Avalon School

7/28/2019 Avalon School

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* What is The Avalon School of Astrology?

* Is there anything I need to know about the Avalon lessons?

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Class 1What is Astrology?

Class 2What's Out There?

Class 3What's Out There? Part 2

Class 4How do Astrologers Interpret this stuff?

Class 5What is a Natal Chart?

Class 6Houses

Class 7Zodiac Signs on the House Cusps

Class 8Practice Determining Sign and House Placements

Class 9Aspects

Class 10 The Aspect Grid


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Class 11 The Meanings of Signs, Houses, and Planets

Class 12 Interpreting the Birth chart (Introduction)

Class 13 Analyzing the Strongest Aspects, Part I

Class 14 Analyzing the Strongest Aspects, Part II

Class 15 Analyzing the Chart of Another Famous Person

Class 16 Outer versus Inner Planets

Class 17 The Asc and MC

Class 18 The Moon's Nodes

Class 19 Other Aspects (Trines, Sextiles, Quincunxes), Part I

Class 20 Other Aspects (Trines, Sextiles, Quincunxes), Part II

Class 21 Test (today's class is a test only)


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Class 22 The Rising Sign, Part I

Class 23 The Rising Sign, Part II

Class 24 Element Balance

Class 25 Zodiac Sign Rulerships

Class 26 Natural Zodiac Sign of a House

Class 27 House Systems

Class 28 Analyzing Relationships: The BiWheel

Class 29 Analyzing Relationships: Other FactorsClass 30 The Composite Chart

Class 31 Astrology in Transition: the Draconic Chart and New Insights into theComposite Chart

Class 32 The Composite Chart: its relationship to angles between the charts, andcomparing it to the Natal Chart


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Class 33 Forecasting with Transits

Class 34 Forecasting with Secondary Progressions

Class 35 Another Look at Progressions

Class 36 Forecasting with Solar and Lunar Returns

Class 37 Scientific Versus Psychological Astrology - article by Glenn Perry

Class 38 Modern Techniques: Midpoints

Class 39 Harmonics, Part 1: The Navamsa Chart

Class 40 Harmonics, Part 2: Aspects are a Fraction of a Circle!

Class 41 Harmonics, Part 3: Applying Harmonic AstrologyClass 42 Other Techniques: Arabic Parts, Fixed Stars, Asteroids, Parallels of

Declination, Degree Meanings, Ancient Methods, and Heliocentric Astrology.

Class 43 Astrology as Symbolic Language or as an Energy Process

Class 44 Re-visiting the Basics: Interpretations of the Planets

Class 45 Re-visiting the Basics: Interpretation of the Zodiac SignsClass 46 The Draconic Chart, Gems, and Colors

Class 47 Relocation Astrology

What is Astrology?


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Class 1

Today we will:

1. Define what astrology is.2. Answer the question "Is astrology a science?"

WHAT IS ASTROLOGY?

Astrology is the study of correlations of celestial events with behavior on earth,

particularly correlations which cannot be explained by gravitation, magnetism, or other

forces that are well-established in physics or other sciences.

A "celestial event" is any event in the sky. For example, the Sun rising is a celestial

event, or any two planets appearing in the same place in the sky is a celestial event. Thecelestial event can involve any celestial body, whether it be the Sun, Moon, a planet, an

asteroid, comet, star, black hole, quasar, or other celestial object. The celestial event may

also not involve any physical body at all, such as when, for example, the Moon's North

Node (as we shall find out later, the Moon's North Node is not a physical object) is on theeastern horizon. The eastern horizon is, of course, simply where the sky meets the

horizon of the earth in the easterly direction, and therefore is also not a physical body like

a planet or star.

Some people mention that the Moon's position affects the tides of the ocean, as an

example of an astrological influence, but the correlation of ocean tides with the Moon'sposition can be explained by gravitation so it is not really astrological in that the rules

used by astrologers generally cannot be explained by gravitation or other forces known in

the sciences.

Astrology has been used by virtually every advanced civilization for thousands of years,

but it has almost always been very controversial as well. Today, skepticism about

astrology is as strong as ever, and there are many good reasons for this. Astrology has itsroots in ancient times when less scientific methods were employed and superstition was

rampant in many of these civilizations. The only exposure that many people have had to

astrology is the sun sign columns in the newspaper or a glamorous psychic astrologer ontelevision. Thus, it is hardly surprising that astrology is generally not accepted as a

legitimate and valid field of inquiry by academia. Resistance to astrology in academia is

strong. The Kepler program and other fine work being done in the field of astrology


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today will hopefully open the eyes of many people to a valuable tool that is being

overlooked.

Some people confuse astrology with astronomy. Astronomy is the science that studies

celestial phenomena physically. All objects in the sky are studied in terms of their

constitution, position, history, etc. Astronomy, of course, is a science and no one disputesits validity. Astrology goes a step beyond astronomy by making correlations of celestial

phenomena with events on earth, and these correlations are not of a nature that can be

easily explained by traditional scientific concepts. Astrology is highly controversial, andcurrently (as of 1998; this may change in the near future) an accredited college degree is

not available in astrology, which exemplifies the fact that astrology is currently not well-

received in most academic circles.

Note that no one has proven how astrology works. There are many different views on

how or why astrology might work, but there is not single conclusive answer that has been

demonstrated to the satisfaction of all astrologers. Astrology is the study of the

correlation between celestial phenomena and behavior on earth but why should thiscorrelation exist? There are many possible answers and I will not go into those now. Note

that the lack of a clear explanation of why the correlation should exist, or the fact that theexistence of such a correlation seems absurd to many scientists and non-scientists alike,

does not in itself make astrology unscientific. Scientists can analyze correlations and

perfect their ability to predict based on these correlations without knowing why thecorrelation exists. Experts in scientific methodology emphasize that science ultimately is

about making observations and theories help us understand the observations. The ability

to predict that an apple will fall to the ground if dropped is a scientifically verifiable

statement and it does not require the theory of gravitation to make it more scientific.However, the theory of gravitation allows us to understand not only why the apple falls to

the ground, but also a myriad other phenomena such as why planets revolve around the

Sun and the Moon revolves around the Earth. The power of a scientific theory is that itexpands our ability to make predictions about other phenomena, but the lack of good

theories does not make a replicable experiment less scientific.

IS ASTROLOGY A SCIENCE?

Much of astrology sounds like superstition. For example, most astrologers believe that

Mars is a planet of aggression and if you were born when Mars was rising, setting, orover your head ("culminating" is the more technical astronomical term for "over your

head") when you were born, then you have the characteristics of Mars: aggressive and

ambitious. In addition to sounding superstitious, there is no way to explain such aninfluence. Does this mean that astrology is not a science?

The answer to this question is hotly debated. Even some astrologers prefer to look atastrology as a cosmic art rather than a mundane science.

Interestingly, the scientific method, contrary to popular opinion and even the opinion of

some self-proclaimed scientists, has nothing to do with "common sense". Science is


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founded on the scientific method, and the scientific method requires only that rigorous

procedures be employed to verify that the observed phenomenon is "real", not an artifact

of other influences ("extraneous variables" is the term used by scientists). Much ofmodern physics, in fact, does not make "common sense". The discoveries of Albert

Einstein and other 20th century scientists have destroyed the "common sense" science

that developed through the 18th and 19th centuries. Modern physics postulates a vastnumber of concepts which sound absurd to common sense, but they are indisputably

scientific because they are congruent with observations made using the rigorous

procedure of the scientific method.

Therefore, the fact that astrology does not make common sense or cannot be explained by

known physical laws does not disqualify it as a science. What would disqualify astrology

as a science would be repeated failure to validate any of its precepts in scientific studies.But scientific studies by John Addey, John Nelson, Ann Parker, Theodore Landscheidt,

Mark Urban-Lurain, the Gauquelins, and many others have already validated some

astrological influences. These studies cannot be officially declared to be scientific proof,

however, because a study must first meet the criteria required by the scientific method:peer review and replication of the results are required before being considered to be

scientific validation. A study must be published in a recognized scientific journal toensure that the study has been conducted properly. Also, a well-designed study typically

requires huge amounts of time and money to fund. Astrology today is caught in a

chicken-and-egg dilemma: Because the funding and support is not available, the studieshave not been validated and published in major scientific journals. However, some of the

studies are very impressive. The following is a list of books that contain very impressive

research in astrology:

"Astrology and Alcoholism" by Ann E. Parker

"Cosmic Cybernetics" by Theodor Landscheidt

"Astrology As Science, a Statistical Approach" by Mark Urban-Lurain

The book "Recent Advances in Natal Astrology" by Geoffrey Dean has an extensive

summary of a great deal of research done in astrology. Dean's conclusion is that almost

all of the research was not done with sufficient scientific rigor to be completely

conclusive.

