Category: Blog

Church of Light historical sources identify 1909 as the date of Elbert Benjamine’s recruitment by the leadership of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, and the Denver home of Mrs. Anderson as the location of the meeting at which this occurred. Her address was 1432 Grant St., now a parking lot but directly facing the east side of the Colorado State Capitol.

The 1910 census finds George Gray Anderson and his wife Sarah Beck Anderson, both 51, living with daughters Sarah and Helen, son Robert, Sarah’s mother Lorenzie Beck, and a servant named Shoff in a home just three blocks away from what is now the Molly Brown House Museum.

The couple at whose home Elbert was recruited to the Brotherhood moved to Los Angeles around the same time he began private classes there.

The 1930 census finds Sarah living with her three children and granddaughter Helen Richmond at 269 South Rockingham Avenue in Brentwood Park in a home valued at $35,000. She died here in 1941 so had been in Los Angeles for the first twenty five years of Elbert’s work in California. Stay tuned for further investigations.

These slides include quotes from my chapter in three cases, and from a crucial source in the fourth instance. Of the many characters who appear in the chapter, these four are the ones most relevant to this blog.

James Martin Peebles (1822-1922) is the only one of 32 individuals profiled in my The Masters Revealed (1994) as an important influence on Madame Blavatsky who might also have been a direct influence on Elbert Benjamine.  His natal chart is discussed in the Brotherhood of Light lessons and the last years of his long life were spent in Los Angeles. Fifty years earlier he had met Blavatsky’s circle in Cairo in 1872, two years later was present at the Eddy Brothers farmhouse in Vermont when she met Henry Steel Olcott, and provided fateful introductions to Buddhists in Ceylon and Spiritualists in India who subsequently become prominent Theosophists.

New in this book is the information that the Calcutta-based Brahmo movement, and not the Bombay-based Arya Samaj, was the earliest source of Indian recruits to the TS and that Peebles had been the catalyst. Peebles was a longtime ally of Emma Hardinge Britten, who had written a glowing preface to a biography of him, The Spiritual Pilgrim, by Joseph Osgood Barrett in 1871.  Peary Chand Mittra has received little attention in Theosophical history studies because he died so early in the Society’s existence in India. Yet his overall place in the Bengali literary renaissance of the 19th century as a highly influential novelist, editor, and activist reformer is increasingly well established. In 2o21 my attention will be focused on new projects but as 2020 ends I wanted to offer a brief glimpse of this publication from last January.

Every version of The Light of Egypt that is available in print or online, until now, is of the two volume 1900 edition or twentieth century revisions thereof. For Elbert Benjamine, as expressed in his Brotherhood of Light lessons, the 1889 one volume edition was authoritative.

Christmas presents going through email today involve an Oregon publisher laboring on this text scanned by a Virginia editor for the benefit of a church and website in New Mexico and a coeditor in Colorado. Stay tuned for a link to the complete text when it is available online. The hard copy of the first edition will become property of The Church of Light in Albuquerque once the online publication is complete.

This review article of the 2019 film was written in early 2020 for a local Unitarian Universalist publication that was about to launch but was sidelined indefinitely by the pandemic. I share it with the information that my original research interest in the Alcotts was because Thomas Moore Johnson, Alexander Wilder, and Sarah Stanley Grimke were all acquaintances of Bronson who were influenced by his ideas and character.

The newest film adaptation of Little Women, the fourth I have seen to date, delves much more deeply into the life of the book’s author than any previous versions.  Abigail May Alcott, Marmee in the novel as she was called in real life by her children, is the emotional center of the family in her daughter’s novel and the latest film adaptation. Long-suffering, patient, altruistic, loving– but also angry at injustice and skeptical of many of her husband’s crazy enthusiasms, Abigail/Marmee is earning the appreciation of a new generation of readers and viewers. In 2012 she emerged from obscurity as an author, thanks to Eve LaPlante, a descendant of her favorite brother to whom she wrote often, discovering a hitherto unknown cache of Abigail’s letters and diary entries in an attic trunk. These were published as My Heart is Boundless simultaneously with a joint biography of mother and daughter called Marmee and Louisa. While preparing for her role as Marmee, actress Laura Dern studied LaPlante’s works. The acting, the characters, the cinematography, surpass any of the previous versions in my estimation. The Oscar nominations for Saoirse Ronan (Jo) and Florence Pugh (Amy) in the leading and supporting actress categories are well deserved. (Dern is also a nominee this year but for a different film.) Orchard House in Concord, the real Alcott home where the book was written, is used as a location adding great beauty and authenticity to the scenes.  The way the director slides back and forth between past and present, the Marches and the Alcotts, is intriguing to me as a Unitarian history enthusiast but I think might be hopelessly confusing to anyone who was unfamiliar with the Alcott family.

Abigail, called Abba by her family, met Bronson Alcott in 1827 in Brooklyn, Connecticut where her brother Samuel Joseph May was a Unitarian minister. They married after a long courtship, and several years later Abba was living in Germantown, Pennsylvania where Bronson managed a school. Louisa was born here in 1832. Writing to her brother, Abba confided that she had to be discreet about her faith because “the Unitarians here are held in such horror as being worse than infidels. My good house keeper told me that a lady had the wickedness to say that we were Unitarians. Said she, `Mrs. Alcott, I have disliked that woman ever since; I told her that you were as good Christians as ever lived.’ We pass I believe for kinder Episcopalians although we usually attend Friends’ meetings, preferring the silent communion with our own souls.” Samuel Joseph became an abolitionist leader and in 1834 Abba followed his example and joined the Female Anti-Slavery Society. An 1846 letter expresses her misgivings about the onset of war, imploring Sam “Oh Sam, dedicate yourself to Peace, keep your pulpit if it is only to secure a place from which to declare and testify this truth. It is the cornerstone of the true church. Our nation in its principles is becoming corrupt, abusive, warlike, and degraded. It will cut off its own head with its own weaknesses.”

Little Women is based on the Alcott daughters’ childhood and adolescence in the 1840s and 50s but set during the Civil War. Mother and daughters were apart from their father on Christmas day 1848, not because Bronson was away at war but because they were away at work. Bronson was an impractical dreamer who repeatedly failed to provide for his family’s needs, and finally Abba went to work in Boston as a pioneer of social work, funded by philanthropists as missionary to the poor, writing at the time “My heart has always been pledged to the cause of the destitute and oppressed; now my time shall be sacredly devoted to their relief.” The scenes of Marmee and the girls bringing food to a destitute family in the novel and film are in Concord during the Civil War, but such philanthropies really occurred in Boston during the Mexican War. Despite the changes in Louisa’s fictional accounting, the emotional bond between mother and daughters is absolutely true to history. In a diary entry written that lonely, poor Christmas, Abigail gives glimpses of the traits that will later be seen as those of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March. “Christmas Day. Pass the day, which was wet, dark and dreary, with my family.  Hopeful Anna cheering doubting mother. Loving Louisa trying by many quiet acts of comfort to make life more tolerable. Dear Lizzy by her repose and self reliance groping through this mist of things and adverse circumstance.  And little Abba a `cricket on the hearth’ chirping, free from care or anxiety.”

Abigail died a few weeks after her 77^th birthday in 1877. When Louisa and Bronson died two days apart in 1888, their funerals were conducted by Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist author Cyrus Bartol at Old West Church in Boston, just half a mile away from where Bronson had married Abigail at King’s Chapel six decades before.  For contemporary Unitarian Universalists, Little Women provides vivid impressions of the lives and values of their spiritual ancestors in 19^th century New England.  Abigail May Alcott, with her Unitarian upbringing and lifelong commitment to progressive reform causes, including feminism and social welfare as well as abolitionism, became a role model as the fictional Marmee. It is gratifying now to see the actress playing Marmee openly discussing the character’s historical prototype and her exemplary life, and to know that only the accidental discovery of 150-year-old family letters enabled us to understand her in all her complexity.

Three branches of Hermetic studies are reflected in the three books and three authors identified by the Brotherhood of Light lessons as precursors of the teachings found therein.  I have assigned pairs of keywords to those authors to give a sense of the “family tree” of late 19^th century sources of ideas in these early 20^th century lessons. Identification of major influences on their writings in turn is seen in the third generation of “ancestors.”

Thomas Henry Burgoyne, Hermetic astrologer, clairvoyant naturalist, main author of The Light of Egypt, is clearly the most astrological of the three authors and more an inspiration for the astrological lessons than the alchemical and magical lessons. The natural science elements in the BOL lessons are also more akin to Burgoyne’s interests than to those of Britten and Grimke.

