Pre-natal Horoscope and Correction of the Time of Birth), already used by Ptolemy in correcting the time of birth, is still used for this purpose and the correct results it often gives is the best proof of the truth of the rule above-mentioned and we learn by it that birth happens according to fixed laws at a definite moment, not before and not after.
This holds true for births having a normal course.
And if a physician intervenes or if birth is delayed or precipitated through other reasons?
With regard to this we can only guess.
We might for instance, suppose that such an intervention occurs along fixed laws and that even the intervention is sure to be pointed out somehow in the horoscope.
It will certainly be worth the trouble to gather information regarding this.
If we, therefore, know the exact time of epoch, we should be able to describe the character, the build of the body etc.
of the child nine months before his birth.
To the degree we are in tune with the Cosmos, we have developed a free-will and we can rule the planetary influences; which means the influences come all the same and affect us, but by rising above them we may divert them into proper channels; we are no longer slavishly subjected to them but rule them to a degree.
Men high and low, moral and immoral, all are subjected to the cosmic influences, but in different ways.
When I speak in this sense about the highest among us, I don't wis to be understood wrongly.
There are exalted individu-alities who in a sense have liberated themselves of the cosmic influen-ces, but only through their will having become one with the will of the Logos, (the Creator of the Cosmos), in other words because they have become in tune with the Cosmos.
And yet, I keep supposing, even for these highest among the high ones, that they as long as they walk in a physical body and therefore needs must experience the limi-tation through this, will experience a harmonious aspect of e.g.
Jupiter as helping, beatifying and benificent and a disharmonious aspect of e.g.
Saturn as depressing and opposing and limiting.
That for such exalted beings the conclusions regarding future aspects should be modified, does not want mentioning after all that precedes and need not be explained further.
That this important point, however, seems often to be neglected even by famous astrologers, is again and again shown.
For the highest among us also the programme for this incarnation is in the main outlines drawn up, but they have more personal freedom to leave this lines somewhat.
They can do this without disturbing the equilibrium, without clashing with the laws in the Cosmos, for their will is one with the one Will that is the Foundation of the Cosmos and that means evolution.
The ordinary man can depart from his programme but very little, and so far as leaving his programme is permitted to him, to that d degree his will has become one with the Will of the Logos.
The highest 22 freedom therefore proves to be the greatest degree of being voluntarily bound to the Creator.
Free will of man depends altogether on his moral standpoint in evolution.
Everything in the Cosmos happens along fixed laws.
"Is there no chance?", one might ask.
Chance is within certain limits of course the direct consequence of man's personal freedom, his freedom to leave his programme.
The evolution of the Cosmos moves along lines traced out by the Logos, and goes its unchangeable course.
To the little personal will of each man is given precisely as much freedom as is consistent with the one absolute will of the Logos; in as far as it is not contradictory to the harmony of the Cosmos.
And by our weak personal will we call "the chances" into existence, which however at the same time become our greatest source of learning, for by these chances we clash and gain experience.
Chance becomes therefore a condition for growth of freedom; for by the slight chances we give rise to, through our actions, we learn to know our lower self better and to overcome it and hence arrive at greater freedom.
The free will of the majority is in a bad plight, so that we can safely assert that the greater part of humanity is not able to give a definite direction to its life, which simply "is lived." Blindfold they follow their Karma and the attempts they make to take the helm in their own hands, are too weak to procure a lasting result.
Especially those who are st strongly under the influence of the moon, are apt to let fate have its course, and many planets in watery signs make it worse still.
(See watery, earthy, airy and fiery signs, page 33).
The greater part of the planets, especially the ascendant, sun or moon, in a fixed sign (will be more gone into later), indicates a stronger development of free-will.
A so-called bad planet, *) especially Mars in the Meridian and in unharmonious aspect to sun and moon by the great impulsiveness which is the consequence of this position, will make of man more or less the plaything of circumstances.
The other aspects to ☉ and ☽ may change this a great deal.
What precedes proves clearly that by struggle only the final goal harmony can be reached.
In regard to this we may ask of ourselves: Did the harmony which now manifests itself always rule the Cosmos?