As part of your studies in Avalon Lessons, we do NOT expect you to read the books

listed above! In the advanced lessons we will discuss some of the material in these booksin more detail. We are mentioning these books at this time simply to document the basis

for the statements made above.

Because astrology is the study of the correlation of celestial phenomena with behavior on

earth and both the astronomical phenomena and the behavior on earth can be measured

very precisely and clearly, astrology is very amenable to scientific research. For example,

a researcher can study the correlation of planetary positions with well-defined behavior or


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characteristics such as accidents, alcoholism, or medical problems such as diabetes, heart

problems, etc. There are some very significant technical challenges that arise in

conducting astrological research, such as how to establish control groups in theexperiment. I will not discuss these subtle and technical issues of research in any detail

now but suffice it to say that in some countries during some periods of time more babies

are born just before sunrise, and more babies are born in the spring than at other times ofthe year. Because people are not born randomly throughout the year or throughout the

day, and planets do not move at steady speeds from the earth's point of view, the

researcher must be very careful to make sure that the control group of the experiment orthe assumption about how often the celestial event would occur by chance is correct.

While these challenges to astrological research are not insignificant, they do require great

care on the part of the researcher. Another issue to consider is this: although scientific

research can be done in astrology, some astrologers, like Glenn Perry, for example,believe that research in astrology needs to be more complex or qualitative in nature than

most traditional research studies. According to this view, astrology works in a very

holistic and complex manner, and simple research studies are too fragmented and limited

to produce results of any great importance. Many astrologers also believe that astrologydoes not work by cause-and-effect influences but rather by a non-mechanical means.

Some astrologers would also argue that astrology's purpose is to reveal meaning andsignificance to our lives, not to describe phenomena. According to this view a human

being is more than a conglomerate of mechanical processes, and astrology can feed the

soul of a person, and from this perspective, whether astrology can be validatedscientifically is irrelevant and unimportant. Some astrologers view astrology more as a

language rather than as a science. As you can see there are many varying viewpoints on

astrology's relationship to science!

To answer the question "Is astrology a science?", the answer that I would give (although

as explained in the previous paragraph, not everyone would agree) is "almost" or "not

yet". Sometimes a discovery in science is made in a single "Eureka" moment, but othertimes the data slowly and gradually supports the theory until at last a clear and definitive

discovery is made. The studies in the books listed above, and in other books, are

extremely promising, but by strict scientific standards probably cannot be considered yetto be validation of astrology.

FINAL CONCLUSION:

Opinions about whether astrology is a science vary, even among experts in scientific

methodology as well as experts in astrology. I think that to answer this question, we must

first carefully define what astrology is and what a science is. Astrology is a correlation ofcelestial events with behavior and characteristics of things on earth, especially those that

cannot be explained by current scientific theories. A science is a field that has been

validated by experiments and research that adhere to the tenets of the scientific method,and have been published in qualified journals. Publication is important because this

ensures that the research was conducted correctly, with appropriate experimental

controls, statistical analysis, etc. Since astrology has been virtually ignored by accepted

scientific journals, it is my opinion that astrology does not qualify as a science currently,


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but when such research is done, it will, in time, produce statistically significant results

and then astrology will be a science. It may seem odd that something cannot be a science

one day and then the next day it is, but science is not only an objective phenomenon, it isalso the inquiry of human beings into an area, adhering rigorously to the scientific

method. Many astrologers believe that astrology will one day join the ranks of the other

sciences because the work of researchers mentioned above and other researchers are veryimpressive and only need to be replicated and expanded upon in rigorous (and therefore

usually expensive!) scientific studies. Some astrologers believe that astrology requires

more emphasis on qualitative techniques and more complex forms of analysis rather thansimple statistical quantitative analyses. According to this view, astrology can advance as

a science but it will require a radically different kind of scientific approach than is

traditionally taken in order to make great strides, and also that "soft science" techniques

are not necessarily inferior, and in fact can sometimes produce more useful results than"hard science" techniques.

What's Out There? Part I

Class 2

Before we start today's lesson, let's first take a short quiz on the material presented in thelast lesson to see if you remember the ideas and concepts that were presented.

A score of 70% or better means that you understand the material and are ready to proceedwith this lesson.

Today we will learn:

1. A little astronomy.

2. What the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars look like from the viewpoint of a person on

earth

3. All planets rise and set, in similar fashion to the Sun.

4. An astronomical view of the astrological houses.

As we discussed in the previous class, astrology is a correlation of celestial events with

behavior on earth. Here is a listing of some of the kinds of things that can be correlated:

Celestial phenomenon Behavior or Characteristics on earth

1. A planet is forming a particular 1. A person wins the lottery.

angle with another planet. 2. A dog is hit by a car.

2. A planet is in a section of the 3. A person loses their keys.sky known as a zodiac sign. 4. It is a rainy day.

3. A planet is in a section of the 5. An earthquake occurs.

sky known as a house. 6. Jim and Sally get married.

4. One planet is halfway between


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two other planets.

As you can see from the above list, the behavior on earth does not necessarily need to behuman behavior. Behavior of any animal and even behavior of inanimate things, such as

geological events and weather conditions are analyzed in astrology.

We are familiar with the behaviors on earth. We all know what a rainy day is or what an

earthquake is. However, we may not be as familiar with the other side of the correlation:

how celestial bodies move in the sky and what celestial phenomena are important toastrologers.

SOME BASIC ASTRONOMY

As we all know from elementary and high school, we live on a planet called Earth, which

is revolving around a star called the Sun, and the Earth is the third planet from the Sun.

[Click here to see a diagram of our solar system]

This is how our earth looks if we were in a space ship or floating around in outer space

looking at our planet from a distance. But how do the planets look from our point ofview? Your point of view can dramatically change how something appears. For example,

if you are standing on railroad tracks and a train is approaching, you can see only the

front of the train and the train appears to get larger and larger as it approaches, butviewed from a distance you can see the entire train, and you can clearly see how fast it is

moving.

Interestingly, many of us have a better understanding of how planets look from the pointof view of a spaceship in outer space, even though we have never been in a spaceship,

than we do of how the planets move in the sky from our position on Earth!

There is one celestial body that all of us are very familiar with: the Sun! We all know that

it rises in the East and sets in the West and it takes about 24 hours for the Sun to make its

journey around the Earth. We also know (if we haven't forgotten everything we learned inelementary school and high school!) that the daily movement of the Sun across the sky is

actually caused by the Earth spinning on its axis every 24 hours. We are all victims of a

massive optical illusion! The Sun appears to be revolving around us, but in fact we on

Earth are revolving around the Sun, and the Sun's movement around the sky is caused bythe earth rotating on its axis.

Most astrology is based on how the planets appear from our point of view on earth(geocentric perspective) rather than from the point of view of someone in a space ship

above earth or from the point of view of the Sun (heliocentric perspective).

All of us are familiar with the daily movement of the Sun but are you familiar with the

movement of the other planets? Test your knowledge by reading the following questions

and then clicking on the "Answer" button to see if you know the answers to these

questions. It is best to answer each question before reading the next question.


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QUIZ ON BASIC ASTRONOMY


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REVIEW:

Yesterday we learned that all planets, like the Sun, rise and set each day, and the timefrom one rising to the next is about 24 hours. Astrologers divide the sky into 12 sections

so it takes about 2 hours for a planet to travel through a house.

THERE ARE 3 FUNDAMENTAL ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA THAT

ASTROLOGERS ANALYZE: HOUSES, ZODIAC SIGNS, AND ASPECTS. Yesterday

we learned what a house is (we have not yet learned how astrologers interpret houses; wehave only learned what a house is). Each of the houses, according to astrologers affects a

different part of a person's life. We will learn more about how astrologers interpret

houses in a future lesson. Right now I want to explain 2 other celestial phenomena that

astrologers analyze: zodiac signs and aspects. We will take a look at these today, andtomorrow we will start to see how astrologers assemble this information together to make

their interpretations.

WHAT IS AN ASPECT?

