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Meaning of Angular, Succeedent, Cadent
Wheels & Signs: Theories on House Meanings


The Houses: Temples of the Sky, by Deborah Houlding
The Houses: Temples of the Sky




The astrological houses do not exist as an astronomical reality; their application is symbolic. This presents a sharpened argument that to use their symbolism effectively, their basis should be clearly understood. Most of us can agree with this in regard to what the houses mean. But in addition we have the problem of choosing which system of calculation to use, a highly controversial issue due to the variety of methods available and the considerable divergence of cusp locations they present. This is often regarded as the most problematic component of modern astrology. With no clear consensus of opinion to guide us, it is an issue upon which each astrologer must take an individual stance, weigh up the arguments, and resolve at a personal level.


THE PROBLEMS OF HOUSE DIVISION

by Deborah Houlding

Introduction: The historical setting


With the variety of house systems available, all astrologers face the dilemma of choosing which method to adopt and understanding the reasons why. The only hard fact to guide them is that each system has a merit of its own; beyond that, the question of which house system works best is sensitive to so much subjective reasoning and variations of interpretative style that it would be impossible to prove. Despite this, many astrologers have sought to establish that their selected method is the 'pure' system to which others can be considered corruptions. Often this is based on an attempt to claim insight into the original system as verified in the work of Ptolemy, even though Ptolemy's work suggests a personal disregard to the use of houses generally and within the Tetrabiblos they are barely mentioned. However, tracing the development of house construction from its earliest sources does offer an illuminating path through which we can monitor the recognition of inherent technical difficulties, and the subsequent attempts to resolve them in alternative calculation methods.

Rather than yielding to the temptation of trying to find a consistency in style among ancient authors, a more honest approach is to admit the ambiguities and inconsistencies. Our understanding of house division in ancient times is currently clouded with confusion and assumptions, in which the philosophical perspective, astrological approach and general life-style of the astrologer is gravely underestimated. To demonstrate the importance of this, and to show where key modifications have occurred, research should begin with our earliest detailed source, the Astronomica by Marcus Manilius. Written around 10 AD and therefore predating Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos by over a century, this represents our oldest surviving reference from which an ancient philosophical approach to houses can be gleaned.

Authors who criticize the astronomical basis of the Astronomica often overlook the fact that the text was written in verse. The aim of Manilius was not to establish his talents as a philosopher or scientist, or even as a working astrologer, but principally as a poet; his quest being to 'sing of the stars', and this he accomplishes with passages of great beauty. We should admit from this that the Astronomica is primarily useful as an overview of myth and symbolism, and derive from it that little, if any, of the astrological theory would be original to Manilius. That he managed to incorporate any of the technical basis of astrology in a work inspired by aestheticism is cause for small wonder.

Nevertheless a careful study of his terminology has led scholars to conclude that, in talking of the houses, he refers to a method of division which encompasses the whole celestial sphere, the local framework of the observer, and not simply the region of the ecliptic. ([1] ) This realization is important because later methods of house division attempt to apportion the houses as divisions of the zodiac, so this offers an argument against suggestions that classical authors such as Valens, who used whole sign houses, were working with an 'original' method.

Manilius claimed that he was bringing lore to the classical world that was untold by any before him. ([2] ) This suggests that he wasn't concerned with originating knowledge but the relaying of a more ancient perspective, and the content of his work is one that entirely accords with the philosophical approach of ancient Mesopotamian astrology. In this, the primary division of the sky began with the cardinal points and their demarcation of east, west, north and south. They were not merely concerned with the planetary activity that occurred within the belt of the ecliptic, but took account of all forms of celestial activity in the whole envelope of heaven, including lightning, clouds, the colours and shades of the sky and anything that was of an unusual appearance. Their point of reference in defining a meaning was the locality in the sphere and whether it was to the left, to the right, or high or low on the horizon. The use of 'segments' and 'areas of meaning' that fell under the rulership of specific gods is known to have a very ancient history in divinatory techniques, and was employed from the 2nd millennium BC in liver divination, the interpretation of the flight of birds, the design of the city and all forms of mystical knowledge (see diagram below). It is fair to suppose that it played a greater part in ancient astrology than the fragmentary evidence available to us is able to prove, though possibly not in a division of twelve until after the zodiac became established as the main astrological framework following its invention in the 6th century BC. Certainly from Manilius's text we have evidence that the original concept of houses was based upon a division of the local mundane sphere of the observer, which was determined by the circles of the local horizon, local meridian and prime vertical, in a manner that was similar to how the ancient Babylonian priests quartered and then further divided their other tools of omen analysis.

The Sacred division of space






Notes & References:
  1 ] A well researched article to this effect was written in 1989 by Prudence Jones and republished in History and Astrology: Clio and Urania Confer, Mnemosyne Press, 1995. The reader is referred to that work for the full arguments.
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  2 ] Marcus Manilius, Astronomica, English translation by G.P. Goold, Harvard University Press, Loeb Edition, 1977, p.5 (I.5)
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© Deborah Houlding
http://www.skyscript.co.uk

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Extracted from
The Houses: Temples of the Sky
by Deborah Houlding
Introduction Ecliptic division Morinus Campanus Regiomontanus Placidus Alcabitius/Koch Porphyry Equal/Wholesign Ptolemy's slant Classical system Conclusion


























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