At the Lodge - 8th December 2003

Tonight we were treated to a Master Class from one of the greats in Astrology, Mike Edwards. He started by putting up the chart of the Universe with all the planet circling out from earth and introduced the six matters. Then he compared them to the planets, which rule them. The Moon which is the co-significator in Horary, Mercury to do with election, Venus for life, the Sun, Mars for dynasties, Jupiter for States and Great Nations and Saturn, the Lord of time, conjunctions and eclipses.

The he proceeded to demonstrate how he came to the assumption of the date of Buddha's enlightenment. Buddha was born the son of a Rajah. At the age of 30 (or 29) - his Saturn return, he left court and went out into the 'real world' of poverty and lived 6 years of austerity (a Jupiter return - Trigonalis). Then under the shade of a Banyan Tree, he became enlightened. Buddha in Hindu is Mercury. The Chart was given as 8th December, 528 BC with Mercury rising at 23 deg 13' of Scorpio. There was a Solar eclipse on Venus in the year of enlightenment. Great Mutation cycle means change in Religion. On the 8th December Venus was in the East - a morning star.

Mike intends to take this one further in the next term on March 22nd 2004. We look forward to that.

Carole West

This evening our usual pursuits were exchanged for the Lodge Ritual: the Rite of the Planets, which is a planetary meditation.