss decided to name the planet for the goddess Vesta, and also specified that the
symbol should be the altar of the goddess with the sacred fire burning on it.[15][16]

Pluto, like Uranus, has two symbols in use. One symbol, a monogram of the letters PL (which could be
interpreted to stand for Pluto or for astronomer Percival Lowell), was announced with the name of the new
planet by the discoverers on May 1, 1930.[17] The other symbol, which was popularized in Paul Clancy's
astrological publications, is based on the symbol for Mercury, with the circle and arc of Mercury trading
positions. This symbol is described by Dane Rudhyar as "suggest[ing] the planetary character of the Pluto mind
by the circle, floating above the open cup." Although, this meaning is readily debatable due to Blavatskian
origins, rather than a properly traditional understanding, such as may be found in the hermetic sciences.[18]

The symbol for the centaur Chiron, a key with the letter K (for discoverer Charles T. Kowal) was proposed by
astrologer Al Morrison, who presented the symbol as "an inspiration shared amongst Al H. Morrison, Joelle
K.D. Mahoney, and Marlene Bassoff."[19]

The symbol for retrograde motion is , a capital R with a tail stroke.[20][21][22] An R with a tail stroke was
used to abbreviate many words beginning with the letter R; in medical prescriptions, it abbreviated the word
recipe[23] (from the Latin imperative of recipere "to take"[24]), and in missals, an R with a tail stroke marked
the responses.[23]

Meanings of the symbols

Astrological planets

The glyphs of the planets are usually (but not always) broken down into four common elements: A circle
denoting spirit, a crescent denoting the mind, a cross denoting practical/physical matter and an arrow denoting
action or direction.[25]
 Name Symbol Image Symbol represents Meaning of symbol

Divine spirit (circle) surrounding seed of

Sun Solar symbol (circled dot)
potential

Mind or evolving human spirit through

Moon A crescent
receptivity (crescent)

Mind (crescent) poised over divine spirit (circle)

Mercury Mercury's winged helmet and caduceus
and matter (cross)

Venus Hand mirror or necklace (seeVenus symbol) Divine spirit (circle) over matter (cross)

Earth; a Solar symbol (sun cross) Planet Earth the cardinal directions.
Earth
Earth; a Solar symbol (alternate symbol) cf. Globus cruciger

Mars Mars's shield and spear. Drive (arrow) over divine spirit (circle)

Scythe (handle down), emblematic ofCeres as A stylized sickle, a crescent of receptivity resting
Ceres
goddess of the Harvest. on a cross of matter.

Mind (crescent) rising above the horizon of

Jupiter Jupiter's thunderbolt or eagle
matter (cross)

Matter (cross) taking precedence over mind or

Saturn Saturn's sickle
human spirit (crescent)

The circle of spirit and a dominant cross of

H in symbol taken from discoverer's last name,
matter, in form of an antenna that uses matter as
Herschel
a way to insight.
Uranus
Astronomical glyph often used astrologically .
Derived from a combination of the Mars and
Drive over a divine spirit (circle) surrounding
Sun symbols
seed of potential

Mind or receptivity (crescent) transcending

Neptune Neptune's trident
matter (cross)

Pluto's Cap of invisibility (the circle) and a

Mind (crescent) transcending matter (cross) to
bident (the arc under the circle), also a typical
reach for divine spirit (circle)
Pluto attribute of Pluto.

Astronomical symbol occasionally used

PL monogram for Pluto and Percival Lowell
astrologically.

Signs of the zodiac

 Name Meaning Symbol Image Symbol Represents

Aries Ram Face and horns of ram

Taurus Bull Face and horns of bull

Gemini Joined couple Companion

Cancer Crab Connection to both material and spiritual worlds

A script form of the Greek letter "lambda", which is the first letter of the
Leo Lion
Greek word leon, which means "lion"

Derived from the Greek letters , which are the first three letters of the
Virgo Virgin
Greek word parthenos, which means "virgin"

Libra Scale Scales

Scorpio Scorpion Stinger of a scorpion

Sagittarius Archer Arrow of the centaur, aiming to higher realms

Sea-goat or
Capricorn[26] Body and head of a goat with the tail of a fish or face and horns of goat.
mountain goat

Aquarius Waterbearer Ripples of water, disruption

Pisces Fish Two fish tied together yet swimming in opposite directions

Aspects
 Name Symbol Image Angle Explanation

Two or more planets in the same sign

Conjunction 0 A circle with a line implying two objects are in the same place (also, the starting
point of an angle)

One sign apart

Semisextile 30 The intersecting lines from the inner angles of the upper half of a hexagon (see
Sextile)

(also known as the "octile" or "semiquartile")

Semi-square 45
The bisecting line of a right angle (see Square)

Two signs apart

Sextile 60
The intersecting lines from the inner angles of ahexagon

Quintile 72

(also known as the "quartile")/Three signs apart/Same modality

Square 90
A regular quadrilateral that represents the right angle

Four signs apart/Same elemental triplicity

Trine 120
An equilateral triangle.

(also known as the "sesquisquare," "square-and-a-half," and/or "trioctile")

Sesquiquadrate 135 The glyph of the Semi-Square under the glyph of the Square, implying the sum of
them both

Biquintile 144

(also known as the "inconjunct")/Five signs apart

Quincunx 150 The intersecting lines from the inner angles of the lower half of a hexagon (see
Sextile)

Six signs apart

Opposition 180 The glyph of the Conjunction plus a circle on top of its line, implying two objects
are in front (opposed) of each other.

Lunar phases
 Name Symbol[27][28] Explanation

New moon Denotes the new moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 0-45.

Crescent moon Denotes a waxing crescent moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 45-90.

First quarter moon Denotes a first quarter moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 90-135.

Gibbous moon Denotes a waxing gibbous moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 135-180.

Full moon Denotes a full moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 180-225.

Disseminating moon Denotes a waning gibbous moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 225-270.

Last quarter moon Denotes a last quarter moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 270-315.

Balsamic moon Denotes a waning crescent moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 315-360.

Miscellaneous symbols
 Symbol
Name Symbol Explanation
represents

The ascendant (also known as the "ascensum coeli") is the rising intersection of theecliptic
Ascendant Angle with the celestial horizon at a particular moment in time; it is used in the construction of a
horoscope/natal chart

The midheaven (also known as the "medium coeli") is the point where the ecliptic crosses the
Midheaven Angle
local meridian; it is used in the construction of a horoscope/natal chart

Ascending Lunar Not all astrologers use the lunar nodes; however
, their usage is very important inVedic
Node node astrology. They are alternately known as the "Dragon's Head" Rahu,
( Caput Draconis, or
Anabibazon) and the "Dragon's Tail" (Ketu, Cauda Draconis, or Catabibazon). The two
Descending Lunar nodes together are most commonly referred to simply as thenodal axis, the lunar nodes, or
Node node the Moon's nodes.

The traditional Black Moon Lilith is the position of the mean lunarapogee as measured from
Black the geocenter; variants of the Black Moon include replacing the mean orbit with a "true"
Lunar
Moon osculating orbit or with an interpolated orbit; charting the empty focus of the Moon's orbit
apogee
Lilith instead of the apogee; and measuring the desired point'sbarycentric or topocentric position
instead of its geocentric position.[29]

Apparent
Retrograde
retrograde Symbol represents the apparent retrograde motion of a planet in anastrological chart
motion
motion

Different comets often use different symbols, but the use of comets is not widespread in
Comet Comet
mainstream astrology

A spear (variant has triangle on top)

2 Pallas Asteroid
Alchemical symbol for sulfur (both variants) see also Asteroids in astrology)

A serpent coiled around Asclepius' rod

10 Hygiea Asteroid
Two serpents coiled around the rod. (Alternative astrological symbol)

3 Juno Asteroid The scepter (of a queen, Juno is the Roman equivalent of GreekHera) topped with a star

4 Vesta Asteroid The fire on the hearth or altar (Roman equivalent of GreekHestia)

2060
Centaur Stylized body of a centaur (the circle is the horse part, the K-like glyph is the human part)
Chiron

Lot of
Lot Glyph for planet Earth rotated 45 degrees.
fortune

An Eye of Providence; proposed by astrologerZane B. Stein[30]

The Hand of Eris; also used non-astrologically byDiscordians[30]

Dwarf Apple of Discord[31]

Eris
planet
[30][32]
In use by astrologers in Poland and by the astrology software Urania

Based on the symbols for Pluto, Mars, and V

enus; proposed by Henry Seltzer and used in
Time Passages[30][33]

Dwarf
Makemake Engraved face of the Rapa Nui godMakemake [34]
planet

Dwarf Combination of the Hawaiian petroglyphs for woman and birthchild, asHaumea was the
Haumea
planet goddess of them.[34]
 Ixion Plutino Represents the wheel to which Zeus boundIxion according to Greek mythology, as a
punishment in Tartarus.

It consists of the symbols of theInuktitut syllabics for 'sa' and 'n', since in this language
Small
Sedna Sedna is written as 'Sanna' (). Besides, it resembles the shape of a marine animal
body
leaping from the water, in alussion to the myth ofSedna, the Inuit sea goddess.[34]

Small sharp rock art of the Tongva people, in whose mythology it is present the creator god Quaoar
,
Quaoar [34]
body and the letter Q and a canoe.

Scattered Simplified representation of a hurricane, as in Greek mythology yphon

T was a divine
Typhon
disk object monster that could create hurricanes with his wings

Unicode encodings
 Symbol Image Unicode[35] Glyph

U+2609
Sun
U+1F71A

U+263D
Moon
U+263E

Mercury U+263F

Venus U+2640

Earth U+2295

Mars U+2642

Jupiter U+2643

Saturn U+2644

U+2645
Uranus
U+26E2

Neptune U+2646

1 Ceres U+26B3

2 Pallas U+26B4

3 Juno U+26B5

4 Vesta U+26B6

10 Hygiea U+2695

2060 Chiron U+26B7

not present --

not present --
Eris
U+2641

U+29EC

U+2647
Pluto
not present --

Aries U+2648

Taurus U+2649
Gemini U+264A

Cancer U+264B

Leo U+264C

Virgo U+264D

Libra U+264E

Scorpio U+264F

Sagittarius U+2650

Capricorn U+2651

Aquarius U+2652

Pisces U+2653

Conjunction U+260C

Semisextile U+26BA

Semi-square U+2220

Sextile U+26B9

Quintile U+0051 Q

Square U+25A1

Trine U+25B3

Sesquiquadrate U+26BC

Biquintile U+0062 U+0051 bQ

Quincunx U+26BB

Opposition U+260D

New moon U+1F311

Crescent moon U+1F312

First quarter moon U+1F313

Gibbous moon U+1F314

Full moon U+1F315

Disseminating moon U+1F316

Last quarter moon U+1F317

Balsamic moon U+1F318

Ascendant not plain text ASC

Midheaven not plain text MC

Ascending node U+260A

Descending node U+260B

Black Moon Lilith U+26B8

Retrograde motion U+211E

Lot of fortune U+2297

Comet U+2604

See also
Alchemical symbols
Astronomical symbols
Astrological sign
Asteroids in astrology
Aztec calendar
Behenian fixed star
Classical elements
Earthly Branches
Gender symbols
Heavenly Stems
Mayan calendar
Monas Hieroglyphica
Nakshatra
Navagraha
Sexagenary cycle
Sri Rama Chakra
Vedic astrology

References

1. Neugebauer, Otto (1975). A history of ancient mathematical astronomy. pp. 788789.

2. Neugebauer, Otto; Van Hoesen, H. B. (1987). Greek Horoscopes. pp. 1, 159, 163.
3. Jones, Alexander (1999). Astronomical papyri from Oxyrhynchus (https://books.google.com/books?id=8
MokzymQ43IC). pp. 6263. "It is now possible to trace the medieval symbols for at least four of the five
planets to forms that occur in some of the latest papyrus horoscopes ([ P.Oxy. ] 4272, 4274, 4275 [...]).
That for Jupiter is an obvious monogram derived from the initial letter of the Greek name. Saturn's has a
similar derivation [...] but underwent simplification. The ideal form of Mars' symbol is uncertain, and
perhaps not related to the later circle with an arrow through it. Mercury's is a stylized caduceus."
 4. "Bianchini's planisphere" (https://web.archive.org/web/20091030005806/http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/gali
leopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanisphere.html). Florence, Italy: Istituto e Museo di Storia della
Scienza (Institute and Museum of the History of Science). Archived from the original (http://brunellesch
i.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanisphere.html) on 2009-10-30. Retrieved
2010-03-17.
5. Maunder, A. S. D. (1934). "The origin of the symbols of the planets". The Observatory. 57: 238247.
Bibcode:1934Obs....57..238M (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1934Obs....57..238M).
6. Bode, J. E. (1784). Von dem neu entdeckten Planeten (https://books.google.com/books?id=ZqA5AAAAc
AAJ&pg=PA95). pp. 9596.
7. Gould, B. A. (1850). Report on the history of the discovery of Neptune (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=uyANAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA5). Smithsonian Institution. p. 5.
8. Francisca Herschel (1917). "The meaning of the symbol H+o for the planet Uranus". The Observatory.
Bibcode:1917Obs....40..306H (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1917Obs....40..306H).
9. Gould, B. A. (1850). Report on the history of the discovery of Neptune (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=uyANAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA22). Smithsonian Institution. p. 22.
10. Bode, J. E., ed. (1801). Berliner astronomisches Jahrbuch fhr das Jahr 1804 (https://books.google.com/
books?id=6GElAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA98). pp. 9798.
11. von Zach, Franz Xaver (1802). Monatliche Correspondenz zur Befrderung der Erd- und Himmels-
Kunde, Volume 6 (https://books.google.com/books?id=nR04AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA95). pp. 95-96.
12. von Zach, Franz Xaver (1804). Monatliche Correspondenz zur Befrderung der Erd- und Himmels-
Kunde (https://books.google.com/books?id=vnIEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA471). 10. p. 471.
13. "Asteroid Symbols" (http://www.suberic.net/~dmm/graphics/astro/asteroids.html). Retrieved 2010-05-20.
14. "Memorial for Astrologer, Eleanor Bach" (http://www.solsticepoint.com/astrologersmemorial/bach.html).
Retrieved 2010-05-20.
15. von Zach, Franz Xaver (1807). Monatliche Correspondenz zur Befrderung der Erd- und Himmels-
Kunde (https://books.google.com/books?id=_Rw4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA507). 15. p. 507.
16. Carlini, Francesco (1808). Effemeridi astronomiche di Milano per l'anno 1809 (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=LPMNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA100).
17. Slipher, V. M. (1930). "The Trans-Neptunian planet" (http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-journ
al_query?volume=38&plate_select=NO&page=415&plate=&cover=&journal=PA...). 38: 415.
18. Rudhyar, Dane (1966). "PART FIVE: Mercury and Pluto" (http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/astroarticle
s/planetssymbols_5.shtml). The Planets and their Symbols. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
19. Morrison, Al H. (1977). "Chiron". CAO Times. 3: 57.
20. Randall, Sidney (2006). The ABC of the Old Science of Astrology (https://books.google.com/books?id=m
1antzbw_DcC&pg=PA14). p. 14. ISBN 978-1-59605-920-7. "...the with the stroke across the tail
stands for Retrograde."
21. Lilly, William (1659). Christian Astrology (http://www.skyscript.co.uk/texts.html). pp. 35, 37. A chart
with by a retrograde Jupiter appears on p. 35; on p. 37, describing the construction of the chart, Lilly
says: "And because [Jupiter] is noted Retrograde I place the letter R, the better to informe my
judgement."
22. (Booth, Janet (2005). "Mercury Retrograde" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101114084238/http://janetsp
lan-its.com/info/MercRetro.shtml). JanetsPlan-Its.com. Archived from the original (http://janetsplan-its.c
om/info/MercRetro.shtml) on 2010-11-14. Retrieved 2010-10-20. "The symbol for retrograde looks like
an R with an X going through it, the same as the symbol for a prescription."
23. Smith, Frances Gurney, ed. (1852). "The Medical Examiner, and record of medical science" (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=1hYCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA804). 8: 804.
24. "Recipe definition" (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=recipe). M-w.com.
2007-04-25. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
25. Glyphs of the general astrological and Uranian planets (http://www.uranian-institute.org/bfglyphs.htm)
26. Behari, Bepin (2003). Myths & Symbols of Vedic Astrology. p. 155. "Of the two emblems related to
[Capricorn], one is a horizontal line terminating with a downward moving arc ending with a loop having
an extended arc , and the other has a V-shaped beginning whose downward arc convexing to the right
."
27. Rudhyar, Dane. "The Eight Lunation Types (http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/astroarticles/lunationbirthd
ay_4.php)", from Your Lunation Birthday.
28. Meyer, Michael R. "Key to Symbols (http://www.khaldea.com/ephemeris/ke_sample.pdf#page=5)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20100923074538/http://www.khaldea.com/ephemeris/ke_sample.
pdf#page=5) September 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.", from KhaldeaEphemeris7z, p. 5.
 29. Revilla, Juan Antonio. "The Black Moon Apogee and its Variants" (http://www.expreso.co.cr/centaurs/bl
ackmoon/barycentric.html). Retrieved 2010-08-20.
30. Stein, Zane. Chiron and Friends - What's Out Past Pluto? (http://www.zanestein.com/Trans-pluto.htm#U
B313)
31. Chiron and Friends Eris. (http://www.zanestein.com/Trans-pluto.htm#UB313)
32. Astrological symbols of planets, zodiac signs and aspects (http://www.astrologia.pl/symbols.html)
33. Seltzer, Henry. Hail Eris! (http://www.astrograph.com/learning-astrology/Eris.php) Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20100917103256/http://astrograph.com/learning-astrology/Eris.php) 2010-09-17 at the
Wayback Machine.
34. http://www.suberic.net/~dmm/astro/tno.html
35. "Unicode 6.0 Character Code Charts" (http://www.unicode.org/charts/). Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20101010082843/http://www.unicode.org/charts/) from the original on 10 October 2010.
Retrieved 2010-10-11.

External links
Astrological symbols for asteroids (often different from the astronomical ones)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Astrological_symbols&oldid=797673598"

This page was last edited on 28 August 2017, at 15:11.

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apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Astrological aspect
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In astrology, an aspect is an angle the planets make to each other in the horoscope, also to the ascendant,
midheaven, descendant, lower midheaven, and other points of astrological interest. Aspects are measured by
the angular distance in degrees and minutes of ecliptic longitude between two points, as viewed from Earth.
According to astrological tradition, they indicate the timing of transitions and developmental changes in the
lives of people and affairs relative to the Earth.

As an example, if an astrologer creates a horoscope that shows the apparent positions of the celestial bodies at
the time of a person's birth (a natal chart), and the angular distance between Mars and Venus is 92 of arc, the
chart is said to have the aspect "Venus square Mars" with an orb of 2 (i.e., it is 2 away from being an exact
square; a square being a 90 aspect). The more exact an aspect, the stronger or more dominant it is said to be in
shaping character or manifesting change.[1]

The astrological aspects are noted in the central circle of thisnatal chart, where the different
colors and symbols distinguish between the different aspects, such as thesquare (red) or trine
(green)

Contents
1 Approach
2 Major aspects
2.1 Conjunction
2.2 Sextile intermediate major/minor aspect
 2.3 Square
2.4 Trine
2.5 Opposition
3 Minor Aspects
3.1 Semi-sextile
3.2 Quincunx (Inconjunct)
4 Declinations
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Approach
In medieval astrology, certain aspects, like certain planets, were considered to be either favorable (benefic) or
unfavorable (malefic). Modern usage places less emphasis on these fatalistic distinctions. The more modern
(but still unscientific) approach to astrological aspects is exemplified by research on astrological harmonics, of
which John Addey was a major proponent, and which Johannes Kepler earlier advocated in his book
Harmonice Mundi in 1619. But even in modern times, the aspects are divided into hard aspects or easy aspects.
Major hard aspects being the square and opposition and the easy aspects as trine and sextile. The conjunction
can be in either category depending on the planets that are connected.

A list of aspects below presents their angular values and a recommended orb for each aspect. The orbs are
subject to variation, depending on the need for detail and personal preferences.

Major aspects
The traditional major aspects are sometimes called Ptolemaic aspects since they were defined and used by
Ptolemy in the 1st Century, AD. These aspects are the conjunction (0), sextile (60), square (90), trine (120),
and opposition (180). It is important to note that different astrologers and separate astrological
systems/traditional utilize differing orbs (the degree of separation between exactitude) when calculating and
using the aspects, though almost all use a larger orb for a conjunction when compared to the other aspects. The
major aspects are those that can be used to divide 360 evenly and are divisible by 10 (with the exception of the
semi-sextile).

Conjunction

A conjunction (abrv. Con) is an angle of approximately 0-10. An orb of approximately 10 is usually

considered a conjunction, however if neither the Sun or Moon is involved, some consider the
conjunction to have a maximum distance of only about 008. This is said to be the most powerful
aspect, intensifying the effects of the involved planets mutually and being a major point in the
chart.

Whether the union is to be regarded as "positive" or "negative" depends upon what planets are involved: Venus,
Jupiter and the Sun, in any possible combination, is considered the most favourable scenario (and all three
actually met on November 910, 1970, for example), while the most unfavourable configurations involve Mars,
Saturn, and/or the Moon [2] (with all three conjoining on March 10 in that same year). If the planets are under
stress from other configurations, then the conjunction will be said to intensify the stress. When a planet is in
very close conjunction to the Sun it is referred to as cazimi; when a planet is moderately close to the Sun, it is
said to be combust. The Sun and Moon are in conjunction monthly during the New Moon.

Sextile intermediate major/minor aspect

 A sextile (abrv. SXt or Sex) is an angle of 60 (1/6 of the 360 ecliptic, or 1/2 of a trine [120]). A
separation (orb) of 6004 is considered a sextile. The sextile has been traditionally said to be similar
in influence to the trine, but of less significance. It indicates ease of communication between the two
elements involved, with compatibility and harmony between them, but only provides opportunity, requiring
effort to gain its benefits. See information on the semisextile below.

Square

A square (abrv. SQr or Squ) is an angle of 90 (1/4 of the 360 ecliptic, or 1/2 of an opposition
[180]). An orb of somewhere between 5 and 10[3] is usually allowed. As with the trine and the
sextile, in the square, it is usually the outer or superior planet that has an effect on the inner or inferior
one. Basically, the square's energy is similar to that of a trine but it is intensified to such an extent that the
energy is said to be stressful.

Trine

A trine (abbrev. Tri) is an angle of 120 (1/3 of the 360 ecliptic), an orb of somewhere between 5
and 10 . The trine indicates harmony and ease. The trine is a source of artistic and creative talent,
which is innate. The trine has been traditionally assumed to be extremely beneficial.

Opposition

An opposition (abrv. Opp) is an angle of 180 (1/2 of the 360 ecliptic). An orb of somewhere between
5 and 10[3] is usually allowed. Oppositions are said to be the second most powerful aspect. It
resembles the conjunction although the difference between them is that the opposition causes
exaggeration as it is not unifying like the conjunction but instead exalted.

Minor Aspects
Semi-sextile

A semi-sextile is an angle of 30 (1/12 of the 360 ecliptic). An orb of 301.5 is allowed. It indicates constant
interaction between the planets involved and one building on the energy of the other, but planets and signs
involved must be considered.

Quincunx (Inconjunct)

A quincunx is an angle of 150 (5/12 of the 360 ecliptic). An orb of 1502 is allowed. It indicates a strong
flow of energy between dimensions of life represented by the planets involved, often in a compulsive or
annoying manner.

Declinations
The parallel and antiparallel (or contraparallel) are two other aspects, which refer to degrees of declination
above or below the celestial equator. They are considered strong influences, though not much research has gone
into studying these particular aspects.
 Parallel: same degree 1-degree 12-minutes of arc. This is similar to a conjunction, but usually provides
benefits.
Contraparallel: opposite degree 1-degree 12-minute of arc. Said to be similar to the opposition, but
weaker.

See also
Hard aspect (astrology)
Soft aspect (astrology)
Applying aspect (astrology)
Conjunction
Opposition
Cosmobiology
Hamburg School of Astrology

References
1. "The Aspects" (http://astrologyclub.org/guide/aspects/). Retrieved 2016-10-30.
2. Buckwalter, Eleanor. "Depth analysis of the Astrological Aspects" (http://astrologyclub.org/aspects/).
Retrieved 2016-10-30.
3. Orbs used by Liz Greene, see Astrodienst (http://www.astro.com/astrology/in_aspect_e.htm)

External links
The Classical Origin & Traditional Use of Aspects Deborah Houlding
Online Ephemeris from Khaldea.com600BC to 2400ADCalculated for Midnight GMT; also with an
Aspectarian included for years 1900 to 2005

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Astrological_aspect&oldid=769487567"

This page was last edited on 9 March 2017, at 21:24.

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apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Natal astrology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Natal astrology, also known as genethliacal astrology, is the system of astrology based on the concept that
each individual's personality or path in life can be determined by constructing a natal chart for the exact date,
time, and locations of that individual's birth. Natal astrology can be found in the Indian or Jyotish, Chinese and
Western astrological traditions.

In horoscopic astrology an individual's personality is determined by the construction of the horoscope or birth
chart for the particular individual involved (known as the native), showing the positions of the sun, moon,
planets, ascendant, midheaven, and the angles or aspects among them.

Once the horoscope has been constructed the process of interpretation can begin, which involves building a
complete picture of the personality of the subject, or native. Interpretation involves three main steps: noting the
important features of the chart, and the processes of chart weighting and chart shaping. Chart weighting
involves noting the distribution of zodiac signs and houses in the chart, and the significance of this to the
overall personality of the native. Chart shaping involves assessing the placement of the planets by aspect and
position in the chart, and noting any significant patterns which occur between them.

Astrology is generally considered a pseudoscience by the scientific community. What little statistical evidence
exists fails to show a causation between natal birth charts and real world consequences.

Contents
1 Important features
2 Chart weighting
2.1 Weighting by sign
2.2 Chart signature
2.3 Weighting by house
3 Chart shaping
3.1 Aspect patterns
3.2 Hemispheres
3.3 Jones patterns
4 Scientific appraisal
4.1 Carlson's experiment
4.2 Dean and Kelly
4.3 Mars effect
5 References
6 Further reading

Important features
The important features of every chart that the astrologer must give special attention to are the positions of the
sun and moon by sign and house; the sign on the ascendant, and the planet that rules that sign, called the
ascendant ruler or chart ruler. Also important is the first planet to occupy the first, second, or third houses after
the ascendant. Called the rising planet it will be particularly strong in the chart. If no planet occupies the first
three houses, then a planet in the twelfth house close to the ascendant can be taken to be the rising planet.
Planets that are in conjunction to (right beside) the primary angles of ascendant, midheaven, descendant, or IC
(known as angular planets) must also be especially considered.

Chart weighting
Chart weighting begins by listing the sun, moon, planets, ascendant, and midheaven by categories of sign and
house and noting the significant categories which appear. For example, a large number of planets appearing in
fire signs will give importance or 'weight' to fire sign attributes in the native's personality.[1]

Weighting by sign

Chart weighting by sign lists the zodiac signs by three main categories - by masculine or feminine signs; by
element (fire, earth, air and water) and by quality (cardinal, fixed and mutable). Some astrologers use all ten or
eleven planets in the list and nothing else; while others include the ascendant and midheaven, but exclude the
modern planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto on the grounds that their influence is felt by whole generations and
so their position by sign cannot have much significance in the individual chart. [2]

Sign Symbol Element Quality

Aries Fire Cardinal
Taurus Earth Fixed
Gemini Air Mutable
Cancer Water Cardinal
Leo Fire Fixed
Virgo Earth Mutable
Libra Air Cardinal
Scorpio Water Fixed
Sagittarius Fire Mutable
Capricorn Earth Cardinal
Aquarius Air Fixed These are the planets and their astrological
Pisces Water Mutable glyphs as most commonly used inWestern
Astrology.

Masculine (Fire and Air signs): The masculine signs are

Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius. A native with these signs predominating will tend
towards extroversion, confidence and assertiveness, and have the ability to solve problems with courage
and enterprise.
Feminine (Earth and Water signs): The feminine signs are Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn,
and Pisces. A native with these signs predominating will tend towards introversion, shyness and
passivity, and have the ability to nurture, conserve and solve problems by intuitive means.
Fire : The fire signs are Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. A native with mainly fire signs will be energetic,
enthusiastic and optimistic, with a need to be in the center of the action making things happen. They can
be egotistical, headstrong and sometimes arrogant, but also can be generous, warm-hearted, and
spontaneously kind. Fire subjects are independent and prefer to have control over their own lives, but
they can also be sometimes autocratic. A subject lacking fire signs will be fearful or over-cautious,
pessimistic and shy, and will lack enthusiasm, confidence and faith in the future. Planets in the 1st, 5th
and 9th houses and an emphasis on cardinal signs in the chart will help to compensate for this lack.
Earth : The earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. A native with mainly earth signs will be
practical and cautious, sensible and capable and will be happier with concrete things than abstract ideas.
They move slowly and carry out their work in a thorough and unhurried manner. Earth subjects are
shrewd and careful and need emotional and material security, and will put up with quite a lot to get it.
They are generous to those they love, but are otherwise careful not to waste time or money, though there
can be a tendency towards meanness. Earth subjects tend to be shy in social situations, and to be slow to
commit in love relationships, but are serious when they do. A subject lacking earth signs will lack
common sense and practicality and find it difficult to finish anything they start. They may be scatty,
unrealistic and clumsy, hopeless with money and unreliable. Planets in the 2nd, 6th and 10th houses and
an emphasis on fixed signs in the chart will help to compensate for this lack.
 Air : The air signs are Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. A native with mainly air signs will be an excellent
communicator, concerned with ideas and theories of all kinds. They are looking for answers to life's
questions and make good teachers and writers. Air people are more tense than they appear at first sight
and may live on their nerves. They have many friends and acquaintances but may not be particularly
interested in family life. They are interested in the latest technologies and are able to do a number of
things at once. Air subjects are also very imaginative and quick-witted, but may be sarcastic and rude. A
subject lacking air signs will have little imagination and lightness of touch. They have an over-emphasis
on practicalities and can lack a sense of humour, and be boring company. They can find it difficult to
communicate or to assimilate and explain new ideas. Planets in the 3rd, 7th and 11th houses, and an
emphasis on mutable signs in the chart will help to compensate for this lack.
Water: The water signs are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. A native with mainly water signs will be very
emotional and find it hard to look at anything dispassionately. They tend to respond slowly to questions
and need time to grasp a new concept. Water subjects can find it difficult to explain their feelings, and so
can be difficult to live with, but they are also kind and sympathetic to those they love. They need to give
and receive a lot of affection and will direct it towards family, close friends and animals. A subject
lacking water may lack intuition and be unable to see the needs of others. They may be too full of ideas
or too fond of the material world to consider their own spiritual needs or those of other people. Planets in
the 4th, 8th and 12th houses in the chart will help to compensate for this lack.
Cardinal : The cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. A native with mainly cardinal
signs will not want to be held under anybody's thumb, and will need to take charge of their own world.
Their attention may be concerned with themselves or others, but wherever their energies are directed it is
difficult to deflect them from their chosen course. Cardinal signs in a chart will add courage, initiative
and self-motivation. Cardinal subjects are hard to influence because they generally believe they know
best. A subject lacking cardinal signs may feel they are never in control of their own lives, but are
manipulated by people and circumstances beyond their control. They may lack courage and initiative and
may prefer others to make decisions for them. Planets in the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses, and an
emphasis on fire and air signs in the chart will help to compensate for this lack.
Fixed : The fixed signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. A native with mainly fixed signs has the
strength and endurance to see things through and to uphold the status quo. They need stable homes,
careers and partnerships and prefer the known to uncertainty. Fixed subjects are loyal and dependable but
can be very obstinate. A subject lacking fixed signs cannot stick with anything or see anything through,
and will tend to walk away from problems. They may be too easily bored or too busy chasing rainbows
ever to make anything substantial happen. Planets in the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th houses, or an emphasis on
earth in the chart will help to compensate for this lack.
Mutable The mutable signs are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. A native with mainly mutable
signs are adaptable, co-operative and friendly. They can fit into almost any situation, put up with
anything and turn any situation to their advantage. Mutable people can steer projects through periods of
transition and bring them to a successful conclusion. Although gentle and likeable, mutable subjects
seem to have more than their fair share of problems and can be selfish and ruthless when they feel
threatened. These subjects may devote their lives to helping others, but they can often paradoxically be
surprisingly selfish at the same time. Subjects lacking mutable signs may be unable to adapt to any kind
of change and be particularly unhappy when faced with uncertainty. They need lots of notice before they
will commit themselves to anything, and lack flexibility and adaptability. They may also hold onto rigid
and unchanging views. Planets in the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses will help to compensate for this lack,
and water signs in the chart will make up for the lack of intuition.

Chart signature

Some astrologers summarise the process of weighting by sign through creating what is called the chart
signature.[3] This involves noting which element and quality has the most signs and then combining them into a
zodiac sign which is taken to be the signature sign of the chart. So for example, if a person has more fire signs
than any other element, and more fixed signs than any other quality, then that person's signature is Leo (the sign
which is both fire and fixed).

In some cases there is no clear majority in either element or quality to give a clear signature. In these cases the
ruling planet of the sun is noted for its position in the chart (alternatively, the ascendant can be added at this
stage if it has not already been included). Whatever sign the ruling planet occupies is then added to the totals
for element and quality. So for example, if the Sun is in Taurus, its ruling planet Venus is noted for its position
by sign. If Venus is in, say, Pisces, then an additional 'casting vote' is given to the element water and quality
mutable. This is usually enough to provide a signature. A 'casting vote' is given in this way on account of the
extra importance of the Sun in the natal chart. The signature sign is regarded by those astrologers who use it as
frequently having an over-riding influence in the natal chart, irrespective of what sign the sun or ascendant
occupies.

Weighting by house
Angular houses : These are the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses. Planets in these houses exert a strong
influence on the subject, and may compensate for a lack of cardinal signs, and strength, courage and
enthusiasm elsewhere in the chart.
Succedent houses : These are the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th houses. These houses are concerned with
possessions and creative pursuits, either by those of the subject alone, or with others. Planets in these
houses may help to compensate for a lack of fixed signs in the chart.
Cadent houses : These are the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses. Planets in these houses have a lot to do with
the subject developing their own unique talents and aptitudes; and may compensate for a lack of mutable
signs, and general adaptability in the chart.

Chart shaping
Chart shaping involves examining the placement of the planets in the
chart by the aspects they form and by their positioning in the chart
relative to one another. Any significant patterns or 'shapes' which occur
in the chart are then interpreted for their importance to the personality
of the native.

