Tag: planets

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Heliacal Phases: the Many Gods in Our Sky

Figure 1: Babylonian Seal – Mythological Depiction of Sunrise Between two Mountains

In order to understand the magical world of our ancient ancestors, we must understand the way they saw the world: as a realm under God’s creation in which all things exist, demons, angels, gods, animals, kings, criminals, magicians, warriors, love, betrayal, defeat, victory and so on. All of these different beings were present on earth AND in the sky in the form of planets, constellations, individual stars, stellar phenomena etc.

So each planet is associated with more than one divinity – and each of these divinities is shown through the planets heliacal phase. Roll credits.

Just kidding. This is a big topic which requires a lot of technical knowledge and remains an incomplete field, however I will do my best to elucidate these mysteries in this post.

The term ‘heliacal’ refers to the name ‘Helios’ the ancient Greek name for the Sun. So heliacal means, ‘to do with the Sun’. So a heliacal phase refers to the relationship of a planet’s position in the sky to the position of the Sun. The inner planets (Venus and Mercury) have different heliacal phases than the outer planets (Mars, Jupiter and Saturn); this is too complicated for me to explain here, it is enough just to know it for now.

The main two phases that the planets have are as ‘evening stars’ or as ‘morning stars’. Imagine you are an ancient priest who is watching the sky – how are the planets going to appear? They will look like rapidly moving stars! When the planets change phase they will either appear in the morning (before sunrise) or in the evening (after sunset), hence the term evening or morning star.

The way to understand this astrologically is illustrated in figures 2 and 3 below. If a planet is earlier than the sun in the order of the signs (sun is in Taurus and Venus is in Aries), then it is a morning star. If it is later in the signs than the Sun (Sun in Taurus and Venus in Gemini), then it is an evening star.

Figure 2: Sunrise in Blue Circle, Morning star(s) in Red
Figure 3: Sunset in Red Circle, Evening Stars in Blue and Morning Stars in Green

Keep in mind that the first house and the seventh house are the horizons and anything beneath them is beneath the earth and cannot be seen, but anything above these two houses can be seen. In figure 3, Jupiter Mars and Saturn won’t be seen until they rise above the horizon in 6-8hours, whereas Venus and the moon will be seen above the sunset for several more hours before sinking below the earth.

So now that the basic concept is out of the way what does it all mean???

Venus: Morning star is Athena – masculine, forward moving, loyal in love, victorious/warlike. Ruling in Leo.

Evening star is Aphrodite – feminine, unstable in love, focus on beauty, romance and sex, magnetic. Ruling in Taurus.

Mercury: Morning star is Apollo – artistic, right brain, poetic, storytelling, creative, divine inspiration. Rules in Virgo?

Evening star is Hermes – intellectual, left brain, analytical, detail oriented. Rules in Gemini

Mars: Morning star is Hephaestus – Victory in war/conflict, athletics, forging/building, controlled passion, channeled anger.

Evening star is Ares the God of bloodshed – destructive, chaotic, unrestrained anger, issues with police, criminals or military, war.

Jupiter morning star is Zeus – social advancement, acquisition of riches, glory and fame, entering high society .

Evening star is Hera – Charitable, advancement to ‘give back’, helping the unprotected or needy.

Saturn morning star is Ninurta, the dark hero – Mature, serious, strong boundaries, desiring power/control, controlled fears, slow progress

Evening star is Anzu the Devil-bird – Suspicious, hateful, holding grudges for a long time, ruthless, insecure, fearful

This is a good introduction to the different phases of the planets. In the next post I will cover the invisible planets and what each one indicates and how to identify it in a chart. Until then, go with Apollo and Athena at your back!
Julian

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Conjunctions in Ancient Astrology

Figure 1: Artistic Drawing of the Babylonian Astrolabe (5500BC)

The beauty of the ancient system is in its simplicity. Every piece in ancient astrology is a perfectly sculpted brick which looks boring and even childish on its own, but once they’ve been stacked properly and melded together with the right mortar, they make an incredible structure which towers over all others!

For this reason, I want to provide each of these building blocks one by one and today I will cover the conjunctions and what they manifest in a chart. This is also a clue into understanding what occurs when two planets are mixed by any aspect. The best start for the conjunctions is through the teaching of Hermes on the fixed stars where each star is ruled by a combination of two planets – apart from pollux which is only under Mars.

