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Astrology
Independent Study
Module No. 37

Retrograde Planets

Dear Friend,

Many students studying the Astrology Independent Study Modules know little of aspects, Standard Time, retrogradation, and kindred matters. Those who are well versed in these subjects are not caught in the trap which has snared so many advanced Astrology students attempting to answer Astrology Independent Study Module No. 36. we would advise those not well grounded in the beginnings of science to review the Astrology Independent Study Modules 1 through 26. If you start systematically from the beginning, you will lay a sure foundation, and will not overlook the important points involved in retrogradation of planets. Saturn and Uranus are retrograde and a curious case results. To make the matter clear we refer to Astrology Independent Study Module No. 8. When you have studied retrogradation there, you will see by examination of the positions given in the ephermeris for the 12th, 13th, and 14th of September that both Saturn and Uranus are retrograding at the rate of one minute per day; thus they maintain the same distance from each other, and therefore they are neither applying nor separating.

As we believe homeopathic doses are best for beginners, we did not explain to students of the first 26 Astrology Independent Study Modules that because of retrogradation a slow-moving planet may apply to one which is more swift. Thus in the present case, had Saturn been direct and Uranus retrograde both would have been applying. When that is the case their rays are most powerfully focused, and the mind effect is greatest. It is well worthwhile to keep these points in mind, and to be sure, when inserting the planets in a horoscope, to designate with appropriate marks those that are retrograde, for when not thus marked, astrologers assume that all are direct, and a reading based on such a misconception must necessarily be misleading.

In the present case, for instance, the uniform retrogradation of both planets weakens their influence for good, and increases so-called "evil" tendencies. Saturn in the 11th house obstructs the boy's hopes and wishes; his friends fail him, and the retrogradation of Uranus makes it difficult for him to guard against these mishaps, although the trine between Saturn and Uranus will mitigate this to a considerable extent. Were both Saturn and Uranus direct, Saturn would apply to the trine of Uranus, and the intuitive faculty of the latter planet would impart more wisdom and forestall to a greater degree the saturnine tendencies. During a period in any horoscope when Saturn is direct and meets a retrograde Uranus by progression in a good aspect they bring out the very highest of their respective virtues potential in the native; but if they meet thus in an evil configuration, they inevitably force any hidden evil to the surface, for remember, the planets inaugurate neither good nor ill, they only stir into activity tendencies which are latent within.

Work for the Student:

(You are welcome to e-mail your answers and/or comments to us. Please be sure to include the course name and Independent Study Guide number in your e-mail to us. You will find the answers to the questions below in the next Astrology Independent Study Module.)

1.  You will notice that during boyhood Mercury is R, but later becomes direct, and about nineteen years after birth it forms a trine with Saturn. What will be the result?

Answers to Astrology
Independent Study
Module No. 36:

(A) In the horoscope Saturn is neither applying to nor separating from Uranus. Both Planets are retrograde at the rate of one minute per day. Thus they maintain the same distance from each other.

Saturn Uranus
Sept. 12 Taurus 20.09 Capricorn 25.38
Sept. 13 Taurus 20.08 Capricorn 25.37
Sept. 14 Taurus 20.07 Capricorn 25.36

As the month progresses note the retrograding movement of Uranus begins to slow down in comparison with Saturn which begins to speed up. Consequently Saturn begins to separate from the trine with Uranus.

Saturn Uranus
Sept. 12 Taurus 20.09 Capricorn 25.38
Sept. 22 Taurus 19.53 Capricorn 25.29
Movement in 10 days 00.16 00.09

(B) Mercury rises after the Sun. (Cancer rises before Leo)

Supplemental
Student Material:

Animal Experience

This discourse is presented for the consideration of students who in their studies often make inquiries regarding the " horoscopes of animals." These inquiries are, of course, perfectly legitimate — being germane to a familiar factor of life-experience, one which is of great interest and concern to many people.