Aspect patterns

While the astrologer must note every aspect formed by the planets,
aspects can be grouped together into larger patterns which must be
given particular attention in the chart. The main aspect patterns are as
follows:[4]
The ascendant in this sample chart is
Stellium: At least three planets linked together in a series of marked Asc and is in the traditional nine
continuous conjunctions. The planets will act as if they are all in o'clock position of thehoroscope
conjunction with each other, even if not all of them actually are.
This pattern gives a huge emphasis to the sign occupied by the
planets, regardless of the sun sign.
Grand trine: Three trine aspects together. Indicative of a person at ease with him or herself, with strong
inner harmony, talents and abilities. However it may make a person unable to cope with any real
adversity, and may produce a weak, apathetic and condescending character.
Grand cross: Two pairs of opposing planets squared to each other. Often proves to be a "make or break"
pattern; either the person develops unusual strength of character, or feels crushed by life. Person will
have "a cross to bear".
T-Square: Two planets in opposition squared to a third. The tension typical of the opposition aspect is
aggravated by additional problems introduced by the third planet. Often an obstructive feature blocking
the normal flow of behaviour of the person. Person needs to develop activities represented by the
"missing" arm of the T-square to achieve wholeness.
Yod: Two quincunxes together joined by a sextile. It indicates restlessness and instability. The person
gets drawn into the lives of others in ways that are difficult to avoid, with periodic crises and urgent calls
for assistance.

Hemispheres

The houses are grouped into four main categories or hemispheres.[5] Horoscopes appear 'upside down' in
The houses are grouped into four main categories or hemispheres.[5] Horoscopes appear 'upside down' in
relation to how the compass points usually appear, with the ascendant marking the eastern horizon traditionally
appearing on the left hand side. For this reason the southern hemisphere appears in the upper part of the
horoscope.

Upper (southern) hemisphere The 7th, 8th, 9th 10th, 11th and 12th houses. A subject with most of his
or her planets in this hemisphere will not be too deeply affected by the actions of other people. He or she
will be able to distance themselves from those around them and from public events and movements,
focusing firmly on their own needs and feelings, or the general cause of humanity that is important to
them. If the planets are grouped in the 8th, 9th or 12th houses, the subject will have strong spiritual needs
and values. Planets grouped in the 10th house will make the subject ambitious and politically astute;
while if they are in the 11th house he or she will be interested in humanitarian causes and education.
Lower (northern) hemisphere The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th houses. A subject with most of his or
her planets in this part of the chart will be sensitive to the moods and feelings of others, and may suffer a
good deal as a result. The person may try to live though their family rather than for themselves, and may
be too subjective in their thinking. They may also choose to do most of their thinking and working at
home.
Eastern hemisphere The 10th, 11th, 12th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd houses. A subject who has most of his or her
planets in this hemisphere will be a self-starter who chooses their own path through life and sets their
own boundaries. They are not happy being a burden to other people, or being kept by someone else. They
also have the burden themselves of being an initiator at work and in their personal life, as little is likely to
be done for them by others. When the planets are in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd houses, the subject is likely to be
very self-absorbed and convinced that his or her own opinions are the only ones that matter.
Western hemisphere The 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th houses. A subject with most of these planets in
this hemisphere will need to be very diplomatic in order to keep those around him on their side. They
may be looked after in some way by others, or else spend their lives supporting and motivating others.
When the majority of planets are in the 6th, 7th and 8th houses he or she will use their energy to fulfil the
needs to others. The subject may bring about a situation of being needed by bringing a number of
children into the world to love and care for.

Jones patterns

The American astrologer Marc Edmund Jones has listed seven significant patterns which also occur in the
chart, based on the positions of the planets relative to one another.[6]

Bundle : In this pattern the planets are grouped together so that they form a 'bundle' within the space of
120 degrees, or the equivalent of four signs of the zodiac. This intense concentration of planets produces
a person who is equally intense and unrelenting in pursuit of personal interests. Perspective and
understanding of others is limited, and it is difficult for this person to share their lives with anyone. The
best course of life for such a person is to enter into enterprises that require deep concentration,
persistence and commitment, or to specialise in one area of expertise.
Bowl : In this pattern the planets are grouped into a 'bowl' of one hemisphere of 180 degrees, or the
equivalent of six zodiac signs. The pattern will have particular force if all the planets are contained
within one hemisphere. A person with this pattern will be self-contained, and go in search of enterprises
that are meaningful, fulfilling and personally relevant. They tend to have a ministerial quality that seeks
the right kind of career or vocation that will produce the greatest benefit for themselves and others.
Bucket : This pattern is similar to the bowl except that one of the planets is in the opposite hemisphere to
all the others. This lone planet, or Singleton, serves as a handle, thus creating a 'bucket' form. The bucket
pattern indicates a desire to become associated with activity in the mainstream of society, so that the
person feels they belong. However, what this often means is that the person expects the world to discover
their own unique talents, rather than them trying to fit in. They will usually direct their efforts to a single
purpose, and strive to achieve objectives rather than act solely for their own self-preservation. The person
will probably behave according to the nature of the Singleton planet that forms the handle of the pattern.
This planet will exercise a greater influence than normal in the chart, and will be an important part of the
dynamic of the person's activities and basic energy.
Seesaw : In this pattern the planets form two groups on opposite sides of the chart, the groups no less
than sixty degrees or two signs apart. As its name suggests, this produces a person who behaves like a
 'seesaw', with their life following a pattern of two distinctly contrasting alternatives. The person can find
it difficult to integrate these two sharply different parts of their life, which are often in competition with
each other. However, success produces the increased sophistication and polished, knowing demeanour of
a person who is able to deal with most of life's situations.
Locomotive : This pattern is produced when all the planets are contained within 240 degrees or nine
signs of the zodiac, so that a whole 120 degrees is completely unoccupied. The planet that rises
clockwise following the empty space will significantly influence the life of the person with this pattern,
no matter what is indicated by the sun sign. It will act as the 'locomotive' of the natal chart, driving the
individual to achieve goals through determined and unrelenting effort, with an exceptional drive and fund
of energy at their disposal. Such a person will often be a loner, waiting for the public to discover the truth
of what they have been saying all along.
Splay : This type of natal chart is noteworthy because of the presence of at least two, but usually three
pairs (or conjunctions) of planets randomly distributed in a 'splay' shape around the chart. A person with
this pattern will have enormous talent and potential that needs deliberate attention to be developed into
worthwhile skills. The person will be an individualist, with no desire for a regimented or highly
organized way of life, and they will seek to avoid becoming trapped in routine. However, there is often
the difficulty that there is a lack of relevance between the different skill sets, so that the person may not
derive the full benefit from them. Such a person needs to concentrate on 'getting their act together'.
Splash : As its name suggests this pattern, or rather lack of pattern, occurs when the planets are randomly
distributed around the chart in a 'splash'. A person with this pattern will have diversification as their
number one asset, with a universal and enriching mental outlook on life. The person will be eager to
share their life and resources as universally as possible, wherever the need is greatest. However, as with
the splay pattern, there is a danger of the person scattering their energy unproductively.

Scientific appraisal
Carlson's experiment

Shawn Carlson's double-blind chart matching tests, in which 28 astrologers agreed to match over 100 natal
charts to psychological profiles generated by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) test, is one of the
most renowned tests of astrology.[7][8] The experimental protocol used in Carlson's study was agreed to by a
group of physicists and astrologers prior to the experiment.[9] Astrologers, nominated by the National Council
for Geocosmic Research, acted as the astrological advisors, and helped to ensure, and agreed, that the test was
fair.[8]:117[10] :420 They also chose 26 of the 28 astrologers for the tests, the other 2 being interested astrologers
who volunteered afterwards.[10]:420 The astrologers came from Europe and the United States.[8]:117 The
astrologers helped to draw up the central proposition of natal astrology to be tested.[10]:419 Published in Nature
in 1985, the study found that predictions based on natal astrology were no better than chance, and that the
testing "clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis".[10]

Dean and Kelly

The scientist and former astrologer, Geoffrey Dean and psychologist Ivan Kelly[11] conducted a large scale
scientific test, involving more than one hundred cognitive, behavioural, physical and other variables, but found
no support for astrology.[12] Furthermore, a meta-analysis was conducted pooling 40 studies consisting of 700
astrologers and over 1,000 birth charts. Ten of the tests, which had a total of 300 participating, involved the
astrologers picking the correct chart interpretation out of a number of others which were not the astrologically
correct chart interpretation (usually 3 to 5 others). When the date and other obvious clues were removed no
significant results were found to suggest there was any preferred chart.[12]:190 A further test involved 45
confident[a] astrologers, with an average of 10 years experience and 160 test subjects (out of an original sample
size of 1198 test subjects) who strongly favoured certain characteristics in the Eysenck Personality
Questionnaire to extremes.[12]:191 The astrologers performed much worse than merely basing decisions off the
individuals age, and much worse than 45 control subjects who did not use birth charts at all.[b][12]:191

Mars effect
In 1955, astrologer,[14] and psychologist Michel Gauquelin stated that
In 1955, astrologer,[14] and psychologist Michel Gauquelin stated that
although he had failed to find evidence to support such indicators as the
zodiacal signs and planetary aspects in astrology, he had found positive
correlations between the diurnal positions of some of the planets and
success in professions (such as doctors, scientists, athletes, actors,
writers, painters, etc.) which astrology traditionally associates with
those planets.[13] The best-known of Gauquelin's findings is based on
the positions of Mars in the natal charts of successful athletes and
became known as the "Mars effect".[15]:213 A study conducted by
seven French scientists attempted to replicate the claim, but found no
statistical evidence.[15]:213214 They attributed the effect to selective
bias on Gauquelin's part, accusing him of attempting to persuade them
to add or delete names from their study.[16] The initial Mars effect finding, showing
the relative frequency of thediurnal
Geoffrey Dean has suggested that the effect may be caused by self- position of Mars in the birth charts (N =
reporting of birth dates by parents rather than any issue with the study 570) of "eminent athletes" (red solid
by Gauquelin. The suggestion is that a small subset of the parents may line) compared to the expected results
have had changed birth times to be consistent with better astrological [after Michel Gauquelin 1955][13]
charts for a related profession. The sample group was taken from a time
where belief in astrology was more common. Gauquelin had failed to
find the Mars effect in more recent populations, where a nurse or doctor recorded the birth information. The
number of births under astrologically undesirable conditions was also lower, indicating more evidence that
parents choose dates and times to suit their beliefs.[8]:116

References
a. The level of confidence was self rated by the astrologers themselves.
b. Also discussed in Martens, Ronny; Trachet, Tim (1998). Making sense of astrology. Amherst, N.Y.:
Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-218-8.

1. Sasha Fenton, Understanding Astrology, pp78 - 84, pp141-2, Aquarian Press, London, 1991
2. Jeff Mayo, Teach Yourself Astrology, pp122-23, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1979
3. Robert Pelletier and Leonard Cataldo, Be Your Own Astrologer, pp44 - 47, Pan Books, London, 1984
4. Robert Pelletier and Leonard Cataldo, Ibid, pp166-68, 1984
5. Sasha Fenton, Ibid, pp68 - 70, 1991
6. Robert Pelletier and Leonard Cataldo, Ibid, pp 162-5, 1984 ; Derek and Julia Parker, The New compleat
Astrologer, pp 172-3, Crescent Books, New York, 1990
7. Muller, Richard (2010). "Web site of Richard A. Muller, Professor in the Department of Physics at the
University of California at Berkeley," (http://muller.lbl.gov/homepage.html). Retrieved 2011-08-02.My
former student Shawn Carlson published in Nature magazine the definitive scientific test of Astrology.
Maddox, Sir John (1995). "John Maddox, editor of the science journal Nature, commenting on Carlson's
test" (http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/astrology.html). Retrieved 2011-08-02. "... a perfectly
convincing and lasting demonstration."
8. Smith, Jonathan C. (2010). Pseudoscience and extraordinary claims of the paranormal : a critical
thinker's toolkit. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8123-5.
9. Zarka, Philippe (2011). "Astronomy and astrology". Proceedings of the International Astronomical
Union. 5 (S260): 420425. doi:10.1017/S1743921311002602 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS17439213110
02602).
10. Carlson, Shawn (1985). "A double-blind test of astrology" (http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlso
n.pdf) (PDF). Nature. 318 (6045): 419425. Bibcode:1985Natur.318..419C (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/ab
s/1985Natur.318..419C). doi:10.1038/318419a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F318419a0).
11. Matthews, Robert (17 Aug 2003). "Astrologers fail to predict proof they are wrong" (http://www.telegrap
h.co.uk/news/uknews/1439101/Astrologers-fail-to-predict-proof-they-are-wrong.html). The Telegraph.
Retrieved 13 July 2012.
 12. Dean G., Kelly, I. W. (2003). "Is Astrology Relevant to Consciousness and Psi?". Journal of
Consciousness Studies. 10 (67): 175198.
13. Gauquelin, Michel (1955). L'influence des astres : tude critique et exprimentale. Paris: ditions du
Dauphin.
14. Pont, Graham (2004). "Philosophy and Science of Music in Ancient Greece". Nexus Network Journal. 6
(1): 1729. doi:10.1007/s00004-004-0003-x (https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs00004-004-0003-x).
15. Carroll, Robert Todd (2003). The skeptic's dictionary : a collection of strange beliefs, amusing
deceptions, and dangerous delusions. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-27242-6.
16. Benski, Claude, with a commentary by Jan Willem Nienhuys; et al. (1995). The "Mars effect : a French
test of over 1,000 sports champions. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-988-7.

Further reading
Kevin Burk, Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart. Llewellyn Publications (USA, 2001) ISBN 1-
56718-088-4.

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Astrological age
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An astrological age is a time period in astrologic theology which astrologers claim parallels major changes in
the development of Earth's inhabitants, particularly relating to culture, society, and politics. There are twelve
astrological ages corresponding to the twelve zodiacal signs in western astrology. Advocates believe that when
one cycle of the twelve astrological ages is completed, another cycle of twelve ages begins.[1] The length of one
cycle of twelve ages is 25,860 years.[2]

Some astrologers believe that during a given age, some events are directly caused or indirectly influenced by
the astrological sign associated with that age, while other astrologers believe the different astrological ages do
not influence events in any way.[3]

Astrologers do not agree upon exact dates for the beginning or ending of the ages, with given dates varying
hundreds of years.[4]

Contents
1 Overview
1.1 Contentious aspects of the astrological ages
1.2 Consensus approach to the astrological ages
1.3 Ages of equal or variable lengths
1.4 Age transitions
1.5 Other opinions on the astrological ages
1.5.1 Ages exactly 2,000 years each
1.5.2 Ages involving the opposite sign
1.5.3 Mayan Long Count Calendar & Precession
2 History of the Astrological Ages
2.1 Hipparchus
2.2 Did the Ancients Recognize Precession Before Hipparchus?
2.3 Post-Hipparchus
2.3.1 Trepidation
2.3.2 Rate of Precession
2.3.3 Anno Domini
2.3.4 Mashallah ibn Athari
2.3.5 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
3 Calculation aspects
3.1 First point of Aries alignment - the fiducial point
4 Past ages
4.1 The Age of Leo (The Leonian Age)
4.1.1 Timeframes
4.1.2 Overview
4.2 The Age of Cancer (The Cancerian Age)
4.2.1 Timeframes
4.2.2 Overview
4.2.3 Religious similarities
4.3 The Age of Gemini (The Geminian Age)
4.3.1 Timeframes
4.3.2 Overview
4.3.3 Historical similarities
4.3.4 Religious similarities
4.4 The Age of Taurus (The Taurean Age)
4.4.1 Timeframes
4.4.2 Overview
 4.4.3 Religious similarities
4.5 The Age of Aries (The Arian Age)
4.5.1 Timeframes
4.5.2 Overview
4.5.3 Historical similarities
4.5.4 Religious similarities
5 Present and future ages
5.1 The Age of Pisces (The Piscean Age)
5.1.1 Timeframes
5.1.2 Overview
5.1.3 Transition into the Aquarian Age
5.2 The Age of Aquarius (The Aquarian Age)
5.2.1 Timeframes
5.2.2 Overview
5.2.3 Popular culture
6 The sub-periods of ages
6.1 Aries to Pisces sub-periods
6.2 Dwadasamsa sub-periods
6.3 Sub-period direction (forward or retrograde?)
7 New, alternative, and fringe myths
7.1 Alternative approach to calibrating precession
8 Popular culture
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References

Overview
There are three broad perspectives on the astrological ages:

1. Archeoastronomers are interested in the ages because some

researchers believe that ancient civilizations often depicted
cultural references to the ages. Archeoastronomers in general do
not 'believe' in astrology, but they study the cultural traditions of
societies that did refer extensively to astrology.
2. Astrologers have been interested in relating world history to the
astrological ages since the late 19th century;[5] however, most
astrologers study horoscopes, not astrological ages.
3. The general public has become aware of the Age of Aquarius
since it was publicized in the musical Hair.[6]

Contentious aspects of the astr ological ages Traditional western Zodiac signs

Definitive details on the astrological ages are lacking, and consequently

most details available about the astrological ages are disputed. The 20th century British astrologer Charles
Carter stated that

"It is probable that there is no branch of Astrology upon which more nonsense has been poured
forth than the doctrine of the precession of the equinoxes." (precession of the equinoxes as the root
cause of the astrological ages)[7]
In 2000 Neil Spencer in his book True as the Stars Above expressed a similar opinion about the astrological
ages. Spencer singles out the astrological ages as being "fuzzy", "speculative", and the least-defined area of
astrological lore.[8] Derek and Julia Parker claim that it is impossible to state the exact date for the start of any
astrological age and acknowledge that many astrologers believe the Age of Aquarius has arrived while many
claim the world is at the end of the Age of Pisces.[9]

Ray Grasse states in Signs of the Times - Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events that "there is
considerable dispute over the exact starting and ending times for the different Great Ages."[10] Paul Wright in
The Great Ages and Other Astrological Cycles believes that much of the uncertainty related to the astrological
ages is because many astrologers have a poor understanding of the meaning of the astrological symbolism and
"even poorer historical knowledge".[11]

Consensus approach to the astrological ages

Though so many issues are contentious or disputed, there are two aspects of the astrological ages that have
virtually unanimous consensusfirstly, the claimed link of the astrological ages to the axial precession of the
Earth and commonly referred to as precession of the equinoxes;[12] secondly, that, due to the nature of the
precession of the equinoxes, the progression of the ages proceeds in reverse direction through the zodiacal
signs.[13]

Ages of equal or variable lengths

Astrologers use many ways to divide the Great Year into twelve astrological ages. There are two popular
methods. One method is to divide the Great Year into twelve astrological ages of approximately equal lengths
of around 2160 years per age based on the vernal equinox moving through the sidereal zodiac.[14] Another
method is to significantly vary the duration of each astrological age based on the passage of the vernal equinox
measured against the actual zodiacal constellations.[15] Each of those twelve sections of the Great Year can be
called either an astrological age, Precessional Age or a Great Month.[16]

The method based on the zodiacal constellations has a flaw in that the stars of many constellations overlap. For
example, by 2700 the vernal point will have moved into Aquarius, but due to overlap the vernal point will also
point to Pisces.[17]

Age transitions

Many astrologers consider the entrance into a new astrological age a gradual transition called a "cusp". For
example, Ray Grasse states that an astrological age does not begin at an exact day or year.[18] Paul Wright
states that a transition effect does occur at the border of the astrological ages. Consequently, the beginning of
any age cannot be defined to a single year or a decade but blend its influences with the previous age for a
period of time until the new age can stand in its own right.[19] Many astrologers believe that the world is
transitioning from the Pisces and Aquarian Ages, which is claimed to explain that developments in the world
today can be aligned to Pisces (i.e. continuing strong religious influences especially from Christianity) and
Aquarius (traditional archetypes associated with Aquarius include electricity, computers, and democracy). A
few astrologers consider the last c. 10 degrees of a given age (c. 720 years) as the time period during which the
new age starts to make visible its influences, also called "orb of influence". In Nicholas Campion's The Book of
World Horoscopes there are six pages listing researchers and their proposed dates for the start of the Age of
Aquarius indicating that many researchers believe that each age commences at an exact date.[20]

Albert Amao Ph.D. states that the transition period between any two ages is based on one degrees either side of
the point of intersection of two adjoining zodiacal constellations. As one degree is approximately 72 years,
Amao has a transition period between ages of 144 years.[21]

Other opinions on the astr ological ages

Ages exactly 2,000 years each

Many astrologers find ages too erratic based on either the vernal point moving through the randomly sized
zodiacal constellations or sidereal zodiac and, instead, round all astrological ages to exactly 2000 years each. In
this approach the ages are usually neatly aligned so that the Aries age is found from 2000 BC to AD 1, Pisces
age AD 1 to AD 2000, the Aquarian Age AD 2000 - AD 4000, and so on.[22] This approach is inconsistent with
the precession of the equinoxes. Based on precession of the equinoxes, there is a one-degree shift
approximately every 72 years, so a 30-degree movement requires 2160 years to complete.

Ages involving the opposite sign

An established school of thought that an age is also influenced by the sign opposite to the one of the
astrological age. Referring back to the precession of the Equinoxes, as the Sun crosses one constellation in the
Northern Hemisphere's spring Equinox (March 21), it will cross the opposite sign in the spring Equinox in the
Southern Hemisphere (September 21). For instance, the Age of Pisces is complemented by its opposite
astrological sign of Virgo (the Virgin); so a few refer to the Piscean age as the 'Age of Pisces-Virgo'.[23]
Adopting this approach, the Age of Aquarius would become the Age of Aquarius-Leo. Ray Grasse also claims
that each sign of the zodiac is involving with the opposite sign.[24]

Mayan Long Count Calendar & Precession

William Sullivan in The Secret of the Incas claims there is a direct connection between the history of the Inca
Empire and precession of the equinoxes. John Major Jenkins in 'Maya Cosmogenesis 2012' believes that the
Mayan Long Count Calendar is based on precession of the equinoxes and solstices.[25] Jenkins believes that the
Maya related the precession of the winter solstice sunrise against the Milky Wayan event which is currently
developing and supposedly instrumental in mankind's spiritual renewal.[26]

History of the Astrological Ages

Hipparchus

The great demarcation point in the history of the astrological ages is around 127 BC when the Greek
astronomer-astrologer Hipparchus from observation discovered that the great immovable sphere of fixed stars
was not fixed but slowly moving eastwards due to what is now known as precession of the equinoxes. It is
possible that some other astronomers before Hipparchus had also noticed the phenomenon, but it is Hipparchus
who is credited with this discovery. This discovery by Hipparchus is not entirely unexpected as Hipparchus is
considered to have been the greatest observational astronomer in his time and up until Tycho Brahe in the 16th
century AD. What is highly contentious in modern times is the claim by many that observation of the effects of
precession of the equinoxes was known well before the time of Hipparchus and his contemporaries in Greece or
even Mesopotamia. The academic answer is no precession of the equinoxes was unknown in earlier times.

Did the Ancients Recognize Pr ecession Before Hipparchus?

Giorgio de Santillana (1902 1974) became professor of the History of Science in the School of Humanities at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1954 and along with Hertha von Dechend they published a book
entitled "Hamlet's Mill, An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time" in 1969. It was an attempt to marry science
and mythology that had become separated by the ancient Greeks. Santillana and von Dechend believed that the
old mythological stories handed down from antiquity were not random fictitious tales but were accurate
depictions of celestial cosmology clothed in tales to aid their oral transmission. The chaos, monsters, and
violence in ancient myths are representative of the forces that shape each age. They believed that ancient myths
are the remains of preliterate astronomy that became lost with the rise of the Greco-Roman civilization.
Santillana and von Dechend state that ancient myths have no historical basis but a cosmological one based on a
primitive form of astrology. They recognized the importance of the heliacally rising constellation as markers for
the astrological ages and claimed that knowledge of this phenomenon had been known for thousands of years
previously. They claim that to understand ancient thinking it is necessary to understand astrology, not the
modern sun-sign or horoscopic astrology, but the astrology of ancient times which was the lingua franca of
ancient times. They go further and state that our knowledge of the dawn of astrology and its relationship to
ancient myths and star names is limited to about 2100 BC during the Renaissance of Sumerian Culture instead
of being able to examine the real old material on the subject. In "Hamlet's Mill" it is claimed that the ancient
Greeks knew of three successive destructions that correlate to three ages and that since the beginning of history
the vernal point has moved through Taurus, Aries, and Pisces. Hesiod in "Works and Days" refers to five
successive ages.[27]

As early as 1811, modern researchers were examining evidence for knowledge of precession of the equinoxes
and astrological ages before Hipparchus. Sir William Drummond published "Oedipus Judaicus - Allegory in the
Old Testament" in 1811. Drummund expounds on his hypothesis that a greater part of the Hebrew Scriptures
are merely allegorical writings that hide the true content. Furthermore, the Orientalists were mainly concerned
with astronomy and most of their ancient myths are really disguised astronomical records.[28] Drummond
believed that the 49th chapter of Genesis contains prophecies allied to astronomy and that the twelve tribes of
Israel represented the 12 zodiacal signs.[29] Drummund makes his case that at the time of Abraham, the
Amorites first recorded the shift from the Age of Taurus to the Age of Aries as represented by the year
commencing with the Ram (Aries) rather than the bull (Taurus). The Book of Joshua indicates that by the time
of Moses the equinoxes had already shifted from Taurus to Aries as Moses had ordained that the civil year
should commence with the month of Nisan (Aries) rather than the month of Taurus. The feast of the Passover is
probably a celebration of the Age of Aries with the Paschal Lamb representative of Aries, traditionally
associated with the symbol of the ram or sheep.[30] Drummond also hypothesizes that most number references
in ancient texts were coded to hide their real value by their multiplication by 1000 or multiples of 1,000. For
example, in the Old Testament Joshua commanded 30,000 men and he slew 12,000 inhabitants of the city of Ai.
The historian Berosus stated the Babylonians commenced astronomical observations 49,000 years (7 x 7 x
1000) before Alexander the Great.[31] Most early references were related to 7 (Sun, Moon, and five visible
planets), 12 (number of zodiacal signs and months per year), 30 (degrees per sign of the zodiac), and higher
combinations of these numbers and other numbers associated with astronomical observations and astrology.

The problem of understanding the exact nature of ancient astrology is that it was only partly documented,
leaving the question of the extent of their undocumented astrological knowledge. Michael Baigent in "From the
Omens of Babylon: Astrology and Ancient Mesopotamia" suggests that there is evidence that there was
probably an older or parallel oral tradition of astrology at the time of publication of Enuma Anu Enlil[32]
believed published over the period (15951157 BC). The ancient Mesopotamians believed that history repeated
itself after a massive cycle of many years.[33]

Post-Hipparchus

Trepidation

In the early post-Hipparchus period, two schools of thought developed about the slow shift of the fixed sphere
of stars as discovered by Hipparchus. One school believed that at 1 degree shift per 100 years, the sphere of
fixed stars would return to its starting point after 36,000 years. The trepidation school believed that the fixed
stars first moved one way, then moved the other way - similar to a giant pendulum. It was believed that the
'swinging' stars first moved 8 degrees one direction, then reversed this 8 degrees travelling the other direction.
Theon of Alexandria in the 4th century AD includes trepidation when he wrote Small Commentary to the
Handy Tables. In the 5th century AD, the Greek Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus mentions that both theories
were being discussed. The Indians around the 5th century AD preferred the trepidation theory but because they
had observed the movement of the fixed stars by 25 degrees since ancient times (since around 1325 BC), they
considered that trepidation swung back and forth around 27 degrees.
The significant early exponent of the 'circular 36,000' years method was Ptolemy and, due to the status placed
upon Ptolemy by later scholars, the Christian and Muslim astronomers of the Middle Ages accepted the Great
Year of 36,000 years rather than trepidation. However some scholars gave credence to both theories based on
the addition of another sphere which is represented in the Alfonsine tables produced by the Toledo School of
Translators in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Alfonsine tables computed the positions of the sun, moon, and
planets relative to the fixed stars. The Italian astronomer Cecco d'Ascoli, professor of astrology at the
University of Bologna in the early 14th century, continued to have faith in trepidation but believed it swung 10
degrees in either direction. Copernicus refers to trepidation in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium published
in 1543.[34]

Rate of Precession

Though the one degree per hundred years calculated for precession of the equinoxes as defined by Hipparchus
and promulgated by Ptolemy was too slow, another rate of precession that was too fast also gained popularity in
the 1st millennium AD. By the fourth century AD, Theon of Alexandria[35] assumed a changing rate
(trepidation) of one degree per 66 years. The tables of the Shah (Zij-i Shah)[36] originate in the sixth century,
but are unfortunately lost, but many later Arabic and Persian astronomers and astrologers refer to them and also
use this value. These later astronomers-astrologers or sources include: Al-Khwarizmi, Zij al Sindhind or "Star
Tables Based on the Indian Calculation Method"(c. 800); Tabulae probatae" or "az-Zig al-mumtan" (c. 830);
Al-Battani, Albategnius, al-Zij (c. 880); and al-Sufi, Azophi (c. 965); Al Biruni (973-1048), "al Canon al
Masud" or "The Masdic Canon"; Arabic fixed star cataloque of 1 October 1112 (ed. Paul Kunitzsch); and
"Libros del Saber de Astronoma" by Alfonso X of Castile(1252-1284).[37] At one degree per 66 years, one
decan of a zodiacal sign (i.e. 10 degrees) is precessed in a period of 666 years - a value made famous in the
Book of Revelation as the Number of the Beast.

Anno Domini

There exists evidence that the modern calendar developed by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century AD
commencing with the birth of Jesus Christ at AD 1 was influenced by precession of the equinoxes and
astrological ages. Dionysius' desire to replace Diocletian years (Diocletian persecuted Christians) with a
calendar based on the incarnation of Christ was to prevent people from believing the imminent end of the
world. At the time it was believed that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the
birth of Jesus. The current Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the world based
on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that based on the Anno Mundi calendar Jesus was born in
the year 5500 (or 5500 years after the world was created) with the year 6000 of the Anno Mundi calendar
marking the end of the world.[38][39] Anno Mundi 6000 (approximately AD 500) was thus equated with the
resurrection of Christ and the end of the world.[40] Since this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius,
he therefore searched for a new end of the world at a later date. He was heavily influenced by ancient
cosmology, in particular the doctrine of the Great Year that places a strong emphasis on planetary conjunctions.
This doctrine says that when all the planets were in conjunction that this cosmic event would mark the end of
the world. Dionysius accurately calculated that this conjunction would occur in May AD 2000. Dionysius then
applied another astronomical timing mechanism based on precession of the equinoxes. Though incorrect, some
oriental astronomers at the time believed that the precessional cycle was 24,000 years which included twelve
astrological ages of 2,000 years each. Dionysius believed that if the planetary alignment marked the end of an
age (i.e. the Pisces age), then the birth of Jesus Christ marked the beginning of the Age of Pisces 2,000 years
earlier. He therefore deducted 2,000 years from the May 2000 conjunction to produce AD 1[41] for the
incarnation of Christ.[42][43][44][45]

Mashallah ibn Athari

The renown Islamic astronomer and astrologer Mashaallah (c.740 815 CE) employed precession of the
equinoxes for calculating the period Era of the Flood dated as 3360 BCE or 259 years before the Indian Kali
Yuga, believed to have commenced in 3101 BCE.[46]
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

The 15th century Italian Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola published a massive attack on
astrological predictions, but he did not object to all of astrology and he commented on the position of the vernal
point in his day. Pico was aware of the effects of precession of the equinoxes and knew that the first point of
Aries no longer existed in the constellation of Aries. Pico not only knew that the vernal point had shifted back
into Pisces, he stated that in his time, the vernal point (zero degrees tropical Aries) was located at 2 degrees
(sidereal) Pisces. This suggests that by whatever method of calculation he was employing, Pico expected the
vernal point to shift into (sidereal) Aquarius age 144 years later as a one degree shift takes 72 years.[47]

Calculation aspects
The Earth, in addition to its diurnal (daily) rotation upon its axis and annual rotation around the Sun, incurs a
precessional motion involving a slow periodic shift of the axis itself: approximately one degree every 72 years.
This motion, which is caused mostly by the Moon's gravity, gives rise to the precession of the equinoxes in
which the Sun's position on the ecliptic at the time of the vernal equinox, measured against the background of
fixed stars, gradually changes with time.

In graphical terms, the Earth behaves like a spinning top, and tops tend to wobble as they spin. The spin of the
Earth is its daily (diurnal) rotation. The spinning Earth slowly wobbles over a period slightly less than 26,000
years. From our perspective on Earth, the stars are ever so slightly 'moving' from west to east at the rate of one
degree approximately every 72 years. One degree is about twice the diameter of the Sun or Moon as viewed
from Earth. The easiest way to notice this slow movement of the stars is at any fixed time each year. The most
common fixed time is at the vernal equinox around 21 March each year.

In astrology, an astrological age has usually been defined by the constellation or superimposed sidereal zodiac
in which the Sun actually appears at the vernal equinox. This is the method that Hipparchus appears to have
applied around 127 BC when he calculated precession. Since each sign of the zodiac is composed of 30
degrees, each astrological age might be thought to last about 72 (years) 30 (degrees) = about 2160 years. This
means the Sun crosses the equator at the vernal equinox moving backwards against the fixed stars from one
year to the next at the rate of one degree in seventy-two years, one constellation (on average) in about 2160
years, and the whole twelve signs in about 25,920 years, sometimes called a Platonic Year. However the length
of the ages are decreasing with time as the rate of precession is increasing. Therefore, no two ages are of equal
length.

First point of Aries alignment - the fiducial point

Approximately every 26,000 years the zodiacal constellations, the associated sidereal zodiac, and the tropical
zodiac used by western astrologers basically align. Technically this is when the tropical and sidereal "first point
in Aries" (Aries 0) coincided. This alignment is often called the fiducial point and, if the fiducial point could
be found, fairly exact timeframes of all the astrological ages could be accurately determined (if the method
used to determine the astrological ages is based on the equal-sized 30 degrees per age and do not correspond to
the exact constellation configuration in the sky). However this fiducial point is difficult to determine because
while there is no ambiguity about the tropical zodiac used by western astrologers, the same cannot be said of
the sidereal zodiac used by Vedic astrologers. Vedic astrologers do not have unanimity on the exact location in
space of their sidereal zodiac. This is because the sidereal zodiac is superimposed upon the irregular zodiacal
constellation, and there are no unambiguous boundaries of the zodiacal constellations. Modern day astronomers
have defined boundaries, but this is a recent development by astronomers who are divorced from astrology, and
cannot be assumed to be correct from the astrological perspective. While most astronomers and some
astrologers agree that the fiducial point occurred in or around the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, there is no consensus
on any exact date or tight timeframe within these three centuries. A number of dates are proposed by various
astronomers and even wider timeframes by astrologers. (For an alternative approach to calibrating precession,
see Alternative approach to calibrating precession in New, alternative, and fringe theories section below).
As an example of a mystic contemporary approach to
precession, in Max Heindel's astrology writings,[48] it is
described, that last time the starting-point of the sidereal
zodiac agreed with the tropical zodiac occurred in AD 498.
A year after these points were in exact agreement, the Sun
crossed the equator about fifty seconds of space into the
constellation Pisces. The year following it was one minute
and forty seconds into Pisces, and so it has been creeping
backwards ever since, until at the present time the Sun
crosses the equator in about nine degrees in the
constellation Pisces. Based on this approach, it will thus be
about 600 years before it actually crosses the celestial
equator in the constellation Aquarius. However this is only
one of many approaches and so this must remain
speculation at this point of time.