Before I can explain what an aspect is, we need to review some astronomical facts. As wediscussed earlier this week, the planets, including the earth, revolve around the Sun. All

of the planets revolve in approximately the same plane around the Sun.

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The solar system looks similar to this: The solar system does NOT look like this:

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A "plane" in geometry is similar to a table top, floor, or ceiling. It is a flat surface. The

planets revolve around the Sun in almost the same plane.

As we discussed earlier this week, changing our view point can dramatically change what

something looks like. The moving train looks very different when viewed from the side

as opposed to when it is viewed from the front. The planets viewed from outside the solarsystem are seen to be revolving around the Sun in almost the same plane. What does this

do to our view of the planets from our normal position standing on the surface of the

earth? It causes all of the planets to appear in a circle. If the planets were not revolving inthe same plane, then the planets would appear in every direction, but because they are in

the same plane, they appear to be in a circle from a person's point of view.

The fact that the planets lie in a circle makes life a lot easier for astrologers! We can

simply discuss where the planet exists on the circle. If we want to talk about how far

apart the planets are we can simply talk about how many degrees apart they are. Just to

make sure you have the idea, let me make an analogy:


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Imagine that there are 3 people are walking in circles around the same point, and each

person is walking in a circle at a different distance from the center, as shown in the

illustration to the left. The green person in the illustration is walking in the innermostcircle, the blue person is in the middle circle, and red person is in the outermost circle.

Suppose that the blue person is wondering how far apart the red person and green person

are from each other. He could, of course, measure the distance with a ruler, but he canalso talk about the angle between them.

As shown on the illustration to the right, the green person and red person are 90 degreesapart from the blue person's point of view. The 3 people in this illustration are walking in

a path that is very similar to the path of the planets around the Sun. The green person, for

example, could be Venus (which has a path closer to the Sun than the Earth's path), the

blue person the earth, and the red person can represent Mars (which has a path fartheraway from the Sun than the Earth's path. From the point of view of a person living on

planet Earth, Venus and Mars are 90 degrees apart. The angles between the planets are

constantly changing of course, as the planets revolve around the Sun. Certain angles are

"critical"; they cause the 2 planets to interact with each other. An angle of 90 degrees isone of these critical angles and it is called a square aspect. We will discuss aspects in

more detail in future classes, so if this is a little difficult to follow right now, don't worrybecause we will discuss this in greater detail soon.

WHAT ARE ZODIAC SIGNS?

Because the planets from a person's point of view lie in a circle, we can pick a starting

point in the circle and talk about how many degrees the planet is from this starting point.

This would be a convenient way to talk about precisely where the planet is.

For example, going back to our example of 3 people walking in a circle around the same

point, the blue person may decide that the direction where the green person is in theillustration above is the starting point, and he measures in a counter-clockwise direction.

The green person is at the starting point, which we can call zero. The red person is

located 90 degrees from the green person if we measure in a clockwise direction, which isequal to 270 degrees measured in a counter-clockwise direction.

Two starting points are particularly popular among astrologers. Perhaps the most obvious

starting point would be a fixed star (in astronomy and astrology, we refer to the stars as"fixed stars" to make it clear that we specifically mean the stars that make up the

constellations, and we are not using the word stars in a looser and more general sense to

include planets, the Sun, and Moon, etc). Using a fixed star as the starting point is verysimple and convenient.

This is exactly what some astrologers use and the measurement based on using a fixedstar as a starting point is called the sidereal zodiac. In a manner similar to the division of

the sky into 12 houses, the 360 degrees of the sidereal zodiac is divided into 12 sections

of 30 degrees each. Each 30 degree section is given a name, and these names are the

familiar names of the zodiac signs that you are no doubt familiar with: Aries, Taurus,


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Gemini, etc. You have heard about zodiac signs before but now you know what they are!

They are 30 degree divisions of the circle that the planets travel in from a person's point

of view on earth. Any planet that is from 0 degrees to 30 degrees from the starting pointis in Aries, if it is from 30 degrees to 60 degrees away it is in Taurus, 60 degrees to 90

degrees is Gemini, and so on.

Houses and zodiac signs are very similar. Both houses and signs divide the sky into 12

pieces. Houses divide the sky into 12 pieces starting with the horizon, and the sidereal

zodiac divides the sky into 12 pieces starting with a fixed star. (There is another kind ofzodiac known as the tropical zodiac which we will discuss below).

When someone says "I am a Leo" we obviously cannot translate this literally because

"Leo" means "Lion" and obviously the person is not a lion! What this statement means isthat the Sun at the time the person was born was in the 30 degree section of the sky that is

from 120 degrees to 150 degrees from the starting point (Leo is the 5th sign of the zodiac

and starts at 120 degrees).

What fixed star is used as the starting point of the zodiac and why? Unfortunately,

astrologers who use the sidereal zodiac are not in complete agreement about what star touse. In the 20th century research into ancient astrology has revealed many interesting

details and many astrologers use these recent studies to base their understanding of

precisely where the sidereal zodiac begins. But this gets us into a very advanced subjectthat we will leave for much later.

Now, here is a real surprise (at least if you are completely new to astrology): the sidereal

zodiac is NOT the most commonly used zodiac in the United States, Canada, SouthAmerica, Europe, and some other parts of the world: the tropical zodiac is used. The

tropical zodiac is based on a starting point that is more abstract than using a fixed star as

a starting point. To attempt to even describe the starting point of the tropical zodiac is alittle complex right now, but I will give you a definition just in case you are curious: the

starting point of the tropical zodiac is the intersection of the ecliptic plane and celestial

equator. I told you that it would be complex!!! Don't worry if that sounds completelyincomprehensible. We will get a better idea of what the tropical zodiac is in advanced

level classes. For now, however, we do not need be concerned with these technical

details. What is most important to understand right now is that the 12 zodiac signs are

similar to the 12 houses in that both of them are divisions of the sky into 12 sections. Wecan pick out a starting point on the circle, and refer to a planet's position by how many

degrees, from 0 to 360, the planet is from the starting point. One final point about

zodiacs: the sidereal zodiac is used by some astrologers, and in some parts of the world,most notably India, it is more commonly used than the tropical zodiac. In advanced

classes we will learn more about the sidereal zodiac and how it compares to the tropical

zodiac, but for the rest of this semester we will be working almost exclusively with thetropical zodiac.

Note that the information we are presenting is astrological theory as commonly practiced

in the western world (North and South America, Europe, Australia, etc.) in contemporary


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times. Astrology has been practiced for thousands of years in virtually every civilization

and culture and the number of theories and ideas is vast. For example, in some forms of

ancient astrology, and 8-house system was used instead of the 12-house system that weuse today. I will not repeat this caveat in every lesson because I do not want to bore you

by repeating the same information over and over again! The vast wealth of ideas in

astrology can overwhelm the student, and this is why the structured approach to learningthat we present in Avalon Lessons can be extremely helpful to the student.

How Do Astrologers Interpret this Stuff?

Class 4

REVIEW: In our first 3 days we learned that astrology is a correlation of celestial events

with the behavior and characteristics of things on earth. We also learned that astrologerstalk about the planets being in houses, in zodiac signs, and in aspect to each other. We

learned that most astrology is done from the person's point of view on earth (geocentric).

Before we start today's lesson, let's first take a short quiz on the material presented in thelast 2 lessons to see if you remember the ideas and concepts that were presented.

A score of 70% or better means that you understand the material and are ready to proceed

with this lesson.

Today we will:

Learn 3 basic fundamentals of how astrologers interpret astrological phenomena:

1. Each planet has an astrological meaning.

2. The planet's meaning is colored by the signs and houses it is in.3. Planetary influences mix together when there is an aspect between two planets.

We will also:

4. Learn various philosophical approaches, issues, and problems that astrologers are

involved in.5. Summarize the most important things to retain from today's lesson.

How do astrologers use the houses, signs, and aspects to make their interpretations? Here

is how it works:

1. EACH PLANET INFLUENCES A DIFFERENT PART OF LIFE:

Each planet affects a different part of life. Mercury affects how one thinks and

communicates. Venus affects our aesthetic sense, what we think is beautiful and

attractive and has some influence over our romantic nature. It is as if each planet is amagnet that structures a different aspect of our lives. You know that magnets can attract

and repel iron but have no effect on wood or rubber. Imagine a different kind of magnet

that attracts and repels wood but not other materials. The planets, as used in astrology, are

like this. It is as if each planet structures and influences a different part of us.