Because astrology is essentially a study of consciousness, as a vibratory science it is applicable to any form or plane of life and the consciousness which ensouls and informs that life. If our knowledge of astrology, per se, were greatly extended beyond its present scope we could — all other factors being equal — do the horoscope of individual animals as we do those of individual humans; we could do the horoscopes of planets, solar systems, and galaxies as well as those of minute forms of life which inhabit this planet. When astrology is apprehended as being the study of those principles or laws by which all consciousness evolves, then its useful application to life throughout the cosmos may be perceived by correspondence with the life we know as humans.

However, and here is the rub, in order to comprehend the astrology of other life-forms and life-waves, we have to know the consciousness pertaining to those forms and waves. We can observe and study the evidences of other types of consciousness than our own but we, being "particularly and peculiarly Earthian Humans," cannot apprehend the planes of consciousness to which other forms, sub-human and super-human, are aligned. In fact, many humans have but a dim and distorted comprehension of the consciousness of fellow-humans! Animal-life is informed, from a different center than we are — we humans being much more autonomous and the animals being much more completely under specialized guidance.

It has been told us that of the sub-human evolutionary lines, those that are now mammalian will make their higher evolution through the human pattern. Thus, it is not only of interest but of great importance that we learn to spiritualize our awareness of, and relationship with, the members of the animal kingdom; they are fraternal to us as inhabitants of this planet and we, as the higher evolutionary expression have a decided responsibility to them, as older brothers and sisters have to younger ones in a family — the correspondence in relationship is almost exact.

Therefore, though we cannot "do the charts"of animals, we can study our own charts in reference to our experiences with, and feelings about, sub-human life and thereby expand our consciousness of evolution on this planet. Using the astrological factors that we do use, a chart calculated for the birth time of, for example, a pet kitten or pup would picture the significance of the animal to our experience; the same would apply to the timing of our decision to bring a new pet into the home, or any animal into our personal experience. In the latter case, motivation and purpose would represent the keynotes of the astrological reading; that chart being correlated with our natal chart would picture the inter-related factors of the experience we might have with the animal. A chart calculated for the time when we select the animal could indicate basic points concerning the suitability of the animal to our purpose. Many people find that their relationship with an animal opens up a remarkably significant experience, and these experience-possibilities are what we will study.

Individual human relationship-consciousness is no respecter of persons or things. A man may love his wife and children with tender, solicitous devotion, but if his relationship-consciousness contains an area of hatred, fear, or prejudice toward another man — or other persons — who happens to be of another race or nationality, his relationship-consciousness is not clear or pure. A woman may fulfill the requirements of her professional work with unwavering conscientiousness, but if her attitude toward her colleagues — or a colleague — is tainted with envy or false superiority, then her relationship-consciousness toward her profession is correspondingly tainted.

Many such hypothetical illustrations may be considered; the point to keep in mind is this: our relationship with another person is primarily qualified qualified by our feeling about him or her; that area of feeling is ignited by vibratory contact with the person. In other words, other people symbolize qualities of consciousness to us because by the action of vibratory sympathy, any person can serve to stimulate any point of feeling in our relationship-consciousness. We, until we gain true understanding, tend to identify the person with the quality stimulated in our relationship-consciousness; when we have gained relationship-wisdom, we know that our reactions of an unpleasant nature are to be transmuted into the spiritual potency of good-will (Love). Therefore, all points in relationship-consciousness which we identify as hatred, envy, jealousy, fear, false superiority, tyranny, etc., may be apprehended as being "materials" to use for transmutative exercise. The fact that many, many people have proven the law of good-will through their transmutative efforts may be ascertained by a few moments of considered thought.

Any magnetic focus of relationship-attraction can be utilized to intensify existing negatives in consciousness or to nurture the already-evolved regenerate qualities. And "relationship" is your viewpoint of yourself in vibratory alignment with arty other person, any creature, thing, activity, event, endeavor, or environment. Your natal horoscope performs its greatest service to you in picturing to you your basic tendencies of viewpoint in relationship-consciousness. Truthfully to apprehend these tendencies and the ways of rightfully using them is to obtain the master-key to all other phases of studying your chart. The evolution of the Consciousness of Humanity is furthered in direct proportion as each human learns rightfully to align himself in relationship to fellow-humans and fellow-creatures.

