Ptolemy

“ Conciliated with Mars, and being in glory, Jupiter will make men rough, warlike, skilful in military affairs, dictatorial, refractory, impetuous, daring, free in speech, able in action, fond of disputation, contentious, imperious, generous, ambitious, irascible, judicious, and fortunate: but, if thus connected, and not placed in glory, he makes men mischievous, reckless, cruel, pitiless, seditious, quarrelsome, perverse, calumnious, arrogant, avaricious, rapacious, inconstant, vain and empty, unsteady, precipitate, faithless, injudicious, inconsiderate, senseless, and officious ”

“ Any two signs, equally distant from either tropical sign, are equal to each other in power; because the Sun, when present in one, makes day and night, and the divisions of time, respectively equal in duration to those which he produces when present in the other. Such signs are also said to behold each other, as well for the foregoing reasons, as because each of them rises from one and the same part of the horizon, and sets in one and the same part. ”

“ And should the Sun be in a sign of single form, or configurated with only one oriental planet, he will cause them to enter into matrimony only once; but, if in a bicorporeal or multiform sign, or configurated with several oriental planets, he will then cause them to be often married. And Saturn, being configurated with the Sun, will provide husbands steadfast, advantageous, and industrious; Jupiter, such as are honourable and noble-minded; Mars, severe husbands void of affection and intractable; Venus, amiable and handsome husbands; and Mercury, such as are provident and expert in business. ”

“ The nations situated between the summer tropic and the Arctic circle, having the meridian Sun neither in their zenith nor yet far remote from it, enjoy a well-temperated atmosphere. This favourable temperature, however, still undergoes variation, and changes alternatively from heat to cold; but the variation is never vast nor violent. The people who enjoy this kindly atmosphere are consequently of proportionate stature and complexion, and of good natural disposition: they live not in a state of dispersion, but dwell together in societies, and are civilised in their habits. ”

“ When conciliated with Venus, and in a glorious position, Jupiter will render the mind pure, joyous, delighting in elegance, in the arts and sciences, and in poetry and music; valuable in friendship, sincere, beneficent, compassionate, inoffensive, religious, fond of sports and exercises, prudent, amiable, and affectionate, gracious, noble, brilliant, candid, liberal, discreet, temperate, modest, pious, just, fond of glory, and in all respects honourable and worthy ”

“ Venus, possessing a favourable temperament, and placed beneath the sphere of Mars, takes the next two signs, Taurus and Libra. These are of a fruitful nature, and preserve harmony by the sextile distance; and this planet is never more than two signs distant from the Sun.
Mercury never has greater distance from the Sun than the space of one sign, and is beneath all the other planets: hence he is placed nearest to both luminaries, and the remaining two signs, Gemini and Virgo, are allotted to him. ”

“ And, although it may be objected to the art of prescience, that it does not co-operate towards the acquirement of riches or glory, let it also be remembered that the same objection attaches to every other art and science; since there is not one which can of itself produce either riches or glory, not yet is there one which is on that plea deemed useless: it seems, therefore, that the science of prognostication, with its high qualifications and its aptitude to the most important objects, does not, in any greater degree, deserve to be condemned. ”

“ Secondly, it is not attempted to be denied that any individual, although he may have attained to the greatest possible accuracy in the science, must still be liable to frequent error, arising out of the very nature of his undertaking, and from the weakness of his limited capacity in comparison with the magnitude of his object. For the whole theory of the quality of matter is supported by inference rather than by positive and scientific proof; and this is caused principally by the concretion of its temperament out of a multitude of dissimilar ingredients. ”

“ Again, let the Sun’s oblique ascension, taken in the ascendant, be subtracted always from the oblique ascendant of the ascendant, as well in the day as in the night, and the remaining difference be added to the Moon’s right ascension; the sum will be the right ascension of the part of Fortune, which will have the Moon’s declination.” It is shown also by this dissertation, that the situation of the part of Fortune must be necessarily confined to the lunar parallels; that it can but rarely be in the ecliptic; and that its latitude is ever varying. ”

“ With regard to men, it is to be observed in what manner the Moon may be disposed; for, in the first place, if she be found in the oriental quadrants, she will cause men either to marry early in life, or, after having over-passed their prime, to marry young women; “but, should she be situated in either of the occidental quadrants, men will then marry either late in life, or to women advanced in age [230] ”: and if she be found under the Sun’s beams, and configurated with Saturn, she then entirely denies marriage. ”

