A Brief Introduction to Astrology
Astrology is a concept that emerged early in human history, most likely in Mesopotamia around 5000 BC. Its primary objective was to introduce order into what otherwise appeared to be a chaotic universe. It’s built upon a specific understanding of celestial movements that posits the Macro-cosmos (Universe) acts as a mirror of the Human Micro-cosmos. This article draws on the doctrines and concepts of Hellenistic Astrology.
While mainstream thinking often compares Astrology to modern Science, labelling it a Pseudoscience, this comparison is actually inaccurate. Astrology isn’t founded on scientific principles; rather, it operates on metaphysical principles (as explored in “How and Why Astrology Works”).
Astrology is a study of symbols, based on a certain metaphysical framework regarding Destiny and Free Will. This study enables the astrologer to discern patterns in a chart that can then be translated into propositions or testimonies concerning the subject, whether it’s a Person, a thing, a Town, or a Country.
Initially, Astrology was perceived as a political or governing instrument, used by state officials and priests to comprehend the destiny of a kingdom or a population. Later developments, particularly during the Hellenistic Period (in Hellenistic Egypt), saw the rise of Natal Astrology.
The Astrological Language System
The movements of the planets around the Earth, as observed from Earth’s perspective, are considered signs or indicators of a higher celestial order that is reflected on Earth. To translate this higher order and its potential meanings into our common language, early astrologers (who were astronomer priests and thinkers) devised an Astrological Language System based on:
Fixed Stars: Serve as specific significators of Fate.
Planets: Function as verbs for action (the form).
Zodiac Signs: they provide the nouns (the matter) selected from the ruling planet’s significators
Houses: Define the topic of the delineation.
Aspects: Provide supporting or disapproving testimonies towards the given topic
General Principles of Interpretation
You can conceptualize Astrological interpretation as a process similar to a Trial. Here, various elements act as “witnesses” that testify for or against certain propositions or delineations, thereby providing testimonies to construct a “case” for the native’s life. Similarly, the planets are the “witnesses” called upon to testify before the Cosmic Mind, based on their particular placement in terms of:
- Sign: Whether it’s a sign they rule, a sign ruled by a benefic, or an antagonistic sign.
- House: Whether the planet is in an operative house (Angular or succedent) or in an inoperative house (usually cadent).
- Aspects to other planets: Benefic aspects to benefic planets bring about more positive significations. Conversely, benefic or difficult aspects to malefic planets lead to a reduction of positive effects or even their complete destruction.
- Conjunctions with particularly important stars.
The Planet is the main principle used in interpreting a chart. All other factors (sign, house, aspects, conjunctions) modify the planet’s baseline signification, either upgrading or downgrading its core meaning.
Quick Guide to Interpreting Planet/Sign/House Configurations
Benefic stars, when appropriately and favourably situated, manifest their proper effects according to their own nature and the nature of their sign, with the aspects and conjunctions of each star being blended. If benefics are unfavourably situated, they indicate reversals of their usual meaning.
Similarly, even malefic stars, when operative in appropriate places within their own sect, can be bestowers of good, indicating the greatest positions and success. However, when malefics are inoperative, they bring about disasters and accusations.
Brief Description of Planets in Astrology
In Astrology, a “Planet” refers to one of the seven bodies or “stars” visible to the naked eye: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon. Although the Sun and Moon are not planets in the modern astronomical sense, they were originally grouped with the actual planets because they all shine and were perceived as movable or “wandering” stars against the backdrop of the fixed stars/constellations.
In the following sections, you’ll find brief descriptions of these Astrological elements, drawn from the Hellenistic Astrology work of Vettius Valens, dating back nearly 2000 years.
General Nature of the Sun (Helios)
The Sun in a nativity—the all-seeing Sun, nature’s fire and intellectual light, the organ of mental perception—indicates kingship, rule, intellect, intelligence, beauty, motion, loftiness of fortune, the ordinance of the gods, judgment, public reputation, action, authority over the masses, the father, the master, friendship, noble personages, honours (including pictures, statues, and garlands), high priesthoods, one’s country, and other places. It belongs to the Day sect.
