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With art by Vera !NOW WEEKLY!NOW WEEKLY!

S T A R O F T H E W E E KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

– from Fixed Stars, by Vivian Robson

COPULA 51 M Canum Venaticorum 25â17Notes: The Spiral or Whirlpool Nebula mentioned by Ptolemy as the

nebula under the tail of the Great BearInfluence: It is of the nature of the Moon and Venus and causes blindness, defective eye-sight, strong passions, hindrances and disappointments.

LABRUM delta Crateris 26â51Notes: Situated in the Cup, and symbolically called the Holy Grail.Influence: Of the nature of Venus and Mercury. It gives ideality, psychic power, intelli-gence, honour and riches in disgrace and purifies to salvation.If rising: Ecclesiastical preferment, or very good fortune.

Notes13 01:46 ¡ Ã ¤ Void

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18 07:09 ¡ Æ ¥ Void08:06 ¡ “07:59 ¤ Ð ̈

19 01:07 ¤ Å ª01:51 ¥ •

for the week (all times GMT)

A L M A N A C K

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Extracted & adapted from AstroAmerica’sDaily Ephemeris, 2000-2020. Get yours!

Introducing:—

Vivian Erwood RobsonThis is the 29 year old Vivian Robson,as he appeared in the June, 1919 issueof Modern Astrology. Robson was itsnewly installed editor. He was the suc-cessor to the late Alan Leo, who haddied unexpectedly in 1917 (the two mennever met). By training, Robson was ageologist. By profession, a draftsman.Unhappy with both, the previous yearhe had signed up for Alan Leo’s astrol-ogy course, where he made outstand-ing progress.

The photo was taken by the notedAlvin Langdon Coburn, who had takenup a study of metaphysics (with ties toTheosophy, a favorite of Bessie Leo,Robson’s employer) a few years before.Regrettably, in 1930 Coburn destroyedhis entire life’s work. Which meansthis blurry photo, from an old maga-zine, may be the only record of VivianRobson that exists. He was, handsdown, the finest astrologer of the 20thcentury. My thanks to Philip Gravesfor the picture, from his collection.

Copyright © 2011 by David R. Roell. All rights reserved.

Buy the book! Meet the author! Headlines, graphics, book titles & authors are all clickable. So click already! Go places!

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(continued, pg. 4)

How theEclipse Registers

How theEclipse Registers

THE locality is bound to the ground,so that the farther the place from theequator, the more likely it is to ex-

perience surface disasters. Northward,landslides, earthquakes and tidal waves.Southward, heavy rains and floods. Thecloser to the equator the more seasonal ineffect; in the Spring whatever is sproutingand beginning to bud; as well as loss ofsurface soil by thaws causing run-offs andmudslides, especially damaging to crops. Inthe Summer, whatever is ripening that maysuffer from drought, arid conditions, torna-dos and anything causing desert conditionsby loss of surface soil or general erosion.In the Autumn, delayed ripening of crops,and particularly harvesting losses due tofarm-worker strikes. In the Winter, lateplantings, winter crops, cattle epidemics,and trees damaged by storms and heavy ice.

As listed on the preceding pages, theSigns ruling the different localities tell youwhich will be affected by an eclipse in suchSigns: you then note the seasonal ingressfor those places to find where the eclipsefalls and whether it makes close or afflic-tive aspects to planets in houses angular,succeedent or cadent and in Signs Cardi-nal, Fixed or Common.

Places ruled by FIRE Signs (Aries, Leo,Sagittarius) are subject to fiery reactionssuch as discord at home or with warringnations, major crimes, rampant epidemicsinvolving feverish illnesses, animal losses(Fire Signs representing animals) and ar-son. — In the Beginning, Astrology, 1975

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More RepublicanRepublicanRepublicanRepublicanRepublican Mayhem

PETER emailed last week. “Whatabout the retrograde Venus in the Re-publican chart?” I was gobsmacked.

I was thunderstruck. I was slammed to thefloor. I was blown to smithereens, and thesmithereens blown to tiny bits and thenstomped on.