Has this harmony been conquered perhaps at the expense of strife?
The answer to this cannot but run decidedly in the affirmative.
Here too harmony resulted from strife.
That this harmony, however, is not It should ever be borne in mind that the expressions "good planet" or benefic and "bad planet" or malefic, are only used for shortness's sake, as is the general usage, and these words are not to be taken in their ordinary significance.
The same regarding the expressions good and bad aspect, affliction, etc.
23 yet absolute even now, can easily be shown by means of the discoveries of astronomy.
We must suppose that the harmony in the Cosmos arose by the rejection of inharmonious elements, i.e.
that the number of planets has been much larger than now, and that those that had very eccentric paths and thus threatened to disturb the equilibrium, have either changed their elliptic path in a parabolic or hyperbolic one by the disturbing attraction of other planets and so have been removed from our Cosmos, or united themselves with their origin because they came through disturbances too much under the domineering attraction of the sun and at length flung themselves on it, after having revolved round it in narrower and narrower spirals.
Is not this most beautifully symbolised by the bible story of the Prodigal Son?
In this way the inharmonious elements have been gradually removed from our Cosmos and harmony resulted.
We see that just the planets which have the greatest volume and therefore would be the most dangerous to the others, ♃ and ♄, show the least eccentricity in their paths, whereas the Asteroids which are to be found in great numbers*) between the paths of ♂ and ♃ have very eccentric paths and by this mark the disharmony in the Cosmos.
The disharmony, however is of too little importance to cause disturbancy in the course of the other planets.
We have to regard them as pieces of a planet that Keppler already surmised be tween Q |.
and d 1 on account of the large gap which was there as regards the distances of the planets.
There is still another disharmonic factor in our Cosmos, viz.
the Comets and Meteorites.
The latter show in the paths of the former.
The Comets are the gypsies of the Cosmos; they have very eccentric paths and many move far beyond the bounds of our planetary system; many never return having been attracted by the sun of another planetary system.
Part of the comets, viz.
the greater part of those which move in the same direction round the sun as the planets do, may have taken their origin in the sun, just like the planets.
Those of the other group, however, which move in opposite direction round the sun, we must regard as strange intruders, that rejected by other planetary systems in space, were attracted by our sun and some make an attempt now to come in harmony with our planetary system.
2) The swarms of Meteorites, among which the Perseides (in August) and the Leonides (in November) are the best known, appear yearly in 1) At present there are already about 750 of them found, among which many are beyond the paths of Jupiter and Mars.
Ceres, the largest, has a surface about equal to thrice the surface of Great-Britain.
The smallest has a diameter of only 10 miles.
2) See the works of Dr.
"The Strife in the Heavens".
24 great numbers, more than a hundred of these swarms have been counted but by their slightness compared to the planets, they cannot cause disturbance.
A great many flop down on our earth, under the influence of its attraction.
How far the comets can bring about disturbances is not known with certainty.
The astrologers know that they usually bring us no harmony, though nothing definite about them is known in astrology.
So we see that even in our Cosmos there reigns no absolute harmony and as man is the image of the Cosmos, the microscopic reflex of it as it were, it is evident that for him no absolute harmony can be meant for the present, seeing that he moreover produces no end of disharmony in all kind of manner.
From the astronomical discoveries we may learn still more regarding our future.
We know that the movement of the earth (and of the other planets) round the sun is not really elliptical but spiral shaped, i.e.
with every revolution round the sun does the earth approach this centre more and more, and the time must come when it will re-unite itself with the sun whence it sprung.
We must also apply this to man and the other kingdoms of nature that are in evolution.
The goal is: re-union with the Source of all life and consciousness, re-union with the Logos which manifests itself through the four kingdoms of nature (Man, Animal, Plant, Mineral).
Something about Symbology.
The houses in every horoscope represent the physical body, and the material circumstances of life; the signs of the Zodiac, the personality, and the planets as representatives of the Sun, the individuality i.e.
the higher, unchangeable man apart from his changeable personality and his changeable body.
The higher man rises in moral development, the less he comes under the influence of the houses and the signs.
We realise from this how necessary it is to know the moral standpoint of the native somewhat when judging his horoscope.