Past ages Precessional movement as seen from 'outside' the

The Age of Leo (The Leonian Age)
Symbol for Leo:
When the March equinox used to occur in Leo.
Timeframes
Zodiacal 30 degrees:
Patrick Burlingame interpretation: began c.
10,006 BC and ended c. 8006 BC
Common interpretation: c. 10,500 BC to 8000
BC
Overview
"The Golden Age". The major event in this age was
deglaciation of what now constitutes much of the modern
habitable world. The deglaciation ultimately caused a 300-
foot (90 m) rise in the sea level. The sign Leo is a Fire sign
and is mythically ruled by the Sun in astrology.
The Age of Cancer (The Cancerian Age)
Symbol for Cancer:
celestial sphere. The rotation axis of the Earth describes
over a period of about 25,800 years a small circle (blue)
among the stars, centred around theecliptic northpole
(blue E) and with an angular radius of about 23.4: the
angle known as the obliquity of the ecliptic. The orange
axis was the Earth's rotation axis 5000 years ago when it
pointed to the star Thuban. The yellow axis, pointing to
Polaris is the situation now. Note that when the celestial
sphere is seen from outside constellations appear in
mirror image. Also note that the daily rotation of the
Earth around its axis is opposite to the precessional
rotation. When the polar axisprecesses from one
direction to another, then the equatorial plane of the
Earth (indicated with the circular grid around the
equator) and the associated celestial equator will move
too. Where the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic
(red line) there are the equinoxes. As seen from the
drawing, the orange grid, 5000 years ago one
intersection of equator and ecliptic, thevernal equinox
was close to the star Aldebaran of Taurus. By now (the
yellow grid) it has shifted (red arrow) to somewhere in
the constellation of Pisces. Note that this is an
astronomical description of the precessional movement
and the vernal equinox position in a given constellation
may not imply the astrological meaning of an Age
carrying the same name, as they (ages and
constellations) only have an exact alignment in the first
"
point of Aries", meaning once in each c. 25800 G ( reat
Sidereal Year).

When the March equinox used to occur in Cancer;

Timeframes

Zodiacal 30 degrees:
Neil Mann interpretation:[49] began c. 8600 BC and ended c. 6450 BC
Patrick Burlingame interpretation: began c. 8006 BC and ended c. 6006 BC
Overview

"The Age of the Great Mother." Cancer is ruled by the Moon, and is associated with the process of bearing,
birthing, nurturing, and protecting. In astrologic mythology this age marks the beginning of civilization, with
domestication of farm animals and nomadic people settling down to living in permanent dwellings.

Religious similarities

Widespread evidence of the mother goddess in the Near East (the 'mother' archetype in all shapes and forms is
always related to the sign Cancer).

The Age of Gemini (The Geminian Age)

Symbol for Gemini:

When the March equinox used to occur in Gemini;

Timeframes

Zodiacal 30 degrees:
Neil Mann interpretation: began c. 6450 BC and ended c. 4300 BC
Patrick Burlingame interpretation: began c. 6006 BC and ended c. 4006 BC

Overview

"The Age of Communication, Trade and the Twins"

Historical similarities

During this mythological age writing developed, and trade started to accelerate. The constellation can be seen
as two people holding hands (thought to be twins), believed by some to be symbolic for trade and
communication of peoples. In myths associated with the constellation of Gemini, both writing (including
literature, newspapers, journals, magazines, and works of fiction) and trade (including merchants) are
traditional archetypes belonging to the sign of Gemini.

Most forms of local transportation are archetypes mythologically linked with the sign of Gemini.

Religious similarities

Multiple gods, such as the pantheon of gods in Ancient Greek literature, are believed to have appeared in this
Gemini age probably in Sumer (Mesopotamia). (Gemini is not only associated with the archetype of 'twins' and
'duality' but also 'multiplicity')

The Age of Taurus (The Taurean Age)

Symbol for Taurus:

When the March equinox used to occur in Taurus;

Timeframes

Zodiacal 30 degrees:
 Neil Mann interpretation: began c. 4300 BC and ended c. 2150 BC
Patrick Burlingame interpretation: began c. 4006 BC and ended c. 2006 BC
Constellation boundary year:
Shephard Simpson interpretation: began c. 4525 BC and ended c. 1875 BC[50]

Overview

"The Age of Earth, Agriculture, and the Bull" This age is claimed to have occurred approximately around the
time of the building of the Pyramids in Egypt.

Religious similarities

Bull worshiping cults began to form in Assyria, Egypt, and Crete during this mythological age.

Ankh: thoracic vertebra of a bull - Egyptian symbol of life

Worship of Apis, the bull-deity (see also Bull (mythology)), the most important of all the sacred animals
in Egypt, said to be instituted during the Second Dynasty of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt and
worshipped in the Memphis region until the New Kingdom (16th century BC).
When Moses was said to have descended from the mountain with the ten commandments (c. 17th 13th
century BC, the end of the Age of Taurus), some of his people or followers were found by him to be
worshipping a golden bull calf. He instructed these worshippers to be killed. This represents Moses
"killing" the bull and ending the Age of Taurus, and ushering in the Age of Aries, which he
represents.[51]
Marduk
Tauroctony

The Age of Aries (The Arian Age)

Symbol for Aries:

When the March equinox used to occur in Aries;

Timeframes

Zodiacal 30 degrees:
Neil Mann interpretation: began c. 2150 BC and ended c. 1 AD
Patrick Burlingame interpretation: began c. 2006 BC and ended c. 6 BC
Constellation boundary year:
Shephard Simpson interpretation: began c. 1875 BC to c. 90/100 BC[52]

Overview

"The Age of War, Fire, and the Ram"

Historical similarities

Aries represents a Fire symbol as well as bold actions, a lot of these behaviors can be seen during any age.
However, the themes emphasised during this age relate to courage, initiative, war, and adventure. Nations
during this age such as the expanding empires of China, Persia, Greece, and Rome, are often cited as examples
of the archetypes of Aries in action. Also the Aries constellation shows a ram running. This could correspond
with the sacrifice of Abraham's Ram. While the number of names containing the sound of the ram during this
period is noted: Ra (Sun God), Ram, Rama, Brahman, Brahma, Abram/Abraham, Amon Ra, and Ramesses I.
The battering ram was employed by the Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans with great success during this time.
(The symbol of Mars, the planetary ruler of Aries, evokes this interpretation.) According to the Roman state
religion, the Roman people were the "Sons of Mars".

Aries is associated with the metal iron, and iron ore was for the first time smelted and worked into iron swords
in Anatolia during the early phase of this era, replacing the heavier, softer-metalled, duller-edged bronze swords
of the previous Taurus Age.

Traits of Aries such as 'initiative' may suggest the explosion of originality in the development of social aspects,
sciences and arts in regions such as Ancient Greece but at the same time traits such as 'Impulsivity' may be
attributed to the various Wars of the time.

Religious similarities

The Age of Aries ushered in efforts to replace polytheism with monotheism. The earliest known attempt was by
the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, who, in about 1350 BC, decreed the Sun God Aten to be the supreme deity,
apparently in reaction to his earlier lack of inclusion in religious rites by his family. After his death, however,
power reverted to the original polytheistic priests, who re-established the old religion. Speculation (including
that of Freud) has it that later, during the reign of Ramesses II, Moses was influenced by rumour of Akhenaten's
revolutionary idea, and grasped the idea of a single supreme God, who especially favoured his people, as an
inspirational mechanism that best suited his people held in bondage. The symbol of Aries can be seen as
representing the power of multiple gods streaming down into a single god-head.

Moses (born c. 16th13th century BC; 7 Adar 2368 7 Adar 2488 in the Hebrew calendar), an early Biblical
Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, and military leader, condemns his own people upon finding them
worshiping a 'golden calf' (a symbol of the previous Age of Taurus and of the worship of the bull deity) after
coming down Mount Sinai. These events may have occurred during the Age of Aries (see also dating the
Exodus).

See also:

Mithraism
The Mithraic Question and Precession

Present and future ages

The Age of Pisces (The Piscean Age)

Symbol for Pisces:

While the March equinox occurs in Pisces;

Some astrologers claim the Age of Pisces is the current age and they believe it will remain so for approximately
another 600 years. At that time, the vernal equinox point will have moved into the constellation of Aquarius,
thus beginning the Age of Aquarius. Other astrologers claim the Age of Pisces ended with the great cosmic
alignment of 21st December 2012, thus beginning the Age of Aquarius.

Timeframes

Zodiacal 30 degrees:
Neil Mann interpretation: began c. AD 1 and ends c. AD 2150.
Heindel-Rosicrucian interpretation: began c. AD 498 and ends c. AD 2654
Patrick Burlingame interpretation: began c. 6 BC and ended c. AD 1994
Jenkins: ended 21 December 2012
 Newland: began 25 January 1989
Constellation boundary year:
Shephard Simpson interpretation: began c. 100/90 BC and
ends c. AD 2680[53]
12/21/12 Great Cosmic Alignment interpretation: began c.
138 BC and ended 21 December 2012
Early Christian inscriptionichthys
carved with Greek letters into marble in
Overview
the ancient Greek ruins ofEphesus,
Turkey.
"The Age of Monotheism, Spirituality, and the Fish"

The age of Pisces began c. 1 AD and will end c. 2150 AD. With the story of the birth of Christ coinciding with
this date,[54] many Christian symbols for Christ use the astrological symbol for Pisces,[55] the fishes.[56] Jesus
bears many of the temperaments and personality traits of a Pisces,[57] and is thus considered an archetype of the
Piscean.[58] Moreover, the twelve apostles were called the "fishers of men," early Christians called themselves
"little fishes," and a code word for Jesus was the Greek word for fish, "Ikhthus."[56] With this, the start of the
age, or the "Great Month of Pisces" is regarded as the beginning of the Christian religion.[59] Saint Peter is
recognized as the apostle of the Piscean sign.[60]

Transition into the Aquarian Age

Pisces has been called the "dying god," where its sign opposite in the night sky is Virgo, or, the Virgin Mary.[61]
When Jesus was asked by his disciples where the next Passover would be, he replied to them:

Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water ...
follow him into the house where he entereth in.

Jesus, Luke 22:10

This coincides with the changing of the ages, into the Age of Aquarius,[62] as the personification of the
constellation of Aquarius is a man carrying pitchers of water.

Aquarius also has a double rulership: Saturn is the traditional ruler and Uranus is the modern ruler. Saturn
presides over structure and form and the status quo, and Uranus is dedicated to shattering the status quo and
creating a New World Order where everyone is free and rational. Because Saturn tends to be rather rigid it is
often associated with the rigidity of religious doctrine, but Uranus is the planet of science and reason, neither of
which are typically very supportive of religion.

See also

Pisces
Ichthys
Catholicism
Christian symbolism
Traditionalism (disambiguation)
Christian views on astrology

The Age of Aquarius (The Aquarian Age)

Symbol for Aquarius:

When the March equinox occurs in Aquarius;

Timeframes
In 1928, at the Conference of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Leiden, the Netherlands, the edges
of the 88 official constellations became defined in astronomical terms. The edge established between Pisces and
Aquarius locates the beginning of the Aquarian Age around the year 2600.

The Austrian astronomer, Professor Hermann Haupt,[63] examined the question of when the Age of Aquarius
begins in an article published in 1992 by the Austrian Academy of Science: with the German title "Der Beginn
des Wassermannzeitalters, eine astronomische Frage?" ("The Start of the Aquarian Age, an Astronomical
Question?"). Based on the boundaries accepted by IAU in 1928, Haupt's article investigates the start of the Age
of Aquarius by calculating the entry of the spring equinox point over the parallel cycle (d = - 4) between the
constellations Pisces and Aquarius and reaches, using the usual formula of precession (Gliese, 1982), the year
2595. However Haupt concludes:

"Though it cannot be expected that astrologers will follow the official boundaries of the constellations,
there will be an attempt to calculate the entry of the spring equinox point into the constellation of
Aquarius." ...

"As briefly has been shown, the results and methods of astrology in many areas, such as concerning the
Aquarian Age, are controversial on their own and cannot be called scientific because of the many esoteric
elements."[64]

Zodiacal 30 degrees:
Patrick Burlingame interpretation: began c. AD 1994
Neil Mann interpretation: begins AD 2150.
Dane Rudhyar's interpretation states that the Age of Aquarius will begin in AD 2062.
Nicholas Campion in The Book of World Horoscopes indicates that he has collected over 90 dates
provided by researchers for the start of the Age of Aquarius and these dates have a range of over
2,000 years commencing in the 15th century AD.[65] The range of dates for the possible start of the
Aquarian Age range from 1447 to 3621.
Constellation boundary year:
Shephard Simpson interpretation: begins c. AD 2680.[66]
Hermann Haupt interpretation: begins c. AD 2595.
Michael Sidi interpretation: begins c. AD 2720.
Jenkins interpretation of the Mayan Calendar / Egyptian Cycle of the Phoenix begins AD 21
December 2012.

Overview

"The Age of Freedom, Technology (especially space travel and electricity), and the Water Bearer"
There is an expectation that the Aquarian Age will usher in a period of group consciousness.[67] Marcia Moore
and Mark Douglas claim that the lighting up of the earth artificially by electricity is a sign of the Age of
Aquarius.[68] The Age of Aquarius advances a purification of our inner spirit selves, effecting our outer
physical selves, while also mirroring these purifying changes into the living planetary system and the
noosphere as part of a cleaning up or cleansing of self and planet. The water-bearer may symbolize widespread
transparent, peaceful, neighborly, and sustainable living. Furthermore, they see the appearance of dictators,
self-expression, and the rising influence of the entertainment industry are linked to the Aquarian Age by its
opposite sign Leo.

Popular culture

In popular culture, the expression "Age of Aquarius" usually refers to the heyday of the hippie and New Age
movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The 1967 successful musical Hair, with its opening song "Aquarius" and
the memorable line "This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius", brought the Aquarian Age concept to the
attention of a huge worldwide audience. This New Age phenomenon is seen by some astrologers to be marked
by the conjunction of the planet Uranus, ruler of the sign Aquarius, and the coming age, with Pluto, ruler of the
masses, bringing radical change, in the 1960s. However, as the song relates, it is only considered by astrologers
as the "dawning" or "cusp" of the Age, with the full strength of the Age not occurring until some time in the
future.

See also

Age of Aquarius
Secularism
Technological convergence
Modernism
Humanitarianism
Pluralism

The sub-periods of ages

Many research astrologers believe that the astrological ages can be divided into smaller sections along the lines
of 'wheels within wheels'. The most common method is to divide each astrological ages into twelve sub-
periods.[69] There are two common ways of undertaking this process and two ways of applying these sub-
periods. Furthermore, some astrologers divide the ages in different ways. For example, Lcdr David Williams
employs a decanate sub-division whereby each age is divided into three equal sections.[70] Robert Hand
developed another approach entirely whereby the conjunction of the moving vernal point with specific stars
within the zodiacal constellations provides an extra flavour to the corresponding historical events based on the
nature of the star involved.[71]

However Robert Hand believes that the moving Capricorn solstice point (around 20 December) near the
modern New Year provides greater correlation to historical events compared to the vernal equinox. Patrizia
Norelli-Bachelet used a variety of sub-periods including decans, but Patrizia advocated that the ninefold
division of each sign was the most powerful and influential sub-division.[72] The ninefold division (termed
'navamsa') of the zodiacal signs is also the most popular sign sub-division system employed by Vedic
astrologers. Vedic astrologers also apply their nakshatra star asterisms in place of the twelve zodiacal
constellations. There are 27 nakshatras of 13 degrees 20 minutes each, thus the average length of a 'nakshatra'
age is 960 years.

Aries to Pisces sub-periods

The most popular method of sub-dividing astrological ages is to divide each age equally into twelve sub-
periods with the first sub-period Aries, followed by Taurus, Gemini, and so on, until the last sub-division,
Pisces. Charles Carter was an early advocate of this approach.[73] Technically this approach is based on the
twelfth harmonic of the zodiacal signs.

Dwadasamsa sub-periods

The alternative approach is to apply a method commonly used in Vedic astrology but with long antecedents also
in western astrology.[74] This method also divides each astrological age into twelve sub-periods but the first
sub-period for each sign is the same as the sign itself, then with the following sub-periods in natural order. For
example, the twelve dwadasamsa of Aquarius are Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and so on, until the last
dwadasamsa Capricorn. Technically this approach is based on attributes of both the twelfth and thirteenth
harmonics of the zodiacal signs and can be considered to be halfway between the 12th and 13th harmonics.

Sub-period direction (forward o r retrograde?)

There are two ways of applying the above sub-periods to the astrological ages.
 Natural Order - The most common way is to arrange the sub-periods so that they go forward in the
natural order. Therefore, if the Aries to Pisces method is adopted for example in the Aquarian Age, the
first sub-period is Aries, followed by Taurus, Gemini and so on until the last sub-division Pisces. This
is the approach made by Charles Carter. If the dwadasamsa sub-period is adopted they also progress in
the natural order of the signs. For example, the twelve dwadasamsa of Aquarius are Aquarius, Pisces,
Aries, Taurus, and so on, until the last dwadasamsa Capricorn.
Geometric Order (Retrograde) - The other approach is to arrange the sub-periods geometrically and
reverse the direction of the sub-periods in line with the retrograde order of the astrological ages. For
example, if applying the Aries to Pisces method, the first sub-period of any astrological age is Pisces,
followed by Aquarius, Capricorn, and so on, until the last sub-period Aries. Charles Carter indicated
there was some merit to this approach.[75] If applying the dwadasamsa sub-period system geometrically
for example the first sub-period in the Aquarian Age is Capricorn, followed by Sagittarius, Scorpio, and
so on, until the last sub-period Aquarius. This approach is adopted by Terry MacKinnell,[76] Patrizia
Norelli-Bachelet[77] and Lcdr David Williams applied his [decans] (threefold division) geometrically
thus supporting this approach.

New, alternative, and fringe myths

Due to the lack of consensus of almost all aspects of the astrological ages, except for the astrological ages
relationship to precession of the equinoxes and the retrograde order of the astrological ages, there are
alternative, esoteric, innovative, fringe and newly expressed ideas about the astrological ages which have not
established credibility in the wider astrological community or amongst archeoastronomers.

Alternative approach to calibrat ing precession

Terry MacKinnell has developed an alternative approach to calibrating precession of the equinoxes to
determine the Astrological Age. His major point of departure from the traditional modern approach is how he
applies the vernal equinox to the zodiacal constellations. Instead of referring to the position of the Sun at the
vernal equinox (a 'modern' mathematical technique developed by the Greeks in the late 1st millennium BC), he
refers to the heliacal rising constellation on the day of the vernal equinox. This approach is based on the ancient
approach to astronomical observations (the same ancient period that also saw the invention of the zodiacal
constellations) prior to the development of mathematical astronomy by the ancient Greeks in the 1st
millennium BC. All ancient astronomical observations were based on visual techniques.[78] Of all the key
techniques used in ancient times, the most common in Babylon (most likely the source of astrology) and most
other ancient cultures were based on phenomena that occurred close to the eastern or western horizons.[79]
MacKinnell claims that it is incongruent to use a 'modern' mathematical approach to the much older
constellations that were first described well before these mathematical approaches were invented.

The heliacal rising constellation at the vernal equinox is based on the last zodiacal constellation rising above
the Eastern Horizon just before dawn and before the light of the approaching Sun obliterates the stars on the
eastern horizon. Currently at the vernal equinox the constellation of Aquarius has been the heliacal rising
constellation for some centuries. The stars disappear about one hour before dawn depending upon magnitude,
latitude, and date. This one hour represents approximately 15 degrees difference compared to the contemporary
method based on the position of the Sun amongst the zodiacal constellations. Each age is composed of 30
degrees. Therefore, 15 degrees represents about half an age or about 1080 years. Therefore, based on the
heliacal rising method, the Age of Aquarius arrived about 1,080 years earlier than the modern system. John H
Rogers in part one of his paper Origins of the ancient constellations also states that using the ancient heliacal
rising method compared to the (modern) solar method produces a result that is approximately 1,000 in
advance.[80]

Using MacKinnell's approach, the Astrological Ages arrive about half an age earlier compared to the common
contemporary approach to calibrating precession based on 'modern' mathematical techniques. Therefore, Terry
MacKinnell has the Aquarian Age arriving in the 15th century while most astrologers have the Age of Aquarius
arriving in the 27th century, almost 700 years in the future.[81]
Popular culture
The film Aquarian Age, released in Japan in 2008. Directed by Hidetaka Tahara and starring Dori
Sakurada, Rakuto Tochihara, Takuya Uehara, Keita Kimura, Toshikiyo Fujii, Nao Nagasawa, Go Ayano
and Masami Horiuchi. This movie is based on the Japan's most popular domestic trading card game, the
characters from the female-oriented Juvenile Orion spinoff. The story focuses on several high school
boys who discover that they inherited latent genetic traits from among other things, wings that sprout out
of their backs. They soon find themselves caught in a millennia-old war, with each representing one of
several different factions.[82]
Aquarian Age (, Akuerian Eiji?) is a Japanese collectible trading card game
similar to Magic: The Gathering. It is marketed and produced by Broccoli, which produces games and
Anime-related goods.
The 1967 rock musical Hair featured the song "Aquarius" (composed by Galt MacDermot, James Rado,
and Gerome Ragni), which spoke of the coming age; a recording of the song by The 5th Dimension was
a top-ten pop hit in 1969.
The first section of the film Zeitgeist presents a theory of astrological ages that proposes that many events
in world religions, such as Moses' condemnation of the Golden Calf and Jesus' ministry, are merely
allegories used to describe astrological events. The narrator of the film implies that Biblical characters,
such as Jesus, never existed as real human beings, but are rather metaphors for constellations and ages.

See also
Age of Aquarius
Alice A. Bailey
Astrological sign
Astrology
Axial precession (astronomy)
Christian Rosenkreuz, "But the work itself shall be attributed to the blessedness of our age.", in C.F.,
1615
Christian views on astrology
Astrology and alchemy
Great Year
History of evolutionary thought
Ichthys
Milankovitch cycles
New Age
Sol invictus

Notes
References
1. Neil Spencer, True as the Stars Above, Victor Gollancz London, 2000, p. 116
2. Billy Meier's Contact Report 9, sentence 186. [1] (http://www.futureofmankind.co.uk/Billy_Meier/Con
tact_Report_9)
3. Richard Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche - Intimations of a New World View, Viking/Penguin, New York,
2006, pp. 5060
4. Nicholas Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes, The Wessex Astrologer, Bournemouth, Great Britain,
1998, pp. 480495
5. Neil Spencer, True as the Stars Above, Victor Gollancz London, 2000, p. 117
6. Neil Spencer, True as the Stars Above, Victor Gollancz London, 2000, pp. 1245
7. Nicholas Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes, The Wessex Astrologer, Bournemouth, Great Britain,
1999, p. 485
8. Neil Spencer, True as the Stars Above - Adventures in Modern Astrology, Victor Gollancz, London, 2000,
p. 115
 9. Derek & Julia Parker, Parkers' Encyclopedia of astrology, Watkins Publishing, London, 2009, p. 3
10. Ray Grasse, Signs of the Times - Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events, Hampton Roads
Publishing Company Inc, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2002, p. 5
11. Paul Wright, The Great Ages and other astrological cycles, Parlando Press, Edinburgh, 2007, p. 8
12. Neil Spencer, True as the Stars above, Victor Gollancz London, 2000, p. 116
13. Terry MacKinnell, A New Look at the Old Ages, NCGR Member Newsletter, National Council for
Geocosmic Research Inc., JuneJuly 2002, p. 10
14. Charles Carter, An Introduction to Political Astrology (Mundane Astrology), The Camelot Press, Great
Britain, 1973, p. 74
15. Nicholas Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes, The Wessex Astrologer, 1999, p. 489 clearly refers to
both conventions adopted by many astrologers basing the Ages on either the zodiacal constellations or
the sidereal signs.
16. Marcia Moore & Mark Douglas, Astrology, The Divine Science, Arcane Publications, York Harbour,
Maine USA, 1971, p. 676
17. Ray Grass Signs of the Times, Hampton Roads Publishing Company Inc, 2002, p. 263
18. Ray Grasse, Signs of the Times - Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events, Hampton Roads
Publishing Company Inc, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2002, p. 14
19. Paul Wright, The Great Ages and Other Astrological Cycles, Parlando Press, Edinburgh, 2007, pp. 78
20. Nicholas Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes, The Wessex Astrologer, Bournemouth UK, 1999, pp.
489495
21. Albert Amao, Aquarian Age & The Andean Prophecy, AuthorHouse, 2007, p. 56
22. Neil Spencer, True as the Stars Above, Victor Gollancz London, 2000, p. 119
23. Derek & Julia Parker, Parkers' Encyclopedia of Astrology, Watkins Publishing, London, 2009, p. 3
24. Ray Grasse, Signs of the Times - Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events, Hampton Roads
Publishing Company Inc, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2002, pp. 113127
25. Albert Amao, Aquarian Age & The Andean Prophecy, AuthorHouse, 2007, p. 4
26. Albert Amao, Aquarian Age & The Andean Prophecy, AuthorHouse, 2007, pp. 578
27. Giorgio de Santillana & Hertha von Dechend, "Hamlet's Mill", David R Godine, Boston, publisher, 1977,
pp. 50, 59, 66, 74, 120, 1423, 146
28. William Drummond, "Oedipus Judaicus - Allegory in the Old Testament", Bracken Books, London, 1996
(first published 2011), p xix, 159
29. William Drummond, "Oedipus Judaicus - Allegory in the Old Testament", Bracken Books, London, 1996
(first published 2011), p. 5
30. William Drummond, "Oedipus Judaicus - Allegory in the Old Testament", Bracken Books, London, 1996
(first published 2011), p. 193
31. William Drummond, "Oedipus Judaicus - Allegory in the Old Testament", Bracken Books, London, 1996
(first published 2011), pp. 223, 225
32. Michael Baigent, "From the Omens of Babylon: Astrology and Ancient Mesopotamia, Penguin Books,
1994, pp. 556, 65,71
33. "From the Omens of Babylon: Astrology and Ancient Mesopotamia, Penguin Books, 1994, p. 85
34. Jim Tester, "A History of Western Astrology", The Boydell Press, 1987, pp. 1612, 196
35. Pingree, David: Precession and Trepidation in Indian Astronomy before A.D. 1200. Journal for the
History of Astronomy, Vol. 3, p.27 - 35
36. Pingree, David Edwin: "The Recovery of early Greek astronomy from India", Journal for the History of
Astronomy, Bd. 7, 1976, S. 112
37. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, "Astronomy and Civilization In the New Enlightenment: Passions of the
Skies", Springer, p 96
38. Wallraff, Martin: Julius Africanus und die Christliche Weltchronik. Walter de Gruyter, 2006
39. Mosshammer, Alden A.: The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era. Oxford University
Press, 2009, p. 254, p. 270, p. 328
40. Declercq, Georges: Anno Domini. The Origins of the Christian Era. Turnhout Belgium. 2000
41. Consideration of the Origin of the Yearly Count in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars. Cosmology
Through Time. Ancient and Modern Cosmologies in the Mediterranean Area. G. Giobbi S.
Colafrancesco (Editor). Mimesis, 2004 (http://www.calendersign.com/en/to_adjustment_AD.php)
42. Consideration of the Origin of the Yearly Count in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars. Cosmology
Through Time. Ancient and Modern Cosmologies in the Mediterranean Area. G. Giobbi S.
Colafrancesco (Editor). Mimesis, 2004
43. The Cosmological Circumstances and Results of the Anno Domini Invention: Anno Mundi 6000, Great
Year, Precession, End of the World Calculations. Astronomy and Civilization in the New Enlightenment:
44. Astronomical Phenomena that Influenced the Compilation of Anno Domini. The Inspiration of
Astronomical Phenomena. Volume 441.
45. The Last Day Calculation of Anno Domini. Proceedings of the SEAC conference Ljubljana 2012. To be
published in Anthropological Notebooks, official journal of the Slovene Anthropological Society. 2013
46. Viator. Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of California Press, 1970, Pp 149
47. Jim Tester, "A History of Western Astrology", The Boydell Press, Suffolk, UK, 1999, pp 209,214
48. A Rosicrucian Spiritual Astrology library (http://www.rosicrucian.com/asthtme1.htm), a Western
Esoteric Christian astrology library
49. Mann, Neil, W.B. Yeats and a Vision: The Astrological Great Year (http://www.yeatsvision.com/GreatYea
r.html), 2000s
50. Simpson, Shephard (2000s). "Age of Taurus" (https://web.archive.org/web/20091027103004/http://geocit
ies.com/astrologyages/ageoftaurus.htm). Archived from the original (http://geocities.com/astrologyages/a
geoftaurus.htm) on 27 October 2009.
51. William Drummond, "Oedipus Judaicus - Allegory in the Old Testament", Bracken Books, London, 1996
(first published 2011), p xix, 159
52. Simpson, Shephard (2000s). "Age of Aries" (https://web.archive.org/web/20091026142221/http://geociti
es.com/astrologyages/ageofaries.htm). Archived from the original (http://geocities.com/astrologyages/age
ofaries.htm) on 26 October 2009.
53. Simpson, Shephard (2000s). "Age of Pisces" (https://web.archive.org/web/20091026142222/http://geociti
es.com/astrologyages/ageofpisces.htm). Archived from the original (http://geocities.com/astrologyages/a
geofpisces.htm) on 26 October 2009.
54. Freke & Gandy 2001, Myth becomes History.
55. Scott 1996.
56. Freke & Gandy 2001, The New Age.
57. Ankerberg 2011, 10.
58. Guttman, Guttman & Johnson 1993, p. 360.
59. Freke & Gandy 2001, The Greatest story ever told.
60. The Open Court 1920, p. 300.
61. Guttman, Guttman & Johnson 1993, p. 288.
62. The Flaming Sword 1900, Reading the Signs of the Times.
63. In an article copyrighted by Sepp Rothwangl: Considerations About the Start of the Age of Aquarius (see
External Links),
64. Haupt, Herman, Prof., "Der Beginn des Wassermannzeitalters, eine astronomische Frage?", 1992
65. Nicholas Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes, The Wessex Astrologer, Bournemouth UK, 1999, pp.
485, 489-495
66. Simpson, Shephard (2000s). "Age of Aquarius" (https://web.archive.org/web/20091026142212/http://geo
cities.com/astrologyages/ageofaquarius.htm). Archived from the original (http://geocities.com/astrologya
ges/ageofaquarius.htm) on 26 October 2009.
67. Marcia Moore & Mark Douglas, Astrology, The Divine Science, Arcane Publications, York Harbour,
Maine USA, 1971, Acknowledgments
68. Marcia Moore & Mark Douglas, Astrology, The Divine Science, Arcane Publications, York Harbour,
Maine USA, 1971, p. 686
69. Terry MacKinnell, "A New Look at the Old Ages", published in the "NCGR member letter" June- July
2002, National Center for Geocosmic Research Inc, p. 10
70. Lcdr David Williams, Simplified Astronomy for Astrologers, 1980, American Federation of Astrologers,
Tempe Arizona
71. Robert Hand, Cardinal Points, 1997
72. Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, The Gnostic Circle, Samual Weiser Inc, New York, 1978, pp. 105122
73. Charles Carter, An Introduction to Political Astrology (Mundane Astrology), The Camelot Press, Great
Britain, 1973, pp. 756
74. the ancient Roman astrologer Manilius used dwadasamsa but called them dodecatemorion (sometimes
'duodecatemorion') - Stephanie Jean Ennis, Decanates and Dwads, 1983, p. 57 ISBN 0-86690-239-2
75. Charles Carter, An Introduction to Political Astrology, 1973, LN Fowler & Co Ltd, London, p. 76
76. Terry MacKinnell, "The Cusp of Ages" published in The FAA Journal June 2001 Vol 31 No. 2. pp. 3342
77. Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, The Gnostic Circle, Samual Weiser Inc, New York, 1978
78. O Neugebaurer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, 1969, p. 106
 79. O Neugebaurer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, 1969, p. 98
80. John H Rogers, "Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions", Journal of the
British Astronomical Association, 108,1, 1998, p. 9
81. Terry MacKinnell, "The Mysterious Zodiacal Constellations", published in The International Astrologer
Vol XXXI No. 3, 2002, pp. 2933
82. (http://www.aquarian-movie.com/)

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Horary astrology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Horary astrology is an ancient branch of horoscopic astrology in which an astrologer attempts to answer a
question by constructing a horoscope for the exact time at which the question was received and understood by
the astrologer.

The answer to the horary question might be a simple yes or no, but is generally more complex with insights
into, for example, the motives of the questioner, the motives of others involved in the matter, and the options
available to them.

Contents
1 Approach
2 Assigning houses
3 Turning the chart
4 Interpretation
5 Sources
6 See also

Approach
Horary astrology has its own strict system. The position of and aspects to the moon are of prime importance.
The person asking the question, or querent, is represented by the ruler of the sign the first house cusp falls on
in the horoscope. Planetary aspects to the house cusps are considered more important than in other branches of
astrology (although it is the planetary rulers of the houses in question that take precedence in analysis). Other
key elements used in horary astrology include the lunar nodes, the planetary antiscia, the fixed stars and the
Arabic parts.

Typically, a horary chart is read by first assigning the thing asked about, the quesited, to a particular house in
the chart. For instance, asking "Where is my lost dog?" would be represented by the sixth house, as it is the
house that governs small animals (traditionally, smaller than a goat). The house cusp of the sixth house will be
in a particular sign, for example Libra. Libra is ruled by Venus, so Venus is considered the significator of the
lost dog. Venus's state in the horoscope (its dignity, aspects, etc.) will give clues to the animal's location. Horary
astrology is suited for situations and divination but not suited for obtaining details, e.g. addresses, names and so
on.

Assigning houses
Houses play a more crucial role in horary astrology than they do in other branches of astrology; however the
meaning of all 12 of the houses in horary astrology are still the same as in the other astrological branches. Any
house system preferred by the astrologer may be used, but commonly horary astrologers choose to divide the
chart using the Regiomontanus house system.