Note carefully the last fifteen words of the previous sentence. That which is now was determined by that which was; that which is to be will be determined by that which is now. Each human of the present period of Earth-manifestation was at one time in the "animal status;" each creature now is potentially a human. In no absolute sense is a human "superior" to an animal; the difference is simply one of evolutionary timing. The truth of this statement will be instantly perceived from considering the fact that all initiates, masters, and adepts — the spiritual vanguard of present Humanity — serve by inspiring and encouraging our spiritual unfoldment and progress. If they, using an absurd hypothesis, were related to us by "absolute superiority," why would we be encouraged in any way at all to "walk the path they have trod"? If we were related to creatures by an "absolute superiority, " there would be no impulse in the human heart to improve the conditions of creatures, there would be no inspirational impetus to love them. Yet, many humans love creatures with unselfish and sympathetic deviation. Is that not in itself proof that we inwardly know that creatures will walk the path we are now treading? The realization, by a human, of his con-fraternity with creatures is a high peak in the course of his evolutionary sojourn; it is a tremendous expansion of his consciousness of Love and such a point in experience is inevitably attended by an increased apperception of the nature of divine love.

Every position and aspect in your natal chart can be studied as representing a phase of, or tendency in, your relationship- consciousness. Therefore, your attitudes toward, and feelings about, sub- human life are also pictured by these horoscope-factors. Since relationship with sub-human life is inextricably inter-woven into the fabric of human evolutionary experience, we will consider this subject as it is abstractly portrayed by the Great Astrological Mandala. For cross-reference, create a copy: The twelve-housed circle centered by the traditional symbol for the Sun; Aries as Ascendant-sign with thirty degrees of each sign to each house; the planetary rulers of the signs appropriately planed in the houses which they "rule." This is the abstract horoscope of humanity, of with your natal horoscope is an individualized variation.

To enter into a deeper sensing of the con- fraternity of humans and creatures, we will first consider the diameter Sagittarius-Gemini, the signs on the ninth and third houses of the Great Mandala which are ruled respectively by Jupiter and Mercury. Jupiter, in the cosmic sense, is the Principle of Organic Function and the Principle of Hierarchy. It is that power of Divine Mind by which every factor of an archetype is conceived in perfect relationship with every other factor, for function, expression and use. (It is the considered opinion of the author that Venus, as ruler of Libras is exalted in Sagittarius; its exaltation in Pisces derives from its rulership of Taurus.) As the Principle of Organic Function, Jupiter represents the growth of parts of a thing in terms of their purpose and in terms of inter- relationship with the other parts of the same thing. As the Principle of Hierarchy, Jupiter represents the inter-related function of things in terms of relative intelligence or relative susceptibility to the forces of intelligence.

In these terms is seen the placement of parts of a thing in relation to other parts corresponding to affinity with directive intelligence. Sagittarius is polarized by Gemini, the third sign of the Great Mandala in counter-clockwise sequence from Aries, the zodiacal significator of the root of fraternal consciousness; fraternal consciousness being that apperception of "parallelity" or "correspondent similarity" in relationship. All the cells of your body are fraternal to each other, being cell-parts of the same body; but the cells of both your eyes are fraternal by specialization. All inhabitants of this planet are fraternal to each other, but all mammals are fraternal by specialization, humans are "specially fraternal" to each other, quadrupeds are "specially fraternal" to each other, birds are "specially fraternal," etc. Each specialization has further specialization but all specializations are grouped in the unity: Earthian Inhabitant. The planets of our system are "fraternal to each other" and our system is specially fraternal to the six other systems which comprise our immediate galaxy. On whatever plane of dimension you care to consider, organic function in terms of hierarchy and fraternity is illustrated. That means that the human's consciousness of fraternity is not complete until he has perceived the value of this inter-related togetherness on this planet with all other creatures, sub-human and super-human. A question naturally arises from this point: what can we humans do, and what must we do, concerning our feelings about the inhabitants of other planets? This question can be solved by each human for himself, in date time.