I missed a retrograde Venus? No fairblaming lousy Solar Fire printouts, there isno excuse for not checking the obvious. Aretrograde Venus changes the Republicanchart in fundamental ways. So let’s haveanother look at the Republicans, and theplanets themselves:

First, what are the chances of a chart withboth Mars and Venus retrograde? I turned toNeil Michelsen’s Tables of Planetary Phe-nomena. (I have books, I will use them.)On pg. 108, I learn that Venus is retrograde7.2% of the time, and that Mars is retrograde9.5%. Multiply those two and they are bothretrograde .6850% of the time. That’s 68hundredths of one percent. In theory, that’ssome 250 days per century.

Then I got out the ephemerides andcounted. As I don’t have a 19th centuryephemeris, I checked 1900-2100, a total of201 years. Here is what I found. Mars andVenus were both retrograde:

42 days in 190526 days in 191823 days in 19378 days in 19504 days in 1969

For an actual count of 103 days for the 20thcentury. Barely more than one day a year.

For the 21st century, as follows:10 days in 2037 – a 68 year gap12 days in 205730 days in 20692 days in 207614 days in 208228 days in 20891 day in 2095

For a total of 83 days in the 21st century.Less than one day a year.

So far as 1854 is concerned, Venus wentretrograde on February 6th. It went directon March 21st, a total of 54 days. Mars wasretrograde the entire time. For most of thatperiod, the two planets were within a degreeor two of exactly opposed. None of the mu-tual retrogrades of the 20th & 21st centurywere that severe. In all the other cases, the

two planets’ retrogrades merely overlapped.In 1854, the Martian retrograde ate the Ve-nusian whole.

The normal delineation of Venus/Marsopposed says that if Venus is the stronger,then the native is hypersensitive and proneto abuse. It is the female who cannot standto be “hit on”, who is fearful of being stalked,who hides from the world.

When Mars is the stronger, we get the abu-sive male. Super macho, women are his forthe taking, their feelings, their beings, of nointerest to him. So long as he gets his way.

Critically in these traditional delineations,it is presumed that Mars is retrograde. Ex-cept for lunar oppositions, virtually all op-positions have one retrograde planet. It is asif there are two fighters in the ring. One—the direct planet—comes out of his cornerswinging. The other—the retrograde one—emerges from the opposite corner, cowering.Ma! He’s picking on me! Does victory thengo to the direct planet? No. It’s not so simple.When pushed the retrograde planet may welllash out: The cornered animal. I wish I couldtell you there were simple mechanical rulesfor astrology, but there are not. You mustlook at each individual case.

When both opposing planets are retro-grade—which is rare—it is as if the fightershave torn up the rule book. They are both inthe ring, but they are there despite them-selves. When both cower, victory goes tothe better placed, better aspected planet.Since whatever planet that squares one, willsquare the other, and whatever planet thattrines one, will sextile the other, tightness oforb is critical. As well as any planet that con-juncts one and opposes the other.

In the Republican chart, retrograde Venus,being well placed in Pisces, does not wanticky Martian interference. Only one degreeseparate from the Sun, she is still within itswarm rays. So far as retrograde Mars is con-cerned, he has his plans carefully laid. Hewill do what he wants. He is not responsiblefor Venus’ serfs or slaves or whatever she iscalling them this week. So far as he is con-cerned, the best defense is a good offense.

As I mentioned last week, the Virgo-Pi-sces opposition is the main source of powerin the Republican chart, and it is a curioussort. Venus has its ideals. It is the chart ruler,

chewing the cud

More RepublicanRepublicanRepublicanRepublicanRepublican Mayhem

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This is a serialization of Vivian Robson’smasterpiece, A Student’s Text-Book ofAstrology. It is now in print.

HSTUDENT’S CORNERH

IsThis

You?

IsThisYou?

Occupation andPosition

— A Student’s Text-Book of Astrology, byVivian Robson.

