Sepharial

“ Chamberlain has attained in the political world is due entirely to the benefic position of the principal planets in his horoscope of birth. Opportunity is not everything. The ability to use it counts for much, and only a man of exceptional industry, firmness, and decision, could have won for himself such peculiar distinction; and only a man of singular faculty could have sustained his position in the face of so much determined opposition. ”

“ Undoubtedly there is a modicum of intuitive perception at work in the judgment of any horoscope, which will enable you to seize upon the small details and exact pointing of any matter, and this perhaps constitutes the whole difference between the rule of thumb worker and the inspirational reasoning of the intuitive worker. The one exhausts the books and the other embellishes them. It is so with science in every department. ”

“ But a moment’s reflection will suffice to convince you that the more facile you may become with the book-learning and technique of Astrology, the more you will leave the intuition free to act. When a lad is struggling with his multiplication tables, his appreciation of the binomial theorem or the differential calculus cannot be said to amount to much. And, in the same way, a person who is stuffing down the Alphabet of Astrology cannot be expected to intuit anything concerning the potential of the Sun’s direction to the quadrature of Saturn. ”

“ Thus, if Saturn be in the 2nd House at birth, it may be said that there would follow some periods of great financial stress, and the rising of Saturn by direction after birth would show the time when one, at all events, of such periods would be experienced.
And here is the great fact upon which astrologers the world over are prepared to stand or fall. If the planets have no effect in the lives of men, their directions to the angles of the horoscope can have no effect ”

“ The nature of the planet to which the luminary forms its aspect after birth ought also to be considered, for if it be that the luminary applies by a good aspect to a benefic planet, or to one that is well-placed and aspected, then there will be considerable happiness and fortune in marriage. On the other hand, if both the aspect and the planet be evil—as if the Moon were applying to the [Pg 77] opposition of Saturn or Uranus or Mars—then the fate in marriage will be extremely unhappy and disagreements will be frequent and even permanent. ”

“ The 10th House represents the fame and honour of a person, and the 4th House represents the end of life and that which militates against the fame and honour. Therefore when there are good planets in these places, the Subject will meet with rewards and honours commensurate with his efforts; but when evil planets occupy the meridian, he will at best sustain his position in life with great difficulty.
It is futile for any one to suppose that the position of a benefic planet in the meridian of the horoscope will bring him to fame and elevate him in the world irrespective of his own endeavours. ”

“ Jupiter indicates a good nature, bountiful and honest, but may be given to excess and extravagance. Mars induces industry and practicality, but it gives a strong temper and considerable independence. The Sun shows dignity and loyalty, but may indicate ostentation and foolish pride. Venus denotes peacefulness and a genial, refined nature, but its perversion brings indifference, neglect and disorderliness. Mercury denotes an active and energetic nature, but may produce a busybody and meddler. ”

“ Mars in the 4th House afflicting the luminaries or itself afflicted by other adverse planets, denotes a violent death by gunshot or wound and in the midst of strife, or on the field of battle.
Before any catastrophic death be predicted, it should be carefully decided whether or not the death is compassed with uncommon and violent indications, not that one need have fear of the mere going out or coming into the world, but there is some choice of gates, and rather than affright the weak-minded with a sinister judgment, it is better to leave them to find their own way. ”

“ Only when the Sun and Moon are both unafflicted by evil aspects or conjunctions, the health and constitution are both good, and there is every indication of a robust and vigorous life reaching to a ripe old age. ”

“ Incomplete as it must needs be, it is yet a veritable science both as to its principles and practice. It claims for itself a place among the sciences for the sole reason that it is capable of mathematical demonstration, and deals only with the observed positions and motions of the heavenly bodies; and the man who holds to the principia of Newton, the solidarity of the solar system, the interaction of the planetary bodies and their consequent electrostatic effects [Pg 12] upon the Earth, cannot, while subject to the air he breathes, deny the foundation principles of astrology. ”

“ Saturn over Mercury will produce melancholy and many errors of judgment. Mars over the same planet will excite the mind and dispose to impulse and unreasoning anger, quarrels and disputation. Uranus over Mercury will render the mind wayward and headstrong, disposed to erratic courses and egotistic methods. Neptune passing the place of Mercury produces deceits, treacheries, and apprehension of impending evil, a sense of espionage and ambush. ”

“ It may not make him a brilliant success in the world, but it will assuredly save him from being a failure. He will find causes for inexplicable things, and his mind will rest content in the knowledge hat while he is working out the highest potentialities of his own horoscope, the major problems and intricacies of life are not of his making or needful of his solving. And finally, when his time comes to “shuffle off this mortal coil,” he will be prepared, and will know that it is the will of Heaven, expressed and determined from the moment of his birth. ”

“ Let it first be understood that there is an object to be attained in the study of Astrology, and that the pursuit of it in the gratification of an idle curiosity alone will inevitably entail the waste of time which invariably attaches to idleness of all descriptions, and we may then profitably consider whether or not the subject is worth the labour which it will demand from the man who has something to do in the world and little enough time in which to do it. ”

“ The Earth follows the same laws as all other bodies of the same system.
But if we imagine the Earth to be stationary in space and the centre around which the planets revolve, their motions present several irregularities. Mercury and Venus will then appear to revolve around the Sun while the Sun revolves around the Earth, sometimes being between the Earth and the Sun, which is called an Inferior conjunction, sometimes on the further side of the Sun away from the Earth, as at their Superior conjunction; and again, at other times to the right or left of the Sun, in East or West elongation. ”