General Nature of the Moon (Selene)
The Moon, lit by the reflection of the sun’s light and possessing a borrowed light, in a nativity indicates man’s life, body, the mother, conception, appearance, sight, living together (i.e., legitimate marriage), nurture, the older brother, housekeeping, the queen, the mistress of the house, possessions, fortune, the city, the assembly of the people, gains, expenses, the household, voyages, travel, and wanderings (it doesn’t provide straight pathways because of Cancer). It is of the Night Sect.
General Nature of Saturn (Kronos)
Saturn makes those born under its influence petty, malignant, care-worn, self-depreciating, solitary, deceitful, secretive in their trickery, strict, downcast, with a hypocritical air, squalid, black-clad, importunate, sad-looking, miserable, with a nautical bent, plying waterside trades. Saturn also causes humblings, sluggishness, unemployment, obstacles in business, interminable lawsuits, subversion of business, secrets, imprisonment, chains, griefs, accusations, tears, bereavement, capture, and exposures of children. Saturn creates serfs and farmers due to its rule over the land, and it causes people to be renters of property, tax farmers, and violent in action. It bestows great ranks and distinguished positions, supervisions, management of others’ property, and the fathership of others’ children. It is of the Day Sect.
General Nature of Jupiter
Jupiter indicates childbearing, engendering, desire, loves, political ties, acquaintance, friendships with great men, prosperity, salaries, great gifts, an abundance of crops, justice, offices, officeholding, ranks, authority over temples, arbitrations, trusts, inheritance, brotherhood, fellowship, beneficence, the secure possession of goods, relief from troubles, release from bonds, freedom, deposits in trust, money, and stewardships. It belongs to the Day Sect.
General Nature of Mars (Ares)
Mars indicates force, wars, plunderings, screams, violence, whoring, the loss of property, banishment, exile, alienation from parents, capture, the deaths of wives, abortions, love affairs, marriages, the loss of goods, lies, vain hopes, strong-armed robbery, banditry, looting, quarrels among friends, anger, fighting, verbal abuse, hatreds, and lawsuits. Mars brings violent murders, slashings and bloodshed, attacks of fever, ulceration, boils, burns, chains, torture, masculinity, false oaths, wandering, embassies under difficult circumstances, actions involving fire or iron, craftwork, and masonry. Additionally, Mars causes commands, campaigns and leadership, infantrymen, governorships, hunting, wild game, falls from heights or from animals, weak vision, and strokes. It is of the Night Sect.
General Nature of Venus (Aphrodite)
Venus is fundamentally desire and love. It indicates the mother and nurture. It produces priesthoods, school superintendencies, high offices with the right to wear a gold ring or a crown, cheerfulness, friendship, companionship, the acquisition of property, the purchase of ornaments, agreements on favourable terms, marriages, pure trades, fine voices, a taste for music, sweet singing, beauty, painting, mixing of colours (in embroidery, dyeing, and unguent making), the inventors and masters of these crafts, as well as craftsmanship or trade, and work in emeralds, precious stones, and ivory. Within its terms and degrees in the zodiac, Venus causes people to be gold-spinners, gold workers, barbers, and individuals fond of cleanliness and toys. It bestows the office of supervisor of weights and measures, the standards of weights and measures, markets, factories, the giving and receiving, laughter, good cheer, ornamentation, and hunting in moist places. Venus brings benefits from royal women or from one’s own, and it can bestow very high rank when operating in such affairs. It belongs to the Night Sect.
