The Need for Traditional Astrology
by Olivia Barcley
© Olivia Barcley - first published by The Astrological Journal, 1997 / The Astrological Association of Great Britain / 03.06.2019
There were some fine great trees blown down in the storm of 1987 and that is a bit how I feel about western traditional astrology. It is like some huge oak tree or redwood tree, incredibly old, but brought down in the storms of the last three centuries. Its roots are still there, buried in antiquity, but we have cut it off from its roots. 'Its roots don't matter', we said, 'we will graft bits of it onto some modern saplings, like one called psychology, or one called science, or better still let's cut it up for firewood'.
However, the main tree could still be rescued if we would only take the trouble to study it. We could still recapture the truths of traditional astrology, despite current confusion.
By traditional astrology, I mean that great canon of knowledge that has accumulated over the past thousands of years. It consists of Mundane, Horary, Nativities and Electional Astrology.
Our reason for studying the works of the past is trying to learn the methods of previous astrologers and try to improve our techniques today. It is not simply because the ways are old, or because we intend to follow on parrot fashion, it is because of the astrology they can teach us.
Astrology is the study of the action of spirit through the medium of heavenly bodies, on all manifest material matter of this earth, or as Cardan, the famous sixteenth century Italian astrologer said in my favourite aphorism, 'Heaven is the Instrument of the Most High God whereby he acts upon and Governs Inferior Things'.
Whether you believe in the Most High God or whether you call him a Universal Force or Energy, you must surely realise that you should be studying those laws which show the pattern of existence of everything there is. You should not be studying something recently thought up on the spur of the moment by someone who called himself an astrologer or psychologist. It is for us to find out those universal laws, and to strive to decipher their code, and penetrate their meaning and purpose, not to invent hypothetical methods for the sake of publicity or prestige.
There have been many such unfounded inventions during this century which have lead to distortions of the truth. We have been losing much that is of value. People have felt free to invent and add whatever they wish, even when they have no idea of what was already known in the old astrology. The changes have caused confusion and contradiction.
Some people have invented ideas to make astrology more acceptable, others to make it simpler, and some just for the sake of talking about something new. The trouble is that when someone invents a new method, someone else comes along and invents a contradictory one, and everybody is thrown into confusion because few have studied the foundations of our art sufficiently to know which, of all the variations put before them, is the correct one.
As Robert Hand said in the Foreword to my book, 'Horary Astrology Rediscovered', so much has been invented that everything at anytime can mean everything, so then nothing means anything'. I agreed with Rob Hand, the plethora of inventions has defeated its own end. He suggests we need what he calls rigour in our use of symbols, which I interpret to mean that we should have an exact knowledge of their meaning. That should be our first step.
CosmosHave you ever considered that 1,500 years ago Palchus, for one, could, with his astrology, answer a question with a clear answer. William Lilly and his contemporaries could do that in the seventeenth century, and they explained to us how to do it, but no, we must add and invent and manoeuvre until our words sound obscure and meaningless. We speak in euphemisms, forgetting to search for the nub of the matter.
As you know, I teach a course in horary. Horary is a very practical art. One virtue of it is that when you are asked a question you need to produce an answer that can be seen to be true. You cannot waffle. It is a fine test of astrology. If your answer is correct you are on the right track, you are using the right methods. You know you can drive your car because you consistently reach your destination safely. There is a great difference between driving a car and just talking about one like a car salesman. You need to know from practical experience what the accelerator is for and should resist those who instruct you falsely. There are at present many more books talking about astrology than practical, proficient working astrologers. It is easier to talk.
I am reminded of Lilly's words in his introduction to Bonatus' 'Anima Astrologiae' when he says the book is 'for those honest students that practice art to discover truth and not to vapour with it'.
