crimsoncurrent

d as minor conjunctions and oppositions. If I see someone has natal Mercury conjunct Uranus, for instance, and I also see they have Mercury parallel Uranus then I note it as an “extra strength” conjunction. I feel they provide an extra layer of definition to an aspect or additional insight into the relationship between planetary forces within the natal chart.



u/DavidJohnMcCann avatar
DavidJohnMcCann
•
16h ago
Parallels were invented in the 17th century by Placidus. He read about antiscions and contrantiscions in old texts and realised that the ecliptical points in those relationships had the same declination. So which was actually important — the similar declination or the position of the midpoint on a solstice or equinox? He then looked at directions and found that directing to antiscions didn't work but directions to parallels did. Unfortunately he didn't realise just how common directions to parallels are, especially with his large orb! His results have been shown to be no better than chance. Parallels were brought into English astrology, like a lot of Placidus's ideas, by Partridge and they stuck. European astrologers were less convinced.

My own studies of both natal interpretation and directions suggested that they are worthless.