General Nature of Mercury (Hermes)
Mercury indicates education, letters, disputation, reasoning, brotherhood, interpretation, embassies, number, accounts, geometry, markets, youth, games, theft, association, communication, service, gain, discoveries, obedience, sport, wrestling, declamation, certification, supervision, weighing and measuring, the testing of coinage, hearing, and versatility. It is the bestower of forethought and intelligence, the lord of brothers and of younger children, and the creator of all marketing and banking. In its own character, it creates temple builders, modelers, sculptors, doctors, secretaries, legal advisors, orators, philosophers, architects, musicians, prophets, diviners, augurs, dream interpreters, braiders, weavers, systematic physicians, those in charge of war and strategy, and those undertaking any unusual, systematic work in accounting or with reasoning.
As for the end result, Mercury tends to make everything capricious in outcome and quite disturbed. Moreover, it causes those with this star in malefic signs or degrees to become even worse. It adopts the sect of the planets it interacts with.
Brief Description of the Zodiac Signs
General Nature of Aries
Aries is the house of Mars, a masculine sign, tropic, terrestrial, governing, fiery, free, upward-trending, semi-vocal, noble, changeable, procuratorial, public, civic, with few offspring, servile, the Midheaven of the universe and the cause of rank, two-toned (since the sun and the moon make white lichen). It is also unaspected and ecliptic. Depending on its relationship with the house ruler, men born under this sign will be brilliant, distinguished, authoritarian, just, hard on offenders, free, governing, bold in thought, boastful, great-hearted, restless, unstable, haughty, inflated, intimidating, quickly changing, and wealthy. When the house rulers are favourably situated and have benefics in aspect, kings and powerful individuals are born, those who hold sway over life and death.
General Nature of Taurus
Taurus is feminine, solid, situated in the sun’s spring tropic, productive of order, earthy, rustic, related to farming, a freedman, downward-trending, with few offspring, semi-vocal and mute, noble, invariable, energetic, unfinished, and indicative of estates and possessions. The ecliptic lies to the north, rising in line with its highest point. Men born under this sign are noble, energetic, toilsome, good at keeping things, pleasure-loving, music-loving, and generous. Some are laborers, propagators, or planters. If benefics incline toward this place or if the house ruler is favourably situated, men become priests and school superintendents, as well as those deemed worthy of crowns and of the purple, of monuments and statues; also supervisors of temples and distinguished and brilliant individuals.
General Nature of Gemini
Gemini is male, bicorporeal, articulate, the house of Mercury, upward-trending, celestial, feminizing, a freedman, sterile, and public. Under its influence are born scholars, those working in education and letters, poets, music lovers, declaimers, stewards, those who receive trusts; also translators, merchants, judges of good and evil, sensible people, practitioners of the curious arts, and seekers after mystic lore. In general, whatever the house ruler typically produces according to its own nature, whether good or bad, greater or lesser, it produces in each of the signs according to the operative or inoperative configuration of the house ruler.
General Nature of Cancer
Cancer is the house of the Moon, feminine, solstitial, the Ascendant to the universe, slavish, downward trending, mute, watery, noble, changeable, public, popular, civic, prolific, and amphibious. Men born under this sign are ambitious, popular, constantly changing, theatrical, cheerful, easily downcast, pleasure-loving, party-giving, and public. Unsteady of mind, they say one thing but think another, and not sticking to one activity (or at most two), they become wanderers and travellers.
General Nature of Leo
Leo is masculine, the house of the Sun, free, fiery, temperate, intellectual, kingly, stable, noble, upward-trending, changeable, solid, governing, civic, imperious, and irascible. Men born under this sign are distinguished, noble, steady, just, haters of evil, independent, haters of flattery, beneficent, and inflated with their lofty thoughts. If the house ruler is at an angle or in aspect with benefics, then brilliant, glorious individuals are born, including tyrants and kings.
General Nature of Virgo
Virgo is the house of Mercury, feminine, winged, anthropomorphic, luxurious, resembling the figure of Justice, bicorporeal, barren, a freedman, with no offspring, downward-trending, earthy, common, semi-vocal or mute, concerned with the body, incomplete, changeable, industrious, and two-natured. Men born under this sign are noble, modest, religious, burdened with care, leading a quite varied life, administrators of others’ goods, trusted, good stewards, secretaries, accountants, actors, practitioners of curious arts and seekers after mystic lore, spendthrifts in their early years but prosperous later in life.