No doubt there are many motives that drive us to study astrology. My own motive was to find clear evidence that the movement of heavenly bodies affected life on earth, or that a synchronicity exists between them showing that life is one - 'As above, so it is below' etc. My motive was not prediction, and yet prediction supplies such evidence. Astrology has always been concerned with prediction, although we seldom hear a serious prediction nowadays except from the weathermen. The ancient ability to predict grew from such observations, I believe, as the yearly heliacal rising of Sirius coincided with the rising of the Nile. In early days, astronomy and astrology were one, astronomy the study of physical reality and astrology the interpretation of its meaning. Observation of nature seems to have been much keener in those days and consequently they had an awareness of beauty which was considered, in Greece at least, an expression of the inner spirit.
I would like to mention some great astrologers of the past who have much to teach us. It is absurd that their work has been so ignored, just because they lived in a different culture from ours where they were not immersed in materialism and which held different standards. Presumably most of you subscribe to Project Hindsight. This is an organization once headed by Rob Hand, committed to the colossal task of translating into English all the authoritative works of past astrologers. One of the most notable in my opinion is the book by Paulus Alexandrinus written in 378 AD and now translated into English for the first time. It was significant to see that Paulus differed from Ptolemy in allocating the rulership of the water triplicity by day to Venus. But how can the average astrologer of today, unfamiliar with the Tables of Dignities of the planets, appreciate these differences, or assess the value of Alexandrinus' work at all. To do so you must first understand the traditional methods he is discussing. And that is where there is a great gap in the knowledge of the majority of present-day astrologers.
Apart from the linguistic efforts of Project Hindsight, it is very important that Graeme Tobyn has started a 'Latin for Astrologers' group in London. Here is a group of experienced astrologers who are translating directly from Latin. I am going to ask Graeme Tobyn very shortly to translate a few lines from Junctinus so that you can hear how beautiful and concise the old astrology was. Here is the chart of Mary Queen of Scots with Greame's translation.
Mary, Queen of ScotsMary, Queen of Scotland, the daughter of James V, King of the Scots, began her reign in 1542 aged seven days. Her father dead, she married Francois, the Dauphin of France, who later was proclaimed the King of France. But after the death of her husband King Francois, she now widowed left the palace and withdrew to the city of Rheims. She visited Lotharingia, then leaving Calais on a favourable wind she came to land in Scotland, was received with honour by her people and was thrown into many troubles by her arrival in the kingdom. Since, therefore, the tumult in the kingdom of Scotland was increasing more each day, the Queen, seeing the sedition by the people against her, departed and hurried on her journey to France. But on the journey she was captured by the Queen of England who imprisoned her in a castle which is commonly called Ponfre (Pontefract).
It should be abundantly clear to whoever might thus search for the former happiness and present calamity of this Queen, that fate obtains its own share in human affairs. For this Queen has in her nativity Saturn in square to Mars, which are in commutated and violent signs and have dominion in the seventh and twelfth houses. The Moon is found with the antiscion of the Sun in Capricorn, which gives a propensity for journeys. But it is the planets Mars in Aquarius in the twelfth and Saturn in Scorpio in the seventh which portend imprisonments and very many dangers and misfortunes and the death of a husband, which happened to her.
It is true that we do have a few early books already in English which we can study. For instance, you can buy 'The Astronomica' by Manilius, who lived about the time of Christ. This is a beautiful epic poem describing the beliefs of that era, including the fact that the Earth is a sphere. (The book is published by Loeb.) It contains the earliest description I know of, of the houses, showing that by that date they had emerged from a more primitive astrology where luminaries and angles had been emphasised. The houses were called by name not by numbers, as you can also find in the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy written less than a century later.
Houses/TemplesManilius tells us that the houses were called temples, and the planets, who were the gods, had their abode in certain temples. Mercury had his abode in the first house, because of his association with the brain, the head, the tongue and the memory. Mercury gave his name, Stilbon, the Glistener, to the first house. Mercury in the first house makes the person clever and good orator. Mercury in the tenth house of success makes a successful orator. Mercury is associated with the brain.
I hear there is now a new, irresponsible invention that it is Venus who is associated with the brain. We will no doubt see each planet in turn given rulership of the brain. Where will it end? This is an example of what Robert Hand meant by lack of rigour, a laxity about the knowledge of symbols.
