Ascendant

“ In the Question or Figure of Heaven, if the Planet who is Lord of the Ascendant be in a moveable Sign, and the Sign ascending be also one, it denotes the person to be unstable, and of no resolution, easily mutable, perverted, a wavering unconstant man. ”

“ If the Querent does onely desire to live where he may most enjoy most health, look in what signe and quarter of Heaven the Lord of the Ascendant and the Moon are in, and which of them are strongest, and does cast his or her more friendly Aspect to the Degree ascending ”

“ If the Lord of the ascendant be an unfortunate Planet, as Mars or Saturn, and be in the 12th house, Combust and infortunated by the Lord of the 12th, it imports the man is bewitched by a common Witch.. ”

“ The horoscope, or that degree of the ecliptic which roses above the horizon at the moment of one's birth; supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's life and fortune.
μ Hence the phrases To be in the ~, to have commanding power or influence, and Lord of the ~, one who has possession of such power or influence; as, to rule, for a while, lord of the ascendant.
Burke.
3. Superiority, or commanding influence; ascendency; as, one man has the ascendant over another. ”

“ In this Quere, I first considered the Sun Lord of the Ascendant, who being no ways unfortunated, or in any evill aspect with any Planet, which might impeach or impedite him, but on the contrary excellently fortified, I judged, he had the wide world to ramble in, (for a Planet strong, and in no aspect with others shewes a man at liberty to doe what he will;) ”

“ Adjuster-fused ascenders do indeed have a grand and glorious career as finaliters spread out before them in the eternal future, but this does not mean that they are preferred above their ascendant brethren. ”

“ Degrees deep or pitted presented in the fourth Column have this signification, that if either the Moon or the degree ascending or Lord of the Ascendant be in any of them, it shews the Man at a stand in the question he asks. nit knowing which way to turn himself and that he had need of help to bring him into a better condition; for as a man cast into a Ditch doth not easily get out without help, so no more can this querent in the case he is without assistance. ”

“ On the other hand, let any man who has been lifted to wealth, fame, or position by the patronage of another compare his horoscope with that of his benefactor, and it will be found that the benefic planets in the latter hold the places of the Sun, Moon, Midheaven, or Ascendant in his own. This frequently accounts for the fact that men with comparatively unfortunate horoscopes are sometimes found in positions of influence and in the enjoyment of considerable fortune. ”

“ For if such great care in the practice of the art is necessary, and yet as we have shown they do not arrive at accuracy, how can an unskilled person take accurately the time of birth, so that the Chaldæan on learning it may set up the horoscope truthfully? [32] But neither by inspection of the horizon will the star ascending appear the same everywhere, but sometimes the cadent sign will be considered the ascendant and sometimes the succeedent, according as the coming in view of the places is higher or lower. ”

“ The ascension goes on in the soul through the [Pg 32] power and appulsion in the wings, which are the intellect, or intellectual will upon which she naturally depends and through which she fixes her gaze toward God, as to the highest good, and primal truth, as to absolute goodness and beauty. ”

“ He came into the world, not as leaving the Father, for He is 'the Son of Man which is in heaven,' and He ascended up on high, not as leaving us, for He is 'with us alway, even to the end of the world.' Thus the Incarnation and the Ascension support each other. ”

“ Then how is it that no man ascends, but He that descended? Because one only descended, only one ascends. What of the rest? What are we to understand, but that they shall be His members, that one may ascend? ”

“ Here the doctrine of the ascension steps in to raise for us, as it raised for the materialists of St. Paul's day, the standard of current conceptions, and to teach men a higher and a nobler view. We leave to science the investigation of the past and of the lowly sources whence man's body may have come; but the doctrine of the ascension speaks of its present sanctity and of its future glory, telling of the human body as a body of humiliation and of lowliness indeed, but yet proclaiming it as even now, in the person of Christ, ascended into the heavens, and seated on the throne of the Most High. ”

“ I live, and breathe, and dwell, aspiring high,
Even to the throne of Thy divinity;
I am, O God! and surely Thou must be!
Thou art!—directing, guiding all—Thou art!
Direct my understanding then to Thee;
Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart;
Though but an atom midst immensity,
Still I am something fashioned by Thy hand!
I hold a middle rank 'twixt heaven and earth—
On the last verge of mortal being stand,
Close to the realms where angels have their birth,
Just on the boundaries of the spirit land! ”

“ It accords with His own mode of reference to the Ascension, while He was on earth, which ever represents Him not as being taken, but as going: 'I leave the world and go to the Father.' 'I ascend to My Father and your Father.' The highest hope of the devoutest souls before Him had been, 'Thou wilt afterwards take me to glory.' The highest hope of devout souls since Him has been, 'We shall be caught up to meet the Lord.' But this Man ever speaks of Himself as able when He will, by His own power, to rise where no man hath ascended. ”

“ When Christ speaks of His departure from the world, the idea of ascension, of a return to the glory which He had with the Father before the worlds were, is always coming forth through the darkness of the passion. ”

“ A fall, and a rise—a rise that reverses the fall, a rise that transcends the glory from which he fell,—that is the Bible's notion of the history of the world, and I, for my part, believe it to be true, and feel it to be the one satisfactory explanation of what I see round about me and am conscious of within me. ”

“ Ascension We nothing doubt but that the selfsame body, which was born of the virgin, was crucified, dead, and buried, and which did rise again, did ascend into the heavens, for the accomplishment of all things ”

“ We have to think of that Ascension as the entrance of corporeal humanity into the divine glory, as the beginning of His heavenly activity for the world, as the token of His work being triumphantly completed, as the prophecy and pledge of immortal life like His own for all who love Him. Therefore we may share the joy which flooded the lately sorrowful disciples' hearts, and, like them, should make all life sacred, and be continually in the Temple, blessing God, and have the deep roots of our lives hid with Christ in the glory. ”