General Nature of Libra
Libra is the house of Venus, masculine, equinoctial, anthropomorphic, upward-trending, airy, feminizing, vocal, noble, changeable, a diminisher of estates, the Lower Midheaven of the universe, public, ecliptic, and the supervisor of crops, vineyards, olive groves, aromatics, homesteads, measures, and artisans. Men born under this sign are noble and just, but malicious, covetous of others’ goods, average in fortune, losing their original possessions and falling into vicissitudes, living through ups and downs of fortune, and being in charge of measures, posts, and the grain supply.
General Nature of Scorpio
Scorpio is the house of Mars, feminine, solid, rainy, fecund, destructive, downward-trending, mute, servile, unchangeable, the cause of stenches, a destroyer of property, ecliptic, and having many feet. Men born under this sign are tricky, base, thieves, murderers, traitors, incorrigible, destroyers of property, connivers, burglars, perjurers, covetous of others’ property, accomplices in murder, poisonings, and other crimes, and haters of their own family.
General Nature of Sagittarius
Sagittarius is the house of Jupiter, masculine, fiery, upward-trending, vocal, moist (because of the constellation Argo), noble, winged, changeable, bicorporeal, two-natured, mysterious, with few offspring, half-finished, governing, and kingly. Men born under this sign are noble, just, great-hearted, judges, generous, loving their brothers and their friends. They may lose much of their original possessions but tend to regain them. They are superior to their enemies, seek a noble reputation, are benefactors, prominent, and act mysteriously.
General Nature of Capricorn
Capricorn is the house of Saturn, feminine, tropic, earthy, destructive, barren, downward-trending, chilling, mute, servile, the cause of troubles, brutal, lurking, mysterious, two-natured, moist, half-finished, a hunchback, lame, the Descendant of the universe, and indicative of misfortune and toil, a sculptor, a farmer. Men born under this sign are bad, warped. They pretend goodness and sincerity. They are toilsome, burdened with care, insomniac, fond of jokes, plotters of great deeds, prone to make unfortunate mistakes, fickle, criminal, lying, always criticizing, and shameful.
General Nature of Aquarius
Aquarius is the celestial sign which is masculine, solid, anthropomorphic, somewhat damp, and single. It is mute, quite cold, free, upward-trending, feminizing, unchanging, base, with few offspring, the cause of troubles arising from athletic training, carrying burdens, or work in hard materials, an artisan, and public. Men born under this sign are malicious, haters of their own families, incorrigible, self-willed, deceitful, tricky, concealing everything, misanthropic, godless, accusers, betrayers of reputations and the truth, envious, petty, and occasionally generous (because of the flow of water), uncontrollable.
General Nature of Pisces
Pisces is the celestial sign which is feminine, moist, quite wet, bicorporeal, with many offspring, mossy, scaley, sinewy, humpbacked, leprous, two-formed, mute, motile, with rough skin, in conflict with itself (because one Fish is northern, the other southern). It is moist, downward-trending, servile, changeable, with many offspring, bicorporeal, sociable/lewd, with some limbs missing, the cause of wandering, and varied. Men born under this sign are unsteady, unreliable, changing from bad fortune to good, sexy, thievish, shameless, prolific, and popular.
Astrology Assumptions and Premises
Below you will find a series of assumptions and premises used in my professional Astrology practice, which you can critically evaluate for yourself:
- The Stars DO NOT influence our destinies. They function as a subtitle to Life, unfolding before our very eyes in the night sky. In other words, responsibility for our actions and results rests entirely on our shoulders.
- There is NO PERMANENT PREDETERMINATION of our actions. We DO HAVE FREE WILL. That being said, the vast majority of our present and future actions and decisions are largely based on previous decisions and thought patterns (habits and unconscious tendencies). True FREE WILL is achieved only through hard work and knowledge of the SELF.