The Pisces - Can-cer - Scorpio type

Occupation andPositionMatters ruled by the signs, continued:—GEMINI. Writer, journalist, editor, teacher,schoolmaster, surveyor, astronomer, astrolo-ger, aviator, musician, conductor, or com-poser, clerk. Often a double occupation.Saturn, common and public work, science,typing, shorthand, book-keeping, cashier.Jupiter, obscure, unprofitable, or unpopularwork. Mars, better servant than master, gainby wits, cross examiner, detective. Sun, bal-looning, mountaineering, unprofitable scien-tific work.CANCER. Occupations in which liquid en-ters, sailor, publican, wine and spirit mer-chant, barmaid, caterer, washerwoman, oc-cupations connected with the public. Jupi-ter, exalted position. Mars, medicine andsurgery. Sun, admiral, ship’s carpenter.LEO. Actor, artist, jockey, schoolmaster,manager, coachman, butler. Saturn, secretor government work, obstacles from superi-ors. Jupiter, government or church dignities,secret service, diplomacy, crime detection.Mars, works to end of life, government work,music, high army position. Venus, help fromwomen of position. Mercury, author, if con-junct Sun jeweller.VIRGO. Secretary, accountant, stationer,printer, schoolmaster, astrologer, chemist,confectioner, clothes dealer. If rising andMercury strong good physician but poor sal-ary or bad debts. Bad for legal work. Sat-urn, difficulties in early life, literary critic,proof reader, journalist, chemist. Jupiter, loveof service, magistrate, tutor, guardian, sec-ondhand dealer. Mars, work abroad. Sun,success in police force.

Like the Pisces-Scor-pio youth depictedelsewhere, thisyoung man has 19degrees rising, thuscombining three wa-tery decanates. Thisis an equally subtlecombination withmystical possibilitiesand the power tocontact the forces ofnature through soli-tary wanderings. Al-though the face is aCancer type, thebody possesses thelong Scorpio back,narrow hips andshoulders, resem-bling the other mus-cular Martian sign, Aries. Thus the wheel ofphysical manifestation comes back full circlein this Martian merging through decanateinfluence. The Mars body has a powerfulspinal development, as a rule, as well as astrong will. This combination of physical andpsychic forces renders an advanced Marsman open to higher influence but capable ofbecoming immune to crude objective stimuli.[Anrias gives the birth as in January, 1910,which means this is not a self-portrait, as theauthor/illustrator served with the BritishArmy in World War I. Spinal developmentrelates to psychic selectivity. — Dave.] —Man And the Zodiac, by David Anrias.

If a Woman ask, whether shemay conceive?

MANY times a Woman married,having been long without Children,may inquire, whether she is like to

Conceive, yea or no? In this Question you areto consider:

If the Lord of the Ascendant be in theseventh, or the Lord of the fifth in the first, orthe Lord of the first in the fifth, or if the Lordof the fifth be in the seventh, or the Lord of theseventh in the fifth, or the ¡ with him, or goodPlanets in the Ascendant, or with the Lord ofthe fifth, or in any of the Angles; she may thenconceive: but if none of these testimoniesconcur, and you find barren Signs and illPlanets to be in the former places, she neitheris at present conceived, or will hereafterconceive. If good and bad Planets be mixedtogether, she may perhaps conceive or havechildren, but they will not live: If ”, ˜ or œbe in the Ascendant or fifth, she may havechildren; but if • or – be there, she neither isat present, or hardly after will be with Child.When women have been long without children,and propound such a question, see if theirNativity did not originally deny children.

At what time, or how long it may be beforeshe have a Child?

If you find that according to natural causesshe may have a Child or Children; and theQuerent is desirous to know near what time:See then where thou findest the Lord of thefifth house, viz. if in the Ascendant or firsthouse; then judge the first year; if in the secondhouse, the second year; if in the tenth house,the third year; if in the seventh house, thefourth year; if in the fourth house, the fifth year.And herein you must be careful in consideringwhat sign the Lord of the fifth house is in; forthe swiftness of a Planet in a moveable signdoes somewhat hasten the time; a doublebodied Sign does not manifest so soon; fixedSigns prolong the matter. — ChristianAstrology Book 2, by William Lilly.

