Each soul manifests through a body of activity, or Physical Body; a body of feeling and emotion or Astral Body; and a thought or Mental Body. These three bodies St Paul has mentioned in I Cora XV.
The nativity indicates what we have sown in the past and how we shall reap what we have sown. It is a chart which should be used as a guide in life. In it are concealed our capabilities, and our character, therefore our destiny. There is no study so interesting, instructive or useful as this, to those who are blending the objective with the subjective, or to those who would set their feet upon the path of the occultist or mystic, for it dispels all doubts with regard to the evolution of the soul and helps us more easily than any other known method to a scientific comprehension of ourselves and others.
Every student of Astrology should be thoroughly familiar with its symbology, for in the symbology we have all the required aid to help the intuition. Having committed to memory the opinions of the various writers upon the subject, and fully grasped the general meaning of each symbol, the student would do well to concentrate the mind as often as possible upon one of the symbols, trying to extract all the knowledge he can from the thought currents originally set in motion connected with that symbol; then gradually light will come into the mind, and more will be known in this way than can ever be obtained from books.
The first map for a student to study should be his own.
HOW TO JUDGE A NATIVITY
CHAPTER I
THE TWELVE HOUSES OF THE HOROSCOPE
THE earth revolving upon its own axis once in twenty-four hours causes the sun to be viewed from the earth in various positions from sunrise to sunset; and in order to obtain a clear conception of the twelve houses it will be convenient to treat the matter, for the moment, as though the earth were the centre instead of the sun, although we know very well that the Sun is really the centre of our planetary system.
DIAGRAM No. 1
Adopting this course of regarding the earth as the centre for our present purpose, we will imagine the sun at daybreak rising on the eastern horizon, or, as we say, upon the Ascendant; with the earth’s revolution, as the day wears on, at noon the sun will arrive at the zenith or what is called the Mid-heaven; and as the earth continues to revolve the sun will be carried to the western horizon at sunset. These three important positions in apparent time and space are produced by the sun’s rising, culminating, and setting, and they mark the three cardinal points through which pass the cusps of the first, tenth and seventh houses. (See fuller explanation given in pp. 5 to to of What is a Horoscope?)
At midnight the sun will be directly under the earth at the furthest or lowest cardinal point, the whole making the four cardinal points or ‘angles,’ as they are termed. These four successive positions of the Sun. making the four quarters of the day, are shown in Diagram 1; they realy due, of course, to the rotation of the earth on its axis in the direction indicated by the arrow. Out of these angles all the other divisions are obtained.
DIAGRAM No. 2. DAWN
When the sun rises, the chord of the solar arc will pass through the earth to what is known as the ‘cusp’ of the seventh house or western angle. The solar rays will also form a triangulum, and each side of this triangle will measure 120° of the circle, which is a third of the whole 360°. The Divine Archer takes his bow and shoots what we have termed the ‘chord’ may be called His arrow of light and the ‘triangulum’ the bent string of His bow, quivering with the impulse. The rays of this triangle will pass over and under the earth, the lower ray marking off the cusp of the fifth division or the Fifth House, and the upper the ninth division or Ninth House, as illustrated in Diagram No. 2, in which roman numerals indicate the house cusps.
DIAGRAM No. 3. SUNSET
Each of the cardinal points will, in a similar way, be connected with the other divisions, the two ‘chords’ together forming the Mundane Cross which squares the circle, forming an aspect of opposition and discord, whereas each triangle forms the trine, an aspect of peace and harmony.
The divisions formed from the First House or ASCENDANT are of the nature of the Fiery triplicity, the first house being of the nature of the vital heat, the fifth the generative fire, the ninth the mental or spiritual fire. The whole key to the nature of the twelve houses and indeed to the twelve signs as well, is beautifully expressed in this symbology.
At noon the solar chord passes directly to the northern angle, the cusp of the fourth house, and the triangle is formed in the second and sixth houses. This triangle is related to the Earthy triplicity, denoting hereditary honour, fame, worldly position, finance and service (Diagram 4).
The chord from the western angle unites with the chord from the ascendant and the triangle is formed in the third and eleventh houses. This angle is of the nature of the airy triplicity, the seventh house denoting relation, such as marriage and partnership, brethren and kindred, friends and acquaintances. (See Diagram 3, facing Diagram 2.)
DIAGRAM No 4. NOON
The fourth angle returns the chord to the mid-heaven, and the triangles are formed in the eighth and twelfth houses. This triangle is of the nature of the Watery triplicity, the fourth house denoting the psychic conditions, and that which has to do with the end of life, also death and the withdrawal from the material world. (See Diagram 5.)
It will be seen by the foregoing that the whole of the twelve houses have a symbolical basis, the succedent and cadent houses having their root in the cross of the four angles, representing what are known in the East as the three ‘Gunas’—Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva—interpreted as Stability, Activity and Rhythm respectively. If these four diagrams are carefully traced or copied out on thin tracing paper and then superposed. the manner in which this cross is formed, and the inter-relationship of the Twelve Houses, will be shown in a very striking manner.
DIAGRAM No. 5. MIDNIGHT
Every nation in the past has held the cross in the highest reverence. It is the geometrical basis of religious symbolism in connection with all the great world saviours. On the cross of matter spirit is crucified.* The cross in motion forms a wheel, or circle, called the Svastika; from the centre of the cross the sacred fire or Fohat crosses the circle horizontally and vertically, like two lines of flame. The Sun at the centre of the solar system represents the spiritual point in the universe to which all humanity is being drawn, the denser matter, or the physical, being farthest removed as it circles round the Sun. But regarding the earth as the centre for astrological