- Our Souls chose these particular lives before our birth, for a specific reason or purpose. They do not necessarily choose a specific Destiny, but more probably a Life, or a Way of Life.
- The Purpose of Life is to become Conscious, through knowledge and awareness of the Self.
- The Natal Chart does not show the ‘Final Destination’, but only an initial general direction, a range of possibilities out of an infinity of possibilities, and more specifically a ‘Way of Life’ (as a whole).
- True predictability of the future and Destiny is not, nor should it be, possible (if we allow for Free Will). That being said, a large part of our actions is predictable due to the fact that we don’t exercise Free Will, but rather continue to act and choose in the same manner as we were educated or taught to choose. In this sense, a Destiny would appear to exist, but only because Consciousness and Free Will are not developed to the extent that we can free ourselves from the prison of habit and conformity.
General Signification of the Houses
The Houses in Hellenistic Astrology represent various topics of life, and are therefore called topical places. The Domification System used is the Whole Sign House System, where each Sign corresponds entirely with a Topical Place/house. The general signification of the houses is based on their relationship to the Ascendant, the most important place in the chart, and they serve as modifiers for the Planetary conditions rather than having independent significations.
The XII Place of the Evil Spirit – Inoperative Place
This place is disconnected from the Ascendant. If malefics happen to be in this place, they will cause great wounds and traumas, especially if they are in their proper face/decan. If the Lot of Fortune is present in this Place and some planet rules it, there will be no help, not even during transits. They are seen as enemies from the beginning, from the moment of birth. Similarly, benefics found in this Place will not bestow their benefits. Whenever these three stars (the rulers of the Ascendant, of the Lot, and of Spirit/Daimon) fall in this place/sign, they make men unfortunate and disgraced, lacking their daily bread.
The XI Place of the Good Spirit – Operative Place
If the benefics are in the Sign of the Good Daimon, located in their proper places and in their proper faces, they make men illustrious and rich from youth—even more so if they are trine from the right with the Lot of Fortune or sextile with the Ascendant. If they are in an listening or beholding sign, they provide even more and greater benefits. If one of the benefics appears in opposition to the Good Daimon and its house ruler is also present, these stars bring bigger and better benefits and successes. If malefics are in conjunction with the Good Daimon, they cannot do any evil. It is most efficacious if the house rulers of the Lot, the Ascendant, and the Good Daimon happen to be rising, or if most stars are in conjunction or in aspect with these in operative signs; they then make men glorious and extremely wealthy.
X – The Midheaven – Operative place
Both benefics and malefics rejoice in this place if they have been assigned the Lot, the Ascendant, or Daimon. If any of them are in it when rising, or if they have contact with the moon, tyrants and kings are born, governors of districts, men known by name in many places. The ruler of this Place, if situated favourably, makes vigorous/successful men; if situated unfavourably, it makes feeble/unsuccessful men. If it is setting and a malefic is in conjunction or in opposition to this Place, it makes failures, as well as sterile or childless men.
IX – Place of the God Sun
If benefics happen to be in this Place and have been assigned the Ascendant or Fortune, the native will be blessed, reverent, a prophet of the great god; in fact, he will be obeyed like a god. If they are not there, and if Mercury alone is in aspect, the native will be involved in soothsaying; he will expound his craft to the masses. He will become a royal clerk from his middle years. But if malefics are in conjunction and rule the previously mentioned places (the Ascendant and Fortune), or if they are in aspect from the right with the Lot, the native will be a tyrant: he will found some cities; he will sack others; he will pillage many people most wickedly. If Daimon or Fortune happens to be in the Place of the Bad Daimon, but the house rulers of the Lot and of the Ascendant are in this Place, the native will be involved in very many evils, in travel, and will lose whatever he has gained, or he will take refuge in temples because of his desires or pains.