Emma Hardinge Britten, Spiritualist historian, Rosicrucian novelist, author of Art Magic and Ghost Land is the most magical in focus with all of her works dealing with practical manifestations of occult knowledge and psychic powers. Attitudes toward religious history and psychical research in the lessons are foreshadowed by those in Britten’s books.

Sarah Stanley Grimke, metaphysical teacher, author of Esoteric Lessons and co-author of The Light of Egypt, is the most alchemical in that “directed thinking” and its transformative potential inspire much of her teaching.  An abolitionist background and progressive political views were shared by many of Grimke’s associates and some of this can be seen reflected in the lessons’ comments on US politics.

What we now have as a single volume Laws of Occultism was in the first edition two volumes published five years apart. Lesson 1-A, entitled Occult Data, appeared in 1921 with Burgoyne’s natal chart as the frontispiece. Lesson 1-B, Astral Substance, appeared in 1926 with Grimke as the frontispiece.

All of these writers were Hermetic in the broad sense but none of them was associated with any Hermetic groups other than the HBofL.  Britten was steeped in Rosicrucian and Masonic lore but is not known to have actively participated in any organizations other than those related to Spiritualism and Free Thought.  Grimke was affiliated with a small New Thought group called Light, Love, Truth, prior to meeting Burgoyne but her later writings shared his astrological emphasis rather than continuing to address mind cure. Britten was a founder of the Theosophical Society, and many of the Brotherhood of Light lessons reflect the ideas of the early TS in New York, but what we now know as Theosophy is overwhelmingly defined by Helena Blavatsky after her arrival in India and her alienation from Britten who was openly denouncing the TS by 1884.  Hence The Church of Light is completely independent of “the Hermetic tradition” or “the Theosophical lineage” or “Spiritualist groups” or “Rosicrucian orders” just as it is of the New Thought and Free Thought movements, in organizational history terms.  However, ideas in the Brotherhood of Light teachings include elements from all these lineages, making the group “cousins” of many groups in terms of ideas but “siblings” of none in terms of organizational history. Elbert Benjamine was by no means limited to only these literary sources, but they are the ones most explicitly identified by him as relevant to students of his lessons.

The above chart is of course an oversimplification, but is intended to provide a quick introduction to the network of associates of the founders of the Brotherhood of Light and their literary sources. One way this diagram oversimplifies relationships is that is just an ancestral chart and not a family group chart which would allow siblings and in-laws and not just direct ancestors. That would allow us to introduce Paschal Beverly Randolph and Madame Blavatsky as literary “siblings” of Britten and fellow “children” of Bulwer-Lytton, since they were all enamored of Rosicrucian fiction. Thomas Moore Johnson and Alexander Wilder would both be “children” of Bronson Alcott along with Grimke’s mentor Cyrus Bartol if we were to use a family group chart.

The Progression Report feature of Horoscope 2020 allows filtering of results which would otherwise provide an overwhelming amount of detail. By excluding the slow-moving outer planets and fast-moving Moon, and eliminating minor aspects, we can look at five years of Burgoyne’s career at a single glance and see how much activity was concentrated in this short period. In future blog posts about individual events in authors’ lives I will delve into specific points in time with commentary. This five year overview will be referred to as a basis for further discussion of the mid-1880s in his life.

10. Analysis for Each Department of Life (The Houses)

The following paragraphs describe the various departments of life mapped by the Houses in your chart. See the appendix for a more detailed description of houses in general. The most astrologically active departments of life in your chart, in order of importance, are mapped by the 1st House, the 10th House, the 2nd House, the 12th House and the 3rd House.

1st House – Personal Matters

The 1st House has dominion over activities of life relating to personality, physical body, physical appearance and demeanor, quality of the personal magnetism, personal prowess, personal matters and general health.

The 1st house is the Most Powerful House in your chart and is the subject of intense feeling, activity and events, is very harmonious and contains six planets: Neptune, the Moon, Mercury, Mars, the Sun and Pluto. The Moon is your Dominant Planet.

Neptune in the 1st House

Neptune is prominent (being in an angular house and its close aspect to the Moon) although of average power relative to the power distribution in your chart, and is mildly discordant.

Whatever house is occupied by Neptune is influenced by subtle and visionary factors. There is something elusive and mystical about the section of life denoted by this house. About the things so denoted, the imagination weaves pictures, and these mental pictures influence the attitude toward reality. Neptune expresses through the imagination, romance, increased sensitivity, psychic impressions, wishful thinking, fantasy thinking, daydreaming, apprehension, idealistic visions or by schemes and thoughts of easy wealth or promotion. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells mapped by Neptune relate to images of conditions more perfect, they are generally referred to as the Utopian Urges. The department of life ruled by the house occupied by Neptune is subject to Illusion in that things are not always as they appear.

Neptune in Pisces: Neptune maps the Utopian Urges embracing wishful or fantasy thinking and daydreaming, apprehension, idealistic visions and lofty spiritual ideas, the imagination, romanticism, platonic relationships and thoughts of easy wealth or promotion of schemes. Neptune is at home in the sign Pisces where it can express more harmoniously. With the Utopian thought-cells expressing from the “I Believe” attitude of Pisces, seek idealism through humanitarian plans rather than through charitable endeavors rather than in pursuing and blindly following the advice of invisible intelligences.

Neptune in the 1st House shows that the Idealistic Urges express primarily through the personality and appearance indicating idealism and sensitivity. You are intuitive and possibly psychic. You may have illusions about your own personal nature. The Neptune person may show genius or there can be flashes of brilliance. There may be an attraction to platonic relationships. There is a tendency to hypersensitivity, fantasy thinking, daydreaming, romance, apprehension, or thoughts of easy wealth or promotion. The best way to combat discordant Neptune thinking is through substituting Saturn thinking by resorting to systematic and organized effort and considering what is practical. Think things through and avoid vagueness by using critical thinking to analyze your ideas. Valuable ideas are those which can be made practical and allow you to realize the idealism you seek. Cultivate a willingness to work hard and think clearly to realize your ideals.

Neptune is also involved in one special planetary configurations in your chart:

The special configuration that Neptune is involved in is a T-Square (See Special Configuration #1 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Saturn and MC in the 3rd and 10th Houses.

Moon in the 1st House

Moon is prominent (being in an angular house) and powerful and is neutral regarding harmony or discord.

Whatever house is occupied by the Moon is subject to ebb and flow, has a significant impact on the mental attitude and the emotions and may be the subject of psychic impressions. The matters ruled by this department of life tend to fluctuate and are the subject of small, insignificant events and everyday affairs. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells in the unconscious mind relate to primarily family life, they are referred to as the Domestic Urges.

Moon in the 1st House indicates a personality that is impressionable and characterized by changing moods. The health may be subject to fluctuation. You are interested in everyday affairs, what’s happening around you and what everyone is doing. When the Moon is afflicted (discordant), there may be a tendency to gossip. This can be controlled by directing that energy into harmonious domestic affairs.

Moon is also involved in one special planetary configurations in your chart:

The special configuration that Moon is involved in is a T-Square (See Special Configuration #1 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Saturn and MC in the 3rd and 10th Houses.

Mercury in the 1st House

Mercury is prominent (being in an angular house and its close aspect to the Moon) although of average power relative to the power distribution in your chart, and is neutral regarding harmony or discord.

Whatever house is occupied by Mercury becomes the subject of mental effort. The mind expresses itself readily where the things so denoted are concerned. The department of life ruled by the house occupied by Mercury is subject to thought and the subject of conversation. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells in the unconscious mind mapped by Mercury in the chart relate to the intellectual life, they are referred to as the Intellectual Urges.

Mercury in Pisces: With the Intellectual thought cells, governing cerebral processes, perception, comparison and communication, expressing from the “I Believe” attitude of Pisces, the speech, and expression in general, should be positive and good humored rather than timid or fretful. The best quality of Pisces is sympathy, and its worst quality is worry.

Mercury in the 1st House indicates that the Intellectual Urges express through the personality. This give a loquacious, mentally alert personality that shows ability for speaking, writing and study. Your actions and expression tend to be based on logic and reasoning. You may be an inveterate traveler or inclined to write. Mercury is always mentally alert but can be restless and this will show in your personality. Mercury people often worry about the details and may feel responsible for more than their share. The natural antidote for this is reliance on a higher power and having faith that things will turn out well.