“ Mars alone having dominion of the mind, and placed with glory, makes men noble, imperious, irascible, warlike, versatile, powerful in intellect, daring, bold, refractory, careless, obstinate, acute, self-confident, contemptuous, tyrannical, strenuous, stern and able in government: but, posited ingloriously, he makes men cruel, mischievous, sanguinary, tumultuous, extravagant in expense, boisterous, ruffian-like, precipitate, drunken, rapacious, pitiless, familiar with crime, restless, outrageous, hostile to their families, and infidels in religion. ”

“ Mars, if in signs of human form, and posited in quartile or in opposition to the Sun or Moon, and contrary in condition, will operate death by slaughter, either in civil or foreign war, or by suicide: if Venus add her testimony, death will be inflicted by women, or by assassins in the employment of women: and, should Mercury also be configurated with them, death will happen from robbers, thieves, or highwaymen. ”

“ You will learn from it, inquisitive Reader, how much power the stars have over the atmosphere and all sublunary things: for the stars, and those brighter bodies of heaven, must not be imagined to be idle. The whole doctrine of the stars is not, however, here treated of, but only that distinct part of it which the Greeks call judicial and prognostic, and which, while confined within certain limits is as entertaining as it is useful, and is partly considered to be agreeable to nature. ”

“ Connected with Mercury, and placed in glory, Mars renders men skilful in command, cautious, strenuous, active, obstinate, yet versatile, inventive, sophistical, laborious, busy in all things, eloquent, imposing, deceitful, inconstant, overknowing, maliciously artful, quick witted, seductive, hypocritical, treacherous, habituated to evil, inquisitive, fond of strife, and successful ”

“ When the Sun, instead of Mercury, may be with the Moon, and if Mars, together with Venus, be then in familiarity with them, in that case, provided the luminaries only be found in masculine signs, men will excel in their nature, or, in other words, will possess in full plenitude the properties becoming their sex; while the properties of women, who are thus constituted more masculinely and more actively, will deviate from the usual limits of nature. ”

“ Again, however, of the above-named countries, Numidia, Carthage, and Africa, are more particularly in familiarity with Cancer and the Moon: their inhabitants, consequently, live in community, attend to mercantile pursuits, and enjoy abundantly all the blessings of nature. The natives of Metagonitis, Mauritania, and Getulia, are influenced by Scorpio and Mars, and are consequently ferocious and pugnacious in the highest degree; eaters of human flesh, utterly indifferent to danger, and so regardless and prodigal of blood, as to slay each other without hesitation on the slightest cause. ”

“ Whalley says, “Those of the greatest magnitude are the most efficacious; and those in, or near, the ecliptic, more powerful than those more remote from it. Those with north latitude and declination affect us most. Those in the zenith, influence more than others, more remote. Likewise such as are in partial conjunction with, or in the antiscions of any planets, or which rise and set, or culminate with any planet, or are beheld by any planet, have an increase of power: but of themselves the fixed stars emit no rays.” ”

“ All the creatures and productions of the earth adapted to the use of man, [Pg 60] whether beasts, grain, or fruits, will be damaged or destroyed by excessive heat, by storms of thunder and lightning, or by violent winds; and whatever has been deposited in store will be destroyed or injured by fire, or by heat.
Venus, alone in domination, generally produces the same effects as Jupiter, yet with greater suavity and more agreeably. Glory, honour, and joy will attend mankind; happy marriages will be contracted, and the fortunate pairs will be blest with numerous children. ”

“ Conciliated with Venus, and being again in glory, Saturn makes men averse to women, and renders them fond of governing, prone to solitude, highly reserved, regardless of rank, indifferent to beauty, envious, austere, unsociable, singular in opinion, addicted to divination and to religious services and mysteries ”

“ When the lords of death may fully possess their own peculiar and natural properties, and when neither of the malefics may be in elevation above them, death will ensue in the modes above detailed, and in the ordinary course of nature. But a violent and remarkable death will occur when both the malefics, either in conjunction, or in quartile or opposition to each other, may be lords of the anæretic places; or if both, or only one of the two, should attack either both the luminaries, or even only the Sun or the Moon. ”

“ The power of the Sun however predominates, because it is more generally distributed; the others either co-operate with his power or diminish its effect: the Moon more frequently and more plainly performs this at her conjunction, at her first and last quarter, and at her opposition: the stars act also to a similar purpose, but at longer intervals and more obscurely than the Moon; and their operation principally depends upon the mode of their visibility, their occultation and their declination. ”

