Astrological Heresy.
Facebook archive. First published on 25.02.2024.
The usual thing for heresy was execution, or in the best case excommunication. Translating from complicated words into simple language: for deviations from the traditional point of view, people were executed or, at best, excommunicated. Fortunately, in the modern world it is not so frightening: at most an unsubscribe, at minimum a hater comment. So heresy is safe today.
The first recorded mention of houses in astrology appeared in 300 AD - it was an equal-angle house system proposed by the Roman astrologer Porphyry. The gap between Ptolemy and Porphyry is about 200 years.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Arabs began translating ancient astrology, and since they lacked knowledge of a coherent esoteric concept of the world, the translations contain a large number of errors. In the 20th century, the American researcher Robert Hand and his associates proved the presence of errors in the Arabic translations. The first mention of the Arabic house system dates to 428; the author of this system is considered to be the Arab scholar al-Qabisi. There is some confusion with the dates here, but in any case his Alchabitius house system is at least 100 years younger than the houses of Porphyry.
The next house system is the houses of Hermes, or the domification of the Italian Giovanni Campano - approximately the year 1000 AD. Another 500 years of difference from the Alchabitius domification, and 700 years of difference from the Tetrabiblos.
Then Johann Muller, nicknamed Regiomontanus, carried out his studies of the Tetrabiblos and popularized the Regiomontanus house system, which was the first system printed in a printing house and therefore became as accessible as possible in Europe in the 14th-15th centuries. It was actively used until the 17th century.
After that, astrologers decided to fix the problem of houses at high latitudes. They decided not to look for the esoteric origins of astrological tools, but mathematically invented the system of universal houses of Morinus.
The Placidus house system became popular almost the same way as the Regiomontanus house system. It was proposed by the Italian astrologer Placido Titi in the early 17th century, although the Arab astrologer Geber was indicated as the author of this system; and we remember the erroneous translations by the Arabs. This system was created in the 7th-8th century AD, that is, it is almost the same age as the Alchabitius system. A printed annual almanac by Raphael brought popularity to this system.
The very popular Koch house system was invented not by Walter Koch, but by Heinz Specht already in the 19th century, and is an improvement of the Alchabitius system. Again, not the study of the esoteric foundations of astrology, but a mathematical improvement of the Arabic system of domification.
One does not even need to conduct lengthy research to understand that today there is no unequal-house system of houses that could withstand the argumentation not even of a scholar, but simply of a modern person who wants to understand the subject they are studying. All unequal-house systems are non-esoteric, and almost all of them are based on the errors of the Arabs, who in their time dragged knowledge from everyone around and called it their own, as happened with Arabic numerals, which are essentially Indian.
The trans-Saturnians, namely Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. If you think that Jyotish has no trans-Saturnians, you are mistaken: Uranus corresponds to Indra or Prajapati, Neptune to Varuna, and Pluto to Yama. Symbolically, Indra is the deity of the organs of perception, while Prajapati is the deity who created life, Varuna is the deity of water or rain, and Yama is the deity of death in the Indian pantheon of gods.
We are human, we always want something new. From what I was able to find, the association of Uranus with the sign of Taurus occurred during the Second World War. And in the 19th century astrologers still did not know exactly where to place the trans-Saturnians, so they used intuition and statistics to determine a place for these planets. Pluto's loss of planetary status had no effect on astrology.
And the discovery of Eris, Ceres, Makemake, and Haumea did not add astrological objects, but led to the addition of anything and everything: large asteroids, planetary satellites, analogues of the lunar nodes, and so on. If you are starting to study Western astrology, I simply do not envy you - you will never sort it out, because the astrologers themselves have not sorted it out.
Esoteric astrology.
Let us still turn to esotericism and move away from mathematics, astronomy, the intuition of modern inventions, marketing, and PR.
There are 78 Tarot cards in total: 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana. The minor arcana are divided into four suits; in each suit there are 10 numbered cards and 4 persona cards. In the major arcana there are 21 symbolic arcana and zero.
It is easy to see that if we multiply 7 by 3, we get 21, which is an element of the Fibonacci sequence. And color has three components, for example: dark red, saturated red, and light red. In fact, the major arcana of the Tarot represent three worlds: the material, the mental, and the divine. The microcosm, the macrocosm, and the physical world, if you like. That is, the major arcana of the Tarot symbolically describe the elements of three worlds, and while astrology uses seven planets, everything can undergo transformations and can be interchangeable.