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2. THE SIGNS AND HOUSES "COLOR" THE INFLUENCE OF THE PLANET:

A light that shines through green glass can have a much more pleasant feeling for us than

the same light that shines through a red glass. Just as the colored glass colors the light,

zodiac signs and houses color the influence of the planet. Some astrologers put moreemphasis on the meaning of the zodiac sign and house more than others. Some

astrologers make the influence of zodiac signs and houses the foundation of their

interpretation while other astrologers put very little emphasis on them.

Here is an example of how zodiac signs color the meaning of a planet: Mercury affects

how we think and communicate, and the zodiac sign gives a fiery, impulsive quality.

Therefore Mercury in Aries inclines a person to blurt out things before carefullymeasuring their words, and to make spontaneous, impulsive decisions. Taurus, on the

other hand, gives a deliberate, steady, and stubborn quality, so a person with Mercury in

Taurus is very much the opposite, carefully analyzing a situation before making a

decision. Each sign has its advantages and disadvantages.

Houses work in a similar manner. For example, the 3rd house focuses one's attention ontangible things in one's immediate environment while the 9th houses focuses one'

attention on broader, more philosophical issues. Mercury in the 9th house makes one

more inclined to broad issues like philosophy, religion, politics, education, and travel,while Mercury in the 3rd house gives an interest in solving puzzles, clear communication,

etc.

Please note that we do not actually know how or why astrology works! There is adifference between using a concept as an aid to interpreting a chart, and proposing the

concept is the actual mechanism by which astrology works. In the previous paragraphs

we are not proposing that the planets actually are like magnets controlling differentaspects of a person's life; we are stating that viewing the planets as analogous to magnets

is useful for learning how to interpret a chart. Similarly, our image of zodiac signs and

houses as colored glass giving color, tone, and quality to a planet does not imply that thisis actually how zodiac signs work. We do not know how they work. We are saying that

this view of their influence will help you better understand astrology and help you

interpret a birth chart accurately. This may seem like a subtle distinction, but it is a very

important distinction. Developing a model because it assists our ability to analyze, apply,and utilize data without regard to whether the model is actually true, but rather using it

simply because it is helpful and useful to us, is, in fact, a common practice in the had

sciences, like physics, as well as the soft sciences like psychology and sociology. (A "softscience" is one that is difficult to apply the scientific method to, while a "hard science" is

one that is more amenable to analysis using the scientific method).

3. PLANETARY INFLUENCES MIX TOGETHER WHEN AN ASPECT IS FORMED:

In addition to the "coloring" of the planetary influences by the signs and houses,

astrologers analyze the angles between the planets. When two planets are 90 degrees


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apart, for example, the energies of the 2 planets mix together. Note again that we

actually do not know how astrology works, so whether there are planetary energies at all

is debatable, but the image given here of planetary energies mixing is nevertheless a goodone for helping understand how astrologers interpret a birth chart. We do not have

empirical data showing that planetary energies are at work, but it is useful concept to use

when interpreting astrological influences and applying these influences to consultationswith clients.

When 2 planets are 90 degrees apart, the 2 planets mix together in a challenging,motivating, and stressful manner. For example, Mercury affects how we think and

communicate and Jupiter expands whatever it touches. When Mercury is 90 degrees from

Jupiter, it can create a need to think about large issues, such as philosophy, politics, or

world conditions. It may also create a need to communicate big ideas to a large audience.

If the 2 planets are 120 degrees apart, then the 2 planets mix together in a smoother, more

harmonious and less motivating manner than the 90-degree aspect. If Mercury is 120

degrees from Jupiter it can give a person an aptitude for understanding general conceptsand a talent for knowing how to reach a large number of people, but there is not as much

of a sense of urgency or importance attached to this as there is with the 90 degree angle.

Angular distances that cause the two planets to mix together have names. The 90 degree

angle is known as the square aspect and the 120 degree angle is known as the trine aspect.When Mercury is 90 degrees from Jupiter, one can say that "Mercury squares Jupiter",

and when Mercury is 120 degrees from Jupiter, one can say that "Mercury trines Jupiter".

There are many other important aspects, but we will not detail these now. Our main goaltoday is to give a clearer picture of how an astrologer interprets astronomical phenomena.

Astrologers analyze how the houses and signs modify the influence of the planet, and

they interpret aspects to see how the planetary influences mix together.

4. PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS, ETC.:

We do not know how astrology works. Those of us who study astrology know that it

works, and as discussed in the first class, there is good scientific support for some ideas

in astrology, although the lack of publication in respected scientific journals can be

viewed as a lack of absolute conclusive proof.

Astrologers have developed various ways of visualizing and explaining astrological

influences. For example, in the first section above I made an analogy to magnets whenexplaining that each planet influences a different part of life. Some astrologers may be

offended by this analogy because they may believe that astrology does not work by any

kind of physical force (since there is no proof of how astrology works, one is free todevise any theory that one wants as to how astrology works). I used the analogy to

magnets simply because I think it helps to make the concept clear, helps one to better

interpret the birth chart, and also it may inspire some creative thinking. Do not, however,


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mistake the use of analogies, such as the analogy to magnets, as a definitive actual

explanation of how things work.

When introducing the concept of aspects, I gave the image of the planetary energies

mixing. I also pointed out that we do not know whether there are actually energies

involved. Many astrologers refer to planetary energies because it has proven useful forthem in their astrological practice. Other astrologers find the reference to astrological

energies distasteful. In future lessons, there I may make reference to planetary energies or

other similar concept, without specifically pointing out that the concept is being used forconvenience or because it is useful, even though it has not been proven to actually work.

Referring to planetary energies is fairly common in modern western astrology, and it is

consistent with the philosophical approach of many astrologers practicing today,particularly in North America, South America, and Europe. A great many astrologers

today view astrological influences as a kind of energy available to a person, a resource,

gift, inclination to a problem or pressure upon the person. Modern astrologers generally

agree that a person should not fight or transcend these influences but rather perfect theirability to express these energies so that they can be the best that they can possibly be. We

do not know precisely how or why astrology works but it is evident to many modernastrologers that one of astrology's greatest gifts to humanity is a way of understanding

what motives are at work in our lives and help us decide on the best possible path to

utilize the resources available to us. For example, a person who is 7 feet tall and is verycoordinated and strong may want to consider playing basketball professionally whereas a

person who is 5 feet tall and not well-coordinated may well play basketball for fun,

relaxation, or exercise, but would be foolish to work towards becoming a professional

basketball player; it is not impossible that he could succeed, but it is nearly impossibleand works against the natural forces at work. Throughout the material presented in

Avalon Lessons, the philosophical perspective that astrology can be used as a tool to

better direct one's life and better understand the forces at work in one's life will bemaintained.

Some astrologers are much more factual and fatalistic in outlook. We hope in the futureto expand Avalon Lessons offerings to include subjects from astrologers of various

persuasions, but presently the great majority of the material is rooted in the modern

western philosophy and practice of astrology.

In addition to issues of philosophical assumptions when practicing astrology, there is also

the issue of choosing among the many, many dozens or hundreds of techniques and

variations of techniques that are available! Astrology, like mathematics, music, and manyother disciplines is an endless adventure! It seems as if there are an endless number of

ideas, concepts, and analytical methods used in astrology, and beginning students often

get lost in a sea of information. In Avalon Lessons we will learn the techniques that aremost well agreed upon, and where necessary we will avoid subjects that can distract us

get us involved in a tangle of competing ideas. At the same time, we will try to let you

know when there are alternative concepts and ideas that we have chosen to leave for

future lessons so you know that the information you are receiving is not the only


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viewpoint held among astrologers today. As you will see, by following this approach you

will be able to use astrology to better understand people after only one semester of

classes, and at the same time have some grasp of what alternative approaches areavailable that we have not covered in detail in this introductory course.

Mastering the precise meaning of each planet and how the zodiac signs, houses andaspects affect the way in which the planet functions are the fundamentals that most

astrologers use. Astrologers will tell you that even after many, many years of studying

astrology and consulting people, they continue to learn new subtleties of how a particularplanet in a sign or house operates. One never stops learning new ways in which the

astrological influence can manifest and ways one can best channel the astrological

influence. The great bulk of the rest of this semester's work will be mastering these

fundamentals. Over the next few weeks we will learn the details of what each planetmeans astrologically, specifically how each sign and house modifies the meaning of the

planet, and how the planetary influences mix together in aspects.