Each house, you see, takes on the characteristics of the planet which abides in it. Thus, the fifth, always called the house of luck, has the characteristics of Venus, pleasure, since Venus has her abode in the fifth. Manilius explains that through the temples the entire procession of the zodiac revolves, and that the planets, too, traverse them, modifying their properties.
So, you see that for at least the last 2,000 years the distinction between houses and signs has been understood in western astrology. (Hindu astrology is a different discipline.) When we are studying western astrology therefore, we should realise that the houses and the signs do not equate to each other. I quote William Lilly who wrote
'he that shall learn the nature of the planets and signs without exact judgement of the houses, is like an improvident man that furnisheth himself with household stuffe, having no place wherein to bestow them'.
Every action, every event, every person, everything in this life belongs to one of the houses. This rulership is not a matter of opinion, but of facts tried and tested by generation after generation - and that applies to all astrology.
It was therefore unfortunate when someone in this century decided to invent a new idea for teaching astrology to beginners. 'The first house', they said, 'equals the first sign Aries and therefore Mars. The second house equals Taurus and therefore Venus' - 'the alphabet of astrology' this has been called. This illustrates my point about random inventions, and has lead to confusion ever since, and such statements as 'if Libra is the 7th sign and Saturn is exalted in Libra, then Saturn must be exalted in the 7th house' which I assure you it is not. Nor could it be true that Saturn rules the eleventh house, or Jupiter the twelfth, because the eleventh is the most fortunate of houses, having taken its characteristics from Jupiter, the greater benefic.
However, there is an exception to this rule. When referring to the anatomy of the body, then there is an analogy between signs and houses, but in that respect only.
If you do not use the houses, your interpretation is without definition. It is vague, reflecting a lack of boundaries as if disconnected with this Earth.
While Manilius called the first house Stilbon, by Ptolemy's time it was called Horoscopus. When you read of the horoscope in old books, they are referring to the ascendant, not to the whole chart. The first house describes the body; it is the House of Life. In horary it represents the querent. The second house refers to the resources of the first, Lucrum - cash, Firmicus called it in the fourth century. We don't know whose abode it was, but Manilius called it the Portal of Pluto.
The third house is the abode of the Moon, for the Moon fluctuates in movement and in shape and so rules transitory things what we call communications and short journeys. It has been called the House of Brothers. In the time of Ptolemy, it was called Dea, goddess, because it was opposite the ninth house, Deus, God.Sunset For the ninth house has always been related to religion and God, and is therefore the abode of the Sun. The word 'Sun' was once synonymous with the word 'God'. Vettius Valens, in describing the configuration Jupiter trine the Sun called that Jupiter trine God. The church belongs to the ninth and in our secular society, so do philosophy and deep thought and further education and their counterpart on the physical planes, distant travel. It covers vision and dreams since they come from God. I have always thought it significant that Gauquelin found prominent athletes had Mars in this house because Mars is strengthened by the Sun, being of the same nature, hot and dry, Gauquelin's conclusion thereby upholding the traditional understanding of the nature of the planets.
I am not suggesting that astrology should stagnate and cease to develop. There is a need for discovery and creative thought and research, but I am saying that the basis of astrology should first be understood, before random rules are thought up and accepted.
For instance, a former student of mine, Lee Lehman, has taken those Mars positions found by Gauquelin and discovered by statistics that they are mainly in the terms of Mars and Saturn, which is relevant, since that provides the additional energy and endurance required by the athletes. This helps confirm the positions of the terms of the planets and has helped establish that a sign is from 0 to 29 degrees and not from 1 to 30 degrees.
The fourth house is the base of the chart, the Lower Midheaven, Ptolemy called it, and it rules solid objects one cannot carry about, like buildings and land and mines. It is the source, the beginning and the end. It rules fathers and the old. And it is the Abode of Saturn.
Mrs. Hone, in the fifties, had a bright idea. She knew that Cancer was the fourth sign, ruled by the Moon, so she invented a rule that the fourth house didn't really rule fathers, but mothers. Astrologers were again thrown into confusion and some even associated Saturn with mothers. Firmicus tells us the fourth house rules parents. However, if you refer to the mother alone, take the opposite to the fourth, that is the tenth.