Important aspects to Mercury

The most powerful aspect to Mercury is Mercury Parallel Pluto. With 10.34 astrodynes of power, this aspect is powerful but is neutral regarding harmony or discord. Pluto is also in the 1st. This parallel aspect shows that this area of life experiences an intense relationship. The aspect shows the mental interests, facility or accuracy of expression and cerebral activity influence, and are influenced by, groups, subtle force, and cooperation or coercion. This parallel aspect indicates an intense relationship between these factors showing ability to cooperate with others, to work with groups, and to tune in on inner-plane information and forces to advantage. There may also be groups that tend to coerce and to take undue advantage, and that even unseen forces may endeavor to influence. Pleasant and positive thoughts of courage in protecting the weak and helpless need to be associated with thoughts of groups and cooperation.

The 2nd most powerful aspect to Mercury is Moon Conjunction Mercury. With 7.51 astrodynes of power, this aspect is moderately powerful but is neutral regarding harmony or discord. The Moon is also in the 1st. This conjunction aspect shows that this area of life experiences a powerful association. The aspect shows the mental attitude, domestic life and everyday affairs influence, and are influenced by, mental interests, facility or accuracy of expression and cerebral activity. This conjunction aspect indicates a powerful association between these factors showing a good mind and ability to express thoughts readily.

Of particular note here is that Mercury is in Mutual Reception with Jupiter. Jupiter is in the 12th House relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations. These two planets are in Mutual Reception because each occupies the sign which is the exaltation or the home of the other. The resonance thus created tends to be the most harmonious of any due to the sign positions of the two planets. They tend to benefit each other through mutual aims, and the departments of life ruled by houses occupied by the two planets tend markedly to assist each other.

Mars in the 1st House

Mars is prominent (being in an angular house and its close aspect to the Sun) and moderately powerful and is harmonious.

Mars here indicates that forcefulness and energy are expressed through this department of life. Advantage is usually gained through initiative and combat. If loss is indicated by an afflicted (discordant) Mars, there is much struggle associated with it. There will be strenuous activity regarding the things ruled by this house. To the extent the thought cells mapped by Mars are prominent, is the life influenced by thoughts of construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat, sex, eating or drinking. Because the chief expression of the thought-elements in the unconscious mind mapped by Mars in the chart relate to attacking obstacles, they are referred to as the Aggressive Urges.

Mars in Aries: Mars maps the Aggressive Urges, embracing thoughts and actions relating to construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat, sex, amativeness, eating and drinking. With the Aggressive thought-cells expressing from the I AM attitude of Aries, channel your initiative through constructive enterprise rather than asserting superiority.

Mars in the 1st House maps the Aggressive Urges expressing through the personality, indicating an aggressive, outgoing personality with abundant energy. It also indicates mechanical ability and a willingness to face danger. There is a tendency, however, to be compulsive and rash, so cultivate the habit of thinking things through carefully before acting. Replace destructive thoughts with constructive activities. When prominent and afflicted (discordant), there is a tendency toward quarrelsomeness and harshness. Undue severity and antagonism hinder constructive endeavors. You’ll find greater joy focusing your initiative in fighting disease, ignorance and poverty than in combating human foes. With self-discipline, you can focus your abundant energy into successful and rewarding outlets. The natural antidote for an afflicted Mars is to take aggressive measures to protect the weak and helpless.

Important aspects to Mars

The most powerful aspect to Mars is Sun Conjunction Mars. This aspect is also the most powerful aspect in the chart and is mildly discordant relative to the other aspects in the chart. The Sun is also in the 1st. See the description of this aspect under “Best, Worst and Most Powerful Chart Aspects” in the section on Astrodyne Analysis.

The 2nd most powerful aspect to Mars is Mars Trine MC. With 8.68 astrodynes of power, this aspect is powerful and with 6.51 harmodynes is very harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. The MC is on the cusp of the 10th House that relates to the public recognition, for good or for ill, you receive regarding matters ruled by the planets which make aspects to it, which, in this case, is the Trine aspect from Mars. This very harmonious trine aspect shows that these two areas of life experience cooperation to bring good luck. The aspect shows aggressiveness, combativeness and initiative influence public recognition and reputation. This very harmonious trine aspect indicates these factors work harmoniously together showing public recognition for constructive energy and aggressive action. Avoid being too harsh by associating the martial inclinations with aggressive actions to protect the weak, helpless and less fortunate.

Of particular note here is that Sun is in Mutual Reception with Mars. The Sun is also in the 1st. These two planets are in Mutual Reception because each occupies the sign which is the exaltation or the home of the other. The resonance thus created tends to be the most harmonious of any due to the sign positions of the two planets. The discordant nature of the aspect will still manifest, but they tend to benefit each other through mutual aims, and the departments of life ruled by houses occupied by the two planets tend markedly to assist each other.

Sun in the 1st House

Sun is prominent (being in an angular house) and powerful and is very harmonious.

When a house (department of life) is occupied by the Sun, those matters are vitalized, pursued with vigor and become a dominant motive in the life that affects your significance, authority and self-esteem. Because the chief expression of the thought-elements in the unconscious mind mapped by the Sun in the chart are directed toward gaining and maintaining significance, and their activity strongly influences the relation of the individual to those in authority, as well as influencing his authority over others, they are called Power Urges.

Sun in Aries: cultivate leadership and avoid officiousness.

Sun in the 1st House shows the Power Urges expressing through the personality indicating a personal presence and demeanor that is vital and vigorous and projects dignity and authority. It also brings strong recuperative powers. A discordant Sun in the 1st House can be overbearing and prideful.

Important aspects to the Sun

The most powerful aspect to the Sun is Sun Conjunction Mars. This aspect is also the most powerful aspect in the chart and is mildly discordant relative to the other aspects in the chart. Mars is also in the 1st. See the description of this aspect in this same house, above.

The 2nd most powerful aspect to the Sun is Sun Trine MC. This aspect is also the best (most harmonious) aspect in the chart and, relative to the other aspects in the chart, is powerful. The MC is on the cusp of the 10th House that relates to the public recognition, for good or for ill, you receive regarding matters ruled by the planets which make aspects to it, which, in this case, is the Trine aspect from the Sun. See the description of this aspect under “Best, Worst and Most Powerful Chart Aspects” in the section on Astrodyne Analysis.

The 3rd most powerful aspect to the Sun is Sun Sextile Jupiter. With 5.79 astrodynes of power, this aspect is of average power and with 8.68 harmodynes is very harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. Jupiter is in the 12th House relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations. This harmonious sextile aspect shows that these two areas of life experience good opportunities. The aspect shows the vitality, authority and relations with men influence, and are influenced by, abundance, optimism and joviality. This harmonious sextile aspect indicates these factors work harmoniously together showing good vitality and favors from people of power.

The 4th most powerful aspect to the Sun is Sun Conjunction Pluto. With 5.37 astrodynes of power, this aspect is of average power but is neutral regarding harmony or discord. Pluto is also in the 1st. This conjunction aspect shows that this area of life experiences a powerful association. The aspect shows the vitality, authority and relations with the opposite sex influence, and are influenced by, groups, subtle force, and coercion or cooperation. This conjunction aspect indicates a powerful association between these factors showing benefit and authority through group activity.

Of particular note here is that Sun is in Mutual Reception with Mars. Mars is also in the 1st. See the description of this aspect in this same house, above.

Pluto in the 1st House

Pluto is prominent (being in an angular house and its close aspect to the Sun) although of average power relative to the power distribution in your chart, and is mildly discordant.

Whatever house is occupied by Pluto is subject to inner-plane influence, either for good or ill. The activities stimulated include facilities for cooperation with others and for contacting groups of people. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells mapped by Pluto relate to cooperation for the welfare of the group, and spiritual efforts for the benefit of all, they are generally referred to as the Universal Welfare Urges. To the extent the thought cells mapped by Pluto are active, is the life influenced by thoughts of groups, statistics, division of labor, mass production, inner-plane conditions, drastic events, the inside of things, gang methods, cooperation, coercion, or universal welfare. If Pluto is powerful in the chart and afflicted (discordant), there will be undue pressure brought to bear by others to compel such action as they desire relative to the things the house rules.

