Mercury Retrograde; A Traditional Interpretation

I have seen quite a few websites which include a profile of Mercury retrograde during any certain period of time but unfortunately there is no such luck for those of us who enjoy traditional interpretations of this period. It should be noted that the traditional authors rarely gave very much credence to the Retrograde periods in the way Modern Astrologers tend to do. In the past a retrograde was simply a debility to a Planet and its importance was only brought out during the construction of a chart. However whenever a Planet is debilitated, it also happens to screw up Electional times, for it can be disastrous to do anything during a Planetary Retrograde if that retrograde also includes other Essential Debilities. The greater the debilities to the Planets (Essential or Accidental) the greater chance of the Election not working out (or any other activity undertaken under the significations of Mercury).

For those of you who don't know what an Election is, it is simply an event set Astrologically to bring favorable results. For example, if I wanted to cut my hair, and have it grow back quickly (or slowly) I would cast a chart for the time of that event in which the Planets were favorable for quick hair growth and get my hair cut on that date therefore promoting quick hair growth. The same applies to all the rulerships of the Planets that are debilitated. When a Planet is retrograde (with other debilities as well supporting it) and a certain task that is ruled under that Planet is performed, the outcome will go against the desired end if not go completely reverse to the desire.

Since Mercury retrograde is the most often observed Retrograde the significations of Mercury will be most heavily influenced in this case. Mercury went Retrograde on the 11th of October 2007 at 9PM PST. Which time can be observed in the chart below.

We see that Mercury is placed in the 9th degree of Scorpio. Following the Table of Dignities and Debilities we see that Mercury is Peregrine in this position (which means he is out of his habitation and in a foreign area that he does not recognize). Both the Retrograde and Peregrination are debilities of -5 which means he is debilitated with -10 in this position. We can be sure that he is heavily debilitated this Retrograde period and therefore during this time his influence will be felt negatively. Today we notice that Mercury enters the 23th degree of Libra and thus receives the dignity of Term which lightens his negative influence by giving him a +2 and this shifting his negativity to a -3 (being -5 for Retrograde). The peak intensity of this period (has already occurred) is between October 11th to October 28th.

Now that his placement has been observed we should here note that his greatest influence will be over Mercurial matters these matters include; New arts, instable activities, industry (meaning skills), short journeys, divinations, writing and all things that yeild riches. The types of people who will be influenced most during Mercury retrogrades are; Mathematicians, Philosophers, Poets, Orators, Diviners, Inventors, Brothers, Servants (this is interesting with its initial placement in the 6th House which also rules over servants), Scribes, and Businessmen. Mercury also rules over lies and liars and therefore you should expect these during the time of retrograde and depending on the dignity or debility of Mercury judge the strength of them.

Since Mercury goes retrograde 3 times a year I will of course be including posts in the future for further retrograde periods so people can know what to expect and the intensity of the retrograde period. I hope this post has helped some understand the traditional influence of Mercury Retrograde.

Aaron Brody
www.antiquus-astrology.com

Lunar Nodes or the Head & Tail of the Dragon.

The Head and Tail of the Dragon (or as they are modernly called “North and South Nodes”) are widely overlooked in Modern Astrology therefore I felt it appropriate to include these in this post to help people who may not fully understand their influence or what they mean in the chart. Most charts you will see only the North Node (or Head of the Dragon) placed in the chart. Know that the South Node (or Tail of the Dragon) is 180 degrees opposite to the North Node therefore with the placement of the North Node you can easily find the South Node by looking at the reverse. It is to be understood that the North Node or Head of the Dragon has the influence of Jupiter and the South or Tail the influence of Saturn, this is important to keep in mind during interpretations. John Partridge summarizes what exactly a node is by stating; “The Dragons Head and Tail are no stars, but nodes, or imaginary points in the Heavens and is no more but an intersection of the ecliptic and orb of the Moon, to which points when she comes, she changes the denomination of her latitude.”

“The Dragons Head is accounted a fortune, and doth increase the good of the fortunate stars, and abateth the force of evil ones.”