Thus, in all astrology the significator of the father is the fourth house and its ruler, or the Sun by day and Saturn by night, or planets in the fourth house.
The mother is shown in all astrology by the tenth house and its ruler, or by Venus by day and the Moon by night, or planets in the tenth house.
The tenth house is the house of glory and authority. It shows one's success and standing in the world. The eleventh, as I have said, is the most fortunate of all, it rules friends. The Good Daemon, ruled by Jupiter, the Benefic. And notice that not enough attention is paid to Jupiter in our society, it is the greatest given of good, under God.
The twelfth is unfortunate and the joy of Saturn. From the twelfth comes treachery, ambush, stabs in the back and self-undoing, but also some pleasanter things like solitude and large animals.
I have not yet mentioned the other unfortunate houses. The sixth was called Laboris, work, by Manilius, and Bad Fortune by Ptolemy. Work was apparently considered undesirable then. It also describes illness and small animals. The eighth shows the resources of the seventh and the ruler of the sign on its cusp is the Lord of Death.
Traditionally the planets are of greater importance than the signs. The signs have been emphasised recently because there is money to be made from Sun sign columns. Everybody knows their Sun sign. Commercial astrology does no harm and has relaxed the tension between the public and the astrologers. We are fortunate to have been relegated to the rank of entertainers, and nobody - we hope - is going to burn Nick Campion or Bernard Fitzwalter at the stake.
But it was a different matter even at the beginning of this century when, between 1914 and 1917, Alan Leo was prosecuted for fortune telling. In vain did he protest that his delineations merely showed 'tendencies'. He had warned his client, a policeman using a false name, that he could expect a death in the family circle. And the court would not accept that such a statement was a tendency. Leo was fined. This dreadful state of affairs (and you can read all about it in Patrick Curry's book 'A Confusion of Prophets') lead Leo to modify astrology so that it did not upset public opinion or the laws of England. He watered it down to merge with theosophy and/or psychology. It was still reminiscent of the old astrology. It used the same symbols, but it was exchanged, it wasn't the real thing. It was for this mess of potage which Leo sold the inheritance of astrology. Although the witch-craft act was not rescinded until 1988, astrologers were left unmolested, being officially classified, in England, as entertainers.
The psychological angle has proved very popular during this century and indeed if one wants to be a psychologist or anything else, there is no better way than incorporating astrology.
Test tubesHowever, for those of us who are interested in pure astrology, which deals with every facet of creation, not just human character, being classified as entertainers is a two-edged sword. It has the advantage that when serious research yields results, these are dismissed, as with the Gauquelin results. And I remember a story about liquid metals that reacted when certain planets ascended in the sky. This was done in front of television cameras but could not be shown to the public because it would have contradicted our status as entertainers. And so we still have a great barrier of prejudice to overcome. It is our accepted lot to work very hard and not to be taken seriously. To amuse people by talking about their Sun sign type. It could be worse.
In serious astrology we must remember that the signs are only like adjectives, describing the planets. They are associated with four things only, countries, diseases and descriptions of physical appearance and places (Christian Astrology, p. 100).
It is the planets, in all astrology, that rule. It is to the planets that the orbs belong, not to the aspects. A planet is a sphere, and an orb is a sphere. It is commonsense that the circular orb shines around a planet like an aura. An aspect, on the other hand, is not circular. Planets must be assessed for strength in a chart, either for their essential strength, looking to see if they are in their own sign, triplicity, term, face or exaltation, which are set degrees in the zodiac, or for accidental strengths, which vary in each chart. For example, they may be angular or swift in motion, or in some way well placed.
We do not have the original work of Ptolemy with his original Tables of Essential Dignities of the planets, but I use the version given by Lilly in Christian Astrology because Lilly put it to practical use, and also because it is close to Al Biruni's version from the eleventh century.