Pluto in Taurus: Pluto maps the Universal Welfare Urges embracing thoughts and actions related to groups, statistics, inner-plane conditions, drastic events, the inside of things, gang methods, cooperation, coercion, and universal welfare. With the Universal Welfare Urges expressing from the “I Have” attitude of Taurus, seek cooperation through attaining freedom from want for all rather than in monopolizing wealth.

Pluto in the 1st House shows that the Universal Welfare Urges express primarily through the personality, indicating one who is active, energetic and resourceful, and tends to unite with others to accomplish a common purpose. The Pluto personality can be powerfully dynamic and shows spiritual possibilities. You consciously or unconsciously, easily tune in on the thoughts and energies being broadcast from the inner planes, opening you to unusual sources of information and power. A well-aspected Pluto indicates that inner-plane forces will benefit your developing spirituality and shows the ability to cooperate for a common effort. If Pluto is afflicted, there will be undue pressure brought to bear by others to compel you to do their bidding. Effort to benefit all, rather than some group, will bring greater satisfaction. The best antidote for an afflicted (discordant) Pluto is to cultivate aggressive action (Mars) to protect the weak and to help the less fortunate.

Important aspects to Pluto

The most powerful aspect to Pluto is Mercury Parallel Pluto. With 10.34 astrodynes of power, this aspect is powerful but is neutral regarding harmony or discord. Mercury is also in the 1st. See the description of this aspect in this same house, above.

The 2nd most powerful aspect to Pluto is Pluto Sextile Ascendant. With 6.79 astrodynes of power, this aspect is moderately powerful and with 6.79 harmodynes is very harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. The Ascendant is also on the cusp of the 1st House that relates to the effect on the personality, health and personal affairs from the aspects made to it, which, in this case, is the Sextile aspect from Pluto. This harmonious sextile aspect shows that this area of life experiences good opportunities. The aspect shows groups, subtle force, and coercion or cooperation influence, and are influenced by, the personality, physical body and health. This harmonious sextile aspect indicates these factors work harmoniously together showing an active, energetic and resourceful personality that tends to unite with others to accomplish a common purpose. It also shows the ability to consciously or unconsciously easily tune in on the thoughts and energies being broadcast from the inner planes that open up unusual sources of information and power.

The 3rd most powerful aspect to Pluto is Sun Conjunction Pluto. With 5.37 astrodynes of power, this aspect is of average power but is neutral regarding harmony or discord. The Sun is also in the 1st. See the description of this aspect in this same house, above.

2nd House – Money and Possessions

The 2nd House has dominion over activities of life relating to money, possessions and personal resources.

The 2nd house is powerful relative to the other houses in the chart. This house is the Best House in your chart, is very harmonious and contains two planets: Uranus and Venus. Venus is your Best Planet.

Having two planets in this house indicates that it is an important department of life.

Uranus in the 2nd House

Uranus is weak and less active and is neutral regarding harmony or discord.

The thought cells mapped by Uranus powerfully influence originality of thought, and the ability to make marked departures from precedence and custom. Because their chief expression relates to originality, they are generally referred to as the Individualistic Urges. Whatever house is occupied by Uranus denotes things about which radical tendencies are likely to manifest. In the section of life indicated by such a house there are sudden changes and developments of an extreme nature, either constructive or destructive. Whatever good is signified in one direction is accompanied by some lesser disadvantage in another and vice versa. To the extent the thought cells mapped by Uranus are active (powerful in the chart), is the life influenced by thoughts of independence, originality, invention, the unconventional, unusual or new methods.

Uranus in Taurus: Uranus maps the Individualistic Urges embracing thoughts and actions relating to independence, originality, invention, the unconventional and unusual, new or radical methods. With the Individualistic thought-cells expressing from the “I Have” attitude of Taurus, seek originality through handling money rather than in being obstinate.

Uranus in the 2nd House shows that the Individualistic Urges express primarily through money and possessions, indicating sudden gains and losses. Financial matters tend to be disruptive. What is gained in one area may be lost in another. This position also indicates unusual talents and methods of making money. If Uranus is powerful in the chart and afflicted (discordant), you may be drawn to impractical financial ventures. Cultivate original ideas that will pay financial dividends. The natural antidote for an afflicted Uranus is Jupiter thinking that relies on providence, is optimistic and more conventional, avoiding erratic behavior.

Venus in the 2nd House

Venus is prominent (its close aspect to the Moon) although weak and less active relative to the power distribution in your chart, but is very harmonious.

Whatever house is occupied by Venus has a strong influence upon the affections, and through it an appeal to the affections can readily be made. Mating, companionship, affection and love are expressions of the thought cells mapped by this planet. The things denoted by this house tend to prosper not through effort and initiative, but through kindnesses and favors received because of grace of manners, and following the line of least resistance. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells in the unconscious mind mapped by Venus in the chart relate to the social life they are referred to as the Social Urges.

Venus in Taurus: Taurus is the home sign of Venus, indicating harmonious expression of the Social Urges, embracing the emotions, the affections, social relationships and artistic appreciation. Expressing from the I HAVE attitude of Taurus, the affections are best expressed by being sociable and warm rather than too greatly influenced by worldly possessions.

Venus in the 2nd House maps the Social Urges expressing through money and possessions. Because Venus brings favors, this position shows money and possessions coming through little effort. It also indicates a love of wealth and beautiful possessions including jewelry, art objects and music or musical instruments. This is a good position for artists if Venus is prominent and well-aspected. It also indicates that wealth may be associated with the affections and social relations. To the extent that Venus is well-aspected, you benefit by cultivating social relations. If Venus is prominent (powerful) and afflicted (discordant), cultivate caution, system, fairness and foresight (Saturn Safety thoughts), along with thoughts and feelings of pride, dignity, firmness and self-esteem (Sun Power thoughts).

Important aspects to Venus

The most powerful aspect to Venus is Moon Sextile Venus. With 6.38 astrodynes of power, this aspect is moderately powerful and with 7.98 harmodynes is very harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. The Moon is in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics. This harmonious sextile aspect shows that these two areas of life experience good opportunities. The aspect shows the mental attitude, domestic life and everyday affairs influence, and are influenced by, the emotions, social relations and artistic appreciation. This harmonious sextile aspect indicates these factors work harmoniously together favoring domestic and social matters.
These two planets are in Mutual Reception because each occupies the sign which is the exaltation or the home of the other. The resonance thus created tends to be the most harmonious of any due to the sign positions of the two planets. They tend to benefit each other through mutual aims, and the departments of life ruled by houses occupied by the two planets tend markedly to assist each other.

3rd House – Personal Interests, Siblings and Social Media

The 3rd House has dominion over activities of life relating to mental activity, education and personal studies, siblings, neighbors, writing, hobbies, local travel and communications.

The 3rd house is of average power relative to the other houses in the chart. This house is the Worst House in your chart, is discordant and contains one planet: Saturn. Saturn is your Worst Planet, which is described in the “Worst Planet” section under Astrodyne Analysis above.

Saturn in the 3rd House

Saturn is weak and less active and is discordant.

Whatever house is occupied by Saturn experiences hard work, responsibility, and frugality or loss. Saturn maps that area of the unconscious mind referred to as the Safety Urges because these thought-cells relate to hard work, acquisition, persistence, planning, organization and all things which serve to provide stability, safety and security for the individual.

When especially prominent (powerful) in the chart and afflicted (discordant), these Saturn thought-elements can stimulate discordant thoughts of fear, greed, envy, or self-centeredness, and are responsible for loss, hardship and privation and the necessity of working diligently for every advantage. There can be restrictions of various kinds and heavy burdens leading to emotions which can be morose, melancholy or despondent, leading in some cases to clinical depression, depending also on environmental and hereditary factors. You can benefit from an afflicted Saturn by directing your Safety Urges to express in a constructive manner as when harmonious. (See next paragraph.)

When Saturn is powerful in the chart and harmonious or neutral (that is, not too discordant), then you can benefit from efficiency, economy, organization, hard work, shrewdness and your ability to buy to advantage.

Saturn in Gemini: Saturn maps the Safety Urges embracing thoughts and actions relating to safety, secrecy, acquisitiveness, buying, trading, worry, fear, system, order and persistence. With the Safety thought-cells expressing from the “I Think” attitude of Gemini, seek security through system and order and taking action rather than just talking or constantly mulling issues and concerns.

Saturn in the 3rd House shows that the Safety Urges express primarily through education, writing, personal studies, relatives (including siblings) and neighbors. Saturn here shows deep thinking and hard work relating to education, writing or communications. Saturn also brings increased responsibility for siblings or other relatives and there can be difficulties or increased responsibilities with neighbors. You may show a strong desire to get an education and the willingness to work hard for it.