VIII – Place of Death – Inoperative Place
Benefics appearing in this place are ineffectual and weak, and they do not bestow their proper benefits. If in addition they rule the Ascendant and the Lot of Fortune, they are even more ineffectual and variable. If malefics are in conjunction and rule the Lot, the native is a vagrant, losing whatever he may have gained. If the Lot falls in this Place and if malefics are in conjunction and are house rulers of the Lot, the native will be poor, unable to clothe himself. If they also rule the Ascendant, he will be abject his whole life. If the house ruler of the Lot or of the Ascendant is under the rays of the sun, the native will stretch out his hands to beg. If Mercury alone is in this Sign and is ruler of Intelligence (as Daimon is called), it makes fools, dullards, those handicapped in speech, illiterates. If Fortune is present, the native, besides being dull, will also be stupid and poor, especially if under the sun’s rays. If under these circumstances malefics are also in conjunction, the native will be deaf and dumb. Only the moon, when its light is waxing, seems to rejoice in this Place.
VII – Place of Descendant, Marriage, Relationships
Benefics in this Place and ruling the Ascendant or the Lot of Fortune indicate good things for the native: inheritances, sudden acquisition of other property, and benefits from a death. If the benefics are not in their own places, men are less prosperous, but not poverty-stricken. If Mercury alone is in conjunction and in its proper face, the native will make gains in his old age and will be entrusted with cities and the affairs of kings. If malefics are in this Place and rule the Lot or the Ascendant and are in their proper faces, the native’s life will be subject to ups and downs, especially in old age, but he will not be in poverty. He will spend income derived from calumny and wickedness/vituperation. If malefics rule the Lots but are not in their proper face or in their own sect, the native will lead a wretched old age; a few will come into prisons for a time and into decrepitude and disease. If Jupiter is in aspect from the right, men enter temple service because of sickness; they are troubled and suffer from hemorrhages and disease of the genitals or fingers. If Mercury is with Mars in the Setting Sign, men become accomplices in banditry and murder; as a result, they perish miserably thereafter. Malefics setting while out of their own signs cause suicides. Benefics make men with much experience and those who are fortunate in old age.
VI – Bad Fortune, The Place of Mars – Inoperative Place
If benefics happen to be in this Place, the native will lose whatever he possesses; his property will not stay with him. He will suffer loss because of fines when advanced in years. If the sun is in this Place and rules the Lot of Fortune or the Ascendant, it causes the native to be condemned by the highest authority. If Saturn rules, the native will be a wanderer, prone to give offense, and he will flee his homeland, barely keeping himself alive. If Jupiter rules the Lot or the Ascendant, the native will lose his property in civil suits. If Venus rules, he will suffer trials and penalties because of a woman. Such men, being disagreeable, are insensible to love. If Mars rules, it causes wounds and diseases in the limb indicated by the sign, and it makes naked beggars who come to a miserable end. If Mercury rules the Lot or the Ascendant, it makes plotters, thieves, slanderers, and men who are reviled in public. If the moon is in this Place, the native will be a slave, helpless—unless the rest are in conjunction with the moon: if the other stars are situated favourably, the native can be free and respectable, even though the moon is in Bad Fortune.
V – Good Fortune – Place of Venus
If benefics hold the Ascendant or the Lot of Fortune, the native will be great, will lead the masses, and will make laws for them. Venus will be especially gracious if it rules the Ascendant or the Lot. Especially if Venus is in its proper face or in its own place, it makes men wealthy and honoured. The same is true for all the stars: if they govern the Ascendant or the Lot, they produce the good that is appropriate to their nature and to Good Fortune. If Mars happens to be situated as specified, men will be rulers of all sorts of places: governors, tyrants, and masters of life and death—not only over lesser men but also over men of high rank. If Saturn is in this Place, men will be masters of estates, flocks, and herds; they will establish towns and villages. If the sun is in this Place, men will be friends of great lords, associates of kings, and governors of temples. If Mercury is in this Place, men will be successful through words and worthy of much money. If the moon is configured well, holds the Lot or the Ascendant, and is in this Place along with its house ruler, the native will be long-lived, growing old in prosperity. The benefics greatly help while passing through this Place; the malefics cannot do harm.