Understanding the correct house for the context of the question is pivotal to the correct interpretation of a
horary question. Everything can be assigned to a house and it is to that house, and its ruler, that the assignation
of the quesited is derived. Whatever planet is ruling the sign on the cusp of the house is called the quesited. The
context of the horary will often determine the house. For example, if the horary is about matters pertaining to
career, the ruler of the 10th House, natural house for careers and jobs, will be the quesited.

A short, non-exhaustive, list of possible associations with houses follows:

The First House

The querent (person asking the question). The querent's physical appearance (hair color and body
type for example) or temperament, so mental state.

The Second House

The querent's finance, wealth and general material and financial possessions. Moveable
possessions as opposed to immovable possessions. Allies or supports for the querent, such as your
lawyer in court cases. Any personal (moveable) goods and belongings, immovable possessions
such as houses are fourth house. Questions about the value of any of your possessions would be
second house, for example the buying and selling of a car would be second house (not third).

The Third House

Siblings and neighbors. Any general concern about relatives may be considered third house.
Communications and contracts. General comings and goings and short journeys and travels.
Letters, emails and paperwork. (Cars may be second or third depending on the context of the
question- in matters of travel, the third may be used, in matters pertaining to the value of the car, or
of buying or selling a car, then the second may be used.) Lower education such as elementary,
junior high/middle and high school.

The Fourth House

Parents. Immovable possessions as opposed to movable possessions, e.g. your houses, garden,
orchard. Mines, oil, buried treasure and anything which comes from the 'bowels of the earth'.

The Fifth House

Children, love affairs, Romance & Sex(as in making love). Gambling, speculation, arguments,
games and pleasure. Any venue that caters to our pleasures or provide entertainment including
restaurants, clubs, bars and music venues, basically any place you go and have fun.

The Sixth House

Illness and disease or sickness. Also servants, or anyone who works for you, such as a plumber,
electrician or anyone in your employ. Pets and small animals, traditionally considered smaller than
a goat (larger animals are twelfth house). Work & work environment. People with whom you work
together in some kind of agreement.

The Seventh House

Marriage, partners and partnerships - both business and personal. Competitors and opponents of all
kinds. It is the house of open enemies, by which it is meant enemies that you are aware of. Hidden
enemies are the twelfth house. If no other house suffices, use the seventh house to represent 'any
old person'.

The Eighth House

Death, fears, anxiety.Sex(in a lustful sense). It is also commonly used to "the house of other
people's money" . (see 'Turning the chart' below).

The Ninth House

Long distance travel, or, travel to unknown or 'exotic' locations. Foreigners and foreign lands.
Universities and students of any subject of higher education such as doctors, lawyers, priests and
astrologers. Visions, dreams and religion, as well as churches and philosophies. Books.
Pilgrimages or journeys for spiritual or religious reasons.

The Tenth House

 Career and persons of authority. Heads of state, the government generally, judges and royalty. It is
also commonly used to indicate the property belonging to the partner or opponent (see 'Turning the
chart' below).

The Eleventh House

Friendships or groups. Wishes, hopes and aspirations. It is considered the house of 'Good Fortune'.
Most people know this as the house of friends and acquaintances. (see 'Turning the chart' below).

The Twelfth House

Secrets, hidden motives and enemies, captivity, imprisonment and self-undoing. Things not yet
known to the querent. Any form of non-voluntary bondage or captivity, monasteries, being
voluntary and religious are ninth house. Magick, Witchcraft or any manner of secretly undermining
the querent.

Turning the chart

In addition, houses may gain extra meaning by way of 'turning the chart'. If you know that the fourth house
relates to the father, and that the third house relates to siblings, you can turn the chart to get the father's sibling
by taking the third house (siblings) from the fourth house (father), in other words, by counting three house from
the fourth. In this manner the sixth house (third from the fourth), in addition to its natural meaning, may also be
used for any brothers and sisters of the father. In a horary question about, for example, your aunt or uncle, it
would make sense to turn the chart and use the sixth house if it is your father's brother or sister, or, alternatively,
to use the twelfth house (third from tenth) if it is your mother's brother or sister. Turned houses are called
derived houses, as opposed to the normal radical houses.

Interpretation
Fundamental to horary astrology is the concept of planetary dignity and reception. Dignity comes in two forms,
essential and accidental. Essential refers to the quality of a planet at a particular degree of the zodiac and its
ability to express its true/good nature. For instance, a horoscope is drawn and Mars is in Scorpio. Using
traditional rulerships, Mars here is in its own sign, so it is considered essentially strong; a well-behaved Mars.
Mars in Taurus, on the other hand, is in its detriment, so is essentially weak. In a horary question where Mars is
a significator, Mars's essential dignity will indicate something of the quality of the quesited. Accidental dignity
refers to how the planet "finds itself". That is, if the planet is in a traditionally bad house (6th, 8th, or 12th) in
the chart, if it is retrograde, aspected by a malefic planet (Saturn or Mars), combust, etc., then it is considered
an accidental debility.

As an example, consider a valuable ring which happens to be lost. Its inherent condition is that it is valuable
and so has lots of essential dignity. However, its current state is that it is lost and so has little accidental dignity.
The significator for the ring in this horary might, for example, be Venus in Taurus (good essential dignity) but
retrograde and combust (accidentally debilitated).

However, some horary astrologers consider a retrograde significator a good sign that the object will come back,
or be found. This is particularly true if the significator of the querent and that of the quesited are making aspect
to each other. For example, the trine would mean that it is found relatively easily, whereas the opposition may
mean that it will be found, but the querent will almost wish it hadn't been. In the above case, the ring may be
found, but in such bad shape that the querent would rather not have seen it in its terrible condition. If this
question were about a missing person, the person will be found, but in very bad shape.

Reception refers to how each planet in a horary question chart "view" or "receive'" each other, either
favourably, unfavourably, or somewhere in between. If Mars is in Taurus, and Venus is in Scorpio, then each of
the planets is in the sign the other planet rules. (Venus is ruler of Taurus, Mars of Scorpio). This is called
mutual reception by rulership, and although each planet is in its detriment, it nevertheless receives the other
planet favourably. In some horary questions, a thorough understanding of receptions (and the above example
skims the surface of this topic) is required to delineate the interplay of how the various significators view each
other what sort of attitudes are taking place in the area of the question.

Sources
William Lilly (1602-1681) Christian Astrology, An Introduction to Astrology, 1647, Astrology Classics
2004
Marc Edmund Jones: Problem Solving by Horary Astrology, David Mc Kay, 1946
Derek Appleby: Horary Astrology R. Reginald/Borgo Press, 1986

See also
Electional astrology
Katarche - ancient horary

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Classical planet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In classical antiquity, the sacred Seven Luminaries or what we now call the Seven Classical Planets are the
seven non-fixed objects visible in the sky: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The
word planet comes from the Greek word , plants "wanderer" (short for asteres planetai "wandering
stars"), expressing the fact that these objects move across the celestial sphere relative to the fixed stars.[1]

The term planet in modern terminology is only applied to satellites orbiting the Sun, so that of the classical
seven planets, five are planets in the modern sense, the five planets easily visible to the unaided eye.

Contents
1 Babylonian astronomy
2 Symbols
3 Planetary hours
4 Alchemy
5 Contemporary astrology
5.1 Western astrology
5.2 Indian astrology
6 Planets in Chinese astronomy
7 Naked-eye planets
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Babylonian astronomy
Babylonians recognized seven planets. A bilingual list in the British Museum records the seven Babylonian
planets in this order: [2]

Sumerian Akkadian Celestial Body godship

Aku Sin Moon Sin/Suen

Biebi ama Sun ama

Dapinu Umun-sig-a Jupiter Marduk/Amarutu

Zib/Zig Dele-bat Venus Itar

Lu-lim Lu-bat-sag-u Saturn Ninib/Nirig/Ninip[3]

Bibbu Lubat-gud Mercury Nabu/Nebo

Simutu Mutabarru Mars Nergal

Symbols
The astrological symbols for the classical planets, zodiac signs, aspects, lots, and the lunar nodes appear in the
medieval Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved.[4] In the original papyri of
these Greek horoscopes, there are found a circle with one ray ( ) for the Sun and a crescent for the Moon.[5]
The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Greek
papyri.[6] The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as monograms of the initial letters of the

corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus.[6] A. S. D. Maunder finds
corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus.[6] A. S. D. Maunder finds
antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical
planets. Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century,[7] shows Greek personifications of planetary
gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her
necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a
circlet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached.[8] A diagram in
Johannes Kamateros' 12th century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a
ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a shield
crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the
cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols.[8] The modern sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot
(), first appeared in the Renaissance.[5]

Planetary hours
The Ptolemaic system used in Greek astronomy placed the planets in order, closest to Earth to furthest, as the
Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. In addition the day was divided into 7-hour intervals,
each ruled by one of the planets, although the order was staggered (see below).

The first hour of each day was named after the ruling planet, giving rise to the names and order of the Roman
seven-day week. Modern Latin-based cultures, in general, directly inherited the days of the week from the
Romans and they were named after the classical planetsfor example in Spanish Mircoles = Mercury, in
French Mardi = Mars.

The modern English days of the week were inherited from gods of the old Germanic Norse cultureThursday
= Thor (Jupiter), Friday = Frige (Venus). It can be correlated that the Norse gods were attributed to each
Roman planet and its god, probably due to Roman influence rather than coincidentally by the naming of the
planets.

Weekday (English name) Planet (Roman god) Germanic god (Norse name) Germanic god (Saxon name)

Sunday Sun (Sol) Sl Sunne

Monday Moon (Luna) Mni Mna

Tuesday Mars Tr Tw

Wednesday Mercury inn Wden

Thursday Jupiter Thrr Thunor

Friday Venus Frigg Frige

Saturday Saturn

Alchemy
In alchemy, each classical planet (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) was associated with
one of the seven metals known to the classical world (silver, mercury/quicksilver, copper, gold, iron, tin and
lead respectively). As a result, the alchemical glyphs for the metal and associated planet coincide. Alchemists
believed the other elemental metals were variants of these seven (e.g. zinc was known as "Indian tin" or "mock
silver"[9]).

Alchemy in the Western World and other locations where it was widely practiced was (and in many cases still
is) allied and intertwined with traditional Babylonian-Greek style astrology; in numerous ways they were built
to complement each other in the search for hidden knowledge (knowledge that is not common i.e. the occult).
Astrology has used the concept of classical elements from
antiquity up until the present day today. Most modern
astrologers use the four classical elements extensively, and
indeed they are still viewed as a critical part of interpreting
the astrological chart.

Traditionally, each of the seven "planets" in the solar

system as known to the ancients was associated with, held Extract and symbol key from 17th century alchemy text.
dominion over, and "ruled" a certain metal (see also
astrology and the classical elements).

The list of rulership is as follows:

The Sun rules Gold ( )

The Moon, Silver ( )
Mercury, Quicksilver/Mercury ( )
Venus, Copper ( )
Mars, Iron ( )
Jupiter, Tin ( )
Saturn, Lead ( )

Some alchemists (e.g. Paracelsus) adopted the Hermetic Qabalah

assignment between the vital organs and the planets as follows:[9]

Planet Organ

Sun Heart

Moon Brain

Mercury Lungs A table of alchemical symbols from

Basil Valentines The Last Will and
Venus Kidneys Testament, 1670 ce.
Mars Gall bladder

Jupiter Liver

Saturn Spleen

Contemporary astrology
Western astrology
 Astrology: the Thema Mundi shows the naked-eye
planets in their domicile

Exaltation
Planet Domicile sign(s) Detriment sign(s) Fall sign Joy sign(s)
sign

Sun Leo Aquarius Aries Libra Sagittarius

Moon Cancer Capricorn Taurus Scorpio Pisces, Libra

Gemini (diurnal) and Virgo Sagittarius (diurnal) and Aries, Scorpio,

Mercury Virgo Pisces
(nocturnal) Pisces (nocturnal) Capricorn and Aquarius

Libra (diurnal) and Taurus Aries (diurnal) and Scorpio Gemini, Cancer and
Venus Pisces Virgo
(nocturnal) (nocturnal) Aquarius

Aries (diurnal) and Scorpio Libra (diurnal) and Taurus Gemini, Leo, Virgo and
Mars Capricorn Cancer
(nocturnal) (nocturnal) Sagittarius

Sagittarius (diurnal) and Pisces Gemini (diurnal) and Virgo

Jupiter Cancer Capricorn Taurus, Leo and Libra
(nocturnal) (nocturnal)

Aquarius (diurnal) and Leo (diurnal) and Cancer Gemini, Virgo and
Saturn Libra Aries
Capricorn (nocturnal) (nocturnal) Scorpio

Indian astrology

Indian astronomy and astrology (Jyotia) recognises seven visible planets (including the sun and moon) and
two additional invisible planets.
 Sanskrit
Tamil name English Name Guna Represents Day
Name

Surya
(nyayiru) Sun Sattva Soul, king, highly placed persons, father. Sunday
()

Chandra (thingal),
Moon Sattva Mind, queen, mother. Monday
( ) (mathi), (Nilavau)

Mangala (cevvai),
Mars Tamas energetic action, confidence and ego Tuesday
( ) (sem-meen)

Budha
Mercury Rajas Communication and analysis Wednesday
()

Brihaspati (vyalan),
Jupiter Sattva the great teacher Thursday
( ) (Pon-meen)

Shukra (velli),
Venus Rajas wealth, pleasure and reproduction Friday
( ) (ven-meen)

Shani (sani), (mai- learning the hard way. Career and

Saturn Tamas Saturday
() m-meen) Longevity

an Asura who does his best to plunge

Ascending/North
Rahu ( ) (karumpaambu) Tamas any area of one's life he controls into none
Lunar Node
chaos

Descending/South
Ketu () (cempaaambu) Tamas supernatural influences none
Lunar Node

Planets in Chinese astronomy

The cycles of the Chinese calendar are linked to the orbit of Jupiter, there being 12 sacred beasts in the Chinese
dodecannualar geomantic and astrological cycle, and 12 years in the orbit of Jupiter.

Old
English Associated Chinese/Japanese Chinese Japanese Korean
Vietnamese Name astronomical
Name element Characters pinyin romaji Name
names[10]

Chnxng (
Mercury water Shuxng Suisei Sao Thy
(Suseong) )

Sao Kim, also "Sao Mai"

as "morning star" and
Venus metal/gold Jnxng Kinsei Tibi ()
(Geumseong) "Sao Hm" as "evening
star"

Ynghu (
Mars fire Huxng Kasei Sao Ha
(Hwaseong) )

Jupiter wood Mxng Mokusei Sao Mc Su ()
(Mokseong)

Zhnxng (
Saturn earth Txng Dosei Sao Th
(Toseong) )

Naked-eye planets
Mercury and Venus are visible only in twilight hours because their orbits are interior to that of Earth. Venus is
the third-brightest object in the sky and the most prominent planet. Mercury is more difficult to see due to its
proximity to the Sun. Lengthy twilight and an extremely low angle at maximum elongations make optical

filters necessary to see Mercury from extreme polar locations.[11] Mars is at its brightest when it is in
filters necessary to see Mercury from extreme polar locations.[11] Mars is at its brightest when it is in
opposition, which occurs approximately every twenty-five months. Jupiter and Saturn are the largest of the five
planets, but are farther from the Sun, and therefore receive less sunlight. Nonetheless, Jupiter is often the next
brightest object in the sky after Venus. Saturn's luminosity is often enhanced by its rings, which reflect light to
varying degrees, depending on their inclination to the ecliptic; however, the rings themselves are not visible to
the naked eye from the Earth. Uranus and sometimes the asteroid Vesta are in principle visible to the naked eye
on very clear nights, but, unlike the true naked-eye planets, are always less luminous than several thousands of
stars, and as such, do not stand out enough for their existence to be noticed without the aid of a telescope.

See also
Antikythera mechanism
Aspects of Venus
Definition of planet
List of former planets
Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
Geocentric model
Celestial spheres

References
1. Classification of the Planets (http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/classification/classification.html)
2. Mackenzie, Myths of Babylonia and Assyria (1915), chapter 13 "Astrology and Astronomy"[1] (http://sac
red-texts.com/ane/mba/mba19.htm)
3. also called (Sumerian) Kawanu and (Akkadian) Sag-u "firm, steadfast, phlegmatic"; see The Religion
of Babylonia and Assyria by Thophilus G. Pinches (http://worldwideschool.org/library/books/relg/non-ch
ristiancomparative/TheReligionofBabyloniaandAssyria/chap5.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20071217065651/http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/relg/non-christiancomparative/TheR
eligionofBabyloniaandAssyria/chap5.html) 2007-12-17 at the Wayback Machine.
4. Neugebauer, Otto (1975). A history of ancient mathematical astronomy. pp. 788789.
5. Neugebauer, Otto; Van Hoesen, H. B. (1987). Greek Horoscopes. pp. 1, 159, 163.
6. Jones, Alexander (1999). Astronomical papyri from Oxyrhynchus. pp. 6263. "It is now possible to trace
the medieval symbols for at least four of the five planets to forms that occur in some of the latest papyrus
horoscopes ([ P.Oxy. ] 4272, 4274, 4275 [...]). That for Jupiter is an obvious monogram derived from the
initial letter of the Greek name. Saturn's has a similar derivation [...] but underwent simplification. The
ideal form of Mars' symbol is uncertain, and perhaps not related to the later circle with an arrow through
it. Mercury's is a stylized caduceus."
7. "Bianchini's planisphere" (http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanispher
e.html). Florence, Italy: Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Institute and Museum of the History of
Science). Retrieved 2010-03-17.
8. Maunder, A. S. D. (1934). "The origin of the symbols of the planets". The Observatory. 57: 238247.
Bibcode:1934Obs....57..238M (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1934Obs....57..238M).
9. Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science, ISBN 978-
0-09-945787-9
10. (http://www.bj80.com/jiaoyanzu/wlz/wlxs/zggdwl2.htm) Archived (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20100511104928/http://www.bj80.com/jiaoyanzu/wlz/wlxs/zggdwl2.htm) 2010-05-11 at
the Wayback Machine.
11. Sky Publishing Latitude Is Everything (http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/astronomy/astro21/sandt/la
titude.html)

External links
The Naked Eye Planets and how to identify them
Wandering Stars: Movements and Visibility Cycles of the Naked Eye Planets
Chronology of Discoveries in the Solar System
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Classical_planet&oldid=794610733"

This page was last edited on 9 August 2017, at 00:37.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Horoscope
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A horoscope is an astrological chart or diagram

representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets,
astrological aspects and sensitive angles at the time of an
event, such as the moment of a person's birth. The word
horoscope is derived from Greek words hra and scopos
meaning "time" and "observer" (horoskopos, pl.
horoskopoi, or "marker(s) of the hour"). Other commonly
used names for the horoscope in English include natal
chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-
map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart,
radix, chart wheel or simply chart. It is used as a method
of divination regarding events relating to the point in time
it represents, and it forms the basis of the horoscopic
traditions of astrology.

In common usage, horoscope often refers to an astrologer's A horoscope calculated for January 1, 2000 at 12:01:00
interpretation, usually based on a system of solar Sun sign A.M. Eastern Standard Time in New York City, New
astrology; based strictly on the position of the Sun at the York, USA (Longitude: 074W00'23" - Latitude:
time of birth, or on the calendar significance of an event, as 40N42'51")
in Chinese astrology. In particular, many newspapers and
magazines carry predictive columns, written in prose that
may be written more for increasing readership than tied directly to the Sun or other aspects of the solar system,
allegedly based on celestial influences in relation to the zodiacal placement of the Sun on the month of birth,
cusp (2 days before or after any particular sign, an overlap), or decante (the month divided into 3 ten-day
periods) of the person's month of birth, identifying the individual's Sun sign or "star sign" based on the tropical
zodiac.[1]

No scientific studies have shown support for the accuracy of horoscopes, and the methods used to make
interpretations are pseudo-scientific.[2][3][4][5][6]:1350 In modern scientific framework no known interaction
exists that could be responsible for the transmission of the alleged influence between a person and the position
of stars in the sky at the moment of birth.[7][8] In all tests completed, keeping strict methods to include a control
group and proper blinding between experimenters and subjects, horoscopes have shown no effect beyond pure
chance.[9][10] Furthermore, some psychological tests have shown that it is possible to construct personality
descriptions and foretelling generic enough to satisfy most members of a large audience simultaneously,
referred to as the Forer or Barnum effect.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Etymology
3 Concepts in Western astrology
3.1 Angles
3.2 The Zodiac
3.3 Houses
4 Construction of a horoscope in Western astrology
4.1 Houses
4.2 Placements of the planets
4.3 Aspects
4.4 Ascendant
5 Chinese horoscopes
 6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Introduction
The horoscope serves as a stylized map of the heavens over a specific location at a particular moment in time.
In most applications the perspective is geocentric (heliocentric astrology being one exception). The positions of
the actual planets (including Sun and Moon) are placed in the chart, along with those of purely calculated
factors such as the lunar nodes, the house cusps including the midheaven and the ascendant, zodiac signs, fixed
stars and the lots. Angular relationships between the planets themselves and other points, called aspects, are
typically determined. The emphasis and interpretation of these factors varies with tradition.

Etymology
The Sanskrit term for horo is hora (). Horo-scope is hora-shastra (- ). The Latin word horoscopus,
ultimately from Greek "nativity, horoscope", literally "observer of the hour [of birth]", from
"time, hour" and "observer, watcher". In Middle English texts from the 11th century, the word appears
in the Latin form and is anglicized to horoscope in Early Modern English. The noun horoscopy for "casting of
horoscopes" has been in use since the 17th century (OED). In Greek, in the sense of "ascendant"
and "observation of the ascendant" is in use since Ptolemy (Tetrabiblos 33, 75).

Concepts in Western astrology

The native is the subject of the event (a birth, for example) being charted at a particular time and place,
and is considered to be at the centre of the celestial sphere.
The celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere onto which the zodiac, constellations and planets are
projected.
The plane of the equator is the plane of the Earth's equator projected into space.
The plane of the ecliptic is defined by the orbits of the earth and the sun. For practical purposes the
plane of the equator and the plane of the ecliptic maintain a constant inclination to each other of
approximately 23.5.
The plane of the horizon is centred on the native, and is tangential to the earth at that point. In a sphere
whose radius is infinitely large, this plane may be treated as nearly equivalent to the parallel plane with
its centre at the Earth's center. This greatly simplifies the geometry of the horoscope, but does not take
into account that the native is in motion. Some writers on astrology have thus considered the effects of
parallax, but most would agree that (apart from that of the moon) they are relatively minor.

Angles

There are four primary angles in the horoscope. These are, in order of power:

First House (Ascendant East Angle)

Tenth House (Midheaven or M.C. North Angle)
Seventh House (Descendant West Angle)
Fourth House (Imum Coeli or I.C. South Angle)

The ascendant is the easternmost or sunrise point where the ecliptic and horizon intersect; the ascendant and
the midheaven are considered the most important angles in the horoscope by the vast majority of astrologers.
In most systems of house division, the ascendant is the cusp of the 1st house and the midheaven is the cusp of
the 10th house. The placement of the planetary ruler of the ascendant, called the chart ruler is also considered
to be significant. The point in the west diametrically opposing the ascendant is called the descendant, normally
the cusp of the 7th house; and the point opposing the M.C. is the cusp of the 4th house, the northernmost point
of the chart, called the imum coeli or I.C.

In creating a horoscope the ascendant is traditionally placed at the "nine o'clock" position on the left-hand side
of the chart wheel (though traditional rectangular chart formats need not follow this convention). During the
course of a day, because of the Earth's rotation, the entire circle of the ecliptic will pass through the ascendant
and will be advanced by about 1. This movement provides us with the term rising sign, which is the sign of
the zodiac rising over the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. The point on the ecliptic that is furthest above
the plane of the horizon at the time is called the Midheaven, or medium coeli (M.C.), placed at the "twelve
o'clock position" effectively where the Sun would be if the birth time was midday.

The Zodiac
The Zodiac, or "circle of animals" is a zone or belt in space
projected onto the celestial sphere through which, from our
viewpoint, the planets move. A symbolic geometric construction
around 15 to 18 degrees wide, it is divided into 12 signs, each of
30 degrees longitude (making 360 degrees in all), with the
ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun, as its middle line. The
tropical zodiac used by most Western astrologers has its
beginning at the exact moment that the Sun crosses the celestial
equator and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries. Some Western
astrologers use the sidereal zodiac favoured by Indian ("jyotish")
astrologers, which is based more closely on actual positions of
constellations in the heavens, as opposed to the tropical zodiac,
which is a moveable format based on the seasons.
The astrological symbols/glyphs used in
The tropical zodiac defines the vernal point (the first day of spring in Western astrology to represent the
the northern hemisphere) as the first degree of Aries, but the sidereal astrological signs (Zodiac)
zodiac allows it to precess. Many people are confused regarding the
difference between the sidereal zodiac and the tropical zodiac signs.
Because of a "wobble" in the Earth's axis of rotation over a period of about 26,000 years (often called a "great
year"), the rate at which the vernal equinox precesses in the heavens is approximately 0 deg, 0 min, 50.23
seconds a year, drifting by one degree every 72 years. Precession of the equinoxes thus occurs at a rate of
roughly 5 arc minutes of a degree every 6 years. The tropical signs relate to the seasons and not the stars. Here
is an example: a person born on, say August 28, 2002 would come to understand that his/her Sun sign was in
Virgo according to Western astrology (conventional Sun sign dates August 23, to September 22, of every year),
but Sun on that same calendar date of the year 2002 was in the constellation Leo (where it had been since
August 10, 2002 and would remain until September 15, when it would then finally cross into Virgo).

It is worth pointing out that the sidereal signs and the tropical signs are both geometrical conventions of 30
each, whereas the zodiacal constellations are pictorial representations of mythological figures projected onto
the celestial sphere based on patterns of visible star groupings, none of which occupy precisely 30 of the
ecliptic. So constellations and signs are not the same, although for historical reasons they might have the same
names.[11]

It is also worth noting that some astrologers don't use the signs of the zodiac at all, focusing more instead on the
astrological aspects and other features of the horoscope.

The sun sign is the sign of the zodiac in which the sun is located for the native. This is the single
astrological fact familiar to most people. If an event occurs at sunrise the ascendant and sun sign will be
the same; other rising signs can then be estimated at approximately two-hour intervals from there.
A cusp is the boundary between two signs or houses. For some the cusp includes a small portion of the
two signs or houses under consideration.
Houses

The houses are a series of twelve divisions of the plane of the ecliptic. Astrologers have devised many
systems of calculating these house divisions. In the case of the equal house system the ecliptic is divided
into twelve equal houses of 30 each. The first house begins at the ascendant and the others are numbered
counterclockwise from that point. The first six are therefore below the horizon, and the other six are
above. The positions of these houses remains fixed relative to the native. The signs and planets all move
through the twelve houses during the course of a day, and the planets move through the signs over the
course of months or years.

Construction of a horoscope in Western astrology

To create a horoscope, an astrologer first has to ascertain the exact time and place of the subject's birth, or the
initiation of an event. The local standard time (adjusting for any daylight saving time or war time) is then
converted into Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Time at that same instant. The astrologer then has to
convert this into the local sidereal time at birth in order to be able to calculate the ascendant and midheaven.
The astrologer will next consult a set of tables called an ephemeris, which lists the location of the Sun, Moon
and planets for a particular year, date and sidereal time, with respect to the northern hemisphere vernal equinox
or the fixed stars (depending on which astrological system is being used). The astrologer then adds or subtracts
the difference between the longitude of Greenwich and the longitude of the place in question to determine the
true local mean time (LMT) at the place of birth to show where planets would be visible above the horizon at
the precise time and place in question. Planets hidden from view beneath the earth are also shown in the
horoscope.

The horoscope features 12 sectors around the circle of the ecliptic, starting from the eastern horizon with the
ascendant or rising sign. These 12 sectors are called the houses and numerous systems for calculating these
divisions exist. Tables of houses have been published since the 19th Century to make this otherwise demanding
task easier.

Houses

The chart thus begins with a framework of 12 houses. Upon this the
signs of the zodiac are superimposed. In the equal house system the
cusp between any two houses will fall at the same degree for each of
the at 12 of Leo, the second house will begin at 12 of Virgo, the third
at 12 Libra, and so on. In house systems that take into consideration
the effects of the angle of intersection between the planes of the horizon
and the ecliptic, the calculations are more complicated. For these
calculations it is essential to know the latitude of the event. Tables are
available for these calculations, but they are now commonly calculated
by computer. Most astrology computer programs allow the user to
choose from a variety of house systems.

Placements of the planets

Having established the relative positions of the signs in the houses, the
The astrological symbols/glyphs used in
astrologer positions the sun, moon, and planets at their proper celestial Western astrology to represent the
longitudes. Some astrologers also take note of minor planetary bodies, planets in astrology
fixed stars, asteroids (for example, Chiron) and other mathematically
calculated points and angles such as the vertex, equatorial ascendant,
etc. Many astrologers also use what are commonly referred to as Arabic parts (or Greek Lots), the most
common of which is the Part of Fortune (Pars Fortunae).

Aspects
To complete the horoscope the astrologer will consider the aspects or relative angles between pairs of planets.
More exact aspects are considered more important. The difference between the exact aspect and the actual
aspect is called the orb. Those generally recognized by the astrological community are Conjunction (0),
Opposition (180), Square (90), Trine (120), Sextile (60), Semi-Square (45), Sesquisquare (135), and
Quincunx (150). Understandably these aspects are more significant when they are exact, but they are
considered to function within an orb of influence, the size of which varies according to the importance of each
aspect. Thus conjunctions are believed to operate with a larger orb than sextiles. Most modern astrologers use
an orb of 8 or less for aspects involving the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter and smaller orbs for the other points.
Some astrologers, such as practitioners of Cosmobiology, and Uranian astrology, use minor aspects (15, 22.5,
67.5, 72, 75, 105, 112.5, 157.5, 165) with much narrower orbs.

Ascendant

The ascendant (ASC) is a point on the ecliptic that rises on the eastern horizon at sunrise and changes as the
earth rotates on its axis. The ascendant is very important in astrological chart interpretation. It exerts more
power than the sun, moon and planets because it infiltrates everything in the natal chart. The ascendant is the
first point of energy in the natal chart and it represents the way we view life. The sign on the ascendant
characterises our expression of who we are when dealing with others, and our initial action when dealing
with day-to-day concerns.Longitude is necessary in order to determine the position of the Ascendant because
horoscopes use local time. Having constructed the horoscope, the astrologer can begin the task of interpreting
the chart. This interpretation depends upon which branch of horoscopic astrology is being used......

Chinese horoscopes
In Chinese astrology, horoscopes are based on the symbolism of the Chinese zodiac, a system of elements and
animals associated with each year according to a Sexagenary cycle. Chinese horoscopes often appear in
horoscope sections in newspapers and magazine alongside Western horoscopes.

See also
Composite chart, a chart that is composed of the planetary midpoints of two or more horoscopes
the Forer Effect
Synoptical horoscope

References

1. "How Horoscopes Work" (http://people.howstuffworks.com/horoscope1.htm). 29 January 2005.

2. Thagard, Paul R. (1978). "Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience" (http://www.helsinki.fi/teoreettinenfilosofi
a/oppimateriaali/Sintonen/Paul_R._Thagard_-_Why_Astrology_Is_A_Pseudoscience.pdf) (PDF).
Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. The University of
Chicago Press. 1: 223234.
3. Astrology (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39971/astrology). Encyclopdia Britannica.
4. Sven Ove Hansson, Edward N. Zalta. "Science and Pseudo-Science" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pse
udo-science/). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
5. "Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List" (http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resour
ces/pseudobib.html). Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
 6. Hartmann, P.; Reuter, M.; Nyborga, H. (May 2006). "The relationship between date of birth and
individual differences in personality and general intelligence: A large-scale study". Personality and
Individual Differences. 40 (7): 13491362. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.11.017 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.
paid.2005.11.017). "To optimise the chances of finding even remote relationships between date of birth
and individual differences in personality and intelligence we further applied two different strategies. The
first one was based on the common chronological concept of time (e.g. month of birth and season of
birth). The second strategy was based on the (pseudo-scientific) concept of astrology (e.g. Sun Signs, The
Elements, and astrological gender), as discussed in the book Astrology: Science or superstition? by
Eysenck and Nias (1982)."
7. Peter D. Asquith, ed. (1978). Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science
Association, vol. 1 (http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/bnccde/PH29A/thagard.html). Dordrecht u.a.: Reidel
u.a. ISBN 978-0-917586-05-7.
8. Vishveshwara, edited by S.K. Biswas, D.C.V. Mallik, C.V. (1989). Cosmic Perspectives: Essays
Dedicated to the Memory of M.K.V. Bappu (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0-521-34354-2.
9. Carlson, Shawn (1985). "A double-blind test of astrology" (http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlso
n.pdf) (PDF). Nature. 318 (6045): 419425. Bibcode:1985Natur.318..419C (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/ab
s/1985Natur.318..419C). doi:10.1038/318419a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F318419a0).
10. Zarka, Philippe (2011). "Astronomy and astrology". Proceedings of the International Astronomical
Union. 5 (S260): 420425. doi:10.1017/S1743921311002602 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS17439213110
02602).
11. Burk, Kevin. "Astrology on the Web: Stars and Signs" (http://www.astrologycom.com/precession.html).

External links
1. http://www.thehoroscopeguru.com/ An example of popular free weekly and daily horoscopes available
on the web.

Aaj Ka Din Daily Horoscope

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Horoscope&oldid=800915064"

This page was last edited on 16 September 2017, at 14:14.

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apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Electional astrology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Electional astrology, also known as event astrology, is a branch found in most traditions of astrology in which
a practitioner decides the most appropriate time for an event based on the astrological auspiciousness of that
time.[1] It is distinct from horary astrology because, while horary astrologers seek to find the answer to a
question based on the time the question was asked, electional astrologers seek to find a period of time which
will result in the most preferable outcome for the event being planned.

Historically being used primarily to plan battles, electional astrology has been used by its proponents to plan a
number of events, including weddings and trips.[2][3]

Contents
1 History
2 Practice
3 Branches
3.1 Radical elections
3.2 Mundane elections
3.3 Ephemeral elections
3.3.1 Magical elections
4 References

History
A rudimentary form of electional astrology was used by the Babylonians beginning sometime after the 16th
century BCE. This and other Babylonian forms of astrology were passed on to the Egyptians, Indians and
Persians; although the Indians were the group that made the most use of it.[4] Early Vedic astrologers also used
a sophisticated form of electional astrology known as Muhurta (Muhurat) that was used for choosing the start
of yajnas, travel, warfare, marriage and even filmmaking (muhurat shot) etc.