Ptolemy's astrology, in fact all astrology, was banned from Europe in the fifth century. It was rescued and preserved by the Arabs. Ptolemy's work was translated into Arabic. European and Arabic astrology merged. Those centuries produced famous Arab and Jewish astrologers, Al Kindi and Abu Masha were Arabic, and Abraham Ibn Ezra was Jewish. If you have been to the old synagogue in Cairo, you may have heard of him because it was named after him when he paid off their debts. It was not until the thirteenth century that astrology crept back into Europe via Spain and Italy. Ptolemy was translated back into Latin from Arabic. His work was taught in all universities for three centuries. He had been a great man, had written on music, geography, optics, astronomy; he had calculated the distance of the Moon from the Earth. He had enormous impact on astrological thought.
It was really Bonatus who brought an enthusiasm for astrology back into Europe. Bonatus, like Lilly after him, set about to instruct students in our art. His books are addressed to readers who do not yet know much astrology. Project Hindsight just translated some of his work, and of course I greatly enjoyed reading his section on horary. For one thing, Bonatus is at pains to explain to us the importance of reception, how the efficacy of some aspects depends on reception and on the nature of the planets involved.
It is clear that Lilly was conversant with and inspired by the work of Bonatus as he was by Ptolemy. Incidentally, if you read Ptolemy you will note again the importance of dispositors. When he describes planets to us, he describes them as dispositors of Eclipses.
There was one remark in Bonatus that struck a note which was foreign to Lilly. 'A planet in its fall or detriment', he says, 'cannot receive another'. At first you think, 'of course it can't; if it isn't in an essential dignity, how could it disposit another?' But then, what about the Moon in Capricorn? The Moon is in its detriment in Capricorn, but it rules the night triplicity of earth signs, can it not receive in its triplicity?
Or Mars in its fall in Cancer, yet it rules the water triplicity. I do not know the answer to that and will leave you to work it out.
Without recourse to the Tables of Dignities of the planets you cannot know the strength of a planet or its dispositor, nor the almuten of a particular degree or of the whole chart. The chart becomes pretty featureless.
Elizabeth, Queen of
EnglandChart 2 shows the chart of Queen Elizabeth the First of England. Perhaps the earliest English astrologer we think of is John Dee, personal astrologer to Her Majesty. He was an important and wealthy man of her court and he was also foreign agent for Elizabeth, calling himself 007. He is famous, amongst other things, for his Electional chart for the Queen's coronation in 1559. In those days, the prosperity of her reign would have been acknowledged to depend on the beneficity of the moment elected. I have shown this in my book because it teaches us useful lessons. It demonstrates the need to refer to a nativity when doing an Electional chart.
As Geoffrey Cornelius once pointed out, the luminaries of the Coronation chart are trine the benefics, Jupiter and Venus, in the nativity of the Queen. So, you can look at that, and you will see on the Coronation chart. (Coronation Moon at 20 degrees Aries trine natal Jupiter at 20 degrees Sagittarius, and Coronation Sun 4 degrees Aquarius trine natal Venus at 3 Libra). The chart shown here is by Gadbury, and shows a Sagittarius Ascendant but Junctinius, a contemporary of Elizabeth, gives Capricorn. But whichever is correct the correspondence between luminaries and benefics remains.
Coronation of Elizabeth
IIn such a chart too, Fixed Stars should be used because, as Bonatus tells us,
'the Fixed Stars confer great gifts and elevate from poverty to an extreme height of fortune, the planets do not'.
The Fixed Stars will give lasting effects and should be used in all foundations or cases where the situation will last long. Here the Moon is trine Fortuna and Regulus, Royal Star, confering glory, honour and fame. Aspects to Fortuna should always be considered; the Moon aspecting Fortuna is not void. (People who produce those little tables to show when the Moon will be void of course overlook that fact.) As I mentioned, another contemporary of Elizabeth was Junctinus, and now I would like to ask Graeme Tobyn to translate from Latin a passage from that great astrologer.