“ The stars at the point of the arrow in Sagittarius have influence similar to that of Mars and the Moon: those on the bow, and at the grasp of the hand, act like Jupiter and Mars: the nebula in the face is like the Sun and Mars: those in the waist and in the back resemble Jupiter, and also Mercury moderately: those in the feet, Jupiter and Saturn: the four-sided figure in the tail is similar to Venus, and in some degree to Saturn. ”

“ But in other parts of the earth, where the pole of the equator is in the zenith, the fixed stars can never set nor rise; because the equator itself is then on the plane of the horizon, and circumscribes the two hemispheres (which it thus creates, one above and the other below the earth) in such a manner, that in one revolution every star must twice transit the meridian, some of them above, others below the earth. ”

“ For example, epilepsy generally attaches to all persons born when Mercury and the Moon may be unconnected either with each other, or with the oriental horizon, while Saturn and Mars may be in angles and superintend the scheme; that is to say, provided Saturn be so posited by day, and Mars by night: otherwise, when the converse may happen in these schemes, viz. when Saturn may have dominion by night, but Mars by day (especially if in Cancer, Virgo or Pisces) , the persons born will become insane. ”

“ Since, however, there are some cases in which a planet has always a double right— (for Venus obtains the sole government of Taurus and Pisces, as the Moon does not share in the terms) —it is to be observed that when such double right (whether it exist in the same sign or in the signs next following as far as may complete a quadrant) may be possessed by any planet, that planet receives in addition one degree. ”

“ The Sun, always acting in connection with the Ambient, contributes to the regulation of all earthly things: not only by the revolution of the seasons does he bring to perfection the embryo of animals, the buds of plants, the spring of waters, and the alteration of bodies, but by his daily progress also he operates other changes in light, heat, moisture, dryness and cold ”

“ In producing the changes of the seasons, the Sun itself is chiefly the operating and visible cause. There are, however, other events which, although they are not indicated in so simple a manner, but dependent on a slight complication of causes in the Ambient, are also foreknown by persons who have applied their observation to that end. Of this kind, are tempests and gales of wind, produced by certain aspects of the Moon, or the fixed stars, towards the Sun, according to their several courses, and the approach of which is usually foreseen by mariners. ”

“ Again, the natives of those countries which lie towards the east excel in courage, acting boldly and openly under all circumstances; for in all their characteristics they are principally conformed to the Sun’s nature, which is oriental, diurnal, masculine and dexter— (and it is plainly apparent that the dexter parts of all animals are much stronger than others) —hence results the greater courage of the inhabitants of the East. And as the Moon, on her first appearance after conjunction, is always seen in the west, the western parts are therefore lunar, and consequently feminine and sinister ”

“ The following definition of an aspect, by Kepler, strengthens my opinion: “An aspect is an angle formed on the earth, by the luminous rays of two planets; efficacious in stimulating sublunary nature.”
[65] Placidus (Cooper’s translation) says that “the three superiors are supposed to be stronger, if they are found to be matutine, or eastern, from the Sun; the three inferiors, vespertine, or western; for then they have a greater degree of light, in which consists their virtual influence, and then they are called oriental; but occidental if otherwise. ”

“ Such parts of the signs, as contain the afflicted part of the horizon, will show in what part of the body the misfortune will exist, whether it be a hurt, or disease, or both: and the natures of the planets, in operating the misfortune, also regulate its particular form or species. For, among the chief parts of the human body, Saturn rules the right ear, the spleen, the bladder, the phlegm, and the bones; Jupiter governs the hand, the lungs, the arteries, and the seed; Mars, the left ear, the kidneys, the veins, and the privities ”

“ But, should Venus be conjoined or configurated with Mars alone, she will render women licentious and lustful; and if, to both these planets, when thus conjoined or configurated, Jupiter also present himself, Mars being at the same time under the rays of the Sun, women will then mingle in intercourse with servants, and persons meaner than themselves, or with aliens, or vagabonds: but, should it happen that Venus may be under the rays of the Sun, they will then connect themselves with their superiors or masters. ”

“ The day and the night are the visible divisions of time. The day, in its heat and its aptitude for action, is masculine:—the night, in its moisture and its appropriation to rest, feminine.
Hence, again, the Moon and Venus are esteemed to be nocturnal; the Sun and Jupiter, diurnal; and Mercury, common; since in his matutine position he is diurnal, but nocturnal when vespertine.
Of the other two planets, Saturn and Mars, which are noxious, one is considered to be diurnal, and the other nocturnal. ”