At the Lodge - 2nd February 2004

Lodge Lecture | Members' Classes | Charts Discussion

Lodge Lecture

The enigmatic Astrid Fallon stood before us this evening and gave us a lesson in Declination - the third dimension of Astrology. She made the trip from Sheffield to talk to us about Astrology in 3D. She is, of course, talking about declination - the factor which we can't represent on flat paper.

After taking us through an introduction and overview of the references she used (this information is on her website) she began by explaining the most obvious point: if a planet has high declination (in the northern hemisphere) then it will spend more time above the horizon in the day. Indeed this is also true of the signs of the zodiac which have higher declination. Declination, she explained is simply the distance a body can be away from the celestial equator. Now planets don't travel along the celestial equator but along the ecliptic and we know that these two great circles cross at 0 degrees Aries, therefore, anything in Aries must have a declination approaching zero and the same must go for Libra.

Following the same logic, the solstice signs (Cancer and Capricorn) must have high declination. Astrid then took us through the cycle of the year, starting in mid winter with maximum southern declination and matched the season's to the increasing altitude of the sun in the sky: higher declination more hours in sky during day. She then showed us a slide of the Anelema, which is a time lapse photograph of the position of the sun through the year. It traces a figure of eight which is very like the symbol for infinity.

We looked at out of bounds planets - that is planets with declination higher than 22 degrees. These have a purer, wild, untamed character about then as if they were able to avoid playing by the agreed rules. The nodal cycle ties in to whether we have an out of bounds Moon. When the node is at 0 Capricorn or Cancer things are "normal", the sun and the moon have equal declination, when the node approaches 0 Libra the sun is higher than the moon and rationality rules but when it gets towards 0 Aries the moon is OOB (out-of-bounds), higher than the sun - this is where we are presently folks - and our emotional nature has the upper hand.

After valiantly packing in so much material and stunningly beautiful graphics we finished with a quick look at declination cycles across the last century. No surprise to see a peak in the early 1940's but we also saw that the recent Jupiter Saturn conjunction - being in Taurus - also was at a peak.

We hope to see Astrid again soon as we just know we haven't even scratched the surface. Her many years of research into this subject showed in the wonderful graphics and charts she showed during the evening. Check out her website and see all the wonderful tools on offer for yourself.

Thank you Astrid.

Members' Classes

This was the second of the Members' classes on the Zodiac with Claire Chandler. This week we concentrated on the table of the Essential Dignities of the Planets according to Ptolemy and how rating them in accordance with this table gave them their strengths and weaknesses. By studying the chart of our current Prime Minister we were able to put this into practice. Our homework for the week was to study a handout of a printed section from Lily's Christian Astrology.

Carole West

Charts Discussion

A varied charts discussion this week.

First of all a member of the audience did an event chart for a job interview, The Cosmos had conspired against her to get her to the interview at the time her North Node was rising. The Underground was delayed, buses missed etc. She was successful with the interview and the chart aptly described that she would be teaching aromatherapy. Sun/Neptune conjunction in the 10th House of career and Mercury conjunct Chiron in the 9th house of higher education. Moon in Gemini opposing Pluto 2nd / 8th house, the money could have been better.

We then presented the chart of the BBC (the first TV broadcast) and the chart aptly showed the independence of the institution with Jupiter/North Node conjunction the MC - career status. However Pluto will transit this at the end of this year and next which shows radical transformation. In fact Pluto nearly conjoins the Jupiter at 22 degrees of Sagittarius and then retrogrades which could indicate the problems now.

Two members of the audience then showed a horary chart concerning the publication of their book. The answer was to wait.

Then we looked at the chart of Saddam Hussein, brilliantly showed by Santiago Mantas. He looked at the progressed chart and solar arc charts. There were many indications of the capture and the fact that someone had informed the authorities of his whereabouts. The natal chart also indicated the stubbornness of the man, and the need for power. There were many comments from the audience that the solar arc Sun/Uranus conjoins the natal position of the US Sun.

All in all a most varied and interesting discussion.

Gill Dorren

Lodge Lecture | Members' Classes | Charts Discussion