The Horoscope - An introduction
The horoscope or 'map of the hour' is the astrologer's chief operational aid. It is a symbolic representation of the zodiac of twelve constellations containing within it all possibilities. The Sun, Moon and planets act within or upon the zodiac, and their positions in the various signs as well as their positions relative to each other are said to determine or to represent the nature of any given moment. Thus a child born at any given moment is believed to partake of the nature of that moment - it is not so much that he is 'influenced' by the position of the planets as that he is, himself, of the nature that their positions represent. With recent discoveries of the highly charged electromagnetic nature of what was thought to be mere empty space, it becomes legitimate to revive the ancient and medieval analogy of the 'music of the spheres'. The solar system maintains a constantly changing vibratory state analogous to music; a child born shares in the vibratory nature of that moment, and astrology claims to be able to ascertain more or less accurately, in human terms, its meaning.
No attempt is made here to show how to cast a horoscope. And because a detailed list of the meanings of signs and planets is useless without a horoscope to study them against, it will also be omitted. This article concerns itself with the principles of interpretation, rather than with interpretation per se.
Because the earth revolves about the Sun once a year, the Sun appears to make a circle of the zodiac. The constellation or sign against which the sun appears to rise on the day of birth is the familiar 'Sun sign', the 'I'm a Gemini, are you a Leo?' of cocktail conversations. The Sun sign is held to be the most important single factor in the horoscope - the Sun representing the activating or creative principle.
Because the earth turns on its own axis once a day, there is a second daily cycle of the zodiac. The sign against which the eastern horizon is found at the moment of birth is called the 'rising sign' and the sunrise point itself is called the 'ascendant'. This is held to be the second most important single factor in the interpretation of a horoscope. The ascendant determines a further twelve-fold division of the horoscope into 'houses', corresponding in significance to the twelve constellations. In a very general way it may be said that the Sun, Moon and planets in their signs represent a man's essential character, while the position of the ascendant and the planets within the houses represents what he will tend to do with that character. Thus a man born with Aries as his Sun sign and with his ascendant also in Aries would tend to behave significantly differently from a man born at nearly the same time, but with a Pisces ascendant. In the former case, Arian tendencies would be reinforced, while in the latter they would tend to manifest themselves through Piscean channels.
In judging a horoscope, the astrologer also takes into account the Moon, the second most important body, and all the planets. To each planet is ascribed a set 'character', but that character produces differing effects depending upon the sign in which it is found - just as an actor giving a set speech will produce an effect that differs considerably-according to the lighting employed. So Mars in Scorpio is believed to convey or to stimulate a tendency to violence and sensuality, while Mars in Libra provokes refinement and a capacity to cooperate.
Further, the relationships between the planets are taken into account. At certain specific angles, planets are said to be in 'aspect' to each other. For fundamentally numerological reasons, these aspects are held to be harmonious or inharmonious. Thus a man born with Mars at a 90° angle to the Sun - an inharmonious 'square' - will differ from a man born with Mars at a 120° angle, the harmonious 'trine'. And by the same token, the signs in which the aspects operate must be considered: an Aries-Cancer square will manifest itself differently from a Taurus-Leo square.
The above constitute the main areas of horoscope interpretation - though the working astrologer will take in many other subtler considerations simultaneously. Apart from the self-evident complexity of the task, it is further complicated by the inescapable individuality of the horoscope. For not until the earth has 'precessed' through the twelve signs of the zodiac will any given configuration of planets recur. This precession, caused by the wobble of the earth upon its axis, gives rise to the familiar 'Ages': the Age of Aquarius, Age of Pisces, and so on. A cycle of ages takes over 25,000 years and is called the Great, or Platonic Year.
Satisfying as it may be from a moral, aesthetic and philosophical point of view, the built-in individuality of the individual presents insoluble problems, particularly to those who would like to see astrology placed upon an acceptable scientific basis. If, for example, a scientist wants to put astrological claims to the test, and to find out what - if anything - Mars in Scorpio actually signifies, it would not do simply to take a test group of all people born with Mars in Scorpio, since the multitude of mitigating and contingent factors would make it impossible to isolate whatever Mars-Scorpio effects there might be. If, on the other hand, a test group was selected comprising sufficiently similar horoscopes to make effects detectable in theory, then that test group would tend to be too small to be acceptable to science.
For similar reasons, this makes astrology extraordinarily difficult to teach as other subjects are usually taught, or to explain. When the astrology textbook maintains that Mars in Scorpio brings forth a powerful, passionate character, determined, self-reliant, indomitable, authoritative, this does not mean that everyone with Mars in Scorpio (which would amount to one out of every twelve people) would conform to such a description, but rather that given support from other aspects in the horoscope, Mars in Scorpio would incline to these traits, and may appear the dominant force.
In the study of astrology, the multitude of meanings - Sun signs, rising sign, planets within the signs, aspects between the planets, polarities, modes, the four elements - can only be explained as though each existed in isolation, and yet can only be applied while simultaneously bearing the whole in mind. Thus, the rational mind cannot interpret a horoscope; this must be accomplished through the exercise of understanding - which alone is capable of such an act of synthesis. And it is this that makes astrology so inimical to that common modern cast of mind that would reduce the universe to rational explanation, all else being discounted as no more than superstition or pseudo-problem.
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