The Berlin Wall

Often referred to as the Fall of the Berlin Wall, its 20th anniversary was celebrated this week. It seemed to me that such a momentous event - often associated with the end of Communism - must be connected to the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. It is this cycle which corresponds to and warns of great changes in mundane affairs. The conjunction pertaining to these events is that of 19th February 1961 when Jupiter and Saturn met in Capricorn, just one of the greater cycle within the Earth triplicity. Clearly, in Capricorn, Saturn is the stronger of the two being in its own sign and Jupiter in its Fall. I don't intend to explain the characteristics of these conjunctions or go very far with its interpretation because I did that in my article in The Tradition journal (Issue 2) where I examined the recent financial problems. Suffice it to say that, in this case, Jupiter can be taken as freedom and Saturn as the opposite, and because Saturn is the stronger it is this planet which will prevail in this conjunction. Notable also is that Jupiter is currupted in Capricorn and thus any freedom or mercy it might offer are niggardly, mean and hardly worth having; indeed, the modern term of "negative freedom" seems very apt. The whole Earth series has the nature of control and organisation which I demonstrated in the aforementioned article, so here we have a continuance of those, and narrow-mindedness, or simply narrowness, a 'pinching-in'. The construction of the Wall is also recognised as the beginning of the Cold War, and nothing describes coldness better than Saturn, particularly when in Capricorn.

Following the partitioning of Germany at the end of the Second World War, Berlin found itself isolated within East Germany which was controlled by the Russians. Berlin itself was divided between the British, Americans, French in West Germany and West Berlin, and Russians in East Germany and East Berlin, but Berliners moved between the two halves of the city for reasons of work, family, entertainment and so on. East Germans moved into the West in their tens of thousands with little hindrance, and it is reported that the numbers grew so fast that the Communist authorities decided to act. It is hardly surprising that they chose to do this as their skilled workforce was disappearing in huge numbers. The order to close the border was signed on 12th August 1961 at about 4pm and "just after midnight" the first barrier eas erected between the two parts of Berlin. Needless to say, this caused great fear among Berliners: those who were visiting the East overnight could not return; West Berlin was ostensibly cut off from its allies and supplies; they were under siege.


This chart is erected for the time mentioned above, when the fortifications around West Berlin, the "wall" being just a part, were begun. (A small change to the time makes little difference to the resulting astrology.) I remember the grave concerns about the capacity of West Berlin to survive and be re-supplied. I chose to look for its delineation to the rules of besieged towns as this seemed to be the most descriptive of the time. It is clear that the city would survive as indeed it did, and beyond that it thrived beyond all expectations. On page 379 of Christian Astrology, William Lilly recites the rules for this eventuality: The ascendant and his Lord are for the querent, and those that doe or shall besiege; the fourth house shall signifie the Towne, City or Fort besieged. or to be besieged, the Lord thereof the Governour; the fift house, Planets therein, and his Lord the Ammunition, Souldiery and Assistants the Governour and Towne may expect to reli[e]ve of assist them:

The Gemini Ascendant and Mercury signify the Russian authorities of East Berlin and East Germany; the 4th house has Leo on the cusp and so is ruled by the Sun, thus Leo describes West Berlin, and the Sun, its governor. The 5th house, vital in this matter, has a Mercury ruled cusp with Mars therein. This identification between the besiegers and West Berlin's assistants is strange, but there were many strange alliances made throughout the Cold War. However, Mars is the strongest planet in this chart and in Virgo describes those assistants as noisily belligerent and potent. Notice that Mars is in trine to Jupiter and Saturn in this chart and also to the previous conjunction itself. Although a dangerous time, there is little that will happen in terms of standard, 'hot' warfare. Mercury, the besiegers, is on the 4th cusp, the enemy within. It is combust - obliterated by the city it besieges. The Sun, representative of West Berlin absorbs its besiegers, Germans themselves.

...have regard to the Lord of the fourth; if he be in the fourth strong and fortunate, and not Retrograde or Combust, or besieged of the Infortunes,

The Sun is the ruler of the 4th and it is relatively strong and fortunate in its own sign (the Sun can never be especially fortified in the usual sense), it cannot be retrograde, but it is slow in motion which can be taken as the equivalent, but its slowness is slight. It receives nor casts any aspect, it is isolated, but unmolested and such isolation can be interpreted as a good thing in this particular matter.

...or if Jupiter or Venus or the North Node be therein, and no reception between the Lord of the Ascendant and fourth,

The North Node is present in the 4th house, the Sun does receive Mercury in one sense, but this is by sign and so it is more properly disposing of Mercury.

then the City, Fort or Towne at that time surrounded or besiged, shall not be taken or delivered to the Army now besieging it; nay if there be both a Fortune and an Infortune in the fourth, the Towne shall not be taken,

This seems clear-cut: West Berlin will not be taken.