But in fairness it is worth mentioning that there are not 7 notes, but 12, because there are also sharps or flats. And here everything is fine with the synthesis: in astrology only five planets lack a second domicile. The Sun and the Moon symbolize day and night, and therefore cannot have a day or night domicile. Just as in music Mi and Si have no flats, accordingly either the Sun or the Moon will correspond to the note Mi, and the other to the note Si.
But if you surround yourself with the works of European esotericists, you will not see this correspondence; nor will you see a correspondence in the Latin names of the notes, where the note Sol is called that because it symbolizes the Sun.
The mistake of all esotericists is to look for correspondences where there are none and ignore the correspondences that exist in nature itself. Seven notes and seven colors are distinguished thanks to our physical and physiological laws. And since everything is connected with everything, physical laws must be reflected in esotericism, and notes are built according to mathematical features and are clearly connected with the number of tones. The colors of the electromagnetic spectrum are distinguished by our eye, and therefore there are seven of them. Not all cultures have seven colors. In English, for example, there is no separate name for the light-blue color.
The next factor is that in reality astrology takes into account not seven planets, but nine. Of course, the lunar nodes differ from planets, have their own special characteristics, and are parts of one whole. The same thing is true in music and colors. There is the color white, which includes all the colors of the rainbow - the principle of maximum concentration, as with Ketu. And there is the color black, which is essentially the absence of colors, or the principle of maximum dissolution, as with Rahu. And music cannot do without a pause and an increase in sound, where the increase in sound again corresponds to Ketu, and the pause to Rahu.
The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, the same number as the Tarot arcana, and although the Tree of Sephiroth has 10 elements, together with the connections they create 22 elements, which correspond to this alphabet.
But here we are analyzing the synthetic connection of astrology, Tarot, and Kabbalah associated with the number 21 from the golden ratio. I repeat once again that zero is added to the number 21; in sum we have the number 21, but we interact with 22 elements.
The next number in the Fibonacci sequence is 13, and this is the number of lunar months in a year. And if we add zero to 13, we get 14 elements, which corresponds to the 14 minor arcana of each suit. All lunar astrology is built on this number, as are Maya astrology and many calendars, including the ancient Roman, Ethiopian, and French Revolutionary calendars. Other calendars use 12 months, and that is 7+5. On the other hand, 12 + 0 also gives 13 elements.
And here it is not clear exactly what to do with zero: whether to include it within the 13 or add it as an extra element. In any case, intersections are found when we do it both ways.
The number 8 is symbolic for the Chinese, and as I understand it for the Scandinavians, because their runes repeat the principle of Tarot: 8 runes in each aett and one blank Wyrd rune symbolizing zero. It is no accident that the eighth arcanum corresponds to the meaning of balance. The eight directions of the world, used everywhere, also clearly confirm this in astrology. Moreover, a deeper meaning is hidden in the number 8, since it is the number of elements in the octal numeral system.
In this system, seven digits and zero are used to transmit quantity - eight elements in total. Then the digit 10 in the octal system will quantitatively correspond to 8 elements. If we consider the meanings of the runes, the last rune of each aett symbolizes the end of a cycle of seven. In Tarot such a symbol appears only once - it is the 10th arcanum; the Scandinavians decided that the symbol of the end of a cycle should be present in all three worlds.
The symbolism of 5 from the golden ratio is obvious - these are the 5 elements. The 4 elements corresponding to the astrological trigons and ether, essentially the same zero in which these elements reside.
The number 3 in the golden ratio corresponds to the duality of our world, reflected in the Chinese symbol Yin and Yang, where each element is framed by a line of zero, because at the boundary of contact these elements turn into zero, and this same boundary prevents these elements from self-destructing.
The ones in the golden ratio are the constituent parts of duality: the Yin element, the Yang element, and zero.
The reforming of astrology.
P.S. I apologize for the long post, but many astrologers do not know basic esoteric principles, and I very much wanted to reflect them, even if briefly. But understanding the basis on which astrology is built still seems necessary to me.
P.S.2. Look, I realize that the masters of astrology will not like this, and many may take offense. But most of you have known me for more than a year; my point of view does not change. I love and respect you all very much. I value your work. And I understand that 64% correct astrological elements that you use in Western astrology is quite a good percentage for giving good forecasts. I also understand the principle that the people eat it up and pop rules. I do not want to be in opposition to you, because we are colleagues.
Let us take this post as my subjective opinion, if that makes it easier for you. You will not be able to prove to me that I am wrong; I will simply agree with you so as not to enter into conflict.