This most serene Queen has in her nativity five planets in their essential dignities, namely Jupiter and Venus in their domiciles, the Moon in her exaltation and joy, Mercury in his triplicity and Mars in his decan. On account of which, she obtained her father's kingdom and inheritance. Yea, the great Conjunction in the year 1484 which was much spoken of, exactly in 21 degrees of Scorpio has shown her the greatness of her power and authority, and the marks of honour and has adorned her life with evident dignity, made her famous and graced her with a crown. Likewise, Venus and Mercury in her own sign shows a charming manner of speech, eloquence and goodwill among all nations, while the Moon in Taurus has undoubtedly signified an uncommon skill in various languages and a knowledge of very many sciences.
The climax for western astrology was really in the seventeenth century when Lilly wrote his masterpiece Christian Astrology, completed in 1647 and over 870 pages long. This is the definitive book on traditional astrology. It is concerned with Nativities as well as Horary, but the methods and techniques he shows, once understood, are relevant to all astrology. Lilly had access to a library of over 300 books and from these he translated from Latin into English.
Lilly was a man of enormous experience. Derek Parker tells us in his biography of Lilly, Familiar to All, that there are casebooks containing file on file of astrological charts, over 4,000, between June 1654 and September 1656. Lilly was a prodigious worker. It was he who advised Parliament during the civil wars, and he became very famous. He was proficient in Latin and in astrology. Of course, he did not translate 300 books, word for word, but because he was immersed in his subject, he was able to discriminate and select just the cream of the information that was enough to teach students of astrology to become proficient. Not only did he draw on the greatest brains of the past, he was able to give us the added benefit of his own conclusions. He was able to explain that a certain authority advocated one method, and another had a different idea, but he himself had found another yet more succinct solution. Lilly illustrates his reasoning with clear charts so that we can all study the techniques and methods he has explained. We can try out for ourselves and if we would do, we will find it works. If anyone should deny that, you will know that they have not tried it out correctly or are inexperienced astrologers. Lilly really knew what he was talking about.
As Lilly wrote, he was shut away indoors, unable to go out because of the plague. Having buried one servant of it he was expecting death daily. I have often thought that such circumstances account for the sincerity and truthfulness of his book. So many details are explained painstakingly for the purpose of instructing students clearly, in an organized way. This is a colossal achievement (think of handwriting 870 pages)!
There were other distinguished astrologers; Galileo (we have a chart for the time he discovered Neptune but thought it was a moon of Jupiter) and Mercator the geographer; Newton, Kepler, Regiomontanus and Flamsteed, to mention a few.
GreenwichFlamsteed was the Astronomer Royal who elected the chart for the foundation of the Greenwich Observatory in 1675. I am showing it to you now because it may be relevant to the success of the millennium arrangements which will take place in Greenwich. The chart demonstrates that Flamsteed was a brilliant astrologer, first by his use of the Fixed Stars.
Spica, a very benefic star, conferring honours and fame, is positioned on the MC, and Regulus, Royal Star, is conjunction the Sun. That is for August 1675. As I said, we use Fixed Stars for foundations because they give permanence.
And secondly, Flamsteed proves his brilliance by his use of the antiscia position of Jupiter. Jupiter rules the Ascendant and as such represents our nation. At first sight its position in the twelfth house looks unfortunate, but no, its antiscia or solstice point falls exactly on the second cusp of wealth, and this brought wealth to our nation and prosperity ever since. To understand the solstice point you should draw a line between 0 Cancer and 0 Capricorn, and then you reflect one side onto the other.
After Lilly, astrology in this country declined. It became unpalatable to the growing scientific attitudes of the eighteenth century. This is fully explained in Patrick Curry's book, The Prophesy and the Power, in which he tells us of the formation of the Royal Society, a group of well-meaning, reasonable men who would have accepted astrologers or anyone else who could prove scientifically what they were doing. They believed that once astrology had been turned into a science that was reliably proved, it would naturally regain people's admiration. Sadly, there are still some of us hoping to do just that. But some things cannot be proved; art, love, music. The effects of these things can be observed but not scientifically proved, and it is more or less the same with astrology. If there are facts can be proved, and Gauquelin did that, then prejudice dismisses them.
And so, with each successive generation the astrological knowledge of the seventeenth century was watered down, distorted and misunderstood.