“The Dragons Tail is esteemed an infortune, and doth increase the evil of the infortunes, and abateth the good of the fortunate stars.”

To help the Astrologers or those interested I have also included a list of the meanings of the Nodes in each House. First is the Head of the Dragon and following the Tail of the Dragon.

1st House;

The Head of the Dragon in the Ascendant, gives honors, riches, and favors of great and honorable personages, chiefly in church affairs; also a fortunate and powerful life.

The Tail of the Dragon in the Ascendant always produceth much mischief and trouble, perplexity both of body and mind; continual dolor, sorrow, loss and tribulations; scandals and calumnies attend the Native; it vitiates his face; many times is dangerous to the eyes. If near the Ascendant, it imports but short life.


2nd House;

The Dragons head in the second, takes of all want and penury from the Native, and gives him great riches, and hereditaments, and possessions; Fortune and prosperity in the same: and this chiefly from things Ecclesiastical.

The Dragons tail, brings much damage, sorrow, and adverse Fortune to the Native; a certain destruction of his estate; and signifies, that he will still be in fear and danger (and not without reason) of falling below his ordinary condition.

3rd House;

The Head of the Dragon in the third, makes the Native religious, and prefers him by such mean; fortunates him in journeys; gives him fortunate brethren, and shows their birth to be Noble.

The Tail in the third, infortunates the Native’s journeys; threatens destruction to his brethren, and sisters, and kidred; and shows much quarreling and disagreement between the Native and them : they seldom agree; but are always jarring; yea, sometimes plotting, the destruction of each other, with much violence.

4th House;

The Dragon’s Head in the fourth, argues much gain and accrue unto the Native from Lands, Houses, Inheritances, & etc. oftentimes much gain unthought-of, or unexpected, as by things hid and obscured, and the like. It also shows, the family from whence he springs, to be noble, long lived, and durable.

The Dragon’s Tail, shows much labor and sorrow to the Native; and confusion and waste of his Patrimony; loss of lands, buildings, and all kinds of edifices; trouble and anxiety in the life or lives of his ancestor, or ancestors : loss of estimation and credit.

5th House;

The Dragon’s Head in the fifth House, frees the Native from many troubles, calamities and dangers; gives unto him many children, and those long lived, and very fortunate : the Native receives some public employment or office; gains much thereby : he is delighted with civil recreations and pleasures.

The Dragon’s Tail in the fifth, doth either deny issue, or else portends the destruction of the Native’s Children, by violent deaths : much cruelty and adversity while they live, makes them cross, vexatious and disobedient unto the Native. IT destroys the Native’s pleasures and delights; indicates much evil unto him, to proceed from vain, irregular and voluptuous courses.

6th House;

In the sixth House, declares Good, and faithful, and honest servants; portends health of body, and a good constitution, or that very few diseases shall assault the Native : he will be fortunate in his Father’s kindred, and in beasts of the smaller sort.

The Dragon’s Tail in the sixth House, shows that the Native shall be afflicted with many mischievous diseases; and crossed, plagued, and perplexed with evil conditioned servants.

7th House;

The Dragon’s Head in the seventh, denotes very few enemies; but portends much good from women : and that he shall use their companies, and delights therein. It also denotes great riches with a wife, or wives; and shows her to be of an honest, prudent, and excellent carriage and behavior.

The Dragon’s Tail in the seventh, portends many public enemies unto the Native, and many prodigious calumnies, scandals, and disgraces from them; and that constantly : but my author says, it portends (also) their destruction. It declares a cross and unhappy marriage, always brawling and contentions between the Native and his wife; never quiet; continual discontents and murmurings, jealousies, & etc. many times, separations. It denotes also, the death or dissolution of the wife or wives.

8th House;

The Dragon’s Head in the eighth, prenotes a long and healthful life, and gives the Native inheritances and honors, and gifts and legacies, by the means of persons deceased.

The Dragon’s Tail in the eighth House, denotes a loss of goods; and threatens the Native with a violent death.