Modern electional astrology, as well as most other astrology, can in general be traced directly back to Book
Five of Dorotheus of Sidon's treatises in Greek on the subject, Carmen Astrologicum from the 1st Century CE.
This is the oldest treatise on electional astrology.[5]

Practice
In electional astrology, an astrologer is given an event the querent intends to plan. The astrologer then finds a
date and time most auspicious for the event to take place, around which the querent bases the following plans.
The method of coming to these conclusions is based on the relative positions of stars, planets and other celestial
bodies at various times.[6] Each celestial body's placement means something particular to the tradition the
individual astrologer is using, in combination with the natal chart of the querent.[7]

Branches
Elections, or predictions for auspicious times, are usually divided into three branches, which are used
depending on the type of event being planned.[6]

Radical elections
Radical elections rest on the assumption that an election should be performed primarily based on the natal chart
of the querent or person for whom the election is being performed. An underlying assumption of radical
elections is that, because each person was born under different astrological conditions, the most auspicious time
to hold an event will be different for each.[8]

Mundane elections

Mundane elections involve using prominent mundane horoscopes ("mundane astrology" is concerned with
world affairs) in force at the time for which the election is made.[9]

Ephemeral elections

The most commonly used and distinctive form of election is the ephemeral election. These involve picking a
date for an event based on the position of the celestial bodies in the sky at the moment of the event. Most of the
time, when a person is talking about electional astrology, that person is referring to ephemeral elections.[10]
They can be described as "an horary chart set for a certain time in the future."[3]

Magical elections

Ephemeral elections have been used in ancient and modern times to make talismans and seals. These items
were seen to be imbued with the qualities of the auspicious date during which they were made, and their
instruction is commonly found in medieval literature.

References
1. http://www.astrologyweekly.com/astrology-articles/electional-astrology.php
2. http://www.horary.com/cse/elect1.html
3. Holden, James H. (2006). History of Horoscopic Astrology. American Federation of Astrologers. p. 15.
ISBN 0-86690-463-8.
4. Holden, James H. (2006). History of Horoscopic Astrology. American Federation of Astrologers. p. 8.
ISBN 0-86690-463-8.
5. Holden, James H. (2006). History of Horoscopic Astrology. American Federation of Astrologers. p. 43.
ISBN 0-86690-463-8.
6. Robsen, Vivian E. (2004). Electional Astrology. Kessinger Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-7661-8237-0.
7. Robsen, Vivian E. (2004). Electional Astrology. Kessinger Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7661-8237-0.
8. Robsen, Vivian E. (2004). Electional Astrology. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 1418. ISBN 978-0-7661-
8237-0.
9. Robsen, Vivian E. (2004). Electional Astrology. Kessinger Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-7661-8237-0.
10. Robsen, Vivian E. (2004). Electional Astrology. Kessinger Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-7661-8237-0.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electional_astrology&oldid=759922660"

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trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Alchemy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alchemy is a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout

Europe, Africa and Asia. It aimed to purify, mature, and perfect certain
objects.[1][2][n 1] Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base
metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold); the creation of an
elixir of immortality; the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease; and the
development of an alkahest, a universal solvent.[3] The perfection of the human
body and soul was thought to permit or result from the alchemical magnum
opus and, in the Hellenistic and western tradition, the achievement of gnosis.[2]
In Europe, the creation of a philosopher's stone was variously connected with
all of these projects.

In English, the term is often limited to descriptions of European alchemy, but

similar practices existed in the Far East, the Indian subcontinent, and the
Muslim world. In Europe, following the 12th-century Renaissance produced by
Kimiya-yi sa'dat (The
the translation of Islamic works on science and the Recovery of Aristotle,
Alchemy of Happiness) a text
alchemists played a significant role in early modern science[4] (particularly
on Islamic philosophy and
chemistry and medicine). Islamic and European alchemists developed a spiritual alchemy by Al-
structure of basic laboratory techniques, theory, terminology, and experimental Ghazl (10581111).
method, some of which are still in use today. However, they continued
antiquity's belief in four elements and guarded their work in secrecy including
cyphers and cryptic symbolism. Their work was guided by Hermetic principles related to magic, mythology,
and religion.[5]

Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric practical applications and
its esoteric spiritual aspects, despite the arguments of scholars like Holmyard[6] and von Franz[7] that they
should be understood as complementary. The former is pursued by historians of the physical sciences who
examine the subject in terms of early chemistry, medicine, and charlatanism, and the philosophical and
religious contexts in which these events occurred. The latter interests historians of esotericism, psychologists,
and some philosophers and spiritualists. The subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts.
Despite this split, which von Franz believes has existed since the Western traditions' origin in a mix of Greek
philosophy that was mixed with Egyptian and Mesopotamian technology,[7] numerous sources have stressed an
integration of esoteric and exoteric approaches to alchemy as far back as Pseudo-Democritus's first-century AD
On Physical and Mystical Matters (Greek: Physika kai Mystika).[8]

Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Hellenistic Egypt
2.2 India
2.3 Muslim world
2.4 East Asia
2.5 Medieval Europe
2.6 Renaissance and early modern Europe
2.7 Late modern period
2.8 Women in alchemy
2.9 Modern historical research
3 Core concepts
3.1 Hermeticism
3.2 Magnum opus
 4 Modern alchemy
4.1 Traditional medicine
4.2 Psychology
4.3 Literature
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
7.1 Citations
7.2 Bibliography
8 External links

Etymology
The word alchemy was borrowed from Old French alquemie, alkimie, taken from Medieval Latin alchymia,
and which is in turn borrowed from Arabic al-kmiy (). The Arabic word is borrowed from Late Greek
chmea (), chma (),[9] with the agglutination of the Arabic definite article al- ().[10] This
ancient Greek word was derived from[11] the early Greek name for Egypt, Chmia (), based on the
Egyptian name for Egypt, kme (hieroglyphic khmi, lit. black earth, as opposed to red desert sand).[10]

The Medieval Latin form was influenced by Greek chymeia () meaning mixture and referring to
pharmaceutical chemistry.[12]

History
Alchemy covers several philosophical traditions spanning some four millennia and three continents. These
traditions' general penchant for cryptic and symbolic language makes it hard to trace their mutual influences
and "genetic" relationships. One can distinguish at least three major strands, which appear to be largely
independent, at least in their earlier stages: Chinese alchemy, centered in China and its zone of cultural
influence; Indian alchemy, centered on the Indian subcontinent; and Western alchemy, which occurred around
the Mediterranean and whose center has shifted over the millennia from Greco-Roman Egypt, to the Islamic
world, and finally medieval Europe. Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoism and Indian alchemy
with the Dharmic faiths, whereas Western alchemy developed its own philosophical system that was largely
independent of, but influenced by, various Western religions. It is still an open question whether these three
strands share a common origin, or to what extent they influenced each other.

Hellenistic Egypt

The start of Western alchemy may generally be traced to ancient and Hellenistic Egypt, where the city of
Alexandria was a center of alchemical knowledge, and retained its pre-eminence through most of the Greek and
Roman periods.[13] Here, elements of technology, religion, mythology, and Hellenistic philosophy, each with
their own much longer histories, combined to form the earliest known records of alchemy in the West. Zosimos
of Panopolis wrote the oldest known books on alchemy, while Mary the Jewess is credited as being the first
non-fictitious Western alchemist. They wrote in Greek and lived in Egypt under Roman rule.

Mythology Zosimos of Panopolis asserted that alchemy dated back to Pharaonic Egypt where it was the
domain of the priestly class, though there is little to no evidence for his assertion.[14] Alchemical writers used
Classical figures from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and allegorize
alchemical transmutation.[15] These included the pantheon of gods related to the Classical planets, Isis, Osiris,
Jason, and many others.

The central figure in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus (or Thrice-Great Hermes). His name is
derived from the god Thoth and his Greek counterpart Hermes. Hermes and his caduceus or serpent-staff, were
among alchemy's principal symbols. According to Clement of Alexandria, he wrote what were called the
 "forty-two books of Hermes", covering all fields of
knowledge.[16] The Hermetica of Thrice-Great Hermes is
generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical
philosophy and practice, called the hermetic philosophy by its
early practitioners. These writings were collected in the first
centuries of the common era.

Technology The dawn of Western alchemy is sometimes

associated with that of metallurgy, extending back to
3500 BC.[17] Many writings were lost when the emperor
Diocletian ordered the burning of alchemical books[18] after
suppressing a revolt in Alexandria (AD 292). Few original
Egyptian documents on alchemy have survived, most notable
Ambix, cucurbit and retort ofZosimos, from among them the Stockholm papyrus and the Leyden papyrus X.
Marcelin Berthelot, Collection des anciens
Dating from AD 300500, they contained recipes for dyeing and
alchimistes grecs (3 vol., Paris, 18871888).
making artificial gemstones, cleaning and fabricating pearls, and
manufacturing of imitation gold and silver.[19] These writings
lack the mystical, philosophical elements of alchemy, but do
contain the works of Bolus of Mendes (or Pseudo-Democritus), which aligned these recipes with theoretical
knowledge of astrology and the classical elements.[20] Between the time of Bolus and Zosimos, the change took
place that transformed this metallurgy into a Hermetic art.[21]

Philosophy Alexandria acted as a melting pot for philosophies of Pythagoreanism, Platonism, Stoicism and
Gnosticism which formed the origin of alchemy's character.[20] An important example of alchemy's roots in
Greek philosophy, originated by Empedocles and developed by Aristotle, was that all things in the universe
were formed from only four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. According to Aristotle, each element had a
sphere to which it belonged and to which it would return if left undisturbed.[22] The four elements of the Greek
were mostly qualitative aspects of matter, not quantitative, as our modern elements are; "...True alchemy never
regarded earth, air, water, and fire as corporeal or chemical substances in the present-day sense of the word.
The four elements are simply the primary, and most general, qualities by means of which the amorphous and
purely quantitative substance of all bodies first reveals itself in differentiated form."[23] Later alchemists
extensively developed the mystical aspects of this concept.

Alchemy coexisted alongside emerging Christianity. Lactantius believed Hermes Trismegistus had prophesied
its birth. St Augustine later affirmed this in the 4th & 5th centuries, but also condemned Trismegistus for
idolatry.[24] Examples of Pagan, Christian, and Jewish alchemists can be found during this period.

Most of the Greco-Roman alchemists preceding Zosimos are known only by pseudonyms, such as Moses, Isis,
Cleopatra, Democritus, and Ostanes. Others authors such as Komarios, and Chymes, we only know through
fragments of text. After AD 400, Greek alchemical writers occupied themselves solely in commenting on the
works of these predecessors.[25] By the middle of the 7th century alchemy was almost an entirely mystical
discipline.[26] It was at that time that Khalid Ibn Yazid sparked its migration from Alexandria to the Islamic
world, facilitating the translation and preservation of Greek alchemical texts in the 8th and 9th centuries.[27]

India

The Vedas describe a connection between eternal life and gold.[28] The use of Mercury for alchemy is first
documented in the 3rd or 4thcentury Arthashastra. Buddhist texts from the 2nd to 5th centuries mention the
transmutation of base metals to gold. Greek alchemy may have been introduced to Ancient India through the
invasions of Alexander the Great in 325 BC, and kingdoms that were culturally influenced by the Greeks like
Gandhra, although hard evidence for this is lacking.[28]

The 11th-century Persian chemist and physician Ab Rayhn Brn, who visited Gujarat as part of the court of
Mahmud of Ghazni, reported that they
 have a science similar to alchemy which is quite peculiar to them, which in Sanskrit is called
Rasayna and in Persian Rasavtam. It means the art of obtaining/manipulating Rasa: nectar,
mercury, and juice. This art was restricted to certain operations, metals, drugs, compounds, and
medicines, many of which have mercury as their core element. Its principles restored the health of
those who were ill beyond hope and gave back youth to fading old age.

The goals of alchemy in India included the creation of a divine body (Sanskrit divya-deham) and immortality
while still embodied (Sanskrit jvan-mukti). Sanskrit alchemical texts include much material on the
manipulation of mercury and sulphur, that are homologized with the semen of the god iva and the menstrual
blood of the goddess Dev.

Some early alchemical writings seem to have their origins in the Kaula tantric schools associated to the
teachings of the personality of Matsyendranath. Other early writings are found in the Jaina medical treatise
Kalyakrakam of Ugrditya, written in South India in the early 9th century.[29]

Two famous early Indian alchemical authors were Ngrjuna Siddha and Nityantha Siddha. Ngrjuna Siddha
was a Buddhist monk. His book, Rasendramangalam, is an example of Indian alchemy and medicine.
Nityantha Siddha wrote Rasaratnkara, also a highly influential work. In Sanskrit, rasa translates to
"mercury", and Ngrjuna Siddha was said to have developed a method of converting mercury into gold.[30]

Reliable scholarship on Indian alchemy has been advanced in a major way by the publication of The
Alchemical Body by David Gordon White.[31] Trustworthy scholarship on Indian alchemy must now take the
findings of this work into account.

An important modern bibliography on Indian alchemical studies has also been provided by David Gordon
White at Oxford Bibliographies Online.[32]

The contents of 39 Sanskrit alchemical treatises have been analysed in detail in G. Jan Meulenbeld's History of
Indian Medical Literature.[33][n 2] The discussion of these works in HIML gives a summary of the contents of
each work, their special features, and where possible the evidence concerning their dating. Chapter 13 of
HIML, Various works on rasastra and ratnastra (or Various works on alchemy and gems) gives brief
details of a further 655 (six hundred and fifty-five) treatises. In some cases Meulenbeld gives notes on the
contents and authorship of these works; in other cases references are made only to the unpublished manuscripts
of these titles.

A great deal remains to be discovered about Indian alchemical literature. The content of the Sanskrit alchemical
corpus has not yet (2014) been adequately integrated into the wider general history of alchemy.

Muslim world

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the focus of alchemical development moved to the Islamic World. Much
more is known about Islamic alchemy because it was better documented: indeed, most of the earlier writings
that have come down through the years were preserved as Arabic translations.[34] The word alchemy itself was
derived from the Arabic word al-kmiy (). The early Islamic world was a melting pot for alchemy.
Platonic and Aristotelian thought, which had already been somewhat appropriated into hermetical science,
continued to be assimilated during the late 7th and early 8th centuries through Syriac translations and
scholarship.

In the late 8th century, Jbir ibn Hayyn (Latinized as "Geber" or "Geberus") introduced a new approach to
alchemy, based on scientific methodology and controlled experimentation in the laboratory, in contrast to the
ancient Greek and Egyptian alchemists whose works were often allegorical and unintelligible, with very little
concern for laboratory work.[35] Jabir is thus "considered by many to be the father of chemistry",[36] albeit
others reserve that title for Robert Boyle or Antoine Lavoisier. The science historian, Paul Kraus, wrote:
 To form an idea of the historical place of Jabir's alchemy
and to tackle the problem of its sources, it is advisable to
compare it with what remains to us of the alchemical
literature in the Greek language. One knows in which
miserable state this literature reached us. Collected by
Byzantine scientists from the tenth century, the corpus of
the Greek alchemists is a cluster of incoherent fragments,
going back to all the times since the third century until the
end of the Middle Ages.

The efforts of Berthelot and Ruelle to put a little order in

this mass of literature led only to poor results, and the later
researchers, among them in particular Mrs. Hammer-
Jensen, Tannery, Lagercrantz, von Lippmann, Reitzenstein,
Ruska, Bidez, Festugiere and others, could make clear only Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber), considered the
few points of detail .... "father of chemistry", introduced a
scientific and experimental approach to
The study of the Greek alchemists is not very encouraging. alchemy.
An even surface examination of the Greek texts shows that
a very small part only was organized according to true
experiments of laboratory: even the supposedly technical
writings, in the state where we find them today, are
unintelligible nonsense which refuses any interpretation.

It is different with Jabir's alchemy. The relatively clear

description of the processes and the alchemical apparati,
the methodical classification of the substances, mark an
experimental spirit which is extremely far away from the
weird and odd esotericism of the Greek texts. The theory
on which Jabir supports his operations is one of clearness
and of an impressive unity. More than with the other Arab
authors, one notes with him a balance between theoretical
teaching and practical teaching, between the `ilm and the
`amal. In vain one would seek in the Greek texts a work as
systematic as that which is presented, for example, in the
Book of Seventy.[35]

Jabir himself clearly recognized and proclaimed the importance of experimentation:

The first essential in chemistry is that thou shouldest perform practical work and conduct
experiments,
for he who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain to the least degree
of mastery.[37]

Early Islamic chemists such as Jabir Ibn Hayyan, Al-Kindi ("Alkindus") and Muhammad ibn Zakarya Rzi
("Rasis" or "Rhazes") contributed a number of key chemical discoveries, such as the muriatic (hydrochloric
acid), sulfuric and nitric acids, and more. The discovery that aqua regia, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric
acids, could dissolve the noblest metal, gold, was to fuel the imagination of alchemists for the next millennium.

Islamic philosophers also made great contributions to alchemical hermeticism. The most influential author in
this regard was arguably Jabir. Jabir's ultimate goal was Takwin, the artificial creation of life in the alchemical
laboratory, up to, and including, human life. He analyzed each Aristotelian element in terms of four basic

qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness.[38] According to Jabir, in each metal two of these
qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness.[38] According to Jabir, in each metal two of these
qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead was externally cold and dry, while gold was hot
and moist. Thus, Jabir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result.[38]
By this reasoning, the search for the philosopher's stone was introduced to Western alchemy. Jabir developed an
elaborate numerology whereby the root letters of a substance's name in Arabic, when treated with various
transformations, held correspondences to the element's physical properties.

The elemental system used in medieval alchemy also originated with Jabir. His original system consisted of
seven elements, which included the five classical elements (aether, air, earth, fire, and water) in addition to two
chemical elements representing the metals: sulphur, "the stone which burns", which characterized the principle
of combustibility, and mercury, which contained the idealized principle of metallic properties. Shortly
thereafter, this evolved into eight elements, with the Arabic concept of the three metallic principles: sulphur
giving flammability or combustion, mercury giving volatility and stability, and salt giving solidity.[39] The
atomic theory of corpuscularianism, where all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute
particles or corpuscles, also has its origins in the work of Jabir.[40]

From the 9th to 14th centuries, alchemical theories faced criticism from a variety of practical Muslim chemists,
including Alkindus,[41] Ab al-Rayhn al-Brn,[42] Avicenna[43] and Ibn Khaldun. In particular, they wrote
refutations against the idea of the transmutation of metals.

East Asia

Whereas European alchemy eventually centered on the transmutation of base metals into
noble metals, Chinese alchemy had a more obvious connection to medicine. The
philosopher's stone of European alchemists can be compared to the Grand Elixir of
Immortality sought by Chinese alchemists. However, in the hermetic view, these two
goals were not unconnected, and the philosopher's stone was often equated with the
universal panacea; therefore, the two traditions may have had more in common than
initially appears.
Taoist alchemists
often use this
Black powder may have been an important invention of Chinese alchemists. As
alternate version of
previously stated above, Chinese alchemy was more related to medicine. It is said that
the taijitu.
the Chinese invented gunpowder while trying to find a potion for eternal life. Described
in 9th-century texts and used in fireworks in China by the 10th century, it was used in
cannons by 1290. From China, the use of gunpowder spread to Japan, the Mongols, the
Muslim world, and Europe. Gunpowder was used by the Mongols against the Hungarians in 1241, and in
Europe by the 14th century.

Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoist forms of traditional Chinese medicine, such as Acupuncture
and Moxibustion, and to martial arts such as Tai Chi Chuan and Kung Fu (although some Tai Chi schools
believe that their art derives from the philosophical or hygienic branches of Taoism, not Alchemical). In fact, in
the early Song dynasty, followers of this Taoist idea (chiefly the elite and upper class) would ingest mercuric
sulfide, which, though tolerable in low levels, led many to suicide. Thinking that this consequential death
would lead to freedom and access to the Taoist heavens, the ensuing deaths encouraged people to eschew this
method of alchemy in favor of external sources (the aforementioned Tai Chi Chuan, mastering of the qi, etc.).

Medieval Europe

The introduction of alchemy to Latin Europe may be dated to 11 February 1144, with the completion of Robert
of Chester's translation of the Arabic Book of the Composition of Alchemy. Although European craftsmen and
technicians preexisted, Robert notes in his preface that alchemy was unknown in Latin Europe at the time of his
writing. The translation of Arabic texts concerning numerous disciplines including alchemy flourished in 12th-
century Toledo, Spain, through contributors like Gerard of Cremona and Adelard of Bath.[44] Translations of
the time included the Turba Philosophorum, and the works of Avicenna
and al-Razi. These brought with them many new words to the European
vocabulary for which there was no previous Latin equivalent. Alcohol,
carboy, elixir, and athanor are examples.[45]

Meanwhile, theologian contemporaries of the translators made strides

towards the reconciliation of faith and experimental rationalism,
thereby priming Europe for the influx of alchemical thought. The 11th-
century St Anselm put forth the opinion that faith and rationalism were
compatible and encouraged rationalism in a Christian context. In the
early 12th century, Peter Abelard followed Anselm's work, laying down
the foundation for acceptance of Aristotelian thought before the first
works of Aristotle had reached the West. In the early 13th century,
Robert Grosseteste used Abelard's methods of analysis and added the
use of observation, experimentation, and conclusions when conducting
scientific investigations. Grosseteste also did much work to reconcile
Platonic and Aristotelian thinking.[46] The Alchemist in Search of the
Philosopher's Stone, by Joseph Wright,
Through much of the 12th and 13th centuries, alchemical knowledge in 1771
Europe remained centered on translations, and new Latin contributions
were not made. The efforts of the translators were succeeded by that of
the encyclopaedists. In the 13th century, Albertus Magnus and Roger
Bacon were the most notable of these, their work summarizing and
explaining the newly imported alchemical knowledge in Aristotelian
terms.[47] Albertus Magnus, a Dominican monk, is known to have
written works such as the Book of Minerals where he observed and
commented on the operations and theories of alchemical authorities like
Hermes and Democritus and unnamed alchemists of his time. Albertus
critically compared these to the writings of Aristotle and Avicenna,
where they concerned the transmutation of metals. From the time "An illuminated page from a book on
shortly after his death through to the 15th century, more than 28 alchemical processes and receipts", ca.
alchemical tracts were misattributed to him, a common practice giving 15th century.
rise to his reputation as an accomplished alchemist.[48] Likewise,
alchemical texts have been attributed to Albert's student Thomas
Aquinas.

Roger Bacon, a Franciscan monk who wrote on a wide variety of topics including optics, comparative
linguistics, and medicine, composed his Great Work (Latin: Opus Majus) for Pope Clement IV as part of a
project towards rebuilding the medieval university curriculum to include the new learning of his time. While
alchemy was not more important to him than other sciences and he did not produce allegorical works on the
topic, he did consider it and astrology to be important parts of both natural philosophy and theology and his
contributions advanced alchemy's connections to soteriology and Christian theology. Bacon's writings
integrated morality, salvation, alchemy, and the prolongation of life. His correspondence with Clement
highlighted this, noting the importance of alchemy to the papacy.[49] Like the Greeks before him, Bacon
acknowledged the division of alchemy into practical and theoretical spheres. He noted that the theoretical lay
outside the scope of Aristotle, the natural philosophers, and all Latin writers of his time. The practical,
however, confirmed the theoretical thought experiment, and Bacon advocated its uses in natural science and
medicine.[50] In later European legend, however, Bacon became an archmage. In particular, along with Albertus
Magnus, he was credited with the forging of a brazen head capable of answering its owner's questions.

Soon after Bacon, the influential work of Pseudo-Geber (sometimes identified as Paul of Taranto) appeared.
His Summa Perfectionis remained a staple summary of alchemical practice and theory through the medieval
and renaissance periods. It was notable for its inclusion of practical chemical operations alongside sulphur-
mercury theory, and the unusual clarity with which they were described.[51] By the end of the 13th century,
alchemy had developed into a fairly structured system of belief. Adepts believed in the macrocosm-microcosm
theories of Hermes, that is to say, they believed that processes that affect minerals and other substances could
have an effect on the human body (for example, if one could learn the secret of purifying gold, one could use
the technique to purify the human soul). They believed in the four elements and the four qualities as described
above, and they had a strong tradition of cloaking their written ideas in a labyrinth of coded jargon set with
traps to mislead the uninitiated. Finally, the alchemists practiced their art: they actively experimented with
chemicals and made observations and theories about how the universe operated. Their entire philosophy
revolved around their belief that man's soul was divided within himself after the fall of Adam. By purifying the
two parts of man's soul, man could be reunited with God.[52]

In the 14th century, alchemy became more accessible to Europeans outside the confines of Latin speaking
churchmen and scholars. Alchemical discourse shifted from scholarly philosophical debate to an exposed social
commentary on the alchemists themselves.[53] Dante, Piers Plowman, and Chaucer all painted unflattering
pictures of alchemists as thieves and liars. Pope John XXII's 1317 edict, Spondent quas non exhibent forbade
the false promises of transmutation made by pseudo-alchemists.[54] In 1403, Henry IV of England banned the
practice of multiplying metals (although it was possible to buy a licence to attempt to make gold alchemically,
and a number were granted by Henry VI and Edward IV[55]). These critiques and regulations centered more
around pseudo-alchemical charlatanism than the actual study of alchemy, which continued with an increasingly
Christian tone. The 14th century saw the Christian imagery of death and resurrection employed in the
alchemical texts of Petrus Bonus, John of Rupescissa, and in works written in the name of Raymond Lull and
Arnold of Villanova.[56]

Nicolas Flamel is a well-known alchemist, but a good example of pseudepigraphy, the practice of giving your
works the name of someone else, usually more famous. Though the historical Flamel existed, the writings and
legends assigned to him only appeared in 1612.[57][58] Flamel was not a religious scholar as were many of his
predecessors, and his entire interest in the subject revolved around the pursuit of the philosopher's stone. His
work spends a great deal of time describing the processes and reactions, but never actually gives the formula
for carrying out the transmutations. Most of 'his' work was aimed at gathering alchemical knowledge that had
existed before him, especially as regarded the philosopher's stone.[59] Through the 14th and 15th centuries,
alchemists were much like Flamel: they concentrated on looking for the philosophers' stone. Bernard Trevisan
and George Ripley made similar contributions. Their cryptic allusions and symbolism led to wide variations in
interpretation of the art.

Renaissance and early modern Eur ope

During the Renaissance, Hermetic and Platonic foundations were

restored to European alchemy. The dawn of medical, pharmaceutical,
occult, and entrepreneurial branches of alchemy followed.

In the late 15th century, Marsilo Ficino translated the Corpus

Hermeticum and the works of Plato into Latin. These were previously
unavailable to Europeans who for the first time had a full picture of the
alchemical theory that Bacon had declared absent. Renaissance
Humanism and Renaissance Neoplatonism guided alchemists away
from physics to refocus on mankind as the alchemical vessel.

Esoteric systems developed that blended alchemy into a broader occult

Hermeticism, fusing it with magic, astrology, and Christian
cabala.[60][61] A key figure in this development was German Heinrich
Cornelius Agrippa (14861535), who received his Hermetic education
in Italy in the schools of the humanists. In his De Occulta Philosophia,
he attempted to merge Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and alchemy. He was
instrumental in spreading this new blend of Hermeticism outside the Page from alchemic treatise ofRamon
borders of Italy.[62][63] Llull, 16th century
Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus, (Theophrastus Bombastus von
Hohenheim, 14931541) cast alchemy into a new form, rejecting some
of Agrippa's occultism and moving away from chrysopoeia. Paracelsus
pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine and wrote,
"Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and
silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and
power may lie in medicines."[64]

His hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on
the harmony of man the microcosm and Nature the macrocosm. He
took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy
not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans
must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain
illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them.[65]
Paracelsian practical alchemy, especially herbal medicine and plant
remedies has since been named spagyric (a synonym for alchemy from
the Greek words meaning to separate and to join together, based on the
Latin alchemic maxim: solve et coagula).[66] Iatrochemistry also refers
to the pharmaceutical applications of alchemy championed by
Paracelsus. The red sun rising over the city, the final
illustration of 16th century alchemical
John Dee (13 July 1527 December, 1608) followed Agrippa's occult text, Splendor Solis. The word rubedo,
tradition. Though better known for angel summoning, divination, and meaning "redness", was adopted by
his role as astrologer, cryptographer, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth alchemists and signalled alchemical
I, Dee's alchemical[67] Monas Hieroglyphica, written in 1564 was his success, and the end of the great work.
most popular and influential work. His writing portrayed alchemy as a
sort of terrestrial astronomy in line with the Hermetic axiom As above
so below.[68] During the 17th century, a short-lived "supernatural" interpretation of alchemy became popular,
including support by fellows of the Royal Society: Robert Boyle and Elias Ashmole. Proponents of the
supernatural interpretation of alchemy believed that the philosopher's stone might be used to summon and
communicate with angels.[69]

Entrepreneurial opportunities were common for the alchemists of Renaissance Europe. Alchemists were
contracted by the elite for practical purposes related to mining, medical services, and the production of
chemicals, medicines, metals, and gemstones.[70] Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the late 16th century,
famously received and sponsored various alchemists at his court in Prague, including Dee and his associate
Edward Kelley. King James IV of Scotland,[71] Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lneburg, Henry V, Duke of
Brunswick-Lneburg, Augustus, Elector of Saxony, Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, and Maurice, Landgrave
of Hesse-Kassel all contracted alchemists.[72] John's son Arthur Dee worked as a court physician to Michael I
of Russia and Charles I of England but also compiled the alchemical book Fasciculus Chemicus.

Though most of these appointments were legitimate, the trend of

pseudo-alchemical fraud continued through the Renaissance.
Betrger would use sleight of hand, or claims of secret knowledge
to make money or secure patronage. Legitimate mystical and
medical alchemists such as Michael Maier and Heinrich Khunrath
wrote about fraudulent transmutations, distinguishing themselves
from the con artists.[73] False alchemists were sometimes
prosecuted for fraud.
Alchemist Sendivogius (15661636) by Jan
Matejko, 1867 The terms "chemia" and "alchemia" were used as synonyms in the
early modern period, and the differences between alchemy,
chemistry and small-scale assaying and metallurgy were not as
neat as in the present day. There were important overlaps between practitioners, and trying to classify them into
alchemists, chemists and craftsmen is anachronistic. For example, Tycho Brahe (15461601), an alchemist
better known for his astronomical and astrological investigations, had a laboratory built at his Uraniborg
observatory/research institute. Michael Sendivogius (Micha Sdziwj, 15661636), a Polish alchemist,
philosopher, medical doctor and pioneer of chemistry wrote mystical works but is also credited with distilling
oxygen in a lab sometime around 1600. Sendivogious taught his technique to Cornelius Drebbel who, in 1621,
applied this in a submarine. Isaac Newton devoted considerably more of his writing to the study of alchemy
(see Isaac Newton's occult studies) than he did to either optics or physics. Other early modern alchemists who
were eminent in their other studies include Robert Boyle, and Jan Baptist van Helmont. Their Hermeticism
complemented rather than precluded their practical achievements in medicine and science.

Late modern period

The decline of European alchemy was brought about by the rise of

modern science with its emphasis on rigorous quantitative
experimentation and its disdain for "ancient wisdom". Although the
seeds of these events were planted as early as the 17th century, alchemy
still flourished for some two hundred years, and in fact may have
reached its peak in the 18th century. As late as 1781 James Price
claimed to have produced a powder that could transmute mercury into
silver or gold. Early modern European alchemy continued to exhibit a
diversity of theories, practices, and purposes: "Scholastic and anti-
Aristotelian, Paracelsian and anti-Paracelsian, Hermetic, Neoplatonic,
mechanistic, vitalistic, and moreplus virtually every combination and
compromise thereof."[74]

Robert Boyle (16271691) pioneered the scientific method in chemical

investigations. He assumed nothing in his experiments and compiled
every piece of relevant data. Boyle would note the place in which the Robert Boyle
experiment was carried out, the wind characteristics, the position of the
Sun and Moon, and the barometer reading, all just in case they proved
to be relevant.[75] This approach eventually led to the founding of modern chemistry in the 18th and 19th
centuries, based on revolutionary discoveries of Lavoisier and John Dalton.

Beginning around 1720, a rigid distinction was drawn between "alchemy" and "chemistry" for the first
time.[76][77] By the 1740s, "alchemy" was now restricted to the realm of gold making, leading to the popular
belief that alchemists were charlatans, and the tradition itself nothing more than a fraud.[74][77] In order to
protect the developing science of modern chemistry from the negative censure of which alchemy was being
subjected, academic writers during the scientific Enlightenment attempted, for the sake of survival, to separate
and divorce the "new" chemistry from the "old" practices of alchemy. This move was mostly successful, and
the consequences of this continued into the 19th and 20th centuries, and even to the present day.[78]

During the occult revival of the early 19th century, alchemy received new attention as an occult science.[79][80]
The esoteric or occultist school, which arose during the 19th century, held (and continues to hold) the view that
the substances and operations mentioned in alchemical literature are to be interpreted in a spiritual sense, and it
downplays the role of the alchemy as a practical tradition or protoscience.[76][81][82] This interpretation further
forwarded the view that alchemy is an art primarily concerned with spiritual enlightenment or illumination, as
opposed to the physical manipulation of apparatus and chemicals, and claims that the obscure language of the
alchemical texts were an allegorical guise for spiritual, moral or mystical processes.[82]

In the 19th-century revival of alchemy, the two most seminal figures were Mary Anne Atwood and Ethan Allen
Hitchcock, who independently published similar works regarding spiritual alchemy. Both forwarded a
completely esoteric view of alchemy, as Atwood claimed: "No modern art or chemistry, notwithstanding all its
surreptitious claims, has any thing in common with Alchemy."[83][84] Atwood's work influenced subsequent
authors of the occult revival including Eliphas Levi, Arthur Edward Waite, and Rudolf Steiner. Hitchcock, in
his Remarks Upon Alchymists (1855) attempted to make a case for his spiritual interpretation with his claim
that the alchemists wrote about a spiritual discipline under a materialistic guise in order to avoid accusations of
blasphemy from the church and state. In 1845, Baron Carl Reichenbach, published his studies on Odic force, a
concept with some similarities to alchemy, but his research did not enter the mainstream of scientific
discussion.[85]

Women in alchemy

Several women appear in the earliest history of alchemy. Michael Maier names Mary the Jewess, Cleopatra the
Alchemist, Medera, and Taphnutia as the four women who knew how to make the philosopher's stone.[86]
Zosimos' sister Theosebia (later known as Euthica the Arab) and Isis the Prophetess also play a role in the early
alchemical texts.