During this talk I have mentioned several authors whom I hope working astrologers will resolve to read. Namely the authors of the seventeenth century. Lilly first and foremost, and his contemporaries, Gadbury, who veered towards Nativities; Ramesay who specialized in Elections; Culpeper, the famous astrologer-herbalist; Saunders the physician; Henry Coley and George Wharton, astrologer to Charles I. If you will study those seventeenth century books you will find they are a stepping stone to understanding of earlier authors, even to antiquity. But there is no shortcut. Today's expectation of quick results will not help you to do good astrology. This is the most wonderful knowledge and takes years to acquire. But it is worth it.
If you are interested in Elections, you will be amazed at Schoener beside whom modern writers such as Robson, pale into insignificance. Schoener should be read in conjunction with Lilly as the two complement each other. Besides Schoener there are Ramsey and Bonincontrius to study. Natal astrologers might read the Natal section of Christian Astrology, but you will need the earlier part of the book to follow the methods used. John Frawley tells me that Antonius Montulmo is another important writer, which Project Hindsight translated. If you are interested in Horary my book is easy to follow, and Barbara Watter's Horary Astrology and the Judgement of Events, but no good work can be done without studying William Lilly. There is now a translation of Bonatus' horary by Project Hindsight. If you are interested in herbalism Graeme Tobyn is just writing a book about Culpeper. For general use, I recommend Lee Lehman's Book of Rulerships. And, of course, none of us can omit The Combination of Stellar Influences. Did you know Firmicus mentions midpoints in the fourth century?
So now it is time to take the bull by the horns and re-investigate the old astrology in all its beauty. Once you have hold of it you can never let it go.
Note:
This article is the transcript of the Carter Memorial Lecture, delivered at the 1996 Exeter Conference of the Astrological Association. Nicholas Campion introduced the lecture with the following words:
"Olivia Barclay is an astrologer of some repute, I'd say. Many people, when they first meet her, think 'what a nice lady', but Olivia has been the cause of a minor earthquake in many parts of the English speaking world, in addition to Germany and Italy and other countries, over the last fifteen years, mainly because she insisted that the smal number of people, as it was in those days, who studied horary were using texts which were doctored and bastardised during the 19th century. It was Olivia's photocopied editions of William Lilly's 1647 masterpiece 'Christian Astrology', which lay behind Regulus' 1985 republication of this work, the first astrological textbook to be written in English. That represented, if you like, the coming of age of astrology in England and it was the first time those people who didn't read or speak Latin could study astrology. It was Olivia who introduced us to that work, restoring a direct line of astrological interpretation extending back to the classical world. That line had been broken when astrology went out of fashion in the late 17th century and had to be rediscovered in the 1980s bit by bit. The republication of 'Christian Astrology' at a time when, I think, the consensus was that the future of astrology lay in its marriage with depth psychology. Olivia suddenly drew people back to the realisation that there was a very precise technical way of working with astrology to make precise judgements concerning external events. Out of Olivia's work has come a plethora of magazines, the Horary Messenger, the Horary Practitioner, the Traditional Astrologer, as well as schools of traditional and classical astrology both in the UK and the United States, led, of course by her own school. It is interesting to see people who have been studying astrology for twenty or thirty years enrolling in Olivia's school. It is perhaps too early to assess her long-term importance, but she has single handedly transformed the way we think about astrology in the 1990s. Her impact so far is really quite monumental."
First published by: The Astrological Journal, Jan/Feb 1997
Author:
Olivia Barclay (1919-2001) was a horary astrologer with well over 30 years experience of the subject. She taught four principals of other horary courses which studied and then taught the Qualifying Horary Diploma Course. Most periodicals devoted to horary astrology are produced by former students of the course, The Horary Practitioner, The Traditional Astrologer, The Astrologer's Apprentice, etc. In 1980 Barclay obtained a rare original 1647 edition of William Lilly's 'Christian Astrology'. At the time there were perhaps 20 originals still extant - mostly in museums. From this edition Regulus published 2,000 volumes, now studied worldwide.
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