The stars of wealth are ruled by Saturn and Jupiter

The stars of leadership are ruled by Jupiter and Mars

The stars of spirituality are ruled by Venus and Mercury

The stars of nobility/manners are ruled by Venus and Jupiter

The stars of scholars or liars (depending on day or night chart) are ruled by Mars and Mercury

The star of greatest luck is under Venus and Mars

The stars of artists and writers are under Mercury and Jupiter

The stars of secret knowledge and astrology are under Venus and Saturn

The conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, therefore, gives wealth.

The conjunction of Jupiter and Mars – leadership.

The conjunction of Venus and Mercury – spirituality.

The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter – high ethics.

The conjunction of Mars and Mercury at night gives scholars and, in the day, gives liars.

The conjunction of Venus and Mars is sexual or “horny” – a quality of the wealth star Aldebaran, the only star under Venus/Mars.

The conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter creates artists and eloquent speakers/writers.

The conjunction of Venus and Saturn gives a love for spiritual knowledge (astrology).

Remember the Hays of each planet as well – in other words is the chart a day or night chart – and we gain more insight into the influence of the stars/conjunctions for the specific individual.

Saturn and Jupiter at night is worse because these are day planets, and the wealth is delayed by approx. 1 Saturn return (30years). In a day chart, the native is born into wealth.

Mercury and Mars are better at night because they are nocturnal (night) planets and creates scholars. Whereas the day mars/mercury gives liars, con-men and people who forge documents.

I will continue with the rest of the conjunctions below drawing from the ancient text “mathesis” by Julius Firmicus Maternus as well as my own experience and interpretation. You should go and test this teaching for yourself and find out the many hidden secrets I cannot share here, for they are many!

Saturn and Mars: They create people of a perfect temperament, seriousness, morals and restraint because the stars are opposite in nature, and they balance each other out. However, it takes them a long time to decide if they ever do and they often give up on projects before they are complete.

Saturn and Sun: Creates enmity from the native towards their own father. In a night chart it may kill the father or see him fall from grace. makes farmers who gain wealth over time from increasing harvests. A melancholy and boring personality.

Saturn and Venus: Astrologers. Misfortune in marriage, marriage and children later in life.

Saturn and Mercury: Genius, hearing or speech impairment, rigid opinions, and a silent nature.

Saturn and moon: at night: Great fears, destruction of the mother and the mother’s possessions – bad Saturn manifests in the emotions. By day however, good Saturn will manifest in the emotions (seriousness, maturity, ambition etc.).

Jupiter Mars: leadership, fame, glory, inspirational, authority, high positions, military command.

Jupiter Sun: if Jupiter is visible, good fortune from the moment of birth bestowed from their parents. If Jupiter is invisible, trouble with sponsors, religious and political struggles.

Jupiter Venus: Charm, manners, faithful friendships, “those who observe the commandments of all religions with an upright faith.” Benefits from notable women and a fortunate, faithful marriage.

Jupiter Mercury: Good advisors, eloquence, wisdom, noble minded and revered in public, glorious public speakers.

Jupiter moon: Greatest good fortune without limit (especially in day births).

Mars Sun: destruction of the father, loss of his wealth and assets, wounds from iron, fire, sharp objects or in the eyes. Can cause madness if it’s a strong conjunction in an angle (powerful house) with no aspects from good planets.

Mars Venus: Passion, sex, relationships, many suitors, strong sex drive, worst case scenario is accusations of infidelity and public scandals because of this (day chart, bad aspects, powerful house).

Mars Mercury: men of great learning or liars and fraudsters., if Venus is added to the mix it can create homosexual charts.

Mars and Moon: rash and brave individuals who reach success quickly but live a short life.

Sun and Venus: If Venus is invisible, relationship karma, misfortunes and confusion in love, difficulty with employment or obsession with money. If visible in the same sign as the sun, fame and good reputation and an easy life so long as Venus is morning star in a day chart and evening star in a night chart.

Venus and Mercury: spirituality, priests, those who predict the future, sweet and charming words and speech, lyrical musicians and poets. In the best case, divine inspiration.

Venus and Moon: beautiful and virtuous individuals who attain a high position through friends. Unstable marriages

Moon and Mercury: great teachers, quick and skilled learners. Natural talent for wisdom and study especially if mercury is visible. A wise mother who experiences scandals from her choice in men. Best if the moon applies to Mercury.

I will provide example charts in future blog posts whom I know personally and who illustrate the validity of this technique. I will write beneath each chart the aspect and the real story keeping each person anonymous of course.