When Saturn is powerful in the chart, the alchemical antidote for discordant Saturn thinking is to employ the warm SOCIAL thoughts of Venus and the vital POWER thoughts of the Sun regarding education, writing and communications in general. Cultivating pleasure in social activities stimulates the Venus social thought-cells. Cultivating Sun thoughts of your importance and self-esteem with respect to 3rd house matters will combine the Saturn and Venus components in the unconscious mind into a harmonious complex that will attract better fortune.

Saturn is also involved in one special planetary configurations in your chart:

The special configuration that Saturn is involved in is a T-Square (See Special Configuration #1 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving MC, Moon and Neptune in the 10th and 1st Houses.

4th House – Home

The 4th House has dominion over activities of life relating to primarily the home and home life, but also the father, real estate, farmland and its production, restaurants and conditions at the end of life.

The 4th house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, is neutral regarding harmony or discord and contains no planets, but is ruled by Mercury, which is neutral regarding harmony or discord and in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, indicating that those matters have special influence over 4th House matters. So, for example, events relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, resulting from your communication, affect your home life.

5th House – Children and Love Affairs

The 5th House has dominion over activities of life relating to offspring and pleasures, love affairs, speculation, stocks, bonds and derivatives, children and entertainment.

The 5th house is of average power relative to the other houses in the chart, is neutral regarding harmony or discord and contains no planets, but is ruled by the Moon, which is neutral regarding harmony or discord and in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, indicating that those matters have special influence over 5th House matters. So, for example, events relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, resulting from your domesticity, affect your pleasure, love affairs, children and speculation.

6th House – Work

The 6th House has dominion over activities of life relating to work environment, coworkers, subordinates and employees, food in general, especially those consumed or prepared, small animals and the conditions surrounding illness or places where illness is treated.

The 6th house is of average power relative to the other houses in the chart, is harmonious and contains no planets, but is ruled by the Moon, which is neutral regarding harmony or discord and in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, indicating that those matters have special influence over 6th House matters. So, for example, events relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, resulting from your domesticity, affect your work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm.

7th House – Marriage and Partnership

The 7th House has dominion over activities of life relating to marriage, partnership, the attitude of those met in public, open enemies, competitors and lawsuits.

The 7th house is of average power relative to the other houses in the chart, is harmonious and contains no planets, but is ruled by Mercury, which is neutral regarding harmony or discord and in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, indicating that those matters have special influence over 7th House matters. So, for example, events relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, resulting from your communication, affect your marriage and partnership.

8th House – Death, Inheritance and Other People’s Money

The 8th House has dominion over activities of life relating to legacies and inheritance, gifts, partner’s money and other people’s money in general, fiduciary responsibilities, debts owed to you and the ability of those owing to pay, death, life insurance, taxes and the influence of the dead.

The 8th house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, is neutral regarding harmony or discord and contains no planets, but is ruled by Mars, which is harmonious and in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, and Pluto, which is mildly discordant and also in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, indicating that the matters of this house have special influence over 8th House matters. So, for example, events relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, resulting from your rashness, affect your partner’s money, fiduciary responsibilities and inheritance.

9th House – Religion, Philosophy and Long Journeys

The 9th House has dominion over activities of life relating to teaching, religion, philosophy, social media, teaching, publishing, long journeys and the courts.

The 9th house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, but is harmonious and contains no planets, but is ruled by Jupiter, which is very harmonious and in the 12th House relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations, indicating that those matters have special influence over 9th House matters. So, for example, events relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations, resulting from your goodwill or religiosity, affect your religion, philosophy, social media, and long journeys.

10th House – Career, Business, Credit and Reputation

The 10th House has dominion over activities of life relating to honors, business, credit, reputation, career, superiors and mother.

The 10th house is powerful relative to the other houses in the chart, is neutral regarding harmony or discord and while it contains no planets, it does include the power and the harmony or discord of the MC, which is neutral regarding harmony or discord. The house is co-ruled by Jupiter, which is very harmonious and is in the 12th House relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations, indicating that those matters have special influence over 10th House matters. So, for example, events relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations, resulting from your goodwill or religiosity, affect your career, credit, reputation and mother.

11th House – Friends, Hopes and Wishes

The 11th House has dominion over activities of life relating to friends, affiliations, hopes and wishes.

The 11th house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, is discordant and contains no planets, but is ruled by Saturn, which is discordant and in the 3rd House relating to personal interests, writing, neighbors and siblings, indicating that those matters have special influence over 11th House matters. So, for example, events relating to personal interests, writing, neighbors and siblings, resulting from your self-interest, affect your friends and affiliations.

12th House – Restrictions and Disappointments

The 12th House has dominion over activities of life relating to secrets, sorrows, disappointments, restrictions, hidden enemies, crime, detective work, large animals, unseen forces and astral entities.

The 12th house is of average power relative to the other houses in the chart, is harmonious and contains one planet: Jupiter.

Jupiter in the 12th House

Jupiter is prominent (its close aspect to the Sun) although weak and less active relative to the power distribution in your chart, but is very harmonious.

Whatever house is occupied by Jupiter experiences abundance, goodwill and optimism. Jupiter maps the Religious Urges in the unconscious mind, so called because these thought-cells tend to express through veneration, philosophical or religious thinking and faith in providence. Jupiter is also considered a business planet because it manifests abundance, goodwill and optimism and rules the professions in general.

Jupiter in Aquarius: Jupiter maps the Religious Urges embracing thoughts and actions relating to benevolence, veneration, hope, devotion, generosity and goodwill toward others. With the religious thought-cells expressing from the “I Know” attitude of Aquarius, cultivate faith in facts and altruistic activities rather than in theories and argument.

Jupiter in the 12th House indicates that the Religious Urges express primarily through sorrows, disappointments, and restrictions. This placement shows that you can benefit from, and be benefitted by, large institutions that minster to those in need including hospitals, asylums, churches and universities. As the 12th House also rules secret enemies, this position of Jupiter shows benefit rather than injury from the efforts of secret enemies. Cultivating discrimination and critical thinking will benefit any effort to alleviate the distress of others.

Important aspects to Jupiter

The most powerful aspect to Jupiter is Sun Sextile Jupiter. With 5.79 astrodynes of power, this aspect is of average power and with 8.68 harmodynes is very harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. The Sun is in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics. See the description of this aspect under the 1st House above.

Of particular note here is that Mercury is in Mutual Reception with Jupiter. Mercury is in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics. See the description of this aspect under the 1st House above.

8. Astrodyne Analysis

Through Astrodyne analysis one can analyze the power and harmony of the planets, signs and houses in your chart. The objective of this analysis is to indicate which areas will bring the most benefit into the life and which areas need work. Subsequent sections will explore in more detail the various departments of life (The Houses) and associated key aspects between planets. Below you will find the Astrodyne Table for your chart followed by an analysis of the best, worst and most powerful planets, houses and signs.

The astrodyne table, immediately below, analyzes the power and harmony of each planet, house and sign in your chart. The columns show (1) object name, the absolute astrodyne (2) power and (3) harmony, the Zscores indicating (4) relative power and (5) harmony, and the corresponding qualitative assessment of the relative (6) power and (7) harmony of each element in the chart based on the Zscores. Assessing a relative qualitative score is important because absolute values can be somewhat misleading and there are no “population” statistics from which to judge absolute power and harmony. An asterisk “*” in the power or harmony Zscore columns indicates that the value is an “outlier” which skews the distribution, in which case it is removed and the Zscores recomputed to provide a more accurate picture.

The tables below are a reference summary. The planets, houses and signs, and their influence on you character and fortune, are described throughout the report.

Planets, MC and Asc

Houses (See later section on Departments of Life for more information.)

Signs

Your Best Planet, House and Sign

Best Planet

The most harmonious planet in your chart is Venus, which maps your Social Urges, and is in your 2nd House. Venus is weak and less active relative to the other planets in your chart. Your Venus is in the sign Taurus, which gives it a(n) stable, patient, and practical nature. Being in the 2nd House, it expresses through activities related to money, possessions and personal resources.

Venus is prominent in your chart due to its close aspect to the Moon, even though weak by astrodyne power relative to the rest of your chart.

