Dear friend, we feel that it would be incomplete if only the mathematical
side of Astrology were elucidated and the spiritual side neglected,
for the latter part of Astrology is the kernel, the essence, while
mathematics is only the terms of the outer expression.
The hands of the clock show the time of events in daily life,
but they would remain inert and motionless were they not propelled
onward by a force in the hidden spring. Their stoppage might cause
us to miss an appointment. The visible planets also mark events
of life like the hands of a clock; they also are propelled in
their courses by an unseen force analogous to the spring in a
clock, except that the Great Spirits whose bodies they are never
stop, and therefore we never miss an appointment registered upon
the clock of destiny, although we may cancel it-under certain
circumstances-as we do engagements in ordinary life.
It is said of Edison that when he was night operator in a railway
telegraph office, he put a pail upon a shelf, led a hose from
a faucet into it, turned on a small stream of water calculated
to fill the pail before the next train was due, placed his chair
under the pail, and went to sleep. The overflowing water compelled
him to waken and attend to business as no alarm could have done.
We are all turning a constant stream of actions for good or ill
into the reservoir of time, and the overflow is always coming
back to us and impelling us to new deeds. It does not matter if
we have gone to sleep as Edison; even the sleep of death cannot
abrogate the deeds of the immortal spirit. A new birth brings
each back exactly when his pail of time is full, so that he may
reap what he has sown.
It is of the greatest importance that you should understand this
viewpoint very thoroughly. We do not have a certain fate because
we are born at a certain moment and impelled by stellar rays then
prevailing. If so, we should then have a right to rail at fate
for being born under an evil star without choice or prerogative.
We should then hate God for making us subject to such a fate.
Edison would have had a right to be provoked if any one had awakened
him in the manner described, but knowing that his own act before
going to sleep had caused the wetting and realizing the benefit
of the heroic treatment, he probably felt well pleased. So with
us, if we realize that our own past acts are the determinators
of our conditions and that the stars simply mark the most favorable
time for harvesting what we have sown, we shall be more contented
and seek to learn the lessons of life instead of railing because
of what we lack in faculty or fortune.
I hope that you will ponder over these important distinctions
and always maintain that we were born at a certain time because
the positions of the stars were then such as would bring us the
fate we had earned and the lessons to be learned.
In commencing a course of instruction where the teacher has no
means of knowing to what extent a pupil is informed upon the subject
of study, the only safe method is to assume that he knows absolutely
nothing thereof, otherwise the teacher may omit instruction upon
rudimentary matters which he thinks are common knowledge, to find
later that his neglect has given the pupil wrong ideas which may
be difficult to eradicate. Therefore, we shall begin at the beginning
of our subject and request students already informed upon matters
treated at the outset be patient.
Basis of Calculation
Time
A horoscope is simply a chart of the heavens calculated by the
rules of astronomy. It shows certain positions of the planets
and zodiacal signs in relation to the earth. These positions are
not permanent, however. If they were, the location of the heavenly
bodies could be determined once for all time without need of further
calculation. The influence of the planets upon the Earth would
then also remain constant, and there would be no use for astronomy
or astrology. But as the Earth makes a complete revolution upon
its axis each 24 hours, every point in the northern heavens may
be seen once a day from any point in the northern half of the
Earth, and every star in the southern heavens rises and sets each
day in every part of the southern half of our globe.
The Earth and its sister planets revolve around the sun at such
varying rates that their positions relative to the Earth and to
one another are constantly changing. Every day the heavens are
different from every other day. If a child were born now, while
you are reading this, the positions of the planets at this moment
will not be duplicated for about twenty-six thousand years, a
period which the astronomers call a "Great Sidereal Year."
In the meantime, the relations of the planets would undergo an
infinite number of kaleidoscopic changes; consequently, their
influence would be different in respect to every individual born
in the interval, and thus Time becomes a prime factor in the science
of astrology.
Place
It is further evident, however, that time is not the same the
world over. When the Sun rises at the place where you live, it
is setting at another place; so that when it is morning in your
home, it is evening for the people in another part of the world.