The next chart is for the time that restrictions along the border were relaxed, and is when the first gate in the Wall was opened and East Berliners began to pass the checkpoints. The BBC news broadcast of the following day defines it as "just after 9pm", I have left it at 9pm, but a few minutes later and Leo rises. Either way we have an end or a beginning. The Moon is very late in Pisces and on the cusp of the 10th house again signalling change. From double-bodied Pisces, the Moon moves into the single sign of Aries and applies to square with Venus, a difficult peace and reunification.




But of far greater impact is that Jupiter and Saturn are mutually applying to the opposition, that halfway point between the last conjunction and the next, the border of change.

And so the world turns.

The Tradition LIBRARY

The editorial team and I knew that a central resource for astrologers was not a new idea, but to dedicate it to Traditional astrological texts might be a little more novel. We had intended to bring this project to your attention in the New Year, but the extensive research done by Peter Stockinger and I revealed such a wealth of practical instruction that we couldn't let the moment pass.

The initial impetus for our taking on yet more work was that there is, as we are all aware, some very poor quality and poorly researched material out there upon which many have relied. As an example, the rather jaded opinions about William Lilly have persisted simply because no-one has published properly researched biographies. So many of those available rely on Derek Parker's William Lilly: Familiar to All published in 1975, even though it is clear that this is not and was not intended to be a definitive or in-depth biography. This is not to say that biographers aren't entitled to their opinions, but in order that those might be taken seriously, the reader needs to know the sources on which they are based. In the case of Parker's biography, sources are not provided, therefore those who rely upon this biography for their own derivatives perpetuate the errors and misapprehensions.

For me it was shocking to find that the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – that singular source of biographical histories – has followed this same pattern with its biography of William Lilly. Furthermore, its biography of John Gadbury continues these very same failings and indeed is in contradiction to another of its biographies, that of Dr. Nicholas Fiske. Peter Stockinger and I didn't expect to find so much evidence of slanted views and inadequate research. It might be said that, as students of William Lilly, Peter and I are not the best people to be doing this work and that we would impose our own "slanted views". That is certainly a possiblilty and we did approach it from a far more sympathetic point of view than have other authors and commentators. However, we have produced *all* of our sources for the interested to investigate, so any suspected partisanship is easily checked and, if necessary, corrected by others.

It was for these reasons that we accelerated the Library project – we were fed up with the situation and thought that others might be, too, thus we have presented for you (and for animal welfare) source material which will assist your studies and understanding. I can say that without fear of contradiction because I have studied and transcribed so many of the documents. In my opinion, the various lists of aphorisms are essential reading for all astrologers. Written towards the end of Lilly's life – and he was very aware that it was the end of his life – they demonstrate an astrological and magical maturity to which we can only aspire. These abstracts are intended to enhance our understanding of astrology and its practise; we, the editors, gain very little from this, if anything at all. So, we need encouragement through your support to continue with this project.

Let's take the opportunity to look at the facts.

The Tradition Journal

The third edition of the Tradition journal is now available by following the link to the right. It's packed with first class articles, and new to our contributors is Jerome Libon from Belgium who has submitted a thesis on Francis Bacon. As previously mentioned here is my collaboration with Peter Stockinger, Monster of Ingratitude; a detailed investigation into the notorious relationship of William Lilly and John Gadbury. It was a fascinating and revealing study. There are lots of other goodies including the results of the Animodar statistical study whose results might raise a few eyebrows.

Remember that all proceeds go to animal welfare and rescue.

The Tradition Library

This brand new project can be found at http://thetraditionjournal.com/library , pop over there and take a look at what's on offer. While you're doing that please give a thought to the animals and their welfare.

Lilly and Gadbury

Peter Stockinger and I have just completed a paper entitled "Monster of Ingratitude" and which will be published in the forthcoming edition of The Tradition journal (due to be released in September).

Scholarship into the history of astrology has improved over the last ten or fifteen years and has brought us a huge amount of information regarding astrology's development from many perspectives. However, biographical information about those who practiced astrology in centuries past is not of such a high standard. There are several reasons for this, not least a lack of autobiographical material. It was from this point of view that Peter and I examined the relationship between William Lilly and John Gadbury.