What is a Natal Chart?Class 5


1. The Natal Chart is a map of where the planets are when a project begins.

2. The project is "imprinted" with the astrological influences at the moment it begins.3. A natal chart for a person is done for the moment a person is born.

4. A listing of the glyphs of the planets and zodiac signs is given, and these glyphs, and

the order of the zodiac signs, should be memorized.

We are ready to learn another important rule in astrology: The time at which a project

begins is imprinted with the astrological influences at that moment. Like many

astrological rules, we do not know why this rule is true. It is handed down from ancienttimes, astrologers use it, and it works. Why it works remains a mystery.

Astrologers draw a diagram or picture of the planets at the time an activity begins andthis diagram is called the natal chart or birth chart.

The exact moment that a project begins is sometimes unclear or unknown. However,

sometimes it is very clear. For example, suppose that you are interested in knowing whatwill happen at a major athletic event. The game begins at a very definite moment so a

birth chart for the game can be made. The moment that a person signs a contract and the

moment that one signs the documents to purchase a car or home, for example, can beused to make birth charts to determine how the home or car will work out for a person.

Until the moment you sign the papers of ownership, you do not legally own the house or

car. Once you sign, you are the owner so the time of signing is clearly the point at whichthe purchase is made. A marriage is generally regarded as starting when both people have

said "I do" because theoretically at any moment up to that statement the marriage has not

begun and once stated, the commitment by both people has been made.


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When does a person's life begin? Perhaps you can consider it to be at the time of

conception, but astrologers generally recognize the first breath as the moment when the

person's life as an independent, self-functioning entity begins. There is some debateamong astrologers as to whether birth is when the baby's body appears or when the first

breath is made. The majority opinion seems to be first breath. Usually a baby begins to

breathe almost immediately after being born into the world, so the time of birth is fairlyunambiguous. It appears not to matter how the baby was born, whether by a Caesarian

operation, or whether labor was induced, or influenced in any other way.

Analyzing birth charts is not the only analytical method available to astrologers! Some

astrologers, for example, study historical cycles by analyzing the influence of planets

moving through zodiac signs or forming different aspects over time, without referring to

birth charts. However, the interpretation of birth charts does make up the bulk of work formany astrologers, and we will focus on the interpretation of birth charts of people

throughout the rest of this semester.

To calculate a birth chart, the birth date, birth time, and place of birth must be known.Before the advent of the home computer most astrologers calculated the birth chart by

referring to tables in books and making various manual calculations. The two main booksused by astrologers before the use of computers were an ephemeris and a table of houses.

An ephemeris is a book that contains daily listings of where each of the planets is located.

A table of houses is used to find where each of the houses begins. The astrologer also hasto perform some computations to get the positions; it is not quite as simple as just looking

them up and reading the positions directly out of the books.

Some astrologers still feel that the student of astrology should know how to calculate abirth chart the old-fashioned way, but frankly I think that the tedious process of

calculating charts manually has been made obsolete by computer programs. An astrologer

should know how to look in an ephemeris to read the positions of the planets, and we willlearn this in future classes, but the much more tedious process of calculating a chart

manually is (in my opinion) no longer important.

Two things are needed from a person (or event) to calculate the birth chart: the time and

place of the birth. Generally people know their date of birth, but the time may have to be

obtained from hospital records, a baby book, or government records. Without the birth

time, a partial astrological analysis can be done, but a precise birth time is needed for acomplete astrological analysis. For the great majority of astrological work, the town or

city is required. The country or county is not sufficiently accurate for a complete analysis.

On the other hand, the precise hospital or street the person was born on is generally notrequired; the town or city of birth is sufficient.

From the time and place of birth the natal chart can be calculated. The very first step incalculating the birth chart is to determine the latitude and longitude of the place, and also

the time zone and whether daylight savings time was observed. The latitude and

longitude of birth can usually be easily obtained from an atlas. However, the time zone

and daylight savings time present a formidable problem! Observance of daylight savings


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time is extremely complicated during some time periods in some countries. For example,

in the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's in the United States, observance of daylight savings time

was extremely complicated in some states: neighboring counties in the same state veryfrequently did not observe daylight savings time during the same years! Observance of

daylight savings time was not even always consistent throughout the county! The

complexity of daylight savings time is not restricted to some states in the United Statesduring these years; many countries are equally complex, and obtaining records of

precisely when and where daylight savings time was observed can be a laborious and

complex project. Generally speaking, governments do not maintain nice, neatcompilations of daylight savings time regulations. Countries also change their laws

regarding daylight savings time, so the tables must be constantly upgraded. To calculate a

chart manually, then, a person needs an ephemeris, a table of houses, an atlas or other

reference book that gives the latitude and longitude of cities, and a book that has daylightsavings time and time zone information. There are books written especially for

astrologers that include the latitude and longitude, time zone, and daylight savings time

information together in one book. Calculating a chart by hand is also sometimes done

with the aid of a calculator or other aids like logarithm tables but these are not absolutelynecessary. The Kepler program has very current, thoroughly researched daylight savings

time data for the entire world, so the chore of determining daylight savings time, timezones, and looking up the latitude and longitude of a town has been eliminated. Many of

our customers throughout the world keep us notified of changes in observance of daylight

savings time when it changes, and we are updating our tables accordingly. We are verygrateful to the many people who have assisted in assembling this data, and we especially

want to recognize AstroCommunications Services for generously and graciously working

jointly with us to make it possible for us to provide the most accurate data possible. With

the aid of the time zone and daylight savings time tables built into the Kepler program oravailable from AstroCommunications Services, the time zone and daylight savings time

information is accurate over 99% of the time, but there are time periods in some regions

where absolute certainty regarding time zones has simply not been firmly established yet.

Astrology is the study of a correlation of celestial phenomena with behavior on earth.

Obviously the celestial phenomena must be measured accurately in order to make thecorrelation. Probably the single most important cause of inaccuracies in determining the

position of the celestial phenomena is incorrect birth data; the birth time is not correct.

Many astrologers have found that written records (hospital records, government records,

baby book) are accurate more often than the memory of people present at the birth,including the mother. Probably the second most important cause of inaccuracies in chart

calculations is incorrect daylight savings time information, and sometimes also incorrect

time zone information. Thus, the importance of having accurate time zone and daylightsavings time can hardly be exaggerated.

Over the next few weeks, we will begin to learn to read and interpret the natal chartwheel. On the left you see a chart wheel. At first, it looks like a confusing

conglomeration of symbols. Our first step in making some sense of the chart wheel is to

learn what the symbols in the wheel represent.


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Here is a list of the glyphs in the chart wheel:

Zodiac Signs and their Degrees The Planet Symbols:

Aries q (0 to 30 degrees) Sun aTaurus w (30 to 60 degrees) Moon s

Gemini e (60 to 90 degrees) Mercury d

Cancer r (90 to 120 degrees) Venus f Leo t (120 to 150 degrees) Mars g

Virgo y (150 to 180 degrees) Jupiter h

Libra u (180 to 210 degrees) Saturn jScorpio i (210 to 240 degrees) Uranus k

Sagittarius o (240 to 270 degrees) Neptune l

Capricorn p (270 to 300 degrees) Pluto ;

Aquarius [ (300 to 360 degrees)Pisces ] (330 to 360 degree

You should memorize these glyphs, and also the order of the zodiac signs. The degrees of

each zodiac sign are also given in the listing above. It is not necessary to memorize thesedegree areas at this time, but I have listed them because it is helpful to remember that the

zodiac signs are names applied to 30 degree sections of the circle. In future lessons wewill be converting from zodiac positions to degree positions and vice versa. For example,

suppose John's Sun is at 28 degrees of Sagittarius and his Moon is at 10 degrees Pisces

and you want to know how many degrees apart the 2 planets are. One way to calculatethis is to convert the position to degrees, and then subtract the difference: the Sun's

position of 28 degrees Sagittarius is 268 degrees and the Moon's position of 10 degrees

Pisces is 340 degrees, 340 minus 268 = 72, so the angle is 72 degrees. (We shall find out

in a future lesson that 72 degrees is a significant angle and is known as the quintileaspect). It is not necessary to memorize the degrees occupied by each zodiac sign, but

you should be able to figure out the degrees occupied by each sign if necessary by listing

the planets in order from Aries to Pisces and allocating 30 degrees to each zodiac sign,and then use this to calculate the distance between two planets. In other words, you do

not need to memorize that Capricorn starts at 270 degrees and ends at 300 degrees, but

you should be able to re-create the table above to determine this. Memorize the symbolsof the planets and zodiac signs by the next class.