This makes another difference in the horoscopes of children born
at the same moment but in different parts of the world, as you
will readily understand when you consider that the Sun's rays
affect the Earth differently in the morning, at noon, and at midnight.
The planets' places and influence would also differ in the case
of children born at the same time but in opposite parts of the
world, for if a planet were just above the birthplace of one,
its rays would impinge upon that child with unimpeded force, but
to reach the other, born in an opposite part, it would be necessary
for the stellar ray to travel directly through the Earth-as radio
waves cross mountains-and part of its force would thus be spent
by the time it reached the child. Therefore planets under the
Earth have less influence on a life than those above.
Thus you see that time and place are the basic factors in a horoscope,
and the more accurately we are able to determine them, the better
we shall be able to delineate the character and predict events
for those whom we aim to help.
The Exact Time
In noting the time of birth of children it is advisable to have
the clock set as accurately as possible. Mark that the time of
birth in the astrological sense is not the moment of delivery
but the instant when the infant gives its first cry, for that
cry is the completion of its initial breath. After entering the
lungs, the air, charged with the subtle stellar influences peculiar
to that moment, is carried by the blood through every part of
the sensitive little infant body and stamps every atom and memory
center with its vibrations. This primal impression will prevail
during life, though the atoms change again and again just as a
scar perpetuates itself upon the flesh, because the memory center,
also called the "seed-atom," located in the heart (see
Cosmo-Conception), retains the
first stellar impulse
which acts as a blue-print on the etheric matrix that controls
the various components of the atom rebuilt during this lifetime.
Therefore, the stellar rays at the moment of birth exert a powerful
influence all through life. They are impelling forces which sway
us hither and thither as driftwood is propelled by currents of
the sea.
It is the purpose of astrology to teach that these forces exist
and that by exerting our will power we may steer the bark of our
life as we wish, and bring ourselves to live better lives in harmony
with the Laws of Nature and also teach how we may help others
in the like endeavor.
Geographically, the Earth is divided by two sets of imaginary
lines, one running from east to west, and the other from north
to south. The circle running east-west halfway between the north
and south poles, as shown in the above chart, is called the equator.
Other circles, called parallels of latitude, are imagined running
parallel to the equator, and their use is to measure the distance
of any place north or south of the equator. Now get an atlas,
and look at the map of North America. Along the right and left
hand borders you will see certain numbers. Note that a curved
line runs from number 50 on the right to number 50 on the left.
This is the fiftieth degree of latitude. All cities along this
line, in America, Europe, or Asia are equidistant from the equator,
and are said to be located in "latitude 50 north."
Another line runs from number 40 on the left border to number
40 on the right. Let us note some of the principal cities on or
near this line: San Francisco is a little further south, Denver
right on the line; Chicago and New York a trifle north. Now turn
to the map of Europe. There the right and left hand numbers with
their connecting circles are also parallels of latitude. At the
number 40 you will see Lisbon and Madrid. Proceeding eastward
Rome and Constantinople appear a little to the north of our line.
These places may be said, for the purpose of elementary instruction,
to be in the same degree of latitude, and therefore another determinator
must be used to differentiate the location of each place from
all others.
Longitude
This is accomplished by dividing the Earth from pole to pole by
another set of imaginary circles called meridians of longitude,
shown in the above chart running the north-south axis. They are
so called because all places located along such a circle have
noon at the same instant, regardless of how far they are from
the equator or whether near the north or south pole. Now look
again at your map of Europe. There you will see numbered lines
running from the top of the map to the bottom. These are meridians
of longitude. One is numbered 0. If you follow that line you will
find London, and close thereto a place called Greenwich. That
is the location of the world's greatest observatory, and for purposes
of astronomical calculation all places on Earth are considered
as being so many degrees west or east of Greenwich. Thus, by latitude
we obtain the location of a certain place north or south of the
equator. By longitude we designate its position east or west of
Greenwich.
When the location of a place is stated in terms of latitude and
longitude, it marks a certain spot beyond all doubt or possibility
of confusion with any other place, and gives the astrologer the
second of the primal factors necessary to calculate a scientific
horoscope: place.
— Max Heindel
— Rays from the Rose Cross Magazine, March/April, 1996
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