An alternative to your best planet is The Sun, which has 59.16 astrodynes of power and 23.00 harmodynes. The Sun is the 3rd most powerful planet in your chart and the 3rd most harmonious. The Sun maps your Power Urges and is in your 1st House relating to personality, physical body, physical appearance and demeanor, quality of the personal magnetism, personal prowess, personal matters and general health.

Best House (Department of Life)

The most harmonious House (Department of Life) in your chart is the 2nd House, which maps life activities relating to money, possessions and personal resources. The 2nd House has 43.09 harmodynes, is very harmonious and contains two planets: Uranus and Venus. Venus is your Best Planet, which is described in the “Best Planet” section. See the section below on Analysis of Each Department of Life (The Houses) for an explanation of the effect of these planets on the affairs of the 2nd House.

The 2nd house has 72.77 astrodynes of power and is powerful relative to the other houses in your chart and thus has enough power to benefit your life.

Best Sign

The most harmonious zodiacal sign in your chart is Aries, which is intercepted in your 1st House, and which contains the Sun and Mars. The following table displays correspondences for the sign Aries from which you may benefit by association.

Your Worst Planet, House and Sign

Worst Planet

The most discordant planet in you chart is Saturn, which maps your Safety Urges, and is in your 3rd House relating to personal interests, writing, neighbors and siblings. (Saturn is often the most discordant planet in a chart because its nature easily expresses negatively which can affect all the aspects it makes to other planets in the chart.) Saturn is weak and less active relative to the other planets in your chart. With your Saturn in Gemini, your need for security and sense of order are volatile, restless and changeable, especially relating to personal interests, writing, neighbors and siblings.

The natural antidote for a discordant Saturn is the application of Venus (Social Urges) thoughts and emotions such as cultivating pleasant social contacts, musical entertainment and the arts in general, especially in relation to 3rd House activities including personal interests, writing, neighbors and siblings. Since both Saturn and Venus tend to be negative polarity, to this thought compound should be added Sun thoughts relating to pride, dignity, conscientiousness and self-esteem.

Worst House (Department of Life)

The most discordant House in your chart is the 3rd House, which governs the department of life relating to mental activity, education and personal studies, siblings, neighbors, writing, hobbies, local travel and communications. The 3rd house has 47.31 astrodynes of power and is of average power relative to the other houses in your chart. The 3rd House has -23.92 discordynes and contains one planet: Saturn. Saturn is your Worst Planet, which is described in the “Worst Planet” section. See the section below on Analysis of Each Department of Life (The Houses) for an explanation of the effect of this planet on the affairs of the 3rd House.

Worst Sign

The most discordant zodiacal Sign in you chart is Gemini, which is on the cusp of your 3rd and 4th Houses. The sign Gemini has 71.41 astrodynes of power and is of average power relative to the other signs in your chart. It has -24.60 discordynes and contains Saturn.

Your Most Powerful Planet, House and Sign

Most Powerful Planet

The most powerful planet in your chart is the Moon, which is generally referred to as your Dominant Planet. The Moon is in your 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics, and is neutral regarding harmony or discord relative to the other planets in your chart. See the discussion of you Dominant Planet above.

Most Powerful House (Department of Life)

The most powerful house (Department of Life) in your chart is the 1st House relating to personality, physical body, physical appearance and demeanor, quality of the personal magnetism, personal prowess, personal matters and general health. The 1st House is very harmonious relative to the other houses in your chart, and contains Neptune, the Moon, Mercury, Mars, the Sun and Pluto. See the section below on Analysis of Each Department of Life (The Houses) for a detailed discussion of this house.

Most Powerful Sign

The most powerful zodiacal sign in your chart is Pisces. Pisces is on the cusp of your 1st House, is neutral regarding harmony or discord relative to the other signs in your chart, and contains the Moon, Mercury, Neptune and the Ascendant. See discussion of Pisces in the Moon and Rising Sign sections of “Your Key Chart Points and General Characteristics” above.

Best, Worst and Most Powerful Chart Aspects

The following sections describe the most significant aspects between the planets in the chart. (See the Glossary in the Appendix for more on Aspects and how they express.)

Most Powerful Aspect in the Chart

The most powerful aspect in the chart is Sun Conjunction Mars. At -3.53 discordynes, this aspect is mildly discordant. The Sun is in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics. Mars is also in the 1st. This conjunction aspect shows that this area of life experiences a powerful association. The aspect shows the vitality, authority and the relations with men influence, and are influenced by assertiveness, combativeness, amativeness and expenditure of energy. This conjunction aspect indicates a powerful association between these factors showing good vitality, strife with or over authority, and, to the extent that the aspect is powerful, a tendency to rashness and accident are shown.
These two planets are in Mutual Reception because each occupies the sign which is the exaltation or the home of the other. The resonance thus created tends to be the most harmonious of any due to the sign positions of the two planets. The discordant nature of the aspect will still manifest, but they tend to benefit each other through mutual aims, and the departments of life ruled by houses occupied by the two planets tend markedly to assist each other.

Best Aspect in the Chart

The most harmonious aspect in the chart is Sun Trine MC. At 9.78 astrodynes, this aspect is powerful. The Sun is in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics. The MC is on the cusp of the 10th House that relates to the public recognition, for good or for ill, you receive regarding matters ruled by the planets which make aspects to it, which, in this case, is the Trine aspect from the Sun. This very harmonious trine aspect shows that these two areas of life experience cooperation to bring good luck. The aspect shows the vitality, authority and relations with men influence public recognition and reputation. This very harmonious trine aspect indicates these factors work harmoniously together showing public recognition for vitality, dignity and authority.

Worst Aspect in the Chart

The most discordant aspect in the chart is Moon Square MC. At 11.56 astrodynes, this aspect is very powerful. The Moon is in the 1st House relating to personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics. The MC is on the cusp of the 10th House that relates to the public recognition, for good or for ill, you receive regarding matters ruled by the planets which make aspects to it, which, in this case, is the Square aspect from the Moon. This discordant square aspect shows that these two areas of life experience obstacles and periods of struggle. The aspect shows the mental attitude, domestic life, everyday affairs influence public recognition and reputation. This discordant square aspect indicates these factors negatively affect each other showing that changing attitudes, fickle behavior, women and domestic life have a negative impact on public image and reputation. Cultivate pleasant thoughts of significance, exercise of authority that benefits others and self-esteem. Cultivate pleasant thoughts and aggressive actions protecting the weak and helpless.

 5. Chart Topology

Planets East and West

With most of your planets on the East side of your chart, you tend to impress the environment with your personality and personal prowess. That is, the virility of a planet to impress the qualities it rules upon environment is pronounced when the planet is on the east side of the chart. Thus, you tend to mold (rather than being molded by) circumstances.

Planets Above and Below the Horizon

The line formed by the Ascendant and Descendant (opposite the Ascendant) divide the astrological chart in half, where planets and houses above the line are above the horizon and vice versa. The higher, or more elevated, a planet in the chart, the more publicity it gets. Planets below the horizon are more private and relate to activities in the life that are generally hidden from public view.

The planets in your chart are primarily below the horizon, and are related generally to private and personal matters that get little public attention.

 6. Indicators of General Temperament and Disposition

The following analysis shows the distribution of the planets among the various elements and qualities of the zodiacal signs, which provides excellent indicators of general temperament and disposition.

(In the analysis below, note that the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Mercury and the Dominant Planet carry more weight in a sign, triplicity or quadruplicity than the other planets and may override a ranking by astrodynes.)

Distribution of Your Planets Among the Triplicities (Elements): Fire, Earth, Air and Water Signs

The distribution of planets in your chart among the four elements is mostly Water (Moon, Dominant Planet, Mercury, Asc, 1 other Planet) with some Fire (Sun, 1 other Planet, MC) but very little Earth (3 Planets) or Air (2 Planets). The lives of people with lots of Water are largely centered in the home and the affections. You are sympathetic, timid, dreamy, submissive, given to domestic life, receptive, yielding, mediumistic, and greatly influenced by your surroundings. In the sense that you are chiefly actuated by your feelings, rather than by carefully reasoned lines of conduct, your characteristic quality is EMOTION. With very little Earth or Air, try to cultivate a more practical attitude and try to cultivate an increased interest in mental activities and intellectual ideas.