The first alchemist is recognized as being Mary the Jewess (c. 200 A.D.).[87] Mary is known for creating a
number of improvements to alchemical equipment and tools as well as novel techniques in chemistry.[87] Her
most well-known advancements are heating and distillation processes. The water-bath, also known as bain-
marie is said to have been invented by or at least improved by her.[88] This double-boiler was often used in
chemistry for processes that might require gentle heating. The tribikos (a basic still) and the kerotakis (a more
intricate distilling apparatus) are two other advancements in the process of distillation that are credited to
her.[89] It is also said that Mary was the first individual to discover hydrochloric acid, though this is not
accepted by most scientific texts.[90] Though we have no writing from Mary herself, she is known from the
fourth century writings of Zosimos of Panopolis.[91]

Due to the proliferation of pseudepigrapha and anonymous works, it is difficult to know which of the
alchemists were actually women. After the Greco-Roman period, women's names appear less frequently the
alchemical literature. Women vacate the history of alchemy during the medieval and renaissance periods, aside
from the fictitious account of Perenelle Flamel. Mary Anne Atwood's A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic
Mystery (1850) marks their return during the nineteenth century occult revival.

Modern historical r esearch

The history of alchemy has become a significant and recognized subject of academic study.[92] As the language
of the alchemists is analyzed, historians are becoming more aware of the intellectual connections between that
discipline and other facets of Western cultural history, such as the evolution of science and philosophy, the
sociology and psychology of the intellectual communities, kabbalism, spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, and other
mystic movements.[93] Institutions involved in this research include The Chymistry of Isaac Newton project at
Indiana University, the University of Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO), the European
Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE), and the University of Amsterdam's Sub-department for
the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. A large collection of books on alchemy is kept in the
Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. A recipe found in a mid 19th century kabbalah based book
features step by step instructions on turning copper into gold. The author attributed this recipe to an ancient
manuscript he located.[94]

Journals which publish regularly on the topic of Alchemy include 'Ambix', published by the Society for the
History of Alchemy and Chemistry, and 'Isis', published by The History of Science Society.

Core concepts
Western alchemical theory corresponds to the worldview of late antiquity in which it was born. Concepts were
imported from Neoplatonism and earlier Greek cosmology. As such, the Classical elements appear in
alchemical writings, as do the seven Classical planets and the corresponding seven metals of antiquity.
Similarly, the gods of the Roman pantheon who are associated with these luminaries are discussed in
alchemical literature. The concepts of prima materia and anima mundi are central to the theory of the
philosopher's stone.

Hermeticism
In the eyes of a variety of esoteric and Hermetic practitioners, alchemy
is fundamentally spiritual. Transmutation of lead into gold is presented
as an analogy for personal transmutation, purification, and
perfection.[95] The writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus are a
primary source of alchemical theory. He is named "alchemy's founder
and chief patron, authority, inspiration and guide".[96]

Early alchemists, such as Zosimos of Panopolis (c. AD 300), highlight

the spiritual nature of the alchemical quest, symbolic of a religious
regeneration of the human soul.[97] This approach continued in the
Middle Ages, as metaphysical aspects, substances, physical states, and
material processes were used as metaphors for spiritual entities,
spiritual states, and, ultimately, transformation. In this sense, the literal
meanings of 'Alchemical Formulas' were a blind, hiding their true
spiritual philosophy. Practitioners and patrons such as Melchior
Cibinensis and Pope Innocent VIII existed within the ranks of the
church, while Martin Luther applauded alchemy for its consistency with
Christian teachings.[98] Both the transmutation of common metals into Mandala illustrating common alchemical
gold and the universal panacea symbolized evolution from an concepts, symbols, and processes. From
imperfect, diseased, corruptible, and ephemeral state toward a perfect, Spiegel der Kunst und Natur.
healthy, incorruptible, and everlasting state, so the philosopher's stone
then represented a mystic key that would make this evolution possible.
Applied to the alchemist himself, the twin goal symbolized his evolution from ignorance to enlightenment, and
the stone represented a hidden spiritual truth or power that would lead to that goal. In texts that are written
according to this view, the cryptic alchemical symbols, diagrams, and textual imagery of late alchemical works
typically contain multiple layers of meanings, allegories, and references to other equally cryptic works; and
must be laboriously decoded to discover their true meaning.

In his 1766 Alchemical Catechism, Thodore Henri de Tschudi denotes that the usage of the metals was merely
symbolic:

Q. When the Philosophers speak of gold and silver, from which they extract their matter, are we to
suppose that they refer to the vulgar gold and silver?
A. By no means; vulgar silver and gold are dead, while those of the Philosophers are full of life.[99]

Magnum opus

The Great Work of Alchemy is often described as a series of four stages represented by colors.

nigredo, a blackening or melanosis

albedo, a whitening or leucosis
citrinitas, a yellowing or xanthosis
rubedo, a reddening, purpling, or iosis[100]

Modern alchemy
Due to the complexity and obscurity of alchemical literature, and the 18th-century disappearance of remaining
alchemical practitioners into the area of chemistry; the general understanding of alchemy has been strongly
influenced by several distinct and radically different interpretations.[101] Those focusing on the exoteric, such
as historians of science Lawrence M. Principe and William R. Newman, have interpreted the 'decknamen' (or
code words) of alchemy as physical substances. These scholars have reconstructed physicochemical
experiments that they say are described in medieval and early modern texts.[102] At the opposite end of the

spectrum, focusing on the esoteric, scholars, such as George Calian[103] and Anna Marie Roos,[104] who
spectrum, focusing on the esoteric, scholars, such as George Calian[103] and Anna Marie Roos,[104] who
question the reading of Principe and Newman, interpret these same decknamen as spiritual, religious, or
psychological concepts.

Today new interpretations of alchemy are still perpetuated, sometimes merging in concepts from New Age or
radical environmentalism movements.[105] Groups like the Rosicrucians and Freemasons have a continued
interest in alchemy and its symbolism. Since the Victorian revival of alchemy, "occultists reinterpreted alchemy
as a spiritual practice, involving the self-transformation of the practitioner and only incidentally or not at all the
transformation of laboratory substances.",[74] which has contributed to a merger of magic and alchemy in
popular thought.

Traditional medicine

Traditional medicine can use the concept of the transmutation of natural substances, using pharmacological or a
combination of pharmacological and spiritual techniques. In Ayurveda, the samskaras are claimed to transform
heavy metals and toxic herbs in a way that removes their toxicity. These processes are actively used to the
present day.[106]

Spagyrists of the 20th century, Albert Richard Riedel and Jean Dubuis, merged Paracelsian alchemy with
occultism, teaching laboratory pharmaceutical methods. The schools they founded, Les Philosophes de la
Nature and The Paracelsus Research Society, popularized modern spagyrics including the manufacture of
herbal tinctures and products.[107] The courses, books, organizations, and conferences generated by their
students continue to influence popular applications of alchemy as a New Age medicinal practice.

Psychology

Alchemical symbolism has been important in depth and analytical psychology and was revived and popularized
from near extinction by the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. Initially confounded and at odds with
alchemy and its images, after being given a copy of the translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower, a
Chinese alchemical text, by his friend Richard Wilhelm, Jung discovered a direct correlation or parallels
between the symbolic images in the alchemical drawings and the inner, symbolic images coming up in dreams,
visions or imaginations during the psychic processes of transformation occurring in his patients. A process,
which he called "process of individuation". He regarded the alchemical images as symbols expressing aspects
of this "process of individuation" of which the creation of the gold or lapis within were symbols for its origin
and goal.[108][109] Together with his alchemical mystica soror, Jungian Swiss analyst Marie-Louise von Franz,
Jung began collecting all the old alchemical texts available, compiled a lexicon of key phrases with cross-
references[110] and pored over them. The volumes of work he wrote brought new light into understanding the
art of transubstantiation and renewed alchemy's popularity as a symbolic process of coming into wholeness as a
human being where opposites brought into contact and inner and outer, spirit and matter are reunited in the
hieros gamos or divine marriage. His writings are influential in psychology and for persons who have an
interest in understanding of the importance of dreams, symbols and the unconscious archetypal forces
(archetypes)[109][111][112] that influence all of life.

Both von Franz and Jung have contributed greatly to the subject and work of alchemy and its continued
presence in psychology as well as contemporary culture. Jung wrote volumes on alchemy and his magnum opus
is Volume 14 of his Collected Works, Mysterium Conuinctionis.

Literature

Alchemy has had a long-standing relationship with art, seen both in alchemical texts and in mainstream
entertainment. Literary alchemy appears throughout the history of English literature from Shakespeare to J. K.
Rowling. Here, characters or plot structure follow an alchemical magnum opus. In the 14th century, Chaucer
began a trend of alchemical satire that can still be seen in recent fantasy works like those of Terry Pratchett.
Visual artists had a similar relationship with alchemy. While some of them used alchemy as a source of satire,
others worked with the alchemists themselves or integrated alchemical thought or symbols in their work. Music
was also present in the works of alchemists and continues to influence popular performers. In the last hundred
years, alchemists have been portrayed in a magical and spagyric role in fantasy fiction, film, television, novels,
comics and video games.

See also
Alchemy in art and entertainment Mary the Jewess
Biological transmutation Nuclear transmutation
Chemistry Outline of alchemy
Chinese alchemy Philosopher's Stone
Cupellation Physics
Hermes Trismegistus Porta Alchemica
Historicism Scientific method
History of chemistry Superseded scientific theories
List of alchemists Synthesis of precious metals
List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
Magnum opus (alchemy)
Mary the Jewess
Notes
1. For a detailed look into the problems of defining alchemy, see Linden 1996, pp. 636
2. To wit, the nandakanda, yurvedapraka, Gorakasahit, Kkacaevarmatatantra,
Kkacavarakalpatantra, Kppakvarasanirmavijna, Pradasahit,
Rasabhaiajyakalpanvijna, Rasdhyya, Rasahdayatantra, Rasajalanidhi, Rasakmadhenu,
Rasakaumud, Rasamajar, Rasamitra, Rasmta, Rasapaddhati, Rasapradpa, Rasaprakasudhkara,
Rasarjalakm, Rasaratnadpik, Rasaratnkara, Rasaratnasamuccaya, Rasrava, Rasravakalpa,
Rasasaketakalik, Rasasra, Rasataragi, Rasyanasra, Rasayogasgara, Rasayogaataka,
Rasendracintmai, Rasendracmai, Rasendramagala, Rasendrapura, Rasendrasambhava,
Rasendrasrasagraha, Rasoddhratantra or Rasasahit, and Rasopaniad.

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Press. 1997. p.33
110. Anthony Stevens: On Jung. (A new and authoritiative introduction to Jung's life and thought), Penguin
Books, London 1990, ISBN 0140124942, p. 193.
111. C.G. Jung Preface to Richard Wilhelm's translation of the I Ching.
112. C.-G. Jung Preface to the translation of The Secret of The Golden Flower.

Bibliography
Calian, George (2010). Alkimia Operativa and Alkimia Speculativa. Some Modern Controversies on the
Historiography of Alchemy. Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU.
Eliade, Mircea (1994). The Forge and the Crucible. State University of New York Press.
Forshaw, Peter J. "Chemistry, That Starry Science Early Modern Conjunctions of Astrology and
Alchemy". Sky and Symbol.
Forshaw, Peter J. "Cabala Chymica or Chemica Cabalistica Early Modern Alchemists and Cabala".
Ambix, Vol. 60:4.
Holmyard, Eric John (1931). Makers of Chemistry. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Holmyard, Eric John (1957). Alchemy. Courier Dover Publications.
Linden, Stanton J. (1996). Darke Hierogliphicks: Alchemy in English literature from Chaucer to the
Restoration. University Press of Kentucky.
Linden, Stanton J. (2003). The Alchemy Reader: from Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton. Cambridge
University Press.
Newman, William R.; Principe, Lawrence M. (2002). Alchemy Tried in the Fire. University of Chicago
Press.
von Franz, Marie Louise (1997). Alchemical Active Imagination. Boston: Shambhala Publications.
ISBN 0-87773-589-1.
Kripal, Jeffrey John; Shuck, Glenn W. (July 2005). On the Edge of the Future. Indiana University Press.
ISBN 978-0-253-34556-1. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
Principe, Lawrence M. (2013). The secrets of alchemy. Chicago &London: University of Chicago Press.
ISBN 978-0-226-68295-2.
Principe, Lawrence M.; Newman, William R. (2001). "Some Problems with the Historiography of
Alchemy". In Newman, William R.; Grafton, Anthony. Secrets of Nature, Astrology and Alchemy in
Modern Europe. MIT Press. pp. 385432. ISBN 978-0-262-14075-1. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
Rutkin, H. Darrel (2001). "Celestial Offerings: Astrological Motifs in the Dedicatory Letters of Kepler's
Astronomia Nova and Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius". In Newman, William R.; Grafton, Anthony. Secrets of
Nature, Astrology and Alchemy in Modern Europe. MIT Press. pp. 133172. ISBN 978-0-262-14075-1.
Retrieved 17 December 2011.

External links
SHAC: Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
ESSWE: European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism
Association for the Study of Esotericism
The Alchemy Website. Adam McLean's online collections and academic discussion.

Alchemy on In Our Time at the BBC.

Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Alchemy
Book of Secrets: Alchemy and the European Imagination, 15002000 A digital exhibition from the
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alchemy&oldid=801454558"

This page was last edited on 19 September 2017, at 19:37.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Outline of alchemy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to alchemy:

Alchemy A philosophical tradition recognized as protoscience, that includes the application of Hermetic
principles, and practices related to mythology, religion, and spirituality.

Contents
1 Branches
2 Concepts
3 Processes
4 Symbolism
5 Scientific connections
6 Alchemy organizations
7 Alchemical texts
8 Alchemists
9 See also
10 External links

Branches
Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
Chinese Alchemy
Neidan
Processing (Chinese materia medica)
Iatrochemistry
Spagyric
New Age
Psychoanalysis
Analytical psychology
Individuation
Metacognition
Rasayana

Influences

Influences upon alchemy alchemy developed dependent on a number of influences and experienced regional
and period-specific variations:

Aristotelianism
Esotericism
Western Esotericism
Esoteric Christianity
Gnosticism
Hermeticism
Humorism
Metallurgy
History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent
Platonism
Neoplatonism
 Pseudoscience
Pythagoreanism
Taoism
Stoicism

Related fields
Anthroposophy
Astrology
Ayurveda
Homeopathy
Kayaku-Jutsu
Magic, magick
Moxibustion
Tay al-Ard
Yoga Nidra

Concepts
Alchemical elements Primarily the four Classical elements of:
Fire (classical element)
Water (classical element)
Earth (classical element)
Air (classical element)
For variations see: Wu Xing Mahbhta Five elements
(Japanese philosophy)
Alchemy in art and entertainment
Alkahest
Anima mundi
Chrysopoeia
Filius philosophorum
Takwin
Homunculus Mandala from the Musaeum Hermeticum
Philosopher's stone incorporating the septenary, four
Cintamani elements, tria prima, and hieros gamos.
Elixir of life
Panacea
Prima materia
Yliaster
Septenary of the seven metals and Classical planets in Western alchemy
Lead tin copper iron mercury silver gold
Saturn Jupiter Venus Mars Mercury Moon Sun
Tria Prima (three primes)
Salt mercury sulfur
Body soul spirit
Unity of opposites or coincidentia oppositorum
Hieros Gamos
Rebis

Processes
Magnum opus great work of alchemy consisting of:

Nigredo
Albedo
Citrinitas (sometimes excluded)
 Rubedo

Alchemists also engaged in practical and symbolic processes including:

Calcination
Ceration
Cohobation
Congelation
Digestion
Distillation
Fermentation
Filtration
Fixation
Multiplication
Projection
Solution
Sublimation

Symbolism
Alchemical symbol 1. Glyphs

AGLA
Monas Hieroglyphica

2. Imagery

Suns in alchemy
Undine (alchemy)

3. Visual Symbolism

Porta Alchemica
Serpent (symbolism)
Caduceus
Ouroboros
Nehushtan

Scientific connections Mandala illustrating key alchemical

concepts, symbols, and processes. From
Spiegel der Kunst und Natur.
Biological transmutation
Chemistry
Historicism
Nuclear transmutation
Obsolete scientific theories
Physics
Scientific method
Synthesis of noble metals

Substances of the alchemists

phosphorus sulfur (sulphur) arsenic antimony

vitriol quartz cinnabar pyrites orpiment galena
magnesia lime potash natron saltpetre kohl
ammonia ammonium chloride alcohol camphor
 sulfuric acid (sulphuric acid) hydrochloric acid nitric acid
acetic acid formic acid citric acid tartaric acid
aqua regia gunpowder
blue vitriol green vitriol vinegar salt

more...

Apparatus

Stills

Alembic
Retort
Retort stand

Vessels

Aludel
Crucible
Hessian crucible
Cupels Alchemical apparatus. (Carlo Lancillotti,
Mortar and pestle 1681.)

Heating devices

Athanor
Bain-marie
Sand bath

Alchemy organizations
Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism
Freemasonry
Rosicrucianism

Alchemical texts
Axiom of Maria
Alchemical Studies (Carl Jung)
Aurora consurgens
Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit
Cantong qi
Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
Hermetica
Corpus Hermeticum
Emerald Tablet
The Hermetical Triumph
Fasciculus Chemicus
Kimiya-yi sa'dat
Musaeum Hermeticum
Mutus Liber
Rosary of the Philosophers
Splendor Solis
Theatrum Chemicum
Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
 The Mirror of Alchimy
Turba Philosophorum

Journals
Ambix
Aries
Hermetic Journal

Alchemists
The most influential names in the history of alchemy include:

Hermes Trismegistus by tradition, the founder of Western

alchemy.
Wei Boyang authored the earliest known book on theoretical
alchemy in China.
Zosimos of Panopolis a Gnostic mystic who wrote the oldest
known books on Western alchemy.
Khlid ibn Yazd credited with bringing alchemy to Arabia.
Jbir ibn Hayyn notable for takwin, sulfur-mercury theory, and
emphasis on experimental science.
Hermes Trismegistus traditionally
Pseudo-Geber
credited as the author of theHermetica
Roger Bacon influenced the reintegration of alchemy and
and legendary founder of Western
Christianity.
alchemy. (Maier, 1617)
Paracelsus developer of iatrochemistry.
Robert Boyle alchemist critical of Paracelsus, credited as the
father of modern chemistry.
Mary Anne Atwood key figure in the occult revival of alchemy.
Carl Jung merged alchemy and psychoanalytic thought.

See also
Outline of chemistry
Outline of medicine

External links
SHAC: Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
ESSWE: European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism
Association for the Study of Esotericism
The Alchemy Website. Adam McLean's online collections and academic discussion.
Inner Garden Alchemy Research Group: a non-profit foundation that aims to transmit the alchemical
tradition.

Alchemy on In Our Time at the BBC.

Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Alchemy
Book of Secrets: Alchemy and the European Imagination, 1500-2000 A digital exhibition from the
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Outline_of_alchemy&oldid=743829467"

This page was last edited on 11 October 2016, at 14:18.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Geomancy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geomancy (Greek: , "earth divination") is a method of

divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns
formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most
prevalent form of divinatory geomancy involves interpreting a
series of 16 figures formed by a randomized process that involves
recursion followed by analyzing them, often augmented with
astrological interpretations.

Geomancy was practiced by people from all social classes. It was

one of the most popular forms of divination throughout Africa and
Europe, particularly during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Geomancy tool
In Renaissance magic, geomancy was classified as one of the seven
"forbidden arts", along with necromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy,
pyromancy, chiromancy (palmistry), and spatulamancy
(scapulimancy).[1]

Contents
1 History Geomantic instrument,Egypt or Syria,
2 Generating the geomantic charts 124142 CE, by Muhammad ibn
3 Interpreting the charts Khutlukh al Mawsuli. When turning the
4 Geomancy and mathematics dials, random designs of dots would
5 Other forms of geomancy appear, which were then interpreted.
6 In fantasy literature British Museum.
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

History
Geomancy, from Ancient Greek gemantea translates literally to "foresight by earth"; it is a translation of the
Arabic term ilm al-raml, or the "science of the sand". Earlier Greek renditions of this word borrowed the word
raml ("sand") directly, rendering it as rhamplion or rabolion. Other Arabic names for geomancy include khatt
al-raml and darb al-raml.[2]:1415

The original names of the figures in Middle Eastern geomancy were traditionally given in Arabic, excluding a
Persian origin. The reference in Hermetic texts to the mythical umum al-Hindi potentially points to an Indian
origin, although Skinner thinks this to be unlikely.[2]:17 Having an Islamic or Arabic origin is most likely, since
the expansive trade routes of Arabian merchants would facilitate the exchange of culture and knowledge. It is
theorized that related systems of divination in sub-Saharan Africa, such as If and sikidy, either were based on
or co-developed with Arabic divination systems.[3]

European scholars and universities began to translate Arabic texts and treatises in the early Middle Ages,
including those on geomancy. Isidore of Seville lists geomancy with other methods of divination including
pyromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, and necromancy without describing its application or methods;[2]:88 it
could be that Isidore of Seville was listing methods of elemental scrying more than what is commonly known
as geomancy. The poem Experimentarius attributed to Bernardus Silvestris, who wrote in the middle of the
12th century, was a verse translation of a work on astrological
geomancy. One of the first discourses on geomancy translated into
Latin was the Ars Geomantiae of Hugh of Santalla; by this point,
geomancy must have been an established divination system in Arabic-
speaking areas of Africa and the Middle East. Other translators, such as
Gerard of Cremona, also produced new translations of geomancy that
incorporated astrological elements and techniques that were, up until
this point, ignored.[2]:9497 From this point on, more European scholars
studied and applied geomancy, writing many treatises in the process.
Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Christopher Cattan, and John Heydon
produced oft-cited and well-studied treatises on geomancy, along with
other philosophers, occultists, and theologians until the 17th century,
when interest in occultism and divination began to dwindle due to the
rise of the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Reason.

Geomancy made a revival in the 19th century, when renewed interest in

the occult arose due to the works of Robert Thomas Cross and Edward The sixteen geomantic figures.
Bulwer-Lytton. Franz Hartmann published his text, The Principles of
Astrological Geomancy, which spurred new interest in the divination
system. Based on this and a few older texts, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn began the task of
recollecting knowledge on geomancy along with other occult subjects, with them, Aleister Crowley published
his works that integrated various occult systems of knowledge. However, due to the short time the members of
the Golden Dawn desired to learn, practice, and teach the old occult arts, many elaborate systems of divination
and ritual had to be compressed, losing much in the process. In effect, they had reduced geomancy from a
complex art of interpretation and skill in recognizing patterns to looking up predefined answers based on pairs
of figures.

Like other systems of divination, geomancy has a mythological origin. According to one Arabic Hermetic
text,[4] Idris (or Hermes Trismegistus) witnessed the angel Jibril in a dream. Idris asked for enlightenment, and
Jibril proceeded to draw a geomantic figure; upon being asked what he was doing, Jibril instructed Idris in the
geomantic arts. Keeping this secret, he sought out umum al-Hindi, an Indian king, who then wrote a book on
geomancy. This book was passed down through clandestine circles into the hands of Khalaf al-Barbar, who
traveled to Medina and converted to Islam by the prophet Muhammad himself. Confessing to knowing a
divinatory art, he explained that pre-Islamic prophets knew geomancy, and that by learning geomancy, one may
"know all that the prophet knew".

Another mythological story for the origin of geomancy also involves Idris.[5] After praying to God that He give
Idris easily a means to earn his living, Idris rested one day, bored and without work, and began to draw figures
idly in the sand. As he did so, a stranger appeared before him and questioned what he was doing. Idris replied
that he was simply entertaining himself, but the stranger replied that he was doing a very serious act. Idris
became incredulous and tried to deny this, but the stranger explained the significance of the meaning of the
figure Idris drew. He then commanded Idris to draw another figure, and upon doing so the stranger explained
the meaning and significance of that figure. The pair continued this until Idris had discovered and understood
the sixteen figures. The stranger then taught Idris how to form the figures in a regular manner and what the
results meant, teaching him how to know things that could not be known with just the physical senses. After
testing Idris' newfound knowledge and skill of geomancy, and revealing himself to be the angel Jibril in the
process, the stranger disappeared. Idris, thankful to God and His messenger that he learned this art, never
revealed the art to anyone. Before he was risen to God, he wrote a book describing the art as Jibril had taught
him, and from his successors.

Other tablets and records from antiquity identify Idris with the prophets Daniel or Enoch. This was done in
order to give geomancy a legitimate standing as a gift and skill from God, especially since one of the prophets
had practiced it. However, those that argued against geomancy, such as Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddima,
countered that it was a pre-Islamic system of knowledge, and that all such epistemologies were rendered
obsolete with the revelation of the Qur'an.[4]
Throughout the evolution and migration of geomancy, various tales and plays incorporated aspects of the art
into their stories. In one story in One Thousand and One Nights, both the African Magician and his brother use
geomancy to find Aladdin in order to do him harm. Geomancy's first mention in print was William Langland's
Piers Plowman where it is unfavorably compared to the level of expertise a person needs for astronomy
("gemensye [geomesye] is gynful of speche"). In 1386 Chaucer used the Parson's Tale to poke fun at geomancy
in Canterbury Tales: "What say we of them that believe in divynailes as geomancie" Shakespeare and Ben
Jonson were also known to use geomancy for comic relief. Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy makes a passing
reference to geomancy. In the first two stanzas of Canto XIX in the Purgatorio,

It was the hour when the diurnal heat

no more can warm the coldness of the moon, vanquished by earth, or peradventure Saturn,

When geomancers their Fortuna Major see in the orient before the dawn

rise by a path that long remains not dim...

Dante Aligheri, referencing the Greater Fortune (Fortuna Major) and the Way ("the path")

Generating the geomantic charts

Geomancy requires the geomancer to create sixteen lines of points or
marks without counting, creating sixteen random numbers. Without
taking note of the number of points made, the geomancer provides the
seemingly random mechanism needed for most forms of divination.
Once the lines are produced, the geomancer marks off the points two by
two until either one or two points remain in the line; mathematically,
this is the same as producing two dots if the number is even or one dot
if the number is odd. Taking these leftover points in groups of four, they
form the first four geomantic figures, and form the basis for the
generation of the remaining figures. Once this is done, the "inspired"[6]
A shield chart. The Mothers are, right to
portion of the geomantic reading is done; what remains is algorithmic left, Via, Acquisitio, Conjunctio, and
calculation. Laetitia. While the Reconciler is not
pictured, it would be Amissio in this
Traditionally, geomancy requires a surface of sand and the hands or a case.
stick, but can be done equally well with a wax tablet and stylus or a pen
and paper; ritualized objects may or may not be desired for use in
divination. Often, when drawing marks or figures, geomancers will proceed from right to left as a tradition
from geomancy's Arabic origins, although this is by no means mandatory. Modern methods of geomancy
include, in addition to the traditional ways, computerized random number generators or thrown objects; other
methods including counting the eyes on potatoes.[7] Some practitioners use specialized cards, with each card
representing a single geomantic figure; in this case, only four cards are drawn after shuffling. Specialized
machines have also been used to generate full geomantic charts.[8]

The figures are entered into a specialized table, known as the shield chart, which illustrates the recursive
processes reminiscent of the Cantor set[3] that form the figures. The first four figures are called the matres, or
Mothers, and form the basis for the rest of the figures in the chart; they occupy the first four houses in the upper
right-hand corner such that the first Mother is to the far right, the second Mother is to her left, and so on
(continuing the right-to-left tradition). The next four figures, the filiae, or Daughters, are formed by rearranging
the lines used in the Mothers: the first Daughter is formed by taking the first line from the first, second, third,
and fourth Mothers in order and rearranging them to be the first Daughter's first, second, third, and fourth lines,
respectively. The process is done similarly for the second Daughter using the second line from the Mothers, and
so on. The Daughters are placed in the next four houses in order on the same row as the Mothers.
After the eight matres and filiae are formed, the four nepotes (or Nieces) are formed by adding those pairs of
figures that rest above the houses of the respective Niece. Therefore, the first and second Mothers add to form
the first Niece, the third and fourth Mothers add to form the second Niece, and so on. Here, addition involves
summing the points in the respective lines of the parents: if the sum is an even number, then the resulting
figure's line will have two points, and if the sum is odd then the line will have one point. Conceptually, this is
the same procedure in mathematical logic as the exclusive or, where a line with two points is used instead of
"false" and a line with one point instead of "true".[9]

From the four nepotes, the two testes (or Witnesses) are formed in the same manner as the nepotes: the first and
second Nieces form the Right Witness, and the third and fourth Nieces form the Left Witness. From the
Witnesses, using the same addition process, the iudex, or Judge, is formed. A sixteenth figure, the Reconciler or
superiudex, is also generated by adding the Judge and the First Mother, although this has become seen as
extraneous and a "backup figure" in recent times.

Interpreting the charts

The shield chart most likely provided an early visual guide to generating the figures, and the interpreted answer
would center on the fifteenth and sixteenth figures, the Judge and Reconciler. Skilled geomancers observe the
whole chart, interpreting (among other things) meanings of the figures based on where they place in the chart,
the numerical significance of the total points, and the similarities produced by added figures. Generally, the
Judge represents the answer to the question, the Right Witness describes the querent's side of the query, the Left
Witness represents the quesited's side, and the Reconciler represents the effect of the outcome (or Judge) upon
the querent. The skilled geomancer can deduce root causes to the situation, hidden influences, the outcome and
its aftermath, and general trends and events in the querent's life through interpreting the chart.

One division of the shield chart for interpretation involves triplets of the figures called triplicities.[10] Each
triplicity contains two of the Mothers or two of the Daughters and the Niece that results from them. They can
be interpreted in a manner similar to the Witnesses and Judge, in that the right parent represents the past, the
child the present, and the left parent the future; another way to interpret such a triplet views the right parent as
the querent's side, allies, resources, and opinions, the left parent as the quesited's side, and the child as the
interaction of the two sides.

Triplicity Figures Involved Interpretation

First First Mother, Second

The querent's health, disposition, outlooks, and habits. Current trends in the querent's life.
Triplicity Mother, First Niece

Second Third Mother, Fourth The influences in the querent's life at the time of the reading. Factors that shape the querent's
Triplicity Mother, Second Niece life and the situation surrounding the query.

Third First Daughter, Second The places most frequented by the querent, including the home and the workplace. People
Triplicity Daughter, Third Niece and objects found at those places. Family,partners, and housemates of the querent.

Fourth Third Daughter, Fourth Friends, associates, coworkers, colleagues of the querent, as well as people in authority over
Triplicity Daughter, Fourth Niece the querent. Situations and factors caused by external sources.

Another method of evaluating a geomantic chart involves taking the total sum of all points from 16 figures
within the shield chart. In order to evaluate how quickly the queried situation would resolve, Pietro d'Abano
suggested that the total sum be compared to the sum of all points in the sixteen geomantic figures, which is
96.[11] If the sum of the chart is 96, then the resolution of the query will be "swift, and neither slow nor
doubtful;" in other words, that all things that could be acted upon in the situation described by the query would
resolve without delay nor ahead of schedule. If the sum is less than 96, then it will resolve quickly, and in a
degree proportional to the difference between 96 and the total. Conversely, if the sum is more than 96, then it
will resolve slowly.
European geomancers provided an alternate method of interpreting the
figures through the house chart, which feature the twelve astrological
houses. Here, they assign the figures from the shield chart to the houses
in the house chart; the order used differs between different circles of
occultists. While European geomancers still used the shield chart to
generate the figures and provide most answers, they augmented
geomancy with astrological techniques in the house chart. Based upon
the query, they could provide a deeper insight into the querent's life,
factors shaping the query itself, and the extent of the situations
involved. They took note when several houses shared the same figure;
as this figure passes from one house to the next, it generally indicates
that the same situation or event affects each of those houses.[12]
The house chart corresponding to the
Pietro d'Abano discusses the primary modes of perfection used in shield chart above. The Witnesses,
geomantic interpretations with significators in his geomancy essay.[11] Judge, and Reconciler are not shown.
In astrological geomancy, the significators are chosen based upon the
identity of the querent and the identity of the quesited. Generally,
except when the querent asks about a situation about a subject with no immediate connection to themselves, the
querent's significator is located in the first house (see Derivative house). The quesited's significator is identified
based upon the focus of the query: this is based upon the relation of the query to the astrological houses. Some
questions require more than two significators, such as in a query involving several primary factors (e.g., two
parties quarrelling over an estate). Queries that have a yes-or-no, or possible-impossible, answer can easily be
answered with these modes of perfection. If the chart perfects, the answer is "yes"; otherwise, in the case of
denial of perfection, "no". The nature of the figures themselves should also be considered; if a chart perfects
with negative figures, for instance, the matter will resolve but the querent may not like the result. On the other
hand, if the chart does not perfect but the figures are good, then the matter will not resolve even though the
querent can make do successfully without it.

Mode of Interaction of the

Interpretation
perfection figures

The querent's
significator and the A natural connection between querent and quesited. The matter will resolve by the
Occupation
quesited's significator querent's own nature without extra effort.
are the same figure.

One of the significators The querent and quesited meet each other. The significator that moves shows which party
moves to a house must work to attain the resolution: if the querent's significator moves to the quesited's,
Conjunction
directly beside the house then the querent will need to work for the resolution. Otherwise, the quesited will work
of the other significator. things out without need from the querent.

The two significators

The resolution will come by some unexpected or unusual manner
. Try new avenues that
Mutation appear next to each other
wouldn't normally be expected.
elsewhere in the chart.

The same figure appears

in houses directly beside The resolution will come through a third party
. A mediator will help bridge the gap
Translation
the houses of the between the querent and quesited.
significators.

No connection exists
The lack of perfection in a chart. The querent and quesited cannot reach each other
. No
Denial between the two
resolution.
significators.

In addition to modes of perfection, geomancers often took note of aspects between those figures that passed to
other houses, and especially ones that made aspects to the significators. Often, when a chart denied perfection,
geomancers would observe how the significators aspected each other; the aspects here retain similar meanings
from astrology.

Christopher Cattan advocates using the strength of the astrological houses in determining the resolution.[12] By
Christopher Cattan advocates using the strength of the astrological houses in determining the resolution.[12] By
observing the nature of the figures (good or ill, depending on the query) and what type of house they fall in
(angular, succedent, or cadent), he judges the total effect of the figures on the query. The figures that fall in
cadent houses have little to no effect, those that fall in succedent houses have a transient effect, and those that
fall in angular houses have the strongest and most lasting effect upon the query.

Other examples of astrological technique used in geomancy include assigning zodiacal rulerships to the
geomantic figures, linking geomantic figures to parts of the body based on zodiacal rulers, and assigning
planetary spirits, intelligences, and genii to the figures based on their ruling planets.

Geomancy and mathematics

The four binary elements of each figure allow for 16 different combinations, each called a tableau. As each
chart is generated from the four Mothers, there are a total number of 164, or 65,536, possible charts. Due to the
mathematics of the chart, only figures that have an even number of points total can become Judges;[9] each of
the eight Judges then has 8,192 charts associated with it. Traditional practitioners of geomancy use this
knowledge as a type of parity check on the chart to ensure that no mistakes have been made while computing
the figures.