Service is also a "two-way thing;" he who desires to be well served must in his turn serve well. Animal life has been utilized for service by humans for countless ages of time and in the abuse of service- principles, Man has engendered much uncomfortable karma. The sixth house and the sign Virgo symbolize the human's consciousness of the principle of service; it is externalized by his experiences as a server and by his relationships with those who serve him, animal as well as human. Animal life has been and is sacrificed to serve as food for the human kingdom, but what of the human who abuses the (unconscious) service of animal-life by senseless, wanton destructiveness? The sixth house is polarized by the twelfth house and the sign Pisces; can you see the possibility that many humans, through an act of uncontrolled passion in this life, spend many years confined in prison as a karmic result of malicious destruction of, or hurt to, sub-human life in a previous incarnation? Malice and destructiveness are in consciousness and whether they are directed in action toward humans or toward sub-humans does not invalidate the karmic potency.

Life, through some means or other, provides restraint for those who have, by action, proven themselves unqualified to enjoy freedom. Therefore, if you contemplate the purchase — or other means of admission into your experience — of animal-life for service, make it part of your project to give good service to those who are to serve you. If you are dependent on them for the fulfillment of work-programs, they are correspondingly dependent on you for care and protection. If your attitude toward your sub-human server is one of respect — which is Love you will not fail your responsibility and it will be enabled to perform its maximum of service for you. Also, by mutual experience in Love, you will further the creature's evolution in training and it will further your mundane requirements without your engendering retributive karma.

Many people give devoted care to creature- companions who, at the same time, reveal very limited and constricted attitudes toward fellow-humans. It would appear that karma to the animal- world is being expiated by this type of life-program. These persons are being focalized in the present life on a specialization of the consciousness of life and love; it is possible that only through expressing love to, and giving service to, their "creature-companions" can these persons spiritually polarize their relationship-consciousness so as subsequently to unfold richer and higher apperceptions of respect and good- will toward humans. This facet of human experience would be illustrated by the diameter Leo-Aquarius being cross-polarized by the diameter Scorpio- Taurus. The regeneration of negative emotional residues, represented by Scorpio, being externalized by the stewardship of the creature-life, represented by Taurus, being the way by which the temporarily restrained Leo-Aquarius consciousness of Love is inwardly repolarized for subsequent better releasement.

In conclusion, we will consider the significance of the air-trine to the relationships of humans to creatures. Libra, cardinal- air, ruled by Venus, is the apperception of relativity, the basic, essential core of relationship-consciousness; it is the apperception which makes it possible for any human to realize relationship with sub- human, human, and superhuman life. Aquarius, the fixed air-sign, ruled by Uranus, is the resource of impersonal, transcendental consciousness of love by which a human realizes an impulsion and a capacity to love life itself, through any of its external forms. Aquarius illustrates the love felt by Luther Burbank for plant-life, the love-bond which unites a blind human to his or her seeing-eye dog; it is the regenerated consciousness of love which unites humans in groups to serve the furthering of sub-human welfare. Gemini, the mutable air-sign, ruled by Mercury, and ninth sign from Libra, is the apperception of relationship as fraternity — that en-wisdomed consciousness of similarity by which humans perceive their togetherness with other humans and any or all other forms of life. St. Francis, the inspired and life-loving mystic, called all creatures by the terms "brother" or "sister;" he knew that he was "older brother" to those who crawl and fly and in loving them as he did he apprehended God 's love for him. May Light and Love permeate our consciousness of all of our fellows in life.

The Wedding Chart

This discourse on wedding charts is offered as an attempt to clarify to astrological students the processes and meanings of the togetherness of two persons who are united for mutual experience in marriage. It has been felt by the author for some time that to do a chart for the time that the wedding is scheduled to start is not really valid. Herein is presented a little food for thought as to the valid timing of a wedding chart.

From what esoteric philosophy has to say about human evolution through the processes of re-incarnation, to "be born" really means to "re-appear in the flesh." Since we have all been involved in the re- incarnative process for quite some time now, "to be married" really means "to be married again." It is extremely unlikely that any person now incarnate has never before been committed to the marital estate. We have all done the equivalent of saying "I do" in various languages, countries, and epochs — and in voices either loud or soft. Since "husband-wife" is a specialized identity of "man-woman," the twofold "I do" and the final pronouncements of the officiant (or their equivalents) is really a variation of "I AM;" in other words, as far as this incarnation is concerned, the birth of a new identity. There is a remarkable parallel between the "birth of husband-wife" and that of the individual as a physical expression. Let us consult the Great Mandala:

A circle with the vertical and horizontal diameters; the symbols of the cardinal signs (Aries, Capricorn, Libra, Cancer) at the left point, upper point, right point, and lower point, respectively (the cusps of the Ascendant, tenth, seventh, and fourth houses); from the midpoint of the Cancer-line through the midpoints of Libra-Capricorn and down to the midpoint of Aries, draw a curved line, resulting in three-quarters of a circle; connect, by drawing a straight line, the cusp-points of Aries-Cancer (the points where the cusp-lines strike the circle.)

To digress for just a moment to explain the symbolism of the straight Aries-Cancer line: until you arrive at the half-way point when you walk or drive through a tunnel you are entering the interior of the mountain or hill; the half-way point marks the change of your relationship with the interior and as you continue on from the interior toward the exit; as you pass through the exit you leave the interior. On the inner planes, between incarnated states, there is a "turning point" which is determined by your fitness to reincarnate. The vibratory gravitational pull of your unfulfilled ideals then goes into effect and your preparations for reincarnation begin to be activated. In other words, from that point you are leaving the interior of subjectivity — the "exit" of which is your first contact with your vehicle-to- be at conception.

While you are still in the subjective state but are preparing for reincarnation, things are happening on the objective plane. For example: those who are to be your parents may have recently met each other, recognized the mutual love-attraction and desire for union, prepared for their wedding-ceremony, established their home, effected the intimacy of their union, etc. Or, if another child or other children preceded you into the family, this outer preparation may simply be the mutual decision of your parents-to-be to fulfill their urge for further parental experience and, in response to that urge, they effect the emotional and physical synchronization which results in the conception of your vehicle. Whatever it may be, preparation is synchronized in both the inner and outer states. At the timing that is exactly right for your requirements, the seed of your body is ignited into expression and your vehicle commences its individualization. At the end of the prenatal period you are "born" — which simply means "physically individualized." Your body is, at one and the same time, the chemicalized expression of a desire-object upon which your parents are to exercise their individual and mutual Love-Wisdom resources and your desire to evolve through new expressions of your potentials.

The quadrant in the mandala represented by "Aries-to- Cancer" is the subjective preparation of your incarnation; Cancer is conception; Libra is the objectification of physical sex-to-be and subjectification of complementation-to-be; Capricorn is the solidification of the organism; Pisces, if it were to be shown at the twelfth cusp, is the condensed symbol of the unfulfilled residues of the three crosses; Aries, at the end of the three crosses; Aries at the end of the three pre-natal quadrants, is the symbol of your re-appearance, at birth, in physical individuality — the re-objectification of your "I AM" on this plane. From then on, until transition back to subjectivity, your "I AM" unfolds its potentials through your various relationship-exchanges with other human beings. Give this much thought and reflection — it is the "human picturing" of a cosmic pattern.

With this analogy in mind and keeping the mandala at hand, we will now translate this pattern into terms of the subject at hand — the significance of the wedding ceremony as the establishment of a new identity of two human beings.

The "subjective turning-point" is the time when each person acts on a thought, a feeling, or an opportunity in such a way that their meeting is the inevitable outcome. Examples: they each accept an invitation (1) to dinner at the home of a mutual friend tomorrow evening; (2) to enjoy a camping trip with mutual friends next month; (3) to attend an exhibition of Chinese art on a certain day next January, or if they are both astrologers — bless their hearts; (4) to speak at a convention of "Star-lit Stargazers, Inc." at West Blubber, Greenland, in 1968. The receipt of the invitation marks the turning-point; the acceptance is the action which draws them, day by day, from the "subjectivity of bachelorhood-spinsterhood" toward the "objectivity of new identity as husband-wife." The time element is, of course, an individual variable, some couples must wait a long time before they meet while others meet and enjoy attraction to each other in sudden and (most delightfully) unexpected ways. The "mutual friends" — or the Board of Directors of "Star-lit Stargazers, Inc." — are chemicalized agencies of the one magnetic Love-power that is instrumental in effecting the contact of the two persons with each other.