The Natal Chart Wheel: Houses

Class 6

REVIEW: In the previous lesson we learned that a great deal, but not all, of astrological

analysis involves interpreting natal charts. The natal chart is a representation of theplanetary positions at the time and place the project begins. The most studied "project" is

people, and birth charts of people are based on the date and time of birth. We also learned

the glyphs of the planets and signs.

Before we start today's lesson, let's first take a short quiz on the material presented in the

last 2 lessons to see if you remember the ideas and concepts that were presented.


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A score of 70% or better means that you understand the material and are ready to proceed

with this lesson.


1. A natal chart is actually a picture of the sky if you face south.

2. Houses vary in size. Unlike signs they are not precisely 30 degrees in length.3. There are different house systems.

4. The Asc and MC axes are most important and most house systems agree on their

position.

The birth chart of a person is a representation of where the planets were when the person

was born. Where the planets are depends on the direction you are facing. For example, if

I face east when the Sun rises, then the Sun is directly in front of me. If I face south, thenthe rising Sun is to my left, and if I face north, then the rising sun is to my right. The birth

chart is a representation of where the planets are if you are facing south. Here is

something you should do now: turn yourself to face south. When you do this, in what

direction is east? East is to your left. Because the birth chart is a representation of wherethe planets are when you face south, east is on the left side of the birth chart. West is on

the right side of the chart. Now we will review some ideas we present in an earlier lesson,and expand upon those ideas: If a person is born at noon, the sun will be approximately

overhead, near the top of the chart, and for a person born at midnight the sun will be

approximately beneath the person near the bottom of the chart. The diagram below showsthe sun's approximate position at noon, sunset, and midnight.

Note that the planets move backwards through the houses during their daily movement

through the houses. This may seem strange, but this is in fact how the houses arearranged. A planet enters the end of a house and travels backwards to the beginning of

the house. The beginning of a house is known as the house cusp. The diagram on the left

shows in red the beginning of two houses, the first house and 9th house, or, in otherwords, where the 3rd and 9th house cusps are. Of course one house begins where another

house ends. For example, the 1st house cusp is the beginning of the first house and the

end of the 12th house, and the 9th house cusp is the beginning of the 9th house and theend of the 8th house. Because all planets, not just the Sun, move backwards through the

houses at the speed of one house in about 2 hours, an accurate birth time is required in

order to interpret the planets in the houses. For example, suppose a person believes that

he is born at about 7 AM but in fact he was born at 11 AM, which is of course 4 hourslater. The planets will have moved to houses earlier (remember that the planets move

backwards through the houses so a birth 4 hours later moves the planets 2 houses earlier).

Let's review a few points about houses to make sure that you understand this material:

Suppose that you were born at 9 PM and an astrologer calculates your chart, and the chartshows that you have the Sun in the 11th house. What do you know about this chart?

[Answer]

What house should the Sun be in? [Answer]


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Can you think of a reason why the astrologer calculated your Sun to be in the 11th house

instead of the 5th house?

[Answer]

Estimating the Sun's placement in a house according to the birth time gives only a very

crude approximation of where it should be. The Sun does not rise at exactly 6 AM, for

example. As you know, it rises at different times of the year, and at different timesdepending on your location. In very northern latitudes, the Sun may rise as early as 4 AM

and set at 9 PM or even later in the summer. However, it does give a rough

approximation.

Note that houses, unlike zodiac signs are not precisely 30 degrees in length! They can

vary in length by a large amount; a house as small as 15 degrees or as large as 45 degrees

in size is not extremely unusual!

Why houses vary in size is a subject that would get us into a fairly lengthy discussion of

astronomy, but the following information may give you a hint as to why the houses varyin size: the planets do not usually rise at the precise east point and they do not set at the

precise west point. As you may have noticed, the Sun rises much farther to the south in

winter and also sets much farther to the south. In summer the sun rises and sets muchfarther to the north. (If you haven't noticed this, then maybe you should go out at sunrise

and sunset and observe where the sun rises and sets throughout the year, and you will see

for yourself that this is true). Imagine that it is almost full moon and the sun is rising in

the middle of winter. As we just discussed, the sun rises in a south-east direction inwinter. Now suppose that the Moon is visible just above the western horizon just as the

Sun is rising. This is certainly possible, by the way, when in the monthly cycle it is just

past Full Moon. Where will the Moon be? Of course, it is in the west because it is setting,but will it be in the northwest, southwest, or directly west? The answer is that it will be in

the northwest. In fact, not just the Moon, but any planet that is setting at this time will set

in the northwest because the path of the planets when the Sun rises in winter is fromsoutheast to northwest. The path changes during the day and by sunset it has reversed to

be from northeast to southwest, and consequently the Sun sets in the southwest. Now let's

go back to the situation of the sun rising in the southeast in winter and the moon setting in

the northwest: Suppose another planet is overhead. You might think that if one planet isoverhead, another is rising and another is setting, then the planet that is overhead is 90

degrees from each, but it is not. If you live in a fairly northern latitude, such as Chicago,

London, or even Jacksonville, Florida, the planets do not actually reach the pointoverhead; they are always a little to the south, and the distance from the planet that is

overhead to the rising sun is shorter than the distance to the setting Moon in our

hypothetical situation.

It is not necessary to completely grasp all of the details of this explanation in the previous

paragraph of why the houses vary in size, but hopefully this does give you some feeling

for why the houses vary in length. It is important that you know the following facts: the


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sun rises in the southeast and sets in the southwest in winter. In summer: the sun rises in

the northeast and sets in the northwest. Also, you should remember that the path of the

planets does not "cut across" the sky in a "nice" fashion cutting the east and west inperfect halves. Instead, the path of the planets typically starts in the southeast or

northeast, and does not come directly overhead, but instead arcs a little closer to the

horizon. The exact path of the planets depends on the time of day, time of year, and thegeographic latitude in which you are located, so consequently it is not a simple matter to

determine precisely where it is at any given time in any location. The result of this lack of

symmetry in the way that the path of the planets divides the eastern and western skycauses the houses to be unequal in size. (It is not essential that you grasp completely how

this happens or to understand completely why the path of the planets does not

symmetrically divide the east and west sides of the sky, but given that it does, it should

make some intuitive sense that as a result the 10th house cusp is not equidistant from thefirst and seventh house cusps, and consequently the houses are not of equal size.

As discussed above, houses are not precisely 30 degrees in length. Even though this is

true, some astrologers prefer to draw the chart wheel as if each house was equal in sizesimilar to the illustrations above. Other astrologers, on the other hand, prefer to draw the

house cusp lines in the wheel so that each house is represented in its actual size. Such achart wheel will look similar to the one shown on the left. In the illustration on the left we

have made the following house cusps bold: the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th house cusps. The

house cusps are regarded by the great majority of astrologers as being more importantthan the other house cusps. These 4 house cusps are also known as the angles or the

angular house cusps. Note that the word angle also means the distance between 2 points,

so it is an ambiguous word and you can tell from the context what a person is referring to.

The house cusps which are not angular (the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12thcusps) are sometimes referred to as the intermediate house cusps. Each of the angular

cusps also has another name: the first house cusp is also known as the Ascendant, and the

10th house cusp is also known as the MC. (MC is an abbreviation of the Latin termMedium Coeli.). The 7th house cusp is also known as the Descendant and the 4th house

cusp is also known as the IC (from the Latin Immum Coeli). The angular house cusps can

be very precisely and clearly determined astronomically and there is no ambiguity abouthow to determine their positions, but the intermediate cusps are, unfortunately, not so

well-defined. It is unclear, for example, precisely where the 11th and 12h house cusps

should be placed. One intuitively appealing idea is to place the 11th and 12th house cusps

equally spaced between the MC and the Ascendant so that the 10th, 11th, and 12thhouses are equal in size. However, astrologers generally do not use this method, and there

are many competing theories about how to calculate the positions of the intermediate

cusps. Astrologers simply do not agree about where the intermediate cusps are. Mosthouse systems are named after a person that devised the formulae for calculating these

cusps. Perhaps the most popular house systems in western astrology are the Placidus

house system and the Koch house system. Other house systems are the following:Campanus, Equal, Meridian, Morinus, Porphyry, Regiomantanus, and Topocentric. Each

of these house systems uses a different set of mathematical formulae to calculate where

the house cusps are, and consequently each of these house systems calculates the

positions of the intermediate cusps differently. Consequently, according to one house


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system a person might have the Sun near the end of a house, for example near the end of

the 5th house, while another house system would place the Sun at the beginning of the

6th house.