In each chart, if all sixteen figures are observed (the four Mothers, the four Daughters, the four Nieces, the
Witnesses, Judge, and Reconciler), at least two of the figures must be the same. However, as the Reconciler is
usually termed an optional figure, 16 combinations of Mother figures can yield a chart where the Mothers,
Daughters, Nieces, Witnesses, and Judge are all unique. Notably, Populus cannot appear in these charts, since
mathematically it either requires two figures to be the same in order to be formed, or produces a duplicate
figure when added to another figure. In such charts, the Judge will always be one of Conjunctio, Amissio,
Carcer, or Acquisitio. The sixteen combinations of Mothers, in order from the First to the Fourth Mother, are

Puer, Caput Draconis, Tristitia, Albus

Conjunctio, Puella, Fortuna Major, Tristitia
Puella, Puer, Tristitia, Albus
Puella, Cauda Draconis, Tristitia, Albus
Rubeus, Laetitia, Puella, Puer
Rubeus, Laetitia, Cauda Draconis, Puella
Rubeus, Laetitia, Cauda Draconis, Caput Draconis
Rubeus, Laetitia, Caput Draconis, Puer
Acquisitio, Puella, Albus, Fortuna Major
Laetitia, Fortuna Minor, Puer, Conjunctio
Laetitia, Fortuna Minor, Acquisitio, Cauda Draconis
Cauda Draconis, Caput Draconis, Tristitia, Albus
Caput Draconis, Amissio, Fortuna Major, Tristitia
Caput Draconis, Carcer, Albus, Fortuna Major
Fortuna Minor, Rubeus, Puer, Amissio
Fortuna Minor, Rubeus, Carcer, Cauda Draconis

Other forms of geomancy

The Arabic tradition consists of sketching sixteen random lines of dots in sand. This same process survived
virtually unchanged through its introduction to Europe in the medieval era, and survives to this day in various
Arabic countries. Sikidy and other forms of African divination also follow techniques that have remained
virtually unchanged.

In Africa one traditional form of geomancy consists of throwing handfuls of dirt in the air and observing how
the dirt falls. It can also involve a mouse as the agent of the earth spirit. If, one of the oldest forms of
geomancy, originated in West Africa, and uses the same sixteen geomantic figures as in Arabic and Western
geomancy with different meanings and names; the process is shortened to using only two figures. In China, the
diviner may enter a trance and make markings on the ground that are interpreted by an associate (often a young
or illiterate boy). Similar forms of geomancy include scrying involving the patterns seen in rocks or soil.

The Chinese divination practice of the I Ching has several striking

similarities to geomancy. It includes a series of binary trigrams (as
opposed to tetragrams used in geomancy) that are generated at random,
the resulting figures of which are taken in combination. However, the
figures are not added or reorganized as in geomancy, but are instead
taken to form a single hexagram. While there are 23, or eight, trigrams,
there are 26, or 64, hexagrams. This yields a smaller set of resulting
charts than geomancy.

Kumalak is a type of geomancy practiced in Kazakhstan, Tuva, and

other parts of Central Asia. Kumalak makes use of a three by three grid,
wherein a shaman will ritually place up to 41 beads. These shamans use The eight trigrams used in I Ching.
kumalak more to connect with their ancestors and spiritual guides than
to obtain information through divination. Further, shamans who use
kumalak must be initiated and taught how to perform the rituals of kumalak correctly. According to them,
kumalak is an ancient system of knowledge reaching back to the roots of their civilization.

In Korea, this tradition was popularized in the ninth century by the Buddhist monk Toson(Doseon). In Korea,
geomancy takes the form of interpreting the topography of the land to determine future events and or the
strength of a dynasty or particular family. Therefore, not only were location and land forms important, but the
topography could shift causing disfavor and the need to relocate. The idea is still accepted in many South East
Asian societies today, although with reduced force.[13]

In the 19th century, Christian missionaries in China translated feng shui as "geomancy" due to their
observations of local shamans and priests manipulating the flow and direction of energy based on aesthetics,
location, and position of objects and buildings. Although it stems from a distinct tradition, the term "geomancy"
now commonly includes feng shui. Similarly, the introduction of a similar Indian system of aesthetics and
positioning to harmonize the local energies, vastu shastra, has come under the name "geomancy". Due to the
definition having changed over time (along with the recognized definition of the suffix -mancy), "geomancy"
can cover any spiritual, metaphysical, or pseudoscientific practice that is related to the Earth. In recent times
the term has been applied to a wide range of other occult and fringe activities, including Earth mysteries and
the introduction of ley lines and Bau-Biologie.

In fantasy literature
In some fantasy literature, especially that which deals with the four classic Greek elements (air, water, fire,
earth), geomancy refers to magic that controls earth (and sometimes metal and crystals). This control can be
minor and somewhat related to divination as above, or it can be refined control allowing the geomancer to
summon, create, shape, and/or take control of anything related to the element.

See also
Feng shui
Dowsing
Tiang Seri
Ley line

References
1. Johannes Hartlieb (Munich, 1456) The Book of All Forbidden Arts; quoted in Lng, p. 124.
 2. Skinner, Stephen (1980). Terrestrial Astrology: Divination by Geomancy. London: Routeledge & Kegan
Paul Ltd.
3. Eglash, Ron (1997). "Bamana Sand Divination: Recursion in Ethnomathematics." American
Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 99, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), pp. 112122 [1] (http://homepages.rpi.edu/~egla
sh/eglash.dir/ethnic.dir/Bamana%20Sand%20Divination.pdf)
4. Brenner, Louis (2000). "Muslim Divination and the Religion of Sub-Saharan Africa." Insight and Artistry
in African Divination. ed. John Pemberton III. Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 501
5. Maupoil, Bernard. "Contribution ltude de l'origine musulmane de la gomancie dans le Bas-Dahomey."
Journal de la socite des africanistes", volume 13, pp. 178.
6. Josten, C.H. (1964). "Robert Fludd's Theory of Geomancy and His Experiences at Avignon in the Winter
of 1601 to 1602", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 27, pp. 327335
7. Pennick, Nigel (1995). The Oracle of Geomancy. Capal Bann Publishing. ISBN 1-898307-16-4.
8. Savage-Smith, E.; Smith, M. B.; King, D. (1982). "A Islamic Geomancy and a 13TH-CENTURY
Divinatory Device." BULLETIN CENTER ARCH. V.5, P. 42.
9. Marcia Ascher, Malagasy Sikidy: A Case in Ethnomathematics, New York: Academic Press, 1997.
10. Greer, John Michael (2009). The Art and Practice of Geomancy. San Francisco: Weiser Books.
ISBN 978-1-57863-431-6. pp. 969.
11. Greer, John Michael (1999). Earth Divination, Earth Magic. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 1-
56718-312-3. pp. 195214.
12. Cattan, Christopher (1591). The Geomancy of Master Christopher Cattan, Gentleman.
13. Peter H. Lee and Wm. Theodore de Bary eds, Sources of Korean Tradition Volume 1, New York:
Columbia University Press, 1997.

External links
Medieval Geomancy, Elizabeth Bennet's web site
Collegium Geomanticum, John Michael Greer's web site
Ron Eglash's web site (Ethnomathematician)
Wim van Binsbergen's web site (African studies professor)
Astrological Geomancy at Renaissance Astrology
Astrogem Astrological Geomancy

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geomancy&oldid=799021156"

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Tarot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tarot (/tro/; first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi,

tarock, and others) is a pack of playing cards, used from the mid-15th
century in various parts of Europe to play games such as Italian
tarocchini and French tarot. In the late 18th century, it began to be used
for divination in the form of tarotology/cartomancy.

Like common playing cards, the tarot has four suits (which vary by
region: French suits in Northern Europe, Latin suits in Southern
Europe, and German suits in Central Europe). Each suit has 14 cards,
ten cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten and four face cards (King,
Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave). In addition, the tarot has a separate
21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on
the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid
following suit.[1]

Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play card games. In
English-speaking countries, where these games are not played, tarot
cards are used primarily for divinatory purposes.[1] The Trump cards
and the Fool are sometimes called "the major arcana" while the ten pip
and four court cards in each suit are called minor arcana. The cards are
traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but
there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot
for divination before the 18th century.[1]
Visconti-Sforza tarot deck

Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Tarot card games
4 Divinatory, esoteric, and occult tarot
5 Varieties
5.1 French suited tarot decks
5.2 German suited tarot deck
5.3 Italo-Portuguese suited tarot deck
5.4 Non-occult Italian-suited tarot decks
5.5 Occult tarot decks
5.5.1 Rider-Waite-Smith deck
5.5.2 Crowley-Harris Thoth deck
5.5.3 Hermetic Tarot
5.5.4 Tarot of Nine Paths
6 Cultural references
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links

Etymology

The word tarot and German Tarock derive from the Italian tarocchi, the origin of which is uncertain.[2] The
The word tarot and German Tarock derive from the Italian tarocchi, the origin of which is uncertain.[2] The
singular term is tarocco, which means a type of blood orange in modern Italian. One theory relates to the Taro
River in northern Italy; the game may have originated in Milan or Bologna.[3] Other writers believe it comes
from the Arabic word turuq, which means 'ways'.[4] Alternatively, it may be from the Arabic taraka,
'to leave, abandon, omit, leave behind'.[5]

History
Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century, most likely from Mamluk Egypt, with suits of
Batons or Polo sticks (commonly known as Wands by those practicing occult or divinatory tarot), Coins
(commonly known as disks, or pentacles in occult or divinatory tarot), Swords, and Cups. These suits were very
similar to modern tarot divination decks and are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese playing
card decks.[6]

The first documented tarot packs were recorded between 1430 and 1450 in Milan, Ferrara and Bologna when
additional trump cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack. These new decks
were called carte da trionfi, triumph cards, and the additional cards known simply as trionfi, which became
"trumps" in English. These cards are documented in a written statement in the court records in Florence, in
1440. The oldest surviving tarot cards are from fifteen decks painted in the mid 15th century for the Visconti-
Sforza family, the rulers of Milan.[7] During the 16th-century, a new game played with a standard deck but
sharing the same name (triomphe) was quickly becoming popular. This coincided with the older game being
renamed tarocchi.[1]

Picture-card packs are first mentioned by Martiano da Tortona probably

between 1418 and 1425, since the painter he mentions, Michelino da Besozzo,
returned to Milan in 1418, while Martiano himself died in 1425. He describes a
deck with 16 cards with images of the Greek gods and suits depicting four
kinds of birds. However the 16 cards were obviously regarded as "trumps" as,
about 25 years later, Jacopo Antonio Marcello called them a ludus
triumphorum, or "game of trumps".[8]

Special motifs on cards added to regular packs showed philosophical, social,

poetical, astronomical, and heraldic ideas, Roman/Greek/Babylonian heroes, as
in the case of the Sola-Busca-Tarocchi (1491)[1] and the Boiardo Tarocchi
poem, written at an unknown date between 1461 and 1494.[9]

Fragments of two playing card decks from Milan (the Brera-Brambilla and
Cary-Yale-Tarocchi), made around 1440, survive. Three documents dating from
1 January 1441 to July 1442, use the term trionfi. The document from January
1441 is regarded as an unreliable reference; however, the same painter,
Sagramoro, was commissioned by the same patron, Leonello d'Este, as in the
Le Bateleur: The Juggler from
February 1442 document. The game seemed to gain in importance in the year the Jean Dodal Tarot of
1450, a Jubilee year in Italy. Marseilles. This card is often
named The Magician in
Three sets were made for members of the Visconti family.[10] The first deck, modern English language tarots
and probably the prototype, is called the Cary-Yale Tarot (or Visconti-Modrone
Tarot) and was created between 1442 and 1447 by an anonymous painter for
Filippo Maria Visconti.[10] The cards (only 67) are today held in the Cary collection of the Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscript Library at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut.[11] The most famous was painted in
the mid-15th century, to celebrate Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti, daughter of the duke
Filippo Maria. Probably, these cards were painted by Bonifacio Bembo or Francesco Zavattari between 1451
and 1453.[10] Of the original cards, 35 are in The Morgan Library & Museum, 26 are at the Accademia Carrara,

thirteen are at the Casa Colleoni,[10] and four: The Devil, The Tower, The Knight of Coins, and the 3 of
thirteen are at the Casa Colleoni,[10] and four: The Devil, The Tower, The Knight of Coins, and the 3 of
Swords, are lost or were never made. This "Visconti-Sforza" deck, which has been widely reproduced, reflects
conventional iconography of the time to a significant degree.[12]

Hand-painted tarot cards remained a privilege of the upper classes and, although a Dominican preacher
inveighed against the evil inherent in cards (chiefly owing to their use in gambling) in a sermon in the 14th
century,[13] no routine condemnations of tarot were found during its early history.[1]

Because the earliest tarot cards were hand-painted, the number of the decks produced is thought to have been
small. It was only after the invention of the printing press that mass production of cards became possible.
Decks survive from this era from France, and the most popular pattern is the Tarot de Marseille[14] such as the
Jean Dodal Tarot (Lyon) and the Jean Noblet Tarot (Paris) for example.

Tarot card games

The original purpose of tarot cards was to play games, the
first rules appearing in the manuscript of Martiano da
Tortona before 1425, and the next from the year 1637. The
game of tarot has many cultural variations. Tarocchini has
survived in Bologna and there are still others played in
Piedmont and Sicily, but in Italy the game is generally less
popular than elsewhere.

The 18th century saw tarot's greatest revival, during which

it became the most popular card game in Europe, played
everywhere except Ireland and Britain, the Iberian
peninsula, and the Ottoman Balkans.[15] French tarot
experienced a revival beginning in the 1970s and France
has the strongest tarot gaming community. Regional tarot A French tarot game in session
gamesoften known as tarock, tarok, or tarokk are widely
played in central Europe within the borders of the former
Austro-Hungarian empire.

Divinatory, esoteric, and occult tarot

Divination using playing cards is recorded as early as 1540. A manuscript from 1750 (Pratesi Cartomancer)
documents rudimentary divinatory meanings for the cards of the tarot. In 1765, Giacomo Casanova wrote in his
diary that his Russian mistress frequently used a deck of cards for divination.[16]

Varieties
A variety of tarot designs exist and a number of typical regional patterns have emerged. Historically, one of the
most important designs is the one usually known as the Tarot de Marseille. This standard pattern was the one
studied by Court de Gbelin, and cards based on this style illustrate his Le Monde primitif. Some current
editions of cards go back to a deck of a particular Marseille design that was printed by Nicolas Conver in 1760.
Other regional styles include the "Swiss" Tarot. This one substitutes Juno and Jupiter for the Papess, or High
Priestess and the Pope, or Hierophant. In Florence an expanded deck called Minchiate was used. This deck of
97 cards includes astrological symbols including the four elements, as well as traditional tarot motifs.

Some decks exist primarily as artwork; and such art decks sometimes contain only the 22 trump cards.

French suited tarot decks

French suited tarot cards began to appear in Germany during the 18th century.
The first generation of French suited tarots depicted scenes of animals on the
trumps and were thus called "Tiertarock" decks ('Tier' being German for
'animal'). Card maker Gbl of Munich is often credited for this design
innovation. Current French suited tarot decks come in these patterns:

The Industrie und Glck (Industry and Luck) tarock deck of Central
Europe uses Roman numerals for the trumps. It is sold with 54 cards; the
5 to 10 of the red suits and the 1 to 6 of the black suits are removed.
The Cego deck is used in Germany's Black Forest bordering France and
has 54 cards organized in the same fashion as the Industrie und Glck. Its
trumps use Arabic numerals but within centered indices.
The Tarot Nouveau has 78 cards and is commonly played in France. Its
trumps use Arabic numerals in corner indices.

The illustrations of French suited tarot trumps depart considerably from the
older Italian suited design. The Renaissance allegorical motifs were abandoned
for new themes or simply just whimsical pictures of daily life. With very few
exceptional recent cases such as the "Tarocchi di Alan", "Tarot of Le Chariot, from Nicolas
Reincarnation" and the "Tarot de la Nature", French suited tarot cards are Conver's 1760 deck.
nearly exclusively used for card games.

Example of 18th Industrie und Glck Cego trumps Tarot Nouveau trumps
century "Tiertarock" or Tarock trumps circa 1910
animal tarot.

German suited tar ot deck

German suited decks for Wrttemberg, Brixental, and Bavarian tarock

are different. They have 36 cards, ranging from 6 to 10, Under Knave
(Unter), Over Knave (Ober), King, and Ace. These use Ace-Ten
ranking, like Klaverjas, where Ace is the highest followed by 10, King,
Ober, Unter, then 9 to 6. The heart suit is the default trump suit.[1] The
deck is also used to play Schafkopf.

Italo-Portuguese suited tar ot deck

A Schafkopf/Tarock deck
The Tarocco Siciliano is the only deck to use the so-called Portuguese
suit system which uses Spanish pips but intersects them like Italian
pips.[17] It changes some of the trumps, and has a card labeled Miseria (destitution). It omits the Two and Three
of coins, and numerals one to four in clubs, swords and cups: it thus has 64 cards but the One of coins is not
used, being the bearer of the former stamp tax. The cards are quite small and not reversible.[9]

Non-occult Italian-suited tar ot decks

 These were the oldest form of tarot deck to be made, being first devised in the 15th
century in northern Italy. The occult tarot decks are based on decks of this type. Three
decks of this category are still used to play certain games:

The Tarocco Piemontese consists of the four suits of swords, batons, cups and coins,
each headed by a king, queen, cavalier and jack, followed by the pip cards for a total of
78 cards. Trump 20 outranks 21 in most games and the Fool is numbered 0 despite not
being a trump.
The Swiss 1JJ Tarot is similar, but replaces the Pope with Jupiter, the Popess with
Juno, and the Angel with the Judgement. The trumps rank in numerical order and the
Tower is known as the House of God. The cards are not reversible like the Tarocco
Piemontese.
The Tarocco Bolognese omits numeral cards two to five in plain suits, leaving it with
Tarocco Piemontese:
62 cards, and has somewhat different trumps, not all of which are numbered and four of
the Fool.
which are equal in rank. It has a different graphical design than the two above as it was
not derived from the Tarot of Marseilles.

Occult tarot decks

Etteilla was the first to issue a tarot deck specifically designed for occult purposes. In keeping with the
misplaced belief that such cards were derived from the Book of Thoth, Etteilla's tarot contained themes related
to ancient Egypt.

The 78-card tarot deck used by esotericists has two distinct parts:

The Major Arcana (greater secrets), or trump cards, consists of 22 cards without suits: The Magician,
The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The
Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The
Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World, and The Fool. Cards from The Magician to The World
are numbered in Roman numerals from I to XXI, while The Fool is the only unnumbered card,
sometimes placed at the beginning of the deck as 0, or at the end as XXII.
The Minor Arcana (lesser secrets) consists of 56 cards, divided into four suits of 14 cards each; ten
numbered cards and four court cards. The court cards are the King, Queen, Knight and Page/Jack, in each
of the four tarot suits. The traditional Italian tarot suits are swords, batons/wands, coins and cups; in
modern tarot decks, however, the batons suit is often called wands, rods or staves, while the coins suit is
often called pentacles or disks.

The terms "major arcana" and "minor arcana" were first used by Jean-Baptiste Pitois (also known as Paul
Christian) and are never used in relation to Tarot card games.

Tarot is often used with the study of the Hermetic Qabalah.[18] In these decks there are Kabbalistic illustrations,
most inspired by the "Rider-Waite" deck. The first deck to include completely illustrated suit cards was the 15th
century Sola-Busca deck.[19]

Older decks such as the Visconti-Sforza and Marseilles are less detailed than modern ones. A Marseilles type
deck has repetitive motifs on the pip cards, similar to Italian or Spanish playing cards, as opposed to the full
scenes found on "Rider-Waite" style decks. These more simply illustrated "Marseilles" style decks are also used
esoterically, for divination, and for game play, though the French card game of tarot is now generally played
using a relatively modern 19th century design of German origin. Such playing tarot decks generally have
twenty one trump cards with genre scenes from 19th century life, a Fool, and have court and pip cards that
closely resemble today's French playing cards.

The Marseilles' numbered minor arcana cards do not have scenes depicted on them; rather, they sport a
geometric arrangement of the number of suit symbols (e.g., swords, rods/wands, cups, coins/pentacles)
corresponding to the number of the card (accompanied by botanical and other non-scenic flourishes), while the
court cards are often illustrated with flat, two-dimensional drawings.
In contrast to the Thoth deck's colorfulness, the illustrations on Paul Foster Case's B.O.T.A. Tarot deck are
black line drawings on white cards; this is an unlaminated deck intended to be colored by its owner.

Other esoteric decks include the hermetic Golden Dawn Tarot, which claims to be based on a deck by S.L.
MacGregor Mathers.

The variety of decks in use is almost endless, and grows yearly. For instance, cat-lovers may have the Tarot of
the Cat People. The Tarot of the Witches and the Aquarian Tarot retain the conventional cards with varying
designs. The Tree of Life Tarot's cards are stark symbolic catalogs; and The Alchemical Tarot, created by
Robert M. Place, combines traditional alchemical symbols with tarot images.

These contemporary divination decks change the cards to varying degrees. For example, the Motherpeace Tarot
is notable for its circular cards and the replacement of male characters by females. The Tarot of Baseball has
suits of bats, mitts, balls, and bases, and major arcana cards such as "The Catcher", "The Rule Book", and
"Batting a Thousand". In the Silicon Valley Tarot, major arcana cards include The Hacker, Flame War, The
Layoff and The Garage. Another tarot in recent years has been the Robin Wood Tarot, retaining the Rider-Waite
theme while adding Pagan symbolism. As with other decks, the cards are available with a companion book
written by Wood.

Morgan's Tarot, produced in 1970 by Morgan Robbins and illustrated by Darshan Chorpash Zenith, has no
suits, no ranking and no ordering of the cards. It has 88 rather than 78 cards and its simple line drawings show
an influence from the psychedelic art. In the introductory booklet that accompanies the deck Robbins claims
inspiration for the cards from Tibetan Buddhism.

Rider-Waite-Smith deck

The images on the "Rider-Waite" deck were drawn by artist Pamela Colman Smith following the instructions of
Arthur Edward Waite and were originally published by the Rider Company in 1910. The subjects of the Major
Arcana are based on those of the earliest decks, but have been modified to reflect Waite and Smith's view of
tarot. A difference from Marseilles style decks is that Smith drew scenes with esoteric meanings on the suit
cards. It differs from the earlier tarot designs by featuring scenic pip cards and the ranking of Strength and
Justice.

Crowley-Harris Thoth deck

An example of a modernist tarot deck is Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot (Thoth pronounced /tot/ or //).
Crowley engaged the artist Lady Frieda Harris to paint the cards to his specifications. His system of tarot
correspondences, published in The Book of Thoth and Liber 777, are an evolution of what he learned in the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.[20] The Thoth deck has astrological, zodiacal, elemental and Qabalistic
symbols. Crowley wrote the book The Book of Thoth to accompany it. This deck retains the traditional order of
the trumps but uses Crowley's words for both the trumps and the courts.

Hermetic Tarot

Hermetic Tarot has imagery to function as a textbook and mnemonic device for teaching the gnosis of
alchemical symbolical language. An example of this practice is found in the rituals of the 19th-century
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In the 20th century, Hermetic use of the tarot imagery as a handbook was
developed by Carl Gustav Jung's exploration into the psyche and imagination.

Tarot of Nine Paths

The Tarot of Nine Paths (TNP), designed by Art Rosengarten, is a deck of possibilities that is a tool for the
spiritual traveler. It retains tarot's essential infrastructure while expanding the Major Arcana from 22 to 27
cards. The additional cards contain contemporary psychological and spiritual themes related to integral
wholism that enable users of the deck to learn paths to higher consciousness through games or readings. TNP
catalogues timeless teachings of humanity's higher purpose, destination, and spiritual complementation,
echoing C.G. Jung's view that tart trumps embody the "archetype of transformation," that is, those universal
symbols possessing the greatest constancy, efficiency, and potentiality for psychic evolution, and which point
from the inferior and towards the superior. New cards use old symbols to convey integral archetypes, for
example: The Well for renewal, The Ring for wholeness, Judgement for awakening, and The World for
integration.[21]

Cultural references
Franois Rabelais mentions tarau as one of the games played by Gargantua in his Gargantua and
Pantagruel.[22]

The composer Carl Orff was influenced by tarot in his choral and orchestral work, Carmina Burana,[23] part of
his Trionfi trilogy.

The French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle spent over two decades building her Tarot Garden in Italy. The
22 major sculptures of the garden were based on and named after the Major Arcana of the Tarot.[24]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure written by Hirohiko Araki (Anime adaptation produced by David Productions) uses
tarot cards as a reference/inspiration for Stands (Ex. Star Platinum, Hermit Purple) in part 3, Stardust
Crusaders.

Tarot cards play a key role in Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups (film) and are the reasons behind the title and
the eight sections of the film.

Notes
1. Dummett, Michael A. E; Mann, Sylvia (1980). The game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City (http
s://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qqm1AAAAIAAJ). ISBN 9780715610145.
2. About the etymology of Tarot (http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=220&lng=eng), Michael S. Howard -
Le Tarot
3. Cassandra Eason, Complete Guide to Tarot, p. 3 (Crossing Press, 2000; ISBN 1-58091-068-8)
4. "History of Tarot Cards" (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/history-of-tarot-cards.html). Buzzle.com. July
15, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
5. Etymology for Tarot (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=tarot&searchmode=none), Douglas
Harper - The Online Etymology Dictionary
6. Donald Laycock in Skepticala Handbook of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, ed Donald Laycock,
David Vernon, Colin Groves, Simon Brown, Imagecraft, Canberra, 1989, ISBN 0-7316-5794-2, p. 67
7. Dummett, Michael (1996). A Wicked Pack Of Cards. p. 25. ISBN 9780312162948.
8. King, Margaret L (2009-05-15). The Death of the Child Valerio Marcello (https://books.google.co.uk/boo
ks?id=RdWeII7av_0C). pp. 341, 484. ISBN 9780226436272.
9. Tarot and its History (http://web.archive.org/web/20091027063534/http://www.geocities.com/autorbis/bo
iardolife.html) - Autorbis
10. Boureau, Alain (2001-05-01). The Myth of Pope Joan (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UVw09a69v
cMC). p. 170. ISBN 9780226067452.
11. The oldest Tarot deck (http://www.darktarot.com/the_oldest_tarot_deck.php), Photos, history, and more
information on the oldest tarot deck.
12. Berti Sianmiol, Giordano Weiro (2002). Visconti Tarot Berti. Lo Scarabeo, Turin.
13. Robert Steele. A Notice of the Ludus Triumphorum and some Early Italian Card Games; With Some
Remarks on the Origin of the Playing Cards." Archaeologia, vol LVII, 1900: pp 185-200.
14. Dummett, Michael (1996). A Wicked Pack Of Cards. p. 70. ISBN 9780312162948.
15. Parlett, David (1990). The Oxford Guide to Card Games (1 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0-19-214165-1.
 16. Casanova, Giacomo; Machen, Arthur. "The Complete Memoires of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt" (htt
p://fulltextarchive.com/page/The-Complete-Memoires-of-Jacques-Casanova-de57/#p103). Retrieved
January 22, 2009.
17. Tarocco Siciliano, early form (http://i-p-c-s.org/pattern/ps-12.html) at the International Playing-Card
Society website. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
18. Israel Regardie, "The Tree of Life", (London, Rider, 1932)
19. The new encyclopedia of the occult (https://books.google.com/books?id=xAmMNnJlfnoC&pg=PA442&
dq=solar+busca+deck+tarot&lr=&hl=cs#v=onepage&q=&f=false), John Michael Greer pg. 442 -
Llewellyn Publications (2003) ISBN 1-56718-336-0
20. Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for Personal Transformation (https://books.google.com/books?id=YJD9
3CFeDIAC&pg=PA285&dq=Aleister+Crowley+system+of+Tarot+correspondences&lr=&hl=cs#v=onep
age&q=Aleister%20Crowley%20system%20of%20Tarot%20correspondences&f=false), Mary K. Greer
pg. 285 - New Page Books (2002) ISBN 1-56414-588-3
21. Tarot of Nine Paths: Advanced Tarot for the Spiritual Traveler (https://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Nine-Pat
hs-Advanced-Spiritual/dp/155778888X), Art Rosengarten, guide comes with deck - Paragon House
(2009) ISBN 978-1557788887
22. Franois Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel, ch. 22, "Les Jeux de Gargantua"
23. Jeanmonnot, Jean. "Carl ORFF, compositeur de la Tradition, musique et sotrisme" (http://www.nouvell
e-acropole.fr/ressources/articles/70-articles-thematiques/art-et-musique/736-carl-orff-compositeur-de-la-t
radition-musique-et-esoterisme). www.nouvelle-acropole.fr (in French). Retrieved 2017-04-23.
24. Levy, Ariel (18 April 2016). "Beautiful Monsters" (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/18/nik
i-de-saint-phalles-tarot-garden). The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-03-28.

References
Huson, Paul, Mystical Origins of the Tarot, Destiny Books, 2004, ISBN 0892811900.
Nichols, Sallie, Jung and Tarot: an Archetypal Journey, York Beach : Weiser, 1980
Douglas Alfred The Tarot Penguin Books 1972
Robert Mazlo, A la recherche du Tarot perdu. Les tablettes d'Herms, Ramuel Ed., 1998,
ISBN 2910401863.
Nancy Garen, Tarot Made Easy., Fireside; Published by Simon & Schuster 1989 ISBN 0671670875
Jane Lyle, The Renaissance Tarot., Fireside: Published by Simon & Schuster, 1998
ISBN 9780684854908

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tarot&oldid=796928989"

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trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Tarotology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tarotology is the theoretical basis for the reading of Tarot cards, a subset of cartomancy, which is the practice of using
cards to gain insight into the past, present or future by posing a question to the cards. The reasoning behind this practice
ranges from believing the result is guided by a spiritual force, to belief that the cards are instruments used to tap either
into a collective unconscious or into the subject's own creative, brainstorming subconscious.

Tarot cards were originally used in games and are still used for that purpose in many parts of Europe.

Tarotology is considered pseudoscience, and the readings made from the cards have not been proved to constitute
scientific evidence for the making of predictions about future events.

Contents
1 History
1.1 Court de Gebelin
1.2 Etteilla
1.3 Marie Anne Lenormand
1.4 Eliphas Levi
2 Use
2.1 Order of the Trumps
2.2 Personal use
3 Criticism
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

History
The main article on Tarot gives full details of the history of Tarot cards as game-playing cards.

One of the earliest reference to Tarot triumphs, and probably the first reference to Tarot
as the devil's picture book, is given by a Dominican preacher in a fiery sermon against
the evils of the devil's instrument.[1] References to the Tarot as a social plague continue
throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, but there are no indication that the cards were
used for anything but games anywhere other than in Bologna.[2] As Dummett (1980:
96) notes, "...it was only in the 1780s, when the practice of fortune-telling with regular
playing cards had been well established for at least two decades, that anyone began to
use the Tarot pack for cartomancy."

The belief in the divinatory meaning of the cards is closely associated with a belief in
their occult properties: a commonly held belief in the 18th century propagated by
Antoine Court de Gbelin
prominent Protestant clerics and freemasons.[2]:96 One of them was Court De Gbelin
(see below).

From its humble uptake as an instrument of prophecy in France, the Tarot went on to
become a thing of hermeneutic, magical, mystical,[3] semiotic,[4] and even psychological properties. It was used by
Romani people when telling fortunes,[5] as a Jungian psychological apparatus capable of tapping into absolute
knowledge in the unconscious, [6] a tool for archetypal analysis,[7] and even a tool for facilitating the Jungian process
of Individuation.[8]

Court de Gebelin
Many involved in occult and divinatory practices attempt to trace the Tarot to ancient Egypt, divine hermetic
wisdom,[9] and the mysteries of Isis.

Possibly the first of those was Antoine Court de Gbelin, a French clergyman, who wrote that after seeing a group of
women playing cards he had the idea that Tarot was not merely a game of cards but was in fact:

of ancient Egyptian origin

of mystical cabbalistic import
of deep divine significance

De Gbelin published a dissertation on the origins of the symbolism in the Tarot in volume VIII of work Le Monde
Primitif. He thought the Tarot represented ancient Egyptian Theology, including Isis, Osiris and Typhon. For example,
he thought the card he knew as the Papesse and known today as the High Priestess represented Isis.[10] He also related
four Tarot cards to the four Christian Cardinal virtues: Temperance, Justice, Strength and Prudence.[11] He relates The
Tower to a Greek fable about avarice.[12]

Although the ancient Egyptian language had not yet been deciphered, de Gbelin asserted the name "Tarot" came from
the Egyptian words Tar, "path" or "road", and the word Ro, Ros or Rog, meaning "King" or "royal", and that the Tarot
literally translated to the Royal Road of Life.[13] Later Egyptologists found nothing in the Egyptian language to support
de Gbelin's etymologies.

Despite this lack of any evidence, the belief that the tarot cards are linked to the Egyptian Book of Thoth continues in
modern urban legend to the present day.

The actual source of the occult Tarot can be traced to two articles in volume eight, one written by himself, and one
written by M. le C. de M.***. [14] The second has been noted to have been even more influential than Gebelin's.[2] The
author takes De Gebelin's speculations even further, agreeing with him about the mystical origins of the Tarot in ancient
Egypt, but making several additional, and influential, statements that continue to influence mass understanding of the
occult tarot even to this day. He:

makes the first statement that the Tarot is in fact The Book of Thoth
makes the first statement that the Tarot is associated with Gypsies (and that Gypsies were roaming Egyptians)
makes the first association of Tarot with cartomancy

Etteilla

The first to assign divinatory meanings to the Tarot cards were cartomancer Jean-Baptiste Alliette (also known as
Etteilla) in 1783 and Mlle Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormand (1776-1843).[15][16] According to Dummett, Etteilla:[2]

devised a method of tarot divination in 1783,

wrote a cartomanic treatise of tarot as the Book of Thoth,
created the first society for Tarot cartomancy, the Socit littraire des associs libres des interprtes du livre de
Thot.
created the first corrected Tarot (supposedly fixing errors that resulted from misinterpretation and corruption
through the mists of antiquity), The Grand Ettielle deck
created the first Egyptian tarot to be used exclusively for Tarot cartomancy
published, under the imprint of his society, the Dictionnaire synonimique du Livre de Thot, a book that
"systematically tabulated all the possible meanings which each card could bear, when upright and reversed."
(Dummett, 1980: pp. 110).