We may however word this a little different, thus, for the houses, the body (+); for the signs, the soul, viz.
the feeling and the lower mind (Q)); and for the planets, the spirit and the higher mind (O).
(O is the symbol of the Infinite).
These three together form man, or the cosmos (0).
This sign is also used for the earth and for the Part of Fortune in the horoscope.
O is the symbol of the sun; furthermore of the Ego, the individuality, the will.
j) is the symbol of the moon, moreover of the personality, of the soul the passions and the feelings and is also the symbol of brain thinking.
25 The sign of the earth or of man; we can regard this as consisting of the infinite spiritual principle (O) and the material principle (+) combined in one, i.e.
as the spiritual principle, that which is divine, crucified in matter.
We can now understand the symbols of the planets and of their connection with the mind on which they all have there special influence, viz.
in ♂ (Mars) that which is higher, spirit, is ruled by that which is lower, matter.
♀ (Venus) spirit rules matter, by the infinite love the cross is overcome.
♄ (Saturn) the intellect is overshadowed by matter, hence brain-thinking, limited (bound), dependent on matter, therefore egoistic.
♃ (Jupiter) thinking is risen above the limitation of matter and so is enriched by imagination.
Thus Saturn rises to the planet of intuition as soon as matter has been made submissive.
In ☿ (Mercury) we find all symbols combined.
It is the symbol of the winged messenger of the gods, the symbol of wisdom.
It represents the love of the planet Venus, overshadowed by the intellect, which can work freely, without being veiled by matter.
The unmanifested Godhead is always symbolised by the circle (O) and the manifesting Godhead (the Logos) by the (dot).
Hence the complete symbol of the sun (☉) signifies the unmanifested Godhead which out of itself manifests as the higher man.
(The Logos, Christ the Son.) H However high man may rise, he remains always a manifestation of the Logos and so we might accept for the man who at the end of the earth-evolution reaches perfection and so has overcome the limitation laid upon him by his physical, his astral and his mental bodies, the symbol a dot surrounded by a double circle i.e.
the perfect manifestation in perfectness ().
"Radiating circle" is the symbol for electric radiant.
"Shaded circle" is the symbol for magnetic absorbing.
A is the symbol for the fire-element, active, masculine.
V B water-element passive, feminine.
= air-element conductive.
D earth-element limitating.
* chemicals reacting on acids.
Y alkaline oxidizing.
of the eternal movement in the Cosmos, also represented by J and by the Swastika.
This symbol has so many other meanings that volumes have been written on it.
ft = Caput draconis (dragon's head), North-node.
t$ = Cauda draconis (dragon's tail), South-node.
26 The influence of the dragon's head is supposed to be felicitous, that of the dragon's tail unfelicitous.
The usage still existing in many parts of fixing a horse-shoe over the door by way of talisman against bad influences, takes its origin in this sign.
Vl) The horns of the ram; the upspring waters of the Fountain; the outstretched arms of the Christ; the head.
tf The Bull Taurus bearing upon his head the lunar symbol; the throat and neck.
N The portal of the Temple; the twins; the two lungs and arms.
ss The divine germ clothed in a dense vehicle beginning to unfold and evolve; the breasts.
The awakening into activity of the latent force of the serpent; the heart.
tip This symbol combines the dark serpent ni with the vibrating rod of Hermes, the active agent which restrains and rules the senses; the bowels.
=0= The horizon with the sun-disc sinking beneath it; the balance; the reins.
nt The dark serpentine, symbol of the reproductive process of man; the generative organs.
# The striving arrow, the change of consciousness from the vehicle of desire to that of the higher mind; the thighs.
% The dark serpentine of the personality, no longer in rapid motion as in ni, yet controlled by the stilled rod of Hermes, the knees, bones.
yz The white serpent placed above the dark serpent; the action of the living waters, transmutes the lower into the higher and at-one-ment is achieved, the lower legs, blood circulation.
3C The fish es, the sign that as two arches connects heaven and earth; the feet, the tissues.
Stone "The Pathway of the Soul".
Mid-heaven (M.C.) Meridian.
Western horizon.) Descendant.