X. Tenth Houss.—Profession, business ability, fame, honour and material reputation. All worldly activities and moral responsibilities are shown by this house. The parts of the body denoted are the knees.
XI. Eleventh House.—Friends, acquaintances, hopes, wishes and aspirations. The parts of the body denoted are the legs and ankles.
XII. Twelfth House.—Occult tendencies. Its connection with the fourth house shows the psychic thought inheritance from the past and the result as either joy or sorrow. This may be said to be the most critical house of the twelve. The parts of the body denoted are the feet and toes.
These twelve houses or divisions are like spokes of a great wheel running from the hub at the centre, which represents the nucleus of the experiences gained from each of the twelve houses. The nature of the particular experience will be shown by the sign of the zodiac occupying each house, and the quality of these signs we will study in the next chapter; but the nature of each house should be understood apart from the signs, and then it will not be difficult to comprehend what follows.
When the mind has retained a clear picture of the nature of each house the student may endeavour to imagine a line running from each of the twelve divisions or houses to the centre of the map, endeavouring to think of the native as remaining in the centre with all these forces playing around him, with a natural tendency always to be drawn more toward the first house and grasp at this spoke of the wheel more than any of the others, while at the same time being drawn in other directions and influenced by the outside conditions affecting each spoke of the great wheel.
It must be understood that the manner of describing the formation of the Twelve Houses which has been adopted in this chapter is symbolical or figurative. It has been chosen because the Sun exerts a special influence when at each of the four angles of the heavens related to the four quarters of the day, an influence specially related to that of the houses concerned. But the Twelve Houses are always simultaneously present, and exert their several influences according to the signs and planets which occupy them, whatever may be the hour of the day or night, no matter whether the Sun is upon an angle or not, though of course the presence of the Sun in any house will accentuate the influence of that house.
It should also be thoroughly grasped that there exists the most intimate correspondence between the signs and the houses, between Aries and the First House, Taurus and the Second House, and so on. Hence the influence of a planet in Aries will correspond to that of the same planet in the First House—will correspond to it, though it will not be exactly the same. Perhaps a hint as to the difference may be given in the suggestion that the houses relate to physical matter, and the signs to astral matter. But it must be kept in mind that the influence of the signs is greater than that of the houses, and that the former will overbear the latter.
Thus spring ‘corresponds’ to sunrise, for it is the dawn of the year, even as sunrise is the dawn of the day. But there are many days during the year.
* In mystic writings, Enoch, the representative of the spiritual and physical or dual nature in man, is the centre of the astronomical cross: at the upper point or apex of the triangle is the Eagle, at the base of the lower angle on the left stands the Lion and on the right the Bull, these being the four fixed signs
CHAPTER II
THE TWELVE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC
IN the previous chapter we were concerned with the twelve mundane houses, or the twelve equal divisions of the circle of observation, an imaginary circle drawn round the earth from East to West and passing overhead and underfoot through the zenith and the nadir, the observer being in the centre.* We shall now proceed to consider the twelve signs of the zodiac. The word zodiac means a group of animals, and the twelve signs are really so many types of beings, symbolised in various ways among various nations.
We have now to consider the movement of the earth from the standpoint of the sun as centre; that is, we have to regard the annual revolution of the earth in its orbit round the sun; whereas in our first chapter we merely considered the rotation of the earth on its axis, by which movement the Sun appears to pass round the earth once daily.
Now the earth completes its circuit round the Sun in one year, or twelve months; and hence the space passed through by the earth in one month—that is, one-twelfth of the circle—is analogous to one of the Mundane Houses (in fact there is an exact correspondence between them, as has been said already). These twelve divisions are called the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac; so we can see that practically the Zodiac is really the orbit of the Earth, as explained in Chapter XII of Casting the Horoscope. But as we are obliged to view everything from the Earth, we have to consider how this will appear from our standpoint. This is fully explained in the first chapters of the book just referred to, but it may be briefly put as follows:—
As the earth pursues its yearly course round the sun, an observer on our globe seems to see the sun changing its place among the stars to the rate of about 1° per day, and thus describing one complete circle in the year. Now it is this circle of the ecliptic, or the sun’s apparent path round the earth, which is what the western astrologer means when he speaks of the zodiac. It is divided into twelve equal parts, the signs of the zodiac, which correspond as just stated to the twelve mundane houses; the first sign to the first house, the second sign to the second house, and so on. The zodiac commences at that point at which the Sun crosses the equator in its northern path, which it does about March 21st each year.*
The Twelve Houses of the Horoscope govern the physical framework, and the fate connected with environment; that which may be overcome by the inherent will of the native. The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac are the covering of the twelve houses and give the colouring and quality to the twelve divisions of the horoscope, being more related to the psychic and inner nature. Their relation to each other may be understood in this way: if we think of the houses as transparent vessels, each having its own shape and pattern according as it is angular, succedent or cadent, oriental or occidental, above the horizon or below,—then the signs will supply the contents of such vessel, giving a special substance, colour and quality to each house.
Everywhere throughout Nature there is analogy, or rather, a reflection of attributes, from that which is above to that which is below—As above So below runs the Hermetic axiom. Thus we find the division of the twelve signs into the three primary qualities, or quadruplicities, has its correspondence in the twelve houses, the Cardinal or movable signs corresponding to the angles, the Fixed signs to the succedent houses, while the Mutable or common signs will be similar in nature to the cadent houses. Again the four triplicities correspond to the four angles, while the four quarters of the day, dawn, noon, sunset and midnight, have their similitude in the four seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The fiery signs are related to spring by Aries, the middle of summer by Leo, and the end of autumn by Sagittarius; the beginning of summer is signified by the watery sign Cancer, the middle of autumn by Scorpio, and the end of winter by Pisces; the commencement of autumn by the airy sign Libra, the middle of winter by Aquarius, and the end of spring by Gemini; the entrance of winter by the earthy sign Capricorn, the middle of spring by Taurus, and the end of summer by Virgo.*
The signs, like the houses, also govern the various parts of the body, as follows: Aries, head and face; Taurus, throat and ears; Gemini, neck, arms, shoulders and lungs; Cancer, breast and stomach;