9th House;

The Dragon’s Head in the ninth, declares the Native to be Religious, and confers on him riches and honor, by such means : his dreams, and revelations, and visions, (to speak like an enthusiast) will for the most part prove true and certain : his sea voyages, or long land journeys, will prove propitious unto him, unless he shall be afflicted by the malignant beams of the Infortunes there.

The Dragon’s Tail posited in the ninth House of the Nativity, discovers the Native to be unstable and wavering in matters of religion : he will be suspicious, and of evil faith; he often proves a pestilent heretic

10th House;

If the Dragon’s Head shall be happily, and fortunately posited in the tenth House, it denotes honor and preferment unto the Native, (let his condition be what it will) and that he shall grow rich : it also shows him to be of a good and honest life.

The Dragon’s Tail in the tenth, declares loss of honor, reputation, credit and esteem unto the Native; a deprivation of all worldly honor and preferment : it throws or precipitates him from the chief pinnacle of Dignity, into the very jaws of the dungeon : sometimes he is condemned to perpetual imprisonment or exile : it also portends short life to the Mother of the Native; and the time she doth live, much infelicity.

11th House;

The Dragon’s Head in the eleventh, gives the Native much familiarity and friendship with Princes, and great persons; and denotes much honor and riches from them.

The Dragon’s Tail in the eleventh, separates between the Native and his friends; and portends many strife’s and contentions he shall have with them : he cannot obtain anything he hopes for, without much difficulty.

12th House;

The Head of the Dragon in the twelfth, imports many enemies unto the Native; subjects him to penury and servitude : it fortunates him in great beasts.

The Tail of the Dragon in the twelfth of a Nativity, denotes many oppressions unto the Enemies of the Native; yet the Native rarely escapes prejudice thereby : he is prejudiced by dealing in great cattle.

I hope this helps some Astrologers in the understanding of the Head and Tail of the Dragon.

House of Sex

I apologize for the delay in posting as its been more then a month since my last post but I will be posting regularly in the future.

The issue of the rulers of sex has appeared on a forum I am apart of so I thought it appropriate to repeat the argument here because its quite a controversial issue. Modern and Traditional Astrology have always had some conflict concerning what House has rulership over sex or procreation. On one hand we have the Modern Astrologers who, with very little justification (im sure you can already see who's side I favor so I apologize if you find this biased), state that the 8th House rules over sex. The only justification I can even come up with (and I have yet to see other Modern Astrologers provide a reason as to why this House rules over sex) is that because the 8th House is aligned with Scorpio (as each of the twelve Houses naturally have 12 signs falling into them), and Scorpio has to do with the genitals it must have something to do with sex. Let's analyze this idea for a bit.

The significations of Scorpio include; decaying, decomposition, rotting, things stinking, infected, abounding in worms, & etc. These are not pleasant associations (especially when thinking of sex), however they DO apply to the three areas of the body that Scorpio (and the 8th House) represent, the bladder, genitals and anus/rectum area. So now we understand that yes Scorpio rules over not the function of procreation but the function of waste removal (since genitals are dual purpose). Therefore how is it that the 8th House (which shares similar significations with Scorpio) rules over sex? I have heard many reasons such as "its for darker/passionate sex" but this passion comes from lust which is under the rulership of Venus, not Mars (for Mars has the passion of war, death, destruction).

The significations of Venus however fall quite easily into procreation, in fact all the traditional authors state that Venus also rules over the "seed". Venus has a prime rulership over pleasure and the seeking of pleasure which makes it have a primary placement and rulership under the 5th House who also signifies pleasure. The result of sex is not only pleasure (Venus & 5th House) but also children (another 5th House rulership). In fact the very term "venereal", as venereal diseases, is rooted in the word Venus (meaning of Venus' quality). Its not very hard to understand Venus' connection to procreation & sex (it is one of the most well known qualities of Venus). With this I see much justification in the belief that the 5th House is the House of Sex. We see Venus' rulerships sync with the rulerships of the 5th (hence why she was given joy in that House) and we see in both Venus and the 5th House we see that they both rule over the result of sexual union (pleasure and babies). Therefore it seems impossible, in my opinion, that the 8th House would be associated with sex above the 5th.