The Natal Chart Wheel: Zodiac Signs on the House Cusps

Class 7

Today we will:

1. Review and expand our understanding of tropical zodiac signs versus sidereal zodiacsigns versus constellations.

2. Learn how to read the zodiac sign positions on the house cusps, and the zodiac

positions of the planets in the houses in a chart wheel.

Many words in the English language have multiple meanings. For example, "light" can

mean "the opposite of heavy" or it can mean "the opposite of dark". Sometimes the

various meanings of a word are related and sometimes they are not. The term zodiac sign

can refer to one of 3 distinctly different, but related, things. For example, "Gemini" canrefer to any of the following 3 different things:

1: There is a constellation (group of stars) in the sky named Gemini.

2: There is the sidereal zodiac sign Gemini which is approximately in the sameplace in the sky as the constellation Gemini, but it is only approximately in the same

place, and the discrepancy in some cases is quite large. Each sidereal zodiac sign is

precisely 30 degrees in length, while the constellations with the names of the zodiac vary

in size from much smaller than 30 degrees to much larger.

3: There is the tropical zodiac sign Gemini, which, like the sidereal zodiac sign

Gemini, is precisely 30 degrees in length. However, the tropical zodiac sign, unlike thesidereal zodiac sign, is not in approximately the same place in the sky as the constellation

Gemini. The tropical zodiac signs drift very slowly apart from the sidereal zodiac signs.

The tropical zodiac sign Gemini currently is approximately where the sidereal zodiac signand constellation of Taurus is! (This will be explained in detail below).

The constellations are almost never used in astrology. The fixed stars that make up the

constellations are used. For example, there is a star in the constellation of Leo namedRegulus and some astrologers do use Regulus in their chart interpretations, but

astrologers do not incorporate the meaning of the constellation Leo into the

interpretation. Some astrologers do use the sidereal zodiac which, as mentioned above, isvery roughly in the same position in the sky as the constellations of the same name, but

even astrologers who use the sidereal zodiac are not interpreting the constellations.

We mentioned in an earlier lesson that we will be using primarily tropical astrology in

Avalon Lessons. In the explanation below, however, we will begin our discussion by

referring to constellations because the constellations are more concrete and easier to


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relate to. After discussing constellations, we can transfer what we learn to the sidereal

and tropical zodiacs.

When the sun rises in the morning it is, of course, on the eastern horizon. A few hours

before sunrise you will be able to see the constellations in the sky but by sunrise the

brightness of the sun has overpowered the light of the stars and made them invisible.Imagine that the constellations are still visible at sunrise, and suppose that the

constellation Libra is on the horizon as well. As mentioned above, the sidereal zodiac

sign is approximately in the same place in the sky as the constellation Libra, the primarydifference being that the sidereal zodiac sign is precisely 30 degrees in length, and the

constellation may be much larger or smaller than this. Because Libra (the constellation

Libra, and probably also the sidereal zodiac sign of Libra) is on the Ascendant, we will

put the glyph for Libra (u) on the Ascendant, along with the glyph of the Sun, (a) (whichis also rising.)

[Click here to see an illustration of this]

To be more precise, we will specify what part of the constellation is rising. Although the

constellation is not precisely 30 degrees in length, there is the sidereal zodiac sign ofLibra which is in about the same part of the sky, and we will specify which degree of the

sidereal zodiac sign, from 0 to 29 degrees is raising. We can be even more specific: each

degree consists of 60 minutes, so if the Sun is 9 1/2 degrees into the sign of Libra it as at9 degrees, 30 minutes of Libra, which can also be written as 9} 30' of Libra. Many

astrologers also notate this in this way: 9 u 30

[Click here to see an illustration of the wheel with the precise rising degree shown]

We can also specify the exact position of the Sun. Suppose that the Sun has just risen, or

in other words is slightly above the horizon. Let's put the Sun 2} above the horizon, or inother words at 7} u 30'.

[Click here to see an illustration].

The above explanation was put in terms of constellations and the sidereal zodiac only

because constellations are visible and tangible and easier to talk about than tropical

zodiac signs, but the same concepts work for tropical zodiac signs as well.

Let's look at another example. Suppose we calculate a chart for a person, who was born at

1:25 PM, and the Ascendant position is 12 o 22 and the Sun position is 3 y 20, as shownin the illustration to the left. The Sun is in the 9th house, which is exactly what we

expect, as the Sun would typically be in the 9th house between about 12 noon and 2 PM.

Are you beginning to get comfortable looking at the chart wheel now? Remember that 12o 22 means that the Ascendant is at 12 degrees and 22 minutes of Sagittarius. If the

Ascendant position is 10 degrees of Sagittarius, then this means that the Ascendant is 1/3

through the sign of Sagittarius (there are 30 degrees in a sign, and 10 divided by 30 =

1/3). If the Ascendant position is 15 degrees of Sagittarius, the Ascendant is halfway


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through the sign of Sagittarius, At 12 degrees, 22 minutes, as we have in this example,

the Ascendant is between 1/2 and 1/3 through the sign of Sagittarius.

The Sun in this chart is in early Virgo, more precisely about 3 degrees of Virgo. When

you look at the chart wheel, you should be able to immediately recognize that the Sun is

in the early part of Virgo and it is in the 9th house. If this is not obvious to you, study thiswheel until this is clear to you. Question: Is the Sun closer to 4 y 00 or closer to 3 y 00?

Answer: 3 y 00, because the sun is at 3 y 20, and 20' is about 1/3 through the degree, and

thus closer to 3 y 00 than 4 y 00.

Now we will put all of the house cusp positions in the chart wheel, as shown on the

illustration to the left. The Ascendant is, of course, 12 o 22, as discussed earlier. Notice

that the second house cusp position is 16 p 37. If the first house was precisely 30} inlength, then the second house cusp position would be 12 p 22, but the first house is a little

larger than 30} By subtracting 12 (the number of degrees on the Ascendant) from 16 (the

number of degrees of the second house cusp), we can see that the first house is about 34

degrees in length (34}15', to be more precise). An astrologer can look at this chart andimmediately see that the first house is 34 degrees in size, and you should be able to

quickly determine this as well. Once you have the zodiac signs completely memorized,you know that p is the symbol of Capricorn, and o is the symbol of Sagittarius, and

Capricorn immediately follows Sagittarius in the zodiac; therefore, if the second cusp

degree was the same as the Ascendant degree, they would be 30 degrees apart in distance,but the second house cusp is at 16 degrees, and the Ascendant is at 12 degrees, so the

distance is about 34 degrees. Similarly, the second house is about 40 degrees in length:

the third cusp at 26 degrees of Aquarius, and Aquarius is the sign that follows Capricorn,

but the third cusp is 10 degrees later than the 10th cusp (26 minus 16 = 10), so the size ofthe second house is 40 degrees. The third house presents a new situation: The sign that

follows Aquarius is Pisces, but Pisces is not on the 4th cusp. Pisces is "skipped over" and

Aries is on the 4th house cusp. Because a house can be larger than 30 degrees, it ispossible for the end of one zodiac sign to be on one cusp (as it is in this case, the end of

Aquarius is on the 3rd house cusp), then and entire sign is in the house (in this case,

Pisces), and the beginning of the following sign is on the next cusp (in this case, earlyAries is at the beginning of the 4th house cusp). This situation is known as an intercepted

sign, and we can say that Pisces is intercepted in the 3rd house. If you look carefully at

the wheel, you will notice the symbol of Pisces on the outer edge of the 3rd house, which

shows that it is intercepted in the 3rd house.

On the left is a complete chart wheel. All of the house cusps are shown and all of the

planets are in the wheel. If you have not yet memorized the glyphs of the planets andsigns, you may wish to go back to Class 5 to review these glyphs before the next lesson.

In the following classes we will be discussing the chart wheel in detail, and if you have

not memorized the astrological glyphs, it will slow down your ability to grasp thematerial being presented.