Distribution of Your Planets Among the Quadruplicities or Qualities: Movable (Cardinal), Fixed and Mutable Signs

The zodiacal signs fall into three types: Movable (Cardinal), Mutable and Fixed. The three types are known as the Quadruplicities (there are four signs in each type) or the Qualities. (See appendix.) The distribution of the planets in your chart among the three types determines your level of adaptability, and is a key determinant of temperament.

The distribution of planets in your chart among the three Qualities shows lots of Mutable sign power (Moon, Dominant Planet, Mercury, Asc, 2 other Planets, MC) but also with some Fixed (4 Planets) and Movable (Sun, 1 other Planet) sign power. Many planets in Mutable signs indicates power to adapt to whatever environment is present. The Mutable signs are a happy medium between the excessive activity of the Movable (cardinal) signs and the stubborn resistance of the Fixed signs. You’re not a trail-blazer, but rather a trail-builder. Mutable people are the most adaptable of all. They are the DEVELOPERS. But you also have some of the qualities of the Fixed and Movable signs such as determination and initiative.

 7. Personal – Companionship – Public

The Houses, or departments of life, are naturally grouped into three categories or domains: Personal, Companionship and Public. This is a good indicator of where your interests, desires and energy naturally incline. This can be especially helpful in analyzing close personal relationships like marriage, where partners interests are largely focused in different domains, e. g., public or personal vs companionship. Cultural gender differences can also ameliorate or exacerbate diverging interests and desires.

The distribution of planets in your chart among the three Societies shows that most of your energy, thought and activity involve the Personal houses (departments of life). The Personal houses (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 12th) map feelings and desires that relate to the private life including personal and health matters, personal wealth and possessions, personal interests, siblings and personal restrictions and disappointments. Little planetary power in the Public or Companionship departments of life indicates less interest in activities that are widely known or the strength of the desires to associate with others through home, children, work and partnership.

3. Your Key Chart Points and General Characteristics
Your character and temperament are a composite of the following key chart points:

Your Sun (sun sign) is in Aries.
Your Sun in Aries is pictured among the constellations by the Ram. The Ram is combative, uses its head in combat, and is the leader of its flock. Like the Ram, you likely require the zest of competition, feel the need for combat, and always strive for personal leadership. The dominant idea of Aries is I AM.

The first sign of the zodiac, it belongs to the element Fire (enthusiasm). A moveable sign, you are an enthusiastic pioneer. Belonging to the first degree of emanation, you are not to be confined or dictated to by others. Every day is a new day. Extremely optimistic you sometimes undertake more than you can manage. Be conscious of the tendency to have too many irons in the fire.

Possessing an intense will, militant power, executive ability, imperious leadership, and a dauntless pioneer spirit, you are ambitious, enterprising, forceful, self-willed, keen, independent, active, and desirous of being in command. Though you are impulsive and fiery, even in apparent rashness you are guided by intellect. Your inherent enthusiasm can lead you to rush into controversy before you have thoroughly examined all the evidence. Once you espouse a cause, you tend to be reluctant to admit you are wrong. Rash in love, bright and lively in conversation, you are inclined to politics where leadership plays an important role. Whether working constructively or destructively, you use creative power, original thinking and your brain to reach your goals. In business, you may tend to overwork.

LEADERSHIP is the best trait of Aries. Take care that strong desires to expand your territory don’t lead to a diffusion of energies. You may also want to be aware of a tendency to develop OFFICIOUSNESS (worst trait of Aries) which is an inclination to interfere unduly in the affairs of others. People resent bossiness and being told how to do things, especially when they think they are already doing well. Leadership by example and kind advice, when asked, will gain you the leadership you crave, and lead to a more successful life.

The Sun is powerful in your chart and harmonious indicating that thoughts and events relating to significance and self-esteem are important and, to the extent they are reinforced, will aid you in being successful.

Your Moon (Moon sign) and your Ascendant (Rising sign) are both in Pisces. The Moon is also your Dominant Planet.
You are a double Pisces, having both your Moon and Ascendant in that zodiacal sign indicating that your character and temperament strongly reflect the characteristics of this sign.

The Domestic Urges find harmonious expression in the naturally compassionate sign Pisces. You have high ideals and love harmony. You are very sensitive to the environment and the thoughts of others. You are likely at your best when working in the spirit of universal brotherhood. Be alert to a tendency to magnify the importance of slight hardship, or a tendency to imagine difficulty that never comes to pass. To achieve your goals and ideals, cultivate the faculty of finishing everything you start; otherwise restrictions cropping up will cause you to drop your work before completion.

Inclined to be emotionally malleable, impressionable and psychic, your best quality is SYMPATHY. Your worst quality is WORRY. With a tendency to be deeply religious, consider that you are responsible only to the extent you have ability. Trust Deity with the other details. Thoughts ruled by this sign belong to the BELIEF series. With the Domestic thought cells expressing from the I Believe attitude, the mind benefits by seeking faith that all will be well rather than dissipating energy in worry.

The Moon is the most powerful planet in your chart but neutral with regard to harmony indicating that thoughts and events relating to timing, tune, sublimity, philoprogenitiveness and general domestic affairs are important in the life, and, to the extent these harmonious thoughts are reinforced, will aid you in providing a harmonious living environment.

With your Ascendant, mapping your Personality, also in Pisces, its traits will be stamped on your personality accentuating your dreamy, imaginative and idealistic nature. You are very sensitive, peace-loving and sympathetic, but prone to worry. Avoid magnifying slight adversity.

The Ruler of Your Personality
The force of your personality, physical prowess, demeanor and appearance are not only a reflection of the power, harmony and zodiacal sign of your Ascendant, but will also reflect any planets in the 1st house or planets in the 12th house that are conjunct the Ascendant.

Planets in the 1st House include the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Mars, Neptune and Pluto. Jupiter is in the 12th House conjunct the Ascendant. These planets have significant influence over your personality, physical appearance and general demeanor. Additionally, having 7 planets in the 1st House and conjunct the Ascendant in the 12th House gives the personality, personal presence and matters relating to the physical appearance considerable energy and importance in the life. This force of personality can be used to advantage by demonstrating the best qualities of these positions as described below.

The chief ruler of your Personality is Neptune in the 1st House and ruling the sign on the Ascendant. Neptune, , the planet in the 1st House closest to the Ascendant, is co-ruler.

Neptune gives the personality a mild, dreamy, impressionable and fanciful nature that can be too idealistic or vague.

Neptune gives the personality a mild, dreamy, impressionable and fanciful nature that can be too idealistic or vague.

Your Dominant Planet is the Moon.
When the Moon is prominent in the birth chart, it denotes much curiosity and changing moods. You love notoriety, and are at your best when you are either before the public or coming constantly in touch with masses of people. When prominent and afflicted, there is a tendency toward INCONSTANCY. With a dominant Moon, it is important to realize that being favorably known by the public entails not changing your mind too often. Cultivate the power to persist in a single endeavor until you have exceptional ability. You benefit by channeling your energy into ADAPTABILITY, which is the best quality of the Moon person. The thoughts ruled by the Moon are called the DOMESTIC thoughts.

Your Dominant Moon resides in the zodiacal sign Pisces, which is described above.

Mercury: Habitual Modes of Speech and Communication
The zodiacal sign in which Mercury resides indicates the habitual mode of speech and communication via letters, email, and social media.

Your Mercury resides in the zodiacal sign Pisces. With the Intellectual thought cells, governing cerebral processes, perception, comparison and communication, expressing from the “I Believe” attitude of Pisces, the speech, and expression in general, should be positive and good humored rather than timid or fretful. The best quality of Pisces is sympathy, and its worst quality is worry.

Mercury is of average power in your chart but neutral with regard to harmony indicating that thoughts and events relating to conscious mental activity, manner of speech, writing, general social communication and mobility are important and, to the extent they are reinforced with constructive thinking and actions, will be an important factor in being successful.

 4. Key Decanates – Overarching Character and Destiny

Each sign of the zodiac is divided into three sections called Decanates. Each decanate is pictured in the sky by one of the original 36 ultra-zodiacal constellations. The pictograph associated by the ancients with each of these constellations illustrates a spiritual parable or allegory that has special significance to those born with their Sun, Moon or Ascendant in that decanate.

Your Sun is in the 3rd decanate of Aries, the Aries-Sagittarius decanate under the sub-rulership of Jupiter. PERSEUS, with the wings of thought on his feet, the helmet of courage on his head, armed with the sword of righteousness, protected by the shield of beneficence, and holding the blood-dripping head of the Medusa in one hand, pictures the third decanate of Aries. The sub-rulership of Jupiter diverts the aggressive energies somewhat into religious and philosophical channels. Consequently, this Sagittarius division of Aries has vast spiritual possibilities when its natives espouse some progressive line of thought, or use their restless never-failing energy in protection of the weak.