The first meeting of the two persons ends the "subjective" phase and this "point in time" is analogous to the "conception- point" of the mandate. Now their togetherness is physically established and the vibratory exchange is, consciously or unconsciously, inaugurated.

From Cancer to Libra in the mandala is the time- element between the meeting of the two persons and their love-recognition of each other. When that takes place (the "maturing of the polarity-awareness of adolescence"), the subjectivity of gender, which coincided with the objectivity of sex in the actual pre-natal period, is mutually ignited by the action of sympathetic vibration; each sees the other as the ideal chemicalized symbol of the subjectified generic qualities — or "complementation" on all planes. They do not "fall" (awful word!) in love; they lift each other in consciousness by the mutual fusion of the best of their qualities. This "mutual fusion of vibration" is the archetype of that which is chemically expressed in the action we call sexual intercourse. Both of these "fusions" are releasements of tremendous resources and they are attended by "more- intense-than-ever-before" realizations of ideal, emotional, mental, and spiritual being-ness. The vibratory fusion organizes the conscious recognition, by each of "need for each other." In mutuality, this eventually leads — according to personal inclination — to the decision to marry; also, according to personal inclination, this is followed by announcement of the intention. The decision and the announcement are symbolized in the mandala by Capricorn at the uppermost point of the wheel — the symbol of concreteness, organization, and condensation — polarity of Cancer.

The emotional state objectified by the announcement establishes the identity of "betrothed" and it should be added that, in this "prenatal" explanation, the sign Leo and the fifth house — following Cancer — would symbolize the individualized love of each of the persons for the other. Leo is love-radiation — an individualized matter; it is not love-exchange, and all of the "identity-points" of the cardinal mandala are such because they refer to "relationships-by-complementation;" a "mother" is such in relationship to "child" and a "brother" is such in relationship to another brother or to a sister; the Capricorn of this symbol is the objectified identity of individual and mutual, Leo-Libra, "loving and being loved"-ness. In our tradition a ring is given by the man to the woman as a "dramatization" of his uplifted awareness of ideality, the power of which is symbolized by the brilliant beauty of the jewel — usually a diamond, which is the jewel-symbol of the Sun. This ring and the one — sometimes two — used in the wedding ceremony is never, as some have thought, a symbol of woman's bondage to, or enslavement by, man; it is always, because it is a circle, the symbol of the perfect- fulfillment of perfect exchange in perfect union. Mutual decision, presentation, and acceptance of the ring, the formal announcement and the first plan for time and place of the wedding ceremony are summed up in the Capricorn-point. The Aquarius of this fourth quadrant from Aries would symbolize the radiation of invitations to persons who love, and are loved and appreciated by, the betrothed couple; the love-extension to family-members and friends; the parents may feel that they are "losing their children" but actually they are, by the fraternity of Aquarius, gaining a "younger brother and sister." The young couple, at marriage, become members of the fraternity of husbands and wives, and, subsequently, that of fathers and mothers — of which their own parents are "senior members."

The last phase of this "pre-natal" period of the marriage would be the sign Pisces in its regenerate meaning — symbol of faith and ideality. To marry is to signify an affirmation of one's realization of life's good and beauty and also to signify a willingness to contribute to Life of one's resources of Good and Beauty. The Pisces of the mandala symbolizes the wedding-ceremony as a dramatized symbol of the deepest and most heartfelt realizations of human joy, inspiration, and loveliness. The artistry of gowns and formal dress, flowers, and music symbolize Humanity's urge to reach and express realizations of eternal beauty — perfected manifestation. In our tradition, the ceremony usually starts with the first note of the musical prelude or of the wedding-march itself. The ceremony progresses, as we "travel through" Pisces, in points of prayer, meditation, music, and recitation of spiritual thoughts concerning the inner meaning of marriage. The officiant symbolizes in his person the intermediary between the personality and the reality of each of the two people. When he says "I now pronounce you husband and wife," the movement through Pisces — as the symbolic ceremony — is terminated at Aries and the emergence into Aries symbolizes the new identity of the couple as "husband and wife" in relationship to each other and in relationship, as individuals, to their individual life-pattern. Great bursts of music — and this music should be radiant and ecstatic in quality — and the couple walk together for the first time in their new identity. And — God bless them all — always.