“ The whole is tempestuous. The [250] Ascension is the majestic last of many similar scenes: no longer with the rapidity of a conqueror, but with the calm serenity of triumphant power, the Hero is borne up in splendour, and gradually vanishes from those who by repeated visions had been taught to expect whatever was amazing. Silent and composed, with eyes more absorbed in adoration than wonder, they follow the glorious emanation; till addressed by the white-robed messengers of their departed king, they relapse to the feelings of men. ”

“ Ascension is more than resurrection. Much is said of it in the New Testament. Christ riseth above all things. We see Him in the very act of ascending as we do not in the actual resurrection, as, with hands and lips engaged in blessing, He gently parts from their side, so simply, so unostentatiously, with so little imposing ceremony as to make heaven so near to our common life that we can just whisper through. ”

“ High above the heavens; the throne of his glory is in the highest heavens, which should raise our hearts in praising him, Lam. iii. 41. His glory is above the heavens, that is, above the angels; he is above what they are, for their brightness is nothing to his,—above what they do, for they are under his command and do his pleasure,—and above what even they can speak him to be. He is exalted above all blessing and praise, not only all ours, but all theirs. We must therefore say, with holy admiration, Who is like unto the Lord our God? who of all the princes and potentates of the earth? ”

“ After the Ascension, He is withdrawn from the eye of sense altogether, His presence will henceforth be purely spiritual, but no sooner do they lose sight of Him in the body than the Comforter comes to their souls. ”

“ By walking with open eyes in the path of knowledge, we see the glory of the Annunciation. The wisdom of generations is but a span on the high pillar of revelation, above which sits the Almighty; but this short span will grow through eternity, in faith and with faith. ”

“ Scarcely is he born, when celestial legions sing the praises of the Lord, and give us to understand, that this birth renders glory to the Most High, and brings an eternal peace upon the earth. What then is this creature who can render glory to the Most High, whose glory is in himself alone? ”

“ And if not, do Thou, then, reveal the standards of Thine ascendancy, and make them to be victorious over Thine adversaries, that Thy sovereignty may be manifested unto all the dwellers of Thy realm, and the power of Thy might demonstrated amidst Thy creatures. Powerful art Thou to do what Thou willest. No God is there but Thee, the Omniscient, the All-Wise. ”

“ Embodied let the king ascend
To life in heaven that ne'er shall end.
And let these new-made stars of mine
Firm and secure for ever shine.
Let these, my work, remain secure
Long as the earth and heaven endure. ”

“ Why not relegate the word mother to the limbo of the “archaic,” as a term too old-fashioned and too elastic to be tolerated in this precise and refined age?
“In climbing one ascends.” Very well. It is true that one way of ascending is by climbing; and there are as many ways of descending, plus one, as there are of ascending. If one has reached an altitude by climbing and if he declines to tumble and if he wishes to descend by reversing his method of ascending, why should he not be permitted to climb down—and to say so if it please him? ”

“ How, therefore, can such people be capable of understanding and expounding these words of God, these verses of everlasting glory?
But the purpose of these verses is not what they have imagined. Nay, the terms “ascendancy,” “power,” and “authority” imply a totally different station and meaning. For instance, consider the pervading power of those drops of the blood of Ḥusayn which besprinkled the earth. What ascendancy and influence hath the dust itself, through the sacredness and potency of that blood, exercised over the bodies and souls of men! ”

“ High, immeasurably high art Thou above the endeavors of the evanescent creature to soar unto the throne of Thine eternity, or of the poor and wretched to attain the summit of Thine all-sufficing glory! From eternity Thou didst Thyself describe Thine own Self unto Thy Self, and extol, in Thine own Essence, Thine Essence unto Thine Essence. ”

“ When taken to express the condition of the one ascending, the Ascension in no wise belongs to Christ according to the condition of His Divine Nature; both because there is nothing higher than the Divine Nature to which He can ascend; and because ascension is local motion, a thing not in keeping with the Divine Nature, which is immovable and outside all place. ”

“ The evidence of our Lord’s ascension is ample. He ascended in the presence of many witnesses, who stood gazing after him till a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, two angels appeared to them, and talked with them of what they had seen. ”

“ I have to be conscious of the Incarnation, of the story of that perfect life, the privations of it, the culminating horror of the Passion and Death, then of the Resurrection, the patient teaching of those forty days when He spoke of the Kingdom of God which He was setting up on earth, the Ascension, which did not mean an end, but only the beginning of His work for men on earth. ”

“ What if there are some spirits which walk in its light alone still? who separate the moonlight from the sunlight, and are shined on by the former only? I passed from dynasty to dynasty, from one age of the world to another age of the world, from Jove perchance back to Saturn. ”

“ Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. ”

“ And I know that in that day we shall arise in the brightness of the sun, in the glory of the Anointed Master, as sons of the divine and co-heirs with Him, made in His likeness. For the sun we see rises daily by divine ordinance; but it is not ordained to rise for ever, nor shall its light last for ever. ”

“ The thread is cut that has hitherto connected us; and now we have to act for ourselves and build up the kingdom of God on the earth, which we will do, by the help of the Lord; for he has decreed that his kingdom shall take the ascendancy over all other kingdoms under heaven. ”

“ Age after age, this same prayer, in different forms, had besieged the throne of heaven. Age after age, the spirit of man had sought for help, and mercy, and inspiration, in the Power that was felt, or imagined, behind the veil of mystery. ”

“ Grand Is the Seen Grand is the seen, the light, to me—grand are the sky and stars, Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space, And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary; But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those, Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing the sea, (What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of what amount without thee?) More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul! More multiform far—more lasting thou than they. ”