Etteilla also:

suggested that Tarot was repository of the wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus

was a book of eternal medicine
was an account of the creation of the world
argued that the first copy of the tarot was imprinted on leaves of gold

Michael Dummett (1980) suggests that Etteilla was attempting to scoop Court De Gebelin as the author of the occult
tarot. Etteilla in fact claims to have been involved with Tarot longer than Court De Gebelin.[2]

Marie Anne Lenormand

Mlle Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormand outshone even Ettiella and was the first cartomancer to people in high places,
being the personal confidant of Empress Josephine, Napoleon and other notables.[2] Lenormand used both regular
playing cards, in particular the Piquet pack, as well as cards derived from Etteilla's Egyptian root. She was so famous
that a deck was published in her name, the Grand Jeu de Mlle Lenormand, two years after her death in 1843.

Eliphas Levi

The concept of the cards as a mystical key was extended by Eliphas Lvi (1810-1875). Lvi (whose given name was
Alphonse-Louise Constance) was educated in the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, was ordained as a deacon, but never
became a priest. Dummett (1980, pp. 114) notes that it is from Levi's book Dogme et rituel that the "whole of the
modern occultist movement stems." Lvi wrote that an astral light is contained within all of reality, and according to
Dummett (1980, pp. 118), he claimed to be the first to

"have discovered intact and still unknown this key of all doctrines and all philosophies of the old world... without
the Tarot", he tells us, "the Magic of the ancients is a closed book...."

Lvi rejected Court de Gbelin's claims about an Egyptian origin of the deck symbols, going back instead to the Tarot
de Marseille, calling it The Book of Hermes, claiming it was antique, that it existed before Moses, and that it was in
fact a universal key of erudition, philosophy, and magic that could unlock Hermetic and Cabbalistic concepts.
According to Lvi, "An imprisoned person with no other book than the Tarot, if he knew how to use it, could in a few
years acquire universal knowledge, and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequaled learning and
inexhaustible eloquence."[17]

According to Dummett Lvis' notable contributions include:[2]

Lvi was the first to suggest that the Magus (Bagatto) was to work with the four suits.
Inspired by de Gbelin, Lvi associated the Hebrew alphabet with the Tarot trumps.
Lvi linked the ten numbered cards in each suit to the ten sefiroth.
Claimed the court cards represented stages of human life.
Claimed the four suites represented the Tetragrammaton.

Dummett (1980: 120) dismissed Lvi's contribution to magic as the product of "an advanced state of intellectual
deliquescent," but noted that Lvi made a major contribution to the history of occult lore. Occultists, magicians, and
magus's all the way down to the 21st century have cited Lvi as a defining influence. This trend began immediately
when Jean-Baptiste Pitois (1811), writing under the name Paul Christian, wrote L'Homme rouge (1863) and later
Histoire de la magie, du monde surnaturel et de la fatalit travers les temps et les peuples (1870). Christian
repeats and extends the mythology of the tarot and changes the names for the trumps and the suits (see table below for a
list of Christian's modifications to the trumps). Batons (wands) become Scepters, Swords become Blades, and Coins
become Shekels. [18] In 1888 ly Star published Mystres de l'horoscope which mostly repeats Christian's
modifications.[19] Its primary contribution was the introduction of the terms 'Major arcana' and 'Minor arcana,' and the
numbering of the Crocodile (the Fool) XXII instead of 0.

In 1887 the Marquis Stanislas de Guaita met the amateur artist Oswald Wirth (1860-1943) and subsequently sponsored
a production of Lvi's intended deck. Guided entirely by de Guaita Wirth designed the first neo-occultist cartomantic
deck (and first cartomantic deck not derived from Ettielle's Egyptina deck). Known as the Arcanes du Tarot
kabbalistique it consisted of only the twenty-two major arcana.

Use
Tarot is often used in conjunction with the study of the Hermetic Qabalah.[20] In these decks all the cards are illustrated
in accordance with Qabalistic principles, most being influenced by the Rider-Waite deck. Its images were drawn by
artist Pamela Colman Smith, to the instructions of Christian mystic and occultist Arthur Edward Waite and published in
1909. A difference from Marseilles style decks is that Waite-Smith use scenes with esoteric meanings on the suit cards.

Tarot cards have become extremely popular in Japan, where hundreds of new decks have been designed in recent years.
[21]

Order of the Trumps

The following is a comparison of the order of the trumps up to and including the A.E. Waite deck. This table is based
on Dummett (1980) and actual inspection of the relevant decks.
 Paul Christian's
Egyptian Tarot Book of
Tarot de Court de Etteilla's Egyptian Oswald Golden
(divinatory A.E. Waite Thoth
Marseille[22] Gbelin[23][24] Tarot[25] Wirth Dawn
meaning in (Crowley)
bold)

1 - the
1 - The I - The I - The
Bateleur Bateleur Ideal/Wisdom the Magus / Will Magician
Magician Magician Magus
(Mountebank)

Gate of the
2 - The II - The
(occult) II - The
2 - the Popess High Priestess Enlightenment/Passion Priestess High High
Sanctuary / Priestess
Priestess Priestess
Knowledge

3 - the Isis - Urania / 3 - The III - The III - The

Empress Discussion/Instability Empress
Empress Action Empress Empress Empress

4 - the Cubic Stone / 4 - The IV - The IV - The

Emperor Revelation/Behaviour Emperor
Emperor Realisation Emperor Emperor Emperor

Master of the
Chief Mysteries/Arcana 5 - The V - The V - The
5 - the Pope Travel/Country Property Hierophant
Hierophant / Occult Hierophant Hierophant Hierophant
Inspiration

6 - Love or Two Roads / 6 - The VI - The VI - The

Marriage Secrets/Truths Lovers
the Lovers Ordeal Lovers Lovers Lovers

7 - the Osiris Chariot of Osiris 7 - The VII - The VII - The

Support/Protection Chariot
Chariot Triumphant / Victory Chariot Chariot Chariot

Themis (Scales
VIII -
8 - Justice Justice Tenacity/Progress and Blade) / Justice 11 - Justice XI - Justice
Adjustment
Equilibrium

the Veiled Lamp / 9 - The IX - The IX - The

9 - the Hermit Wise Man Justice/Law-Maker Hermit
Wisdom Hermit Hermit Hermit

10 - The
10 - Wheel of Wheel of the Sphinx / X - Wheel
Temperance/Convictions Fortune Wheel of X - Fortune
Fortune Fortune Fortune of Fortune
Fortune

the
VIII -
11 - Fortitude Fortitude Strength/Power Muzzled(tamed) Strength 8 - Strength XI - Lust
Strength
Lion / Strength

12 - The XII - The XII - The

12 - the The Sacrifice / Hanged
Prudence Prudence/Popularity Hanged Hanged Hanged
Hanged Man Sacrifice Man
Man Man Man

The Skeleton
XIII - XIII -
13 - Death Death Marriage/Love Affair Reaper / Death 13 - Death
Death Death
Transformation

the Two Urns

14 - 14 - XIV -
Temperance Violence/Weakness (the genius of the Temperance XIV - Art
Temperance Temperance Temperance
sun) / Initiative

15 - The XV - The XV - The

15 - the Devil Typhon Chagrins/Illness Typhon / Fate Devil
Devil Devil Devil

the Beheaded
16 - the the Castle or 16 - The XVI - The XVI - The
Opinion/Arbitration Tower (Lightning Tower
Tower Plutus Tower Tower Tower
Struck) / Ruin

Sirius or the Star of the Magi / 17 - The XVII - The XVII - The
17 - the Star Death/Incapacity Star
Dog Star Hope Star Star Star

the Twilight / 18 - The XVIII - The XVIII -

18 - the Moon Moon Betrayal/Falsehood Moon
Deception Moon Moon The Moon

the Blazing Light

19 - The XIX - The XIX - The
19 - the Sun Sun Poverty/Prison / (earthly) Sun
Sun Sun Sun
Happiness
 20 - Judgment the Creation Fortune/Augmentation the Awakening of Judgement 20 - XX - XX - The
the Dead / Judgement Judgement Aeon
Renewal

21 - the the Crown of the 21 - The XXI - The XXI - The

Time Law Suit/Legal Dispute World
World Magi / Reward Universe World Universe

0 the Crocodile
0 - The 0 - The 0 - The
Le Mat (Fool) Fool Madness/Bewilderment (between 20 and Fool
Fool Fool Fool
21) / Expiation

Personal use

Next to the usage of tarot cards to divine for others, often for a price, tarot is also used widely as a device for personal
advice and spiritual growth. Whereas professional tarot is often seen as a scam (see Criticism, below), personal usage
of tarot cannot be regarded as such, as there would be nothing to gain from scamming oneself. This is an area of tarot
divination that has not been studied properly, however [26]. Regardless, persons who use the tarot for personal
divination ask question ranging widely from health or economical issues to what would be best for them spiritually.[27]

The way the cards are taken to respond to such personal inquiries is subject to various theories. Many tarot users
believe that the cards are the ones providing the answers. Others would state that there are supernatural agents (e.g.
angels or fairies) who guide the cards. From a psychological point of view, there are those who believe that the person
themselves is the one making the connections between the cards. Among these, some believe that tarot is useful either
because it is a way to let one's subconscious speak (after Freud), or because of meaningful coincidences between the
situation or question at hand and the cards (synchronicity, after Jung).[28]

Criticism
One of the main criticisms of tarot card reading is its distinct lack of a common reading method among its practitioners.
During a tarot card reading there are three mains steps that the reader will use, but how each of these steps is carried out
varies significantly between practitioners. The first step is shuffling the cards; the second is laying them out in a
particular pattern; and the third, finally, is interpreting the cards. Some readers shuffle the cards themselves, while
others get the querent to do so. Readers also employ several different patterns in which to lay out and turn up the cards.
Additionally, a reader may have their own distinct way of interpreting the cards; some tarot cards can have up to ten
meanings, and it is up to the reader to use their intuition to interpret them. Some readers believe that they can only get
reliable readings from "top quality decks" and that cheap decks give unreliable readings.[29] There is no scientific
evidence for choosing any reading method in particular. Furthermore, since tarot cards are shuffled before each reading,
and the reading itself is mostly based on the reader's interpretative intuition, it is improbable to get the same reading
twice something which could be expected to happen if the cards were a basis for the statement of objective facts.
Quoting the skeptic James Randi, "For use as a divinatory device, the Tarot deck is dealt out in various patterns and
interpreted by a gifted 'reader.' The fact that the deck is not dealt out into the same pattern fifteen minutes later is
rationalized by the occultists by claiming that in that short span of time, a person's fortune can change, too. That would
seem to call for rather frequent readings if the system is to be of any use whatsoever."[30]

Tarot card readings use very vague and basic ideas that any person could draw on as parts of the reading, internalizing
them. Several different skeptics have found that, when performing a tarot card reading, the reader uses several different
techniques, of questionable scientific validity, to aid in their reading. One of these for example is cold reading. Cold
reading is a technique that psychics, mediums, card readers, etc. use to determine details about a person in order to
convince them that they know them.

See also
Rider-Waite tarot deck
Major Arcana The 22 trumps.
Minor Arcana The 56 suit cards.

References
1. R. Steele. A notice of the Ludus Triumphorum and Some Early Italian Card Games: With Some Remarks on the
 Origin of the Game of Cards,' Archaeologia, vol LVII, 1900. pp. 185200
2. Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth, 1980. ISBN 0715631225
3. P.D. Ouspensky. The Symbolism of the Tarot: philosophy of occultism in pictures and numbers. Dover
Publications. 1976
4. Inna Semetsky. Tarot images and spiritual education: the three Is model. International Journal of Childrens
Spirituality. 16(3): 249260. 2011
5. Eliphas Levi. The Key of the Mysteries. Translated by Aleister Crowley. Red Wheel/Weiser. 2002
ISBN 0877280789
6. John Beeb. A Tarot Reading on the Possibility of Nuclear War. Psychological Perspectives: A Quarterly Journal
of Jungian Thought. 16(1): 97-106. pp. 97
7. Sallie Nichols. The Wisdom of the Fool. Psychological Perspective: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought.
5(2): 97-116. 1974
8. Salie Nichols. Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey. San Francisco: Weiser Books. Also Inna Semetsky. When
Cathy was a Little Girl: The Healing Praxis of Tarot Images. International Journal of Children's Spirituality.
15(1): 59-72. 2010. pp. 59
9. Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett. A history of the occult tarot, 1870-1970. London: Duckworth, 2002.
ISBN 0715610147.
10. Court de Gbelin, Antoine (1781), Le Monde Primitif volume viii, p. 370
11. Court de Gbelin, Antoine (1781), Le Monde Primitif volume viii, p. 371
12. Court de Gbelin, Antoine (1781), Le Monde Primitif volume viii, p. 376
13. Court de Gbelin, Antoine (1781), Le Monde Primitif volume viii, p. 380
14. The asterix and the abbreviations are the actual way Court De Gbelin refers to the second essay. As Dummett
(1980) notes, Mr Robin Briggs identifies the contributor as Louis-Raphael-Lucrece de Fayolle, comte de Mellet.
Louis was a brigadier, governor, and "unremarkable court noble."
15. Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett, History of the Occult Tarot, London: Duckworth, 2002 ISBN 978-
0715631225
16. Robert Place, The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 2005 ISBN 978-
1585423491
17. Eliphas Lvi. Transcendental Magic. p. 103
18. Interestingly, Dummett (1980) singles out Christian's writing as one of the worst examples of what he calls false
ascription to be found in the occult literature.
19. Arcana in the Adytum (https://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/arcana-in-the-adytum/) by Mary K. Greer.
20. Israel Regardie, The Tree of Life, (London, Rider, 1932)
21. Miller, Laura (2011). "Tantalizing tarot and cute cartomancy in Japan". Japanese Studies. 31 (1): 7391.
doi:10.1080/10371397.2011.560659 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F10371397.2011.560659).
22. "Queen of Tarot" (http://queenoftarot.com/tarot_decks/2).
23. "Queen of Tarot" (http://queenoftarot.com/tarot_decks/6).
24. Court de Gbelin is the first to attempt to provide the correct order and nomenclature for the tarot trumps. See
Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth, 1980. ISBN 0715631225
25. Etteilla's tarot is the first cartomantic tarot, thus the broken nomenclature that bears little resemblance to that
which comes before! The imagery of Ettiella's Egyptian Tarot is similar to Tarot de Marseille, but he breaks the
ordering significantly putting, for example, the imagery of the Sun (traditionally triumph 19) as triumph 1. This
interested in viewing the images by do so by visiting this link (http://queenoftarot.com/tarot_decks/7)
26. But see: Gregory, Karen (2013). "Negotiating Precarity: Tarot as Spiritual Entrepreneurialism". WSQ: Women's
Studies Quarterly. 40 (3-4): 264280. doi:10.1353/wsq.2013.0025 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fwsq.2013.0025).
27. van Rijn, Bastiaan Benjamin. "The Mind Behind the Cards" (https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/5137
3). Retrieved 31 July 2017.
28. van Rijn, Bastiaan Benjamin. "The Mind Behind the Cards" (https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/5137
3). Retrieved 31 July 2017.
29. Moore, Randy (January 1992). "Debunking the Paranormal: We Should Teach Critical Thinking as a Necessity
for Living, Not Just as a Tool for Science". The American Biology Teacher. 54 (1): 49. JSTOR 4449386 (https://
www.jstor.org/stable/4449386). doi:10.2307/4449386 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F4449386).
30. "Your Future in a Deck of Cards?" (https://skepticdetective.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/your-future-in-a-deck-of-
cards/). The Skeptic Detective. Retrieved 7 November 2016. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)

External links
List of Tarot Decks
Images from the Grand Etteille Deck
Images from the Grand Oracle des Dames, an early cartomantic progeny
Images from Lenormand's deck
 The Inner Structure of Tarot. This page contains a revolutionary new view of the tarot, based on the works of
Franz Bardon. It deals with the link between tarot, the Bible and magic.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tarotology&oldid=799369789"

This page was last edited on 7 September 2017, at 08:41.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By
using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Major Arcana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the 78-card tarot deck. They serve as a
permanent trump and suits in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard
suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana.[1] The terms "Major" and "Minor Arcana" are used in the occult
and divinatory applications of the deck, and originate with Jean Baptiste Pitois, writing under the name Paul
Christian.[2]

Michael Dummett writes that the Major Arcana originally had simple allegorical or exoteric meaning, mostly
originating in elite ideology in the Italian courts of the 15th century when it was invented.[3] The occult
significance only began to emerge in the 18th century when Antoine Court de Gbelin (a Swiss clergyman and
freemason) published Le Monde Primitif. The construction of the occult and divinatory significance of the tarot,
and the Major and Minor Arcana, continued on from there.[4] For example, Court de Gbelin argued for the
Egyptian, kabbalistic, and divine significance of the tarot trumps: Etteilla created a method of divination using
tarot: Eliphas Lvi worked hard to break away from the Egyptian nature of the divinatory tarot, bringing it back
to the tarot de Marsailles, creating a "tortuous" kabbalastic correspondence, and even suggested that the Major
Arcana represent stages of life.[2] The Marquis Stanislas de Guaita established the Major Arcana as an initiatory
sequence to be used to establish a path of spiritual ascension and evolution.[3] Finally Sallie Nichols, a Jungian
psychologist, wrote up the tarot as having deep psychological and archetypal significance, even encoding the
entire process of Jungian individuation into the tarot trumps.[5] These various interpretations of the Major
Arcana developed in stages, all of which continue to exert significant influence on practitioners' explanations of
the Major Arcana to this day.

Contents
1 List of the Major Arcana
2 Esotericism
3 Fortune telling
3.1 Mysticism
4 Current context
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

List of the Major Arcana

Each Major Arcanum depicts a scene, mostly featuring a person or several people, with many symbolic
elements. In many decks, each has a number (usually in Roman numerals) and a name, though not all decks
have both, and some have only a picture. The earliest decks bore unnamed and unnumbered pictures on the
Majors (probably because a great many of the people using them at the time were illiterate), and the order of
cards was not standardized. Nevertheless, one of the most common sets of names and numbers is as follows:
 Number Name

None (0 or 22) The Fool

1 The Magician

2 The High Priestess

3 The Empress

4 The Emperor

5 The Hierophant

6 The Lovers

7 The Chariot

8 Strength

9 The Hermit

10 Wheel of Fortune

11 Justice

12 The Hanged Man

13 Death

14 Temperance

15 The Devil

16 The Tower

17 The Star

18 The Moon

19 The Sun

20 Judgement

21 The World

Strength is traditionally the eleventh card and Justice the eighth, but the influential Rider-Waite-Smith deck
switched the position of these two cards in order to make them a better fit with the astrological correspondences
worked out by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, under which the eighth card is associated with Leo and
the eleventh with Libra. Today many decks use this numbering, particularly in the English-speaking world.
Both placements are considered valid.

Prior to the 17th century, the trumps were simply part of a special card deck used for gaming and gambling.[3]
There may have been allegorical and cultural significance attached to them, but beyond that the trumps
originally had little mystical or magical import.[3]

Esotericism
In the hands of freemasons, Protestant clerics, and the nobility of the day, the tarot became a "bible of bibles",
an esoteric repository of all the significant truths of creation.[3] The trend was started by prominent freemason
and Protestant cleric Antoine Court de Gbelin who suggested that the tarot had an ancient Egyptian origin, and
mystic divine and kabbalastic significance.[2] A contemporary of his, the Comte de Mellet, added to Court de
Gbelin's claims by suggesting (attacked as being erroneous[2]) that the tarot was associated with Gypsies and
was in fact the imprinted book of Hermes Trismegistus.[2] These claims were continued by Etteilla. Etteilla is
primarily recognized as the founder and propagator of the divinatory tarot, but he also participated in the
propagation of the occult tarot by claiming the tarot had an ancient Egyptian origin and was an account of the

creation of the world and a book of eternal medicine.[2] liphas Lvi revitalized the occult tarot by associating
creation of the world and a book of eternal medicine.[2] liphas Lvi revitalized the occult tarot by associating
it with the mystical Kabbalah and making it a "prime ingredient in magical lore".[6] As Decker, Depaulis, and
Dummett note, "it is to him (Lvi) that we owe its (the Tarot's) widespread acceptance as a means of
discovering hidden truths and as a document of the occult... Lvi's writings formed the channel through which
the Western tradition of magic flowed down to modern times."[6]

As the following quote by P. D. Ouspensky shows, the association of the tarot with Hermetic, kabbalastic,
magical mysteries continued at least to the early 20th century.

The fact that we question the Tarot as to whether it be a method or a doctrine shows the limitation
of our 'three dimensional mind', which is unable to rise above the world of form and contra-
positions or to free itself from thesis and antithesis! Yes, the Tarot contains and expresses any
doctrine to be found in our consciousness, and in this sense it has definiteness. It represents Nature
in all the richness of its infinite possibilities, and there is in it as in Nature, not one but all potential
meanings. And these meanings are fluent and ever-changing, so the Tarot cannot be specifically
this or that, for it ever moves and yet is ever the same.[7]

Claims such as those initiated by early freemasons today find their way into academic discourse. Semetsky,[8]
for example, explains that tarot makes it possible to mediate between humanity and the godhead, or between
god/spirit/consciousness and profane human existence. Nicholson[9] uses the tarot to illustrate the deep wisdom
of feminist theology. Santarcangeli[10] informs us of the wisdom of the fool and Nichols[5] speaks about the
archetypal power of individuation boiling beneath the powerful surface of the tarot archetypes.

Fortune telling
In the popular mind, tarot is indelibly associated with divination, fortune telling, or cartomancy. Tarot was not
invented as a mystical or magical tool of divination.[3] The association of the tarot with cartomantic practice is
coincident with its uptake by freemasons as a fountain of eternal, divine wisdom.[11] Indeed, it was the very
same people publishing esoteric commentary of the magical, mystery tarot (e.g. Antoine Court de Gbelin and
the Comte de Mellet) that also published commentary on the divinatory tarot. Be that as it may, there is a
distinct line of development of the cartomantic tarot that occurs in parallel with the imposition of hermetic
mysteries on the formerly mundane pack of cards, but that can usefully be distinguished. It was the Comte de
Mellet who initiated this development by suggesting that ancient Egyptians had used the tarot for fortune
telling and provides a method purportedly used in ancient Egypt.[2] Following MCM, Etteilla brought the
cartomantic tarot dramatically forward by inventing a method of cartomancy, assigning a divinatory meaning to
each of the cards (both upright and reversed), publishing La Cartonomancie franais (a book detailing the
method), and creating the first tarot decks exclusively intended for cartomantic practice. Etteilla's original
method was designed to work with a common pack of cards known as the piquet pack. It was not until 1783,
two years after Antoine Court de Gbelin published Le Monde Primitif that he turned his cartomantic expertise
to the development of a cartomantic method using the standard (i.e. Marseilles) tarot deck. His expertise was
formalized with the publication of the book Maniere de se rcrer avec le jeu de cartes nommes tarots[12] and
the creation of a society for tarot cartomancy, the Socit littraire des associs libres des interprtes du liver de
Thot. The society subsequently went on to publish Dictionnaire synonimique du Livere de Thot, a book that
"systematically tabulated all the possible meanings which each card could bear, when upright and
reversed.".[13]

Following Ettielle, tarot cartomancy was moved forward by Marie-Anne Adelaid Lenormand (1768-1830) and
others.[3] Lenormand was the most famous and was the first cartomancer to the stars, claiming to be the
confidante of Empress Josephine and other local luminaries. She was so popular, and cartomancy with tarot
became so well established in France following her work, that a special deck entitled the Grand Jeu de Mlle
Lenormand was released in her name two years after her death. This was followed by many other specially
designed cartomantic tarot decks, mostly based on Ettielle's Egyptian symbolism, but some providing other (for
example biblical or medieval) flavors as well.[3] Tarot as a cartomantic and divinatory tool is well established
and new books expounding the mystical utility of the cartomantic tarot are published all the time.

Mysticism

By the early 18th century Masonic writers and Protestant clerics had established the tarot trumps as
authoritative sources of ancient hermetic wisdom and Christian gnosis, and as revelatory tools of divine
cartomantic inspiration, but they did not stop there.[2] In 1870 Jean-Baptiste Pitois (better known as Paul
Christian) wrote a book entitled Historie de la magie, du monde surnaturel et de la fatalit travers les temps
et le peuples. In that book Christian identifies the tarot trumps as representing the "principle scenes" of ancient
Egyptian initiatory "tests".[14] Christian provides an extended analysis of ancient Egyptian initiation rites that
involves Pyramids, 78 steps, and the initiatory revelation of secrets. Decker, Depaulis, and Dummett write:

"At one stage in the initiation procedure, Christian tells us...the postulant climbs down an iron
ladder, with seventy-eight rungs, and enters a hall on either side of which are twelve statues, and,
between each pair of statues, a painting. These twenty-two paintings, he is told, are Arcana or
symbolic hieroglyphs; the Science of Will, the principle of all wisdom and source of all power, is
contained in them. Each corresponds to a 'letter of the sacred language' and to a number, and each
expresses a reality of the divine world, a reality of the intellectual world and a reality of the
physical world. The secret meanings of these twenty-two Arcana are then expounded to him."[15]

Christian attempts to give authority to his analysis by falsely attributing an account of ancient Egyptian
initiation rites to Iamblichus, but it is clear that if there is any initiatory relevance to the tarot trumps it is
Christian who is the source of that information.[3] Nevertheless, Christian's fabricated history of tarot initiation
are quickly reinforced with the formation of an occult journal in 1989 entitled L'Initiation, the publication of an
essay by Oswald Wirth in Papus's book Le Tarot des Bohmiens that states that the tarot is nothing less than the
sacred book of occult initiation,[3] the publication of book by Franois-Charles Barlet entitled, not surprisingly,
L'Initiation, and the publication of Le Tarot des Bohmians by Dr. Papus (a.k.a. Dr. Grard Encausse).[3]
Subsequent to this activity the initiatory relevance of the tarot was firmly established in the minds of occult
practitioners.

The emergence of the tarot as an initiatory masterpeice was coincident with, and fit perfectly into, the flowering
of initiatory esoteric orders and secret brotherhoods during the middle of the 19th century. For example,
Marquis Stanislas de Guaita (18611897) founded the Cabalistic Order of the Rosy Cross in 1888 along with
several key commentators on the initiatory tarot (e.g. Dr Papus, Franois-Charles Barlet, and Josphin
Pladin).[2] These orders placed great emphasis on secrets, advancing through the grades, and initiatory tests
and so it is not surprising that, already having the tarot to hand, they read into the tarot initiatory significance.[3]
Doing so not only lent an air of divine, mystical, and ancient authority to their practices, but allowed them to
continue to expound on the magical, mystical, significance of the presumably ancient and hermetic tarot.[16] Be
that as it may the activity established the tarot's significance as a device and book of initiation not only in the
minds of occult practitioners, but also (as we will see below) in the minds of new age practitioners, Jungian
psychologists, and general academics.

Current context
The history of the tarot and the tarot arcana is the history of Western esotericists and freemasons writing
hermetic, cartomantic, cabbalistic, and gnostic significance onto a thing that was originally nothing but a game
of cards. The standard skeptical approach dismisses tarot as a self-delusional failure, as Michael Dummett
does.[3] While no historical evidence may be invoked to justify any of the esotericists' claims made for tarot
during the course of its 200-year evolution, the notion that the tarot has occult, mystical, cartomantic, and
magical significance has persisted to the present day, where it enjoys a certain degree of popularity and
acceptance among believers.[17] Such believers say the tarot is variously a tool for therapy, something that can
acceptance among believers.[17] Such believers say the tarot is variously a tool for therapy, something that can
facilitate the process of "individuation",[18] an instrument capable of "heal[ing the] human psyche and lift[ing
the] human spirit",[19] even offering transcendence, transformation,[20] and self-awareness.[5] Among the more
sophisticated apologists for tarot, the claimed understandings are sometimes connected to Jung's equivocal
statement about tarot: "If one wants to form a picture of the symbolic process, the series of pictures found in
alchemy are good examples.... It also seems as if the set of pictures in the Tarot cards were distantly descended
from the archetypes of transformation."[21]

See also
Minor Arcana
Tarot de Malfices

Notes

1. Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett, History of the Occult Tarot, London: Duckworth, 2002 ISBN 978-
0715631225
2. Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis, and Michael Dummett. A Wicked Pack of Cards. The Origins of the
Occult Tarot. New York. St. Martin's Press, 1996
3. Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth, 1980. ISBN 0715631225
4. See Divinatory, esoteric and occult tarot for a detailed history of the construction of the occult tarot.
5. Sallie Nichols. Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey. San Francisco: Weiser Books, 1980.
ISBN 9780877285151.
6. Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis, and Michael Dummett. A Wicked Pack of Cards. The Origins of the
Occult Tarot. New York. St. Martin's Press, 1996. pp. 174
7. P. D. Ouspensky. The Symbolism of the Tarot: Philosophy of occultism in pictures and numbers. Dover
Publications. 1976, pp. 12-14
8. Inna Semetsky. Re-symbolization of the Self: Human Development and Tarot Hermeneutic. (2011)
Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. ISBN 9460914195
9. Christina Nicholson. How to Believe Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Irigaray, Alicer, and Neo-
Pagan Negotiation of the Otherworld. Feminist Theology, 2003. 11: 362-74.
10. Santarcangeli, Paolo (1979). The Jester and the Madman, Heralds of Liberty and Truth. Diogenes 27: 28-
40.
11. There is recent evidence that the tarot may have been associated with divination early, perhaps as early at
the 15th century in Bologna. See Franco Pratesi. Tarot in Bologna: Documents from the University
Library. The Playing-Card, Vol. XVII, No. 4. pp 136-146. http://trionfi.com/pratesi-cartomancer
12. A scanned version of the original text is available (http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Galli
ca&O=NUMM-62272)
13. Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth, 1980. pp. 110 ISBN 0715631225
14. Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth, 1980. ISBN 0715631225
15. Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis, and Michael Dummett. A Wicked Pack of Cards. The Origins of the
Occult Tarot. New York. St. Martin's Press, 1996, pp. 206.
16. Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth, 1980. pp. 127 ISBN 0715631225
17. For example Rachel Pollack, Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot. 1980 Wellingborough:
Aquarian Press.
18. Gad, I. 1994. Tarot and individuation: Correspondences with cabala and alchemy. York Beach, ME:
Nicholas-Hays.
19. Semetsky, Inna (2010a). When Cathy was a Little Girl: The Healing Praxis of Tarot Image. International
Journal of Children's Spirituality. 15(1): 59-72.
20. Bala, Michael (2010): The Clown, Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, 4:1, 50-71.
21. C. J. Jung. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Princeton N.J. Princeton University Press.
Vol. 9:1, para 81. 1981. ISBN 0691018332

External links
 Media related to Major Arcana at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=Major_Arcana&oldid=800904997"

This page was last edited on 16 September 2017, at 12:33.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia The Major Arcana by R. Viesi, deck of
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. 22 cards inspired by the Tarot of
Marseilles, but with the author's graphic
style.
Minor Arcana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Minor Arcana (or Lesser Arcana) are the 56 suit cards of the 78-
card deck of tarot playing cards. The Minor Arcana comprise four suits
with 14 cards each. Although there are variations, the Minor Arcana
commonly employ the Italo-Spanish suits: Wands (alternatively, batons,
clubs, or staves), cups, swords, and pentacles (alternatively, coins,
disks, or rings). In contrast, the corresponding French suits are clubs
(), hearts (), spades (), and diamonds ().

Each Minor Arcana card in a suit is numbered one (ace) to ten, except
for the court cards (or courts)page, knight, queen, and kingwhich
are comparable to face cards. In one variation, princess and prince cards
replace the page and knight cards. Some Italian decks add two more
court cards: the maid and the mounted lady.

Since contemporary decks of French playing cards replace both the

knight and the page with the jack or knave, such decks only have 52
cards. The remaining 22 cards in a tarot deck are the Major Arcana.
When used for divination the Major Arcana are traditionally more
significant, but the Minor Arcana are what allow Tarot readers to
understand the subtleties and details that surround the major events and
signifiers in a Tarot spread; in general, the Major Arcana represent large
turning points and the Minor Arcana represent the day-to-day The King of Swords card from the Rider-
insights.[1] Waite tarot deck

Minor Arcana cards in contemporary tarot decks are usually illustrated

a convention popularized by the Rider-Waite tarot deck ca. 1910. Non-illustrated cards bear symmetrical
arrangements of pips.

Contents
1 Symbolism
2 Cards
2.1 Wands
2.2 Pentacles
2.3 Cups
2.4 Swords
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Symbolism
In divinatory, esoteric and occult tarot, the Minor Arcana are believed to represent relatively mundane features
of life. The court cards represent the people we meet.

Each suit also has distinctive characteristics and connotations currently thought to be as follows:
 Latin suit[2] French suit Element Class Faculty

Wands / Batons / Clubs / Staves Clubs Fire Peasantry Creativity and will

Coins / Pentacles / Disks / Rings Diamonds Earth Merchants Material body or possessions

Cups (Chalices) Hearts Water Clergy Emotions and love

Swords Spades Air Nobility and military Reason

Cards
The following cards are from the Rider-Waite tarot deck, the most popular tarot deck amongst English-
speakers; they are divided by suit, and arranged in ascending order of face value.

Wands

Ace of Wands Two of Wands Three of Wands Four of Wands

Five of Wands Six of Wands Seven of Wands Eight of Wands

 Nine of Wands Ten of Wands Page of Wands Knight of Wands

Queen of Wands King of Wands

Pentacles

Ace of Pentacles Two of Pentacles Three of Pentacles Four of Pentacles

Five of Pentacles Six of Pentacles Seven of Pentacles Eight of Pentacles

 Nine of Pentacles Ten of Pentacles Page of Pentacles Knight of Pentacles

Queen of Pentacles King of Pentacles

Cups

Ace of Cups Two of Cups Three of Cups Four of Cups

Five of Cups Six of Cups Seven of Cups Eight of Cups

 Nine of Cups Ten of Cups Page of Cups Knight of Cups

Queen of Cups King of Cups

Swords

Ace of Swords Two of Swords Three of Swords Four of Swords

Five of Swords Six of Swords Seven of Swords Eight of Swords

 Nine of Swords Ten of Swords Page of Swords Knight of Swords

Queen of Swords King of Swords

See also
Tarot, tarock and tarocchi games
Tarot of Marseilles

References
1. "The Minor Arcana Tarot Cards" (http://www.tarot.com/articles/tarot/about-tarot-cards-minor-arcana).
Tarot.com. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
2. Dee, Jonathan (2002). "Introduction to the Minor Arcana". In Liz Dean. Tarot, An illustrated guide.
Silverdale Books. ISBN 1-85605-685-6.

External links
Media related to Minor Arcana at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Minor_Arcana&oldid=797154849"

This page was last edited on 25 August 2017, at 07:48.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.