This rather large piece of research has taken several months to complete, but still leaves many questions unanswered. However, what we did discover was that those few biographies of William Lilly are markedly flawed. Most researchers rely upon Derek Parker's "Familiar to All" which, whilst it presents one of the earliest biographical texts about Lilly and which hasn't been bettered, presents very few sources as grounds for the author's opinions. Nonetheless, it is those opinions that we find most frequently in subsequent biographies of the astrologers of 17th century England, particularly those of Lilly and Gadbury. Indeed, much of the personal detail regarding Lilly's life found in Parker, can be found nowhere else. It may be that Parker had access to material unknown to us, but there are no references with which to follow this up. (It may be that a full and detailed review of "Familiar to All" is required in order to test the assertions made there against known sources.)

We have attempted to address these, largely unsubstantiated, opinions and present source material which leads to alternative, and often very different, conclusions. As an example, the main theme of our paper is the infamous contention between Lilly and Gadbury and our research shows that it has been misconstrued by historians throughout. This study has brought to light a number of other doubtful areas relating to Lilly's contemporaries, too, but our remit precluded going very far with that; we had already far exceeded our original intentions.

The paper contains:

• brief biographies of the two men;
• the beginning of their acqaintance and how it came about;
• how the enmity began, developed and ended;
• the rather one-sided pamphlet war;
• others involved in the contention;
• a study of the published material;
• all sources of information;
• alternative conclusions based on the above.

We hope to draw the attention of astrologers to an area which requires far closer attention than it has attracted hitherto, and perhaps encourage others to proceed in this research. Furthermore, we hope to demonstrate that Gadbury's work is far from reliable and could easily be replaced by that of a better qualified author of the period, such as John Partridge. That is, if astrologers want to investigate the art as it stood post-Lilly and as it collided with the new science.

Presentation Links

The link to my presentation God, the Universe and Everything, has been corrected. You should be able to download the video without problem now.

You can find it by going to my web site (link right), and clicking on "Articles" at the top of the home page.

An Explanation of Horary

I've uploaded to my web site another video presentation entitled An Explanation of Horary: How it Works. It is a brief, introductory view of the subject, but I hope that you'll find it helpful.

The Primary Problem with Venus

I want to present a few thoughts on the nature of Venus, but I don't pretend that they are definitive. These ideas are supplemental to my lecture, God, the Universe and Everything which can be found at my web site as a video presentation.

The problem is that the nature of Venus is variously described as cold and moist, and/or hot and moist; Lilly states in Christian Astrology that Venus is both of Air and Water, both phlegmatic and sanguine (p73). (For a discussion of the humours, please refer to the Traditional Horary Course materials and Luis Ribeiro's article in The Tradition journal, both of which also refer to the application of the humours.) However, taking Lilly's statement that Venus has two pairs of primary qualities, and because this is difficult to apply in practice, I'll address the question of why or how this situation arises. I will not go into great detail here, and so interested readers are referred to my other articles and lectures for more information, but perhaps most appropriately the presentation mentioned above.

I have been lecturing on the philosophy and basis of astrology for some years now, and it is to those ideas that I now refer. Genesis I says, "In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.", this describes a primary division and can be interpreted in a number of ways. However, the next lines state, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep [water], and [then] the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The imagery produced here is one of gender and generation, thus the masculine (active) Heaven and the feminine (receptive) Earth. So, for our purposes, the first or primary division of Creation was one of gender. When we talk about the primary qualities or natures of the planets, it is to this that we refer, otherwise it isn't primary. Thus, Venus is primarily feminine.

The next division, after the creation of Light, is of day and night, representative of time, and these are connected with the previous division of space, above and below. In my interpretation of Genesis I, these two divisions overlap and lead to the creation of the four elements by secondary division. The whole story is one of fertility through division, and through that we can deduce the source of the creation of benefics and malefics. The former corresponds to fertility and productivity, the latter to barrenness and destruction. Jupiter and Venus are designated as benefics because of their power of moderation, or fertility. The two qualities required for fertility are heat and moisture, thus Venus, as a benefic, can correspond to these qualities. However, primarily it is feminine and thus corresponds to coldness and moisture, and the qualities of the night, thus phlegmatic.

This is one way of explaining how it might be that Venus can be both Airy and Watery. In application, the context will be important, thus if you are searching for beneficence, the hot and moist natures are important; if you are looking for a primary quality, then coldness and moisture have priority. For example, when we are examining the planetary hour, we should look at Venus in its primary mode as cold and moist; its secondary nature as a benefic might be used in other applications, such as in the calculation of temperament. In the latter, because it provides a guide to balance or imbalance, productivity or non-productivity, we need to look at the planets and their positions as significant of one or the other. Thus, Venus would be dealt with as the lesser benefic, productive, fertile, and progressive and thus, sanguine.