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There are many variations in how a chart wheel is drawn. In Class 6 we mentioned that

some astrologers prefer to have each house drawn according to its actual size rather than

the equally sized houses shown in the illustration to the left.

Another variation in chart wheels that is common is whether to to present the position of

planets on the right side of the chart wheel in "out-to-in" direction or in "left-to-right"direction. For example, in the chart wheel to the left, the position of Pluto is displayed as

"45' e 27} ;" rather than "; 27} e 45'". In this "out-to-in" format, the planet glyph is

always on the outer edge and the degrees are just inside the planet so you read the planetposition from the outside edge towards the center. If the planet is on the right side of the

wheel, you are therefore reading from right to left, and a planet at the bottom of the wheel

is read from bottom to top. Other astrologers prefer to always have the planet position

read from left to right, or top to bottom. Because some astrologers prefer a planet on theright side of the wheel to be read from left to right, and others prefer right to left, it is

important to make clear which number indicates the degrees and which number indicates

the minutes. Usually this is done by including the degree symbol (}) next to the degrees

and the minutes symbol (') next to the minutes. Some astrologers like to have the degreesin a larger size than the minutes to help distinguish them. The Kepler program allows you

to select all of these variations.

Practice Determining Sign and House Placement

(Class 8)

Today we will:

Practice reading the chart wheel to make sure that you can determine the houseand zodiac sign placements of the planets. You can determine what house a planet is in

very easily. Simply look at the section of the wheel that it is placed in. Each house is

numbered from 1 to 12 near the center of the circle. Test yourself by answering thefollowing questions:

What house is the Sun in? [Answer] What Sign is the Sun in? [Answer]

Moon [answer] Moon [answer]

Mercury [answer] Mercury [answer]

Venus [answer] Venus [answer]

Mars [answer] Mars [answer]

Jupiter [answer] Jupiter [answer]

Saturn [answer] Saturn [answer]

Uranus [answer] Uranus [answer]


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Neptune [answer] Neptune [answer]

Pluto [answer] Pluto [answer]

What is the precise position of Mercury? [answer]

What is the precise position of Saturn? [answer]

If you answered the above questions correctly, then you know how to determine the sign

and house position of planets. Now let's make sure you know what the house cusp

positions are:

What is the position of the first house cusp? [answer]

Third [answer]

Fourth [answer]

Seventh [answer]

Twelfth [answer]

Practice looking at the positions of planets until you can instantly recognize the symbols

of the planets and zodiac signs. You should be able, for example, be able to look at the

position of Venus in the chart wheel above and see that it is in the 8th house, withoutneeding to read the light blue "8" towards the inner part of the wheel. You should also be

able to see that Venus is at 10 degrees of Leo, and it should be obvious to you that 10

degrees is 1/3 through the zodiac sign. Mastering the material in the next classes will bemuch easier if you have first become very adept at recognizing the astrological symbols,

and recognizing planetary positions and house positions in the chart wheel.

Aspects

(Class 9)

Today we will learn:1. How to calculate the angle between two planets by converting zodiac positions to 360-

degree positions.

2. What an orb is

3. What the major aspects and minor aspects are, and the glyphs for the major aspects.

4. How to locate major aspects by counting the number of zodiac signs between the

planets.


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REVIEW: We mentioned in an earlier lesson that three basic things that astrologers lookat are signs, houses and aspects. Now you know how to look at a chart wheel to see the

signs and houses that planets are in. Now let's see how to determine the aspects.

One of the first things you may notice about the chart wheel shown above is that the

houses are unequally sized; they are displayed in their actual size rather than with all

houses displayed in equal size. The second and eighth houses, for example, are about 40degrees in size, and therefore larger, than the 5th and 11th houses which are about 22

degrees in size. You should feel comfortable looking at either style of wheel because

magazine articles, books, etc. will present charts in both of these styles, although of

course you will most likely have a preference for your own work.

Another difference in this wheel and the ones that we looked at in the previous class is

that the planets are not displayed in "out-to-in" order. The Moon, for example, is

displayed as "s 18w37" rather than "37w18 s". The method that you use is a matter ofpersonal taste; we will use both styles in the Avalon Lessons classes. Because the sample

wheels used for illustrations are often very small, like the one above, it can be difficult tosee which number refers to the degrees and which number is the minutes but on a larger

sized wheel it is more obvious. We are using very small wheels for illustrations so that

your computer screen is not taken up almost completely by the chart wheel.

In Class 2 and Class 3 we introduced the idea of aspects; we explained that when planets

are separated by a certain distances, they interact with each other. For example, if 2

planets are 90 degrees apart or 120 degrees apart, the influences of the 2 planets blendtogether. Today we will learn about aspects in much greater detail.

Look at the Sun and Moon in the chart at the top of the screen. The Sun is in the 8thhouse in the 3rd degree of Virgo (some astrologers may also refer to it as the 3rd degree

of Virgo but technically it is the the 3rd degree of Virgo because 0 - 1 degrees is the 1st

degree, 1 - 2 degrees is the 2nd degree, and 2 - 3 degrees is the third degree. Anothercommon way to refer to the position is to say that the Sun is in 2 degrees of Vrigo), and

the Moon is in the 5th house in the 18 degrees of Taurus. What is the angular distance

that separates these 2 planets? There are 2 ways to determine this without the aid of a

computer. One method is to convert the planets from zodiac position to degree positionand subtract the difference. By referring to the table below, you will see that 0 degrees of

Virgo = 150 degrees, and 0 degrees Gemini = 60 degrees. Therefore, the Sun at 2 y 25 is

152}25', and the Moon at 18 w 37 is 48}37'. Subtract 48}37' from 152}25' to obtain103}48'. This method works fine, but it requires having a table like the one below to refer

to, and even with this table, it is difficult to do the calculations quickly in your head.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-

Converting zodiac sign position to degree position:


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0 Aries = 0 degrees 0 Leo =120 degrees 0 Sagitt=240 degrees

0 Taurus=30 degrees 0 Virgo=150 degrees 0 Capric=270 degrees

0 Gemini=60 degrees 0 Libra=180 degrees 0 Aquari=300 degrees

0 Cancer=90 degrees 0 Scorp=210 degrees 0 Pisces=330 degrees

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-

The second method for doing the calculation can be easily done by an astrologer withoutneed of paper and pencil, not because astrologers excel in being able to do math better

than other people, but because the astrologer has a grasp of relationships between zodiac

signs that makes it easy. An astrologer knows that Virgo is 4 signs after Taurus, and each

zodiac sign is 30 degrees in length. In this case, the Sun is in 2 degrees of Virgo, and theMoon is in 18 degrees of Taurus, so the Sun is 16 degrees before the Moon (18 minus 2

equals 16), and 4 signs later. Four signs = 120 degrees (30 times 4 equals 120) - 16degrees equals about 104 degrees, which is approximately the correct value; of course the

result is not precisely correct because we have ignored the minutes of arc and rounded off

the positions to the nearest degree. The "trick" to this calculation is knowing that Virgo is4 signs past Taurus. There is a reason why astrologers instantly recognize this. they know

the elements of the planets. Let's see what the elements are:

-----------------------------------------------------Cardinal/Fixed/Mutable, and

Fire/Earth/Air/Water:

Aries = Cardinal FireTaurus = Fixed Earth

Gemini = Mutable Air

Cancer = Cardinal WaterLeo = Fixed Fire

Virgo = Mutable Earth

Libra = Cardinal Air

Scorpio = Fixed WaterSagittarius= Mutable Fire

Capricorn = Cardinal Earth

Aquarius = Fixed AirPisces = Mutable Water

-----------------------------------------------------

Each zodiac sign is either cardinal, fixed, or mutable. Fixed signs are persistent and lackflexibility, mutable signs are flexible and lack persistence, and cardinal signs fall in

between these 2 extremes.


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Each zodiac sign is also either fire, earth, air, or water. Fire signs are energetic, earth

signs are practical, air signs are mental, and water signs are emotional.

In later lessons we will describe the meanings of the elements in greater detail, and thedefinitions given above can be misleading. For example, air signs are not necessarily

more intelligent than other signs, and fire signs are not necessarily more physically active

than other signs. Right now, however, we are not so concerned with the meaning of theelements as we are with how they serve as an aid to calculating angles between planets.

Here is the key: 2 planets that are in cardinal signs (and the same degree) square each

other. The same is true for fixed and mutable; 2 planets that are in fir

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