IV – Place of Lower Midheaven
If benefics rule the Ascendant or Fortune and are in this Place, the native will make his living in temples. If benefics are assigned the Archetypal Lot and are house rulers at Lower Midheaven, the native will be given revelations by gods and through visions of ghostly shapes. If Mars is here with them and is assigned Fortune and the Ascendant, the native will live a troubled life, disgraced, falling into difficulties, engaged in criminal activity with others, and suffering a violent/self-inflicted death. It must be observed that this Place implies good repute after death and bequests to heirs. If malefics are in this Place, the native will bequeath his property to whomever he wishes.
III – Place of the Moon
If the moon is in this Place, is assigned the Ascendant or the Lot, and is in its proper face, the native will be great and a master of many good things. He will rule a city; he will give orders to many men; he will be obeyed; and he will be master of treasuries. If the sun should also be in this Place with the moon when the moon is just past new, the native will be a priest or priestess of the great goddess and will have an unsurpassed livelihood. If Saturn is here with the moon, the native will be subject to God’s wrath, will be punished, will often come into trials, and will blaspheme the gods many times because of what has happened to him. If Jupiter is with the moon, the native will be a prophet, fortunate, rich, famous, and will be master of many good things. If Mars is in conjunction with the moon, he will be successful, but wicked: he will embezzle deposits, will get his living through the murder or robbery of others, and will travel widely. If Mars is appropriately situated in its own faces, the native will be a governor of towns and cities (depending on the character of the nativity), but he will also be unjust, a perjurer, and covetous of others’ goods. He will perish suddenly because of the wrath of authority. If Venus in her own places rules the Place of the Goddess and the Lot of Fortune (especially for night births), the native will be rich and well liked by women. Some will be royal governors, rulers of towns, because the goddess has been assigned the Lot of Fortune in the House of the Goddess. If Mercury is with the moon in the Sign of the Goddess and rules the Lot of Fortune or the Ascendant, the native will foretell everyone’s future and will share in the mysteries of the gods.
II – Gate of Hades
In this Place, the benefics do no good, and the malefics make men sluggish and injured, unable to wade through their lives to the end. If the Lot is in this Place, and if malefics are the house rulers of the Lot or the Ascendant, the native becomes a cemetery guard, living his life outside the city gates. Saturn ruling the Lot of Fortune and in this Place makes dead-souled men, those weak in body and suffering chains/imprisonment for a long time, until the completion of the chronocratorship of the star. Jupiter in this Place causes expenditure of the native’s resources until the end so that nothing is left; it brings the gift of children, but not with good fortune. Mars in this Place and house ruler of the Lot and of the Ascendant makes men who are prone to give offense, are subject to penalties, and whose actions are hindered. Some become captives, but are later freed. If Mars (in its own degrees or signs) is in charge of the Lot of Fortune, when the Lot is in this Place, men become jailers, making a livelihood in prisons or a living among the cells. If the sun is in this Place, and if it is house ruler of the Lot or the Ascendant, and in its own house, or in the places of Saturn, the native will lose his sight in the chronocratorship of Mars, will be plundered of his ancestral property, and will become a beggar. If Venus is in this Place and is house ruler of the Lot or the Ascendant, it will bring public, disreputable occupations if Venus happens to be at its morning rising. Mercury in this Place and located under the rays of the sun makes stupid, illiterate men. If it is also ruler of the Second Fortune (the one called Daimon), it makes men deaf and dumb. If it is rising, men engage in curious arts, attempting what they have not learned, but still succeeding in their science. If the moon is in this Place with Saturn in the Ascendant, the opposite happens: the native will suffer from cataracts and glaucoma.