Something is often done in wedding ceremonies that is really not in keeping with the symbolism of the ceremony; that is for the officiant to pronounce the couple — at the conclusion of the service — "man and wife." A "man" is an adult, male human being; as such, before he can even consider marriage he must, of necessity, function for a few days, weeks, months, or years as "an adult male human being." The identity that is newly established is "husband," and with the assumption of that identity the man "incarnates" into a new octave of his "I AM" awareness as a symbol of his capacity and willingness to unfold and to express new levels of consciousness, resources, and powers.

With the saying of the word "wife" in the above pronouncement, the statement of new identity is complete and integrated; the "pre-natal period" is finished and the material relationship is incarnated. It is the sincere and long-thought-of conviction of the author that the time of the officiants saying "wife" is the time that should be used for the wedding- chart. Regardless of plans, schedules, and announcements, the marriage is not "fully-born" until that pronouncement is complete. The child's birth-cry and the pronouncement of the wedding-officiant are both expressions of the power of the word — the living vibratory stamp of a new identity; from then on, the new-born child and the new-born husband-wife team are individualized "things- in-themselves;" they are, as it were, "on their own."

If you have the charts of the bride and groom, identify their planetary rulers with the wedding-chart to determine which factor in the chart is "personalized" by each. A wedding-chart is not a "composite of two people;" it is the astrological pattern of a specialized experience. Follow this out by correlating, as much as possible, each planetary pattern of the individuals with the wedding chart for study of vibratory groupings. Then apply to each person's chart the planetary ruler and positions of the wedding chart; this is to study the essential meanings — to each individual — of the experience as a most important factor in the sequence of life-experiences. Having either or both of the individual charts complete would, of course, impose the requirement of studying the progressed aspects — particularly those of the Moon — to study the individualized chart-action. If you do not have the birth time you will not have the complete charts but you can still group the planetary positions by crosses (cardinal, fixed, mutable) and generic (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) trines and compare them with the planet- groupings of the wedding chart. In either case, since any event occurs between two junctions, apply the previous solar eclipse to the individual's charts (not to the wedding chart because the wedding was not yet "born" when the eclipse fell) and list the aspects that it, and its resultant Full Moon made. If the wedding occurred after an eclipse-month then note also the effects of the lunation preceding the wedding on the individual's charts. Note the effects — on all three charts — of the solar eclipse which first falls after the wedding; pay particular attention to the "point," if there is such, that this eclipse stimulates in all three charts and note the extent of time between it and the next eclipse. This eclipse-pattern stimulating all three charts opens up the first major testing of the people by marriage and of the marriage itself from a certain composite of weaknesses of the two people, as individuals and as a couple. Also, for basic reading, list all "points-in- common" in the three charts; all such planets in the persons' charts that are squared or opposed tell you that — because of synchronization with a planet in the wedding chart — the marital experience brings to the persons an "apex opportunity" to perceive congestions in consciousness; conversely, all such planets that are sextiled will urge the exercise of self-directed transmutation; all that are trined will represent the "marriage's ability" to "bless the people" and through which they will experience hyper-realizations of their ideality. In other words, all of those patterns are experiences that are especially focalized in the marriage. The "uniqueness" of the wedding chart focalizes the individual and mutual uniqueness of the persons.

When you study a wedding chart, pay much more attention to diameters than to separate house-cusps. Marriage is objectified human polarity and the diameters picture the foundations of the "two-in-one- ness" of all human experiences; in other words, the polarity foundations. Finance-stewardship is second-house — eighth-house; children are fifth-house — eleventh-house, etc. The seventh house of a wedding chart, in its squares and oppositions, sums up the vibratory power that challenges the integrity of the union.

All this is an excellent exercise of your synthesizing ability as an interpreter, an important phase of your service and a delightful stimulus to everything in your nature that makes you love astrology.

One more suggestion; try reading your own natal horoscope as a "Marriage chart;" philosophically speaking — you figure this out — that's exactly what it is!

Supplemental Student
Material Reference:
Studies in Astrology,
Elman Bacher
The Kabbalah »




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