“ Saturn governs Aquarius and Capricornus.
Jupiter governs Pisces and Sagittarius.
Mars governs Aries and Scorpio.
Venus governs Taurus and Libra.
Mercury governs Gemini and Virgo.
The Moon governs Cancer, and Leo is governed by the Sun.
When a planet is found in a sign over which it is said to govern it acts more strongly than usual, and when in the opposite signs to those it governs it is said to be in its “fall,” when it is weaker than usual.
Planets governing opposite signs to one another are said to be “enemies.” ”

“ He must be able to erect a figure of the Heavens with mathematical accuracy for any given time and place, work out directions by the use of the sphere or trigonometrical tables, and have a competent knowledge of the motions and periods of the various planetary bodies. When thus satisfied in his own mind that Astrology is a dependable science, and that he is capable of demonstrating it under test conditions, he must be generous in the use of it. Here and there he will find one who is opposed to the belief that the stars have any influence in human affairs. ”

“ Astrology is quite a reputable study, and needs but to be emancipated from the service of a horde of half-educated plagiarists and parasites in order to take its place once more among subjects of serious consideration by the learned. Astronomy is interesting, but to be made useful it must find interpretation in terms of our daily life and common needs. It is in this connection that Astrology has played Cinderella since the days of official science. The day is not far off when it will come into its own. ”

“ Fitness and fortune are as cause and effect to one another in respect of planetary action in human life.
Many planets in cardinal signs will dispose a man to seek fame, and when the Midheaven of the horoscope is well aspected or there be fortunate planets therein, he [Pg 71] will attain it. Cardinal signs on the angles of the horoscope (the meridian and horizon) , produce fame outlasting death. The same if either of the luminaries be exactly on the equinoxes.
Venus in the Midheaven gives social elevation and lifts a person above the sphere of birth. Good planets in the 11th show patronage. ”

“ The points W and E are the points of greatest elongation West and East, and the letter S shows the points in the orbit at which those bodies appear to be stationary when viewed from the Earth, at G. As seen from the Earth, Venus would appear to be direct and Mercury retrograde.
Astrologically we regard the Earth as the passive subject of planetary influence, and we have therefore to regard it as the centre of the field of activity. If we were making a horoscope for an inhabitant of the planet Mars, we should make Mars the centre of the system. ”

“ The complex fabric of life has its warp and woof wherein many coloured threads are woven together for the completing of the grand design, and the great loom of life has its wheels within wheels which only the Great Artificer can understand and regulate. ”

“ The position of the Sun in conjunction with Jupiter in the sign Cancer, in sextile to the Moon, is the index of a high fortune and means exceeding a competence. It is here worthy of note that Cancer, which in this horoscope holds the Sun, Jupiter, and Mercury, is the ruling sign of South Africa, with which Colony Mr. Chamberlain’s fortunes have been for a long time so intimately associated. ”

“ And apart from the scientific verities to which the science of planetary influence directs us, there are other not less important and fascinating truths of a purely philosophic nature to which it inevitably impels the mind and which cannot fail to exercise a tremendous influence in the shaping of our thought in regard to the purpose of life. ”

“ When we come to the consideration of the Moon as a cosmical factor we are face to face with one of the most difficult and evasive problems. For many centuries astronomers grappled with this inconstant factor with small success, and at the present day the problems attaching to the vagaries of lunar motion are in anything but a satisfactory condition. Prior to the time of Ptolemy nothing was known of the Moon except that it had a certain mean motion and formed its syzygies at definite periods, the mean values of which were very closely known. ”

“ When one comes to take account of the years of human life that are spent in the vain endeavour to achieve the impossible, the lessons of Nature are worth reciting. But what is impossible to one man is facile to another, and the greatest economy of effort is therefore to be secured by proper regard to suitability of occupation and direction of effort. ”

“ If I wished to know what particular part of the Zodiac one is subject to in any particular year of life—that is to say, what part of the Zodiac is rising—I add 1 degree for every year to the Midheaven at birth and thus obtain a new Midheaven, under which, in the Tables of Houses, I find the Ascendant which rules the year. ”

“ The practical uses of Astrology are daily more and more recognized and appreciated, and although some of the higher and later developments of Astrology in its relation to every-day problems have necessarily been withheld from these pages, yet it is to be hoped that so much as is here presented of an abstruse and recondite science will enable the student to pursue the subject with increasing assurance and satisfaction, in which case doubtless he will readily discover for himself, and without any special pointing on my part, that Astrology is primarily and finally a practical and useful study. ”

“ The benefic planets Jupiter, Venus, Sun, Moon, and also Mercury when in good disposition with another planet or in a congenial Sign, produce good effects by their conjunctions and by their trine and sextile aspects; but when in square, semisquare, or sesquisquare aspect they are uniformly evil in effect. On the other hand, the malefic planets Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Mars, together with Mercury when ill-disposed or in uncongenial Signs, are evil in their effects when in conjunction with the significant points of the horoscope ”

“ No person will make a good soldier who has not Mars as a dominant planet, nor will he succeed with the public if the Moon be not elevated and well aspected, nor become a successful artist, musician, or poet if Venus be not conspicuous in the horoscope. ”