On Horary, fromChristian AstrologyChristian Astrology

M

Copyright © 2011 by David R. Roell. All rights reserved.

it is backed up—quite powerfully—by theSun. Neptune and Mercury, both of ques-tionable motives, are in Pisces and along forthe ride, but that’s okay. All four planets inidealistic Pisces, in the house of slaves, serfsworkers, doctors and even small animals,surely Team Venus can be trusted to take careof us!

But it is precisely because Venus is retro-grade that the Republicans are, and havebeen, unable to deliver on their grand prom-ises.

What, in fact, was the Republican plan toend slavery? Answer: There never was arealistic plan. Not at all.

The most likely plan, simple-headed,muddled, highly dangerous, a plan that wasendorsed by Abraham Lincoln himself, wasto simply ship the slaves to some othercountry. There to fend for themselves. By1860, slave repatriation had been on-goingfor some 40 years. One result is known to-day as the nation of Liberia, which was for-mally founded in 1847.

Upon taking power, all the Republicansneeded to do was send the army to the Southto round up eager slaves. Up to 1863,Lincoln’s actual plan (opposed by all freedslaves) was to strand them in Haiti or Cen-tral America. A slam-dunk. Nothing couldbe more simple. Why do you suppose thatimmediately upon Lincoln’s election, theConfederate states seceded, even before hewas sworn in? Fearful the Yankee armywould invade, fearful the slaves would riseup to greet them, why do you suppose theSouth attacked Fort Sumpter? Southernbacks were against the wall. Throw the Yan-kees out, everything else was negotiable.

In this respect, the Republicans are pater-nalists gone sideways. They come with im-practical plans (retrograde Mars in Virgo) thatcannot actually be put into action (opposi-tion to the chart ruler, a retrograde Venus),but which can result in unintended conse-quences. Such as being forced into a Civil War.

Or shutting down the government in 1994to make some petty point. Or stopping theFlorida recount in 2000. Or holding the na-tion hostage over a debt ceiling.

Such Republican plans “for the good ofall” are imposed on the unwilling serfs/slaves/workers, to the profit of institutions(12th house: corporations are people, too)and their financial backers (Mars trine toSaturn in Taurus in the 8th).

Which Venus, in league with Saturn inTaurus, permits. Elsewhere, Mercury, notvery bright in Pisces, is smart enough to knowit wants to be on the other side of the chart,

in Virgo, with Mars.

HARDLY anything in astrology ismore rare than a political party withboth Venus and Mars retrograde.

Surely this cannot be human! At first Ithought, the Republicans are really ALIENSFROM OUTER SPACE, sent to infest un-suspecting earth creatures!

But then I thought, God sent the Republi-cans to Smite America back into the stoneage where it belonged. The Avenging An-gels of Amerika, one and all. And, well,they’re just taking their time at it. Nobodyever said that God was in a rush. I can makeout a case that he enjoys slow torture.

But, heck, well, no, that weren’t it, either.Lookie here: From a standing start, the Re-publicans were running the country sevenyears after they were founded, and went onrunning it, in a more or less unbroken streak,until the economic system as a whole col-lapsed in 1929.

Whereupon Franklin Roosevelt rescuedus—and them—and after 40 years of lickingtheir wounds, Ronald Reagan brought the Re-publicans back from the dead. There is nodifference between what the Republicans arenow, and what they ever were. The nice,kindly, sympathetic Republicans of the 50’sand 60’s, the Republicans I grew up with,were simply a party in disarray.

With this kind of success, we should behonest and admit the Republican Party to bethe true face of America. Maybe the shockof self-recognition will encourage us to do

better. Do you see another FranklinRoosevelt in sight?

In his email Peter also remarked that thepurpose of the Republican Moon in Aries inthe 6th, ruling the 10th of Cancer, was to useits public position (MC) to push workers (6th)around. Which is another excellent obser-vation. Do the Republicans treat us any bet-ter than they treated the slaves? Don’t justthink of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclama-tion, as that was the work of one man. Thinkof the horror of Reconstruction and its af-termath. Or the fate of Liberia.