Perseus gained renown through his daring exploits in relieving oppression. And even as he severed the head of the Gorgon Medusa, which turned to stone all who gazed upon it, so the people of this decanate have the power to destroy the crystallizing influence of licentiousness, and like the David-version of the same tradition, cut off the head of the Goliath of selfish greed. They may become the valiant heroes who wage a successful fight against the sordid conditions that oppress civilized life. In the philosophical field of endeavor, they find useful work in releasing Andromeda, the human soul, which all too often is found chained to the rock of materialism to be devoured by lust and envy. It is the decanate of PROPAGANDA.

Your Moon is in the 3rd decanate of Pisces, the Pisces-Scorpio decanate under the sub-rulership of Mars. The last decanate of Pisces is pictured among the constellations by CASSIOPEIA, the Queen on her throne. It is the Scorpio-decanate of the sign of imprisonment, and mythology attributes the imprisonment of her daughter to the pride and jealousy of this queen for her own beauty. However, in another story she is the queen who furnished her children with the Ram that bore the golden fleece and carried them to heaven.

We find those born under this influence to have eventful lives, able to enter and succeed in a wide variety of careers. It is the last section of the zodiac, and they often seem to recapitulate in their lives the events and conditions we expect from many other decanates. They are unusually adaptable, likeable people, requiring excitement and change. They reach their highest value in spiritual research, and in adopting and advocating such a life as will prepare for existence after the change called death. It is the decanate of VICISSITUDES.

Your Ascendant is in the 1st decanate of Pisces, the Pisces-Pisces decanate under the sub-rulership of Jupiter. The Neptune-decanate of Pisces is pictured among the constellations by CEPHEUS, the King, whose foot rests upon the immovable Pole-Star. He holds aloft a scepter cut from the Tree of Life, and his crown is surmounted by seven globes representing the seven planets and Septenary Law in nature. People born under this section of the sky are naturally interested in understanding Nature, particularly in its psychic and spiritual aspects. They are mystics, to the manor born, and seek truth not so much through the methods of exact science and reason as through the exercise of their psychic faculties. They readily become seers, and have a natural aptitude for grasping the esoteric interpretation of all phenomena. This ability to recognize the truth through the inner response becomes of value in the world of affairs where secret-service work of all kinds is performed. They are detectives of the highest order, whether their talents are directed to social conditions, or to the wider mysteries of universal relations. It is the decanate of VERITY.

April 14, 1855 is listed as the date of birth for Thomas Henry d’Alton, Thomas Henry Burgoyne, and Norman Astley

The following diagrams show where planet, house and sign energy is most prominent in your chart along with areas that are weak in power and of less importance in your life. The size of each balloon shows the power of each chart element relative to the other elements in the chart. See also the sections on Astrodyne and Department of Life analysis further on in the report.

Power Distribution among Planets & Key Chart Points:

As you can see in the diagram below, the most prominent planets are the Sun mapping the Power Urges, the Moon mapping the Domestic Urges and the MC.

 3. Your Key Chart Points and General Characteristics

Your character and temperament are a composite of the following key chart points:

Your Sun (sun sign) is in Pisces. The Sun is also your Dominant Planet.

Because no birth time information is available for Archibald and Angelina, I have created natal charts for noon of their birth dates, which can be used for synastry with Sarah’s chart which does have correct birth time. Of the reports provided by Horoscope 2020, the most relevant when we lack accurate house information is found in section three, excerpted below from Archibald’s chart report. Added are the sections of the Decanates report on the Sun and Moon.

 3. Your Key Chart Points and General Characteristics

En route to the Thomas Moore Johnson centennial celebration in Missouri I visited one of the few historic sites associated with figures whose correspondence with Johnson appears in Letters to the Sage. Charles Julius Quetil’s activity in the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor occurred during the final year of his life, 1886. His career as an engineer took him to what is now Alto Pass, Illinois but was called Quetil Gap originally due to his activity there  Now a trail named after him begins at the edge of the quaint small town and descends into a scenic gorge.  It was cold and raining when I took these pictures but they suffice to show that the Illinois Ozarks do exist, and look more like the rest of the Ozarks than the rest of Illinois.

(L-R) Vadim Putzu, Thomas Moore Johnson II, K. Paul Johnson, Natalie Whitaker, Patrick D. Bowen, Jay Bregman, under the portraits of Thomas Moore Johnson and Alice Barr Johnson in the Johnson family home built in 1900 in Osceola, Missouri. Thanks to Jim Arnett for the photo taken on the second day of the symposium, November 8.

Imagining the East: the Early Theosophical Society has been announced by Oxford University Press as forthcoming in late 2019. The coeditors Tim Rudbog and Erik Sand are affiliated with the University of Copenhagen, and contributors are from major universities in the US, Germany, Israel, Canada, and the UK. Both coeditors of Letters to the Sage have chapters in the new anthology, but mine is unrelated to the Letters volumes while Patrick Bowen’s draws heavily on the Johnson correspondence. Here is his description from the beginning of the chapter, “The real pure Yog”: Yoga in the early Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor”:

This chapter traces the early use of yoga by both the TS and the Theosophist-heavy H.B. of L. in three parts. I examine, first, the role of the TS in transmitting yoga to Western audiences in the late 1870s and early 1880s, paying particular attention to why, how, and what forms of yoga were represented by the TS, which ultimately generated a relatively widespread interest in yoga in the Theosophical community. In section two, drawing largely from a collection of letters written to Thomas M. Johnson, a leading Theosophist and H.B. of L. member, I look at the H.B. of L.’s own appropriation of yoga. Here I focus on three aspects of this phenomenon: A) The circumstances—which themselves were highly conditioned by the TS—that permitted and encouraged the use of yoga in this group; B) The ways that the particular forms and elements of yoga that the group had access to were applied during the few months that yoga was explicitly prescribed; and C) The ways in which the influence of yoga on the H.B. of L. teachings persisted even after the order removed overt references to it. Finally, in section three, I discuss the legacy of the TS and H.B. of L. communities’ early use of yoga, highlighting both the direct and indirect influences of these organizations and their former members.

Although my research and writings have been focused overwhelmingly on American history for more than twenty years, scholarly interest has been almost entirely directed at my Asian and European research of the early 1990s.  But that may be about to change. Two conferences this autumn, a few weeks apart in Greece and Missouri, will feature the letters of Thomas Henry Burgoyne to Thomas Moore Johnson, following up on current investigations that were reported in June at the biennial Church of Light conference. These will be the subject of future updates of this blog but meanwhile I wanted to alert readers that Volume Two of Letters to the Sage, entitled Alexander Wilder, the Platonist, is now available free of charge at academia.edu, where my account also includes several other historical articles about esotericism. The international range of interest in the contents of the page has been most encouraging as seen in this report for  the past thirty days.

The names mentioned in the 21 volumes of Brotherhood of Light lessons have been indexed by Dennis Sutton with hyperlinks on this page of the church website.  As I prepare for a conference presentation on Thomas H. Burgoyne, it is interesting to find his name on the same line of the index as those of Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Richard Francis Burton, as all three are literary associates of Emma Hardinge Britten who would also be alphabetically adjacent to them were she included. Of 108 names, many are of broad cultural influence and don’t tell us much about the thinking of the Brotherhood of Light founders and members. But 14 are from the milieu of the early Theosophical Society, roughly evenly divided between supporters, critics, and dissidents and several of whom are represented in Letters to the Sage.  Blavatsky, Judge, and Olcott were the best-known founders of the Theosophical Society; Collins, Hartman, Mead and Yeats were in the first generation of writers drawn into its orbit.  Burgoyne and Grimke were leading writers in the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, strongly influenced by Bulwer-Lytton and Burton. Kingsford and Peebles were dissident TS members more affiliated with Hermeticism and Spiritualism respectively than with Theosophy. Finally Hodgson was a strong critic of the TS but an adherent of Spiritualism whose investigation of Blavatsky was endorsed by fellow TS founder Emma Hardinge Britten. (Starting with the biennial Church of Light conference next month, future posts will be focused on the early 20th century Brotherhood of Light rather than its predecessors in the Spiritualist, Theosophical, New Thought, and Rosicrucian movements of the 19th century.)