Mark emailed to ask where I get the key-words that I use. While there are two excel-lent sources for this sort of thing (J.Lee Le-hman and Rex Bills), I never quite got onwith either one. In part I am guided by 25years of study, but when I’m stumped, orunsure or just want a second opinion, I turnto Sakoian and Acker, Alan Oken, CharlesCarter and Vivian Robson. All of whichare basic introductions-to-astrology books.There are many others. You should havethree, if not four, such books in your library,each carefully chosen.

The technique I use can be found inMorin’s Book 21, or in Patti Tobin Brittian’sPlanetary Powers. It was best expressedby Vivian Robson, in A Beginner’s Guideto Practical Astrology:

Having found the significator of thematter concerned interpret all aspects

Republican PartyFebruary 28, 18549:00 pm CSTRipon, WI

H

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to it as things and people affecting it. Suppose Jupiter were chief signifi-cator of money and afflicted by Saturn. We should judge that moneymatters would be hampered by poor conditions, depressing surround-ings, ill-health, or whatever Saturn signified in that horoscope. In otherwords, we should give Jupiter the chief consideration as significator ofthe matter enquired into, and interpret the action of Saturn in its relationto Jupiter, and not vice-versa. On the other hand if Saturn were the sig-nificator we should judge that fits of generosity or extravagance wouldaffect the finances, because Jupiter is expansive in its action, and its af-flicting aspect would cause trouble and loss. This general judgment isthen refined by taking into account the sign and house occupied by theaspecting planet, and the houses it rules. Thus, suppose with Saturn assignificator that Jupiter threw an adverse aspect from the 5th house. Thenwe should judge that the extravagance would arise from too much indul-gence in pleasure, or from gambling, or other matters ruled by the 5thhouse. This would be modified by the sign containing Jupiter. A watersign would incline more to self-indulgence, a fiery one to gambling, asign ruled by Venus to expenditure on women, and so on, thus enablingus to enlarge on the judgement obtained from the house position alone.We should next look to see what houses Jupiter ruled. If it ruled the 3rdwe should judge expense and extravagance over journeys, relatives andother third house matters, and by blending the influences, that gamblinglosses (5th) would come through the advice of relatives (3rd) or someother appropriate blending. . . .

This, however, is not the only way the influences would work. . . .There is method to be used, and it is one which needs considerable

practice, but it is well-worth the trouble involved, and the student willhimself be amazed to find how accurately the most trifling details may bepredicted.

As a word of advice to the beginner I would say — Do not beafraid to let yourself go in this way. You will make many mistakes tostart with, but it is the only way to make your Astrology of practicaluse. There is too great a tendency nowadays to float about in a comfort-able haze of so-called esotericism. The first need of Astrology is accu-racy and definition, not pseudo-religious speculation, and it is only byconcentrating on the practical and scientific side that we can really makeAstrology of service, and obtain for it the recognition it deserves. (Dave’semphasis)

I WROTE a great deal more this week, chiefly on how slavery really worked,but it was too much of a rant. (You want the real story of slavery? Femaleslaves were forcibly bred/mass raped on an annual basis, the majority of

male slaves castrated at birth. The slave-owner himself did the siring/studwork/raping (pick your term). Such is how field slaves came to be. Because,as is well-known, slaves will not breed. “Let slavery end with me” is theirbedrock belief. What do you think of Jefferson, now? House slaves were theproduct of the owner’s slovenly daughter and an unexpectedly fertile blackmale. Presumably for every house slave, there was one dead black male. Thereal story of slavery is still well-hidden.)

Consider also Rosemary’s Baby, which, metaphorically speaking, is whatcan come about when both Venus and Mars are retrograde. Just plain creepy.

America is, in sum, an extraordinary country. It has an extraordinary chart,the chart of the founding of the Republican Party. Next year I expect it tosweep the elections and by its misrule further advance its mission of self-de-struction through greed. The rest of the world is trying to distance itself fromus, by whatever means as come to hand. It is just that bleak.

I

WANT to comment? I have a blog:JackRabbit Adventures. It’s rather

crude, as I haven’t the time to give to it.Minus the fancy formatting and the links, youcan find this week’s article here.

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